                                tandard

                                              earer


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



In This Issue:

       Meditatio-n
           The Revealed Things

       E d i t o r i a l s
           More About the School-Aid ISSUE
           `Jrhe Erring  Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert

       As The Twig Is Bent

       The Reformed Ecumenical Synod

       Book Reviews
           A Symposium on Creation
           N.T. Commentary on Galatians




                                                     Volume XL V/`umber I Oct. I, 1968


2                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                          CONTENTS:                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
Meditation  -                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
     The Revealed Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , .2           Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                       Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Editorials -                                                           Department Editors:  Mr. John M. Faber, Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof.
     More About the School-Aid Issue . . . . . . . . . .' . .4           Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
     The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert (4) . ., . . . . `. 7          Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,  Rev. Gise J.
                                                                         Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg

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Meditation

                                              The Revealed Things
                                                            Rev. M. Shipper


                               "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things
                               which are revealed belong unto us and to  our children forever,
                               that we may do all the words of this law. "
                                                                                     Deuteronomy 29:29.


     Not the secret things!                                            of obedience as they were governed by the law of the
     But the revealed things!                                          blessing and the curse.
     These belong unto us and our children forever!                       Do not misappropriate and misapply these words!
     This is the principle which the Lord through Moses                This is often done in our day. This text is easily quoted
sets before His covenant people to keep them in the way                in the attempt to silence the ardent preacher who in his


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   3


utterances defends the doctrine of sovereign                 of God who maketh all." (Eccles. 11:5). Or, why a child
predestination and who believes in delivering to his         is born blind or ignorant; or why a beautiful flower
congregation the full counsel of God. Or, it is used         should grow in the uninhabited desert waste. We say in
against anyone who is old-fashioned enough to insist         respect to the former, this is one of the results of sin;
that the doctrines of election and reprobation are           and in respect to the latter, God sees the flower and is
cardinal concepts of the Christian faith. These              glorified; but in the final analysis these things belong to
supercilious objectors love to remind you that on the        the secrets of God.
basis of a few texts of Scripture God loves the whole          God also has secrets in respect to his rational-moral
world (John 3: 16), that He will have all men to be saved    creatures. He knows, for example, the number and the
(I Timothy 2:4), and that anyone can accept freely the       particular persons whom He has chosen to eternal life or
water of life (Revelation 22: 17). And they do not           reprobated to eternal damnation. We judge them on the.
hesitate to tell you that we have nothing to do with the     basis of their outward walk, but we can be terribly
matters of election and reprobation; and that, on the        mistaken in our judgment. God only knows with finality
apparent ground of our text, these matters belong to the     who they are. Or again, think of the salvation or
secrets of God. They confuse the revealed with secret        condemnation of infants who die in their infancy. Much
things. They call that which is openly manifest a hidden     speculation is done in respect to this question, even to
counsel.                                                     the point that it is maintained that all children of
  But what then are these secret things which belong to      believers who die in infancy are saved, for which theory
the Lord our God?                                            no ground can be found in Scripture. We do well to
  That is secret which He has not revealed! There are        leave it to God Himself as belonging to His secrets, while
such things either concerning Himself or His plan which      we try to find our comfort in the death of our little
are hidden in Himself and for reasons He only knows.         ones in the truth of His covenant connected with which
They are the things which are not necessary for us to        is His promise to raise up His children out of the
know and concerning which we are not to curiously try        children of the believers. Moreover, there is also the day
to discover. They belong to God Himself Who is an            of our death, which we cannot know. It is God's secret.
infinite Deep. They are the things which spring up out         So, God also had secrets in respect to the people of
of His unfathomable Being. They may or may not be            Israel. In the context God had declared that the people
sometime revealed. Some of them we may never know.           would be scattered by captivity after they had forsaken
Some things must yet be revealed, either in this life or     His law. But when and how this should take place was
that to come. But since they belong to OUY God, we may       His secret. It was none of Israel's business to curiously
rest assured that nothing secret will work for our           inquire about this. Rather, Moses instructs them that
disadvantage. He is Jehovah, our covenant God.               the secrets belong to God.
Infinitely great in wisdom and glory and power is He,          Israel's calling is to be concerned about the things
but unchangeably the same in  respec.t to Himself and        which are revealed!
His people. As our God, He will work even His secrets          What is revelation? And what is the content of the
for our advantage. If you or I held secrets, they might      things revealed?
be for the advantage or, as is often the case, for the         Revelation presupposes that something has been
disadvantage of those in respect to whom we hold them.       hidden, under cover, and therefore a secret and
But this can never be the case with our covenant,            unknown. However, when it is revealed the cover is
unchangeable God.                                            lifted, or the veil is parted, leaving the concealed object
  That God holds secrets, it should be very evident. He      in view in such a way that the unknown is clearly seen
has secrets in respect to His own Being and                  and understood. Moreover, it should also be explained
manifestations. Take, for instance, the mode of His          that the revelation here spoken of is not merely an
subsistence  - there are three Persons in the one            external disclosure of mere perception, something to be
Godhead. This is indeed a profound mystery. Or, to           observed only with the sense of sight. Rather, it is an
mention another, think of the union of the two natures,      internal disclosure. It implies that the thing revealed is
divine and human, in the Person of the Son of God. We        thoroughly understood.
can stammer a few words about it on the basis of               Revelation takes place as a divine act either in the
revelation; but to comprehend it, we cannot.                 realm of nature and in the acts of divine providence, or
  Then, too, there are many secrets of God in nature         more particularly through the Word of God, oral or
which men by searching cannot find out. It is a secret of    written, spoken directly by God or indirectly through
God how a child is formed in the womb of its mother.         the prophets or apostles, and in the written law of God.
Scientifically we may be able to say much about it, but      Undoubtedly the revealed things of our text have
the wise man expressed the profundity of it when he          immediate reference to the latter.
said, "As thou knowest not what is the way of the              In general, as far as the contents of revelation is
spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her         concerned, we may say that the revealed things are all
that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works       that God has spoken concerning Himself and His


4                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


counsel. Repeatedly God speaks concerning Himself,                 Now that law is revealed to them no longer as the rod
declaring to us Who He is and how He is, explaining and          that beats them down into the dust, but the staff
unfolding His glorious attributes. That He is God and            whereby they walk in the midst of the world of sin and
there is no other is the gist of all divine revelation. A        death. It is not abbrogated, as some contend, but it is
God of truth is He, just and good, full of wisdom,               still in the category of "the revealed things." It is still
justice and mercy. Nor is He silent concerning His               for us and our children. It is the lamp for our feet and
purposes as they are revealed and realized in the                the light upon our pathway.
creation and government of all things, and particularly            It is in this light that we must understand the last part
in relation to the rational-moral creatures whom He has          of our text. God revealed things to Israel which He
distinguished for the fulfillment of His own purpose.            never declared to any other nation. And that revelation
Hence, the counsel of sovereign predestination,                  develops with the organic development of His covenant.
distinguished in the election of some and in the                 To the line of succeeding generations, to us and our
reprobation of others. It is no secret, but rather the very      children, God reveals the things of His covenant.
heart of the revelation that Christ Jesus is God's Elect in        Not only must the fathers of Israel know them and
Whom and through Whom God is pleased to redeem a                 keep them themselves, but they must see to it that their
certain people whom He has also chosen. And just as              children also receive them!
eternally and sovereignly God has determined upon                  This instruction in the revealed things though quite
reprobation of others who must for a time serve as               naturally beginning in the home and in the church, does
scaffolding in the building of the house of His covenant.        not stop there. It must also come to them in the school.
In one word, God purposed to reveal Himself in His Son           That school must not be simply a school with the Bible,
become incarnate as the God of salvation to His people           but it must be prepared to give instruction that is
whom He has chosen. This is the heart of revelation, and         thoroughly permeated with the `Word of God.
the very essence of the gospel!                                    The revealed things are for us and our children
     In particular, however, the revealed things refer to the    forever!
law of God with its commands, threats, and promises.               They may never let them slip, but must keep them as
This revelation declares to us our covenant obligations.         frontlets before their eyes!
God has not, only declared that He will raise up a                 That we may do all the words of this law!
covenant people to Himself, but He has also revealed               Covenant instruction is not intended to make of our
how that covenant people must act toward Him in that             children better citizens, though that they will become;
covenant. These obligations are found in the revelation          nor is it intended to give them a certain polish and
of His law. They are the rule of life. They who live by          finesse that will equip them to become professionals in
them are blessed. They who do not heed them are                  this world, though like Daniel they may rise to high
cursed.                                                          places. Rather, it must serve to prepare them as citizens
     This revelation comes to a people who is conceived          of the kingdom of heaven to walk in this world as
and born in sin, and therefore wholly incapable of               obedient children who love and serve their God out of
fulfilling their obligations. Consequently this law              gratitude for the great redemption He has wrought and
becomes a schoolmaster driving them to the Christ Who            out of sovereign grace committed unto them.
through His perfect sacrifice on the cross pays the                Thus with the apostle we can boast: "For by grace
penalty of our guilt, while He perfectly fulfills the            are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
obligations of that law for us. So perfectly did He              is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
accomplish this for His people that they are accounted           boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
righteous before God. So perfectly righteous are they            Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that they appear before God as if they had never                 that we should walk in them."
committed one sin and had fulfilled all righteousness.

