                                he


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                                       earer


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





IN THIS ISSUE


    Meditation:
        Salvation For The Chief Of Sinners

    E d i t o r i a l :
        The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert (3)


    The Sources and End of Violence and Revolution


    A Childlike Faith



                                           Volume XLIV/Number  2lfSept.  15,1968.


482                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                            CONTENTS:                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
Meditation  -                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
   Salvation for the Chief of Sinners . . . . . . . . . . . .482                  Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

Editorials -                                                                      Department Editors:  Mr. John M. Faber, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
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   Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . .484       Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,  Rev. Gise J.
   The Erring Views of Dr. Kuitert (3) . . . . . . . . . .485                        Van Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
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Meditation


                                       Salvation for the Chief of Sinners

                                                                       Rev. J. Kortering


                                               "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta-
                                           tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
                                           sinners: of whom I am chiex "
                                                                                                     I Timothy 1:lS.

   Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.                                   This is a true word, worthy of all acceptation.
   Of all these sinners, I am chief.                                                   Amazing confession!


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    483


  How this word-of God contradicts those who attempt            ministering questions rather than godly edifying. This
to make Christ a universal Savior of all men. On the            has resulted in their viewing the law not as a means -to
surface it might even seem as if this text would support        expose their corruption, but rather as a mirror to reflect
their position. One might construct the following               their innate goodness. They turned aside unto vain
syllogism: Christ Jesus came into the world to save             jangling, desired to be teachers of the law, but did not
sinners, all men are sinners, therefore Christ Jesus came       understand what they said, imagining that the law was
into the world to save all men.                                 made for a righteous man. Representatives of these
  Sounds logical doesn't it?                                    sinners were Hymenaeus and Alexander whom Paul said,
  Yet, there is something wrong. The error lies in the          "I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to
major premise: Christ Jesus came into the world to save         blaspheme."
sinners. But, is that not  v&rbatim a quotation of the             In contrast to the self-righteous sinner, Paul refers to
text? Indeed, nevertheless in the above syllogism the           the self-conscious sinner. He reminds Timothy that the
assumption is that Christ Jesus came into the world to          end of the law is charity out of a pure heart and of a
save all sinners! This assumption is unwarranted because        good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Every sinner
of the text and context.                                        humbled by grace will look at himself in the light of
  But, are not all men sinners?                                 that law and see himself not as righteous, but rather as
  There are two kinds of sinners: self righteous sinners        lawless and disobedient; he will see that by nature he is
and self-conscious sinners. The former are excluded             unholy and profane, murderer of father and murderer of
from our text: the latter are included.                         mother, manslayer, whoremonger, defiler of mankind,
  With this in mind we can construct a proper                   menstealer, liar, purjured person, and even as those
syllogism: Christ Jesus came into the world to save             holding to that which is contrary to sound doctrine.
self-conscious sinners, I am the chief of the  self-               Paul however, does not refer academically to such
conscious sinners, therefore Christ Jesus came into the         self-conscious sinners. He immediately becomes personal
world to save me!                                               and places himself in that category. He adds, Christ
  This is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation.          Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
  What really is a sinner?                                      chief.
  According to our text, a sinner is one who misses the            This presents two problems. How could Paul say that
target or mark. The mark that every man is supposed to          he was chief? This takes on impetus when we recall that
hit is none other than God Himself. God deals with all          the tense of the verb is not past; he does not say, "I was
mankind as rational and moral creatures. His command            chief," referring to his past which wasn't very good, but
is clearly revealed in the Scriptures and His presence is       instead he says, "I-am chief." He says this while he lies
evident in creation. The central theme of God's revela-         in the prison at Rome awaiting his death as a martyr for
tion is love me with all thy heart, soul, mind, and             the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In a subsequent
strength and thy neighbor as thyself. The sinner fails to       letter to Timothy, he writes, "I. have fought a good
attain this high calling. Willfully he designs his own mark     fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,
which satisfies his sinful pleasure. He rejects God and         henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
lives for himself.                                              righteousness." This man is the chief of sinners? Still
   Since such acts are directly contrary to the purpose         more, if Paul is chief, where does that leave us? Can
that God has for man, these deeds are acts of dis-              more than one sinner be first, or chief?
obedience and rebellion against God. This exposes the             The solution to these two problems lies within the
sinner to the righteous indignation of the holy God.            same context of the above. Paul is speaking of the
Hence the sinner is one who is guilty before God, he            self-conscious sinner. As each child of God views himself
stands liable for his deeds, .both as represented in Adam       before the holy law of God, he comes to one con-
and for his own sins. God as Judge does not simply              clusion: no other sinner can be as bad as I am.
declare mankind guilty; He also executes the sentence             That is the opposite of self-righteousness.
and the sinner is brought under His curse. The punish-            Why did Paul and why must each one of us come to
ment for sin is death, and death is corruption both             that same conclusion? We must appraise our spiritual
spiritually and physically.                                     state and condition in the light of  God.  It is not a
  The sad tale of human misery gives evidence of this           question for each of us, how do I appear before my
death.                                                          neighbor or in the eyes of men. Rather, we must ask
  Every person born in the human race is by nature              how does God see me! This God knows not only our
such a sinner. Yet, the text does not speak in general-         outward deeds, he knows the activities that take place
ities; it speaks specifically.                                  within our souls. He knows  the  motives of the heart
  From the context it is evident that some sinners are          itself. All these He judges in the light of the perfect law
self4ghteou.s. Paul refers to them in verses 3-l 0. He tells    which demands a pure heart, good conscience, and faith
young Timothy that some teach other doctrines and               qujkigued!  When we as children of God stand in the
thereby give  .heed to fables and endless genealogies           light of so great glory, we know ourselves as no other


484                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



creature possibly can. Our conclusion is that we are the        Spirit pours forth the sovereign and free grace of God
chief of sinners. Paul said, I am chief! Each of us says, I     into the hearts of the sinner, his reaction is, how terrible
am chief.                                                       I am! With Paul the sinner cries out, "The good that I
  The self-righteous sinner spends his time finding fault       would I do not and the evil that I. would not that I do, 0
with others and exalting himself above them, the                wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
self-conscious sinner is humbled in the dust and cries          body of this death?" The answer is Christ Jesus! He is
out in confession and repentance,  ?`I am the chief of          the Savior of sinners, He directs these sinners daily into
sinners."                                                       the green paths of the law. He keeps the sinner humble,
  Christ Jesus came into the world to save such sinners.        ever reminding him that the best of his works are
  He came into the world for that purpose.                      polluted with sin and that his beginning is so very small.
  His name is Christ Jesus.                                     He holds before the eyes of the dying pilgrim the hope
  Upon the basis of this testimony, we must view the            that perfection lies beyond the vale of the shadow of
work of salvation as God's work in Jesus Christ. As the         death when salvation shall be perfectly realized in the
Christ He .was anointed by the Father for this very task.       joyful life everlisting.
That anointing has its very roots in the sovereign                 Christ Jesus came into the world to save  self-
counsel of predestination. God willed to glorify His            conscious sinners.
name in the way of sin and redemption from these sins              I am the chief of these self-conscious sinners.,
in Jesus Christ. The Person of the Son of God, destined            Therefore Christ Jesus came into the world to save
to take on human flesh, was anointed to remove the two          me.
obstacles of sin: guilt and corruption.                            This is a true word.
  Hence He came into the world. He assumed unto                   Notice carefully, the conclusion is not conditional.
Himself true humanity. In our flesh He entered into the         Salvation is not optional, not probable, not available
pale of death, subjected Himself under the holy law of          . . . but! Our personal salvation is sure. It is final and
God, in order that He might satisfy the demands of this         definite! All who say, "I am the chief of sinners" are
law as they applied to His own and thereby earn the             surely saved.
right to liberate them from the servitude of sin and               The reason is obvious: natural man who is unsaved is
bring them into the everlasting fellowship of the Father.       always boasting about his goodness. This is true whether
  Our guilt was removed at the cross. Bowing under the          he is a heathen or a hypocrite. The unsaved always view
righteous indignation of the holy God against the sins of       themselves as better than others.
the elect, Christ bore the. penalty unto the perfect end.         He that looks at the holy law of God and smites his
He removed the punishment by  bearing  it. Tri-                 breast and cries out in repentance and confession by
umphantly He cried, "It  iS finished." Through such             saying, I am a sinner, yea more, I am the chief of
perfect obedience to the divine law, God imputed to our         sinners, is already saved. Such a confession is not of
account the benefits and declared that we are righteous         man, but it is of God.
for Christ's sake. Because of this work of Christ, God             It is the evidence that Christ Jesus has come into the
declared that under the shadow of His perfect law we            world to save such a sinner.
are no longer sinners, guiIty sinneys, but saints.                 Hence this is a true saying.
  No less does Christ Jesus come into the world to save           And it is worthy of all acceptation.
sinners from the corruption of their sins. Through the             The more we see our terrible sins, the more we see
exalted preaching of the gospel, Christ efficaciously           how hopeless it is for us to save ourselves, so also the
applies the benefits of His death unto His elect. Having        more we see the mercy of God in saving such unworthy
earned the right to free them from the tyranny of sin,          sinners. Paul saw his own life as a pattern of what great
He also actually performs that work. By the Holy Spirit,        things God does to the chief of sinners. May God give us
He breaks the stubborn and proud hearts, He humbles             grace to view ourselves in the light of that same grace.
the mighty into the dust. He causes the sinner to cry              Only then is man nothing and God everything.
out, "God be merciful to me, the sinner." As the Holy              And thus it must be unto all eternity.


Editorials
                                            Editor's Notes

  This issue is the last one of  Volume 44. Again the           The last few pages of this issue contain the annual index
Lord has given us abundant reason for thanksgiving that         for the convenience of those who like to consult past
we might complete this forty-fourth volume of  con-             issues in their studies. This is also a reminder that it is
sistent and distinctive witness to the Reformed faith.          time to place your order for a bound copy of Volume


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           485



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back to Volume 1, - are also available on special order.                                         * *  *
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                       The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert
                                                                (3)
                                                by ProJ: H. C Hoeksema

  We are now ready to evaluate and criticize the views                 no little degree the influence of the common grace
of Dr. Kuitert as set forth in his lecture on the so-called            theory,  - even though the latter receives no mention.
"Genesis-question."                                                    The second is that the  ReJlector  quotes Dr. Kuitert as
  Before proceeding with this evaluation, however, I                   saying: "Dr. Berkouwer believes the same thing as I do
want to call attention to one or two connected items. In               but he doesn't dare to say it as frankly as I do." This
the first place, since I began to write on this subject in             terlds  to confirm what I wrote about "very definite
the August 1 issue, the July-August issue of Torch and                 overtones of Dr. Berkouwer in Kuitert's lecture." It also
Trumpet  has appeared. It also devotes a great amount                  confirms and justifies my severe  cfiticism  of Dr.
of attention to this.Kuitert issue. Possibly I will refer to           Berkouwer's "Holy Scripture," Vol. 1, in the Prot. Ret
this again; at the moment, however, I refer to it only to              Theological Journal.
mention that what I read in  Torch and Trumpet                           But now let us turn to an evaluation of Kuitert's
confirms the accuracy of my personal notes and report                  ideas. In this evaluation I shall follow the order of Dr.
of Dr. Kuitert's lecture. In the second place, the July                Kuitert's lecture.
issue of the  Reflector,  published by the American                    Evaluation of Kuitert's View of Genesis
Reformed Church (Liberated) also makes reference to                      A careful analysis of Dr. Kuitert's lecture leads one to
Dr. Kuitert. This little mimeographed paper contains a                 the conclusion that the basic issue, the matter that
complete transcription in English of a lecture given by                underlies all that he said, is not this Genesis-question,
Dr. Kuitert in the First (Bates St.) Christian Reformed                but rather his view of Scripture. And while the
Church under the sponsorship of the Dutch Immigrant                    Genesis-question is indeed important, it should be noted
Society on the subject "Changes Among the Re-                          that the deeper, underlying issue of the doctrine of Holy
formed." Also to this lecture I shall probably refer later.            Scripture is far more important because it concerns the
I mention it now for two reasons. The first is that it is              foundation of the entire structure of the truth. This
very helpful in understanding Dr. Kuitert's entire                     became very clear, too, when Dr. Kuitert reached the
outlook. He wants change: change in theology and                       third division of his lecture and spoke about the
change in the entire world-and life view of the Re-                    dogmatical implications of his view. All of this makes it
formed. And at least one very strong element of                        a bit difficult, however, to begin our evaluation where
Kuitert's outlook is that he bids farewell to the whole                Kuitert began his lecture and to do so without touching
idea of the antithesis. All of which leads me to think                 upon that basic issue of the doctrine of Scripture. The
that somewhere in this entire picture there is involved to             reader will have to bear with me in this respect. At the


