                                      he





A   REPORMED  S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E




   IN TI-IIS ISSUE:

                  Meditation: Casting All Our Care Upon God

                  Editorials: Next  St6p Rome?

                            "And the Beat Goes On..."

                             Tacit Advocacy Of Violence?

                             A New "Anti-Abstract" Theological  Method-

                  David At  Hebren

                  Reflections on Assen and Lunteren (see All Around Us)

                                             Volume  XIJV/  Number 11  / March 1, 1968


242                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

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Meditation -                                                                                   `Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
   Casting All Our Care Upon God e.........an.......... 242                                  Editor-in-Chiefi  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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  Next Stop Rome? *....e.....D..........a....o.......o.... 245                                  C. Lubbers, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,
        Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                    Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
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   "And The Beat Goes On . ..." .* . . . . B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
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   MEDITATION-

                       Casting All Our Care Upon God

                                                                       by Rev. M.  Schippev

                                         t'Casting all youv caTe upon him; fov he caveth fov YOIA"
                                                                                                                  I Peter 5:7
   Not to the world, but to the elect strangers and                                     are children of God whose homeland is heaven, but
pilgrims is this exhortation addressed!                                                 who are temporarily travelitig in this world which is
   Strangers and pilgrims they are because they were                                    not their permanent address. They are not only es-
chosen by God to be such.                       That they are pilgrims                  tranged to this world, having been loosed from it by
means that they are foreigners sojourning in a strange                                  the Spirit and grace of Christ, but they also are reck-
land. And that they are strangers indicates that they                                   oned as strangers by that world in which they tem-
are not citizens of this world, but of heaven. They                                     porarily sojourn.


                                                  -

                                             THE  STAiVDARD  BEARER                                                 243

    To these strangers God sends many trials and              does not respond no matter how much care is expended.
 cares !                                                      The angel of death takes away a loved one who to all
    The trials and cares experienced by the people of         intents was most necessary to the well-being of the
 God in `this life and in this world are not only the         home.       0, there is no end to the perplexities, and
 persecutions and sufferings imposed on them by the           anxieties which are the common lot of the children of
 world in which they dwell,' but also the common sor-         God !
 rows, anxieties, and cares which in the providence of            Casting all your care upon Him!
 God are laid upon them by God Himself. They often are            Implied, of course, is the fact that you cannot carry
 cast upon a bed of affliction and pain. They suffer the      your cares alone. 0, this does not mean that we should
 loss of dear ones.     They are required to suffer the be insensible to the responsibility of carrying our
 pain of hunger, deprivation, and want. Such, no doubt,       anxieties, nor that we should be indifferent towards
 was also the experience of those to whom Peter is            them when they come upon us. Nor does the Word of
 writing.                                                     God here imply that we should live superficially, that
    All your care! Or, all your anxiety, as the term          we should just laugh our troubles away; nor that we
~may be translated!                                           should steel our faces as flint, or assume the attitude
    It means: to be drawn in different directions. It         of the cynic or stoic. Indeed, when the Lord our God
 signifies that one has more debt than capital. Our           in His providence lays upon us grievous burdens, He
 care refers to that which divides our heart, fills us        wants us to feel the weight of these burdens. He
 with conflicting thoughts. It is that unnameable ex-         desires that we cope with the various situations in
 perience which makes our foreheads wrinkle, turns            life.     He desires greatly that we walk in His fear,
 our hair gray, stoops our shoulders, presses out of          that we struggle in the battle of faith. Even though
 us deep sighs and groans.                                    we may stumble and fall and become too weak to
    0, how many are our cares ! How varied are their          walk, we are called to seek the city which hath found-
 manifestations!                                              ations; while at the same time we are to discover
    They are over our daily needs: such as, food and          that we cannot walk alone or stand alone.
 clothing; warmth in winter; medicine when we are sick,
 health when we are well. They are the anxieties over             But what are we to do when we realize that we can-
 our work: the farmer over his planting and harvesting;       not stand alone? Should we seek for an arm of flesh
 the workman in the shop over his job; the minister in        to support us? Should we, as the children of this world,
 his church. There are the anxieties over our families:       look for our help in horses and chariots? For after all
 parents over their children, husbands over their wives,      these things do the Gentiles seek!
 and wives over their husbands. There are anxieties               The worldly farmer looks to his subsidies for re-
 over the war as it affects our loved ones. Will our          lief when his crop fails. The laborer of the world looks
 sons have to go? If they go,-will they return? If they       to his union to provide. The government looks to its arma-
 return, will they be well? If they do not return, what       ments or its security councils. The sick look to their
 of their wives and children? Anxieties these are also        physicians for cure, and the sorrowful to man for
 over spiritual matters: our care with respect to God's       comfort.      And to these worldly we belong by nature.
 church. Will she remain true to the faith? Will she          We should not forget this. This factor plays a great
 stand in the evil day? If she already shows signs of         part in our lives, even when we become regenerated
 weakness, .what will happen when all the hosts of evil       children of God. And there always seems to be just
 are marshalled against her? There are also often             enough "common grace" in the world that wants us to
 anxieties over our own spiritual life and development.       believe that the world is pretty good after all. When
 Why is it that I so often seem to make such little or        a child has leukemia, and is sentenced to death by the
 slow spiritual progress? How can God still love me           doctor, the world gives it an early Christmas. When
 when daily I seem to increase my debt by transgressing       a family is burned out, the world in one day builds a
 all His good commandments ?                                  new home with all the furnishings. When there is an
    Anxiety generally occasioned by that over which           epidemic or a tornado, the world under the symbol of
 we have no control!                                          a cross that is red stands by to ease your pain and
    The farmer plants his seed, and there isno rain, or       loss. But how empty and vain are all these objects of
 no. market. The laborer desires work to provide for          trust!      And how often the Scriptures point us to the
 his family, and there is none; or, he is hindered from       truth that God puts His people to shame when they
 working because he is a Christian with principles that       rely on these objects !
 forbid him to join with ungodly unions. The minister            Casting all your care upon Him!
 labors diligently for the welfare and growth of his con-        Upon Him Who is the mighty God of Jacob !           _I
 gregation, but the truth he preaches is too hard, and           It is under His mighty hand that you are humbled,
 the people leave, or refuse to come in, or there are         that He may exalt you in due time, when you cast all
 trouble-makers that seek to disrupt the work and life        your care upon Him!
 of the church. There are the father and mother whose            Upon Him, the Almighty, the All-Wise, the Ever-
 children will not walk in the fear of the Lord despite       Living God!
 all the faithful instruction and admonitions given. There       In Whose wisdom your way was so directed that you
 is the loved one who lies on a bed of languishing, who       are burdened with anxious care! According to Whose ,


244                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


counsel your life is so filled with anxiety that you must     as it is expressed in so many exceeding precious
seek His face!        Under Whose mighty hand you are         promises, all of them infallibly inspired and written
humbled that all your strength is gone, and all your          in the Holy Scriptures. Do not fail to behold His love
carnal desire for human assistance loses all its              for you as it is expressed in the lively preaching of
attraction, and He drives you .to cry out after Him           His Word which intends to stir up that faith which He
Who would carry all your burden and remove all your           has implanted in your heart that believes all His
anxiety and fear!                                             promises, that understands how all things work to-
        Can you conceive of a more worthy object of trust?    gether for good to them who love God and are called
Indeed, there is none! He Who knows the end from the          according to His purpose; which understands, too, that
beginning, shall He not know your need? He Who is             all the care which is brought upon us is directed to us
almighty, shall He not be able to make all things work        by a loving Father Whose only desire it is that we turn
for your salvation? He Who loved you eternally, shall         with all our care to Him, trusting that His will be best
He unto-aJ1 eternity ever stop loving you? He Whose           for us, and believing that His, not our will, must be
compassions fail not, shall He ever faint in showing          done.
unto you His mercy?                                              Observing all that, there can be no doubt that He
   0, indeed, you may safely cast all your care upon          cares for you!
Him!                                                             Would it not then be sheer folly to turn to another
   For He careth for you!                                     than the God of your salvation with all your care?
   That makes this Word of God so reassuring, so                 Here then, the Word of God, all ye who are burdened
very personal, doesn't it?                                    with anxious care! Cease then from seeking for an
   And how do you know that He cares for you?                 arm of flesh to come to your aid. Cast all your care
   Behold how He cared for you when He sent into this         upon Him Whom you know as the One Who never
world His only begotten Son to unite Himself so com-          ceases to care for you!
pletely to our nature that in it He could bear away              And how shall we do this ?
forever the wrath of the Almighty over against your              There is no other way thanthroughfaith and prayer!
sin.       See how He cared for you when that Mediator,          They who put their trust in an arm of flesh shall
bearing your guilt, descended into the abyss of hell,         surely come to shame! But they who put all their trust
as it were representing you in the judgment of God's          in Jehovah, shall experience a peace that is so wonder-
justice and causing the eternal wrath of God to be            ful that it goes beyond your comprehension!
burned out so you would never have to bear it, and in            Open your mouth wide, and pray unto Him, and in
its place meriting everlasting righteousness that is so       .that prayer lay. all your care at His feet, and leave it
perfect that you now appear before God as if you had          there! Ask for grace to abide inHis will and to run the
never committed one sin. See how He cared for you             race set before you with patience!
when He raised up His Son from the .dead and gave                That prayer cannot fail!
unto Him the Spirit of the resurrection and life so that         For it is designed by the Living God Himself to be
He could impart that resurrection and life to you.            the very vehicle upon which He removes all your care;
Observe how He loved you when He caused Him Who               which, when it is removed, makes room for that
is the Prince of life, your Head and Representative,          tranquility that will allow you to lie down in peace and
to ascend into the highest heavens, to be seated at His       sleep when the darkest night hangs over your head
own right hand, where He gives unto Him the Spirit            and the storms of life lower.
without measure which He in turn may give unto you               Then yours will be the peace and safety of the
applying unto you all the salv,ation He merited, and where    Psalmist, who said: "I will both lay me down in peace,
He is even now making continual intercession for you,         and sleep: for thou Lord, only makest me to dwell in
and preparing a place for you. Behold His love for you        safety."





                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                   .RESOL  UTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Re-             The Men's Society of the South Holland Protestant
formed Church expresses its sympathy to one of its            Reformed Church express their sincere sympathy to
members, Mrs. J. Oomkes, in the loss of her father,           Mr., Gise Van  Baren in the recent passing  of his
                     MR. JOHN HELDER                          father-in-law,
   May the God of all grace comfort the bereaved                                MR. EUGENE DEUR
family.                                                          May our God comfort him and the bereaved family
                             Mrs. R. Meyer, President         and sustain them in their sorrow.
                             Mrs. R. Kamminga, Secretary                                     Garret Flikkema, Secretary


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      245




                EDIT0 RIALS-


                                     Next  Sto'p Rome?