Editorials

                             More About The School-Aid Issue

                                                    ProJ:  H.C. Hoeksema

     Earlier this year the  Standard Bearer  reported and        that time we went on record as being opposed on a
commented on a campaign to obtain financial aid for              principle basis to this proposal because it would involve
Christian schools from the state coffers in Michigan. At         a denial of the very idea of parental education of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    5


covenant children, and because it would involve a denial      these -private schools will be compelled to close their
of the underlying Scriptural and Reformed character of        doors. This will involve a tremendous additional pupil-
the subject-material taught in our schools.                   load for the public schools, and will thus involve
  In the State of Michigan this is by no means a dead         additional state expenditures for public schools and
issue as yet. In the first place, the proponents of state     increased taxes. Hence, it is better to give the private
aid vowed to continue the fight and have promised to          schools partial support than to expend large sums of
have their proposal before the state legislature again. We    money for expanding public schools.
may expect, therefore, that this will take place when the       As might be expected, Roman Catholic educators
state legislature reconvenes. We may expect, too, that        employ this weapon. According to the newspaper article
supporters of Christian education will again be flooded       referred to, the superintendent of Catholic schools of
with propaganda urging them to pressure the governor          the Grand Rapids Diocese "brought the committee back
and their state senators and representatives to work for      from abstracts to cold, hard statistics," and warned
passage of "parochiaid" legislation. In the second place,     them that already the Roman Catholic schools in 29
although no state aid bill was passed, there has been a       counties are at "the crisis stage."
legislative committee which has been holding public             But the same argument is used by would-be sup-
hearings on this issue throughout the state, apparently       porters of the Christian school movement. The director
with a view to possible future legislation. Reports of        of the National Union of Christian Schools, John
these hearings have been appearing in the newspapers          Vander Ark, testified that pupil population in Michigan
from time to time, and a Grand Rapids Press report of         Christian schools is headed for a decline and that a
the fifth and last hearing, held August 29 and reported       major reason is the "economic situation." He pointed
August 30, is the occasion of this editorial. At this         out that school operating `costs have nearly doubled in
hearing various supporters and opponents of state aid         the last eight years, and is quoted as pointing out that
made known their views, on which the Standard Bearer          "still Christian school salaries are at least two years
wishes to reflect.                                            behind public school salaries." Further, he turned the
  Meanwhile, let the reader keep in mind that this issue      sword as follows: "Obvious implication for the state, he
is not merely a Michigan issue. There are many                said, is a possible migration of Christian school students
proposals for such state aid being made throughout the        to the public schools."
country, and even proposals for federal aid are in the          The same argument was employed by Calvin College
offing. It is well within the realm of possibility that       Dean Dr. John Vanden Berg. The Press quotes him as
Christian schools everywhere will soon be required to         saying: "What is happening right now is that non-public
take a stand. This will include our Protestant Reformed       schools are closing, and the Legislature is well aware of
schools also. Besides, the very principles of covenantal      the fiscal implications of this." One state senator
education are involved here. Our Reformed world-and-          apparently saw the obvious logical implication of the
life view, our antithetical position as the people of God     position of the proponents of state aid, namely, 100 per
in the midst of a world that is in darkness, - this is the    cent state support, although Dr.  Vanden Berg denied
issue. Hence, even apart from the concrete question of        that this was the aim, calling this a "totally unlikely
government aid, we do well to refresh our minds as to         eventuality."
these matters and to understand clearly what is involved        On this I have the following comments:
principially in covenant schools.                                1. This is a purely utilitarian method of argumenta-
Not A Financial Issue                                         tion. It is a reduction of the existence of Christian
  Repeatedly in the debate about government aid the           schools to a matter of mere money. It is motivated `by
proponents of such aid employ an argument which is            the love of money. And it appeals to that love of money
purely pragmatic and utilitarian, an argument based on        in the attempt to gain the favor of public school men
financial needs. This argument is used as a two-edged         and Christian school parents. It ought to be, below the
sword. On the one hand, it is used to gain support            Christian dignity of any Christian educator and any true
among Christian school people. This is the scare tactic in    supporter of Christian education to use or to listen to
part, and the appeal-to-covetousness tactic in part. The      such an argument. If this is the point, then I say we
argument is that it is becoming increasingly expensive to     should go "whole hog" and press for 100 per cent
establish and to operate Christian schools. If we do not      government support. Think of the additional hundreds
obtain financial aid from the state, we will be priced        of dollars we could all spend for big vacation trips, new
right out of the market; it will simply be financially        boats, and new cars every year! But then I say too: if
impossible to meet the expenses involved in Christian         this is all that Christian education means to us, then let
education. On the other hand, this argument is used in        us close the Christian schools from kindergarten through
the attempt to get support from public school people,         college, donate or sell the property to the public school
legislators included. Then the argument runs this way. If     system, and all send our children to the public schools.
the state does not grant aid to private schools (whether        2. This fiscal argument ignores the principle of
Christian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or Jewish), then         Christian education completely. In the first place, it


6                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


ignores the parental principle: not the state is respon-             Gerald  Postma, pastor of  h;laranatha  Christian Re-
sible for the education of my children, but I, the parent,                 formed Church in Holland.
am responsible. This is Reformed, and this is Biblical. In                    "I am opposed to nonpublic aid to education out
the second place, it ignores the principle that in our                     of fear and faith," he said.
Christian schools the instruction properly is  not instruc-                   "I am afraid that to get money we would have to
tion  plus  the Bible, but instruction  based  upon God's                  say that our courses were of a secular nature, when
Word and permeated by the truth of that Word of God                        according to the faith, all our courses are permeated
throughout. There is no such thing as                                      with a religious character and are not secular.
                                                secular,  non-                "This is the heart and core of Christian education."
religious, instruction in a covenant school that is worthy                    He said he could not "go through the back door"
of the name "Christian." Either these proponents of                        and "sign a statement that our courses were of a
state aid must  lie  when they sign a statement that the                   secular nature. I do not believe in signing on false
instruction for which they receive state money is                          pretense."
"non-religious," or they must actually make that in-                          On the matter of faith, he said, "I still believe that
struction "non-religious." The former is obviously                         God will provide what is necessary, that He will take
wicked; the latter is also wicked because it would be a                    care of us. Let us close the schools if our faith has
denial of the very character of Christian education. I am                  dwindled."
afraid, however, that the latter has already become too              This is correct, although I believe that the Christian
much a reality in many Christian schools, and that this           school movement as a whole has largely forsaken this
accounts for the very possibility that leaders in the             position in its actual instruction and that this instruc-
movement can press for state aid such as is being                 tion is no longer Reformed and antithetical.
proposed here in Michigan. The world with its philos-                It is this last, the antithesis, that lies at the heart and
ophy has infiltrated the Christian school movement, and           core  of this whole debate. That God's people are a
that too, as a direct result of the error of common grace.        peculiar and covenant people, in the world but not of
The result is that the lines of demarcation, as far as            the world, lights in the midst of darkness, standing for
principles are concerned, have been largely erased. But I         the cause of Christ over against the cause of Belial,  -
say again: if that is the case, let us be honest and close.       this is the issue.
the Christian schools. Or let us at least be honest enough           Strange as it may seem, it was an enemy of the
to say that we are interested not in Christian  schools,          Christian school and a friend of the world's schools who
but in private schools.                                           made this very clear at the legislative hearing, though he
     3. Christian school supporters ought to be ashamed           stated this, of course, from his point of view, not ours.
to make common cause with Roman Catholics in this                 This was the vice chairman of Citizens to Advance
matter. This should be obvious to all. Let it be                  Public Education (CAPE). He is reported as testifying as
remembered that Roman Catholic schools are  church                follows at the legislative hearing:
schools, not parental schools. To press for state aid for                    "We of CAPE are opposed to the appropriation of
non-public schools is to press for state aid to the Roman                  any tax moneys for the aid `of nonpublic schools
                                                                           because we believe such aid is in violation of our state
Catholic Church. Does not the very thought of this                         and federal Constitutions.
offend the spiritual senses of every son or daughter of                      "In very simple, honest language, back of all the
the Reformation? Frankly, I care not one whit whether                      smoke screen is the bald fact that the parochial schools
the Roman Catholics are able to keep their schools open                    are fighting for the very existence of their way of life
or not. Let them take care of their own schools if they                    in a society which is alien to their mores.
wish to have them. My concern and yours, as Reformed                         Yhe answer of CAPE to your real dilemma is that
parents, is the education of our own children according                    you have the right to your way of life - which is more
to the requirements of the covenant and in harmony                         than education - if you are willing to pay for it."
with the Word of God. But it seems as though in this                 That is exactly the case.
ecumenical age anything goes, especially when it in-                .We, as Reformed Christians, have a way of life that is
volves status and recognition in the world and money.             alien to the society in the midst of which we live. We are
Beware!                                                           pilgrims and strangers in the world. The world hates us.
                                                                  It stands opposed to us also in the realm of education. It
The Principle Is The An tithesis                                  is a question of our being lights in the midst of darkness
     According to the news report mentioned earlier in            and of standing for the light over against the darkness
this article there were two men who drew the lines of             which strives to quench the light. To expect the world
battle rather clearly, though from different viewpoints.          which stands diametrically opposed to us to support our
One was the Rev. Gerald Postma, pastor of Maranatha               schools is folly. The world loves its own; and the world
Christian Reformed Church in Holland. About his                   .will pay for its own. If you want the world's money,
appearance before the legislative committee the Grand             you can only get that on the world's basis, a basis which
Rapids Press reports as follows:                                  involves the denial of your antithetical Christian posi-
        Parochiaid was dealt an effective blow by the Rev.        tion.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       7



  It seems to me that the proponents of state aid from              Reformed Christian education, and who value our own
the Christian school movement ought to have been a                  schools from principle (and I refer especially now to our
little ashamed that they had to hear this from a public             Protestant Reformed schools), learn a lesson. And let us
school man.                                                         be prepared to stand fast, and to be "willing to pay for"
  From all this let us who love the principles of                   our stand.
                                                                                                                             -

                          The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert 141
                                                    by ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