486                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


same time, this order of treatment will serve, however,         context which also teaches us that God created Adam
to underscore and clarify my later criticism of his             and Eve. The same Kuitert who denies that Adam and
doctrine of Scripture. As I wrote earlier, Dr.  Ktiitert        Eve `ever existed although Genesis says that they did
himself says that he wants to .be accepted as believing         must also apply the same rule to.the same Genesis which
Holy Scripture. Without making any judgment about his           teaches that God created the heavens and the earth. In
personal faith and salvation (that, after all, is not within    fact, this line may legitimately be drawn,  - must, in
the purview of a dogmatical discussion), we must                fact, be drawn, according to every rule of exegesis,  -
nevertheless face the question whether Kuitert's views,         with respect to all the details of Genesis 1 and the six
are consistent with a belief of Holy Scripture.                 days of creation. What is the conclusion? You can put it
  How, then, must we evaluate Dr. Kuitert's views with          in two words: NO CREATION.
respect to Genesis?                                               Did this become clear in any other ways from Dr.
  First of all, we should not overlook the important            Kuitert's remarks? Yes, in the first place, it is very
fact that Dr. Kuitert  does not hold to the doctrine of         striking to me that when Dr. Kuitert made the point
creation, but to the doctrine  of  evolution.  There is a       that we must read the Genesis story as proclamation,
danger that this is overlooked.  ,For one thing, Kuitert        kerugma, rather than as a journalistic account con-
himself did not pay much direct attention to this               taining historical data, he did not even include the t&h
subject in the course of his lecture; and he certainly did      of God's creative work in this so-called "proclamation."
not discuss this issue directly. If I remember correctly,       According to my notes, this proclamation is: that
he used the term "evolution" only once in the course of         creation is good; that we are the guilty ones; that man
his lecture. Moreover, he is quoted in the Grand Rapids         was meant to be God's representative, God's  image-
Press  as holding that creation can take the form of            bearer; and that God does not give up on man even if he
evolution: "Why is it dishonoring God because we say            is a sinner. Notice that the truth that God created the
creation takes the shape of evolution?" Besides, he             heavens and the earth is conspicuous by its absence
concentrated almost entirely in this part of his lecture        from this "proclamation." Now let us understand
on his cunningly devised story of how the Genesis               clearly the implications of this. It means nothing less
narrative originated and how it served as a confession of       than that you can believe the gospel (this is, after all,
Israel's Jehovah-faith and as a teaching model. Neverthe-       the meaning of "proclamation") without believing that
less, it is a fact that Dr. Kuitert does not hold to the        God created the heavens and the earth and all that they
doctrine of creation. He is an evolutionist.                    contain.
   Notice that I do not say that he is a so-called theistic       Did it become still more clear from Dr. Kuitert's
evolutionist. There may indeed be many evolutionists            lecture? Yes, for my second piece of evidence in this
who claim to believe in God and to hold that God                regard I refer you to the third part of his lecture,
controlled the processes of evolution. Or they may              concerning the dogmatical implications of his view.
claim, as Kuitert was quoted as saying, that "creation          According to Kuitert, we must abandon the historical
takes the shape of evolution." But this is a myth. It is        scheme of creation, the fall, redemption. We see at this
utterly inconsistent. It is a contradiction in terms.           point how completely divergent Kuitert's view is.
Creation is not evolution, and evolution is not creation.       Essentially, it has nothing in common with our Re-
Believing Christians should once and for all understand         formed faith. Whence is this? Of what is it the fruit? It
this and insist that the lines be drawn clearly and in an       is the fruit of Kuitert's view of Genesis. He denies
either-or manner. They should not be fooled by those            creation. Because he denies creation, he must deny the
who like to use the term "creation" and then to pour a          fall as an historical fact. Because he denies the fall, he
different content, an evolutionistic content, into that         denies sin. And because he denies sin, he must neces-
term, That is like using the term "white" to describe the       sarily deny redemption and grace. 0, I know: he uses
concept "black,`.' or the term "milk" to describe the           the  terms.  But this is the insidious part of it. And
concept "poison," or the term "automobile" to describe          remember, that just as Kuitert does not mean creation
the concept "wall," or, if you will, the term "sin" to          when he speaks of creation, so he does not mean what
describe the concept "grace."                                   we mean, and, more importantly, what the Bible means,
  You complain that this is rather blunt and radical?           when he speaks of sin and of redemption.
  I deny it. I insist that this is indeed the issue. And I        Finally, on this point, we must remember that this
insist that this becomes very clear when you analyse            entire dispute comes down to the question of Scripture.
Kuitert's teachings. According to Kuitert, Adam and             If Kuitert wants to teach that "creation takes the shape
Eve never lived. According to Kuitert, the paradise             of evolution," then he must show us from Scripture and
narrative is not an historical account, which means it is       by clear and unassailable exegesis of Scripture that this
fiction,  pure and simple. Carry that principle a bit           teaching has in it all the authority,.of Scripture's "Thus
farther, and I insist that this is my logical right. Genesis    saith the Lord!" Then, and then only, will I believe it;
also says, "In the beginning God created the heavens            and then we  must  all believe it. But with this "Thus
and  the  e&h." This is the same Genesis in the same            saith the Lord" Kuitert does not come. Both according


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    487


to his lecture and according to the reported interview in      tioned in this connection. He is reasoning from certain
the Grand Rapids Press, Kuitert comes with "Thus saith         scientists' interpretations  of fossils and earth layers.
science." I quote: "On the matter of creation he said,         Some scientists have concluded from these things that
`We should listen to the scientists. Why is it dishonoring     the universe is millions and billions of years old and that
God because we say creation takes the shape of                 it is the product of a process of evolution. Kuitert
evolution? What about the fossils and earth layers?' " I       begins here. Then he comes into conflict with the
will return to this later; but I am afraid, dreadfully         testimony of Scripture in Genesis. And he attempts to
afraid, that Kuitert has no Bible left. To him the Bible is    avoid this conflict by  accomodating the testimony of
only the personal opinion and the personal interpreta-         Scripture to the views of science, or rather, scientism.
tion df the human authors of the Bible.                        This is a very common ploy of theologians who bow
  This brings me to my second main point of criticism,         before the idol of scientism. But it is a most funda-
namely:  Dr. Kuitert offered absolutely no Scriptural          mental error of method. It is the reverse of what it
and no exegetical proof for his theories at any point,         ought to be. The rule ought to be: first Scripture, and
but instead rested his entire case on so-called science. I     all other things in the light of Scripture. Kuitert's rule is
have already referred to this briefly at various points in     obviously: first science's claims, and Scripture in the
my report of his lecture. Let me point this out in detail:     light of those claims. Let me emphasize this: even if I
  1) Dr. Kuitert stated flatly that we must discard the        had no answer to the claims of scientism and could
traditional view (the literal interpretation) of Genesis.      reach no satisfactory explanation of such things as
What was the reason? Did he furnish a Scripturally             fossils and earth layers, I and every believer must hold
grounded and well-reasoned exegetical foundation for           to what Scripture says and not be tempted to  accomo-
this radical claim? Not at all. He criticized this view as     date Scripture to what the scientists claim; and we must
being from the 17th and 18th centuries. Even this is not       do this even if the whole world calls us fools!
true, of course; the literal interpretation is much, much        But here again, the basic question is Kuitert's view of
older than this. But my point is that this is not a proper     Scripture. The fundamental question is: whence is
argument. It is not a Scriptural argument.                     Scripture? And the real point in this question concerns
  2) He stated that the Genesis account had its origin in      the much talked about "human factor" or "human
various accounts of the origin of things which were cur-       element" in the Bible. This we will discuss later.
rent among the heathen nations of that time. Now I will          My third point of criticism is that though there is
believe this the moment that anyone furnishes me with          much talk about the new theology and the new
indisputable proof that it is true. I cannot accept any        hermeneutics in this connection,  there is basically
man's cunningly devised theory. And to me, - and thus          nothing new in Kuitert's presentation, but it is merely
it ought to be for any theologian worthy of the name;          an old theory with a few new twists. In the first place,
yea, for any believer, - indisputable proof means proof        the basic issue concerning the historical reality of the
with the infinite weight of authority of "Thus saith the       things described in Genesis was in the Reformed
Lord." Scriptural proof, exegetical proof, is what we          Churches of the Netherlands once upon a time settled in
need. Kuitert did not furnish it. In fact, he did not even     the Dr. Geelkerken case by Assen, 1926, with its
attempt to furnish proof of any kind for this claim. He        "sensuously perceptible" formula. The trouble is that
merely made a claim.                                           certain theologians in the Netherlands agitated long
  3) The same is true of all that Kuitert said about           enough that the Synod of Lunteren abandoned the
inspiration and about the manner of inspiration and            position of Assen. Some, Editor Haverkamp of  De
about Genesis being a teaching model and not a                 Wachter  among them, may try to comfort themselves
journalistic account. Not only did the doctor not              that Lunteren nevertheless maintained the position of
explain his radical theories in very much detail; not only     the Belgic Confession on Scripture; but this is totally
is he guilty of presenting a caricature of the Reformed        unrealistic. It is realistic to say that it was exactly the
view of inspiration when he suggested that some hold           agitation of men like Kuitert which led to the cancella-
that it means a "dropping out of the blue;" but he is          tion of Assen's formula. It is realistic to say that
also guilty of the cardinal error which no theologian          Lunteren officially opened the door for theories like
ought ever to commit. He failed completely to back up          those of Kuitert. It is realistic to say that the current
his theories with Scripture and with exegesis.                 opinion in the Netherlands is and will be that views like
  4) What is Kuitert's starting-point, and what is his         those `of Kuitert are legitimately within the confines of
method? His starting-point is not Scripture, but science.      the Reformed doctrine of Scripture as set forth in our
We must listen to the scientists. You cannot talk the          Confession of Faith, Articles 4 and 5, properly in-
fossils out of existence. What about the earth layers?         terpreted. In the second place, in the broader context of
The reader must understand that I am not denying that          the history of dogma what Kuitert presents is not
we may ask about fossils and earth layers, etc., etc. This     essentially new, but old. Both his view of Genesis and
is not the point.  Dr.  Kuitert  is- not reasoning from        his theory of Scripture's being a synthesis of heathen
fossils, earth layers, and whatever else may be  men-          myths are old. They are theories which, especially under


488                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



the influence of German rationalism, were introduced           doctrine of Christ, and to go unto perfection, the
into the churches centuries ago. The churches have             Reformed churches today are busy questioning and
fought this battle before. But the enemy does not give         undermining the very first principles of the faith, the
up. He gives the lie a slightly new garb and perhaps a         a-b-c's of Christian doctrine.
more palatable format, especially by the device of               Be not deceived! Even if it becomes necessary to
speaking of "proclamation;" and thus he has succeeded          stand as a very small but faithful minority, let us not be
in bringing the fortress of the Reformed faith into dire       swept along by this swelling tide of false doctrine. Let
jeopardy. What has happened? Instead of heeding the            us stand on the intolerant truth!
injunction of Hebrews 6: 1 to leave the principles of the