                                                  by  P~of. H. C. Hoeksema


         That there is a determined movement afoot  toswing       hardly be denominated the Antichrist, they could be'
     churches of the Reformed community into the main-            characterized as Antichristian, that is, as being
     stream of modern, antichristian ecumenism is a fact          principally Antichristian in their manifestation and as
     which no one can deny. Evidence of this is the fact that     moving toward and helping toward the final realization
     in the Netherlands the  Gevefovmeepde  Kevken  have          of the beast and the false prophet. But today again,
     already officially declared that there is no obstacle in     when one takes note of the unholy alliance that is being
     the path of membership in the World Council. Evidence        attempted between modernistic Protestantism and
     of this is in the fact that in our own country voices are    Rome, the thought at least flits across one's mind
     raised in the Reformed community in favor of the WCC         that in the ultimate realization of Antichristendom's
     and in favor of such movements as COCU.                      false prophet Rome may indeed have a very definite
         But there is also an alarming trend toward favoring      place.
      a return to Rome.                                              All this is not written in order to attempt to proph-
         One comes to expect this, of course, from churches       esy concerning the  &Cure; but it is indeed written
      and church leaders who have long since forsaken the         by way of warning that we ought to be alert and ought
     principles of the Reformation and who have come to           seriously to discern the spirits in the present. It is
     despise in their hearts really everything for which the      written in the awareness of the truth of the proverb,
     Reformation ever stood. Moreover, once a church has          "in 9 wevleden  Zigt he-t heden,  in `t nu wat wovden  zal."
     forsaken the truths of the Reformation, there is not         That is: "In the past lies the present, in the `now' the
     only no priricipial reason why that church should not        `what-shall-be.'  "
     return to Rome; but also it may be argued that honesty,         In this light, it is doubly alarming when also in the
      - if indeed one may speak of a certain honesty, or          Reformed community the cry begins to be heard for a
     frankness, in wickedness,  - demands such a return.          return to Rome. Yet this is the case. And this cry is
      Such a church, in all honesty, should not only arrange      arising in none other than the  same  Gevefovmeevde
     a reunion with Rome in the modern fashion of ecumen-         Kevken  who have declared that there is no obstacle
     ical arrangements; but it ought to crawl back to Rome        in the path of membership in the World Council of
     on hands and knees with humble apologies and confes-         Churches!
     sions and beg to be taken back into "The Church."               In the Dutch paper, Tot Vvijheid Gevoe$en, (Dec.,
         But let it be said again: one comes to expect such       1967), there appears an article from the pen of a J. R.
     pleas for return to Rome from modernistic ecumenism.         Van Oordt which pleads almost plaintively for a new
     It is the logical and inevitable outgrowth of the princi-    reformation. In order to enforce this plea Van Oordt
     ples of false ecumenicity which govern such move-            points to the deformation which is permeating the
     ments .    And it ought not to surprise any discerning       Reformed Churches of the Netherlands. He speaks,
'    Christian that in those ecclesiastical circles where this    and not without reason and proof, of an attempt to
     false ecumenism reigns supreme there are increasingly        "liquidate the Reformation." One of the instances of
     numerous attempts at contact with Rome in both the           this deformation and this attempt to liquidate the Ref-
     lower and the higher echelons of the churches. So            ormation cited by Van Oordt is this cry for a return
     numerous are such attempts and so uncritically do            to Rome. He writes (translation mine):
     those of the supposedly Protestant camp curry Rome's
     favor and friendship that sometimes it begins to seem                  It is alarming that in this framework from the
     not impossible that when the false prophet of the book          protestant side an already familiar view of Rome with
     of Revelation shall be finally realized in history, he          respect to ecumenicity is established. One of the men
     will have a distinctly Roman Catholic character. There          of learning in the protestant camp of today, one of the
     was a time, of course, when leaders of the Reformation          present-day Reformed leaders,. Dr. H. M. Kuitert, has
                                                                     declared as bis conviction that protestants would have
     did not hesitate `to identify the pope and the papacy         to return to Rome in order to be able to come to what
     with the Antichrist. In later times, Protestantism dis-        he has called: "the unity of the total christian church."
     cerned that while indeed Rome and its pope could                As motive for this Dr. Kuitert adduced: "Rome is the


246                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


   church with the oldest rights." The professor added         lish criticism from the pen of Dr. Louis Praamsma.
   to this that according to his conviction the institution       The Standard Beaver  can certainly agree with Mr.
   of the papacy would not be' the greatest obstacle.- "If     Van Oordt,  however, that it is time not only for criti-
   it would concern Pope John XXIII, he could easily be
   our boss and then we would also indeed view him as          cism but for a new reformation in the Netherlands. If
   Cod's representative on earth."                             the Reformed faith in the Netherlands is to survive,
       An alarming expression from a man who according         it is high time that some begin to heed Van Oordt's
   to his ecclesiastical "visitor's card" presents himself     poignant plea for such a new reformation.
   as a descendant of Calvin.                                     And there must be more than articles. There must
       Dr. Kuitert is the spokesman of that protestantism      be reformatory action!
   which, having set its sights toward Rome, is today busy        Meanwhile, let us watch the situation in our own
   liquidating the Reformation.                                country very carefully.        It is well known that the
   There you have it!                                          Gevefovmeevde  Kevken,  and especially the Free Uni-
   This is a voice from the theological faculty of the         versity, have had a strong influence in Reformed.
Free University of Amsterdam.  And it is more than             circles here.      Sometimes it is suggested that -the
coincidental that from the same quarter from which             churches in this country are about ten years behind
emanates much of the criticism of Scripture and the            the trends in the Netherlands.         I doubt this; at any
so-called new exegesis, which is fundamentally  adenial        rate, this time-gap is fast closing. But there are here,
of the Reformational "Sola Scriptura," there also ema-         as well' as in the Netherlands, many of the same dis-
nates this cry for a return to Rome.                           turbing efforts which indeed amount to a striving to
   It may seem almost unbelievable, but here is the            liquidate the Reformation. And its, time, high time,
evidence.                                                      here also that those who keep watch over the heritage
   Mark you well, this is a voice which comes from             of the Reformation must more than ever stand shoulder
the sister denomination of the Christian Reformed              to shoulder, praying for the renewing operation of the
Church in this country, the same sister denomination           Holy Spirit.
concerning which  The Banner  recently refused to pub-            Reformation is an on-going calling!





                          "`And The Beat Goes On...."

                                                 by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


   Anyone who listens to radio or watches television           Press, and twice by way of a letter and a flyer from
(I don't have it) must, I think, inevitably have heard the     the local Christian High School. Obviously they have
above words of a frequently repeated commercial of a           begun to beat the drums to gain support for this proj-
certain automobile manufacturer.           Supposedly, the     ect and to exert pressure on elected state officials to
psychology behind this commercial ditty is such that it        get the proposed legislation passed. And when the
purposes to have the public join "the beat" and be             third piece of propaganda came to my attention, I
moved to purchase that certain brand of automobile.            rather spontaneously thought to myself, "And the beat
Thus, at least, I interpret it. And it must be admitted,       goes on..."
willy-nilly, that this commercial ditty has a catching            I am angry about this.
"beat"- much as I despise commercials in general and              I dissent.
the songstress and the kind of music (?) of this com-             And I warn Reformed Christians, who aremotivated
mercial in particular.                                         by pyincipple,  not to be fooled by this flood of propaganda
   It is not my purpose, however, to write about radio         and not to be moved to support this project, but to
or TV commercials.                                             dissent.
                                                                  I dissent BECAUSE the entire project is motivated
   The simple fact is that I was reminded of the above         by and appeals to covetousness, the love of money, the
words by the flood of propaganda in behalf of the pro-         root of all evil. The various appeals to supporters of
posed Michigan legislation to provide financial support        Christian schools are geared to covetousness. Money,
for "non-public schools." Three times in less than a           money,  money is the theme. One cannot escape this
week such propaganda has entered my home: once by              impression in even a casual reading of the propaganda.,
way of a full-page advertisement in the Grand Rapids           One piece starts out with the title, `HAVING TROUBLE


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    247

WITH HIGH T UITJON?"        The opening statement is:       to Reformed principles of education, be "interested in
"More, financial support for non-public schools is the      quality education in the non-public schools" ingeneral,
most important current need, if the present American        or can they recognize that there is any other truly
educational system is to continue." It closes with the      quality. education than a /Reformed  education? I warn:
statement:"Unless  supporters of Christian schools exert    "Be ye not unequally yoked together withunbelievers!"
united effort, any programs which provide fair dis-            I dissent BECAUSE in this propaganda there is the
tribution of public funds are almost impossible to          tacit assumption that  "non-public" schools,  including
achieve." Another, letter contains this statement, in       Christian schooZs,  could and would close if state aid is
an appeal to write state officials which is entirely        not forth-coming. This betrays a lack of dedication to
geared to getting money: "Currently a revenue crisis        the cause of Christian education and a lack of willing-
faces many of the non-public schools in Michigan. The       ness to sacrifice, if need be,' out of dedication to this
cost of education continues to mount, and even heavier      cause. It is a shame before the world that Christian          .
financial burdens will be placed upon our parents..."       schools even can suggest that they consider this. a
The public appeal in the Grand Rapids Press is aimed        possibility.      Has it indeed come to this? Would not
at the same covetousness of the general tax-paying          genuine devotion, arising out of deep-seated principle,
public. True, it talks about alleged tax savings to the     speak altogether different language? Would it not be-
public which accrue through the existence of ,"non-         speak a willingness to sacrifice, to give up our late
public" schools; and it points at the alleged $205          model cars, our new homes, our expensive vacations,
million annual cost and the $700 million building-cost      our latest appliances, our television sets, our hi-fi's,
which the taxpayer would have to meet if the "non-          and all the other symbols of our affluent society before
public" schools would close. It holds before the public     we would ever begin to think of denying our covenant
the tempting plum of paying off the non-public schools      children a covenant education?. Would not devotion to
to keep them open rather than paying the entire cost if     Christian education testify that though we may believe
they had to be absorbed into the public school system.      thaf there is injustice in our being taxed to pay for
All this I characterize as nothing but covetousness, -      the world's schools, nevertheless the closing of `our
the more so because it involves the sacrifice of the        own covenantal schools for economic reasons is for
very principle of Christian education.                      us not a possibility to be considered?
   I dissent BECAUSE this entire project is sponsored          I dissent, above all, BECAUSE in this propaganda
by an unholy alliance, a coalition, of what are euphe-      which seeks to drum up support from Christian parents
mistically called "non-public" schools.       Earlier I     there is no mention of the fact that acceptance of such
reported, on the basis of a news dispatch, that the         aid, should it be legislated,  wilZ indeed  involve the
proposed legislation has the backing of CEF (Citizens       denial  of  the bevy  principle   of  Reformed  Christian
- not Christians, as I recently heard it called in a        education. The aid sought in the proposed legislation
radio broadcast - for Educational Freedom). Perhaps         is aid based on "reimbursible courses," that. is,
this is true; and perhaps there is a connection between     courses in which religion is not taught, that is, courses
the two organizations. But the current propaganda is        which are not permeated by the principles of the Word
coming from an organization which calls itself "Mich-       of Cod. Either Christian parents must lie in accepting
igan Association Non-Public Schools," An Association        aid for such courses; or they must allow that courses
of Michigan Catholic, Missouri Lutheran, Jewish Day         are taught in their schools which have nothing to do
and National Union of Christian Schools." I know not        with their Reformed Christian view of all of life.
what the constitution of this organization may or may       Neither is permissible. If the former is done, that is,
not contain; nor need I know. The very name is a dead       if we do teach "religion" in these supposed reimburs-
give-away.    It betrays. ecumenicity in the sphere of      ible courses (such as English and science and math-
education. It is an association on the basis of a lowest    ematics) and say that we do not teach it, this is un-
common denominator, and that too, a negative one: the       ethical. But if Christian schools have arrived at the
fact that all these schools are non-public. I ask: can      point that their religious outlook does not affect the
Christian, paver&Z  schools make common cause with          courses that are taught, they could better close their
parochial schools, except at the sacrifice of a sacred      doors and send their children to the public school.
principle, that it is the parents' calling to educate       Let us not sacrifice the basic principle of Reformed
their children, not the church's or the state's? I ask:     Christian education for a mess of pottage, a pile of
can ,Cbristian schools and Christian parents, who are       filthy lucre.
supposedly devoted to Reformed principles, make com-           I dissent, finally, BECAUSE in all this proposed
mon cause, even for money, with those devoted to            political action there is not the hint of a Christian
Roman Catholic and Lutheran and even Jewish prin-           testimony.       Political action is not wrong pev se; but
ciples? I ask: can Christian schools and Christian          our political action must be  Christian  political action.
parents, who are supposed to be devoted to Reformed         Of this there is not so much as a hint in the literature
educational principles, allow themselves to make pro-       I have read. What is proposed is a well-engineered,
paganda for and to be propagandized by a Jesuit priest,     high pressure, political lobby, - not worthy of the name
a Rev. Virgil Blum, S.J., as is proposedin one of these     Christian.
pieces of propaganda? I ask: can Christian schools             I dissent.
and Christian parents, who are supposed to be devoted          And I urge you to dissent.


248                                               THE STANDARD BEARE&





                   Tacit Advocacy of Violence?

