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





   IN  w/s ISSUE:


                Meditation: The Lord  Longsuffering  In'His Coming


                Editorial: A New "An&Abstract" Theological Method'


                Scripture Attacked


                An Analysis'of  th'e Dekker Decision (see All `Around  Ur).



                                               Volume  XLIV/Num  ber  7/January  1, 1968


                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER  '



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    The Lord Longsuffering in His Coming . . . . . . . . . . . 146                                               Department Editors:  `Rev. David J. Engelsma, Mr.  JohnM.  Faber,
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    A New "Anti-Abstract" Theological Method . . . . 149                                                            C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,.Rev.  Gise.J.  Van Baren,
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MEDlTATION-

             The  Lord Longsuffering In His Coming

                                                                                            by Rev. M.  Schippev

                     The  Lord is not slack concerning his  promise,  as some men count slackness; but is
                     longsuffeving  to us-ward, not willing that any should  pevish,' but that all men should
                     come  to repentance.                                                                                                              II Peter 3:9..

    ,1967 A.D. -  ANNUS   DOMINI  - Year of the Lord!                                                         and where He continues to intercede for  us,~and by His
     The year of our Lord 1967 is fast drawing to its                                                         Word and Spirit continues to gather His church, given
close  I                                                                                                      Him of the Father.
     Not only 1967 years since the Lord left us to as-                                                           But also 1967 years in which He has been coming
tend into the heavens, where He is seated at the right                                                        back to us!
hand of God, unraveling the counsels of the Almighty:                                                            That was His promise !


                                                        THESTANDARDBEARER                                                              147


     "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with                       out of the prophetic Word of God. They are they who
me, to give every man according as his work shall                         fail to read the signs of the times, who refuse to hear
be."       "And the day of the Lord will come as a thief                  the footsteps of the Saviour as He walks, yea runs, to
in the night; surely I come quickly."                                     realize all that He promised must come to pass before
     And the prayer of the believing, hoping church has                   He would actually appear. They are they who are think-
always been, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"                            '    ing only of their own deliverance, but have lost heart
     But still He lingers !                                               to believe that they cannot be saved without the salva-
     Is not perhaps the word of the mockers correct?                      tion of all the church. They are they who are inclined
"Where is the promise of His coming? for since the                        to believe the philosophy of the mockers.
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were                        To them the Word of God flatly denies that the Lord
from the beginning of the creation."                                      is slack at all concerning His promise to return.
     Is it not true, and does it not seem that way to you,                   Rather, it explains, is He longsuffering!
that all things continue as they always did? That babies                     The Lord, that is, the Triune God as He is re-
are born, and men die; that kingdoms arise, and king-                     vealed, and shall be revealed again in the face of the
doms fall; that summer and winter, springtime and                         Lord Jesus, is longsuffering to us-ward!
fall, almost monotonously change our seasons; that                           Longsuffering, that divine perfection of love, ac-
there are wars and rumors of wars; thatthere are tor-                     cording to which the Lord constantly and unchangeably
nadoes and upheavals, floods and famine; eras of                          wills the final perfection and glory of His people in
prosperity as well as of recessions7 Is it not true that                  the way of suffering; and wills their suffering as a
the world continues to develop as it always did? 0, to                    means to that final perfection in all its fulness. There
be sure, it may seem to develop a little faster as time                   are especially three elements in this definition to be
marches on. But is it not the same old w,orld?                            noted. First, there is the object in view; namely, the (
     And is ,it not plain foolishness to expect `that the                 final perfection in glory. He prepares this glory in,
world in continuance will suddenly come to an end with                    Christ, a glory which is a reflection of His own per- f
a catastrophe? That there should be such a few people                     fection,  and the state in which God has always beheld
in it that should be looking for anew heavens and a new                   His people and loves them. Second, there is the di-
earth wherein righteousness will dwell? Who, because                      vine, constant, unchangeable affection of God toward
of their hope, refuse to live aiong with the present                      His people .as He conceived of them in that final state
scheme of the world; refuse to take part in the wicked-                   of glory. Third, there is the way of suffering which is
ness of the world, to join its unions, to enjoy its plea-                 necessary for them to enter that final state of glory,
sures, to build deeply their foundations; who are always                  in which God will keep them forever. And until they
talking about the coming of the Lord that will bring                      reach that glorious end, He suffers with them.
them final deliverance? Deliverance from what? Is it                         Behold, how He suffers long over us !
not the suffering and deprivation which is brought upon                      A suffering which began already in eternity when
them because they are so odd, and do not want to fit                      He ordained this people to come unto Him through the
themselves into the times in which they live?                             way of sin and grace. A suffering He assumed when
     But, beloved, this is all the language of the mockers !              He united Himself to our flesh in the incarnation, taking
Those hilarious fun makers, those supercilious, haughty                   upon Himself our nature, and assuming our guilt. A
play boys, who never take life seriously; who are                         suffering which brought Him into the abyss of death
thoroughly worldly minded; who, like the fool, think                      and hell, when He poured out His life's blood on the
their houses shall stand for aye. They mock with all                      hill of the skull. And even now, while He is seated in
that is holy. They jeer at all piety. They have no place                  glory, He is still longsuffering over us when He hears
in their thinking for prophecy.                 They live like the        our cries, and beholds our tears, while we suffer in
beasts that die. They hold the truth under in unright-                    this vale of death, ever longing for -.our :perfect-and
eousness. They ridicule and persecute the righteous                       final deliverance.
who do not resist them.                                                      Long and constant must that suffering-be, because
     Would we not also be foolish to listen'to them? In-                  the _ church He . loves- is` constantly in: the world that
deed, such would be utter  folly`l                                        perishes. `He was longsuffering over that church when
     But that the Lord lingers, we cannot deny! Almost                    the world perished in the flood, and Hedelivered right-
two thousand years have passed, and, though there has                     eous Noah and his family. Longsuffering was He when
been continual change and development, it is still the                    Sodom and Gomorrah perished, and He delivered Lot
same heavens of old and the earth standing out -of the                    the righteous. Even now the heavens and the earth are
water and in the water. And the Lord is still seated- at                  being stored up unto fire, when. the .heavens  shall be
the right hand of God.                                                    rolled back as a scroll and all the elements shall burn
     To you who long for His coming, and perhaps be-                      with fervent heat, and all that is in the earth shall be
come impatient that. He. lingers, is the Word .of. God,                   consumed in a final conflagration. Until this last day
quoted above, directed!                  -`.                              He will be longsuffering to.- us-ward, i not #willing that
     That Word denies that He is slack concerning His                     any should perish.                                      :
p     r    o    m    i    s    e    !              :                       :. . Not. willing .that any should perish! ,Y.
     As some count slackness !                           . .  `..           _ -But. that all should come., to repentance ! _:.    1
     These are they who are impatient, who fail to .live                     0, do not misinterpr.et  this- loving kindness so.&-


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     148                                            THESTANDARDBEARER


     vine ! Do not corrupt this truth by making it a common         His church is being saved and gathered. The elect
     grace and goodness of God whereby He desires and               strangers are daily being fitted as living stones into
     wills the salvation of all men!                                God's temple in which He plans to dwell with them
            If you know anything of the Scriptures as a whole,      forever. Until the very last stone is saved and fitted
     you will sense immediately that this cannot be the             into that temple, the Lord must tarry.
     intent of the Word of God here; for Scripture teaches              And until that time the beloved in Christ, the elect
     throughout that God is angry with the wicked every             strangers, are in the world where they share in the
     day, and all the wicked will He destroy. Moreover              sufferings of Christ. They are strangers in the world
     the text itself makes it very plain that not all men,          and to the world because of their electionand the fruits
     head for head, are meant. The "any" and the "all" of election which they bring forth. And they, too, must
     are the "us-ward." So that we should read our text             wait for the Lord's coming until all the elect are born,
     thus: "But is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing            are saved, are brought to salvation through the way of
     that any of us should perish, but that all of us should        repentance.
     come to repentance."                                              In the meantime they suffer. Inwardly they suffer
            Indeed, the Lord is willing that not one of His peo-    because of the knowledge of their sin and the longing
     ple shall perish, and that every one of them shall come        to be completely delivered. Outwardly they suffer be-
     to repentance !                                                cause of the wicked world, because of the mockers who
            This will of the Lord is not contingent on their re-    daily assail them, reproach them and even bring them
     pentance, but it accomplishes it. At the same time He          affliction.
     also wills to bear with the ungodly chaff until His                But inahat suffering they are not alone ! Their Lord
     precious grain is completely harvested.          Then the      suffers with them. He continues to be longsuffering
     tares will also be pulled up and destroyed, while the          over them, not willing that any should perish, but that
     precious grain, upon which He expends His great love           all should come to repentance.
     and with whom He suffers so long, shall enter into His            Take courage then, children of God! Believe this
     everlasting glory.                                             Word of your God !
            But unto repentance His people must come !                 Be not so easily affected by the doctrine of the
            And unto repentance they will come !                    mockers ! Cease from your worldlimindedness. Re-
            His grace in them will change their minds and           pent from your sinful ways and turn with sorrow after
     hearts and bring them to their knees in the true con-          God.       And remember that His compassions fail not,
     sciousness of their sin and in heart-felt sorrow after         for He is longsuffering over you, not willing that any of
     God. It will force out of them the cry of the publican         you should be plucked from His hand, but that every
     of old: 0 God be merciful to me, a sinner! It will turn        last one of you should come unto Him and abide with
     them from their evil ways, and cause them to flee from         Him in His eternal glory.
     sin to Calvary and the blood of the cross, where they
     will plead for pardon and where they will taste of for-            And as this year comes to its end, understand well
     giveness.                                                      that there is good reason why your Lord tarries, but
            Yes, indeed, not one of His precious ones may be        also that He will come to you as quickly as He can.
     lost.      Every one of them must come to repentance.          And as the bells toll the passing of another year, may
     For that He waits in His coming!                               He find you on bended knee and praying, not only for
            What a comforting truth is this Word of God!            His speedy return, but also for the salvation of `His
            From it we conclude that while the Lord tarries         entire church through the way of her repentance.



                                         Do not object that this gospel makes men "careless
                                     and profane," so that they become utterly passive,
                                     seeing that God must do it all anyway, and that we will
                                     surely have the victory, whether we fight the good
                                     fight of faith or not. For the sovereign grace of God
                                     does not enervate man, but strengthen him and steel
                                     him to fight. It does not make men passive, but active.
                                     It does not make us profane, but it sanctifies us. It
                                     fills us with the love of God, so that we gladly receive
                                     and heed and obey His Word, and put on the whole
                                     armour of God, that we may be able to withstand in the
                                     evil day. The assurance that the victory is ours does
                                     not make us wit down passively, but causes us to be
                                     strong and courageous in the battle.
                                                            - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of
                                                             Grace," p. 113


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   149




EDITORIALS-

                  A New "Anti-Abstract"