                                            A l l   A r o u n d   U s

                                                      Prof. H. Hanko

PETER'S BONES                                                  THE CHURCH'S ABSURDITY IN SOCIAL ACTION
       Pope Paul VI announced a few weeks ago that the           The First Presbyterian Church in Chicago takes her
bones of Peter had been discovered. His .announcement          social calling seriously. Under her minister, Rev. John R.
read: "For our part, we believe it our duty  - in the          Fry, the Church has taken part in the distribution of a
present state of archeological and scientific conclusions      $927,000 anti-poverty grant intended to. give the poor
- to give you and the church this happy announcement,          job training. It has done its work particularly among the
bound as we are to honor sacred relics, backed by              Rangers, one of the biggest gangs of hoodlums on
reliable proof of their authenticity."                         Chicago's South Side. The Church has spent about
       The tradition upon which Rome relies claims that        $25,000 in bail bonds and legal fees alone to help
Peter traveled to Rome where he was crucified with his         Rangers when they run afoul of the law.
head down by Nero somewhere between 64 and 67 A.D.               At a recent U.S.' Senate Subcommittee meeting,
This same tradition claims that he was buried in a             chaired by Senator John McClellan, testimony was given
common cemetery where later the Emperor Constantine            which indicated that the Church had become a place
built the first basilica of Saint Peter.                       where the Rangers "laid around, goofed around, smoked
       This is an important link in the evidence that the      pot, gambled, drank, and cleaned guns" and planned
bones discovered belong indeed to Saint Peter. An              "armed revolution." This testimony included some
archeologist of the Romish Church led a team which             evidence that Rev. Fry had himself given orders for the
found the bones in 1953 in a Vatican storeroom. They           killing of a dope peddler. The charges are, of course,
were placed there some years earlier by a group which          denied by the minister. But the fact is that, on a police
had unearthed many bones under the basilica in 1940.           raid, fifty-eight weapons were found in the Church
The proof that these bones belonged to the apostle is          building. Fry had promised to turn the weapons over to
based upon writings around the tomb wall where the             police but had not done so.  His excuse was that the
name of Peter was found and where a rudely scrawled            police had refused protection from a rival gang. Fry's
inscription read: "Peter-is within." But the proof is very     sympathies are all with the hoodlums. He charges the
weak. The bones were admittedly found in a common              police of robbing young men of their manhood, of
cemetery, and the only proof that these bones are Peter's      acting in such a way that insurrection becomes manda-
is the presence of Constantine's basilica. But it is not       tory and obligatory if one is to remain honorable. He
even known with certainty whether Constantine built            has also charged that white America and the Church are
the basilica; and it is quite certain that Constantine had     guilty of "monstrous crimes" against blacks and that the
no idea at all where the bones of Peter were. The answer       responsibility for the present urban crisis rests com-
to this given by the archeologists is simply: "Do you          pletely on violent white law and order,
think that Constantine would have been such a fool as            Leaders in the Presbyterian Church and in the
to build a tomb for the wrong bones?" The answer for           National Council of Christian Churches have hastened to
anyone who is acquainted with Constantine is: "Yes,            Fry's defense.
indeed."                                                         There is a sad and bitter irony here. Not only has the
       This is more than a pious fraud and is indicative of    Church abandoned the gospel in favor ,of social action,
the utter foolishness which still pervades the Romish          but rather than making their vaunted social action an
Church.                                                        instrument of spreading the gospel, as they claim is their


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    489



intention, the Church itself becomes guilty of the same         its own property no matter what the parent denomina-
conduct as renegades from society and common                    tion did. There are many, many local congregations
hoodlums who make war against God-appointed author-             itching to leave their denominations because of apostasy
ities. The result of this sort of thing can only be disaster    who would jump at such an opportunity. No wonder
for the Church and for the country.                             ecumenical leaders are getting nervous chills. Their
                                                                dream for denominational unity would be badly shat-
QUESTIONS OF CHURCH PROPERTY                                    tered and their drive for one denomination would
                                                                receive a fatal blow. Their leverage over local congrega-
  The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed             tions would be gone.
to hear the case of two Savannah congregations which               The ruling will be made, after hearings, this Fall.
left the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern)
charging "revolutionary, fundamental, unlawful, and             THE ROCKY ROAD TO SAINTHOOD
radical diversion from the Presbyterian faith."
  These two churches had been granted legal right to               Many millions of Roman Catholics want to make
the property by the Georgia Supreme Court although              Pope John XXIII a saint. The road is a long one.
under the Presbyterian system of church government              Beatification is the first of two lengthy processes on
used in that denomination a congregation which leaves           that road. The second process leads to canonization. But
the denomination forfeits all right to'that property. So        beatification itself involves three steps. First of all local
the Supreme Court will have to rule on whether these            tribunals set up where a candidate was born, lived and
two congregations which left because of liberalism may          died, gather evidence for a preliminary hearing. They
keep their property even though the rules of the                weigh all the evidence, organize it and send it to Rome.
denomination say otherwise.                                     There the evidence is scrutinized and an attempt is made
   There are far-reaching issues at stake in the matter.        to refute it by a "devil's advocate." If the case survives,
   For one thing, the Supreme Court has precedent               it must be approved by the Congregation of Rites  - a
decisions which bar the highest court in the land from          group of cardinals and by the pope.
entering into the internal and doctrinal affairs of the            The next step involves the establishment of the
individual denominations. The precedent is that the             candidate's "heroic virtue." A postulator tries to
highest ecclesiastical assemblies rule with finality on all     establish this while a devil's advocate tries to destroy it..
these matters, and the courts must accept these rulings.        A brief is written, submitted to the cardinals and the
   But the two congregations charged basic doctrinal            Pope once again. If accepted the Clrurch is ready for the
deviations from the  creedal and historical stand of the        third step.
denomination especially in the field of civil rights, civil        The third step requires that the validity of two
disobedience and the war in Viet Nam. The Georgia               miracles be established. This validity is only after a
Supreme Court ruled they could maintain their property          three-fold examination. Pope John is this far along the
and agreed that the departures from church doctrine             road that the possibility of miracles is being in-
were substantial. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of           vestigated. But now a 23 year old novice of a religious
the two congregations in the face of the precedent              order has come up with some proof. She was dying of
defined above on the grounds that the departure had             cancer. Last minute and desperate surgery failed to help.
been "absolute." There is precedent for this in a               The last rites of the Church were given and she was
decision of 1907 made by the Georgia Supreme Court.             prepared for death which seemed but days away. Her
   The whole case has sent cold shudders down the               fellow sisters prayed to Pope John. At about 2:30 P.M.
spines of Protestant leaders. In their push for                 on May 25, 1966 an attending nun saw that her
ecumenism, they had counted heavily on the power                condition was hopeless. But a few minutes later the
which was theirs over possession of church property.            dying sister saw Pope John next to the bed. He laid his
They have always proceeded cautiously in their                  hand on her stomach and said: "Now don't be afraid.
ecumenical endeavors and waited with action until they          Everything is over. You are well. Ring the bell and call
could have favorable decisions from the higher ecclesias-       the sisters from the chapel. You have no fever. You will
tical bodies. Then they could expect that almost all the        eat normally. The wound is closed. Have the doctor
individual churches would follow their leadership down          come, have him write his testimony, have X-rays taken
the ecumenical road because they held the  club+, of            - because one day they will be useful." The result was a
church property over their heads. Any congregation              complete cure including the immediate healing of the
which refused to. go along would automatically lose its         latest surgical incision. The sister is alive and well today.
property to the denomination. Few congregations have               The interesting part of it is that Pope John, in this
the moral and spiritual stamina to make such a choice.          appearance, took considerable care to insure his own
   But now this could be changed. If the U.S.' Supreme          canonization by reminding the sister to prepare evidence
Court upheld the Georgia ruling, any congregation               of the miracle. I do not ever read of the apostles doing
which could prove basic doctrinal change could retain           this.


490                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


ACTIVITIES OF CONCERNED PRESBYTERIANS                         proposal will allow for any presbytery or local Synod to
  Although last year's president of the General               unite with presbyteries and synods of other denomina-
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church US (Southern)             tions without the approval of the General Assembly. It
asked the Concerned Presbyterians to disband, they            has been called "a back-door merger."
voted to continue their existence. This group of laymen          The other matter will be the union with the Re-
within the Church fighting for the historic stand of the      formed Church of America. While the Concerned
Church, will in fact, step up its activities. Two matters     Presbyterians will not officially come out either for or
will occupy most of their attention. The first matter is      against this proposed merger, they will circulate material
the proposal to permit union synods and presbyteries          weighing the pros and cons. The hope is that this will
within the United Presbyterian Church USA. This               aid the churches is reaching final decision on the matter.


Trying  the  Spirits

                 T h e   Sources  and  End  of  Violence  and-  Revolution

                                                  Rev. Robt. C Harbach

  A philosopher is supposed to have said, "Let me write       ecclesiastics, what do the Communists think of Christ?
the songs of a people, and I care not who makes their         Back in 1932 a "National Religion and Labor Founda-
laws." `Most of the songs of the people of today are          tion" was organized to spread Communist propaganda
inspired of the devil. With his songs so popular, what        within Jewish, Catholic and Protestant churches.  -Its
does he care about "their  laws?" They are completely         bulletin, "Economic Justice," with names of its staff
his captives. Suppose the above quotation had been            including those of Toyohiko Kagawa, Mahatma Gandhi
made by Pete Seeger, folk singer, identified as a member      and W.A. Visser `t Hooft, published a `"wanted" poster
of the Communist Party by the House Committee on              portraying Christ as guilty of "sedition, anarchy, va-
Un-American Activities, Annual Report for the Year            grancy and conspiracy to overthrow the government,"
1961, p. 43. We would in that event have no trouble           describing Him as an "alien, a Jew, a professional
getting his drift. No "brother" could smother his             agitator, having a Red (sic) beard, marks on hands and
meaning. For he is known for his "striking and at times       feet the result of injuries inflicted by an angry mob led
vicious commentary on the American way of life"               by respectable citizens and legal authorities." It is plain
(Easton, Pa., Express, 6-17-63). Suppose, however, that       from the Communist  Manifesto  that Red propaganda
David, the sweet singer of IsraeI, had said this, explain-    foments hate, brutality and violence. The ecclesiastical
ing, "I care not who makes their laws, whether                liberals seem to have been blind to this fact, or were
Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar." The people of God                 foolish enough to be misled to believe that the
would, nevertheless, stand immovable on Christ the            principles of revolution, social, political, economic and
Rock. Now suppose this was said by one of those in our        religious, could be put into effect by a gradualism free
government pushing legislation for "general and com-          of those self-destructive evils.
plete disarmament." He and the pacifist would probably          Modern liberalism has its philosophical background in
mean by it, "Let me direct the thoughts of a people,          Darwinian evolutionism, which is godless, naturalistic,
and I care not who dictates to their military forces."        materialistic; in the Nietzschean philosophy of Hitler,
The way things are going in this direction, we almost         and in the Hegelian thought of Marx. It lauds the latter.
expect to hear soon the news that our armed forces, if        Marx himself said of Darwin's Natural Selection, "this is
not entirely withdrawn and disbanded, refuse any longer       the book which contains the basis in natural science for
to fight in Viet Nam or to stand by in Europe. All this       our view ." Out of this thought comes the view that man
only proves that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is       is essentially an animal. Man is a product, not of
he" and, "out of the heart are the issues of life."           nature's God, but of nature. God and nature are
 - What a man is also depends on what is his answer to        identified. Man and nature are also identified. The
the question, "What think ye of Christ?" A Christian          inference is that Man is the only god, and he is
man once said, "Tell me what a man thinks of Christ,          principally a brute beast. He therefore is to be treated as
and I will tell you how he treats his wife." Some men         such. It is the strategy of those who love most to direct
have depicted Christ as a clown. Would they not then          the masses to appeal to hatred as an incitement to
make miserable husbands and incompetent ecclesiastics?        violence. Give the people an object of hate and they can
Since they have such a strong influence on these very         be steamed into seething action. The Marxian principle