Evaluation of Kuitert's View of Scripture                           tion, the virgin birth, the real resurrection of Jesus
  Before I criticize the position of Dr. Kuitert with               Christ, the miracles, etc. Now it may be true historically
respect to Scripture, I wish to make some introductory              that the  individual  may be able to occupy a certain
remarks.                                                            stance with respect to the creation-evolution issue and a
  The first is that Dr. Kuitert did not really present in           certain position with respect to Scripture's inspiration
any orderly fashion a view of Scripture, not even in                and authority without immediately and in his individual
brief. It is rather difficult, therefore, to criticize in detail    doctrinal beliefs coming to the denial of other teachings
and concretely. Any critic of the remarks Dr. Kuitert               of Scripture which would be the logical consequences of
made in this part of his lecture is compelled to draw               his position. I say: that may be possible. But, in the first
conclusions and inferences from the few remarks which               place, even this is highly unlikely. A case in point is the
Kuitert made. At the same time, I think Dr. Kuitert                 views of Dr. Kuitert himself. Let no one deceive himself
made his fundamental position rather clear, especially to           that what Dr. Kuitert teaches concerns only Genesis and
anyone who is acquainted with the current discussion                creation. He made it very plain in the third part of his
and debate about Scripture which is taking place in the             lecture that it concerns the whole structure of dog-
Netherlands. Besides, one is quite able to draw conclu-             matics, the entire structure of the Reformed truth. He
sions about Kuitert's view of Scripture not only from               stated plainly that the historical order of creation, the
the second section of his lecture but also from the                 fall, and redemption must be abandoned. All of dog-
manner in which he allegedly interpreted Genesis and                matics must be reconsttued.  In the second place, this is
described its origin in the first part of his lecture.              necessary exactly because the issue of Scripture is a
  My second remark is that this second part of Kuitert's            principial one. One's view of Scripture is fundamental to
lecture is by far the most important part. The reader               all his other views. If he errs on the former, he will
should readily. grasp the fact that it is this view of              necessarily err in the latter.  Beginselen werken door.
Scripture which is the fundamental question here.                   Principles work through. And remember: if they do not
Actually Kuitert should have lectured on this subject               work through in the case of one individual and in the
and then talked about the implications of his view of               course of one generation, they will nevertheless work
Scripture for the interpretation of Genesis. For I assure           through. Besides, in our times they work through so
you that it is his view of Scripture which underlies and            rapidly that it is difficult to keep pace. It is well known,
makes possible his errant views of Genesis. Perhaps                 for example, that these same errant views of Scripture
historically Kuitert abandoned the proper view of                   are affecting New Testament interpretation also. The
Scripture because he did not want the proper view of                teachings of Dr. Berkouwer are rapidly being carried to
Genesis; I know not. But this I know: if Dr. Kuitert held           their logical consequences by his disciples, to the
to a proper view of the inspiration and authority of the            destruction of the Reformed faith in the Gereformeerde
Scriptures, he could not possibly give utterance to his             Kerken.
wildly anti-Scriptural and anti-Reformed views con-                   This brings me to my third remark, namely, that
cerning creation and the fall, and he could not possibly            these matters may not be controversial in any Reformed
maintain his evolutionistic position. The deepest issue is          church. I say this because both in the Netherlands and
that of Scripture.                                                  in the Christian Reformed Church in this country they
  This has serious implications for the whole structure             are allowed to be controversial and admitted to be
of the truth, we must remember. It concerns not merely              controversial  within the church communion.  I am not
the doctrine of creation; it concerns any and every other           saying that the church must not have controversy; on
doctrine set forth in the Scriptures. This has been                 the contrary, there should be such a controversy that
denied. It has been claimed that one could hold, for                heretics like Dr. Kuitert, together with their heretical
example, to a theistic evolution (contrary to Genesis)              views, are driven out of the church. This is quite
and yet not deny other doctrines, such as the incarna-              different from allowing these matters to be  controver-


8                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


sial. In the former case, you have controversy, but it is             simple as that.
controversy that is conducted at the institutional level                 If you wish to have it put in the terminology so
of the church, at consistory and classis and synod. You               commonly used today,  the kerugma (proclamation,
have an ecclesiastical trial at which the orthodoxy or                message, gospel), the contents of the Bible from Genesis
heterodoxy of certain views and certain teachers is                   1 through Revelation 22, and the authority thereof, -
determined, and discipline is exercised as a result. In the           these three .are co-extensive.
latter case, i.e., when matters are allowed to be                        You ask for my proof that Kuitert denies this?
controversial, discussion and debate rages in the ecclesi-               Here it is.
astical and theological journals; but everyone goes on                    1. He insists that what must be emphasized in
holding his own views and making propaganda for those                 Scripture is not its inspiredness apart from its content
views within the churches. The result is that the church              (as if anyone does this!), but its content. But then, mind
takes no stand; or really, by default it does take a stand.           you, he,proceeds  to distill that content out of the whole
Heretics are tolerated, and they are allowed to propa-                of Scriptures, let alone that it was a very vague and
gandize the churches. And the end is that the entire                  ill-defined content at that.
church is corrupted, frequently from the seminary                        2. He plainly said that we must listen to the scientists
down, until finally liberalism has won the field.                     in interpreting Genesis. This is a plain exaltation of the
     What I have described above has only too often been              authority of the scientists above the authority of
realized in history, both here and in the Netherlands.                Scripture and a denial of the principle that Scripture is
     This, therefore, is the serious aspect of what we are            its own and solely authoritative interpreter.
now discussing.                                                          3. He plainly taught that Genesis had its origin in the
     What does Dr. Kuitert do with Scripture?                         myths of Israel's heathen neighbors. This is a simple
     My answer is, in the first place,  that he denies                denial of its inspiration. Kuitert may attempt to cover
Scripture.  He denies its inspiration. He denies its                  this up by devious means, and he may try to explain
authority. Principally, Kuitert has no Bible left. Let us             that Israel adapted these myths to their faith in
not be deceived on this score. In the first place, there is           Jehovah. The simple fact is that Genesis is then
no such thing as a half-way station on these matters.                 heathen-breathed, not God-breathed. It is a conglomera-
Principally, the doctrine of Scripture is an either-or                tion of heathen lies, not the truth of God. It is heathen
matter. You hold to Scripture, or you do not. You hold                lies with the name of God substituted for the names of
to Scripture  in  toto,  or you hold to it not at all. You            heathen idols. To me this is worse than a simple lie. This
may speak of different theories of inspiration and                    is a lie with a form of godliness. It is blasphemous.
different theories of the authority of Scripture. Kuitert                4. He mocked and caricatured the orthodox view of
does this too. Berkouwer does also. But when it comes                 inspiration, suggesting that it taught that inspiration
down to the simple issue, the question is whether the                 means that something drops out of the blue. This no
Bible from beginning to end is the inspired Word of God               Reformed theologian should ever do.
or not, and whether the Bible from beginning to end is                   5. He denied the entire- faith of the church built
authoritative and trustworthy, dependable, able to be                 upon the Scriptures when he stated openly that the
believed or not. And especially in the light of the fact              creation-fall-redemption order must be abandoned. Let
that Scripture is an organism, it is of the utmost                    it be noted that Kuitert here parts company with the
importance to see this. No amount of philosophy about                 church of all ages; this he can only do because he does
associating the message and the authority, about distin-              not stand with the church on the basis of an infallible,
guishing between the form and the material, or the                    inspired, authoritative Scripture.
kerugma and the manner in which that proclamation is                     I have more points of criticism; but these must wait
conveyed, will ever change this. The matter is exactly as             until the next-issue.




           That wonder of grace is realized in us through the Spirit which He hath given us, and through Whom we receive
          the beginning of salvation even now. By the wonder of grace we are regenerated, translated from death unto life;
          by the wonder of grace we are called, translated from darkness to light; by the wonder of grace we are justified,
          sanctified, and preserved even unto the end in the midst of this world of sin and death. But it is also by the
          wonder of grace that presently, when the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, our spirit shall be
          glorified and perfected to be with Christ in God's house. It is by the wonder of grace, that our bodies shall sleep
          in the dust of the earth till the day of the resurrection, and that in that day they shall be raised, so that this
          corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in
          victory. By the wonder of grace the image of the earthy which we now bear shall be transformed into the image
           of the heavenly, that we may be like Christ.
                                                                     - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder oj'Grace,  "pp. 128, 129


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               9


  All Around Us

                           The Reformed Ecumenical Synod p
                                                                   Pr0.f  H. Hanko

  The Reformed Ecumenical Synod, meeting at  Lun-                            corporately. Believers must also proclaim the com-
teren, the Netherlands, has finished its sessions. Because                   mandment of love in race relations and make it
our Churches have been interested in the affairs of the                      applicable to the affairs of civil government and the
R.E.S., we give here a summary of some of the more                           structures of society.
important decisions.                                                            8. Christians in general and the church in particular
  Synod adopted a statement on race relations  - a                           bear a responsibility towards members of all races who
subject which has been a difficult one for the R.E.S.                        suffer from poverty, under-development, and political
especially because of the membership of the South                            oppression. Believers should be willing to bend every
African denominations. The complete statement reads:                         effort to alleviate the suffering of such peoples.
                                                                                9. In her pastoral ministry the church should strive
       1. God's commands to men that they display love
    and practice righteousness are not contradictory but                     to eradicate attitudes of racial superiority and racial
    harmonious norms for man's personal and group                            prejudice by leading her members into full Christian
    attitudes and conduct, and are the guiding norms for                     maturity in race relations. This should be done
    race relations.                                                          urgently, persistently and patiently.
                                                                                10. In obedience to the mission mandate of Christ,
       2. True love among men requires that we accept                        the church must bring the Gospel to all nations
    our neighbor, regardless of his race or culture, as                      regardless of race. The principle of love for the
    created in the image of God, respect him in his person                   n&ghbour requires that this mission respect the char-
    as God's creature, and be willing to put ourselves in his                acter and culture of the recipients of the Gospel so
    place in order thus to understand how we should                          that new churches may come to self-expression in
    behave toward him in personal and social relations.                      harmony with Scripture.
       3. Since men inherently seek their own interests
    rather than the welfare of their fellows, the church                        11. The unity of the Body of Christ should come to
                                                                             exprebsion in common worship, including Holy Com-
    should stress the duty of men individually and                           munion, among Christians regardless of race. It may be
    collectively, to practice self-sacrifice for the welfare of              that linguistic or cultural differences made the forma-
    others. Self-sacrifice for the sake of Christ is the                     tion of separate congregations, often with their own
    highest form of self-preservation, for self-preservation                 type of preaching and worship, advisable; in these
    is only the concomitant with obedience to the second                     cases it is wise not to force an outward and therefore
    great commandment when it is qualified and limited                       artificial form of unity but to recognise the differentia-
    by the biblical demands of love and righteousness, so                    tion within the circle of God's people. However, the
    that it does not interfere with the inalienable rights of                worshipping together. of people of different races, is a
    `other people.                                                           sign of the deepest `unity of the church, and can be an
       4. For a true understanding of the rights, equality,                  example for the life of society as a whole.
    and dignity of man, we should see all men not only as                       12. Holy Scripture does not give a judgement about
    creatures of God, made in his image, but also as those                   racially mixed marriages; contracting a marriage is
    who have sinned, and need redemption. Therefore in                       primarily a personal and family concern. Church and
    our relation to fellow believers we should recognize                     state should refrain from prohibiting racially mixed
    the new unity which all Christians, regardless of race,                  marriages, because they have no right to limit the free
    have by virtue of their being redeemed by Christ.                        choice of a marriage partner.
       5. Christians should be urged to acknowledge their                       13. Each racial group should have the right to
    common involvement in guilt with a world torn by                         prefer a measure of distinct development, but never at
    sinful divisions and attitudes. They should be called                    the expense of a racially distinct group in the same
    upon to repent of their own sin in this respect and to                   country. While the manner of such development may
    make restitution by following Christ in the way of                       vary from place to place, it is a requirement of the
    love.6. In the proclamation of the Word, the church, to                  Christian ethic that love and justice be exercised, and
     whom has been entrusted the message of Christ's                         that all groups avoid isolation and promote a relation
     kingdom, should speak courageously and relevantly on                    of mutual helpfulness.
     the issues of the day, both for the edification and                        14. With a view to the great tensions in the sphere
     correction of her members and, where necessary, in                      of race relations in the world today, Synod strongly
     criticism of the activities and policies of governments                 urges the member-churches to test conditions in their
     and organizations.                                                      churches and countries by the norms as set forth in
       7. Believers should be equipped by the church                         these resolutions, and to report back to the next
     through teaching and discipline to serve God, in all                    Synod.
     spheres of society, individually, and where possible,                     15. Recognizing that the real problem of race