                                                  Theological Method

                                            by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   We observed (in the December 1 issue) that at               Last time we saw that this new method is by its
stake in the Dekker Case, according to Dr. Henry            own admission and claim  new.
Stob, is a deep issue of theological method. We are
interested in this matter, in part, because of the fact        This time we shall examine another characteristic,
that the language of the Reformed Jouvnal found its         - or at least, a claimed characteristic,- namely, that
way into the Christian Reformed Synod's decision in         it is anti-abstract and anti-objective, in distinction
the Dekker Case in the charge of abstractness.  But from the old method and its product, which is said to
we have a deeper interest. In the first place, we are       be guilty of abstractness and objectivism.
interested for purely theological reasons. Theological
method is of the utmost importance, as is the method           First of all, I will show by means of quotation that
followed in any science. The method determines the          this is indeed the claim of this method. All of these
product, the result, the conclusion of any scientific       quotations are from Dr. Stob's editorial in the Re-
investigation.    If the method is incorrect, then the      formed Journal, May-June, 1967,  ppO 5, 6.          In the
conclusion will be incorrect. It is thus in theology second paragraph he writes:
also.     Hence, any theologian, whether of high or low           No one is here entitled to cast stones at any other;
degree, whether professional or amateur, should have          all of us have in the past been victimized by what in-
the utmost concern and should pay careful attention           creasingly appears to be an abstract and rationalistic
when matters of method are raised. For this reason            method of doing theology; but we can ill afford now,
I believe that responsible theology demands that the          when we are just beginning to reach out for a new and
Refovmed  Jouvnal,  and particularly Dr. Stob, should         more biblically oriented method of theological under-
devote more than a one-page editorial to this subject.        standing and construction, to arrest our advance by
The method should be explained; it should be justified        making pronouncements dictated by a purely objec-
on sound Biblical and confessional grounds; and its           tivistic mode of thinking.
benefits and superiority should be clearly set forth.          In his third paragraph Dr. Stob seems to equate
I respectfully suggest  ,that the  Refovmed  Joumuzl  do    this abstractness and objectivistic mode with  Greek-
this. Its readers are entitled to a complete explana-       philosophic thought:
tion ,of an important matter of this kind. Moreover,
the entire Reformed theological community should                  New and responsible biblical studies have taught
reap the benefits of this new method, if such there are.      us to recognize that inherited Greek-philosophic modes
Perhaps, however, if the  Reformed  Journal  cannot           of understanding are not suited to the Revelation given
place such material, then Dr. Stob, as a member of            by the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and by
the faculty, could prepare a detailed essay for the           the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Calvin Theological Journal.  At any rate, a full ex-
plication and justification of this new method is a             As far as I am concerned, the above is a platitude,
must.      And I believe that no one on this side of the    couched in very general terms, and stated without any
Atlantic is more able to accomplish this task than Dr.      explanation of what is meant or any proof that the old
Stob. `In the second place, we are interested also be-      theology is guilty. Dr. Stob should explain and offer
cause all of theology is involved in this method, and       proof 0    Does he mean, perhaps, that it is wrong to
especially such basic truths as predestination, the         apply logic and the laws of logic to Scripture? Or does
atonement, and the preaching of the gospel.. This is        he mean something else? Let him say.
true both here and in the Netherlands, where this same          The same is true of the generalities employed in
new method has been, proposed and is `being employed        the last statement of the same paragraph, where he
with devastating results.                                   seems to be trying to describe positively what he
   Meanwhile, the Standovd Beaver  will continue to         means by notbeing'abstract and objectivistic. I would
reflect .on this matter on the basis of the data avail-     greatly appreciate a concrete, down-to-earth explana-
able.'                                                      tion of what the following statement really means. I


150                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


have my own ideas; and. if they are correct,,then this              But the above is in parentheses.
is not a good statement. Here is the statement:                    The main point in the above-quoted paragraph con-
         We are beginning to understand that biblical truth     cerns method. It is Dr. Stob's claim that the dispute
  is historical, kerygmatic, and existential, and that it       in the Dekker Case revolved about a false problem,
exists and has meaning, not in static isolation, apart          that is, a problem stated incorrectly, stated in terms
  from. the divinely addressed human situation, but only        of the wrong categories, non-Biblical categories. Be-
  within the context of man's response, only within the         cause this is the case, Dr. Stob claims, you cannot
  context of belief and unbelief.                               come up with the correct, that is, the Biblical answer,
   I, for one, have always believed that biblical truth         an answer solved on the basis of Biblical givens,
is historical. But I would surely like some definition          Biblical data. Moreover, Dr. Stob seems to claim that
of "kerygmatic" and "existential." Let us take an               the basic flaw in the method of both Dekker and the
example.          Biblical truth is that Jesus is the Son of    Committee is that they divorce the doctrinal question
God. Does Dr. Stob mean that this truth exists and has          from the kerygmatic situation, that is (I take it), from
meaning only within the context of man's response of            the situation of the preaching, in which the preacher
belief and unbelief? Is that not objectivefact,-regard-         proclaims the gospel, and in which the listeners are
less whether it is believed or disbelieved? And if we           confronted by the demand of faith and repentance, and
deny this, do we not land squarely in relativism and            in which there is always the two-fold response of faith
subjectivism,- and, I fear, theologically in Arminian           or unbelief, obedience or disobedience.
conditionalism? I would like an explanation.
   My fears as to what this method implies in its                  Now, Dr. Stob does not elaborate further on this
claim of being anti-abstract increase when I read the           problem stated in terms of non-Biblical categories,
next paragraph. And they increase not chiefly because           nor does he state what he means by the latter, nor does
of the mention of Dr. Daane, Dr. Pietersma, and Rev.            he state how the problem should be couched in terms
J. De Moor, although the very mention of Daane and              of Biblical categories.     I am afraid that Dr. Stob is
Pietersma is by this time sufficient to send theological        rather seeking to be rid of the problem, as I hope to
shivers down my spine.             But my fears as to this      point out later. I am afraid, too, that while he con-
method increase because of Dr. Stob's analysis of the           demns both Dekker and the Committee for being ab-
dispute. Writes he:                                             stract, Dr. Stob by a process of begging the question
                                                                nevertheless arrives inevitably at Dekker's doctrinal
         It has become evident to many of us-the point has      position. This also I will show later. But let us try
  often been made by Dr. Daane and is currently being           to understand what he means here by non-Biblical
  made by Dr. Pietersma and Rev.  J. De Moor-that the
  present dispute revolves about a pseudo-problem, a            categories. Let us apply what he says about a pseudo-
  problem stated in terms of non-biblical categories,           problem by stating the problem concretely. The one
  and a problem, therefore, which cannot be solved by           problem was about the love of God. The dispute be-
  the  biblic-al givens. Neither Professor Dekker nor the       tween Prof. Dekker and the Committee may be stated
  Committee is questioning the faith; both wish to honor        as follows, leaving out of the picture now the fact that
  the Scriptures and the Creeds. But both are caught in         the Committee also wants to say that in a sense God
  the toils of a method - the Committee, I'm afraid,            loves all men:
  much more than Professor Dekker  - which prevents
  them from resolving their differences. Both, though           Prof. Dekk&: God loves all men, elect and reprobate,
                                                                with a redemptive love.
  in significantly different degrees, disengage biblical
  -truth  from the kerygmatic situation and, by abstract-       The Committee: God does not love all men, but only
  ing it, inadvertently, and contrary to every intention,       the elect, with a redemptive love.
  falsify it..                                                     What are the non-Biblical categories here? As I
   Now I will. not enter here. into the question whether        understand Dr. Stob, he is claiming that categories
either Professor Dekker or the Committee is ques-               such as "all men, elect and reprobate" and "the elect
tioning the faith, or whether both wish to honor Scrip-         only" are non-Biblical categories, abstractions. I am
ture and the Creeds. I will only suggest that it would          confirmed in.this by two items in thedispute: 1) There
be more correct to write that both say that they do not         is running through the entire dispute, especially from
question the faith, and that both claim that they honor such men as Daane and Boer and Pietersma(and Daane
Scripture and the Creeds.            The objective question     has long. taken this position), a persistent denial of
whether what - they say or claim is true can only be            sovereign reprobation.     2)' Dr. Stob himself, in the
answered by the test of Scripture and the Confessions.          early part of the Dekker controversy, took the position
In other words, in a doctrinal dispute.you do not judge         that there is no sovereign reprobation when he denied
a man's motives, and you do not judge on the basis of           that God hates any man. I can come to no other con-
a man's claims of loyalty to the Creeds. But you                clusion, therefore, than this, that to Dr. Stob categories
judge a man's doctrine on the basis of Scripture and            like elect and reprobate are abstractions and must not
the Creeds; and if, then, such a man is truly loyal to          be employed in questions such as: whom does God
Scripture and the Creeds, he will bow to such a judg-           love? And: for whom did Christ die?
ment.                                                              All this is confirmed by the next paragraph of Dr.,


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       151


Stob's editorial.      Here also he does not forthrightly        to be expiated. He made atonement for others, either
state what his new method is; nor does he offer any              for all men or for some men, but for all those whom
proof that his method is the correct one or that the             He represented on the cross. That happened, it was a
question which he condemns is indeed an un-Biblical              concrete event, a fact! Christ in His atonement repre-
question, or that the question which he proposes is in-          sented some men on the cross. It is also a perfectly
deed any more Biblical or any more helpful. But he               legitimate question,  .therefore,  to ask:                         whom  did
furnishes an example. -Here it is:                               Christ represent on the cross? And it is also a per-
          Take, for example, the question: Did Christ die for    fectly legitimate question to ask:                            how did it come
  everybody? Consider that as an abstract question of            about that Christ represented some men in his atoning
  fact, consider that as a scientific question concerning        death? And it is also a perfectly legitimate question
  an objective state of affairs, and you have an insoluble       to ask:     who decided who would be represented by
  question on your hands. If you answer Yes!, how is it          Christ on the cross? I was not there, for I was born
  then that not all men are saved? If you answer No!,            1900 years later. Abel was not there either: he was
  how is it then that the crucified and risen Christ can         born about 4000 years .before.  And yet I was there,
  be genuinely and unreservedly offered to all? (Stob            and Abel was there, - representatively and judicially,
  means:        how is it then that the crucified and risen      just as really as though I had been nailed to the tree in
  Christ can be graciously and well-meaningly offered            person. How could that be? Who decided it? All these
  to all? This is his doctrine as a Christian Reformed           questions concern an objective state of affairs, and
  officebearer.      HCH) To avoid this impasse, to escape       they must have objective answers. And I want to em-
  this cul-de-sac, we must descend from the cold                 phasize, too, that they must not have mere coldly dog-
  heights of abstract "truth" and ask the biblical ques-         matic answers in the purely academic sense of the
  tion:       What is every man who hears the preached           word. Theology and the faith are not to be separated.
   Gospel - every such man without exception - called            I personally must have answers to these questions.
  upon to believe?                                               They concern my faith, and they concern the faith and
   To the last question in the above paragraph Dr.               the confession of the church and of the saints. Dr.
Stob then gives his own answer in the following para-            Stob's fallacy, therefore, is that he wants to call ab-
graph. We shall attend to that later. But what can we            stract what is factual and concrete, and that he does
learn concerning his method from the paragraph just              not want objective questions and answers about what,
cited?                                                           in his language, was "an objective state of affairs."
   Notice the question, first of all. It is the basic               Notice, in the third place, how he arrives at this
question:      For whom did Christ die His atoning death?        conclusion.    He creates a dilemma. On the one hand,
There are sub-questions implied in it. They are: Did             he says, you run stuck if you answer that Christ died
Christ die for everybody, for every man who ever                 for everybody: for then all men must be saved; but
was born and who yet shall be born? That is, did He die          they are not all saved. On the other hand, he says, you
for both elect men and reprobate men? Or did Christ              run stuck if you answer that Christ died not for every-
die only for some men, that is, the elect, while the             body:      for then how can He be well-meaningly and
reprobate are excluded from that atoning death?                  graciously offered to all, which, according to Stob and
These, of course, were the questions at issue in the             1924 He is? Granted Stob's premises, this is indeed
position of Prof. Dekker and in the position of the              a dilemma. This is the dilemma, the insoluble ques-
Committee.                                                       tion, created by 1924. It is a false dilemma: its false
   Notice, in the second place, that my former philos-           horn is the doctrine of the well-meant offer. Stob
ophy professor speaks in this connection of an a&                seeks to avoid this impasse, this cul-de-sac, by say-
s&act question  of fact  and of a scientific (that is,           i n g : we must not ask that kind of question. We must
theologically scientific) question concerning an  objec-         not inquire into any objective state of affairs. We
tive state of affairs. I object here. My objection is,           must not be abstract and ask for objective answers to
first of all, that questions of fact are pev se not ab-          objective questions concerning concrete, objective,
s&act.       They are  concrete. They are questions, con-' historical events.
cerning  concrete events.  My objection is, in the                  I shall criticize this method further, and show that
second place, that it is perfectly legitimate to ask             it is not the method of Scripture and the'creeds. But,
scientific questions concerning an objective state of            in conclusion for this time, let me point out that: 1)
affairs in connection with the death of Christ; and to           Dr. Stob appears -to equate abstract and objective. 2)
come up with scientific, that is, dogmatic and objective         On this basis and following this method, you will have
answers, statements of dogva, statements of objective            absolutely no dogmatics left. Every objective state-
doctrinal truth; in response to those questions concern-         ment concerning objective truths, events, facts, works
ing an objective state of affairs. `Why? Because when ,of God, it seems to me, becomes illegitimate. And I
Christ died His atoning death, that was 1 to use Stob's          detect that this is precisely what is happening in the
language  - an objective state of affairs.. Something            Netherlands, particularly with respect to the doctrine.
happened when Christ died. That was an actual his-               of predestination, but also with respect to other do&
torical event,' a concrete, objective fact;- What was            trines, e.g., that of creation and the fall. With respect
that something? He made atonement. Forthom? Not,                 to the truth of predestination, its end is a neo-Ar-
surely, for Himself:        He Himself had no debt of guilt      minianism or neo-universalism.-`,
                                                                                              ..i,  -.  pi
                                                                                                       _
                                                                                               -+           <'  ._     -.::


152                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                                       Editor's Notes
       The first note is to some of my delinquent fellow         Preliminary work is being done with a view to an
editors. You have all received a schedule informing           eventual biography of the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema.
you when the articles for your department are due.            Any of our readers who has any pertinent information,
Whether you are observing this schedule or not is             any interesting first-hand anecdote, or any worthwhile
known to you and your editor-in-chief. The simple             photograph or snapshot is urgently invited to corres-
facts are, however, that the Standard Beaver runs on a        pond with me. All helpful information is welcome; but
rather tight schedule, and that this schedule calls for       especially information about Rev. Hoeksema's early
sufficient copy in the scheduled departments to fill our      days in Chicago, his student days, and his early minis-
24 pages. The cooperation of all is kindly.but urgently       try is welcome. Any photographs which areloaned will
requested, in order that  all  scheduled departments may be returned as soon as possible. Please do not be too
appear as scheduled, and in order that the task of            quick to think that your information is already known
writing does not fall increasingly on the editorial de-       or that it is not worthwhile. Your help will be greatly
partment.      And please do not think yourself too busy;     appreciated. If necessary, arrangements will be made
aren't we all?                                                for a taped interview.
                      *  *  * * *                                                   * *  x * *
   To those who wrote in for complimentary copies of             Do you know that .the  Standard  Beaver   is more
our new  Protestant Reformed Theological  Joumutl,            widely read than we sometimes dream? In fact, its
this word of information. Our supply of the first issue       witness goes literally to the ends of the earth. In a
was exhausted all too soon. If you have sent in your          recent month, for example, requests for back issues
name and address, you will be on the mailing list for         were received from as far away as England and New
the second (Spring) issue.       If you still desire to be    Zealand. This is mentioned, not to brag, but to en-
placed on the mailing list, please send your request          courage both staff members and supporters of our
to Prof. H. Hanko.                                            magazine.