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      491


acts on the assumption that the mob is bestial, will          follows from the. fact that nature is governed and
always behave like a beast, must be goaded as a beast,        controlled by physical force. The universe is sustained
controlled and rewarded as a beast.                           by physical powers. Evolution is a continuous pro-
  But this is not true of all men, certainly not of the       gressive change, according to the laws of nature, by
new man in Christ, yet is true enough of the natural          means of resident forces. It is only natural that the
man. Peter throws light on this when he says, "But            ruling power of human society should be physical force.
these, as natural brute beasts, made (born) to be taken       Law must be an expression of force. It takes force to
and destroyed, speak evil of (blaspheme) the things that      execute the law. Man by law must be made to love his
they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their        neighbor. Love and brotherhood must be legislated and
own corruption" (II Pet. 2: 12, AV). This, put a little       enforced if they are to be realities. If a man cannot
more clearly, may be expressed, "These men are like           integrate with society and contribute to making civiliza-
brute beasts, born in the course of nature to be caught       tion one great "love in," the law must banish him to the
and killed. They pour abuse upon things they do not           American "Siberia," Alaska.
understand; like the beasts, they will perish, suffering         The Beast will come to do these and worse things to
hurt for the hurt t$ey have inflicted" (NEB). The whole       men. His power shall be great, but not by force of arms.
human race seems on the verge of a full-fledged massive       He shall cause fearful destruction; he shall make
revolt. Such a movement has been long in widespread           monstrous claims and shall succeed in his policy,
preparation. The philosophy of evolution has con-             destroying his powerful enemies; His designs shall be
tributed to this philosophy of revolution, with its           directed against the saints, and he shall ply his intrigues
degrading and dehumanizing of man. Thus together with         successfully. By proud plans of peace he shall plot the
the effects of the atheistic philosophies there results a     ruin of many. He shall even rise up against the Prince of
brutalizing of men in a self-centered materialistic life      princes, but by a stroke from no human hand he shall be
motivated by self-centered materialistic thought. What        shattered. He shall be one on whom the royal honor has
has happened to  man has been well expressed by a             not been conferred, but he shall come in peaceably and
farmer and teacher* in Oregon, who asked,                     gain the kingdom by flatteries. Armies shall be utterly
  "Who made him dead to rapture and despair,                  swept away before him and devastated. As soon as
  A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,              anyone becomes his ally, he begins to deceive and
  Stolid and stunned a brother to the ox?                     outwit him, for he rises to power only by the aid of a
  "Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw?                 small power. This king shall do as he pleases; he shall
   . . . Whose breath blew out the light within his brain?    exalt and magnify himself above every god, uttering
        This monstrous thing distorted and  soul-             amazing boasts against the God of gods. He shall
  quenched?"                                                  succeed until the divine wrath has run its course. (For
                                                              what has been decreed must be fulfilled). He shall not
  Who made man dead to God and good? Who made                 give heed to any other god, for he shall exalt himself
him incapable of any good and prone to all evil? Who          above all. (Dan. 8:23-25; 11:21-24,36,37).
made him despise knowledge and righteousness? Who                 Then heathen Gog and  Mggog will break from his
made him insensitive to love for God and love to the          antichristian world empire in havoc-making revolt.
neighbor? Who made him a prey to the agitators for                "When whirlwinds of rebellion shake ail shores . . .
strife? Who led him down the road to anarchy where he
deludes himself into thinking that he can do as he               When this dumb Terror shall rise to judge the
pleases, burn, rob, steal or kill? Who but those who              world!":"
corrupted him with the doubt, "Yea, hath God `said?"          "For God has put it into their heads to carry out His
Who but those who oil him with the perversion, "God is'       purpose by making common cause and conferring their
dead"! Who but those who whisper  to. him the lie,            sovereignty upon the Beast until all that God has spoken
"there is no God"! Who but those who worm into his            is fulfilled." Then "they together with the Beast will
brain the suggestion that Christianity is "out" and the       come to hate the great city, the mighty city of Babylon;
New Morality "in," that the church is a failure, that it      with violence shall Babylon be thrown down, and they
died in its sleep! Who but those who embolden him to          will strip her naked and leave her desolate, and they will
scoff at God and scorn His Word!                              batten on her flesh and burn her to ashes! They will
  Judging from both the evolutionism of Communism's           wage war upon the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat
dialectical materialism and that of America's public          them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and His
schools, colleges and universities, the god of naturalism     victory will be shared by His followers, called and
is a "super brute" with a heart of a gorilla and the brain    chosen and faithful." (Rev. 17: 17, 16;  18:lO;  17:14,
of  ;I mammoth computer, which as Nietzsche taught,           NEB). Then "violence shall no more be heard in thy
would come out of the earth, a "superman,"  the               land." (Isa. 60: 18) But "of the increase of His govern-
antichrist.  He would operate the world George Orwell         ment and peace there shall be no end. . . The zeal of the
Ihshion like a giant animal farm, controlled by beasts        Lord of hosts will perform'this!" (8:7).
"with the brains of engineers." This, it is maintained,       *Edwin Markham, in his poem,  TlzeMan   with  the  Hoe.


492                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


In  His  Fear

                                        A CHILDLIKE FAITH


                                                     Rev. John A. Heys

  It was Jesus Himself Who said, "Verily I say unto              whom he cannot observe in his antics? How shall he
you, Except ye be converted and become as little                 who has not yet the spiritual life of that kingdom do the
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.         spiritual acts of that kingdom? Before the rebirth we do
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little          only the works of the old life. And Jesus does not mean
child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.        to contradict Himself or spout forth nonsense in regard
And  whoso shall receive one such little child in my             to the works of His kingdom.
name receiveth me." Matthew 18:3,4,5.                              We do wish to deal with the matter of a conscious
  These words were spoken in answer to the question              entering into that kingdom in the way of converting
of the disciples, "Who is greatest in the  kingdon of            ourselves and of becoming as little children. For we have
heaven?"                                                         seen such childlike faith; and it was pleasant to behold.
  Man, therefore, should beware lest he corrupt this             Thus far we have spent over five weeks on the island of
truth by his inherent tendency to put himself before             Jamaica and have preached in fifteen churches from the
God in our salvation by teaching a conversion that takes         eastern to the western end of the island. In several of
place outside of the kingdom, and that is the pre-               these churches we conducted services more than once.
requisite for entrance. But he should also take heed and         And it is the distance involved that limited us thus far to
be on his guard lest, in his fight for the glory of God and      preach no more often than four times a week, twice on
insistence that God is the Alpha of our salvation as well        Sunday and once on Wednesday evening and once on
as of our creation, he lose the main thrust of the text          Thursday evening. The very closest church to our
and the practical beauty of it.                                  somewhat centralized location in Montego Bay is an
   We need not deal at length with the argument that             hour's drive over the mountains. Last week Sunday,
the text can  gammatically  be read correctly by the             July 28, we left at 6 in the morning for a river baptism
words, "Except a man convert himself. . . . " The text           at Hope Hill at 8 o'clock that morning. Then followed a
does not merely say that we must convert ourselves but           climb by foot  - we had already made  B very steep
also that we must become as little children. And no man          ascent with the car as far as the car could go  - that
makes himself a little! child or as a little child by his own    lasted from 20 to 30 minutes. For the ladies it was an
works and initiative. A child is born according to the           unforgettable climb after an impressive baptism by
will of others and by the work of others. He is not in           immersion of nine young people ranging in age from
this world to cause his own birth but is born into this          fourteen years upward. The sermon was not delivered
world. And we are not in a position spiritually to cause         till after twelve o'clock; and we did not get back to our
ourselves to enter into the kingdom of heaven by an act          car for a light lunch until after 2 P.M. We then travelled
performed outside. of that kingdom, but are born in it;          back somewhat in the direction of "home" and had an
and then we can in that kingdom convert ourselves.               evening service at Belmont and arrived "home" a little
Until and unless the life of that kingdom is already in us       after ten to have our "evening" meal. Food is not the
we cannot convert ourselves and humble ourselves as              big problem on a day like that, however. It is water or
little children.                                                 liquid of some kind. But we do !ind it difficult to tear
  Then, too, we have those other words of Jesus,                 ourselves away from the people even when we have
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the                   `hunger and thirst for material bread and water. There is
kingdom of God." John 3:3. The word here actually is             a childlike faith manifested, and this year we have
"be born from above" and means "again" only because              enjoyed so much more personal, direct, intimate con-
we have once been born from below. It means,                     tact with the people than before, because our schedule
therefore, that except a man be born with life from out          allswed more without the regularly conducted courses
of that kingdom of heaven he cannot see the kingdom              of last year. There is fruit to  be. seen upon that
of heaven. And if he cannot see it, how can he then              "schooling" which we conducted and we still believe it
convert himself according to its way of life and walk?           was essential and beneficial. But it is so rewarding and
How shall. one who cannot see the  kirigdom  and its             pleasant also to mingle with  the people of these three
children humble himself after the pattern of these               ministers to the greater degree that this year afforded.
children? How can the blind i&tate the actions of one               Rather than to go into detail in regard to the many,


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   493



many experiences which were ours, let us point out one        God who need milk and are not ready for the most part
of them which occasioned the penning of the title             for the meat. And they need the sincere milk of the
above. That these are sincere children of God we want         word as new born babes. I Peter 2:2. There is need for
you to believe. That they are thoroughly Protestant           us to come to them to give them that milk. Although
Reformed and understand in any great detail the               the poor seldom get a drop of cow's milk to drink, they
Reformed Faith we would not dare to say. They have            can get plenty of spiritual milk that is corrupt,
tasted it. They have reacted to it with gladness and have     adulterated and is strong spiritual poison. The lie has
asked for more. There is much work to be done here            been here  long before the truth. They have heard the
and a big field in which to work. That we believe. It is      truth from us; and in childlike faith they have received
their Sunday School method and attendance to which            it, even though they do not fully understand it. We
we refer at the moment. Sunday School is attended by          have, by God's grace, been able to give them a richer
young and old. Little children from five years upward         diet of the truth and to open up to them the mysteries
and aged  gandfathers and grandmothers sit together           of the kingdom. In childlike faith they have received
while the lesson is being explained. Now you must             and not once contradicted us on any point or ques-
appreciate the fact that most of the older people have        tioned our teachings. At times it has gone- over their.
never had the opportunity to learn to read or to write.       heads; and they were. not able to chew it and digest it;
They are cut off from the Bible as the written Word of        but from what we have seen, their attitude towards our
God as far as having it in their homes for reading, study     richer heritage of truth has always been one of childlike
and reference is concerned. But they are not too proud        faith.
to be taught that Word, and they have keen minds for            And to come back to Jesus' words, is that not what
remembering it. We have a tape of one of the sessions         He demands? Is the gospel not very simple? We need not
which we may be able to play at home, the Lord willing,       become dogmaticians, professors of theology to enter
after our return. But it is the old and time tested           the kingdom. What then of the Israelites who likewise
method of repetition. The text and where it is found is       could not read and write? What of the thief on the cross
repeated over and over and over again until it is fixed in    whose education in the mysteries of the kingdom was
the minds of the little ones who cannot read yet, and in      also very limited, and there were no more days for him
the minds of the elder pupils who must have it read to        to be instructed. It was a childlike faith that made him
them.                                                         cry out, after a period of railing with the other  - see
  The thought struck us of a childlike faith when at one      Matthew  27:44  - "Lord, remember me when Thou
Sunday School the chapter of the Sunday School lesson         comest in Thy kingdom." Of course we must rightly
was read by the pupils. Each child in turn read his verse.    know God and must not have a childlike faith in a false
When an adult - perhaps well in the seventies (although       god. We need to study the Word of God and to gain as
ages deceive you among these Jamaicans, and we visited        rich a conception of Him as we possibly can. We may
a lady over 100 years old who certainly did not look          not be mental slouches. We in this day and age of the
that old)  - who could not read was next, he was not          printed page and of the  fulI revelation of God in His
passed by. The Word of God is also for him. And so the        Word may not despise these gifts and be satisfied with a
ministers, in this case Rev. Ruddock, read the verse for      crumb of the Bread of Life when there is so much more
him, and in childlike faith that wanted to enter into the     and such richer dainties in the Word for us.
mysteries and joys of the kingdom he then recited aloud         Yet the fact remains that without a childlike faith we
the verse read as his contribution to the reading of the      shall not enter into the kingdom. We must take God at
chapter. This was done time and again by others.              His Word, as a child without question receives what he is
  We can have our pride which keeps us away from the          taught. We may not have any mental reservations as far
services because we do not want others to see that we         as what God says. We may and often must question
cannot read. Our pride can insist that we will not take a     what man teaches. But as we said a moment ago, the
back seat for children some fifty years younger than we.      gospel is very simple. And the cry of the regenerated-for
But a childlike faith is interested in the kingdom`and has    salvation is also very simple and uncomplicated. Peter
the desire to learn more of the Word of God - and do          simply cried out when the waves began to swallow him,
not forget that this is the only way that they can have       "Lord save me!" The publican in Jesus' parable cried in
that contact with God's Word and can get it written into      a very uncomplicated way, "God be merciful to me the
their souls.                                                  sinner." Paul told the  Philippian jailer in simple
  Incidentally this is one of the problems here also in       language, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
the preaching. The limited knowledge of what God's            shalt be saved." And Jesus' sermons are very simple. His
Word contains, the ignorance of the history of God's          parables are very uncomplicated. And the believers on
Church from Paradise to the journies of the apostle Paul      this island express their faith also in simple language. At
make it difficult. We are reminded of the words of the        the river baptism these young candidates standing in the
apostle himself, and also of what the author of the           water .gave a word of testimony in simple language of
epistle  to the Hebrews wrote. These are truly children of    why they desired to be immersed in baptism. The songs