                                                   by  Prof.   HO C. Hoeksema


   One becomes more or less accustomed to expect                    that his rights are presently nullified or restricted by
the  Reformed Journal  to emit strange and rather                   a social prejudice which works intolerable evil, that
"liberal" sounds for a paper which calls itself                     the Negro's patience is running out, and that some
"Reformed." Although, therefore, I was not surprised                among them are beginning to turn to extra-legal means
at the general tenor of the January issue of this maga-             to secure their freedom and dignity.
zine, `with its "Statement on Fair Housing" and its                  Now it may be true that in these quotations Dr.
"Supplement on Poverty in America," I was indeed                 Stob does not openly and forthrightly condone and ad-
rather. shocked, however, `at the passive permissive-            vocate violence on the part of those who are supposedly
ness, toward, if not tacit advocacy of, violence in the          trying to secure their freedom and dignity. But, in the
racially tense situation in our country today.                   first place, it is equally true that he does not condemn
   It is not my purpose to discuss Dr. Henry Stob's              and warn against it. Nor, in the second place, does he
position on open housing, although I have my serious             warn that the threat of violence is nothing but attempted
reservations with respect to his premises and con-               blackmail of the government, and the use of violence
clusions on this subject and can find little Scriptural          nothing but revolution. Nor, in the third place, does
reasoning in his article. There is much talk in his              he warn that it is the calling and the authority of the
article. There is much talk in his editorial about "the          government to employ the sword in the maintenance of
rights and freedoms of men" about which I have many              law and order. Nor, in the fourth place, does he point
questions, but especially one basic question, namely:            out that it is the duty of the citizen to be in subjection
what rights and freedoms does the natural man have,              to the higher powers, Romans 13:1, ff.
be he black or white or yellow or red? Is not natural               Instead, what do we get? In the first place, Dr.
man, - again, be he black or white or yellow or red, -           Stob employs the euphemism: "extra-legal means.,"
a usurper, a rebel, in Cod's creation? Or does this              Why does he not speak forthrightly of "unlawful'" or
fundamental truth have nothing to do with the                    of "lawless" means? In the second place, Dr. Stob
matter of "rights and freedoms of men" when we would             speaks of the "threat that hangs over us" and in the
discuss that subject Christianly?                                same breath, without a word of condemnation, of the
   What especially perturbs me, however, apart from              fact that a man "will...seize  what is his due." Does
Dr. Stob's -position on open housing is the following            he not realize that when men "seize" what they think
passage at the conclusion of his article:                        is their "due," you have revolution, anarchy? In the
       . ..Let no one discount the threat that hangs over us.    third place, in the same breath and in the very next
   If a society will not give a man what is his due, he will     sentence, he opines that "A man must, in the name of
   eventually seize what is his due. A man must, in the          Cod, assert his freedom." And he goes on to speak of
   name of God, assert his freedom. If society does not          a man asserting his freedom "on his own." Now if
   assert it with him, he must at length assert it on his        words in their connection have meaning, then these
   OUTI.Let society then act. Violence is waiting in the         statements mean to me that Dr. Stob equates seizing
   wings.      It ought to be averted. What will avert it is     what is a man's due by "extra-legal" (that is: lawless)
   justice.     And justice demands that an Open Housing         means with assevting  one's freedom; and this a man
   Law be enacted - without delay.                               must do, and he must do it, mind you, in the name of
   These statements aremade  in the context of a state-          God. In brief, I can read nothing else in these state-
ment which speaks of the fact that some are beginning            ments but this, that Dr. Stob is telling us that it is a
"to turn to extra-legal means to secure their freedom            must, a necessity, an obligation before Cod that a man
and dignity." The statement which immediately pre-               seize his freedom and what is his "due" by unlawful
cedes the above quotation is this:                               means if he cannot do so by lawful means.,
       What it (an Open Housing Law, HCH) also does is              Moreover, it seems to be the position of Dr. Stob
   this: it gives legal recognition to the fact that the         that "society" (does he not mean the government?)
   Negro, like everyone else, is a free man under Gad,           must cater to this lawlessness or the threat of it, in


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            249


order to avert it. Not a word is said about punishing
it.     Not a word is said about thwarting it. No word               "We believe that our gracious Gid, because of the de-
is breathed about the fact that he that takes the sword         pravity  of mankind, hath appointed kings, princes and
shall perish by the sword. I can overlook the fact that           magistrates, willing that the world should be governed by
even from a practical point of view Dr. Stob's remedy             certain laws and policies; to the end that the dissolute-
                                                                  ness of men might be restrained, and all things carried
is not a remedy at all: for catering to lawlessness               on among them with good order and decency. For this
indeed will only avert it temporarily, but will eventually        purpose he bath invested the magistracywiththe sword,
beget more lawlessness; and let no one think that an              for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the protection
Open Housing Law will be the end of these demands                 of them that do well...Moreover,  it is the bounden duty of
that are backed by the threat of violence. But I cannot          every one, of what state, quality, or condition soever
overlook what appears to me to be total ignoring of              he may be, to subject himself to the magistrates; to
the government's responsibility to use the sword in the          pay tribute, to show due honor and respect to them,
punishment of those who take the law into their own              and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant
                                                                 to the Word of God...Wherefore we detest the Ana-
hands, and of the citizen's calling to be in subjection.         baptists and other seditious people, and in general all
       All this, it seems to me, is blatantly contrary to        those who reject the higher powers and magistrates,
Romans 13 and its well-known demand that every soul              and would subvert justice, introduce community of
shall be in subjection to the higher powers, - a demand          goods, and confound that decency and good order, which
that was penned, mind you, when there were much                  God hath established among men."
worse "social injustices" under the Roman tyrants                This, to me, is language with which the conclusion
`than there are today. And all this I cannot harmonize        of Dr. Stob's article can hardly be harmonized. And it
with Article 36 of the Confession of Faith, which says,       is  language which can stand to be emphasized strongly
among other things, the following:                            in this age of rioting and lawlessness.





                       A New "Anti- Abstract"

                                                   Theological. Method

                                              by  Pyof. H.  C. Hoeksema


       Closely connected with what we have already               In the first place, let me call attention to the fact
observed concerning the new method of theology which          that it is not at all unusual in the course of doctrinal
Dr. Henry Stob has proposed and defended in connection        conflict that the pot calls the kettle black. On the
with the Dekker Case, and which he obviously consid-          contrary, it has been a favorite device of heretics to
ered to be one of the most important matters con-             accuse those who are orthodox of the very wrongs of
nected with the Dekker Case, is our next point of             which they  them,selves  are guilty.            A study of the
criticism, namely: this new method is nztionalistic.          history of dogma reveals this abundantly. This is true
       This criticism may seem rather amazing, inasmuch       in more than one respect, for example, of the Arminian
as it is exactly Dr. Stob's claim that the old theological    controversy.      Arminianism loved, and still loves, to
method is rationalistic. This is what he said in the          charge that the Reformed doctrine is deep and involved,
article which has led to this series of articles (cf.         while the Arminian gospel is supposed to be simple
Reformed  Joumu~Z,  May-June, 1967, p0 5): "...all of US      and easy to understand. Is this true? No, it is, on the
have in the past been victimized by what increasingly         contary, an instance of the pot calling the kettle black.
appears to be an abstract and yationalisistic method of       A casual study of the Arminian doctrine of conditional
doing theology..." (italics mine)                             election reveals that there could hardly .be any more
       But I am claiming that the method proposed by Dr.      complex presentation of this doctrine. The Arminians
Stob, and, in fact, used by him, is itself rationalistic,     taught "that there are various kinds of election of God
and that Dr. Stob's assertion that the old theological        unto eternal life: the one general and indefinite, the
method is rationalistic is a case of the pot calling the      other particular and definite; and that the latter in turn
kettle black.                                                 is either incomplete, revocable, non-decisive and con-
       A few introductory remarks are not out of place in     ditional, or complete, irrevocable, decisive and abso-
this connection.                                              lute. Likewise: that there is one election unto faith,


250                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


and another unto salvation, so that election can be unto      which is really foreign to the theology and method of
justifying faith, without being a decisive election unto      the Reformers (especially Calvin) and which arose
salvation." (Canons I, B, 2). The Reformed, on the            under the influence more of a man like Beza, Calvin's
other hand, maintained (Canons I, A, 8): "There are           successor in Geneva.        And especially under the in-
not various decrees of election, but one and the same         fluence of that eminent scholar, Dr. G. C. Berkouwer,
decree respecting all those, who shall be saved, both         of the Free University of Amsterdam, the new trend is
under the Old and New Testament: since the scripture          toward considering all of theology in terms of a tension
declares the good pleasure, purpose and counsel of the        between "kerugma" and faith.
divine will  .to be one, according to which he hath                 Finally, we should consider the meaning of the
chosen us from eternity, both to grace and glory, to          term Yationalism.
salvation and the way of salvation, which he hath                   Rationalism is not to be equated with being rea-
ordained that we should walk therein." The latter             sonable and logical. This mistake is often made. The
doctrine is so simple that a child can understand-it;         result is that a theology that is thoroughly logical and
the former is complex and involved. But Arminians             which is a harmonious, systematic, unified whole is
love to boast of a "simple gospel" and to castigate           accused of being rationalistic. And the theologian who
the Reformed faith as being "deep." Examples of this          insists that a theology must not be self-contradictory,
kind can be multiplied.     And they are all examples of      -not even under the guise of an appeal to the
the pot calling the kettle black, that is, of heresy          "myst%ry," - is charged with rationalism.
charging orthodoxy with exactly those sins of which                 We must be careful, however, to distinguish be-
heresy is guilty.                                             tween that which is yational and that which is yational-
    A classic example of this from our own history is         istic, If Scriptural truth were not rational, reasonable,
this same charge of rationalism. Anyone acquainted at         then man as a rational creature would never be able to
all intimately with the history of the polemics con-          understand it, much less formulate a dogmatics or
cerning the Three Points will recall that often we of         systematic theology. There is no antithesis, remem-
the Protestant Reformed Churches have been charged            ber, between faith and reason.
with rationalism. In truth, however, the entire view                Rationalism, is something differ-ent.     It is the
that is embodied in the Three Points of Common Grace          exaltation of reason above the Word of God. It is the
is the product of rationalism, while the Reformed             exercise of       reason apart from and not subject
view which we have always maintained is the product of        to the Word of God.          It is the theory of knowledge
exegesis.                                                     according to which the source and the criterion
   In the second place, when I speak in this connection       of      man's    knowledge of      God, of man, and of
of the old theological method as not being rationalistic,     all things is man's own mind, his own reason. It
as Stob charges, then I do not mean specifically the          involves a process of reasoning and an arriving at
method followed in the Christian Reformed Church              conclusions which are not based upon the Word of God.
during the past forty or fifty years: for I do not believe    It exactly is not characterized by a careful; reasonable,
that Christian Reformed theology has been free from           logical exegesis of Scripture. The latter is not only
rationalism. As indicated above, I exactly believe that       legitimate, but mandatory for the Reformed theologian.
to the extent that Christian' Reformed theology has           It is characterized by a process of reasoning and an
been common grace theology, it has also beenrational-         arriving at theological conclusions apart from, and,
istic.    But I mean by the old theology and the old          therefore, necessarily also contrary to, the Word of
theological method the -main line of Reformed theology        God.
and its method as these are represented in the Re-                  With this in mind, let us test Dr. Stob's method as
formed faith as set forth in our Reformed confessions.        exemplified in his comments on the issues in the
   In the third place,` let me remind the reader that it      Dekker Case.
is just at this point that this entire question of method           First of all, he rules out the question, "Did Christ
assumes such great importance.          The question of       die for everybody?" On what basis?
method is of importance with respect to the Dekker                  A rationalistic basis, Notice that he comes with
Case, it is true.     But the larger importance of this       not a word of Scriptural proof that this question is not
question, - and Dr. Stob recognizes this also in his          a legitimate one and that it cannot be given a Biblical
comments on the Dekker Case and the Report of the             answer. Stob rules out the question as an "insoluble"
Doctrinal Committee,  - the larger -importance of this        question by impaling it rationalistically on the horns of
question lies in the fact that it concerns all of Reformed    a dilemma. Writes he: "If you answer Yes !, how is
theology today, not merely the more specific questions        then that not all men are saved?" This part of his
of the Dekker Case. What we are concerned about is a          dilemma can be demonstrated indeed to be thoroughly
&end, a movement, in Reformed theology, and that too,         Scriptural. But in the second part of the dilemma Stob
both in this country and in the Netherlands. One hears        demonstrates that he himself is caught in the toils of
comments not only that both Prof. Dekker and the              the very rationalistic method that led to the pronounce-
Doctrinal Committee were guilty of a certain abstract-        ment of the First Point of 1924 and that has led to the
ness and rationalistic approach, but also that the            inability of the Christian Reformed Church to deal
theology embodied in our Canons, for example, is the          conclusively with the Dekker Case. For he writes:
product of a certain scholasticism and rationalism            "If you answer No!, how is it then that the crucified


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      251


and risen Christ can be genuinely and unreservedly              right answers. Here is the question that you ought to
offered to all?" This is the rationalistic horn of the          ask. This is the Biblical question for this situation:
dilemma, the one which makes Stob's dilemma-poising             what- must. every man who hears the preached Gospel
itself rationalistic.     The First Point itself  -,,which      believe ?' '    This is merely a matter of Dr. Stob's
Stob here reconstrues in terms of a genuine and un-             say-so, - something for which he offers no Biblical
reserved general offer  - was the product not of exe-           proof, though he claims it is the Biblical question.
gesis, but of a rationalistic theology. And following               But notice, in the second place, that if we really
that same rationalistic theology, Stob runs his ration-         take Dr. Stob's "biblical question" seriously, we get
alistic colleagues (Prof. Dekker and the Doctrinal              right back to the question which he says we must not
Committeej stuck.                                               ask and which he claims is an insoluble question. For
   Secondly, Dr. Stob writes that "to avoid this im-            the answer to Stob's question is right in the question
passe...we must descend from the cold heights of                itself. What must every man who hears the preached
abstract `truth' and ask the biblical question: What is         Gospel believe? Obviously, he must believe the Gospel
every man who hears the preached Gospel - every such            that is preached to him. And what is that Gospel? It is
man without exception - called upon to believe?"                the Gospel of Christ crucified! "We preach Christ
   This also is rationalism.                                    crucified, to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the
   Notice, in the first place, that while Dr. Stob speaks       Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
of "the biblical question," again he offers no iota of          both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the
proof that this is indeed the Biblical question or in-          wisdom of God." I Cor. 1:23,24.  But then the question
deed that it is a Biblical question. If Stob wants to           becomes: Who is Christ crucified? Is He Christ
proceed Biblically, and not rationalistically, he ought         crucified for all men'? Or is He Christ crucified, the
to do so, especially when he is criticizing the rational-       power of God and the wisdom of God, only for some,
ism of others' methodology.                                     that is, the called, that is, the elect? And then we are
   Now I have no doubt that it is a Biblical question           back to the original question:        Did Christ die for
to ask under certain circumstances and in a certain             everybody, or not?
context, "What must everyone who hears the preached
Gospel believe?" Moreover, this question can also be                In the third place, however, Dr. Stob's commitment
given a Biblical (and confessional) answer.            This,    to a rationalistic method becomes thoroughly evident
however, is not the issue. The issue is: What, in the           in the answer which he himself proposes to his
context  of the Dekkev  Case and its related contvovevsy,       "biblical question." And caught in the toils of his own
is the Biblical question that  must  be asked? Now  by          rationalism, he betrays himself as being guilty of
what right does Dr. Stob say, in effect, "You are all           begging the question also; and thus he betrays the
a bunch of abstract rationalists. You ask the wrong             fallacy of his own rationalistic method. To this I must
questions, and that is why you cannot come up with the          call attention next time, D.V.