  TRYING WE  SPIRIT-


                      The  Cornpassion Of Christ

                                                by Rev.  R. C.  Havbach


   We. not only believe that God foreknows all things,        a people predestinated. The decree of God, then, saw
but that He does not and cannot foreknow without              His people perfect and holy before it saw them fallen
foreordaining. For not only is God's omniscience all-         and redeemed (Eph. 1:3-7). He would bring many sons
comprehensive and all-embracing, but so is His fore-          to glory through the Fall and from the ruins of it.
ordination. He foreordains whatsoever comes to pass              Man, by nature, therefore, is in a very desperate
(Acts  4:27f). Therefore it is impossible that He know        case (Jer.  17:9).    The Fall has left him not merely
beforehand anything that has not been already fore-           "very far gone from original righteousness," as the
ordained.     There is nothing that can be the object of      expression goes in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,
divine prescience but that which has been preordained.        but "wholly gone from original righteousness," i.e.,
God cannot know, for example, that an event shall occur       dead in sins, prone to hate God, wholly incapable of
which He has not ordained to occur. We therefore doing any good, and prone to all wickedness. He is
conclude that God not only foreknew the Fall,. but that       then in great need of a Savior to cleanse his soul from
He foreordained it, and. that it was but an incident in the damning defilement of sin. But even after sin is
the great  .plan of His eternal purpose according to          washed away in the only fountain for cleansing, the
which He would glorify himself in a glorified people.         blood of .the Redeemer, man needs an Almighty Friend,
His primal thought within the divine decree was eter-         for he traverses a land of dire dangers, troubles and
nally to tabernacle with the glorified sons of men. To        sorrows.     The world is, as never before, dark with
effect this, He planned in His inscrutable wisdom to. sicknesses, diseases, poverty, friendlessness, hope-
bring it to pass through the Fall ordained and through lessness, desertion, treachery, enmity, and. the last


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     153


enemy, death. Man needs a Redeemer-Friend who can             deal with weak and erring children. The world re-
save him and sympathize with him through all these            garded him as "a holy man." He would have been the
evils. Scripture is quite abundant in references to such      first to deny it. He was what he was because he had
a Friend, which richly turn on the theme of the Com-          seen and felt a great deal of sin, and experienced a
passion of Christ. Consulting your concordance, you           great deal of mercy and divine love. He was the kind
find that ."when He saw the multitudes, He was moved          of man whose wisdom gave you what you felt you need-
with compassion on them, because they fainted, and            ed, so that you could leave him, without revealing your
were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd            problem, in a feeling of peace; yet you were drawn to
(Matt. 9:36)." An insight into His heart is had here.         speak out, tell him, and unburden your heart before him
Then "Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude,             for the good that came from the intimate contact with
and was moved with compassion toward them, and He             him.     That is the kind of high priest we could have
healed their sick (14:14)." Matthew in the one place          wished for, had we lived in old Israel. Yet we would
shows His concern for the welfare of men's souls; here        not idolize a man, for our great High Priest is incom-
for the comfort of their bodies. This is further evident      parably better.
in, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they             His is not the compassion of a stranger, of one un-
. . . have nothing to eat; and I will not send them away      related to us, but that of Friend (Prov. 18:24), Brother
fasting, lest they faint in the way (1.5:32)." Healing two    (Heb. 2:12), Husband (II Cor. 11:2), and Father (Isa.
blind beggars, "Jesus had compassion on them, and             9;6).    He knows all about our struggles by experience.
touched their eyes (20:34)." Nor did He shrink from           He has suffered the same trials as we. He has experi-
the leper, but "moved with compassion, put forth His          enced weariness (John 4:6), hunger (Mart. 4:2), thirst
hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, `I will: be        (John 19:28), and poverty (II Cor. 8:9). He knows what
thou clean (Mark 1:41)."' He also sympathized with            it was to have nowhere to lay His head (Matt. 8:20), to
the bereaved, for seeing the sorrowing widow of Nain,         lack sympathetic friends (26:40) and to be attacked by
"He had compassion on her, and said unto her, `Weep           the horrible suggestions of the devil. He was perfectly,
not (Luke 7:13).' " Indeed, "the Lord is gracious and         supremely qualified to show compassion.
full of compassion (Ps. 145:8)." We can sing, "He is              Beautifully does C. H. Spurgeon enlarge onthe com-
a kind, compassionate Friend!"                                passion of Christ. "Those who came to the high priest
   It would be true, too, if we sang, "Jesus knows all        of old, were not often of the rough sort. Those who
about our struggles!" For in every crucible He him-           wished to have fellowship with God through the high
self has suffered. "In all their afflictions He was af-       priest in the tabernacle or the temple, were generally
flicted." If a thorn ever gave you pain, recall that it       the timid ones of the people. Remember how she who
once pierced His head. If trouble or difficulty strews        came when Eli was high priest was `a woman of a
your path, you will detect along the way His handmarks        sorrowful spirit'; and the high priests had to deal with
and footprints. The path of sorrow is stained with the        many such. The sons and daughters of affliction were
blood-spattered footsteps of the Man of Sorrows. Where        those who mostly sought the divine oracle, and de-
you are very conscious of your sin, remember, He              sired to have communion with God; hence the high
knew sin, not His own, but ours laid on Him (Isa. 53:6).      priest needed not only to be a man, but a man of tender
Where you suffer almost unbearable slander, He was            and gentle spirit. It was necessary that he should be
called a drunkard and a madman. Our sufferings are            one with whom those with broken hearts, and those who
hardly worth a thought compared to His. He suffered           were groaning under a sense of sin, would like to speak.
hellish agonies when He descended into hell at Geth-          They would dread an austere man, and woukd, prob-
semane and Golgotha. He drank the cupof eternal woe.          ably, in many cases, have kept away from him alto-
   Will He have compassion on us? It is well-known            gether. Now, the mercy for .us is, that our great High
that He "is kind to the unthankful and evil" and "can         Priest is willing to receive the sinful and the suffering,
have compassion on, the Ignorant, and on them that            the tired and the tempted; He delights in those that are
are out of the way." Certainly unkind, unthankful,            as bruised reeds and smoking flax; for thus He is able to
evil, ignorant and out of the way exactly describes us        display his sacred qualification. He `can have compas-
by nature. We have such a merciful and faithful High          sion.' It is His nature to sympathize with the aching heart
Priest. We have not a high priest who cannot be touched       but He cannot be compassionate to those who have no
with the feelings of our infirmaties, but one who             suffering, and no need. The heart of compassion seeks
can have compassion. The old covenant priest had to           misery, looks for sorrow, and is drawn towwrds de-
be a compassionate man. What sort of man was he?              spondency; for there it can exercise its gracious mis-
The writer likes to think he was aman like his mater-         sion to the full (Treas. of N.T., IV, 61)0'9
nal grandfather - a strong, fatherly man, with face and          Christ risen and ascended has still the same com-
mien inspiring confidence, tender, understanding, sym-        passion He showed in His earthly ministry. Is He not-
pathetic; never high and mighty. There was love in his        "the same yesterday, and today, and forever?" He
eye, a smile on his face. He was natural. He was              had never thrown bread and meat to hungry people as
real.    When we wanted to see him, he was visible.           we throw a bone to a dog. He seated them comfortably
When we wanted to talk with him, he was gentle. He            on the greensward, then He blessed the food and had it
never treated us as though we were stupid. When we            distributed in a quiet, orderly way, in multiplied abun-
were stupid, he was not impatient. He knew how to dance. Being compassionate, He suffers together with


154                                          THE  STANDARD-IBEARER


His people in their miseries. This is indicated in,          will give grace and glory; no good thing will He with-
"Saul, Saul, why  persecutest  thou  Me?"        Saul had    hold from them that walk uprightly - no good thing,
pinched the toes, but the head complained. So also now       no good in heaven, not even the throne of God (see Rev.
He lovingly and tenderly `ministers to His people. He        3:21).
abounds towards them in wisdom and prudence. He                 Another eminent man put it this way: `6Remember-
-yearns over His people with longsuffering. Though as-       ing what He himself passed through down here, the
cended on high, His heart is here below. For when a          Lord Jesus has a tender and continuing sympathy with
suffering saint groans, He hears the groan. When the         His suffering members. He has a deep compassion
deep desire of the saint cannot be expressed by any for each of His tried saints, even when He does not see
vocal sound, when there are groanings which cannot be        well to set them free at once from their pains. For
uttered, the heart only aching after Him, He feels the       not only has He their spiritual and ultimate good in
ache of the heart, He knows what it means. When you          view, but, what is yet more blessed, His affections
do not know how to pray as youought, He interprets the       never move Him to ignore the sovereign and  all-
attempt to pray. He has compassion on the ignorant.          wise will of the Father. Then let not the deferring of
If you do not know what good you want or need, but only the deliverance, the postponing of relief, cause any to
know that there is something you must have or die, He        call into question that love which passeth knowledge.
will give it to you. He willinterpret the profound long-     Rather let us rest with calm confidence on that sure
ings of your heart, which are beyond your own depth.         word, `His compassions fail not; they are new every
(Has he not put eternity in man's heart?) What you can- morning (Lam. 3:22f).' " (A. W. Pink, "Studies in the
not read in yourself, He will trace and read for you. He     Scriptures," XI, 143).