  494                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


  of these people express in simple language their childlike             free-willism are proud and have not the beginning of a
  trust in God. There is Something so refreshing about this              childlike faith. A childlike faith puts God first, depends
  simple, childlike approach and trust in God's promises.                upon Him  for all the things of this life and of salvation
  And .of such is the kingdom of heaven.                                 and thanks Him for a salvation that is full and free. A
    There is, therefore, also the urgent need to preach                  childlike faith confesses that God is our Father and that
  and to teach the truth here.  For Arminianism  and  all                we owe our life from beginning to the end unto Him.


Contending  for  the  Faith


                                              THE DOCTRINE OF SIN

                                                 The Second Period- 250-730 A.D.

                                                        The Pelagian Controversy

                                                          The Augustinian System



                                                                 Rev. H. Veldman


    We are nearing the end of our discussion of the                          bringing forth good works as fruits of faith, it isgratia
  AYugustinian  system of sin and grace and that church                      cooperam,  coopera$ing grace. Finally, in enabling the
  father's opposition to and rejection of the Pelagian                       believer to persevere in faith to the end, and leading
  conception of sin and grace. We noted in our preceding                     him at length, though not in this life, to the perfect
  article that according to Augustine grace is, first of all,                state, in which he can no longer sin nor die, it isgratia
  absolutely necessary; secondly, it is wholly unmerited,                    perfkiens,  the grace that finishes and completes even
  inasmuch as man can do nothing good without grace                          unto the end. This includes the donum perseverantiae,
  and is therefore incapable of deserving grace; and,                        the gift of perseverance,  which is the only certain
                                                                             token of election. "We call ourselves elect, or children
  thirdly, it is irresistible in its effect, not in the way of               of God, because we so call all those whom we see
  physical constraint imposed on the will, but as a moral                    regenerate, visibly leading a holy life. But he alone is in
  power which makes man willing, and which infallibly                        truth what he is called, who perseveres in that from
  attains its end, the conversion and final perfection of its                which he receives the name." Therefore so long as a
  subjects.                                                                  man yet lives, we can form no certain judgment of him
    Finally, however, according to Sdhaff, Vol. III                          in this respect. Perseverance tiIl death, i.e., to the point
  849-850, Augustine also taught that the grace of God                       where the danger of apostasy ceases, is emphatically a
  works progressively or by degrees:                                         grace, "since it is much harder to possess this gift of
           Grace, finally, works progressively or by degrees. It             grace than any other; though for him to whom nothing
         removed all the consequences of the fall; but it                    is hard, it is as easy to bestow the one as the other."
         removes them in an order agreeable to the finite,                      And as to the relation of grace to freedom:  Neither
         gradually unfolding nature of the believer. Grace is a              excludes the other, though they might appear to
         foster-mother, who for the greatest good of her charge,             conflict. In Augustine's system freedom, or self-
         wisely and lovingly accommodates herself to his                     determination to good, is the correlative in man of
         necessities as they change from time to time.                       grace on the part of God. The more grace,  the more
         Augustine gives different. names to grace' in these                 freedom to do good, and the  more joy in  tltc good.
         different steps of its development. In overcoming the               The two are one in the idea of love, whicll is objcclivc
         resisting will, and imparting knowledge of                          and subjective, passive and active, WI apprdlcntling  ;III~I
                                                           sin  and
         longing for redemption, grace is gratis  praeveniens or             a being apprehended.
         praeparans,  preparing grace. In creating faith and the           And so the Augustinian  conccp1iorl   01` sin  ard  ~IXX!
         free w$l to do good, and uniting the soul to Christ, it is      stands absolutely over against all  pclagia~~is~~~. `I'llc.
         gratis   operans,   operating grace. Joining with the           pelagian denies original sin, guilt and llw  poww  01' sill,
         emancipated will to combat the remains of evil, and             and sets forth the heresy that man is cilhcr  goocl or evil


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          495



as he chooses to be good or  bad. Whereas the Scriptures              truth of  sovereign grace as the truth that grace is
declare  that man does the evil because he  is evil,                  entirely unmerited. But this is not correct. Augustine
pelagianism teaches that the sinner is what he is as the              could not even have understood, still less justified,
choice of his own free will. As far as our primitive state            such a distinction. For him, sovereign grace must also
is concerned, our original state,  Augustine taught that              be unmerited grace, and unmerited grace is necessarily
man was created in perfection. As far as our state of sin             sovereign grace. He clearly discerned the inseparable
is concerned, he taught that man is completely alienated              connection between the two. And at the same time, he
from God, is in the bondage of sin and death. And as far              also clearly understood the inseparable connection
                                                                      between the truth that man is by nature totally
as our  redemption is concerned, he set forth the                     depraved and the truth of predestination. Hence, in his
Scriptural teaching that we are redeemed solely by                    strife against Pelagius he was concerned with the
grace, and through this grace attain unto the blessed                 electing grace of God. To election as the deepest
freedom of the children of God. Here, in this life, we are            background he appeals, when he combats Pelagius'
clogged  with the remains of sin and death, but in the                denial of original sin. In his arguments on this score he
hereafter we shall be absolutely perfect, without the                 proceeds  from the truth of Scripture that all have
possibility of apostasy.                                              sinned in Adam, that in Adam they are all damnable
  In connection  with the teachings of Augustine, we                  before God and could justly have been punished with
wish to  make in conclusion the following two observa-                eternal death, even though among men there was no
tions. In his notes on the History of Dogma, Rev. H.                  other sin than original sin.
Hoeksema writes the following:                                      That Augustine' should see in the view of Pelagius the
       It is worthy of note that Augustine, over against         denial of God's sovereign predestination need not
    Pelagius, taught that the so-called virtues of the           surprise us. It lies in the very nature of the case that the
    heathen and unbelievers are essentially nothing but          doctrine of sovereign predestination and that of man's
    vices. Pelagius highly praised these so-called virtues of    utter depravity are inseparably connected. Although this
    the heathen, because he wanted to maintain that the          church father did not fully understand these doctrines
    Lord gives His grace not to those whom He wills, but         during the early years of his life, he surely did
    to those that are worthy of acceptation. These virtues,      understand them later in his life and during his struggle
    however, according to Augustine, are in reality nothing      with Pelagius. He was about  sixti years old when his
    but vicious sins, whereby the one sin restrains the          struggle with Pelagius began. And he had been prepared
    other. A clear illustration of this is found in misers,      for this conflict, personally and spiritually, when the
    whose lust for money controls all the other lusts. And       Lord had called him out of sin and darkness into His
    thus it is essentially with all sinners, even with the       marvellous light.
    great and illustrious among the Romans. When these
    not infrequently suppressed evil lusts, and performed,
    according to the evaluation of men, praiseworthy                                  SEMI-PELAGIANISM
    deeds, they were motivated by the sin of vain                   We will now call attention to what is known as
    ambition, which over-ruled and controlled all the other      semi-pelagianism. The development of semi-pelagianism
    lusts. For that reason the so-called virtues of the          need not surprise us. Concerning this development
    natural man must be called rather vices than virtues.        Schaff has the following introductory remarks, Vol. III,
    Even when unbelievers practice chastity in marriage,         857  f.f:
    they are motivated by the sinful desire to avoid all                 Semi-Pelagianism is a somewhat vague and indefinite
    kinds of evil effects. Sins as such are not restrained.           attempt at reconciliation,. hovering midway between
    And when in some cases they endure hardships, the                 the sharply marked systems of Pelagius and Augustine,
    word of Scripture must be applied, that false wisdom is           taking off the edge of each, and inclining now to the
    natural, earthly, devilish. Cf. "De Predestinatieleer van         one, now to the other. The name was introduced
    Augustinus, Thomas van Aquinas, en Calvijn," Dr.                  during the scholastic age, but the system of doctrine,
    A.D. R. Polman, p. 77. From this it will be evident               in all essential points, was formed in Southern France,
    that even though one may appeal with a semblance of               in the fifth century, during the latter years of
    justice to Calvin for the view that these virtues of the          Augustine's life and soon after his death. It proceeded
    unbelievers are gifts of common grace, this doctrine              from the combined influence of the pre-Augustinian
    certainly does not go back to Augustine.                          synergism and monastic legalism. Its leading idea is,
  Rev. H. Hoeksema, in these notes on the History of                  that divine grace and the human will jointly accom-
Dogma, also writes of August&e the following:                         plish the work of conversion and sanctification, and
       We must understand that in his struggle against                that ordinarily man must take the first step. It rejects
    Pelagius, Augustine, in the deepest sense of the word,            the Pelagian doctrine of moral soundness of man, but
    was concerned about God's sovereign predestination.               rejects also the Augustinian doctrine of the entire
    In the views of Pelagius he saw the denial of God's               corruption and bondage of the natural man, and
    sovereign grace, and hence, also the denial of pre-               substitutes the idea of a diseased or crippled state of
     destination. This was his chief motive in combatting             the voluntary power. It disowns the Pelagian concep-
    the views of Pelagius. This is denied by some. Many               tion of grace as a mere atixiliary; but also, quite as
    claim that the question did not concern so much the               decidedly, the Augustinian do&ties of the sover-.


496                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


       eignty, irresistibleness, and limitation of grace; and          How true! The union of the Pelagian and Augustinian
       affirms the necessary and the internal operation of           elements thus attempted never really satisfies either the
       grace with and through human agency, a general                one interest or the other. No compromise ever satisfies.
       atonement through Christ, and a predestination to the         And this view known as Semi-Pelagianism is really more
       salvation conditioned by the foreknowledge of faith.          dangerous than outright Pelagianism. Any attempt
       The union of the Pelagian and Augustinian elements
       thus attempted is not, however, an inward organic             which takes off the sharp edges constitutes a sinister
       coalescence, but rather a mechanical and arbitrary            attack upon the fundamentals of the Word of God. .And
       combination, which really satisfies neither the one           the result is invariably that the truth is undermined and
       interest nor the other, but commonly leans to the             that heresy is introduced into the Church of the living
       Pelagian side.                                                God. And, of course, it does not surprise us that the
         For this reason it admirably suited the legalistic and      enemies of the truth should resort to these tactics to
       ascetic piety of the middle age, and indeed always            introduce heresy and the lie into the Church of the
       remained within the pale of the Catholic Church, and          living God. We will continue with this, the Lord willing,
       never produced a separate sect.                               in our following article.