   A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

                                   David  At Hebron
                                                 by Rev. B.  Woudenbeyg

                   And it came to pass  after this, that David enquived of the LORD, saying, ShuZZ  I
               go up into any  of the cities  of Judah? And the LORD said unto  him, Go Up.          And
               David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
                     $0 David went up thither . . ..and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
                   And the men of Judah came, and theve they anointed David king over the house
               of Judah....                                                              II Samuel 2:1-4

   There was something heart-rending for David about            there was still in his heart sufficient respect and love
the defeat of the army of Israel at Gilboa. There was           for this man, whom he could only look upon as the
the humiliation of seeing his own countrymen routed             anointed of the Lord, that he could only grieve deeply
completely by the armies- of the Philistines and the            and feel the/sadness of the day. But hardest of all for
land which he loved overrun by these uncircumcised              David to bear was the fact that in this hour of Israel's
men.    There was the fact that Jonathan, the closest           greatest defeat he had been aligned on the side of the
friend he had ever had, had been killed by these                enemy. True, the distrust of the Philistine lords, or
heathen hordes. There was the fact that Saul had died           rather, the providence of God had prevented bim from
and, though David had suffered so sorely at his hand,           actually taking part in the battle on the side of Israel's


                                                 THESTANDARDBEAREB
I

      enemy; but the fact was that he was now living in the       of their tribe'. His return was for them a march of
      Philistines' land as a friend of theirs. Now suddenly       triumph.
      David saw more forcibly than ever before how very               For David, fond as he was of the history of his
      wrong it had been to leave the land of his fathers to       nation, it must have seemed significant that God had
      dwell here among the heathen. Had he only remained          directed him to go to Hebron. Here was a city and a
      in the hills of Engedi, he could even now sally forth       district that had formed the focal point of,the  history
      to punish the Philistines for what they had done to the     of Israel from its very beginning. Hebron itself was
      armies of Israel and to Israel's king, But now he was       one of the oldest inhabited cities in the whole area,
      helpless.    Having aligned himself as a friend of the      and to its vicinity Abraham had returned again and
      Philistines it was impossible; to turn upon them would      again to make his. camp. Near here was where Isaac
      be only treachery of the most despicable sort. Here he      had spent most of his days, and here was the cave of.
      was, caught in his own sin, ensnared by his own lack        Machpelah which Abraham had bought for Sarah and
      of faith, identified with Israel's enemy in the hour        in which all of the patriarchs had been buried. It was
      of its need. David knew with a surety, of course, that      from here that the spies had taken samples of the
      he had been anointed to be the next of the kings in         richest fruit of Canaan, and it had been given to Caleb
     `-Israel; but could it not be that he had in reality for-    as a reward for his faithfulness. One could go on and
      feited his right by this sin? David did not so much as      on pointing out the details; somehow this district al-
      dare to move without first consulting with God because      ways seemed to be the focal point of the history of
      of the guilt that rested on his soul.                       grace, and now David himself was directed to it by the
         It is the amazing wonder of divine grace, however,       very hand of God. Hardly could any place be more
      that God does not deal with us after our sins nor re-       appropriate and significant to him.
      ward us according to our iniquity, if only we turn unto        In accord with the desire of David, the coronation
      Him in repentance.       And so it was that when David      itself was not elaborate or ostentatious. He did not
      turned to him again, as he should have long before,         want it to appear in any way that he was returning as
      God was there to answer him. David asked, "Shall I          a conquering hero. His mourning for Saul and Jona-
      go up into any of the cities of Judah?" and God an-         than was sincere, and he wanted the `people to know
      swered, "Go up."                                            this.    He was satisfied, therefore, not to make any
         But David had lost all confidence in his own dis-        demands of choice or loyalty upon the whole of the
      cretion, and even this clear word was not enough.           nation of Israel; it was enough merely to have the men
      Again he returned to God for more explicit directions       of his own tribe, who were naturally most loyal to
      as asked, "Whither shall I go up?" and again the an-        him, come to Hebron and crown him king. After all,
      swer came back, "Unto Hebron."                              his appointment was not of his own choice but of God.
                                                                  There was no need for him to worry or be concerned.
         Humbled as he was, it was for David a great joy          He was sure that in due time he would be able to show
      to leave the borders of the Philistines and to pass         to all of Israel that this was as it should be, and they
      again into his own land and his own country. Moreover,      would receive him as king.
      no longer did he have to travel secretly so as to              It was not long either before the opportunity ap-
      escape the surveillance of- Saul. This was his own          peared which David desired to demonstrate his true
     tribe and his own people. They knew David and wel-           feelings concerning the death of Saul and Jonathan.
      comed him as he traveled. It seemed to the men of           It was here that one of David's greatest virtues quali-
      Judah that at last they were about to receive their         fying him to be king was to be found, even as at this
      rightful recognition. They had always remembered so         same point Saul had fallen most miserably short.
     fondly the last parting promise that Jacob had left with     David understood people, and he could sympathize with
     the father of their tribe, "The sceptre shall not depart     them. He had a feeling for their questions and prob-
     from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,            lems and doubts and was concerned with helping rather
     until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of       than just condemning them. So here, he realized that
     the people be." Gen. 49:lO. It had seemed to them a          their most natural supposition was sure to be that he
      gross injustice and a sad mistake from the moment           was really overjoyed with the death of Saul and Jona-
     that Samuel had announced that from the tribe of             than because of the opportunity which it gave to him.
      Benjamin Israel's first king was to be taken. Had it        It was not a happy conclusion for them to be drawing
     not been for the fact that Samuel was so evidently a         about him; but it was natural, and the wisest thing for
     prophet of God, they perhaps would never have given          him to do was to demonstrate that it was not so rather
     to Saul any' recognition at all. It had accordingly not      than just trying to squelch it.
     taken them long to take note of the rise of David from          One of the first reports that came to him in his
     that final day of Goliath on. They had been careful,         capacity as king was that the men of Jabesh-gilead had.
     indeed, and not overstepped their bounds when Saul           taken the bodies of Saul and his son from the walls of
     had turned against them. But they had understood.            Bethshan where the Philistines had hung them and had
      Saul had only been trying to protect his own family         given to them a proper burial. There was good reason
     and his own tribe. Now, however, Saul was out of the         why the men of Jabesh-gilead had done this, for it was
     way, and nothing any longer prevented them from              in their behalf that Saul had engaged in his first and
     receiving David as the representative and favorite son       perhaps most heroic act as king. When he as yet had


                                             TIiE STANDARD BEARER                                                    253


had no organized army, Saul had called all Israel to           how did they know if David had not stirred the Philis-
join him in driving away the Ammonites who were en-            tines up to make their attack upon Israel? and how did
camped against Jabesh and threatening to destroy it.           they know that he had not given them instructions just
The men of the city had never forgotten it, and it             how to make their attack most effective exactly in the
seemed but- a small price of thankfulness to pay when          hope that Saul would be slain and make room for him
they had received the opportunity of rescuing the              upon the throne?      There are always those in every
remains of the king from the humiliation of the                situation who are much more ready to condemn some-
Philistines.     Nevertheless, those who brought the re-       one for whatever trouble may arise than to try to
port of their bravery to David did so with uncertainty,        understand and forgive. But it was David's own doing.
for they were not really sure how their report would           He had given them the opportunity to lay blame at his
be received, whether with appreciation, indifference or        feet, and it would be many years before the scars
anger.                                                         would disappear if ever they would.
   For David, however, this was exactly the opportu-              But even more than this, although Saul was now
nity which he sought, an opportunity to demonstrate the        dead, the effects of his  wickeness lived on still.
fact that he had not desired the death of Saul and Jona-       There were those who had shared with him the wicked-
than in the least even though it had resulted in his           ness of his power, and they were not about to surrender
being set upon the throne. Thus his reaction was im-           the influence which they possessed without a struggle.
mediate.        He summoned a group of men to serve as         The friends of Saul were determined to hold on to the
his messengers and sent them to Jabesh-gilead with             power of the throne as long as they could.
these words, "Blessed be ye ofthe LORD, that ye have
shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul,              Most prominent among these friends of Saul was
and have buried him. And now the LORD shew kind-               Abner, Saul's cousin and the captain of the army. All
ness and truth unto you:      and I also will requite you      through the reign of Saul he had held a position of im-
this kindness, because ye have done this thing. There-         portance; but particularly toward the end, as Jonathan
fore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye             had become less and less active in the affairs of the
valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the            kingdom, he had been able to solidify his power in the
house of Judah have anointed me king over them."               nation.    Now, he was not about to abandon it. All he
   The move of David was a very wise one; but, if he           needed was a pawn who could maintain some rightful
thought that it would be sufficient to gather all of Israel    claim to the throne in opposition to David. Neither
behind him, he was mistaken. It was to be yet seven            was it necessary to go far to find such. In Ishbosheth,
and one half years before his rule would be recognized         a weak younger son of Saul he had just such an instru-
throughout Israel.                                             ment. No sooner had David been crowned king in He-
   The fact was that David, in removing as he had into         bron than he had taken Ishbosheth to Mahanaim and
the land of the Philistines to make his life among them,       crowned him there as king in the place of his father.
had committed a great sin. There were many reasons             It was in a large part a successful maneuver. To
why he did it and excuses which could have been given,         many in Israel David was not yet a man to be trusted,
but the fact of the matter was that he had broken his          and all but the tribe of Judah fell behind Ishbosheth and
identity with Israel; and, although Cod had not with-          Abner D    It was a division in Israel that would never
drawn his grace from David because of it, the people           again be healed except for a short time in the latter
were not all so ready with their forgiveness. After all,       reign of David and of Solomon.