IO                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


       relations in member-churches of the BBS lies not so                 unity in Christ, but this is an illegitimate claim, be-
       much in the area of the acceptance but in that of the               cause the World Council does not unequivocally reject
       application of the above principles, Synod urges its                that which is contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
       member-churches:                                                    nor does it warn its members against the false gospel
                a. To put forth renewed efforts to live wholly in          that has a recognized place in many of these churches;
       accord with biblical norms;                                         therefore it does not unitedly and unconditionally
                b. To reject every form of racial discrimination            acknowledge the authority of Christ, the Head of the
       and racism;                                                          Church, as He speaks in the infallible Word.
                c. To reject every attempt to maintain racial            The Synod also commented on the Basis of the WCC.
       superiority by military, economic, or any other means;                 Although the words of the basis are in themselves a
                d. To reject the subtle forms of racial discrimina-        summary of the gospel and include a reference to the
       tion found in many countries today with respect to                  Scriptures, this is inadequate as a basis or starting
       housing, employment, education, law enforcement,                    point for an ecumenical movement, because when
       etc.;                                                               understood in the light of history and in the context
                e. To pray for themselves and for one another              of contemporary theological discussion it is open to
       that .God may give wisdom and faithfulness in every                 various unbiblical interpretations; and in effect the
       circumstance.                                                       World Council does permit such essentially different
      In a very interesting decision the Reformed Ecumeni-                 interpretations.
cal Synod rejected the recommendation of a study                         We shall not enter into a detailed evaluation of these
committee appointed five years ago and, according to                   decisions. Perhaps our "Ecumenical Editor," Rev. G.
the  RES Newsletter,  declared that "it is the plain and               Van  Baren, will have opportunity to discuss them in his
obvious teaching of Scripture that women are excluded                  rubric in the future.
from the office of ruling and preaching elders." The                     For the present we only note that the decision on
delegates of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands                  race relations is by far the weakest. The chief objection
were not happy with the decision and formally declared                 against this statement on race relations is the main basis
to the Synod:                                                          on which the conclusions of Synod rest. This basis is the
          Considering that the General Synod of the Re-                presence in every man of the image of God. In any sense
        formed Churches in the Netherlands, after ample                in which the term "image of God" has been used in
        consideration and study by various committees and              Reformed theology this cannot possibly be correct.
        successive Synods, in principle has decided to admit           Reformed theology has always insisted that the image of
       women to the ecclesiastical offices, but has postponed
       putting  this into effect awaiting further  principial          God in man, at least in the "material" sense was  Iost
        arguments that might be put forward by the Reformed            completely through the fall. To base conclusions on a
        Ecumenical Synod, regret that the RES, in deviation            theological error of this nature (an error commonly
        from the recommendation, both of the study and                 enough made today) is to render the whole decision
        advisory committee, namely to leave the matter open            suspect. The way is paved for a "social" reconciliation
        for further study, now has decided that on clearly and         of the races. Far better it would have been to discuss the
        undoubtedly Scriptural grounds women should not be             question of race relations within the context of salva-
        admitted to ecclesiastical office in the full sense of the     tion for the elect in Christ from every nation and the
        word.                                                          removal of racial barriers through the blood of the cross
      With respect to the permissibility of women in the               for the Church. The decision leaves much to be desired.
office of deacons the Synod noted that its committee                     We are not only in accord with the other decisions
did not answer the question of the God-given place of                  which were taken, but appreciate deeply the stand of
women in relation to men, and that therefore member                    the Reformed Ecumenical Synod on these matters. The
churches should be cautious in permitting women in the                 issues of women officebearers and membership in the
diaconal office. A further committee was appointed, to                 WCC are critical issues within the Reformed Church
report to next year's Synod on the whole question of                   World. The unequivocal stand of the RES is praise-
the office in the New Dispensation and on the question                 w o r t h y .
of whether an elder may pronounce a blessing upon the                    Seven new Churches were accepted into the member-
congregation in the worship services.                                  ship of the RES. These include the Dutch Reformed
      An important decision was also taken concerning                  Mission Church in South Africa, The Presbyterian
membership in the World Council of Churches. The                       Church of Korea (Hapdong), the Presbyterian Church of
committee advising Synod on the matter was split. The                  Korea (Kosin), the Independent Presbyterian Church of
Synod rejected advice to urge the member churches to                   Mexico, The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (Bantu),
proceed cautiously in joining this organization and                    The Christian Church of  Mamasa (Sulewesi, Indonesia),
instead reaffirmed its decision taken in 1963 which                    and the Nkhoma Synod Church of Central Africa,
advised member Churches not to join the World Council                  Presbyterian (Malawi). The total membership of the
of Churches "in the present situation."                                RES is now nearing `five million. At this writing it is not
      One of the grounds given was that:                               known what the RES did with the request of our Synod
        The World Council claims to represent the given                addressed to it last June.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    11


In His Fear

                                      As The Twig Is Bent

                                                    Rev. John A. Heys

   As the twig is bent, the tree will grow.                    way.
   The Scriptures present the matter in a more profound          Quite true. And what is equally true is that we have
and spiritual way when Solomon declares in Proverbs            no promise from God that each and every one of our
22:6, "Train up a child in the way that he should go:          children who are born in the covenant sphere is going to
and when he is old, he will not depart from it." But the       be a believer and will walk in God's way. Esau's portion,
above title will serve to indicate that at the moment we       Isaac is told will be - according to the Hebrew reading
wish to stress the extreme importance of early instruc-        of Genesis 27:39 - "away fvom the fatness of the earth
tion of our children in the truths of God's Word and of        . . . . " Isaac had no promise of spiritual blessedness for
training them in their calling before God.                     Esau from God. He had no promise and assurance from
  Proverbs  22:6, by the way, is not a general rule.           God that Esau would hate the seed of the serpent and
Solomon does not therein stipulate that which happens          the serpent himself. And what is true of Adam and Eve
so often that you can figure that  almost without              and their children, of Abraham and his children, of Isaac
exception it is going to happen. As the twig is bent, the      and his sons, o.f David and his' descendants is likewise
tree will grow is a general rule. And it happens so often      true of US. We have no such promise that all the children
before our eyes that we are surprised when it works out        given to us, all the children we teach the things of God's
otherwise. It is a humanly invented proverb that has its       kingdom, all the descendants for whom we sacrifice in
exceptions. But Solomon's proverb is God's proverb. It         order that they may obtain a good Christian education
is the infallible Word of God which never lies or presents     are going to become men and women who walk in God's
any falsehood as though it were the truth. When God            way till He takes them to glory.
says that our children will walk in His way, if we train         Therefore the truth of the matter is that we are not
up our children in the way that they should go, we can         able to train all of our children at all times and in every
be absolutely sure that every time we train a child that       instance. If God has not regenerated them and is not
way, he is going to remain in it all the days of his life,     pleased to cause them to be born again, all of our
even more than the twig is going to remain in the              instruction will fail to produce anything more than a
position wherein it has been tied. In this twenty-second       Cain, an Esau, an unbeliever. This does not mean that
chapter of the Book of Proverbs, verse one, Solomon            reflection is cast upon us; and such parents must not
also declares, and not as a general rule, but as a hard and    ask, "Where did we fail this child of ours?" Adam and
fast rule that changes not, "A good name is rather to be       Eve did not ask themselves that question in regard to
chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than        Cain. Abraham did not do so  iyith Ishmael, and Isaac
silver." That is not the case most of the time but every       did not do so with Esau. Neither did David with
time. He also says in verse 8, "He that soweth iniquity        Absalom. All these desired to see these wayward sons
shall reap vanity; and the rod of his anger shall fail."       walk in God's precepts; and the walk of their other
And so we could continue with every verse in the               children reveals that they were faithful in their calling,
chapter and every proverb in the book. These are not           and that God was pleased to use their instruction to
matters that happen most of the time and fail so seldom        train these children in His way. But the simple fact is
that you can just figure on them as a general rule. God's      that a child who does not walk in the way in which he
Word is sure and steadfast and unchangeable.                   should go simply has not been trained. His parents may
  Perhaps you are ready to quote instance after                have been ever so faithful in trying to train him. They
instance where God-fearing parents did train their             may have tried by instruction of mouth and the rod to
children from early infancy in the way that they should        bend this twig `in that way. But the twig was of that
go, and one or more have not,remained  in that way even        kind of material that the minute the restraining hand of
from early adolesence.  You have concrete examples and         the parent was removed, it snapped back to its former
definite cases in mind. Did not Cain and Abel have the         position. Instruction was given. The rod was applied,
same training? And Esau and Jacob, did they not have           but the Spirit was not there in the heart to bend the will
the same set of circumstances under which they were            and to apply the instruction. We do not know which
trained at the same time by the same parents and same          children will be trained; and we have a calling to strive
lessons? Yet Esau departed, while Jacob remained in the        to train them all. But it does please God now and then