A  Cloud  of  Witnesses


                                          A Refusal and a Promise

                                                           Rev. B. Woudenbevg


                                          And it came to pass that night, that the word of the
                                     LORD came unto Nathan, saying,
                                          Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD,
                                     Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? . . . .
                                          When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with
                                     thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall
                                     proceed out of thy bowels,' and I will establish his
                                     kingdom.
                                          He shall build an house for my name, and I will
                                     establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
                                                                    - II Samuel 7:4, 5, 12, 13
  Having taken the ark of God out of oblivion and                   which made it impossible for them to live in harmony
restoring it to a position of central attention within the          together, David set out immediately to battle with these
royal city of Jerusalem, David was ready to set forth               heathen in the name of Israel and of Israel's God. We are
upon his life's calling  - that of clearing the land of             not given a great many details about exactly how and
Israel from all heathen influence and of expanding its              how rapidly and how extensively David engaged in all of
ideal boundaries as far as God had always promised and              these various battles; but it is evident that he fought in
intended. It was a work that should have been per-                  awareness of and obedience to the command of God
formed long before this when the children of Israel had             given already through Moses in Deuteronomy 20: 1 O-l 7,
first entered the land of Canaan. In fact, it was in a very         "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it,
real sense their failure to clear the heathen from their            then proclaim peace, unto it. And it shall be, if it make
land which had led the children of Israel into all of the           thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall
lawlessness and confusion. that obtained during the                 be, that all the people that is found therein shall be
period of the judges. But now at last there was a leader            tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it
in Israel who was both dedicated enough and qualified               will make no peace with thee, but will make war against
to see the spiritual needs of that great nation before              thee, then thou shall besiege it: and when the LORD
anything else. Partly no doubt because he was aware of              thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt
the command of God regarding the heathen, but even                   smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
more because he felt within his own heart that there was            but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and
a spiritual antipathy between Israel and the  heathen                all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  497



thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of         The response was that which David had wanted to
thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given              hear and he was very apparently pleased with it as
thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are        Nathan could see. But Nathan had spoken presumptu-
very far off from thee, which care not of the cities of       ously upon the basis of his own opinion rather than
these nations. But of the cities of these people, which       seeking the will of God first. This became apparent that
the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance,           very night, for, when Nathan had returned to his own
thou shalt  save  alive nothing that breatheth: but thou      home, God appeared unto him and spoke. This is what
shalt utterly destroy them. " `Step by step David led the     He said, "Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the
children of Israel to put these commands into practice        LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell
perfectly and completely for the first time: and the          in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time
result was that in a very short time wealth and strength      that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt,
began to pour into their nation such as had never been        even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a
seen before. All of the great blessings which God had         tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have walked with
promised through Moses were realized in their very            all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the
sight.                                                        tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people
  It was not long after David began to receive all of this    Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
tribute from the nations surrounding Israel in an ever        Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David,
broadening circle that he became a very wealthy man,          Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the
and accordingly built himself a very magnificent palace       sheepcot, from following the sheep, to be a ruler over
from beautiful cedar logs imported. from the land of          my people, over Israel: and I was with thee whitherso-
Tyre. No sooner had David done this, however, than he         ever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out
began to feel himself smitten with a very guilty              of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto
conscience. From the beginning of his reign he had            the name' of the great even that are in the earth.
looked upon the city of Jerusalem as an ideal site for        Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel,
the tabernacle of God where He might dwell in the             and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of
midst of His people. To be sure, he had taken the ark of      their own, and move no more; neither shall the children
God into Jerusalem. It was one of the first things that       of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, and
he had done after the city was captured. But neverthe-        as since the time that I commanded judges to be over
less, its dwelling place was only in a tent, and a rather     my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all
makeshift tent at that, not even in the one which had         thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will
been made for it by Moses in the wilderness. To David it      make thee an house. And when the days be fulfilled,
simply did not seem right that this should be so while he     and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy
was living in a most beautiful house made of cedar. Thus      seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
it was that after long and careful consideration David        and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house
finally called the prophet Nathan to him and laid the         for my name, and I will establish the throne of his
problem before him, saying, "See now, I dwell in an           kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my
house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within            son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the
curtains."                                                    rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
   Nathan the prophet was a man who had long watched          but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took
the development of David very closely. Here was a man         it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine
whose heart was completely dedicated to God before            house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever
everything else, and to whom the Lord returned His            before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever."
blessing with the utmost of grace and of favor. That he         Surely it was not an easy thing for Nathan to return
should continue in this way so completely even after he       to David the next day to tell him of what the Lord had
had become king and very wealthy moved Nathan to              said. If we may take .Psalm 132 at its full value, David
astonishment. When David, therefore, called him into          had gone far beyond just expressing a desire to build a
his presence to consult with him concerning his wishes        temple for God; he had vowed, perhaps after obtaining
and desires, Nathan came with a feeling of awe and            Nathan's consent,  Psalm  132:3-5, `Surely I will not
astonishment. Even more, once he grasped the fact that        come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into
David was asking him as to the desirability of building a     my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to
house or temple as an abiding place for the ark of God,       mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the LORD, an
it seemed to him beyond question that such a noble            habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." And now
plan proceeding from one so greatly favored of God            there was nothing left for Nathan to do but to go back
could not but meet with God's approval. So confident          and inform David that this could never be.
was he of this that he immediately responded by saying,         Nevertheless, there was in the message with which
"Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with      Nathan was sent to David a wealth of deep  spiritual
thee. "                                                       truth which Nathan mav well not have fully understood


498                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


or appreciated that morning. Spelled out very carefully       hast thou done all these great things, to make thy
for David, we may find three very basic and important         servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, 0 LORD
truths. In the first place, God assured David that He was     God: for there is none like thee, neither is' there any
in no need and had never asked for an elaborate earthly       God beside thee, according to all that we have heard
house. The greatness and glory of God does not in any         with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like
way depend upon such earthly richness. In the second          thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
place, He reminded David that he, David, was His              for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to
creation from beginning to end. God had chosen him            do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before
and God had established him, and God had done this so         thy people, which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt,
that through him His people might be established in the       from the nations, and their gods? For thou hast
land of promise. But finally, and most importantly, God       confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people
assured David that this was not in any sense a temporary      unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their
venture on His part. He had established His covenant          God. And now, 0 LORD God, the word that thou hast
with David and his seed forever. Thus there would be          spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his
given to David a promised son who would do what               house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.
David could not do himself, a son who would provide an        And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The
house and a kingdom for God that would endure for             LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house
ever. This son was in the first place and in the typical      of thy servant David be established before thee. For
sense, Solomon; but in the final analysis it was Christ.      thou 0 LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to
  David, although he surely did not grasp the full            thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore
meaning of this rich revelation of God immediately,           hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer
nevertheless felt much of its greatness. In response to       unto thee. And now, 0 LORD God, thou art that God,
the words of Nathan, he broke forth into a beautiful          and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this
prayer of thanksgiving and appreciation. Immediately he       goodness unto thy servant: therefore now let it please
went down to the tabernacle of God, and standing              thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may
before the ark of God's presence said, "Who am I, 0           continue for ever before thee: for thou, 0 LORD God,
Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast                hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of
brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in        thy servant be blessed for ever."
thy sight, 0 Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy         As disappointed as David surely was that he might
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the    not build the temple which he desired, he very evidently
manner of man, 0 Lord God? And what can David say             realized that far more important were the promises
unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant.           given to him by God which centered in the coming of
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart,        his promised seed.

                                         BOOK.REVIEWS

                                                      Pro8  H. Hanko

CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS FOR CHURCH GROUPS,                         YOU JONAH!, by Thomas John Carlisle; Wm. B. Eerd-
by Marilyn A. Smith; Baker Book House, 1968; 91 pp.,          mans Publishing Co., 1968; 64 pp., $1 .OO (paper).
$1.50 (paper).                                                   Eerdmans has collected in this book a number of
  In our schools and Sunday Schools teachers are              poems illustrated with impressionistic woodcuts which
constantly looking about for material suitable to annual      deal with the history recorded in the book of Jonah.
Christmas programs. This is a book which might be of          While it is difficult for me to evaluate any type of
some assistance. There is in it extensive use of Scripture    poetry, this is especially true of the free verse which the
in the construction of programs; there are suggestions of     author uses in this collection. The weakness of the
excellent program themes. It might be possible to glean       poems is their failure to interpret Jonah's life correctly
some ideas from it to aid in the difficult work of making     - Jonah is made almost an unbeliever  - and their
programs. But the book is not all very helpful. It            inability to catch the' central thrust of this prophecy.
suggests programs which require the use of costumes,          Nevertheless, some of the poems are forceful and sharp
creches and dialogue in some instances. And the               and present certain aspects of Jonah's life in a way that
theology is not always very Reformed. Recommended             makes the book of Jonah a living book. If read with
as being of some help in the making of programs.              discretion it is worth purchasing to those who are
                                                              interested in poetry and to those who teach literature in
                                                              the schools.


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     499


Pages  From  The  Past


                               Believers and  Their Seed

                                                      Rev. Herman  Hoeksema



                                          Arminianism Injected Into The Covenant
                                                     (continued from June 1 issue)


      (Editor's Note: Again a printer's mistake crept into the
      previous installment of  this translation of  "De                 sin, is promised. The distinction which is made by Prof.
      Geloovigen en Hun Zaad.  " The beginning of a new                 Heyns we certainly do not find in Question 74. And
      chapter was not indicated at the bottom of the first              besides, we may point out that the professor here makes
      column on page 403. This should have been entitled:               a very dangerous separation between the work of Christ
      "Chapter II,  Arminianism  Injected Into The Cove-                and the work of the Spirit. One can have the right to the
      nant." This chapter is now continued. HCH)                        application of salvation and yet never receive salvation.
   This  is no less the case with Question 74 of the                    Where does one obtain the right to the application of
Heidelberg Catechism, which is also cited by Prof.                      salvation? Only in the blood of Christ. Christ's work is
Heyns in support of his view.                                           the  ground for this right of  possession of which the
   There we read:                                                       professor speaks. The presentation of the professor
   "Are infants also to be baptized?                                    comes down to this, therefore, that one may indeed
   "Yes: for since they, as well as the adult, are included             have in Christ the right to salvation, and yet never
in the covenant and church of God; and since redemp-                    actually receive that salvation. One must, of course,
tion from  sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy                     then also accept the idea that Christ has shed His blood
Ghost,`the author of faith, is promised to them no less                 and merited that right for all who are historically in the
than to the adult; they must therefore by baptism, as a                 covenant. And thus we arrive again in principle at the
sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the Christian               doctrine of universal atonement, a  Christus  pro omni-
church; and be distinguished from the children of                       bus.  .We do not write  this to injure and offend the
unbelievers, as -was done in the old covenant or                        ex-professor. If the matter were not so deeply serious,
testament by circumcision, instead of which baptism is                  we would not want to elaborate upon it. But now the
instituted in the new covenant."                                        matter may not be stated differently than it really is.
  Also here the professor makes the same comment as                     The conception of Prof. Heyns, which has already for a
he did in connection with the Prayer of Thanksgiving in                 long time gained acceptance in the Christian Reformed
the Form for the Lord's `Supper. The answer here                        Churches, is thoroughly Arminian. And it is to be
distinguishes between the meriting and the abplication                  deplored that the churches have for long years coun-
of  salva8on. But the professor goes somewhat `farther                  tenanced it, that the professor has corrupted the mind
and asserts that we must distinguish between the right                  of the churches with this Pelagian doctrine and has
of possession and  the right of application. To give the                directed their thinking in Arminian channels.
right of possession is to bequeath the benefits of                         Matters become even worse when the professor turns
salvation, thus teaches Prof. Heyns; but the right of                   to our Baptism Form. The section of the Form which he
application is not yet the application itself. One can                  has in view and from which he quotes  reads in full as
indeed have the right to the possession of the benefits of              follows:
Christ; he can also have the right to the application of                   "Secondly. Holy baptism witnesseth and seal&h unto
those benefits; and yet he may not become partaker of                  us the washing away of our sins through  Jesus  ChriSl-+
that application itself.                                                Therefore we are baptized in the name of the  Father,
  But we observe at once that this presentation                         and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are
certainly is not to be found in Question 74 of the                     baptized in the name of the Father, God the Father
Heidelberg Catechism. The 74th Answer says only that                    witnesseth and sealeth unto us, that  h-e doth make an
to children as well as to adults the application by the                 eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts us for his
Holy  Spirit, as well as the objective redemption from                  children and heirs, and therefore will provide us with