   FROM HOLY WRIT-

                               The Book of Hebrews
                                           webrews  5:11-6:20
                                                (Read  from own Bible)

                                                  by Rev. G. Lubbers

   There are some very definite points which the               this point in the first four and'one half chapters. We
writer to the Hebrews has made crystal clear up to             ought to review the following points very briefly. In
this point in the book of Hebrews. He has set forth in         the first place, the writer pointed out that in these last
bold relief that Jesus Christ is the very effulgence of        days Cod has spoken in His Son, and that this Son has
Cod's glory, the expressed image of his being.                 now `sat down on the right hand of Cod in the majesty
   Such was the burden of the writer's message up to           on high. (Hebrews l:l-4) Secondly, the author pointed


                254                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


               out that this exalted Christ is far above the angelic          change on the part of the hearers, Christians out of
               glory of the inhabitants of heaven. This is evident from       the Jews, it will be impossible to have them press on
               the- many Psalms which the writer quotes. The entire           tom the perfection in Christ, and see the great lines of
               Old Testament Scriptures speak thus concerning the             the teaching of the Scriptures.
               Christ.      The writer gives us a good example of the            Wherefore before the writer will explain these
               basic principles of interpretation, better known as the        great Biblical truths he admonishes the readers to
               science called Hermeneutics. Thirdly, the Son could            press on to perfection. They must prove themselves
               only be exalted in the deep way of his suffering. He           to be true sons of Abraham, having the same full as-
               is exalted at the right hand of God because of the             surance of hope to the end.
               suffering     of death.      Thus he brings many sons
               to glory; (Hebrews  2:5)          He is indeed a brother       THE HEBREWS REPROVED FOR THEIR
               amongst the brethren, like unto us in all things, sin          BEING DULL OF HEARING Hebrews  5:11-14
               excepted.      He destroyed him who had the power of              In every teaching situation there are really three
               death. He is the faithful and merciful high priest ih          separate factors which enter into consideration. First
               the things which : pertain to God. Fourthly, it is for         of all there is the teacher. He must be equipped and
               this very reason that we must not look back to Moses           able to teach. Next, there is the matter of the pupil
               or to an Aaron in the Old Testament dispensation, but          who must receive the instruction. Lastly, there is the
               we must look forward to Jesus, the apostle and high            element of the subject matter which must be taught.
               priest of our profession.          Christ is greater than      For a successful instruction and pedagogy each of
               Moses, exceedingly greater. As much as the builder             these elements must be in proper focus. If one of
               of the house is greater than the building, so much is          these is missing there is no instruction, or if one is
               Christ greater than Moses. `Wherefore we must not              impaired there is no successful fruition of the in-
               have in us an evil heart of unbelief, but we must enter        struction.
               into the rest. This rest is not a mere temporary and              It is one thing to have children which did not learn
               typical rest, but' is the final rest, the eternal Sabbath.     well in the first place. But it is quite another when we
               Fifthly, Christ is the perfect high priest, touched with       have come to the age when we should be matured and
               the feeling of our infirmities, according to the order of      be teachers of others, and then once more revert to
               Melchizedek. He has brought about our salvation                the condition where one, is still in the kindergarten
               through the strong crying and, tears, and having be-           class. If there is healthy instruction there must be a
               come perfected he was greeted of God a priest forever          corresponding growth and a coming to the full man-
               after the order of Melchizedek.                                hood, to ripe maturity.
                  The chief part of the message of the writer to'the             This was exactly what was lacking here in the
               Hebrews we must still consider. The writer will have           church of these Hebrews. They had come to a rather
               much to say concerning the priest after the order of           completed state of spiritual dullards. They were slow
               Melchizedek.      He will demonstrate in detail from the       and sluggish to learn.         The term in the Greek is
               Old Testament Scriptures the great thoughts of God             "noothros," that is, sluggish, dull. Here it refers to
               concerning `His son, when he swore with an oath: thou          a dullness in mental and spiritual perception. The full
               art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,           reality of what it means to be under the Word did not
               (Hebrews 5:6; Psalm 110:4) This one is the appointed           dawn upon them. In Chapter 6:12 we read "That ye be
               Son of God, who is called Jesus because He it is that          not  slothjid,  but followers of them who through faith
               will save His people from their sins. The writer will          and patience inherit the promises." There was not
          I    be explaining from the Old Testament Scriptures con-           simply a danger that these Hebrew Christians would
               cerning this priest after the order of Melchizedek in          become such sluggish dullards; the sad fact was that
               Hebrews 7: 1 through 10:X          Such is, of course, the     they had become such in very deed. The verb in the
               next major section of the book of Hebrews which we             text is "gegonate," that "ye have become such up to
     I         will now be considering.                                       the present moment."' It is sad reality. This same
                  However, before entering upon this discussion the           verb is employed by the writer in Chapter 5:12 where
               writer signals a difficulty in explaining this to the          we read "and are become such as have need of milk,
               Hebrews.       It is not basically a difficulty of applying    and not of strong meat." They were in a state of per-
               sound rules of interpretation.        The matter itself is     petual learning of "first principles" and not pressing
               clear and perspicuous enough. It is not difficult to           on to learning the full implication of the glory of the
               develop the difference between the Old Covenant of the         gospel of salvation in Christ, to come to a knowledge
               shadows and the types and the New Testament reality.           of the deep truths of the plan and the purpose of God
               He will surely shew the difference and the relation-           in Christ Jesus.
               ship between the priesthood of Aaron and that of the              It is a terrible thing when a fifteen year old young
~              better and the abiding priesthood of the Son of God in         lady or young man once more sits, or is still finding
               human nature.                                                  himself in the kindergarten learning the alphabet! One
                  That is not the difficulty.                                 does not forever remain a child naturally unless one is
I                 The difficulty lies in those who must be instructed.        an intellectual moron; and one does not ever remain
               They are become dull of hearing. Really they are               such that. he must be in the catechism class learning
               spiritual dullards.        And unless the basic attitude       the basic principles. They are good at their time, but

                                                                                                                                          -,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   255


we must not remain there. God did not prattle in the         sacrifices and as fulfilled in Christ on the Cross.
Bible. His Word is such that it must be studied, and it      Now one who is dull and is in need of "milk" and not
therefore requires spiritual growth!                         of "solid food" he does not have his "senses  exer-
   Now the writer is going to write on a great subject,      cised'by reason of use." The term in the Greek for
He will be writing on the great and profound truths of       sense means:     the organs of perception. The eyes,
the Gospel; the truth of the matter that the first           ears, hands, tongue and nose. Here it refers to all
temple was made after the type of the tabernacle which       the spiritual faculties . It refers to the mind in being
is heavenly. He will unfold the real tabernacle of God       able to judge, to perceive, to understand. It is here
as this is in the mind and plan of God in the counsel        in the plural: our hearing, seeing, tasting, touching
of peace. (Hebrews 8:5b)                                     and smelling.
   But the one difficulty was that those instructed were
dull of hearing1 It is not the difficulty of the subject.       This is to be developed in the truth by use ! Per-
True, the subject is profound which the writer will un-      haps we can clarify this with the example of those-who
fold here in these next few Chapters. But that is not a      are trained in their senses to distinguish thegood  from
difficulty as long as the hearers are quick to. hear,        the harmful in money: real money from counterfeit
and eager to learnand to press on. For in the process        coin.    Such people go to Washington, and for three
of learning there is ever the question of, the element       weeks handle nothing but real, honest and genuine
of what is called proper "motivation." In the field of       paper money. Thus their feeling, their sense of touch
the natural there is the motivation to exceed. We have       is exceedingly keen. It is the positive approach. Only
but to remind ourselves of the tremendous impetus and -when they know by reason of the use and exercise of
motivation of the learning of the world inour day. Ever      the senses what real money is, will they instantly know
since the appearance-of the Russian satellite there has      when counterfeit money is passed through their hands.
been a tremendous motivation in the field of scientific-        Here is a strong point to be remembered by us.
technology. It is the motivation of survival, to meet         -only when we are alert and know the truth in Christ
the challenge of the looming superiority of other great      in all its ramifications will we be able to detect the
nations. Then there is the motivation of personal gain       lie. This is true in the realm of the gospel centrally,
in the world, of greed and covetousness. Here there          but this is also true in the field of ethics and of all
must be a different motivation. -It is the motivation        education. The Dutch spoke of their Biblical "voel-
for the pressing on to final glory of the believers. It      horens," that is, of their being sensitive to the least
is the full maturity not so much in the ages to come,        departure from the truth.
as the full-orbed understanding of the truth in Christ,         We must be .~the `tperfect,`.' that is, we must come
so as to discern good and evil. This discernment of          to the full understanding of the truth. Unless we make
"good and evil" refers to what is beautiful and bene-        progress in the truth we shall surely go back in the
ficial for the saints, and to what is for their spiritual    grace of Christ. Here is where the great pitfalls for
detriment. What is "good" is the truth in Jesus, the         apostatizing from the living God are in evidence.
word of righteousness. It refers to the righteousness           Therefore having left the principles of the doctrine
which is ours in-Christ Jesus, as portrayed in all the       of Christ let us press on unto perfection.




     EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


                                 What Others Say

                                               by Rev. G. Van  Baven


   One encounters often today books which deal with          entitled, "The Ecumenical Mirage." The author is the
the subject of ecumenism. Most of these appear to            Rev.  C. S. Lowell, editor of  Church  and State, and
support the idea from one or more points of view. It         Methodist minister. The book is published by Baker
is an interesting contrast to read books which present       Book House at Grand Rapids and sells for $4.95. It is
rather the objections to present-day ecumenism. Such         a -book I can recommend Y particularly since it con-
a book came to the Standard Beaver  recently for review-     tains many arguments against today's ecumenical
and was referred to the present writer. The book is          spirit with which we would heartily agree. For the
                                                       -


256                                               THE STANDARD BEAR&R


benefit of our readers, I would like to point out and               more than one of vague togetherness, the leaders who
quote some of the pertinent arguments found in- the                 ride it are merger-happy men. They would like to
book.                                                               ride it all the way. They want this wave to roll to a
                                                                    structural unity in which all churches would merge
THE FACT OF ECUMENISM                                               into one under a single ecclesiastical tent. (p.  .25)
   One common denominator among ecumenists is the                ECUMENICAL ASSUMPTION
fact that present denominations are scorned as rather
outdated. These, say the ecumenist, no longer serve                  Rev. Lowell reminds his readers of the assumption
the functions of proper churches. The author quotes              which is made by the ecumenist: organic union is in
from Dr. G. L. Hunt, a Presbyterian minister who                 itself good; organic division is necessarily bad; total
serves as executive secretary for COCU:                          merger of all churches is the highest good. Together
                                                                 with this assumption is the notion that the calling of
          "Denominations," he said, "are only a sociological     the church is no longer simply to preach Christ
   structure to preserve the competitive principle." He
   felt that the denominational .pattern  was inadequate         crucified. In fact, there is no room for such a gospel
   because "today we must come to grips with the power           today:
   structures of our society." In a day of sociological                    The connectional managers of the Protestant de-
   giants, the church must become one, too, if it is to             nominations are under constant pressure to come up
   make its impact.         So ecumenists think of Christian        with new gimmicks. The gospel is never enough. They
   unity in terms of merger upon merger, culminating                feel they must compete with the thousand and one
   finally in that ultimate ideal - union with Rome (pg.            forms of excited appeal which din their  ,way in upon
   19)                                                              their constituency. They  must whip them up, keeping
   The Rev, Lowell further shows how that the ecu-                  both clergy and laity on the move and justifying their
menist  `is ready to present his "bridges" which will               own position. (p. 29)
span the gulf of denominational differences. Quoting                The author of the book evaluates the assumption of
from Bishop Corson of the Methodist Church, he                   the ecumenist as follows:
writes:
          "Education, knowledge, understanding which leads                 Many Christians today, their denominational leaders
   to clarification, will prove a strong two-way bridge to          among them, have no real hope for the future. The
   a true unity of the Spirit in the Body of Christ," he            gospel they know does not provide it. For all their
   said. Then he explained how this could work: "Dif-               nominal professions of faith, they are quite as the
   ferences sometimes resolve themselves in under-                  pagans  s     For them there is only darkness ahead.
   standing, and while doctrines cannot be compromised,             Animals fearful of a gathering storm huddle together
   their meaning is clarified by interpretation." Theolo-           in a cave. In the group there is a sense of safety. In
   gians took this to suggest that such apparently im-              some such manner the large belongingness of ecumen-
   passable barriers as papal infallibility and the im-             ism is helpful.       Men feel that they are joined with
   maculate conception and bodily assumption of the                 something that is very big, something that must be
   Virgin Mary could be resolved or at least eased with             very strong. Thus ecumenism becomes a palliative
   some give-and-take in theological discussions. (p. 15)           for  those who fear, a substitute for faith. (p. 35)
   It is the conclusion of this author that the ecumen-          A QUESTION OF STERILITY OR
ists have in mind merger finally with the Roman Cath-            PROLIFERATION AND HEAL TH
olic Church itself. Such an idea seemed beyond the
scope of possibility only ten years ago - yet today the             It is the contention of the author that ecumenism
thought is repeated constantly. Says the author:                 promotes a certain spiritual sterility within such de-
                                                                 nominations which have followed that path towards
          Professional ecumenists think of Christian unity as
   a steady progression of church mergers culminating in         ever wider mergers.            He points to many instances
   a union with the Church of Rome. Time after time I            which reveal that mergers do not in reality promote
   have heard them conclude their discussion of the ecu-         the cause of missions nor do they promote spiritual
   menical movement with some such statement as "And             and numerical growth within the denomination. One
   I do not bar reunion with the Roman Catholic Church,"         apparently convincing argument of the ecumenist is
   or, "We must envisage as our ultimate goal reunion            that unity of denominations would result in unified and
   with Rome." (p. 18)                                           thorough mission endeavor.            The argument runs as
   Several  interesting conclusions are made concern-            follows:
ing this ecumenical movement, conclusions which are                        The scatter-gun approach to the non-Christian
very pertinent and with which we would heartily agree:              world has lacked system and thoroughness. And, what
          In Scotland, Professor R. A. Finlayson told the           is far more serious, the non-Christian is undoubtedly
   Presbyterian General Assembly there (June 1966). . . .           confused by the multiple and diverse appeals reaching
   "We cannot regard the present ecumenical movement                him from various Christian bodies, none of which may
   as a distinctively Christian movement at all. It is a            know very much about what the others are doing. This
   political-ecclesiastical movement making a strong bid            is even worse when the appeals are competitive. (p,
   for political power and willing to jettison its faith and        52-53)
   all Christianity in the attempt." (p. 20)                        The author points out, however, that ecumenism has
          While the rolling wave of the moment may be no         not solved that problem which it claims is inherent in