 QUESTION  BOX-

           Concerning the Law in the

                                               Old and New Dispensations

                                              by  Pyof.  HO C. Hoeksema


       From the Men's Society of South Holland, Illinois,    marks do not help the brethren in answering their
through their secretary, brother Garret Flikkema, I          question, they are welcome to make use of the Question
received the following question: "What is the similar-       Box again.     You see, it is entirely possible that the
ity and difference of the content of the law for the         Question Box produces qqestions instead of answers
church of the old and new dispensation, as based on upon occasion.
Romans 6 and 71                                                 2)     To the question concerning the  content  of the
                                                             law (apart, now, from Romans 6 and 7), I would an-
REPLY                                                        swer:     a) That the difference between the old and the
       Questions concerning the law and the saints' rela-    new dispensations is that in the former the church had
tion to the law, both in the old and the new dispensa-       to observe the civil and ceremonial laws, while in the
tion, always seem to recur. And they are interesting         new dispensation "the ceremonies and figures of the
questions. In reply to the above question, the follow-       law ceased at the coming of Christ" (Confession of
ing:                                                         Faith, Article XXV). b) That the similarity consists
       1) I am at a loss to understand this qqestion com-    in the fact that the content of the moral law, the Ten
pletely. I do not see what Romans 6 and 7 have to do Commandments, is never abolished.,
with this particular question, for one thing. That is,          3) It is possible that the brethren have in mind the
I do not see how Romans 6 and 7 speak specifically statement in Romans 6:I4: "for ye are not under the
of any difference between the old and new dispensation.      law, but under grace." If so, then I would point out the
For another, I do not see what Romans 6 and 7 have following, briefly:
to do with any possible similarity and difference of the        a) The law here must be understood as the whole
content of the law in the old and new dispensations.         revelation of the will of God concerning our life in
And even after a brief conversation with the chairman relation to Him and to all things: the moral law as it
of South Holland's Men's Society while I was there for a is briefly expressed in the Ten Commandments, with
preaching engagement, I must confess I am still at a its chief and only principle: "Love the Lord thy God!"
loss. But perhaps I am a bit dense. Hence, if my re-            b) What can that law do? In the first place, it


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       155


demands. It keeps before us the will of God concern-          enters into our hearts, loosens the bonds of sin, es-
ing us. It constantly reminds us, and deepens the con-        tablishes Hiss rule in us, so that we are now I&. And
sciousness of it, that we must love God. In the second        thus', <seeing we are not under the law but under grace,
place, that law blesses and curses. It blesses them           we are no servants of sin, and sin has no dominion
that abide in all that is written in the law, that love       over us.
God with all their heart and mind and soul and strength,              e) All this does not mean that the Christian is under
perfectly, always, without a flaw. It promises them           no requirement to observe and to keep the will of God.
life. But it curses them that fail even once. It threat-      In this sense the law is never abolished. But the
ens death and destruction upon all them that do not           Christian has the law of his God written in his heart,
love God. Such is the power and the limitation of the         and as such he freely observes that law as it is re-
1EiW.                                                         vealed in God's Word, - not, however, as a law of
    c) Hence, to be under the law, that is, under the         work-righteousness, but as a fruit of his salvation and
dominion of the law, is hopeless. We cannot keep the          as the manifestation of thankfulness.
law. For we are guilty to begin with: we are born in                  4) With respect to God's people in the old dispen-
guilt, having sinned in Adam; and we are born under           sation, Scripture speaks of their relation to the law
the curse of the law. Moreover, we increase our guilt         more directly in a chapter like Galatians 3. I cannot
daily by our actual sins. Hence, the law demands,             go into a detailed explanation of this chapter; but let
"Love God!" And we become more and more con-                  me try to lay down a few main thoughts:
scious of that demand if we are under that law. And                   a) The apostle speaks of the fact that since Moses
we cannot, and will not, and cannot will to love God.         the people of God in the old dispensation were under
And thus the law must curse us and assign us to death         the law.
and to the very lordship of sin. They that are under                  b) As such, they were under the curse of the law.
the law are under the curse of the law; and the curse                 c) However, the same people under the old dispen-
of the law assigns us to the very slavery of sin.             sation had the promise; and that promise could never
    d) To be under grace means to live in the sphere of       be disannulled by the law, because the promise was
grace, to be under the dominion of grace, i.e., under         first.
the dominion of that power according to which God                     d) The reason for this is that God's people were
makes His people like unto the image of His Son, de-          always in Christ, that Christ also came under the
livers them from the guilt of sin, from the power of          curse, and that, in due time, Christ removed the curse.
sin, and justifies and sanctifies and glorifies them.                 e) And faith in the old dispensation found comfort
It implies that in Christ Jesus we are free from the          even -under the law because in the wider sense the law
guilt of sin and the curse of the law. Christ has ful-        revealed Christ, revealed that Christ bore the curse
filled the demand of the law for all His people per-          for them, and revealed all the blessings of salvation.
fectly, removing all the guilt of sin and forever This it did in all the types and shadows of the law.
satisfying the demand of the law, "Love Me." He did           And this it did through the prophets, who always di-
so at the head of all the elect by His cross and shed-        rected the longing eyes of God's people to the realiza-
ding of His blood, and by  Bis resurrection for our           tion of the shadows and the fulfillment of the promise.
justification.    Hence, sin has lost its right to have               These are a few thoughts on a very broad question.
dominion over us. Thus, in the second place, we are           Once again, if the South Holland brethren have more
also free from the power of sin. Christ entered into          questions, they are welcome to call again.
glory and received the Spirit. And. by that Spirit He                                                               H.C.H.




                                In this spiritual battle the Christian occupies a
                             very precarious position, in fact, an apparently im-
                             possible and hopeless one. Everything that is of this
                             world is against him. He is against himself. For, al-
                             though it is true that he is a new creature, God's
                             workmanship .created  in Christ Jesus unto good works,
                             .he is renewed only in principle; and his whole nature
                             stands in diametric opposition to the new principle of
                             life he received in regeneration, and from which he
                             lives by faith. He has but a small beginning of the new
                             obedience,. and the motions of sin that are in his mem-
                             bers make it quite impossible for him, as long as he
                             is in this life, to live without sin.
                                                   - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of
                                                    Grace," pp. 107, 108


156                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 IN HIS  FEAR-

                                     The Blessed Giver

                                                   by Rev. J. A. Heys

   "Legalized theft  I"                                           We have one general observation to make before we
   The quotation marks used on the above phrase are            go into the matter more fully and that is the fact that
due to the fact that some speak that way. But actually         it is becoming increasingly evident that the church
there is no such thing as legalized theft.                     membership will be hard put to resist the mark of
   Theft is sin. The eighth commandment declares               the beast in the days of the Antichrist. Union mem-
quite unequivocally, "Thou shalt not steal," and it            bership of countless numbers of church members
makes no exceptions at all. This is God's unchange-            today, and among them ardent, fierce defenders of
able law engraven in stone to abide as long as this            these unions and their rebellious actions, and office-
earth is kept in its present form, and abiding even            bearers' who can also serve as union officials, indi-
after, through all the melting of the elements with a          cates that we are not far from those days of which
fervent heat. For this is the will of the unchangeable         Jesus spoke, when He asked, "Shall the Son of man
God, Who changes not. And His will changes not after           find faith on the earth?" and because of which
the new creation is brought forth by His almighty              the days shall be shortened, lest the very elect
power.       It will not then in the new creation be a law     be deceived.         For,    the reasons and arguments
engraven in stone to compel obedience but be the law           for union membership are the very same as those
written in the hearts of all the citizens of that holy city    for submission to the Antichrist's mark.        If today
to impel them along in perfect obedience before God.           one must join the godless unions for bread's sake,
   And since. theft is sin, it cannot be legalized no          it will be even more so the necessity when one cannot
matter how hard we may try. You cannot make law-               buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast.
ful that which is unchangeably unlawful. You can decide        He who defends membership in the godless union today
to call it lawful. You can refuse to treat its perpetra-       has already by his deed declared that taking the mark
tor as a sinner. You may even reward the man who               of the beast is also a necessary evil and one which he.
steals for his bravery and achievement.. You may be-           must and will practice. If he has an obligation before
stow honours upon him; but you cannot legalize what            God to provide for his family (and he certainly does)
God calls sin. The authorities may legislate that sin          and this absolves him of all guilt when he joins with
and declare that you may steal with impunity. But it           the godless in their godless unions, yoking himself
remains God's unalterable will for the rational-moral          unequally for the things of this life, that obligation
creature; and no man or group of men is going to               will be there with double force in the days of the
change God's mind and will. Men would like to do that.         Antichrist, for then it will not be a question of lower
Men have behaved as though they did succeed in chang-          wages and a gradual sinking into poverty andultimately
ing His law. But by doing so they broke His law and            into insurmountable debt. But it shall be a matter of
denied Him His glory.                                          eating or not eating, of living or of dying. Before
       Such an attempt to legalize theft is before our very    these dreadful days come, we had better re-examine
eyes today. Actually we have many such foolish at-             our position and ask ourselves as parents and office-
tempts today. But there is one that we wish to con-            bearers in the church whether we are teaching the
sider, not because it has not beentreated exhaustively         younger generations in our churches to take and de-
already, but because the matter is so important and            fend the mark of the beast when it comes, or whether
the pressure is building every day and week and year.          we now already are warning and teaching our children
We refer to the open, bold and rebellious attempts of          to be dedicated to God, to trust Him and to put away
men by the strike, the boycott and the picket line to          all covetousness.
force out of the hands and pockets of others that which           Let it be understood that our argument is not with
these strikers covet, because they are in their hearts         unionism in itself. We referred a moment ago to the
breaking the tenth commandment that denies covetous-           evil of being unequally yoked with unbelievers. This
ness of every kind.         That the ungodly, who have no no man will seek by faith but only in unbelief. Paul
God, will do these things is to be understood. These           presents the matter very powerfully in II Corinthians
ungodly are a law unto themselves. Man and his laws            6, and no believer reading these words of the apostle,
are the extent of all rule andregulationwith them. And         and believing them to be the Word of God through the
when the state grants the right, the ungodly go ahead          apostle, can in the exercise of faith and by a walk in
with their theft and defend their evil works. But will         His fear go ahead and unite with men whose principles
the believer do this?                                          are so diametrically opposed to all the things of faith.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      157


But the. mere action of uniting with others is nowhere           amount of money per hour with all the fringe benefits.
condemned in Holy Writ. Abraham was confederate                  A hard and fast agreement has been signed and goes
with certain Canaanites; and we have no reason for               into effect. The contract runs for two or three years,
doubting that they were believers. This federation is            and just before or after it is up, a strike is called
nowhere condemned in the Word of God. Merely to                  with the intent of getting a new and better contract.
unite to have one's voice heard is not wrong. Raising            When that contract comes to its close the employer
one's fist, however, to get action when a request fails          has NO obligation to those with whom he has signed a
is quite something else.      To ask for a raise is one          previous contract. If they want to quit their jobs be-
thing.    To prevent the employer from adding to his             cause they consider the pay too little, that is their
income, because you believe that he does not give you            privilege. Let them look for work elsewhere. But for
sufficient reward for your labors is something entire-           the union to demand out of the hand and pocket of the
ly different. Getting him "over the barrel" and taking           management before a hand is lifted in work and before
advantage of him, coercion of any sort and damage to             a contract will be signed is taking away from the em- -
his property and to his business and income is always            player's hand and pocket that to which the employee
sin and a theft that is never legal before the eyes of           has no right. He has no rightful claim to any pay be-
the holy God Whom we are in all things to serve.                 fore he works; and he certainly has no right to threaten
   But our argument with the so-called neutral unions,           the man for whom he has not worked and will not
and in fact with any union that advocates and uses the           promise to work if he is not given a certain amount
strike clause, is the fact that they try to legalize theft       of remuneration, if he would. work. We repeat, let
and dishonouring of the authorities. They have for their         him quit his job. Let him look elsewhere. Let him
principle that might makes right. Because they have              tell the boss that he, will not work for that amount;
joined ranks and have the power to stop production,              but he has no right to claim to hold his job, keep others
hurt the employer, get him "over the barrel," have               from working for that employer, lock up his building,
him where he is going to get hurt if he does not come            put a picket around it, allow no goods to be brought in
across with the demands of the union, they take out of           or be shipped out of that plant and all the other forms
the pocket and hand of the employer that which he did            of coercion.      And it is theft when he does all this to
not intend to give. And we may add what we already get another filthy dollar! It is rebellion and is breed-
suggested.    All this stems first of all from a sin             ing in our nation a whole generation of rebels, rioters,
against the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet             revolutionists and revolters !
thy neighbour's...." And taking out of a man's pocket,
forcing him to-hand over what is his, and he has no in-              We say again, that ungodly men will do this, we
tention of handing over, is sin, for it is theft. And            can understand.         For they are a god to themselves.
when you add damaging his business, wrecking his                 But that the child of God, that the one whose name ex-
machines, turning over his trucks, spilling and spoil-           presses that he would walk in His fear will ignore the
ing his goods and defacing and damaging his property,            precept" I will recompense, saith the Lord" and again
you have more sin added to the illegal action.                   "Vengeance is mine," we cannot understand. And in
   The State may allow all this and look the other way.          His fear, we will bow even to the cruel, the froward,
The police may be called out to protect the property-            the merciless, greedy employer who withholds what
destroyers; the authorities may pass legislation that            we have coming. In His fear we will not sin against
tells the Christian who will not perform these anti-             the employer, just because he sins against us. We will
Christian deeds that he cannot work in a particular              not say, "I will be like God. I will take His place and
factory, unless he also subscribes to such evil and              take things into my own hands.  Vengence is mine.
promises to perform such wickedness together with                Jehovah is too slow and unconcerned with my lot."
the godless in that factory; but before God this does            In His fear we bow in reverence before God, fight the
not legalize such deviltry. It remains theft and re-             covetousness that is in us, would rather go without
bellion rooted in covetousness. Especially is this true          than to get anything in the way of stealing; and we
when, as is the case with all these so-called neutral would give God the praise that is due to His name by
unions, a contract -has been signed to work for `a certain walking in His law.




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158                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                             .