500                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to our         reality only when the covenant member consents to the
profit. And when we are baptized in the name of the            covenant.
Son, the Son sealeth unto us, that he doth wash .us in his        Now it ought to be plain that this is not the intention
blood. from all our sins,  ,incorporating us into the          of this section of the Baptism Form. How would it be
fellowship of his death and resurrection, so that we are       possible thus to separate between the work of the
freed from all our sins, and accounted righteous before        Father and the Son, on the one hand, and the work of
God. In like manner, when we are baptized in the name          the Spirit, on the other hand? If the Father establishes
of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost assures us, by this          an eternal covenant of grace with us and adopts us for
holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us, and sanctify us      His children and heirs; if the Son washes us in His blood
to be members of Christ, applying unto us that which           from all our sins and incorporates us into the fellowship
we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins,       of His death and resurrection; how then could there be
and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally     any doubt whether the Holy Spirit would also make us
be presented without spot or wrinkle among the                 actual partakers of all of salvation, dwell in us and
assembly of the elect in life eternal."                        sanctify us? That is simply impossible! That is not a
  What does Prof. Heyns want to make of this                   distinction, but a separation of the work of the Father
beautiful portion of our Baptism Form? He wishes to            and the Son and that of the Holy Spirit. It is also evident
make a distinction between the work of the Spirit, on          then, that when the Baptism Form speaks of a willing of
the one hand, and the work of the Father and of the            the Spirit, this is not intended to present the application
Son, on the other hand. Of the Father it is said that He       of salvation as conditional; but it is simply in harmony
really adopts us as His children and heirs, that He really     with the peculiar character of the work of the Spirit.
establishes His eternal covenant of grace with us; of the      That work of the Spirit is continuous; it stretches out
Son, that He really .washes us in His blood from all our       into the future, even to everlasting perfection. This is
sins, and  incorporates  us into the fellowship of His         not true of the establishing of the eternal covenant, of
death and resurrection; but of the Spirit, not that He         incorporation into Christ, of the adoption unto  chili
dwells in us and sanctifies us, but that He will dwell in      dren, of becoming a partaker of the fellowship of Christ's
us and sanctify us. On that willing of the Holy Spirit, in     resurrection. All this is the work of a moment. But the
distinction from the  doing  of the Father and the Son,        work of the Spirit, or, rather, the work of the Triune
Professor Heyns wants to put all the emphasis. And then        Covenant God as it is wrought in us through the Spirit
the meaning is supposed to be that also here again the         of Christ, is abiding, is a continuing process, goes on
application of salvation is presented as conditional. By       until we shall be presented without spot in the assembly
virtue of the covenant of grace the Holy Spirit indeed         of the elect. Thence it is that with a view to the future
grants the right to the application of salvation; but it is    of the covenant member it is said that the Holy Spirit
not said that He will also actually apply salvation to the     will  dwell in us and  will sanctify us to be members of
covenant member. This willing of the Spirit becomes            Christ. In all this there is nothing strange.    (to be cont.)

                                                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                    ANNOUNCEMENT                                 The Ladies Aid Society of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref.
Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will          Church herewith expresses its sympathy to Mrs. Rhine
meet, D.V., October 2, 1968, 9:00 A.M., at the Hope            Lubbers and family in the recent death of her father,
Protestant Reformed Church. Consistories will consider                         MR. RALPH VELTEMA.
this an official announcement in the appointment of              May our God comfort them with His Word and Spirit
delegates.                                                     and give them peace.
                                      M. Schipper, S.C.                                            Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.
                                                                                                 Mrs. Henry Zwak, Sec'y.

                            Men!                ATTEND
                   The Annual M,eeting of the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                           SUPPORT YOUR STANDARD BEARER
                        Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                           Thursday, Sept. 26, 8:00 P.M.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     501


                               News From Our Churches

                                            Aug. 31,196s       duet by `Ellen and Mary Kregel, another piano-organ
     Rev. G. Van  Baren was chosen from a trio which           duet by Linda Ekema and Shirley Gritters, and a sextet
included the Revs. C. Hanko and M. Schipper to receive         of girls who sang an excerpt from Etc. 12. The Kregel
the call from our South Holland Church.                        sisters accompanied the singing at both sings. The 1968
                           Q *  *                              Convention was labeled a success, and the young folk
     Lynden's pastor, Rev. B. Woudenberg, combined a           are already looking ahead to next year. Their gaze is
Classical appointment to Forbes, N. Dak., `with the            fixed to the West, as far west as they can go, for
September meeting of  Classis West which was held in           Kedlands, California beckons them.
Edger-ton, Minn.                                                                             *  x  *
                                                                 Randolph's 25th Anniversary celebration was a
     Holland's congregation welcomed their pastor back to      joyous occasion for them and for several visitors from
his pulpit Sunday, Aug. 25, after his stay in Jamaica this     Grand Rapids who shared the festivities with them.
summer. Rev. Heys enjoyed his visit and his heavy              Saturday's event was held in Fond du Lac County Park
work-load on the Island again. But he was also happy to        and included a potluck dinner and program. Mr. Dewey
be back in his own church, to take up his duties in the        Alsum, vice-president of the Consistory opened the
new season of activities that awaits him. Everyone is          afternoon program with prayer, followed by audience
eager to hear about the work accomplished by Rev.              singing and a special number by representatives from the
Heys and Mr. Feenstra on this trip.                            Adult Bible Class. A taped message from Rev. C. Ha&o
                           * *  *                              was heard in which he related several interesting facts
     The Dedication of Covenant Christian High School          about the origin and inauguration of the congregation, a.
has been scheduled to take place Sept. 19. A program is        part of their history in which Rev. Hanko played no
in the planning, which will include a tour of the building     little part. The clerk of the Consistory gave a more
and refreshments.                                              detailed account of the church's history, its joys and
                           *  *  1                             sorrows, their pastors, and the periods of vacancy, as
                                                               well as ,their appreciation of their present pastor, son of
                                                               Rev. H. Kuiper who served them from 1951 to 1954.
     With the 1968 Young People's Convention being held        Then a letter was read from Rev. G. Van  Baren who
in Grand Rapids, there was much activity in First              served them three years until 1965. A speech by Rev. D.
Church. Besides the event specially designed for the           ,Kuiper  was followed by a reading by Tim Tamminga of
young people, parents and friends shared with them             the Y.P. Society. Before Rev. Lubbers, Randolph's first
three evenings of speech and song: a pre-convention            pastor, closed the program with prayer, he called upon
hymnsing, a Friday evening Mass Meeting and the next           three members of the congregation to sing "Consider
Sunday's convention hymnsing. These brought out large          the Lilies" a repeat of a number given at Rev. Lubbers'
and enthusiastic crowds. The Mass Meeting was held on          Installation program. This was a surprise number, even
a hot, sultry evening which also produced an electrical        to the trio which sang it - and the pianist, all who did
storm accompanied with hard winds. The Keynote
Speaker was Rev. G. Lanting, of Edgerton, Minn. His            this without benefit of a music book! Twenty-five years
                                                               did not erase it from their memory. The piano was
topic was "How Great Thou Art - in Creation." Prof. H.
Hanko gave an afternoon send-off speech; Rev. Van              trucked from Bill Huizengas for the day, but it was
Baren and Rev. C. Hanko provided the other main'               reported that the lady of the house wanted it moved to
speeches; the former's topic was "How Great Thou Art           another spot anyway, so it went there by the way of the
-                                                              County Park. Sunday's commemoration was in the
     in Salvation," and the latter's topic was, "How Great
Thou Art - in Glorification."                                  regular worship services, both of them led by Rev.
                           *  * *                              Lubbers, the one sermon based on Ex. 14: 15, and the
                                                               other an exposition of 2 Peter 1: 19-21. The readers of
     The Convention% theme, "How Great Thou Art" was           the Standard Bearer congratulate you, Randolph, and
also carried out at the two hymnsings. The song leader         wish you the blessings of the King of His Church until
at the first one, Arnold Dykstra, and Chas. Westra, who        He returns on the clouds of Glory!
led the second sing, chose the songs in harmony with
the three divisions of the theme as it was reflected in the                               8  *  *
main speeches. There were many special numbers by
talented young people. Some of them were, a tenor solo           Pure religion and undefiled,before God and the Father
by Gary Bylsma, a trumpet solo by' John Hoekstra, a            is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic-
violin solo by Mary Klop, a reading by Pat Kamps which         tion, and to keep himself unspotted  from  the world.
was a meditation by the late Rev. H. Hoeksema written          James 1:27
up in a 1926 issue of the Standard Bearer, a piano-organ       . . . see you in church                       J.M.F.


502                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


                             Index to The Standard Bearer, Vol. 44
 Text                                                              Author     Page    Apostasy, Evidence of . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      15
 Genesis 32: 24-30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        338     Ark to Jerusalem, Bringing the . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B.W.                         476
 ISamue127: 1,2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.           18     Assassination of Dr. King, A Word Concerning . . H.H.                                  348
 ISamue128: 1,2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.           89                                           -B-
 I Samuel 28: 15-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B.W.         105     Baby's Name, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                      173
 ISamuel30:   1,2,6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          130     BeatGoeson.  . ..AndThe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                             246
 ISamuel31:  1,4-6.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.           201     Believers and Their Seed (see under: Translations)
 IISamuell: 17,ff.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          225     Birth Control, Another Plan for . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                         209
 IISamuel2: l-4.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          251     Blasphemy of Christ's Shroud, The . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                             400
 IISamuel2:8,9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.           281     Book Reviews:
 II Samuel 3: 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.       328       AmericanFarRight,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                            310
 II Samuel 3: 33,34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          344       Asleep In Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                  47
 lISamuel5:  l-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.       396       Assen1926 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.C.H.                     335
 II Samuel 5:6,7,9,10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          423       AtTheLord'sTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                        310
 IISamuel6:2,17.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.            ,476      Bishop Pike: Ham, Heretic, or Hero . . . . . . . . H.H.                              189
 II Samuel 7: 4,5,12,13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B.W.           496       Child's Story Bible, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      119
 Psalm37: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M.S.      98       Christian Faith In Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      189
 Psalm100:4,5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.         74       Creative Minds in Contemporary Theology . H.C.H.                                     359
 Proverbs 18: 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M.S.        170       Creative Questions on Christian Living . . . . . . H.H.                              310
 Ezekiel 33: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.        2       Crisis In Lutheran Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                         189
 Ezekiel 37: 11-14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.       458       Crusade Hymn Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      189
 Micah5: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.      122      Davidson Affair, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                       95
 Matthew 5: 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.      410       Evolution and the Modern Christian . . . . . . H.C.H.                                119
 Matthew 8: 11,12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.          218       Famous Biblical Hoaxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                       H.H.        310
 Matthew 27: 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        291       GodandEvil.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.H.                       47
 Mark 14: 61,62 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        262       Great Light, Thei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                 478
 John 14: 16,17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        387       Guiding Your Son or Daughter Toward a
 John 20: 27,28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        314          Successful Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                    310
 Ephesians 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.        194      Het Laatste Woord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                       310
 Colossians 3: 12,13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS.            50      Homiletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                359
 I Thessalonians 1: 24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.            26      I n T h e B e g i n n i n g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H . H .    189
 I Timothy 1:15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.        482       Invitation System, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                         95
 Hebrews 3: 7-15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; G.L.         11      Jerusalem Through the Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .H.H.                           310
 Hebrews 4:lO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.        36      Job, Our Contemporary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                         310
 Hebrews 4: 11-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.          81      LettersToAnAmericanLady.. . . . . . . . . . . .H.H.                                  310
                                                                              128       New Testament Commentary on Ephesians . . . H.H.                                     189
 Hebrews 4: 14-16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.        158       Pen Pictures in the Upper Room . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                             47
 Hebrews4:16b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..G.L.            185       Under God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .H.H.                  189
 Hebrews5:7,8.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.          233       Vietnam War: Christian Perspectives . . . . . . . . H.H.                             310
 Hebrews 5: ll- 6: 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.           253       Vital Words of the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      189
 Hebrews 6: l-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.      286                                             -c-
 Hebrews 6: 1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.      323     Campus Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                     332
 Hebrews 6: 4-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.      353     Cares, To Free You From All Worldly . . . . . . H.C.H.                                  29
                                                                              373     CastingAllOurCareUponGod.. . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                                  242
 Hebrews 6:9-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.        391     Catechetical Instruction,
                                                                              449        Consistorial Supervision of . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                         55
 Hebrews 6: 13-15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.        450                                                                                            103
 Hebrews 9: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.       362                                                                                            126
 James 5: 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.     434     Centrality of the Word in the Labors
 IIPeter3:9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.      146       oftheMinister,The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R.M.                      417
                                                                                      Christ Entered Into Heaven Itself . . . . . . . . . . . . J .K.                        362
 Subject                                                          Author      Page    Chr. Ref. Church and the W.C.C., The . . . . . . G.V.B.                                 3x
                                 -A-                                                   Christ, Tasting But Not Drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                         291
  Abner and Ishbosheth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.            281     Christian Virtues, Putting On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                      SO
  Abner's Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.     344     Church and State Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 1.1 I.                    2'27
  Abortion, Battle Over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.           40    Church Property, Questions of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 1.1 I.                     `IX')
  AfIicarrMissions, End of?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.             40    Church, Christian, Dr. Martin Lulbcr Kiry,, Jr., lL(1.l I.                             3 00
  Ambiguous, Unambiguously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                  293    COCU, Resolution on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I.1 I.               4-40
  Anointing  of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.            60    Comforter, Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                    .3x0
  Anti-War Ad, An . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H:           296    Communist Infiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I. f I.               300