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        257


denominationalism and its mission work. The result of               be met. The movement led by Arius in the fourth and
ecumenism is first, a loss of missionary zeal and                   fifth centuries rocked and stirred the church just as
concern; secondly, to a large extent a loss of the only             the stagnation of unity was nicely settling in. It created
message the missionary can bring: the gospel. Ecu-                  currents and stirred tides that are still felt fifteen
menism tends to destroy the very idea of mission work.              hundred years later. The movement of Arius was a
                                                                    nuisance to the Roman Emperor and the bishops of the
And the author's conclusion is surely true.                         church, but the church's tradition and teaching would
   Rev. Lowell quotes membership figures of churches                have been poorer without it. (p. 66)
which are "ecumenical" and compares these with                         Uncritical ecumenism provides no comparable
"non-ecumenical"          churches  D    The    "ecumenical"        challenge to change. The art of being like everybody
churches show an overall decline in membership. The                 else may be comforting but it is not stimulating or
conclusion must be that where the gospel is no more                 creative.    History teaches that reforms come about
preached, there is no further reason for the existence              only under challenge and `only  when the challengers
of the "church." The author insists:                                are firm to the point of proliferation away from the
      Ecumenism is not a kindling, creative movement                group to be reformed. This is why division has been
   among Protestants. It appears to be more like a death            good for the church. A church incapable of prolifera-
   march. As distinctives recede and convictions decline,           tion is dead. (p. 83)
   ecumenists have little or nothing to cling to except
   each other. (p. 61)                                              It is a small measure of assurance that there are
                                                                others within other denominations who recognize the
   On the other hand, Lowell points convincingly to the         evils in ecumenism as practiced today. May they con-
fact that the divisions of denominations have a useful          tinue to sound the necessary warning. We must not,
purpose. He states:                                             however,  deceive ourselves into thinking that perhaps
       Unity has never been a stimulating condition for
   the church of Jesus Christ. As long as the formal            this ecumenism will be stopped. From this point, it
    challenge of paganism remained in the West, the             would appear that this present trend towards oneness
    church maintained its vitality in mighty missionary         represents nothing less than that which leads to the
   thrusts.     Mere paganism provided the challenge to         establishment of the antichristian church of the last
   keep the church alert and on the move. Then there            days. Cod grant us grace to remain faithful now - and
   was the challenge of the great heresies which had to         in that day.




               OUR  SEMINARY-



                                         A Day In School

                                                    by  MY.  J. M.  Faber


   It is time for another report on our Theological             Testament Exegesis.          This semester the Scripture
School, so we made a special visit on Wednesday to              under scrutiny begins with Ephesians 1 for the student
give you the opportunity to share with us, A Day In             to exegete, and James 3 on which the professor lectures
School. That Wednesday, Jan. 24, happened to be the             and the student takes dictation.
first day of the new semester and was therefore not a               This particular Wednesday, being the first of the
true example of regular school sessions, but we found           semester, was primarily taken up by an introductory
it very interesting and hope that you do.                       preview of what the student can expect in the semester
   Wednesdays and Fridays are Prof. Hanko's days,               ahead. Prof. Hanko opened the day with devotions and
and Tuesdays and Thursdays have been assigned to                welcomed a committee of two from the Theological
Prof. Hoeksema. Prof. Hoeksema teaches poimenics                School Committee and your reporter to his opening
in his first class of the day, which deals with pastoral        day. Our student body is so small that with the addi-
duties  - the word refers to "soul-care." His next              tion of three visitors the Professor's class was four-
subject is Old Testament History, then Old Testament            fold its usual constituency.          Indeed, it is "a day of
Exegesis, with Thursday's schedule substituting Dog-            small things" in our Seminary; if only one student is
matics Review for Exegesis. Prof. Hanko's courses               ill there would be no school that day - he is the stu-
are, Medieval Church History, Isagogics and New                 dent body! Even if that fact is a bit detrimental to a


 2      5    8                               THE STANDARD BEARER


well rounded education, it does offer private tutorship       secular history he had better brush up on it for he
to our prospective minister; he receives all the atten-       would not be able to understand the one without knowing
tion of his instructors. The school room is situated          the other.
in the basement of First Church, and is well equipped            In all his references to the old church history one
with a growing selection of library books suitable for        point stood out in the professor's lecture, that though
seminary students.                                            apostasy abounded in the Medieval Church one could
      The visitors that day were impressed with this in-      not therefore draw the conclusion that God does not at
troductory session and shared with the student much           all times preserve His Church. The very opposite is
of the instruction given in lecture form. The professor       true; the worse a church becomes the more evident it
warned him that he would .be responsible for reading          becomes that God does preserve His people. This
two. volumes of one author, one volume of another, and        preservation, we were told, was accomplished through
the late Prof. Ophoff's material on Medieval Church           the work of individual theologians, some of whom suc-
History. This history begins at about 590 A.D. in the         ceeded in preserving Augustianism in spite of the
reign of Pope Gregory the Great, and ends with the            Hierarchy. It was preserved in the monasteries which
year 1074.        We learned that this. period of history     had become the centers of learning and religious zeal.
dealt with the missionary work of the church in the           Even though heresies also invaded these islands of
countries of Europe inhabited by barbarian tribes,            peace there remained a great deal of dedication to God
beginning `with the Latin tribes of Italy, Spain and          and His Truth. Because of the monasteries in which
Portugal;. then north to the Celtic tribes of Britain, the    the true religion was kept the center of the church
Gauls, the Scats, the  Pits and the Irish. The work           came to be in Europe. That fact leads to the other
then progressed to the Teutonic tribes from which we          patent truth that it necessarily became the center of
have descended. The church was already at that time           Anti-Christianity.      Even as true doctrines have come
split. into East and West, and they were sometimes in         to our country from Europe, so heresies are also im-
competition with one another in their missionary work.        migrating to America from Europe. Right now America
That work ended with the `Christianizing (and civilizing)     is about twenty years behind our fatherland in heretical
of the whole country about 1075 A.D. The Capitol of           teachings in such errors that lie behind the "God is
the church was Rome in the Western Division, and, the         dead" and "The Bible is not the Word of God, but the
professors said, this was going to be the chief con-          Word of God is in the Bible" theories.
cern of this semester's inquiry. We also learned why             After the above instruction and assignment of
evangelizing and civilizing is a parallel process.            Medieval Church History a short recess was declared
Where the Gospel is preached there is education;              before taking up the next subject. A thermos of coffee
there is knowledge; there is reading and development.         and cookies (wife-packed at home) is the highlight of
The monasteries were the center of the activities in          recess, not unlike the coffee break enjoyed by the
each region. The Monks taught the children reading            factory or office worker.
and writing, and led the people in their political de-           If you have not gone home during recess and are
velopment, and actually ruled- the continent of Europe        still with us, let us sit in on the next course which is
in every sphere of life. This developed into hierarchy        New Testament Isagogics.         This course, under that
and the papal rule, This evil of priest-craft inevitably      hard-to-pronounce title is the study of an introduction
led the church into a condition from which it had to be       to the New Testament. The word literally means, "a
rescued by The Reformation.                                   leading into.`B    It serves to lead the student into a
      One of the results of Christianizing the barbarians,    thorough understanding of the New Testament without
we learned, was that many of the pagan rites were in-         an exegesis thereof. It serves to inculcate knowledge
corporated into the worship of the church. The mis-           which will serve as a basis for exegesis. The scope
sionaries were instructed by the Pope to be ready to          of this course is, in general, to come to the under-
adopt their teaching to existing pagan religions and in-      standing of the canonical significance in the organism
corporate certain old religious peculiarities into their      of the entire Scriptures. This organic characteristic
worship services. Some of our church holidays owe             of the New Testament (and of the whole Bible) the
their origin to that practice, of which Christmas is a        Professor found to be of major importance. This
striking example. The worship of Mary may have had            truth pre-supposes organic inspiration. Our instruc-
its origin in the service. of their goddesses, and            tor described the Scriptures as a portrait of Christ.
angelology, demonology and the superstitious respect          He said it must not be viewed as a jigsaw puzzle of 66
for miracles are all due to pagan superstitions of that       pieces with one or more pieces missing, or defaced,
period.                                                       or obliterated.       Though Scripture does not exhaust
      The professor warned his student that the study of      the depths of God, it is a true portrait of Christ as the
Medieval Church History would not be a happy experi-          Face of God, and is all we need to know to be saved
ence because it is a history of decay and degeneration.       (cf Belgic Conf.  #7).     The professor was quite em-
In the church of that day one could find all sorts of         phatic in his assertion that there are no extraneous
crime.       The truth that Absolute Power corrupts is        parts of Scripture; none of them are merely scientific,
very evident in the study of that time. Student Moore         or peripheral, or old fashioned and out of .date.  He
was advised that church history and secular history           insisted that every part was important and belonged
are inter-twined; that if he were a bit hazy about            to the whole portrait.       Our Lord's "jot and  tittle"


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              259


cannot be taken from it without marring the whole           Everyone went his own way, and it was probably only
picture.                                                    our imagination that we thought we detected a little
    All the while the professor was discussing  the.        weaving in the walk of Student Moore as he went to his
above he would interrupt himself with statements like       car at the curb.
these: "I want you topick that up when you study this,"        If you have enjoyed this Day In School you may well
or, "I want you to read that book," or "I want you to       believe that we did, too. But one must have a deep de-
fully comprehend this," until the visitors began to         sire to be a minister and be firmly dedicated to this
rejoice they were visitors and not students.        In a    pursuit to be able to enjoy it day after day. It is a
single morning visit (of which Student Moore has four       grueling ordeal, or so it seemed to us.
each week) one might come to the conclusion that               We were also informed that the Spring issue of our
there is one house on the one street (119 Fitzhugh Ave.,    Seminary's Theological Journal is past the planning
S.E.) in Grand Rapids where the days are 48 hours           stage. This issue will include a paper on "Melanch-
long and each week has 10 work days !                       thon" by Rev. D. Engelsma, pastor of our Loveland,
    Noticing a quick glance at the clock by his student     Colorado church; a comprehensive review of Prof.
the professor awoke to the realization that it was past     Berkhower's book on The Holy Scriptures by Prof. H.
time of adjournment. Our school is not equipped with        CD Hoeksema; and a scholarly treatise on, "The
an automatic bell system and the student seems to feel      Synoptic Problem" by the editor, Prof. H. Hanko. All
his calling to call the right signals when it seems that    in all, this Journal promises to be well worth while
his instructor is lost in his assignment-giving-instruc-    reading and owning. There is no cost affixed to this
tions 0                                                     magazine which may be had for the asking. If you are
    One of the Theological School Committee delegates       not already on the mailing list you can still have your
was asked to close this session with prayer, and the        name placed on it by writing to Professor H. Hanko,
first-day-in-school of this semester came- to an end.       4665 Ju-le-on Drive, S.W., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49504.