          FROM HOLY  WRIT-


                            The Book Of Hebrews


                                                 by Rev. G. Lubbers


Hebrews 4:14-l 6 (Read from own Bible)                      thou hast hold fast my name, and hast. not denied my
       The writer here returns to his point of departure    faith in the days of Antipas my martyr." Again in
in Chapter 3:1-5. There he had spoken of the great verse 25 of the same Chapter we read "Nevertheless,
apostle and high-priest of our profession, Jesus, who that which ye have hoEd fast till I come." No, Jesus
was ,faithful to him that appointed him, evenGod. After     does not cast a great and heavy burden upon us. It is
a most relevant digression in the Chapters 3:7.to 4:13,     the light burden and the easy yoke which we must hold
he: now picks up the thread of the argument, and re-        fast.    Then we shall find rest for our souls, and no
peats the exhortation which comes to the church as          one shall ever be able to take our crown. Likewise
partakers of the heavenly calling. We do well to take       we read in Revelation 3:ll "Behold, I come quickly:
notice, once more, of the exhortations which come to hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy
us with so much comfort, urgency and encouragement.         crown." For this Christ, who speaks here, suffered,
                                                            died and rose again, that he might bring many sons
HOLDING FAST THE PROFESSION (Chapter  4:14)                 to glory! (Hebrews 2:lO)
  ,The writer begins this paragraph with the infer-
ential particle "wherefore," which is translated "hav-            For this Christ, this high priest, is the great high
ing then," or "since we have." The fact that we             priest of our confession.       He is none less than the
have .a great high priest, namely, Jesus, has been          Son of God!! He is not a mere manas were both Moses
established. Fact is, that this reality is exactly the      and Aaron, and as were all the prophets. He is Im-
confession of both the writer to the Hebrews and of the     manuel, God-with-us !        And he is glorified, he is
church. Hence, he writes in. the first person "let us       "passed through the heavens." The terrn in the Greek
hold fast our confession." Once this had been their         passed through the heavens is "dieleeluthota," which.
public confession of .faith. They had been fully per-       is a perfect participle. The perfect tense here indi-
suaded that Jesus is the Christ, who should`come into       cates that this Jesus, the Son of God, is in the abiding
the world.       To Him we must hold fast, we must be       and completed state and condition of having passed
faithful and not fall away from the living God by an        through the heavens.        He has gone up to the very
evil heart of unbelief. Rather we must have a hearing       throne of God, and sat down as the King-priest at the
mingled with. faith as the gospel of Christ is preached     right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3) He
to us. We must enter. by faith into the final "Sabbat- is the very effulgence of God's glory, the very image
ismos, the Sabbatic rest'of the .heavenly Canaan, which     of his substance, and upholding all things by the word
"rest" is not the type and shadow of something greater      of his power, and, who, when he had made the puri-
to come, but it is the final rest! And because the word     fication of our sins by himself, sat down on the right
of God is living, energetic, sharper than any  two-         hand of the Majesty on high! Indeed, all things have
edged sword, laying all things open and naked, let us       been placed under his feet. (I Corinthians &5:26, Psalm
give heed and hold fast!                                    8:7, Hebrews 2:6-8)       He is great!  Thus he was an-
       The verb here to hold fastin the Greek is "kratein," nounced by the angel Gabriel to Mary in the little city
which means: to take hold of and hold fast, to never let    of Nazareth before His birth. Says Gabriel to Mary,"
go. Hence to cleave to with firm faith, lively hope and     He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
ardent love; to love the word of the Gospel, and to         Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the
cling to the high-priest with all the power of faith and    throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the
child-like trust. This means that the Hebrews must          house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall
not be seduced by those of the synagogue of the un-         be no end." (Luke 1:32, 33) In Him the hope of Israrl
believing Jews, which is the congregation of the Devil,     is attained, the fulfilment of all the prophecies. In
to let go of the confession concerning the Christ. Thus     Him we see that great prophet foretold by Isaiah "* D.
in the book of Revelation, Chapter 2:13, we read "and       and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    159


his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,Mighty        the inner sanctuary; here we find the mercy-seat upon
God, Everlasting Father (Father of eternity) Prince-of       the. Ark of$he testimony. Here the blood of atonement
Peace!"        He is the one seen by Daniel in the night     was sprinkled on the great day of atonement. And from
visions I (Daniel 7:14)                                      this throne flowed symbolically "streams of mercy
   Truly, we have a great high priest! He is the great       never ending." .The law was given through Moses, but
priest over the house of God. (Hebrews 10:21)                grace and truth became through Jesus Christ. When
   He is such that ever we can see that he has begun         Israel drew nigh to God in the Old Testament dispen-
in the deepest depth of hell and has passed through the      sation they went up to the temple, to the house of God.
heavens !                                                    And here in the high priesthood of Aaron they can draw
   Him let us cling to in joyful and confident hope and      nigh in the full assurance of hope and faith. For im-
confession.                                                  perfect as their worship was, God had provided for
                                                             the believers a man upon whose head. had been placed
DRAWING NIGH TO THE THRONE OF GRACE                          the mitre on which was fastened the golden signet
(He brews 4:16)                                              "Holy To Jehovah." And we read "Aaron'shall bear
   Unless we hold fast the confession in Jesus as the        the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of
great high priest we shall never have the courage to         Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall
draw nigh to the throne of God. 0, do not underrate          always be upon their forehead, that they may be ac-
what it means to draw nigh to God!         All things are    cepted before Jehovah." (Exodus 28:36-38) Thus Israel
naked and opened before the face of Him with Whom we         can draw nigh to the throne. It is all of grace. For
have to do! Our God is a consuming fire! Devouring the throne is one of grace itself.
flame before him goes; and dark the tempest round               The very term in the Hebrew language for "`to
him grows. And then we must draw near to this God?           draw near" is the standing term for the act of worship
How is that possible?                                        in Israel.    Thus we read in Psalm 73:28 "But it is
   Besides, the writer emphasizes that we must draw          good for me to draw near unto God, I have made the
near with "boldness" unto the throne of grace. Again         Lord Jehovah my refuge, that I may tell ,of all thy
we ask: how is that possible? Boldness, what is it.          works."       This certainly indicates that one draws
The term in the Greek is "parreesias." This does not         near to God to make God our "refuge." He is our
refer to brutal boldness which defies respect and awe        refuge from the load of guilt and sin, and in the
and humility before God. Rather it is a "boldness" midst of all our trials and temptations. This is very
rooted in the knowledge and confidence of childlike          beautifully expressed in Psalm 65:4 "Blessed is the
faith which takes God at his Word of promise, the Word       man whom thou  choosest,  and  causest to  approach
of the gospel. Such faith takes the shoes from off the       unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall
feet. It is the undoubted confidenceof Christians rela-      be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, thy holy
tive to their fellowship with God. (Ephesians  3:12;         temple." Had not the writer to the Hebrews, in con-
Hebrews 3:6; 10:35) It is of this boldness and fearless      nection with entering into the rest, quoted from Psalm
courage that John speaks in Chapter 2:28 ". . .little        95, and does this Psalm not speak of drawing near to
children, abide in him; that, if he shall be manifested,     the throne of grace, when it says ". . . Let us come
we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him          before his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a
at his coming." Again, we read in I John 4:17 "Herein        joyful noise unto him with psalms.. 0 0 come, let us
is love made perfect with us, that we may have bold-         worship and bow down, let us kneel before Jehovah our
ness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so       maker:     for he is our God, and we are the people of
are we in the world." What a godly boldness this is !        his pasture. Today, oh that ye would hear his voice!"
It is deepest reverence and humility that believes that         Either we draw nigh unto God in this assurance of
the Lord says "Him that cometh to me, I will in no faith or we fall away from the living God. Faith is
wise cast out." (John 6:37)                                  commitment to God.      It is to believe him.  (Believe
   Why can we have such confidence? Because we               is really a Holland term for to  "belove" one). It is
draw nigh to the throne, whichis "the throne of grace. " faith rooted in love, the will to love God. It is a basic
A study of the Scriptures will show that God's throne        attitude. To draw nigh to God is coming to bow down
is his regal relationship to us. He is the Judge. He before God, to kneel before him, to adore his mercies
directs all things from his throne. This is evident from     with ardent love and thankfulness. Not to draw nigh to
the vision of the throne in Revelation 4:2. All of the       God in full assurance of faith indicates a basic fear,
history of the world, the judgments and the great salva-     the being estranged from the life of God, to be without
tion of God's people are directed from God's throne.         hope and without God in the world. It is unbelief!
What makes this throne a throne of grace is that Jesus          It ought to be crystal clear from the meaning of
has ascended through the heavens and sat down on the         drawing near that unless we "hold fast" to the pro-
right hand of the Majesty on high.                           fession which is ours concerning the great high priest
   Permit me to make an observation here. For many           Jesus, we shall never draw near to God at all. He is
years the conviction has grown upon the writer of these      the way, the truth and the life, and no man can come
lines that in the Old Testament temple the Ark of the        unto the Father except through him. (John 14:6)  Pure
Covenant was the symbolic throne of grace and mercy.         doctrine is of paramount importance for a healthy and
It is the throne where God dwells with his people in         vigorous life of faith and peace with God.


160                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


PAGES FROM  THE  PAST-

                          On-Going Reformation
                                                      -49

(This is a continuation of the translation of a series       the rest of the day to various worldly pleasures. It
of articles by the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema on the          does not take long before the one remaining service
subject "Voovtgaande Refovmatie.")                           is attended only by a few women and children. During
       In our last article on the above subject we observed the summer months the church doors remain closed.
that the Reformation of the Churches takes place             During the winter the weather condidions do not always
through Secession as soon as it has appeared impos-          permit church attendance. There is really no Church
sible to reform the Church within the Church.                any more. About the truth people know little or noth-
       Further, we noted that this impossibility of re-      ing. Of God's covenant they have never heard. A con-
forming the Church within the Church does .not then          ception of the church they do not have. Things go from
first become a fact when a certain church has be-            bad to worse.     But now there appears from time to
come in the absolute sense of the word false church.         time a revivalist,  who is advertised far and wide, who
A certain church can manifest the distinguishing must once more arouse a little life inthe dead bones,
marks of the false church in varying degrees. To a           - at least to the extent that the people will again,
greater or lesser degree it can corrupt the doctrine,        under the influence of such an awakening, attend church
desecrate the sacraments, or neglect discipline. Ab-         for a while. To be sure, this influence does not long
solutely false church it does not quickly become.            endure. Soon the death is in the pot again; and finally
       However, when in a certain church communion the       it becomes impossible to remove it. And thus, at last,
wicked gain the upper hand and begin to dominate, so         the church doors are shut for good, and an entire
that they who lift the trumpet to their lips to call to      community sinks away into a heathen condition.
repentance and conversion no longer have a place, .but          May our churches be spared from such "revivals"!
are persecuted and cast out of the synagogue because            They have nothing in common with genuine revival,,
of their faithful testimony, then the only recourse for         At stake in them is not the truth, the sanctity of
the faithful is the way of secession, the way of continu-    God's covenant, but only the lagging existence of a
ing the true church in a new church communion.               church which is in fact no church.
       In the meantime, this is not the only way in which       But this is not the only matter to which we wanted
one can conceive of the Reformation of the Churches.         to point.
       Another way to such a Reformation is the way of          We also had our eye upon such movements, which
the YeveiZZe, known in our country as revival.               are encountered especially in our country, in which
       Revival is the Reformation of the Churches through suddenly a mighty personality appears on the scene,
spiritual awakening.                                         is adept at gathering. around himself through various
       We should be on our guard, however, against all       means thousands upon thousands of people, and pre-
kinds of false conceptions and wrong practices and           sents himself as an Evangelist and a preacher of
movements which especially in our country present            repentance. We refer to such movements as those of
themselves under the name of revival.                        Moody, of Pearsall Smith, of the Salvation Army, of
       First of all, many churches arefound in our coun-     Billy Sunday and others. (This was written before the
try which manage to extend their lagging existence           day of Billy Graham. HCH)
for a time through the means of periodic "revivals."            Now it is not at all our intention to deny that, as far
This is a great evil. In such churches they have long        as some of these revivalists are concerned, they are
since weaned away from regular and covenantal                   Now it is not at all our intention to deny that, as far
training and instruction of the believers and their          as some of these revivalists are concerned, they are
seed. At best, the preaching consists yet of a gospel prompted by personal zeal and the desire, as some
on a thumbnail. Not infrequently, however, the people would put it, "to win souls for Jesus." Of many of
have already weaned away even from that gospel, poor them we cannot even believe that. We simply cannot
in content though it may be; and on the sabbath day the      believe that the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ
assembly is treated to .a lecture (and a very poor one,      can also reveal themselves in the wonderful acrobatics
at that) about various subjects which have absolutely        which a Billy Sunday could "sell" the people, nor in
no connection with the truth of the Word of God.             the bombastic, proud, blasphemous language which he
Gradually, however, the audiences become smaller.            could utter both in preaching and in prayer.
People do not come to church any more. At first they            For the rest, however, we do not wish to pass
come to church only once a Sunday, in order to devote        judgment on these things.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  161