12                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


to give to God-fearing parents, devout saints of God, a          from office an elder who taught your child to mispro-
child that is not going to bend and believe and go in the        nounce a word which he in days gone by had been
way that he should go.                                           taught to mispronounce. Yet about these matters we are
      The rule stands, however, that when we train  up  a        quick to object while we do not bother ourselves about
child in the way that he should go, he ,will not `depart         the ethical and spiritual errors which others may be
from it when he is old. It is a rather striking and              teaching to our children. That which presents no
wonderful thing to behold even that in the twilight of           spiritual danger to them concerns us, but that which is
the saint's earthly life, he reverts to those days and sings     spiritual poison hardly causes us to raise an eyebrow.
the songs of salvation and praise that he was taught as a          Why is it that we are quite sure of our political
child and begins to manifest the childlike faith of his          position and will fight vigorously for our part and its
earlier days that for a time seemed covered by the               candidate and platform but will not trouble ourselves
sophistication of intellectually and physically more             about heresies? Why is it that we will sweep doctrinal
prosperous days.                                                 differences under the rug and make a big cry about
      And now that a new school year has begun and our           intellectual standards in our schools? Why is it that we
children have also returned to their classes wherein the         can see that we need a new and better building, "out have
church will instruct them in the doctrines and truths of         no time even to talk about keeping the doctrine pure
God's Word, let us remember that God uses us to train            and demanding of the teachers that they be faithful to
them and that we have a calling to send them where               the Word of God and the confessions? Indeed, train up a
they will receive the very best training in the truth and        child in the way that he should go: and when he is olld,
in the doctrines of God's Word that we possibly can. It          he will not depart from it. But in what way are we
is a very serious matter. Especially in the tender days of       training our children? You can bend a twig so that the
their early childhood it pleases God to begin to tram His        tree grows in a very grotesque fashion. You can train up
elect children through us and those whom we hire.                a child in the way in which he ought not to go. The way
      This truth was brought so forcefully to our attention      he should go is the way of God's Word, the way of truth
this summer while labouring among the saints of God on           and of righteousness, the way of God's commandments
the island of Jamaica. We attended a Sunday School               and of His covenant. The way he should go is the way of
class. This is no reflection on the spirituality or sincerity    the fear of the Lord.
of the elder who taught that morning. We do have deep              And that means not simply to instruct and send only
respect for men who, though they themselves have not             where the best instruction is given, but it also means to
been privileged to receive but the barest of a formal            teach with the rod. Do we have our race of beatniks, our
education and can hardly read or write themselves, will          riots and lawlessness because we have bent a generation
still do their duty to instruct the youth who cannot read        in that way by our philosophies in schools and colleges
yet at all. But the method there is that of repeating and        and spared the rod to spoil the child? When the tree is
repeating a verse, a truth, and the place where the text is      bent in that direction (these directions) today, is it not a
found, until it is fixed in the minds of these little ones       clear evidence that the generations gone by have bent
who cannot read, and is stored away for recall when              the twigs in that way? Let us consider the awfulness of
desired. He, therefore, over and over stated, for them to        the other side of the picture that when we train up our
repeat after him, "Our golden text is found . . . ." When        children in the way that they would go, in the way of
that was established, the rest could be stated and               the flesh, in the way of the natural man, in the way of
repeated, "Our golden text is found in first Peter fort,         Satan and of the world, when they are old they will not
verse seven." And that is exactly the way it came out.           depart from it. And when we willingly give them over to
The group together and each child individually said it           the world to be trained, we may be sure that they are
exactly that way, "First Peter fort . . . . So they were         not. going to be bent in the way that they should go. If
trained to say it; and they knew no better. This also            we send them to those who believe the lie and have
explains, no doubt, why in another church the record             another world and life view than we do, we may be sure
book of the Sunday School is labeled as that of the              that they will not be trained in the way that they should
Fourth Willams rather than of the Fort Williams                  go but in the way that these instructors would like to
church. Thus it has been in generations, for as the twig         have them go.
is bent, the tree will grow.                                        If you have no choice in the matter and there is no
      Now these are harmless errors. And it makes no             Christian school for them to attend, if you must send
difference whether you count, one-two-three-fort or              them to those who differ from you doctrinally, then it
one-two-three-four, first-second-third-fourt or  first-          still is your calling in the home to double.your effort of
second-third-fourth, and whether you call a fort a fort          training them in the way that they should go. In His fear
or a fourth. It has nothing to do with your salvation or         you should train them in His fear. And only by walking
God's glory. It has no ethical content in it. Many a saint       in His fear ourselves can we expect them to be bent in
has gone to glory who misspelled and mispronounced               the way of His fear and can we pray for a blessing upon
words. And you could never make a case of suspending             our labours of instructing and training.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    13


The Lord Gave The  Wtird                              .~

                               The History of Missions: In the O;T.
                                                  by Rev. R.D. Decker


  Missions is the official task of the Church to preach        the fact that Enoch preached to the world of his day
the gospel to all nations in obedience to the injunction       about the coming of salvation through judgment. One
of Christ given immediately before His ascension into          does not read much of. Enoch in the Scriptures, but
heaven: "standing on the mount Jesus said to His               what we do find is so very significant. We learn from
disciples and thus to His Church: "Go ye therefore, and        Genesis 5:24 that Enoch walked with God and was not,
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the           for God took him. This walking with God was not some
Father, and of the son, and'of the Holy Ghost: Teaching        mystical communion that Enoch enjoyed with the
them to observe all things whatsoever I have                   Almighty. Enoch was busy. He was a prophet, in fact,
commanded you: and lo, I am with you  alway even               who preached. Jude speaks of this in verses 14 and 15 of
unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew                     his letter: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
28:19,20). It is the purpose of this and succeeding            prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord  cometh
articles to examine the history of the Church's carrying       with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment
out of this task. In this issue, as the title indicates, we    upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among
will study missions in the old dispensation.                   them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
  One might object by claiming that mission work               ungodly committed . . . ." Now it is true that this is not
really did not begin until after Christ's commission and       exactly the positive aspect of the gospel. Nevertheless
the outpouring of His Spirit into the Church in the new        this passage indicates that Enoch preached to all the
dispensation. Indeed, at first glance, it appears that         world of the final redemption and salvation of the
missions was non-existent in the age of the shadows. It        church. He spoke of the coming judgment of the
certainly appears as if the Old Testament was not              ungodly who rise against the church and persecute
adapted to mission work. It was the age of the shadows         God's people. For three hundred years Enoch spoke to
and the typical. And, as such, it was the period of            these corrupt men in spite of their threats. He spoke
preparation for the gospel. The promise given                  against their ungodly deeds and testified against their
immediately after the fall (Gen. 3 : 15) and reiterated all    wickedness. And he preached about the future when
through the old dispensation always referred to the            God would come with ten thousands of his saints to
future as to its fulfillment. Christ had not yet come. The     execute judgment.
Kingdom of heaven - though there were the beginnings             This is not the only example. Soon after Enoch there
and the principles of the kingdom in the hearts of God's       appeared another who preached to the world of his day.
people  - had not been realized and the Kingdom was            Noah also witnessed against the wicked as Enoch had
still to come. There was the type of the Kingdom in the        done. II Peter  2:5 identifies this man of God as a
nation of Israel dwelling in the land of Canaan with the       "preacher of righteousness," and we learn from Hebrews
tabernacle, the altars, sacrifices, feasts, and typical        11:7 that Noah condemned the world. Noah did not
priesthood; but the Kingdom did not come until the             condemn the world by quietly believing the Word and
pouring out of the Spirit and the dawn of the new day.         promise of God but by a living and active faith. He
Salvation was particularistic not only with reference to       preached. And he preached righteousness. He declared
the elect, but also as far as certain generations, tribes,     to all the world the righteousness of God. He told the
and nations were concerned. Salvation belonged                 world of his day in no uncertain terms that God was
exclusively to the nation of Israel.                           righteous and that he would avenge His cause. Noah
  In view of all this it would appear as if we would look      preached a definite message. The message was that God
in vain to find the beginning of the history of missions       was terribly displeased with the sin of the wicked, their
in the Old Testament. It is simply a fact that the gospel      apostacy and corruption. He told them that the
could not be preached to all nations for the obvious           righteous Lord was coming in judgment, for His Spirit
reason that the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out        would not always strive with man. Noah proclaimed for
upon all flesh. Nevertheless, while all this is true,          no less than 120 years the righteousness of God. And we
missions did begin already long before Pentecost and the       may be sure that he warned the wicked of the coming of
church of the new dispensation.                                the flood.
  This is evident from the earliest days of the history of       The salvation of the church in every nation was
God's Covenant in the Old Testament. God did not               anticipated already in the early history of the  told
leave Himself without witness to all the world. There is       dispensational church. When Abraham was called out of


                                                 THE.STANDARD BEARER


Hr of the Chaldees the Covenant of God was restricted           unmistakably heard. In projecting their views of the
to Abraham and his generations. This was the origin of          future the prophets do not hesitate to emphasize the
the separate existence of Israel in the midst of the            fact of the salvation of the nations. Again and again in
world. God told his servant "And I will make of thee a          the midst of their prophetic judgments of Babylon,
great nation . . ." (Gen. 12:2). But the Lord also said in      Assyria, and Egypt they suddenly break out in joy over
verse three of that same chapter, "and in thee shall all        the salvation that shall come. In striking language Isaiah
families of the earth be blessed." This promise was             mentions that Egypt and Assyria will serve the Lord:
reiterated often to Abraham. He was repeatedly told             "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to
that his seed would be as the dust of the earth and as          Assyria . . . and the Egyptians shall serve with the
the stars of heaven in multitude (cf. Gen. 13: 16, 15: 5).      Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with
When God instituted the rite of circumcision He                 Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of
promised Abraham: "And I will make thee exceeding               the land: Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying,
fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall      Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of
come out of thee." (Gen.  17:6). That same promise is           my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." (Is. 19: 23-25).
repeated when the Lord changes Abraham and Sarah's                 It is remarkable that in Old Testament prophecy this
names. Of Sarah it was said: " . . . she shall be a mother      salvation of the nations is always viewed as a
of nations; kings of people shall come out of her."             spontaneous coming. We read in Psalm  68:3 1, for
(Gen. 17:  16b). In connection with Abraham's trial of          example, "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia
offering Isaac his son upon the altar God repeats the           shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." The nations
promise concerning the multiplying of his seed and              shall simply come without the agency of Israel. Isaiah in
emphatically asserts: "And in thy seed shall all nations        chapter  2:2,3 of his prophecy speaks of this plainly:
of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my            "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the
voice." (Gen. 22: 18). Hence even at the inception of           mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the
Israel as a separate people God spoke of the day when           top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the
His church would be gathered from every nation.                 hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many
      A study of the history of Israel shows that there were    people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
countless foreigners brought into the church. The sons          the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
of Jacob married wives of the Canaanites, there was             Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk
Zipporah, Moses' wife, many Egyptians (by no means all          in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth a law, and the
children of God!) departed from Egypt with the                  word of the Lord from Jerusalem". This passage teaches
Israelites, Rahab and Ruth may also be mentioned in             that the Church of the new dispensation, "the mountain
this connection. The point was, however, in this time           of the Lord's house," shall be so exalted that all the
that these converts had to lose their national identity.        nations of the earth shall be able to see it. And
They were not only brought into the church but in the           beholding the church they shall be attracted to it, drawn
age of shadows they had to become Israelites. In order          as though by a magnet, and spontaneously come to it,
to become members of God's church they had to                   believing that the Lord will teach them His ways so that
become Jews. Thus the Lord makes provision for                  they walk in His paths.
foreigners coming into the church in the Law as given             This does not mean that the human agency of the
on Sinai. The stranger that would keep the passover and         Church which preaches the gospel is excluded. These
sojourn with Israel had to be as one born in the land, all      passages emphasize that it is the Lord Who efficaciously
his males had to be circumcised. And, said God, "One            calls and saves His church. The conversion of God's
law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the              people is the Lord's work. Thus we read in Isaiah 55: 5:
stranger that sojoumeth among you." (Exodus.  12:48,            "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not,
49). The only exceptions to this rule were Naaman, the          and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee
widow of Zarepath (strikingly enough, Jesus mentions            because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of
both of these in the sermon He preached in the                  Israel; for he hath glorified thee." Here Israel is
synagogue at Nazareth, cf. Luke  4:25-27), and there            presented as the agency that shall call an unknown
were the citizens of Nineveh to whom Jonah preached.            nation. But even then the emphasis falls on the work of
In these instances, however, there is no record in              the Lord. Nations that knew not Israel shall simply run
Scripture of salvation in covenant lines of their suc-          unto her and that too "because of the Lord thy God."
ceeding generations, while Rahab and Ruth are both              Many other passages could be cited but let these suffice.
found in the genealogies of Jesus recorded in Matthew             In the Old Testament, therefore, we find the
1.                                                              beginnings of Missions. All of this was fulfilled at the
      The prophets, too, were well aware of the dawning of      coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Who after His atoning
the new day when salvation would come to all nations.           work, exaltation, and ascension poured out His Spirit
All this was spoken of in the context of Israel's               upon all flesh, and began the task of gathering His elect
existence, but nevertheless the universal note is               church out of every nation, tribe, and tongue.