                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                             503

Compassion of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                       152        Heart of the Matter, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J A.H.
                                                                                                                                                                  .          420
Confession of Guilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                    87        Heart Transplants, Brain Transplants, Creation of Life H.H. 227
Covenant Faithfulness and Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                          375        Hebrews, Book of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.L.         11
Criminals, Coddling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                   187                                                                                     36
                                      -D-                                                                                                                                      81
Datestone  - Milestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                      383                                                                                   128.
David and Abner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                   328                                                                                   158
David At Hebron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                   251                                                                                   185
David Called To Fight Against Israel . . . . . . . . . B.W.                             89                                                                                   233
David Established At Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                          423                                                                                   253
DavidMadeKingOverAllIsrael.............  B.W.                                          396                                                                                   286
David With The Philistines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W;                           18                                                                               323
DeathofSaul,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                       201                                                                                   353
Deceit, The Worst of Them All. . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.'                          393                                                                                   373
Decline of Worship in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                        209                                                                                   391
"Dekker Case," The Chr. Ref. Synod and . . . H.C.H.                                                                                                                          449
                                                                                       .3;        Heresy Approved in New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                  187
                                                                                        52        Horses Are Running, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.             389
                                                                                            76    Hunger, Blest With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.       467
                                                                                       100                                          -I-
"Dekker Case" - The Upshot of the Case . . . H.C.H.                                    125        If, That Awful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J:A.H.     350
Dekker Decision, An Analysis of the . . . . . . . . . H.H.                             162        Impeccability of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.          238
Dekker Decision, Reactions to the . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                           65         Institute,TheEndofthe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.             371
Dispensationalism and the Two Testaments                                     R.H.      9                                             z
                                                                                                                                   -J-
Dr. Kuitert and Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                       400        Jamaica An Open Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J;K.              319
Dutch Meet Dixie, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.V.B.                       451        Jesus, Silent and Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.          266
                                                                                       469
                                           -E-                                                    JoyoftheMinistry.The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                415
Ecumenical News Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                       259                                         -K-                                       440
Ecumenical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                  138        KingdomofChrist,The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.             176
Ecumenicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.               348        KinglyOffrceofChrist,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                132
Ecumenicity, Biblical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                   276        Kuitert, The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. . . . . . . H.C.H.                   437
Ecumenicity in the Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                          284                                                                                   461
E c u m e n i s m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H . H .    371                                         -L                                        485
Ecumenism on Good Friday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.V.B.                            380        Letter from New Jersey, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W.D.J.             473
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                        4    Liturgics,TheHistoryof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.                 165
                                                                                       152        Liturgy, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G. Vd. B.      83
                                                                                       269        Liturgy,TheConceptofOur . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.                      115
                                                                                       316        Lord Longsuffering in His Coming, The . . . . . . . M.S.                   14.6
                                                                                       340        Lordship of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.         377
                                                                                       437        Love and the Neighbor's Name . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.               321
                                                                                       484        Lutheranism 450 Years After Luther . . . . . . . . . H.H.                   4.0
Errors, Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                 113                                         -Mw
Evolutionism, Covert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                      317        Mediation of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.
Exaltation of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                     203        Memory, That Wonderful Gift of . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                 4%
                                       -F-                                                                                                                                   428
Faith, A Childlike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                 492        Merger Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.       87
FaithofChrist,The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..R.H.                       300        Merger Within a'Merger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.          400
Federal Aid to Schools Once Again . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                             187        Mission Activities, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.         68
Freedom For Lawbreakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                         87                                                                                    211
Freedom of Speech, Sanctified. . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                           275        Mission News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.    473
                                                                                       298
                                      -G                                                           "My Brethren!" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.       298
Geelkerken Exonerated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                       113        MyLordandMyGod.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                314
Giver, The Biessed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                        58                                     &
                                                                                            85    Need, Our Most Basic Immediate . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                  341
                                                                                       107                                                                                   365
                                                                                       156        New Morality, The Really New . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                465
                                                                                       180        News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.M;F.                24
                                                                                       205                                                                                    48
Government Aid - For a Price . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                            221                                                                                    72
Government Support for Our Schools? . . . . . H.C.H.                                   197                                                                                    96
Grieving the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                    194                                                                                   120
                                        -H-                                                                                                                                  144
 Haves and the Have-Nots, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                         371                                                                                   168


504                                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

  News from our Churches , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.M.F.                      192    Seminary, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.M;F.     42
                                                                                        216    Separating Presbyterians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.      332
                                                                                        240    Sin,TheDoctrineof.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.V.          13
                                                                                        264                                                                              4-3
                                                                                        288                                                                              91
                                                                                        312                                                                             109
                                                                                        336                                                                             136
                                                                                        360                                                                             207
                                                                                        384                                                                             236
                                                                                        408                                                                             262
                                                                                        432                                                                             308
                                                                                        456                                                                             330
                                                                                        480                                                                             357
                                                                                        501                                                                             398
                                        4%                                                                                                                              418
 Obedience of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                      346                                                                             453
 Obstacle on the Road to Rome Removed . . . . . . H.H.                                  305                                                                             494
                                        -P-                                                    Social Gospel, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.      297
 Patience of Job, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                  434    Social Security Now Mandatory for Clergy . . H.C.H.                      198
 PCUS-RCA Merger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H;H.                     444    SongoftheBow,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.            225
 People That Sat In Darkness, The . . . . . . . . . . .J.A.H.                             7    SonsoftheKingdom,TheReal . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                  218
`Pete&Bones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.H.                    488    Southern Presbyterians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.       259
 Pictorial News .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.M.F.                   71    SpoilingofZiklag,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.          130
 Pike Exonerated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                  87    Support, ACalI For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.        413
 Pi&The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.H.                348    Synodof1968,Reportofthe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                 425
 Pleasure in Repentant Wicked, God's Good . . . . M.S.                                    2                                    -T-
 Pope Paul's Conservatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                      464    Thanking Jehovah For His Goodness . . . . . . . . . M.S.                  74
 Preaching We Hear, Does It Matter What? . . . . . H.H.                                 187    Thanks For The Fruits Of Election . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                26
 Prernihemrialists, Brighter Hopes For . . . . . . . . . H.H.                           209    Theological Method, A New "Anti-Abstract" . H.C.H.                       149
 Presbyterian Review, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.C.H.                        379                                                                             174
 Presbyterians, Activities of Concerned . . . . . . . . H.H.                            490                                                                             199
 Priestly Office of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                      117                                                                             223
 P r o o f o f i t A U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H . H .    332                                                                             249
 Prophetic Office of Christ, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                          93                                                                             269
 Prophets, Strange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                 305    Translations of Rev. H. Hoeksema's Writings:
                                        -Q                                                        BelieversAnd  Their Seed (Chapter I) . . . . . H.C.H.                 355
 Question Box:                                                                                    Believers And Their Seed (Chapter I) . . . . . H.C.H.                 382
       Law in the Old and New Dispensations,                                                      Believers And Their Seed (Chapter I) . . . . . H.C.H.                 402
         Concerning the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                  154      Believers And Their Seed (Chapter II). . ;. . H.C.H.                   403
       Must the Church Turn the World                                                             Believers And Their Seed (Chapter II). . . . . H.C.H.                 499
         Upside Down? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                    232       Reformation, On-Going . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H;V.             79
                                        -R-                                                                                                                             111
 R.C.A.  - P.C.U.S. -`A Progress Report . . . . . G.V.B.                                 64                                                                             140
 Redemption, Effectual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R.H.                     447                                                                             160
 Reflections on Assen and Lunteren . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                             259                                                                             182
 Reformation and Christian Education, The . . . . D.E.                                  134                                    -v-
 Reformed Churches and the World Council . . . . H.H.                                   305    Victory for the CLAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.        227
 "Reformed Dogmatics," More About . . . . . . . H.C.H.                                  223    Violence and Revolution, The Sources and End ofR.H.                      490
 RefusalAndAPromise,A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..B.W.                              496    Violence, A Summer of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.          15.
 Religion in Public Schools Under Attack . . . . . . H.H.                               209    Violence, Tacit Advocacy of? . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.            248
 Religious Liberty in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.                       40    Violence, The Causes of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.       445
 Resurrection of the Dry Bones, .The . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                           458    Vos Called Home, Rev. Gerrit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.V.            471
 R.F.P.A.  - Annual Secretary's Report . . . . . . . . G.P.                              46    Vows And Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.          20
 Righteousness For the Hungry and Thirsty . . : . J.K.                                  410                                    -W-
 RollingOurWay  On Jehovah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M.S.                             98    What Others Say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.V.B.     255
 Rome - Next Stop? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                       245    What 0,thers Think - "Dogmatics" Reviews . H.C.H.                        22
 RulerOutofBetblehem,The.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                               122    World Council at UppsaIa,  The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.H.          463
 RunningIntoTheTower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                           170    Worship Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.      272
                                        -s-                                                                                                                             302
 Sainthood, The Rocky Road To . . . . . . . . . . . . .H.H.                             489                                                                             325
 Salvation For The Chief Of Sinners . . . . . . . . . . J.K.                            482     Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.      62
 SauIAtTheWitchOfEndor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                               105     Worship, Theory of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.Vd.B.        178
 Scripture Attacked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H.H.                    162                                                                             214
 Seminary-ADayInSchool . . . . . . . . . . . . . .J.M.F.                                257    Worship.TheRealizationof . . . . . . . . i.... G.Vd.B.                   230
 Seminary Graduation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H.C.H.                       414    Wrestling With God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.K.      338