ALL AROUND  US-

                   Reflections On Assen and  Lutiteren

                                    Ecumenical News Items

                                                      Southern Presbyterians

                                                 by  Pyof. H. Hank0

REFLECTIONS ON ASSEN AND L UNTEREN
    In 1926 the Synod of the Gereformeerde Kerken in           He is also pleased that the Church was honest. It
the Netherlands deposed a certain Dr. Geelkerken            could have permitted the decisions of Assen to atrophy
from office for denying that the two trees which God        through disuse.      It could have maintained these de-
placed in the Garden of Eden were actual trees and          cisions which would have involved a thorough house-
that Satan actually talked with Eve through the serpent     cleaning of present professors and ministers who teach
which spoke. He denied the literal, historical inter-       the same thing that Geelkerken taught. But it chose to
pretation of Genesis 3. Last year the Gereformeerde         be honest and retract the decision.
Kerken reconsidered this decision and decided they           Now whether this was really honest or not depends
had been wrong in condemning Geelkerken; that his           entirely on one's agreement or disagreement with the
interpretation of these chapters in Genesis was a per-      decision of Assen; and Smedes, by calling it honest,
missible interpretation and did not constitute a denial     has already tipped his hand that he agrees that Assen
of the authority of Scripture. =                            was a mistake and that Geelkerken should have been
    In the last article of the  Reformed  JoumtaZ  Prof.    permitted to teach his views. Certainly it was dis-
Lewis Smedes comments on last year's decision of            honest when the Gereformeerde Kerken which con-
the Gereformeerde Kerken taken at Lunteren and finds        demned Geelkerken should now tolerate men who be-
himself pleased with it.                                    lieve as he did. If this is all that was involved, then
    He is pleased, first of all, because he finds in        honest indeed the decision was.
this decision an act of humility:        the Church was        But supposing now that Assen was a correct deci-
willing to confess past error and concede that the          sion.      Then the action of the Church at Lunteren in
Church on earth is a fallible institution.                  retracting it was anything but honest.      It- was then


260                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


simply a matter of expediency and a recognition of            ready ruined all possibility of proper exegesis and
the fact that the Church no longer possessed the              is no longer to be trusted as a responsible expositor
spiritual strength to cast out of her fellowship those        of Scripture. And this is precisely what has happened
who denied the truth. This strength she still had in          when Genesis three is interpreted in another way than
1926; she has lost it, to her shame.                          literally and historically. To deny the reality of the
   But there is another point which Smedes makes in           two trees and the reality of the speaking serpent re-
the article that is far more important. He insists            veals that the one who does this denies that Scripture
correctly that the Church did not really approve of           is infallibly inspired.     This is grounds for excom-
Geelkerken's interpretation of Genesis 3 when it struck       munication. Assen was right. Lunteren was wrong.
down Assen's decision. The church only said that this            Smedes' answer to this would be that many parts of
was a matter of exegesis and not of faith. That be-           Scripture are to be interpreted in a way other than
cause it was a matter of exegesis, and not of faith, it       literal and historical. He himself refers to Revelation
was a tolerable view within the Church whether it was         21 as an instance.         We concede the argument, of
right or wrong.       "No intevpretution  of the words of     course. But we deny that Genesis 3 is the same kind
Genesis chapter three should be accorded the status           of writing as Revelation 21. The difference is quite
of an article of faith."                                      plainly that the entire context of Revelation 21 assures
   It is on this basis that Smedes rather contemptu-          us beyond a shadow of doubt that this was a vision. given
ously condemns those who find a connection between            to John which has to be interpreted as a vision. Even
the literal interpretation of Genesis l-3 and the resur-      a child, it seems clear, would understand that when
rection of Christ.      Rather off-handedly and without       the apostle John, on the island of Patmos, received
much proof he says that "the argument is bad on many          this description of a new heaven and a new earth, of a
counts;" and adds                                             holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God
       There is a notion abroad that we can some-             out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her
   how bolster faith in the risen Christ by demand-           husband, that this was a vision granted the seer of
   ing a literal interpretation of Genesis. It is in          Patmos .      Is this the language of Genesis  3? Was
   fact a very mistaken notion. Anyone whose faith            Genesis 3 a vision given to Adam perhaps? Let Smedes
   in the resurrection rests on the necessity of a            prove this from the context. Every indication in the
  literal interpretation of Genesis is the better             whole book of Genesis is that we have historical fact
   off the sooner he finds a better basis for his             before us.     Genesis 3 must also be included as his-
   faith.                                                     torical fact. If there are those who think not, let them
   But is the matter indeed as Smedes presents it?            show where the context indicates this. Smedes con-
   We ought to mention, first of all, that, while indeed      cedes that this is the telling point: "The only question
a distinction must be made between exegesis and               we should ask. . .is how the text and context requires
faith, it is not the kind of distinction Smedes implies.      (require? - H.H.) us to take it."
It is certainly true (and Smedes himself would be the            Hence there is considerable plausibility in the
first to agree) that the faith of the Church is derived       argument which Smedes considers to be bad: "Tolera-
from exegesis of Scripture. Geelkerken was not con-           tion of error on this point seriously undermines the
demned for faulty exegesis. He was condemned for              church's ability to protect the faith at other more
denying important points of the Christian faith. If it is     crucial points." Supposing that Genesis three must be
true as Smedes insists that "no intev$wetation of the         interpreted as a vision. This means, of course, that
words of Genesis chapter three should be accorded             the fall is also not a historic reality, but a vision.
the status of an article of faith" then certainly this        What is to keep an exegete from interpreting any bis-
is true of any interpretation of any text, including the      torical section in Genesis as a vision since Genesis
interpretations of those texts which have to do with the      three has the same kind of historical and literal
resurrection of Christ. Inasmuch as the whole of the          "flavor" about it as Abraham's offering of Isaac has?
Christian faith is founded upon interpretation of Scrip-      But one cannot then dodge the question of how Jesus
ture, Smedes will have to concede (and might be ready         could consider all these events as being historical.
to concede) that there is really no article of faith in       The only way out is to deny the divine nature of Christ.
the whole body of Christian belief which is not fair          Here is the destruction of both the incarnation and the
target for the heretics.                                      resurrection. And not only is this an abstract possi-
   But there is also a question of the  I method of           bility; but history is replete with examples of this sort
exegesis involved here - something which Smedes               of thing happening all the time.       And, as a result,
himself points out.         And the method of exegesis, it    history is strewn with the wreckage of churches who
must be granted, already presupposes a doctrine of            took this approach to Scripture.
Scripture. Proper exegesis can only be conducted on              Lunteren was not "a support for faith," much less
the basis of a prior commitment of faith in Scripture         a "liberation of scholars," but a concession to mod-
as the infallibly inspired Word of God. Proper exe-           ernism and a serious threat to the existence of the
gesis is possible only when it is first of all accepted       Gereformeerde Kerken as a Reformed denomination.
by faith that God reveals Himself on the pages of Holy
Writ which pages contain infallibly inspired writings.        ECUMENICAL NEWS ITEMS
Anyone who departs from this commitment has al-                  Billy Graham continues in various ways to reveal


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      261


that he is caught up in the ecumenical movement. He          worship with Roman Catholics.
recently participated in a convocation of the Ecumenic          It is interesting to note that more and more em-
Institute for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy-        phasis in ecumenical activity is on the relation be-
men at Belmont College in Belmont, North Carolina.           tween Protestants and Roman Catholics.
This is a Roman Catholic institution which also, at the
time of the convocation, conferred on Billy the honor-       SOUTHERNPRESBYTERHNS
ary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Billy Graham            A couple of news items concerning Southern Pres-
was the chief speaker and in his acceptance speech           byterians are interesting especially in the light of the
spoke of the need for more understanding among Prot-         present merger talks between the Presbyterians and
estant and Roman Catholic theologians. This, he said,        the Reformed Church of America.
was possible because the Gospel which formed the                It has long been evident that there are two groups
basis of the College where he spoke was the same             within the Southern Presbyterian Church: one group
Gospel which he preached.        This may very well be       which is liberal and favors union with the United Pres-
true.                                                        byterian Church and participation in the COCU talks;
                   4 * *  * *                                another group which is more conservative and is press-
   Colgate Rochester Divinity School, affiliated with        ing for union with the Reformed Church of America;
the Baptist Church, will join with Bexley Hall, a small      Recently, Dr. Marshall Dency, moderator of the South-
Episcopal Seminary, in a new ecumenical endeavor.            ern Presbyterians, called a conference between these
While the two seminaries will not merge, they will           liberal and conservative factions at which conference
share their facilities, libraries and faculties. But this    he urged both groups to disband in order to restore
is only a first step towards the establishment of a pro-     unity within the Church. The result was quite different.
posed Rochester Center for Theological Studies which         The lines between the liberal and conservative factions
will probably include a nearby Roman Catholic Semi-          were more sharply drawn than ever, and it became
nary and several other Seminaries in the area. This          plain that both could not agree on fundamental ques-
is but one instance of a nation-wide trend towards           tions of doctrine and practice. The Southern Presby-
federation among seminaries of. various denominations.       terians will have to reckon with this deep division in
If the churches are uniting, it seems but logical to         their ranks as they pursue their ecumenical objectives.
merge seminaries as well.
                   * *  * *  *                                  Two congregations in the same denomination be-
                                                             longing to the Savannah, Georgia Presbytery have with-
   Unity week is past. To most of our readers this           drawn from the denomination on the grounds that the
may come as something of a surprise since few within         denomination has substantially altered the historic
our circles were even aware of the celebration of this       stand of the Church. There was a question of property
event on Jan. 18 to Jan. 2.5. But to ecumenical leaders      since the presbytery involved claimed the property and
it was of utmost importance and eminently successful.        denied the congregation the right to it. The Georgia
   Several items stand out in importance.                    Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the two con-
   Dr. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Cantebury in            gregations were entitled to keep their property even
the Anglican Church appeared in London's Roman               though they withdrew from the denomination inasmuch
Catholic Westminster Cathedral to dispense blessings         as the court was of the opinion that the denomination
in the glare of television floodlights.                      had indeed altered the original tenets of faith and
   In the Netherlands Dutch Roman Catholics and Prot-        practice.
estants joined in many places in receiving the Eucha-
rist in ecumenical Masses.                                      This decision was being hailed as having  far-
   All the big cities in America witnessed a spate of        reaching implications for aii congregations within the
pulpit-trading among clergy of different denominations.      denomination and within other denominations who re-
Rev. James Stuart of the Episcopal Church became the         fuse to go along with the liberalism and ecumenism of
first Protestant to speak in Saint Patrick's Cathedral.      their parent churches. It ought to give the ecumenists
Catholics, Protestants and even a Salvation Army Band,       pause;       for they were rather certain they -could hold
joined in common prayer services in San Francisco.           congregations by the threat of taking their property.
Even in the "Bible Belt" of the deep South a Roman           It ought to encourage those who want no part of the
priest confessed to Methodists and Baptists joined in        liberalism rampant in the church today.



The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed Christian             Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School is in need
School is in need of a teacher for grades one through        of a principal for the 1968-1969 school year. If you
four for the 1968-1969 school year. Anyone interested        wish to be considered for this position, please contact:
in this position please apply to Mr. Gerald Van Den                                    Mr. Clare Kuiper
Top, R.R. 1, Rock Rapids, Iowa, 51235.                                                  2450 Boulevard Dr., S.W.
                              Gerald Van Den Top, Sec'y.                                Wyoming, Michigan 49509
                                                                                        Phone: 534-0098


262                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITif-

                                                                   :
                                      The Doctrine of Sin
                                      The Second Period  - 250-730 AD