    We will certainly declare also of all such move-          experience as the genuine and true thing. They would
ments that they have nothing to do with actual revival,       then relate to one another their conversion-experi-
that they are erroneously known by the name revivals,         ences.    And it was not only thus, that they would
and that as far as we are concerned we do not expect          actually relate what God had done for their souls; but
from them any real fruit for the Church of God.               there would arise in such fellowships a competition as
    All these movements are extra-ecclesiastical: they        to who had travelled the deepest way. And thus it came
stand outside of the Church.                                  to pass not infrequently that someone's way, unnoticed
   Fact is that they find their power and their reason        by himself, would become ever deeper and more
for existence exactly in the decline and apostasy of the      terrible the more often he told the story. And let alone
Church. The leaders of such movements usually know            the fact that in that way they became ever more sickly,
how to capitalize on the defects and sins, the weak-          they also began more and more to set up their own
nesses and wrongs of the church. They appear to de-           conversion-experience as a criterion. One had to have
light in emphasizing what is wrong in the Church of           just such experiences, then, if he wanted to join in
the Lord. And they certainly do not seek their strength the conversations about regeneration and conversion.
in calling the Church back to the old paths and the old       Thus everyone was weighed and measured and judged,
truth. On the contrary, their strength continues exact-       and usually found wanting, until finally there were only
ly in the existence of that multitude who have broken         a few lamenting, pious souls left, who formed the real
with Covenant and Church, but whose emotions are              church within the Church.
stirred by the strongly emotional repentance-preaching           Especially in some parts of the Netherlands these
of the Revivalist.                                            fellowships developed into a morrass of sickly mysti-
   Such revivals do not aim at the Church, but they           cism.
exist and proceed apart from the Church.                         The traces of this one finds in our country among
   They do not intend the spiritual awakening of a            not a few. The chief characteristic of such sickly peo-
church whose life is in decline, but a winning of souls       ple is exactly that they have no concept of the church.
for Jesus, apart from the Church of Christ.                   Just as in those fellowships they were concerned about
   They do not call for a return to the maintenance           a kind of spiritual awakening, about a revival, but only
of the full truth of God in Christ. On the contrary,          of themselves, not of the church; just as in and through
they are without exception characterized by the in-           these "fellowships" they did not bother at all with the
sidious heresy of general atonement and the free will         ecclesiastical way, but went their own, self-chosen
of the sinner.                                                way; so with these descendants of such false mystics
   All such movements find no support in Scripture            there is precisely a lack of a correct presentation and
and will in the end appear to be harmful for the Church       conception of the Church of Christ and of His Covenant.
and to stand in enmity over against the Church.                  You can observe this in everything.
   Neither do we mean by revival that which came to              On the sabbath a mixed multitude really assembles,
manifestation in the Netherlands in the form of so-           instead of the congregation of God in Christ. There
called companies, or fellowships (gezebschappen).             are the assuved ones, who may and dare to confess that
   The church declined in grace in almost every               they are Christ's property; secondly, there are the
respect.    Doctrine was no longer maintained in its          "seeking souls," who already searched for years and
pqrity; there was simply no thought of ecclesiastical         have never found, and who would take it ill of you if
discipline; spiritual piety of life was missing; people       you emphasize that they should finally find what they
went along with the world, and the ChristianConfession        claim to be seeking; and, in the third place, there are
wws not heard from their lips nor seen in their walk.         also the  ungodly and unconverted,  who still have no
   And now they gathered together as a few believers,         part in the kingdom of Christ. The preacher must also
who came together deeply aggrieved by this condition          reckon with this. He must be careful that he does not
of the Church, in order to edify one another and com-         address his audience as "beloved in the Lord." It is
fort one another in these difficult and unspiritual times.    better to say: "Dear friends." In the preaching he
   They formed a kind of church within the Church.            must also be careful that he makes a precise distinc-
 No,, they did not intend any secession. They re-             tion between the- different groups. Especially in the
mained with the Church. They even attended the wor-           applicatory  remarks he must have a special word for
ship services. But what was real and true came only           each group, He must take care that he does not point
then, when the hour for their "fellowship" struck.            to the wickednesses of those who consider themselves
Then came the time of spiritual joy.                          children of God.      He must not touch their pride and
   Not seldom these gatherings would evolve into a            self-exaltation.    Further, he must allow the seeking
manifestation of false and sickly mysticism, the chief        souls quietly to continue seeking: for they do not want
characteristic of which, again, soon made its appear-         it any other way. And to the delight of everyone, even
ance as a stinking pride under `the form of lowliness         of themselves, the preacher must preach thunder and
and true humiliation.      Indeed, instead of applying        lightning especially to the actually present or the
.themselves  to the study of God's Word, in order to          imaginary ungodly.
examine themselves in its light, they soon tore them-            The same lack of a correct conceptionofthe Church
selves loose from that Word, in order to speak from           comes to manifestation in their view, or at least in
their own experience and to regard that subjective            their action with respect to the sacraments.


     162                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


           If they `had their way, they would baptize all who           No, revival is an act of the Spirit whereby He
     are presented for baptism in the church. Since this             arouses the Church out- of the spiritual slumber into
     is impossible, they allow the "wicked and unconverted" which it has sunk.
     to make a certain confession of the truth, as they call
     it, in order that they may nevertheless be able to have            It can happen that a church declines with respect'
     their children baptized.                                        to doctrine and life. The warning voice of the watch-
            But when it -comes  to the Lord's Supper, then they men on the walls of Zion was silent for a time. And
     begin to weigh and to judge,-not themselves, but                the Church fell asleep. And if under such conditions
     others! Only a few, the prominent ones, the specially           of lethargy the Spirit of Christ raises up men who
     graced ones, the assured ones, take their place at the          perceive this decline of the Church of God, who be-
     table of the Lord. The rest of the congregation hesi-           moan her miserable estate, who again raise the trum-
I    tates and stays away from the table of the Lord, or do          pet to their lips, not to address the wild masses out-
     not even give. it a thought to join with those "perfect         side of the Church and there to lament the condition
     ones" at the -Lord's table.                                     of Zion, but to call within her walls and to her citizens:
            Thus they separate baptism and the Lord's Supper.        "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead!"
     And all this arises out of the same defect: they have           and if that same Spirit then also works in the bosom
     no conception of the Church.                                    of the Church with irresistible grace, opens the eyes,
            However this may be, also such "fellowships" pierces the ears, unlocks the hearts, humiliates and
     have nothing in common -with a true revival. And this           fills with the fear of God, until once again sorrow
     is true because they do not aim at the Church, but              and repentance and a turning to the God of the fathers
     within the Church they attempt to promote their own             come to manifestation, -then you have revival,. ref-
     upbuilding in-an altogether unecclesiastical manner.            ormation through genuine spiritual awakening!


     ALL AROUND US-
                      '
                                 Scripture Attacked

     `-  AmAnalysis of the Dekker Decision
      .
                                                        by  Prof.  H.  Hank0

     When attacks are made against the veracity of the               the ten plagues which God sent upon Egypt at the time
     Word,  of God they are usually concentrated against the         of Israel's deliverance from the house of bondage and
     miracles of Scripture. It stands to reason that this            the destruction of Pharaoh's hosts in the Red Sea. This
     would be the. case. If ~suspicion and doubt are cast            part of the article reads:
     upon these miracles, then the whole structure of the                                             :
     Word pf God and its truth collapses. In our scientific                A second great historic consequence of.the Santorini
     age-this is exactly what is being done. Miracles cannot           consequence is the effect it may have had on northern
     be harmonized with a natural and scientific explanation           Egypt, 450 miles away, where the children of Israel
     of, things; and,' bowing before the idol of science, men          labored as slaves at the time. Historians have long
     discard Scripture.                 T                              noted the resemblance between the Ten Plagues, as
       A couple of instances' of this are to be found in the           recorded in the Bible,.and disasters that have accom-
     Readerls  Digest and the  Grand Rapids Press. In the              panied volcanic eruptions.     The surrounding waters
     November                                                          may turn a rusty red, fish may be. poisoned, and the
                    Reaaev's Digest an interesting article ap-
     peared concerning _ the explosion -of a volcano on the            accompanying meteorological disturbances frequently
     Greek island -of Santorini about the 15th century B.C.            create whirlwinds, swamps and red rain.
                                                                           The Ten Plagues produced similar phenomena.
     The article described the tremendous force of this                The waters of Egypt turned red as blood, killing fish
     explosion and-: the. consequent -disappearance of. the            and driving frogs `on shore. -Darkness covered the
     island;      It also, found -evidence. that this explosion        land for three .days. The heavens roared and poured
     explains the disappearance of a very advanced civil-              down a fiery volcanic hail.         Strong. winds brought
     ization and quite possibly explains the mystery of the            locusts, which destroyed what crops remained. In-
     f-abled ,Atlantis,- H0weve.r this. may be,. the article goes      sects, which bred in the rotting bodies. and swamps,
     on to find in this explosion a possible. explanation for        . brought .disease  to cattle and -humans. Death was so


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     163


  rampant as to amount to the killing of the "firstborn" God will some day send upon a wicked worid - judg-
  of every family.                                              ments which so closely parallel  the. plagues upon
      Egyptian documents confirm the disaster. "The             wicked Egypt.
  land is utterly perished. . . the sun is veiled and shines                          * * * * *
  not," says one papyrus. "0 that the earth would cease
  from noise, and tumult be no more!" laments another.             The other. story in the Grand Rapids-Times has to
  "The towns are destroyed.. . no fruits nor herbs are          do with the fall of the walls of Jericho. It contains a
  found . . .plague is throughout the land."                    news release of the Associated Press from Tel Aviv,
      Did the enslaved Israelites take advantage of the         Israel and reads:
  confusion and begin their epic migration to the Prom-                 Joshua cheated.    The walls of Biblical Jericho
  ised land? As evidence, some biblical scholars cite             came tumbling down after he blew his trumpet all
  I Kings 6:l: "And it came to pass, in the 480th year            right, but he'd undermined them first.
  after the children of Israel were come out of the land                That's what Dr. Jacob Feld, a New York consultant
  of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over            engineer on the causes of structural failure, thinks.
  Israel.. . " Since Solomon reigned from 970-930 B.C.,                 Feld found signs the foundations' had been dug away
  that puts the Exodus right around the time that San-            when he first studied the walls of Jerico  in 1931 during
  torini exploded.                                                 an excavation of the site.
      The Bible relates that Pharaoh pursued the Israel-                "The lower stones, which must have been. the
  ites and drowned in the sea with his army. Egyptian             foundations of the walls, were tipped downward and
  inscriptions also refer to this event. Galanopoulos             outward, as though someone had undermined the wall
  attributes the disaster to the tidal waves created              from the outside," Feld said during a recent visit
  when the cone of Santorini dropped into the sea - which         here.
   could have occurred weeks or months after the erup-                  "It was obvious someone had removed the earth
  tions, and the plagues, first began.                            under these stones from the outside of the wall."
      He points out that the Hebrew words yam suf can                   What probably happened, he believes, is that Joshua,
  mean either "Red Sea" or Reed Sea," and declares                leading an army of Israelites against the Philistines,
                                                                                                                           ._
  that many scholars believe it was the latter that the            shrewdly guessed that storming the walls would be
   Bible refers to. He identifies the location as Sirbonis         costly and decided to use a little trickery. He must
   Lake, a brackish body of water between the Nile and            have had some knowledge of soil mechanics and cal-
   Palestine, which is separated from the Mediterranean            culated that if his men undermined the walls the city
  by a narrow bow of land. He believes that the Israel-          could be taken virtually without a struggle.
   ites fled across this dry bridge, with the waters "on                So he set his diggers to work in the soft soil under
  their right hand and on their left," during the interval        the walls.
   when the sea was drawn back toward the Aegean, and                   "To create a diversion, he surrounded thecity and
   that the Egyptians were caught in the huge returning           had his priests blow their shofars (rams' horns) every
   tidal wave.    The interval would have been about 20            so often to distract attention," Feld theorizes.
   minutes.                                                             On the seventh day when everything was ready,
   Admitting that these theories "stand on shakier                the Israelite got all his priests to blow their horns
ground than those concerning the destruction of Minoan            together extra loud seven times while his men "gave
civilization," the Readev's Dzgest is guilty of an open            a great shout." And down came the precariously
denial of the miraculous in Scripture. But even apart             balanced walls.
from this, all sorts of questions remained unanswered                   But, Feld adds: "This theory doesn't rule out the
by such an explanation.        How is one to explain               religious view that the event was an act of God. The
that these plagues came and went at the specific com-           ,_ Almighty may have worked through Joshua whom He
mand of Moses and Aaron ? .How can one explain that               directed."
the last seven plagues, while destroying the land of                    Well, however Joshua did it, it made's great song.
Egypt, were not present in the land of Goshen where                Once again, the question is: "How then did that
`Israel dwelt? How can we, without denying Scripture            section of the wall upon which stood the house of
altogether, explain that the firstborn of the Egyptians         Rahab remain standing? And similar questions -could
and, of their cattle. were killed in the last plague while      be raised. But what must one do with the records in
the firstborn of the Israelites on whose` doorposts             the New Testament concerning this event? It was after
blood was smeared were spared the death which the               all ."by faith" that the walls- of Jericho fell .and "by
angel of God brought if we try to explain things by a           faith" that Rahab perished not with them that believed
volcanic explosion? These questions could be multi-             not.
plied. No scientific explanation .for these events can
possibly do justice to Ithe Scriptural account. One is          AN ANALYSIS  OF THE  DE&KER  DECISION,
placed before the options of bowing before Scripture               Perhaps the most accurate and honest evaluation
and ignoring these feeble attempts of wicked men to             of the decisions of the Christian Reformed Church on
destroy Scripture or accepting these- explanations              the Dekker %ase yet to appear- are to be found in a
and discarding God's own record of how these things             recent article by Harry R. Boer in the Reformed  Jouv-r
came to pass.                                                   nul. While we cannot quote the whole article nor'offer
----But  above all; `-a denial of these plagues will lead       a- complete analysis, it is interesting to note what'Prof.
inevitably to a similar. denial of the judgments which          Boer has to say.