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             15


      Contending for the Faith

                                              THE DOCTRINE OF `SIN
                                                The Second Period- 250-730 A.D.

                                                     The Pelagian Controversy

                                                         Semi  - Pelagianism

                                                                Rev. H. Veldman

~        In our preceding article we began calling attention to          true! And how characteristic of the struggle for the
      the doctrine of Semi-Pelagianism. How true it is that the          truth within the Church throughout the ages! The
      union of the Pelagian and Augustinian elements never               Church of God does not stand very long upon  the-
      really satisfies either the one interest or the other!             pinnacle of the truth of the Word of God. The forces of
      Compromises never satisfy. And, as we noted in our                 heresy always continue to operate within the Church of
      preceding article, the view known as Semi-Pelagianism is           the Lord. This also applies to the Augustinian system of
      really more dangerous than outright Pelagianism. Any                sin and grace and its emphasis upon the sovereign
      attempt which takes off the sharp edges constitutes a               character of Divine predestination.
       sinister attack upon the fundamentals of the Word of                 Of this development Schaff continues and writes as
      God. It is well, therefore, that we pay attention to this           follows:
       doctrine known as Semi-Pelagianism and trace its                            First the monks of the convent of Adrumetum in
      historical development in the church of God. This is                    North Africa differed among themselves over the
      important because the enemies of the truth always                       doctrine of predestination; some perverting it-to carnal
      resort to these tactics to introduce heresy -and the lie                security, others plunging from it into anguish and
     into the Church of the living God. We are reminded, in                   desperation, and yet others feeling compelled to lay
      this connection, of what we read in Eph. 4:  14-l 5:                    more stress than Augustine upon human freedom and
       "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and                 responsibility (this opposition to Divine predestination
      fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by                  as expressed in emphasizing human freedom and
      the sleight'of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they                responsibility we also encounter in our present day -
      lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love,                 H.V.). Augustine endeavored to allay the scruples of
      may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head,                  these monks by writing two treatises, De  gvatia  et
      even Christ." How unmercifully the apostle here attacks                 libero  arbitvio,  and De correptione et giatia.  The abbot
                                                                              Valentinus answered these in the name of the monks in
      the enemies of the truth. He declares of them that they                 a reverent and submissive tone.
      introduce heresy with cunning craftiness, that they lie in                   But simultaneousiy  a more dangerous opposition to
      wait to deceive, that all these winds  of doctrine are by               the doctrine of predestination arose in Southern Gaul,
       or "in" the sleight of men, born in, have their origin in              in the form of a regular theological school within the
      this sleight of men, and this "sleight" of men means that               Catholic church (we must bear in mind that the
      these men gamble with the truth.                                        "Catholic Church" here does not refer to the present,
         Calling attention to the main features of the origin                 Roman Catholic Church, but to the Church of God in
      and progress of this school, which produced this                        those days which wa! truly Catholic or universal -
       Semi-Pelagianism, Philip Schaff, in his History of the                 H.V.). The members of this school were first called
      Christian Church, Vol. III, 859, f.f., writes as follows:               "remnants of the Pelagians," but commonly Massilians,
                                                                              from  Massilia (Marseilles), their chief centre, and
             The Pelagian system had been vanquished by                       afterwards Semi-Pelagians. Augustine received an
           Augustine, and rejected and condemned as heresy by                 account of this from two learned and pious lay friends,
           the church. This result, however, did not in itself                Prosper, and Hilarius, who begged that he himself
           necessarily imply the complete approval of the                     would take the pen against it. This was the occasion of
           Augustinian system. Many, even opponents of Pelagius
           recoiled from a position so wide of the older fathers as           his two works, De Praedestinatioue  sanctonlm, and De
                                                                              dong pevseverentiae,  with which he worthily closed his
           Augustine's doctrines of the bondage of man and the                labors as an author. He deals with these disputants
           absolute election of grace, and preferred a middle                 more gently than with the Pelagians, and addresses
           ground.                                                            them as brethren. After his death (430) the discussion
         Here we wish to. make a comment. Schaff remarks                      was continued principally in Gaul; for then North
       that the rejection and condemnation of the Pelagian                    Africa was disquieted by the victorious invasion of the
      heresy by the church did not in itself necessarily imply                Vandals, which for several decades shut it out from the
       the complete approval of the Augustinian system. How                   circle of theological and ecclesiastical activity.


16                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


          At the head of the Semi-Pelagian party stood John          grace. In the following quotation, we note how Cassian
       Cassian, the founder and abbot of the monastery of            opposed these Augustinian doctrines:
       Masstiia, a man of thorough cultivation, rich ex-                    In opposition to both systems he taught that the
       perience, and unquestioned orthodoxy. He was a                     divine image and human freedom were not annihilated,
       grateful disciple of Chrysostom, who ordained him                 but only weakened by the fall; in other words, that
       deacon, and apparently also presbyter. He is treated               man is sick, but not dead, that he cannot indeed help
       thoroughly  and at length by Wiggers. He has been                 himself, but that he can desire the help of a physician,
       mistakenly supposed a Scythian. His name and his                  and either accept or refuse it when offered, and that he
       fluent Latinity indicate an occidental origin. Yet he             must co-operate with the grace of God in his salvation.
       was in part educated at Bethlehem and  in Con-                     The question, which of the two factors has the
       stantinople, and spent seven years among the                       initiative, he answers, altogether empirically, to this
       anchorites in Egypt. He mentioned John Chrysostom                  effect: that sometimes, and indeed usually, the human
        even in the evening of his life with grateful veneration.         will, as in the cases of the Prodigal Son, Zacchaeus, the
       His Greek training and his predilection for monasticism           Penitent Thief, and Cornelius, determines itself to
       were a favorable soil for his Semi-Pelagian theory. He             conversion; sometimes grace anticipates it, and, as with
       labored awhile in Rome with Pelagius, and afterwards              Matthew and Paul, draws the resisting will - yet, even
       in Southern France, in the cause of monastic piety,                in this case, without constraint  - to God. Here,
        which  he efficiently promoted by exhortation and                 therefore, the gratia praeveniens @receding grace -
        example. Monasticism sought in cloistered retreats a              H.V.) is manifestly overlooked.
       protection against the allurements of sin, the desolat-              These are essentially Semi-Pelagian principles,
       ing incursions of the barbarians, and the wretchedness             though capable of various modifications and applica-
        of an age of tumult and confusion. But the enthusiasm             tions. The church, even the Roman church, has rightly
        for the monastic life tended strongly to over-value               emphasized the necessity of prevenient grace, but has
        external sects and ascetic discipline, and resisted the           not impeached Cassian, who is properly the father of
        free evangelical bent of the Augustinian theology.                the Semi-Pelagian theory (of course, as we know, the
        Cassian wrote twelve books, in which he first describes           Roman Catholic Church of today has certainly
        the outward life of the monks, and then their inward           \ adopted the pelagian conception of grace and stands
        conflicts and victories over the eight capital vices:             opposed to the Augustinian doctrine of Divine
        intemperance, unchastity, avarice, anger, sadness,                sovereign election and reprobation, even simply
        dulness, ambition, and pride. More important are his              denying the latter - H.V.).  Leo the Great even
        fourteen treatises, conversations which Cassian and his           commissioned him to write a work against
        friend Germanus had had with the most experienced                 Nestorianism, in which he found an excellent oppor-
        ascetics in Egypt, during a seven years' sojourn there.           tunity to establish his orthodoxy, and to clear himself
      I believe it is striking that a man as Cassian should be            of all connection with the kindred heresies of
at the head of the Semi-Pelagian party. He was the                        Pelagianism and Nestorianism (the latter denies that
founder and abbot of the monastery of the monastery                       Christ is one person - H.V.) which were condemned
 of Massilia. Now it is true that Augustine also advocated                together at Ephesus in 431. He- died after 432, at an
monasticism. But the  defence of monasticism and an                       advanced age, and though not formally canonized, is
 ascetic life does go hand in hand with Semi-Pelagianism.                 honored as a saint by some dioceses. His works are
 To conceive of the conflict of the Christian as over                     very extensively read for practical edification.
 against the eight capital vices mentioned in the above                However, these sentiments of Cassian did not go
 quotation, instead of as over against the inner power of            unchallenged. Concerning this,  Schaff writes as follows:
 sin and corruption surely can lead to the theory that                      Against the thirteenth Colloquy of Cassian, Prosper
 man can of himself fight these vices, and this can                      Aquitanus, an Augustinian divine and poet, who,
                                                                         probably on account of the desolations of the Vandals,
 understandably to a semi-pelagiam conception of sin                     had left his native Aquitania for the South of Gaul,
 and grace.                                                              and found comfort and repose in the doctrines of
          In this work, especially in the thirteenth Cc$loquy,           election amid the wars of his age, wrote a book upon
        he rejects decidedly the errors of Pelagius and affirms          grace and freedom, about 432, in which he criticizes
        the universal sinfulness of men, the introduction of it          twelve propositions of Cassian, and declares them all
        by the fall of Adam, and the necessity of divine grace           heretical, except the first. He also composed a long
        to every individual act. But, with evident reference to          poem in defense of Augustine and his system, and
        Augustine, though without naming him, he combats                 refuted the "Gallic slanders and Vincentian imputa-
        the doctrines of election and of the irresistible and            tions," which placed the doctrine of predestination in
        particular operation of grace, which were in conflict            the most odious light.
        with the church tradition, especially with the Oriental        However, the Semi-Pelagian doctrine was the more
        theology, and with his own earnest ascetic legalism.         popular, and made great progress in France. This, of
      Cassian, the head of the Semi-Pelagian party,                  course, need not surprise us. The Augustinian and
 although rejecting the errors of Pelagius, nevertheless             Scriptural doctrine of sin and grace is never popular.
 opposed the Augustinian doctrines of Divine election                But, to this we call attention, the Lord willing, in our
 and the irresistible and particular character of God's              following article.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     17