                                -.       The Pelagian Controversy

                                                     Pelagianism

                               Primitive State and Freedom of Man

                                                     by Rev. H. Veldman


   Writing  .on Pelagius' view of the freedom of man               act goes to form a moral state or habit; and habit is
and his primitive state,  Philip Schaff, in his History of         in turn the parent of new acts. Perfect freedom is one
the Christian Church, Vol. III, 803  f.f., writes as fol-          with moral necessity, in which man no longer can do
lows:                                                              evil because he will not do it, and must do good because
                                                                   he wills to do it; in which the finite will is united with
         This is the only conception of freedom which  Pe-         the divine in joyful obedience, and raised above the
   lagius has (the ability to be able to choose both, the          possibility of apostasy. This is the blessed freedom
   good and the evil), and to this he and his followers            of the children of God in the state of glory. There is,
   continually revert.     He views freedom in its  form           indeed, a subordinate sphere of natural virtue and civil
   alone, and in its first stage, and there fixes and leaves       justice, in which even fallen man retains a certain
   it, in perpetual equipoise between good and evil, ready         freedom of choice, and is the  artificer  of his own
   at any moment to turn either way. It is without past or         character. But as respects his relation to God, he is
   future; absolutely independent of everything without or         in a state of alienation from God, and of bondage under
   within; a vacuum, which may make itself a plenum, and           sin; and from this he cannot, rise by his own,strength,
   then becomes a  vacuum again; a perpetual tabula rasa,          by a bare resolution of his will, but only by a regen-
   .upon which man can write whatsoever he pleases; a              erating act of grace, received in humility and faith,
   restless choice, which, after every decision, reverts           and setting him free to practice Christian virtue. Then,
   to indecision and oscillation.                                  when born again from above, the will of the new man
   Pelagius himself, however, it must be admitted,               _ co-operates with the grace of God, in the growth of
recognized to some extent the power of habit and its               the Christian life.
effect  ,upon. the will, although it is claimed that  Co-               Physical  death  Pelagius regarded as a law of
                                                                   nature, which would have prevailed even without sin.
elestius and Julian,  his disciples, carried out his idea          The passages of Scripture which represent death as
of the freedom of choice more consistently to the con-             the consequence of sin, he referred to moral corrup-
ception of a purely qualitative or formal power which              tion or eternal damnation.        Yet he conceded that
admits of no growth or change by actual exercise, but              Adam, if he had not sinned, might by a special privi-
remains always the same. Pelagius, however, recog-                 lege have been exempted from death.
nized to some extent the power of habit and its effect             This is all rather confusing, is it not? We have no
upon the will. On this Schaff writes as follows:                reason to believe that the above is not a correct and
   .     Human `liberty, like every other spiritual power,      factual presentation of the position and views of Pela-
   has its development; it must advance beyond its equilib-     gius. One can hardly calI this a clear presentation of
   rium, beyond the mere ability to sin or not to sin, and      the "truth." Of course, heretics do not speak a clear
   decide -for the one or the other. When the will de-          and unambiguous language.          According to Pelagius,
   cides, it so far loses its-indifference, and the oftener     habits do affect a person's conduct. The right use of
   it acts, the more does it become fixed; good or evil         the freedom of choice leads to a state of holiness; the
   becomes its habit, its second nature; and the will either    abuse of it, to a state of bondage under sin.' And the
   becomes truly free by deciding for virtue, or it be-         state of the will is affected by its acts, and settles
   comes the slave `of vice. "Whosoever committeth sin,
   is the servant of sin." Goodness is its own reward,          towards a permanent character of good or evil. Pela-
   and wickedness is its own punishment.....The right use       gius also speaks of the state of perfect freedom. He
   of the freedom of choice .leads to a state of holiness;      must do this. Do not the Scriptures speak of everlast-
   the abuse of it, to a state of bondage under sin. The        ing life and glory? So, the people of God in heaven will
   state of the will is affected by its acts, and settles       be everlastingly perfect. However, perfect freedom,
   towards a permanent character of good or evil. Every         according to him, is the  state in which man can no


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     263


  longer do evil because he will not do it. But, how can           example, which. exerts a more or less injurious in-
  the state of everlasting glory ever be the product of            fluence upon his posterity. In this view he condemned
  one's own will? That is surely impossible. Whereas               at the synod of Dicspolis  (415) the assertion of Coe-
  the wages of sin is death, everlasting life is surely            lestius, that Adam's sin injured himself alone, not the
  the gift of God. Notice, too, that Pelagius speaks of a          human race. He was also inclined toadmit  an increas-
  subordinate sphere of civil justice and natural virtue.          ing corruption of mankind, though he ascribed it solely       _
  This must remind us of the modern theory of common               to the habit of evil, which grows in power the longer it
                                                                   works and the farther it spreads. Sin, however, is born
  grace. This theory, too, speaks of a natural sphere of           with man; it is not a product of nature, but of the will.
  natural virtue and civil justice. It, too, draws a dis-          Man is born both without virtue and without vice, but
  tinction between two spheres, the natural and the                with the capacity. for either. The universality of sin
  spiritual. The spiritual sphere refers us specifically           must be--ascribed  to the power of evil example and
  to our relation to God. And the natural sphere em-               evil custom.
  phasizes the natural sphere, the relation in which all                And there are exceptions to it. The "all" in Rom.
  men stand to one another. In that natural sphere men             5:12 is to be taken relatively for the majority. Even
  can do much good in the sight of God, often-put the              before Christ there were men who lived free from  sin,
  people of God to shame. Is it not striking that, already          such as righteous Abel, Abraham, Isaac, the Virgin
  in the days of Augustine, Pelagius speaks of -such a             Mary, and many others. From the silence of the Scrip-
                                                                    tures respecting the sins of many righteous men, he
  subordinate sphere?       There is certainly a striking           inferred that such men were without sin. In reference
  resemblance between the conception of Pelagius and                to Mary, Pelagius is nearer the present Roman Cath-
  the modern theory of common grace.                                olic view than Augustine, who exempts her only from
     Finally, also Pelagius speaks of the regenerating              actual sin, not from original. Jerome, with all his
  act of grace. Of course, he must do this. Do not the              reverence for the blessed Virgin, does not even make
  Scriptures speak of this regenerating work of God's`              this exception, but says, without qualification, that
  grace? Does not our Lord Jesus Christ say to Nico-              -every creature is under the power of sin and in need
  demus that "except a man be born again, he cannot                 of the-mercy of Cod.
  see the kingdom of God?" So, also Pelagius speaks of                  With original sin, of course, hereditary g&t also
                                                                    disappears; and even apart from this connection, Pe-
  a bondage under sin, and that man cannot rise from                lagius views it as irreconcilable with the justice of.
  this by his own strength, by a bare resolution of his             Cod. From this position a necessary deduction is the
  own will.     But we do well to note that Pelagiiis also          salvation of unbaptized infants. Pelagius, however,
  declares that we must receive this regenerating act of            made a distinction between vita aeterna,-  or a lower
  grace in humility and faith. And he also declares that            degree of salvation, and the regnum coelovum  of the
  the will of man co-operates with the grace of God.                baptized saints; --- --
                                                                                        and he affirmed the necessity of.
  This is pelagianism. The sinner needs the grace of                baptism- for entrance into the kingdom of heaven
  God, but whether this grace of the Lord will operate              (Roman Catholicism today also distinguishes between
  in him depends upon the free will of that sinner. And             Roman Catholic unbaptized -and baptized infants - _
  this is also the fundamental heresy of the Three Points           H.V.).      -
                                                                        In this doct.rine of -the fall we meet with the same
_ of l.924.  -.  -                                                  disintegrating view of humanity as before. Adam is
                                                                    isolated from his posterity; his disobedience is dis-
  THE  F&L OF  ADM  AND ITS  CONSEQlJENcgS   -                      joined from other sins. He is simply an individual, like
                                                                    any other man, not the representative of the whole
     With regard to Pelagius' conception of the fall of           r a c e .    There are no- creative starting-points; every
  Adam and the consequences of that fall, Philip Schaff             man begins history anew. In this system Paul's ex:
  writes as follows, Vol.-III, 805, f.f.:        '                  hibitions of Adani and Christ as the representative
                                                                    ancestors of mankind have no meaning. If the act of
         Pelagius, destitute of all idea of the organic whole-      the -former has merely an individual significance, so
     ness of the race or of human nature, viewed Adam               also has that of the latter. If the sin of Adam-cannot
     merely as an isolated individual; he gave him no rep-          be imputed, neither can the merit- of Christ. In  both-
     resentative place, and therefore his acts have no              cases there is nothing left but the idea of example,
     bearing beyond himself.                                        the influence of which depends solely upon our own
         In his view, the sin of the first man consisted in a       will. `But there is an undeniable solidarity between the
     single, isolated act of disobedience. Julian compares          sin of the first man and that of his posterity.'
     it to the insignificant offence  of a child, which allows          In like manner sin is here regarded almost ex-
     itself to be misled by some sensual bait, but after-           clusively as an isolated act of the will, while yet there
     wards repents its fault. "Rude, inexperienced, thought-        is also such a thing 2s sinfulness; there are sinful
     less, having not yet learned. to fear, nor seen an ex-         states and sinful habits, which are consummated and
     ample of virtue," Adam allowed himself to be enticed           strengthened by sins of act, and which in turn give
     by the pleasant look of the forbidden fruit, and to be         birth to other sins of act.
     determined by the persuasion of the woman.  This                    Finally, the essence and root of sin is not sen-
     single and inexcusable act of transgression brought            suality, as Pelagius was inclined to assume (though he
     no consequences, either to the soul or the body of             did not express himself very definitely on this point),
     Adam, still less to his posterity, who all stand or fall       but self-seeking, including pride andsensuality as the
     for themselves.                                                two main forms of sin. The sin of Satan was a pride
         There is, therefore, according to this system, no          that aimed at equality with Cod, rebellion against Cod;
     ovigind  sin, and no heveditavy  guilt. Pelagius merely..      and in this the fall of Adam began, and was inwardly
     conceded, that Adam, by his disobedience, set a bad            consummated before he ate of the forbidden fruit.


                                                                        -~--------~-.-   _.._
264                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

                                    NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-

    The first of two of this$inter's  Lecture Series was                              *     *      *
held in First Church February 1 on a foggy, rainy               The Holland Ladies Aid Society met in the home of
evening - a change from the blizzards of last winter.        Mrs. N. Yonker Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 6 to honor
Prof. H. Hanko was the lecturer, his topic being the         her 91st birthday anniversary which she hopes to
timely one of Ecumenism - the word on the lips of            celebrate Feb. 12. This aged widow is wheelchair-
the majority of church leaders who want "involvement" bound but comes to Holland's Church regularly from
in the social affairs of the world: the race question,       her home in Muskegon.                Transportation and noon
peace talks, its population explosion and the burning        lodgings are furnished by the members of her church.
issues of the day.                                           The host family finds her an interesting historian who
    The speaker viewed his subject under the theme,          can remember events from yesterday to more than 80
"Scriptural Ecumenism," and asked us to consider it          years into the past.
as to its meaning according to the Word of God; how                                   * * *
we should evaluate modern ecumenicity; and what is              Loveland's new clerk is Mr.  G.  R. Griess, 1017
our calling in regard to this. His emphasis was found        E. 57th Street, Loveland, Colorado 80537.
in our confession that we believe in One Holy Catholic                                0 *          *
Church; how that is founded on Christ Who is The                 Southeast's church building committee has fin-
Truth - the full revelation of God; the Christ who is        ished off the former consistory room to make it a
her Head, and she His Body. The speaker also de-             cloak room with an additional exit. This will hope-
scribed the test which the True Church must meet,            fully relieve the congestion in the main lobby when
that of displaying The Three Marks: the pure preach-         leaving the building.
ing of the Word,. the pure administration of the Sacra-                               * *  *
ments and the proper exercise of Christian discipline.          An announcement recently appeared in First
    The Lecturer evaluated for us the modern ecu-            Church's bulletin in the Holland language. Covveetio?z
menical movement' and found it to be derisive of             - what was supposed to be the Holland language. But,
doctrine, a rejecter of the creeds, and an advocate of       probably due to the fact that the typesetter was not a
union before a common basis may be established, The          Hollander the typographical errors and mis-spellings
trend of all these is toward social reform, an alliance      resulted in a Yankee-Dutch version, with the Dutch
with the State, and eventually the institution of a One-     for "First Church" coming out as "Farthest Church"
World-Church  - that of the Anti-Christ. The Profes-         in the translation. But the message was clear: a soup
sor pointed out our calling in regard to this modern         supper scheduled for Feb. 23. If it should turn out to
idea of unity, counselling us to remain firm in our re-      be alphabet soup `t would make no great difference -
solve to resist this pressure while we still have a          the Dutch and the English both have the same twenty-
choice. He warned about the future in which the choice       six letters.
would be, "Join, or else!", when the "or else" would
mean our lives. The speaker's final observations led                                  * *          *
to the prediction that true church unity (in its institu-       "Growth from within" was reflected in Loveland's
tional form) might be expected when the saints will          Jan. 14 bulletin when it recorded that the infant
be driven into each other's arms through the persecu-        daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Engelsma was to be baptized
tion by the Beast and its Image in the Latter Days.          that morning, and that a daughter had been born to Mr.
That, he concluded, would be true ecumenicity.               and Mrs. D. Gleason that week.             Hudsonville's Jan.
   The program committee chose two appropriate               28th bulletin also announced that two infant daughters
Psalter numbers for the audience to sing, Nos. 350           of the congregation would receive the sign and seal of
and 371, which was the only music beside the organ           the covenant through the administration of the sacra-
prelude and postlude by Mrs. C. Lubbers. The main            ment of baptism that morning.
auditorium was comfortably filled with many young
people in evidence. Rev. Van Baren led in the opening                                 * * *
devotions, and Rev. Lubbers led in closing prayer.              A family visitation schedule in a recent bulletin of
                       *     * *                             First Church revealed the polyglot character of the
   The High School Board, in its last bulletin, reported     constituency of that congregation. The names Grus-
several large gifts which added materially to the            czynski and Quenga are very evidently not natives of
school's treasury. Two of those were bank drafts of          the Netherlands, the nationality that characterizes the
about  $1,200.00 each from an anonymous donor. The           bulk of our denominational roll-call. What a roll-call
members of the finance committee, in their monthly           that will be when all nations, tribes and tongues shall
meetings, eagerly look for that one blue envelope which      be gathered before the Great White Throne in the Day
contains a neatly folded $100.00 bill each month! The        of The Lord !
name  chased by the board is, "Covenant Christian                                     *     *  *
High," which expresses both its foundation and the              . . . see you in church.
goal.                                                                                                            -J.M.F.