I    164                                               THESTANDARDBEARER


            He reflects on the decisions from three different            in what Synod did. After pointing out that Synod did
     viewpoints :      the juridical aspect, the theological as-         not condemn the position of Prof. Dekker, did not ac-
     pect and the implications for the future.                           cept the position proposed by the Study Committee,
            With respect to the juridical aspect, Dr. Boer               and did not accept the position of Dekker, he writes:
     points out accurately that the Synod "did not itself
     clarify the issue or make any theological judgment                        Theologically there are in the synodical decision
     on the central point at issue: does God or does God                   the qualities of tentativeness and uncertainty, a not-
     not love all men with a redemptive love and is it                     taking-of-sides, an openness to continued exploration
     therefore right or wrong to say to any man, `Christ                   and discussion. At the same time, this tentativeness
                                                                           and openness has come as a revelation to many. The
     died for you' "?                                                      determined effort to bring about a condemnation of
            He then goes on to make several points concerning              Professor Dekker's views failed completely.
     the legal aspects of the .decision.
            In the first place, after admitting that he has no              But he finds comfort in this, for this has clearly
     idea of what Synod meant by calling the statements of               shown, in his opinion, that the Church endorsed doc-
     Prof. Dekker "abstract," he writes concerning the                   trinal freedom and has permitted discussions of diffi-
     word "ambiguous" as follows:                                        cult questions to go on without a hampering of theolog-
              Presumably it ("ambiguous") means that Profes-             ical inquiry.
       sor Dekker in the quotations in question, and perhaps                Finally, Dr. Boer writes concerning "perspectives
       in writings that were not cited, had not been wholly              for tomorrow." Summing up what he has to say, he
       clear as to his meaning, had written in such a way as             writes
       to allow for more than one interpretation, or had
       possibly associated incompatible ideas in the same                     There have emerged out of the synodical decision
       statement.                                                          some facts about Christian Reformed ecclesiastical
                        How the synod could arrive at any such
       judgment one can only guess at. If the discussion at                life that are both disturbing and hopeful.
       synod proved anything at all, especially during the
       crucial second session, it was that everyone knew                    By this he means:
       exactly what Professor Dekker was trying to say and                     I simply affirm that two minds exist in the Church,
       (a) agreed with it or (b) disagreed with it or (c) enter-           that they are theologically in tension, and that this
       tained reservations with respect to Professor Dekker's              created an impasse at synod that was papered over by
       views but defended his right to express them. On the
       central point at issue Professor Dekker spoke with                  a rather meaningless formula so far as the written
       clarity and decisiveness.                                           decision is concerned.
                                        His supporters understood
       him, his opponents understood him. It was precisely                     On the other hand, both of these minds are clearly
       this mutual understanding of his position that precipi-             one in Christ and both placed the unity of the Church
       tated the debate.. .                                                above the doctrinal diversity that existed.
                                                                              The question which this poses is
            This too is a correct evaluation of Synod's actions.               How are these diverse minds to live together in the
     There really was no doubt about it on Synod that the                  one Church without again and again creating impasses
     statements of Prof. Dekker were clear.                                which, as in this case, cannot be resolved without
            In the second place he wonders about the legitimacy            ecclesiastical conflict culminating in a decision that
     of declaring by official decision that statements are                 bears little relevance to the conflict and only results
     ambiguous when there is no proof offered for this and                 in damage to the dignity and public image of the
     when there is no. evidence given in the decision that                 Church's highest ecclesiastical assembly?
     this ambiguity was "offensive to the truth."
            Thirdly, he faults the Synod for using three quota-             In answer to this question the Dr. suggests several
     tions from- Prof. Dekker which did not appear in his                points o One is that much of the discussion which went
     public writings, but which were drawn from his dis-                 on during the controversy was evidence of the fact
     cussions with the Doctrinal Committee.                              that "the Christian Reformed Church has much to
            Fourthly, again correctly, he fails to see how the           learn in the way of how to conduct theological dis-
     decisions of Synod were really ("could be remotely                  course and controversy in its denominational com-
     construed by Synod") an answer to some specific                     munion."
     overtures appearing on Synod.                                            If in the future there is not more openness to one
            And finally he points out that the final decisions             another's viewpoints and restraint in pointing the ac-
     were in contravention of the mandate given to the                    -cusing finger of heresy, then more of what has hap-
     Study Committee in 1964. .His conclusion is                           pened can be ( looked. for. In the end there will result
              All in all, the judicial face of the synodical decision      a denomination that is disgusted by theological and
       presents .a rather tired and forlorn look, leaves the               ecclesiastical infighting and wilI go its way with "a
       Church perplexed, and invites us all `to pray harder                plague on both your houses."
       when the synodical bark ventures out into the deep and               Secondly, he pleads for new rules "governing the
       perilous waters of theological controversy.                       initiation and conduct of doctrinal inquiries"; rules
        .Turning next to the theological implications of this            which, if adopted, would make it much more difficult
     decision, Dr. Boer finds a great deal of satisfaction               than it is now to initiate .proceedings against one who
                                                                                                                          .


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    165


is guilty of heresy. This suggestion is similar to what             Dr. Boer pleads that the Christian Reformed Church
the Episcopal Church has done recently after it ex-              ought to be able to do as much.
onerated  Bishop Pike. And this is dangerous business.              It is too bad that Prof. Zwaanstra's speech (which
Not only does the church more and more condone out-              undersigned heard) was not recorded and is not avail-
rageous heresy, but it wants to make sure that the               able for publication. It was apparent to anyone that he
ecclesiastical assemblies are no longer troubled by was guilty of grossly twisting history and misrepre-
people who want to keep the Church faithful to the               senting the fathers of the Reformed faith at Dordt. He
truth.                                                           did this tosuit his own purpose and to try to bring rec-
   In conclusion Dr. Boer refers to a speech by Prof.            onciliation on the floor of Synod.
Zwaanstra made on the floor of Synod in which Prof.                 The conclusion of the matter is that while Prof.
Zwaanstra claimed that the Synod of Dordt accepted               Boer is certainly correct in his evaluationof the Synod,
positions "as far apart as those of Herman Hoeksema he rejoices in something which actually sounds the
and Harold Dekker . *. as valid expressions of the Re-           death-knell for the Christian Reformed Church as a
formed faith."                                                   confessional and Reformed denomination.


 THE CHURCH A7  WORSHIP-


                          The History Of  Liturgies

                                                  by Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg


   We were quoting the last time from Schaff-Herzog                which in its original form was a night of prayer before
Encyclopedia of Religious  I<nowledge.  Although there              Easter, and then came to precede ordinary Sundays,
is more in this work that is interesting and worthy of             and then to be a time of spiritual preparation for
our attention, we will not quote it in its entirety now.           saints' days. On these occasions the morning prayer
Instead we will present a brief condensation of the                was in two parts, one in the night, called matins or
history of liturgical practices in the early church.               nocturns; the. other at dawn, called lauds. Then, to
   We noted that worship in the early church was                   meet the eagerness for the privilege of prayer, three
largely patterned after the customs and traditions of              hours were kept in the day:         the third hour, nine
the synagogue. Gradually changes were made. Innova-                o'clock, called terce, remembering the disciples on
tions were added, but we must also remember that                   the Day of Pentecost; the sixth hour, twelve o'clock,
although public worship was engaged in and developed,              called sext, remembering St. Peter on the housetop;
                                                                   the ninth hour, called none, remembering how Peter
Liturgies  in any real sense was not cultivated and                and John went into the temple at the hour of prayer.
recorded. Various liturgical forms that dealt specifi-             Thus there were six times for daily prayer: matins,
cally with Christ, the Sacrament of Communion, the                 lauds, terce, sext, none, and vespers. The next step
Holy Spirit, God the Father and the agape, or love-                was to make these individual devotions public and
feasts, were introduced.                                           congregational, and to have them led by the clergy.
   Perhaps , however, the most significant aspect of               Of course, for busy people, such a continual exercise
worship in these early times had to do with the matter             of prayer was impossible. For them, as is common
of prayer. In this connection we will quote from the               today, the daily devotions were for the most part the
above mentioned source:                                            private prayers which they said at the cock-crow and
          It affected also the daily prayers. These daily de-      at the candle-lighting. The faithful who went to church
   votions, which came to be called the Divine Office,' had        six times a day were mainly ascetics, whose chief
   their beginning in the observance of hours of prayer.           interest and occupation in life was the act of prayer.
   Two such hours were suggested by the natural in-                Presently, these devout persons were gathered into
   stincts of the religious life; the morning, at cock-            groups and societies, and disappeared from sight in
   crowing, called matins; the evening, at candle-lighting,        monasteries. There they added to the six daily ser-
   called vespers. These were at first observed in pri-            vices two more: Prime, as the prayers before the
   vate or as times for family worship; but presently they         daily chapter meeting, and Compline, before going to
   were kept in the consecrated quiet of the church, peo-          bed.    Thus the cycle was completed. It had never
   ple coming in at these seasons and saying their pray-           had much place in the experience of the ordinary lay-
   ers, each person by himself. Gradually, other seasons           man. It was understood to be intended for the clergy
   of devotion began to be observed. First, the vigil,             and for the members of religious orders.