From  Holy Writ


                                   The Book of Hebrews

                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers




GOD CONFIRMS THE PROMISE BY                                   Exodus  12:25; Deuteronomy  1:ll;  6:3;  9:28;  10:9;
OATH TO  ABRAfiAM  (cont.) -Hebrews 6:13-15                   Joshua 22:4; Jeremiah 33: 14. Many more passages and
                                                              references could be given, but this is sufficient for our
  To understand the import of the strong consolation          purpose to show that God's promise is ever the one
which God afforded Abraham when he confirmed the              central promise which He will cause to come to pass. All
promise by oath it is necessary to clearly understand         God's promises are yea in Christ, and in him Amen, to
just what this "promise" is of which the writer here          the glory of God, the Father.
speaks. We read that "thus being longsuffering he               As to the idea of the promise the term in the Greek
(Abraham) obtained  the promise."                             language of the New Testament Scriptures is very
  What is the idea of "promise" in the Scriptures? It is      instructive. The substantive is  epaggelia.   Perhaps the
necessary to attempt an answer to this question, and at       thought of this term is: a message. directed toward the
the same time to notice that the writer speaks of the         recipient, the heir of the promise. The promise is
promise, the well-known and revealed promise of God in        basically a message from God. It is the sure message of
all of the Old Testament Scriptures.                          the gospel, what  God spells  out. That is the good
  First of all then: what is the idea. of promise? The        message, the  euaggelia.   The Gospel message is the
English term promise is derived from the Latin:  pro-         fulfillment to the children of what which was promised
m&urn  from  promittere  to send forth. It is a declara-      to the fathers. Acts 13:32,33.
tion that one will do or refrain from doing something           As for the verb in the Greek translated "promised" it
specified. It is a declaration that gives the person to       ought to be noticed that the verb is in the middle voice.
whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the             It is a peculiarity of the Greek language that it does not
performance or the  forebearance of a specified act.          only have an active and a passive voice, but it also has a
(Webster) When we turn to the Old Testament Scrip-            middle voice. Concerning this voice A.T. Robertson
tures we find that in the Hebrew language the term for        writes in part as follows:
promise is a word which means: to speak. The term is            `L. . . . In the middle voice the subject is acting with
dabar. However, the term to promise in the Hebrew is          reference to himself. . . .  How  the subject acts with
dabar  in the intensive or in the  Pie1 form. This form       reference to himself, the middle voice does not tell.
indicates that the speaking is intensive in nature on the     That has to be determined by the meaning of the verb
part of the speaker. It therefore means: to speak often,      and the context. He may be represented as doing a
to speak much, to speak for a long time. It is even used      certain thing of himself, by himself, on himself, for
in the causitive sense: what God will surely cause to         himself, etc. . . ."
come to pass. Writes A.B. Davidson in his Introductory          We may further notice concerning the middle voice in
Hebrew Grammar "Since eagerness may show itself in            Greek that it is either reflexive, intensive or reciprocal.
urging others to similar action, the Pie1 frequently has a    We have noticed the intensive use of the Hebrew Piel.
causitive force. " When this is applied to the idea of        This use is in Greek in the Middle Voice in the Greek
promise it means that God will cause what he has              verb.  The term  epaggelomai   means: I myself promise.
promised to come to pass. Such is the repeated                God makes the promise and there is none besides him.
declaration of God himself in Holy Scriptures. One has        God speaks what he will emphatically do. He will bring
but to refer to any reputable Concordance to see that         it to pass. He will save His people from their sins. This is
such is indeed the case with God's often, repeated and        indicated in the phrase "I am Jehovah." Thus we read in
emphatic speaking concerning what he will surely bring        Isaiah 43: 11-13 "I, even I, am the LORD; and besides
to pass for the heirs of the promise. When once God has       me there is no saviour. I have declared and have saved,
spoken this promise to Abraham, all His future speaking       and I have  shewed, when there was no strange god
and dealing are based upon what He has promised.              among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the


18                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was I am He;           hope in God's promise. This is, indeed, a means of grace
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will       for the strengthening of Abraham's faith. And thus in
work, and who will let it?"                                     faith Abraham saw it in the mount of the Lord. He saw
      This term to promise in the Greek is ever emphat-         it in strong consolation. He saw Christ's day from .afar
ically what God promises in relationship to himself, as         and rejoiced. (John 8:56)
to what he will perform to the heirs of the promise,
Acts  7:5; Romans  4:21; Galatians 3: 19; Titus  1:2;           THE  CHRISTOLOGICAL   CONTENT  OF THE
Hebrews  6:13;  10:23;  11:ll;  12:26; James  1:12;2:5;1        PROMISE TO ABRAHAM FULFILLED -
John 2:25.                                                                                                Hebrews 6: 18-20
      This promise of God is not dependent for its being          The New Testament saints have fled for refuge for
given, nor for its fulfillment in man; it is solely the work    take hold, to seize the hope which is set before us.
of the Lord. It is not contingent for its fulfillment upon      Really the text speaks of  us  "who are taking  refuge."
the will or act of man in any sense. God writes his law in      We are constantly taking refuge to seize the hope set
our hearts and we are saved. Such is the better promise.        before us in the midst of our sin, misery, corruption and
Hebrews 8:6-12. (Jer. 31:31-34)                                 death. Apart from this fleeing for refuge we are filled
      This promise belongs according to Hebrews 6: 18 to        with the fear of death all our life long. Often our faith is
the things which are rooted in the immutability of              weak and we are like Peter, who, looking at the waves
God's eternal counsel. God's counsel shall stand and He         and billows, cried out: Lord I perish. It is then that our
will do all his good-pleasure. (Isaiah 46: 10) The Lord         tempest-tossed soul needs the assurance of the hope set
works all things according to the counsel of his will.          before us. This "hope" is the objective salvation in
(Ephesians 1: 11.) That counsel of God is the standard          Christ which he has merited and the atonement which is
of all his works. What God has decreed he shall perform,        ours in the holiest of all within the veil of the sanctuary.
and what he has decreed concerning the heirs of election        This hope is set before us and beckons us on. This hope
he administers to the heirs by way of the promised              is the "anchor of the soul." And this anchor is not down
Word. Hence this counsel and the promises to the heirs          in the depths of the sea, but it reaches upward to heaven
are immutable. They are without repentance. In the              before God's throne. All our hope is riveted upon the
book of Hebrews certain matters are mutable; they are           forerunner of our faith and hope. He has gone before us.
subject to change. Such is the case with the work of            He is the way and the truth and the life. His name is
God concerning the priesthood of Aaron. "For the                JESUS. He came to save his people from their sins.
priesthood being changed there is made of necessity also        God's promise is fulfilled in him. The oath of God is all
a change also of the law." (Hebrews 7: 12) That                 in Him to the glory of God the Father.
institution was changeable. Not so the promise of God.             To understand this we must see the greatness of his
There is nothing that can make the promise of God null          priesthood. It is a priesthood after the order of
and void. The promise of God stands. Heaven and earth           Melchisedec. He is made a priest not by the intervention
may pass away, but the promise of God is unchangeable.          of Moses, but he is appointed directly by God Himself.
Every jot and tittle shall be fulfilled. Matthew 5: 17,lS.      The Lord hath sworn and will not repent: thou art a
      However, we must have strong consolation that this is     priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Now we do
true. It must be a mighty hope in our hearts. It must be        not have a priest who merely entered into that which is
a strong courage that all is well. And to energize that         behind the veil once a year on the great day of
strong comfort in our hearts, particularly in the heart of      atonement. Nay, we now have a hope which constantly
Abraham and in the heart of all the spiritual seed, God         enters into that which is behind the veil. That is the
came between Abraham and his sure promise with an               force of the present participle eiserchomenee. Heaven is
oath.  There had been one immutable thing, but now              opened to us, and the angels of God ascend and
there are two immutable things. (dia duo pragmatoon             descend! Such is the new and living way which is ours
ametathetoon)  It is the testimony of two things.. Now          into the holiest of God  - into the holiest of heaven
from the viewpoint of God the promise cannot be less            itself. Such is our strong consolation in him in whom
sure than his oath. God cannot lie. He cannot lie in the        both promise and oath are fulfilled according to the
oath, neither can he lie in his promise. In both of these       firm decree of God.
it was impossible for God to lie. That is the force of the         Well may we then walk in the full assurance of faith
"en ois." "In which" refers to the "two immutable               and be imitators of those who through faith and
things," that is the promise and the oath. The question         longsuffering inherited the promises. God's promise to
is therefore: if the promise is so sure, why must the oath      Abraham on Moriah's hill-top and Calvary are connected
be added! Both rest in the unchangeable counsel of              not merely by geography, but they are connected by
God? The answer must be: for the benefit of the heirs           God's counsel which is immutable, as promise-oath and
of the promise; that we should have strong consolation.         fulfillment!
The oath of God is to make the promise sure in our                 Jehovah-jireh! On the mount of the Lord it was
consciousness by faith. It was to bolster our faith and         shown!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   19


A  CZo7d  of Witnesses
                                       David in War and Peace

                                                   Rev. B. Woudenberg

                                  And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.
                                  And David reigned over all Israel; and David executed
                               judgment and justice unto all his people.
                                                                     -II Samuel X-14, 1.5