166                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


   Apart from a detailed evaluation of these practices,               Clement VII undertook a revision of the breviary.
we may observe that the church in early times was                     Clement died before the completion of this work, and
certainly taught to pray; a necessary and spiritual art               it was dedicated to Pope Paul III, who formally per-
which in modern times is largely lost. The reason for                 mitted the secular clergy to substitute it for the
this is not difficult to discover. In prayer the church               breviary unreformed. Quignon altered some legends
is taught not only to rely upon, to trust in the living               from the lectionary; he arranged to have the Bible
God but also to seek His guidance in all her ways. But                read at length and not, as had come to be the usage,
heresy has enveloped the church, which gives the                      in detached fragments; he arranged the psalter so as
church the conceited notion that she really does not                  to be read in course and not interrupted by substituting
need. God (God needs her) and she is quite independent                special psalms.       Also he took out two-thirds of the
and self-suffici.ent.       When the spirit of such heresy            saints' days and all the offices of the Virgin, and
takes hold, the consciousness of the need of daily                    omitted a great number of versicles, responses, in-
                                                                      vitationes, and antiphons .
prayer is lost and the church wends its way under the                                                  In a second edition, how-
                                                                      ever, he restored the antiphons by request of the
guidance of rationalism, logic and human intuition.                   theological faculty of Paris. This was the authorized
   Another interesting observation of this time is the                breviary of the Western Church until it was superseded
important place that the book of psalms occupied in                   in 1568 by the present book, made by a commission of
the daily services. The faithful met at appointed hours               the Council of Trent.
to recite or to sing these psalms. The psalter was ar-
ranged to be gone over in a week. Later Scripture                      Prof. Volbeda, in his Liturgical Notes, describes
readings were added to these psalms and a few pray-                 the changes effected by the Reformation. He writes:
ers, with resicles and responses. The Latin Church                        The Reformation, 1517 A.D., onwards, was not only
introduced hymns in meter, and lengthened lauds and                   instinct with tremendous spiritual power, but also
vespers with commemorations of the saints.                  At a      developed a wide Dogmatical, Ecclesiastical and Li-
later time all of these things were brought into a con-               turgical variety. If the old church had not stubbornly'
densed, compact and portable form called the Breviary,                resisted reformation - which it did practically from
and the order or form for Holy Communion was sim-                     the dawn of the later Middle Ages and particularly
ppified in what is called the M&sal. The Bnnkwy  is                   during the entire 15th century - and provoked the
the name of the Roman Catholic service-book con-                      spirit aptly called Protestantism, the radical and.
taining what is called the "divine office" or the ser-                revolutionary elements of the Reformation would pre-
vices for the canonical hours. It is a book of prayers                sumably never have made their appearance. As it
                                                                      was, the great religious movement of the 16th century
and psalms as distinguished from the Missal which                     could not possibly escape developing a reactionary
contains the altar-service, the rites .for the adminis-               spirit. This situation perhaps accounts for the variety,
tration of the sacraments, etc; ~,                                    liturgical as well as otherwise that works the Refor-
 During the Middle Ages there was little change or                    mation.
development in the liturgy of-the church. Traditional-                 Both in England and on the Continent the conditions
ism reigned su,preme.  Between 590 A.D. and 1200 A.D. of ecclesiastical strife were inducing among many a
there was very little scientific reflection upon the                liturgical reaction. The Lutheran Church, indeed, held
worship, of the' church. The hierarchy was firmly es-               to many of the traditions of devotion, but the Calvin-
t-ablished `-  `.
              -and- this      hierarchical          spirit utilized istic Churches of Switzerland and France, and the
public    wo`rship       and was well-established in the            Puritan churches of' England and Scotland, abandoned
minds : of the people.           Since religious conserva- the old forms and adopted for the most part an extem-
tism. is `nowhere           stronger         than in matters of poraneous worship. Whether all of the changes that
liturgy, the "power of the hierarchy' held sway here,               were enacted were actually -improvements is subject
even  after: it had been seriously undermined elsewhere to question, for, as one author expressed it, "This
as a result of the mental fermentation that character-m was an incident in `a bitter contention, and proceeded
iied the period. The Western Church was undivided,                  not so .much' from a dislike of the ancient prayers as
It,. held,,to* a ,uniform and stereotyped liturgy. There from a dislike ,of the people who insisted on them."
was: little "thought .given to study matters that pertain            But even then, Prof. Volbeda points out,
to-public -worship, Even after 1200 A,D. and,up.to the                   In spite of the fact that the reformation- of Public
time ,,of; the,. Reformation, liturgies  made very slight,            Worship was on the `docket everywhere,  Liturgies  re-
if any,  advance;--                                                   ceived rather scant attention during the 16th-18th
   The Reformation .' of 15 17, wrought many changes,                 centuries. In so far as the subject of Public Worship
both in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches.                   engaged the `mind of the Protestant churches, it was
P. Drews writes,. "As the $,era of.. the P.r.otestant Ref-            canvassed in the Confessions and the Church Orders
ormation came on, the  -need,-   :-of further liturgical              of the churches. Liturgies,  as an independent theolog-
revision was felt by many, and, steps,,in that direction             ical discipline,  .w-as  hardlyin evidence.?'
were taken b,oth with and :without  ecclesiastical au-                   The 19th century witnessed, if not the birth, at
thority." Within `the Roman :Catholic Church these                    least the pronounced development and-efflorescence  of
changes are described in,the.-following  quote:                       the science -of .Liturgics.-  -In ~all.prob~ability-the  factor
                                                                      that was most contributory to: the genesis .of Liturgies
       In 1535 Cardinal Quingnon &,-the' request of Pope
                               (.     ._       I                      was the: historical sense that -sprang up in the 19th


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    167


   century as a protest against the romanticism and rev-         at all uncommon to find liturgical differences even in
  olution&m, of the 18th century and that was profoundly         churches of the same denomination. What is especially
  `stimulated toward the middle of the century by the            interesting to note is that in the ecumenical movements
  rise of the Evolutionistic philosophy. The historical          of the present day, it is often liturgical problems, even.
   approach. became the sign of the scientific times.            more than doctrinal differences, that bog down .the
  Everything was studied in the light of its history.
   Worship, too,                                                 discussions and impede mergers. It seems as though
                      as a department of religious life was
  viewed first of all in its historical perspectives. Com-       a large fragment of the Protestant Church would be
  parative study of the subject led to concentrationon the       quite ready to merge with Rome if only some of the
  principles of religion and life underlying the interest-       liturgical differences would be swept away. No,longer
  ing phenomenon of Public Worship.             Its religious    does the question of WHAT one believes seem to be of
  nature naturally suggested Biblical research. As a             great significance but the emphasis has shifted to HOW
  result, the theological discipline of  Liturgies  emerged      one worships.
  into-view.                                                        We do not minimize the importance of either of
                                                                 these questions. They must be kept in proper balance'
        Today we have not only considerable differences in       and certainly we must know not only what we believe
the liturgical practices of Protestant and Roman Cath-           and why we believe what we do but we must. also under-
olic Churches but even among the divers Protestant               stand what we are doing in our worship of God and-how.
Churches there is no liturgical uniformity. During the           our liturgical practices relate directly to the content
last century, when the `church the world over began to           of our faith. With this in mind we purpose to discuss
concern itself with and study matters that pertain to            our order of worship and compare our liturgical
worship, problems have multiplied so that it is not. practices with those of others, past and present.



               ATTENTION: OFFICEBEARERS
                                                                                       IN MEMORUM
        There will be an office bearers conference January          On the evening of December 8, 1967 it pleased our
2, 1968 at 8:00 P.M., at the Southeast Protestant                Lord to take suddenly to Himself
Reformed Church.           All present and former office                              STEVEN RAY RAU
bearers are invited to attend. Our speaker is Rev. G.            at the youthful age of 15 years.
Lubbers who will speak on the subject "Can we accept                We bowed in deepest grief for many hours. We
the baptism of the Romish Church."                               struggled to lay hold of comfort. Inour tempest tossed
                                                                 souls God whispered, "Let not your heart be troubled,
                                                                 ye believe in God, believe also in me." He who had
                                                                 such a large place in our hearts and lives was sureiy
                                                                 made rich. Though he loved music here, we thought
                                                                 of the heavenly choir. Though he was filled with the
                 RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                         zest of life here, we contemplated the joy of the re-
                                                                 deemed creation.
        The Consistory and Congregation of the Hope                 Our trust in God's all sufficient grace has been
Protestant Reformed Church express their sorrow                  strengthened. He was a mighty refuge to the parents
and sympathy to elder-elect Alvin Rau, his wife, and             and family in this time of storm. We know He will
children in the sudden death of their son and brother            continue to be such for His promise is, "I am Jehovah,
                       STEVEN RAY RAU                            I change not." We commend them to this God of all
whom God in His inscrutable wisdom took unto Himself             grace.
at the youthful age of 15 years. Our prayer is that our             There is an empty place in our midst, our lives
God may strengthen and sustain them in their sorrow              will not be the same. There has been a great trans-
by His comforting Spirit.                                        formation for Steve, he now inhabits Father's house
        "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts,        of many mansions, and is with Christ which is far
in that day `when. I make up my jewels;" Malachi 3:17            better.    His death has spoken to us, it has drawn us
(a)-                                                             together in the bond of love -as we await the day of
                                  Rev.  J. Kortering, pastor     great reunion.
                                  Mr.  D. Engelsma, clerk                   Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                   The Sunday School
           Be still, my soul! Thy God doth undertake                               The Young People's Society
           To guide the future, as He has the past:.                               The Choral Society            _-
           Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake,                            The Hope Heralds
           All now mysterious shall be bright at last.                             The Ladies Society
                                                                                   The Men's Society


168                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

                                       NEWS FROM OUR  CHURCHES-
                                            B.C. 11, 1967 stantial sum, thereby enriching their coffers. Those
    Southeast's congregation relinquished their pastor      are the coffers into which they periodically dip for
to a classical appointment in Pella, Iowa, for two Sun-     many and varied benefits for the school. The men
days. While there Rev. Schipper  also gave a lecture        were also invited to the bazaar to spend their coffee
during the week and made personal calls on people           break in a sociable way with their own kind.
who have recently shown interest in our cause. In his                           * * * *  *
absence the catechism classes were conducted by the            Quiet Thought  from Southeast's bulletin:  "We need
Elders, and the congregation enjoyed the Seminary           to ask the Lord to save us from evil hearing as well
Professors in their pulpit.                                 as from evil speaking."
                       * * * * *                                                *****  *
    Upon the advice of their church extension com-             Lynden's "Studies in Biblical Doctrines" received
mittee, Loveland's consistory requested the Mission         a letter from Statesboro, Georgia acknowledging the
Board to broadcast "The Reformed Witness Hour" on           benefits accruing to a leader of a Ladies' Bible Class
the local station, KLOV. The Mission Board has prom-        in that city; and a letter from Alpena, So. Dak., from
ised to undertake this effort for a year on a Sunday        a member of the Presbyterian Church, requesting an
afternoon spot.                                             explanation of the expression, "Election is the heart
                      *  *  *  *  *                         of the church," saying that they hear so little of that
    The Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Church             doctrine any more. Some one else in strange waters
travelled to Southwest Church for a combined meeting finding the bread cast thereon to be palatable and
with their society to discuss the second chapter of         nourishing.
Paul's first Epistle to Timothy.        A panel from the                        * * *  **
High School Board, in the after-recess period, dis-            Rev. Van Baren, in a "preparatory sermon" preached
cussed our future school and related matters.               a sermon based on Prov. 28:13, "He that covereth his
                      * * * * *                             sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and for-
       A Thanksgiving Day Program of Loveland's Prot.       saketh them shall have mercy." This profound truth
Ref. Chr. School featured Rev. Engelsma in a talk on might well be remembered by each of us when we are
true thanksgiving. His address was based on Psalm           saying our evening prayers.
136 and led the school children, and a few of the                               * * * * *
parents, in the observance of Christian thankfulness           While on a classical appointment to Isabel and to
as expressed in,  Isa.. for His mercy endureth for          Forbes, Loveland's pastor gave a mid-week lecture
ever."                                                      in each of these places.       In Isabel Rev. Engelsma
                       *  * * * *                           spoke on, "The Performance of Good Works," and the
       Hudsonville's Sr. and Jr. choirs combined to ren-    title of the lecture in Forbes was, "Loving Our Enm-
der a Christmas program after the Sunday service mies." In this way our vacant churches enjoy a few
Dec.  z+4.                                                  "fringe benefits" from their classical appointees.
                      * * * * *                                                 * * * * *
    Oak Lawn's Christmas Singspi,ration,' sponsored by         The following lifted from First's bulletin: "Student
the Young People's Society, designated the offering.to Richard Moore and his family thank the congregation
be used for the purchase of books for their cmkrch for the food shower given them: The gifts of food and
library.                                                    money will cut our food bill in half for at least three
                      * * * * *                             months  0 We thank God for preserving in our churches
    The church extension committee of Oak Lawn pub-         the mercies of Christ that make such giving from the
lished for distribution a publication entitled, "The        heart possible."
Crisis in the C. R. `Church", written by a member of                            * * * * *
one of the C.R. churches. This literature is currently         Besides the lectures mentioned above, the Mission
being mailed to over a thousand homes in the area.          Board  also scheduled lectures .by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
This same committee has begun to mail out "Scrip-           in Sioux Center, Iowa Nov. 30, and in Edgerton, Minn.;
tural Meditations" to  200 families, selected at ran-       Dec. 5.
dom; obeying the injunction found in  Etc.  11:l  -                             * *  * * *
"Cast .thy bread upon the waters....."                         who in the world of war, bloodshed, riots and gen-
                      * * * * *                             eral lawlessness can wish their friends a happy new
                                                            year but the Christian?" Whoso trusteth in the Lord,
    Adams St. School's  Mochers'~~`Club  sponsored a        happy is he." Prov. 16:20. Happy New Year!
Bazaar recently, selling their wares for quite a sub-          . a . see you in church                      J.M.F.