  David was a great and fierce warrior; but he also was a       houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for
gentle man, a poet and a musician. David was a man              an hundred chariots." The very thought of these
who could be bold and unflinching in battle; but he             hundreds of horses hobbling helplessly about with the
could also be kind and tender as a shepherd. David was a        tendons of their legs cut would seem to us to reflect a
stern judge demanding swift justice in the presence of          cruelty such as we can hardly imagine. Surely it would
sin; but he could also be kind and forgiving when the           seem to us to have been much more humane to have put
occasion allowed for it. David was a man whose                  them immediately to death: but this was not done.
emotions ran the full scope of human feeling, but                 Finally we have one more account of a similar
underneath there was always a directing factor, a basic         atrocity at the end of David's campaign against Ammon,
principle which guided him and determined his reac-             particularly when he finished his siege of the city of
tions; it was his faith, the deep confidence in and             Rabbah. There we read, "And he brought out the
respect which he held for Israel's great and almighty God.      people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with
  The record of David's warfare which we have in                harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with
Scripture is rather brief, a quick survey of all that he        all the cities of the children of Ammon."
did; but it is sufficient to give to us a true indication of      All of this goes together quite well with a number of
the approach which David used over against all of the           statements in the Psalms that seem to speak the same
heathen. It is also sufficient to be very disconcerting to      language. An example of this we find in Psalm 18: 36ff,
all those who would try to measure the ethics of David          "Thou hast enlarged my steps under  -me, that my feet
according to modern philosophical standards. And this           did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies, and over-
is especially true when the actions of David are taken in       taken them: neither did I turn again till they were
light of the many Davidic Psalms which express the              consumed. I have wounded them that they were not
feelings which David held toward his enemies. There is          able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. For thou hast
through all of the life of David a tone of absolute             girded me with strength unto the battle: thou  hast
antithesis which modern attitudes simply cannot com-            subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou
prehend.                                                        hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I
  In the accounts of the campaigns of David, we find            might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there
several instances of what would appear to us as being           was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he
extreme and unnecessary cruelty. We have one such               answered them not. Then did I beat them small as the
instance in the account of David's campaign against             dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in
Moab. Here we are told that David "smote Moab, and              the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of
measured them with a line, casting them down to the             the people; and thou hast made me the head of the
ground; even with two lines measured he to put to               heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve
death, and with one full line to keep alone. And so the         me . . . ." It would almost seem from this all that there
Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts."           was a certain sadistic streak in David which rejoiced in
What happened here, evidently, was that David captured          the sufferings of others, particularly of his enemies. In
the whole of the Moabitish army quite intact. David,            fact this is usually conceded and is only excused
however, took this army and made all of the men lie flat        inasmuch as this was characteristic of the day and David
on the ground in three rows. Two of these rows of men           could not have been expected to escape it completely.
he killed and the third he allowed to remain alive. Thus          Yet this is evidently not the whole story. There are
he took away the strength of the Moabites without               other actions of David that indicate that this was not
destroying the nation completely.                               the kind of person he was. An example of this we have
  Again in the next campaign, this one against                  with  Toi king of  Hamath. About him we read, "Then
Hadadezer the Syrian, the result was that "David took           Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him,
from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred                 and to bless him, because he had fought against
horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David                Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars


20                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver,         with Jonathan as long as he had lived; and he
and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass: which also king      remembered also the parting request of Jonathan to him
David did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and           when he had said, "The LORD be with thee; as he hath
gold that he dedicated of all nations which he subdued."        been with my father. And thou shalt not only while yet
The point here is that David was more than willing to           I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not:
receive in peace those who came to him in peace. He             but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my
had no desire to destroy unnecessarily.                         house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the
      The same was even more evidently true in David's          enemies of David every one from the,face of the earth."
original actions over against the people of Ammon. It all       To David this was simply something that could not be
began at the time that the king of Ammon died and his           forgotten, regardless of p  olitical expediency.
son  Hanun inherited his throne. Prior to that time,            Accordingly, as soon as the opportunity availed itself,
David had been treated kindly by  Hanun's father, and           he began to search for members of Jonathan's family
accordingly David sent his condolences to  Hanun by             with whom this covenant might be realized. After
means of some messengers. As it was, however, there             considerable effort he did find one of Jonathan's
were a number of princes in Ammon who were anxious              descendants also, a young man who had become lame at
to prove themselves over against David, believing evi-          the time of his father's death and was hiding in fear in
dently that they could overcome him when so many                the home of a man named Machir. Immediately David
others had failed. Thus they advised the young king,            sent to. him and not only assured him that he had
"Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that          nothing to fear but he gave all that remained of the
he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David               estate of Saul and invited him to live with him in the
rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and     palace and to eat at the king's table. It was truly a
to spy it out, and to overthrow it?" It was foolish             strange sight, the only remaining descendant of Saul,
advice, but the young king, jealous as he was of his            who had treated him so badly, received to a position of
newly obtained power and inexperienced in such deal-            greatest honor in the very home of David; but such was
ings with other nations, was ready to believe them.             the nature of the king.
Accordingly, instead of receiving the emissaries of David         The question that remains, of course, through all of
with appreciation, he very purposely gave to them the           these extremes in David's actions is, what was the
most pointed rebuff that he could imagine. What Hanun           motivation which through this all impelled David? And
did was to have the men shaved so that one half of their        to this question there is but one answer, David as king
beards, the universal sign of manhood in that day, was          of Israel saw himself as the representative of the truth
gone and half remained. And then in addition, he had            and justice of God upon this earth. In fact, in a very
their garments cut off half way at the buttocks, and sent       real, prophetic sense he saw himself to be the forebearer
them on their way. Coming in shame to Jericho, the              of the ultimate representative of God upon this earth,
men stopped there and sent a messenger on to David              the promised seed who was yet to come. It was an
recounting how they had been received. It was an open           almost unconscious projection of himself into the role
affront that could not be ignored, and there followed           of this coming ruler and redeemer under whom Israel
one of the most vicious and extended wars of David's            would some day live forever. David saw his
rule ending, as we have noted, in the final defeat and          responsibility as that of one who was to prepare the way
punishment of the nation of Ammon. But the point is             for him, as one who had to make the kingdom and the
that David had not wanted it that way; his first move           people ready, so that when this redeemer and Lord
and his first intention had been to live at peace with          would come he would be recognized and acknowledged.
Ammon.                                                          This was very really his one and only duty in the
      By far the most telling of all in the history of David    position which God had given to him. It is in this light
was to be found in his actions over against the family of       that we must understand all of the actions of king David
king Saul. All normal reasoning would have dictated             and all of his prophetic utterances. They were forms of
that he would have either moved swiftly to destroy the          Messianic projections as David saw himself filling the
family completely from the land, or at least he should          position which was given him merely as a means of
have ignored them and allowed them to disappear into            preparation for the promised seed that God had
oblivion. But not David. While Saul himself was yet             promised to give to their nation.
king, David had refused to make one move against him              It was in light of this consideration and anticipation
because he was the anointed of the Lord; and, when              that David acted toward all of the other nations. The
Ishbosheth had tried to carry on the reign of his father,       land of Canaan proper had to be prepared and sanctified
David had refused to move directly against him. But             as much as was possible to be a fit kingdom of God.
God had been with David and had directed all things in          Accordingly all heathen peoples and all heathen
such a way that David should receive the final rule. But        practices had to be driven out of it. Of this there was no
still David was not satisfied. Throughout the years he          question. In turn his attitude toward those nations
remembered the friendship which he had always had               surrounding Canaan proper was different. With them he


                                                Tl-iE STANDARD BEARER                                                    21'


was quite willing to live at peace as long as they did not    judge David, his actions, his songs and his prophecies.
oppose the kingdom of Israel and its throne in outright       They were a figurative representation of the Gospel,
hatred; but when such hatred was evidenced, he felt           even a reflection of that justice which will be brought to
compelled to make it clear that such opposition to the        fulfillment finally and forever in that final judgment in
kingdom of Israel was an opposition to God, and those         which Christ will measure the lives of all men. To those
who engaged in such did so to their own destruction.          who are His in love, there will be mercy and redemption
David in his life as king was simply bringing into            leading to perfect and eternal peace; but to those who
realization a type, a picture and a figure of the justice     have hated and opposed Him, there will be punishment,
and judgment of God which judges all things by only           suffering and eternal perdition. It is the same judgment
one standard, the moral relationship which men hold           set forth in principle by David as he was moved by the
over against Him and His rule. In this light we must          Spirit of God.


What Others Think


                                      A  Review from  The Banner


                                                              all that has been said before. There is an eloquent
  The following review of "Reformed Dogmatics" is             presentation of positions often developed and long
reprinted by permission from  The Banner  of June  28,.       defended, but new and challenging insights are not
1968.                                                         lacking. Inspiring stimulation is to be found in the more
                                                              traditional views found in the discussion on creation and
                                                              eschatology in general; and definite challenge in the
REFORMED DOGMATICS by Herman Hoeksema. Re-                    author's more distinctive views on divine decrees, the
formed Free Publishing Association, Grand Rapids,             image of God, the covenant and baptism, the attributes
Mich. 9 17 pages. Price, $14.95.                              of God, and God's relationship to man and his attitude
   This is indeed the "major work" produced by the            toward man in a world of sin.
author in "his many-sided and busy ministry of almost           No one can be expected to agree with all the author's
fifty years," and it is an excellent contribution to the      views or statements. The supralapsarian position is
"Reformed exposition of the faith once delivered to the       vigorously defended; his indictment of the  biblical-
saints."                                                      theological method is, in my estimation, too severe; the
   Those who are enthusiastically Reformed will ap-           position on natural revelation is not wholly consistent;
plaud the author's insistence that "dogmatics must be         common grace is denied; and the love of God is defined
faithful to the Scriptures, and therefore thoroughly          or described in such a way that it quite naturally leads
exegetical; . . . must be theologically construed, and        to a conclusion which, in this reviewer's opinion, does
must therefore be theocentric; . . . and must be faithful     not do full justice to the biblical givens.
to the Reformed Creeds and to the dogma of the                  Those who are at all acquainted with the author's
church."                                                      other writings will know that he has been very insistent
   One finds in this volume much traditional theology.        on. the importance of the covenant. This is good, and
This is its strength, not its weakness. Prominence is         also very necessary. The discussion is enlightening, to
given to authors who have attained stature, and to views      say the least. One does wonder though if it would not
which have stood the test of time. The emphasis is not        have been even more beneficial if less concern had been
on that which is  new,  but on that which is  true.           expressed about the question of whether or not the
Unswerving loyalty to the infallible Word of God and          covenant is "conditional" and more emphasis had been
deep appreciation for the views developed by a Spirit-        placed on the divine "claim" in the covenant.
guided church, are the diapason of this theological              To acquire this volume requires a considerable finan-
music. Because of this, the annoying and even disastrous      cial investment, but those who are eager to refresh and
relativism in much current theological discussion is          enrich their knowledge of the Reformed faith will do
blessedly absent. Certainty, clarity, precise formulation,    well to give preference to this volume, and will be
and thorough organization are, as they have always            eminently rewarded if they spend many hours in perusal
been, the author's stock-in-trade.                            and study of it.
   Let no one think that this book is only a repetition of                                                   George Gritter.


22                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


Pages From The  P.ast
                                   Believers and  ,Their Seed
                                                         Rev. Herman Hoeksemi
                                                              Chapter II
                                              Arminianism Injected Into The Covenant

                (continued from September 15 issue)                 Israel? As nation they were rejected and had served out
      But in the way in which Prof. Heyns wants to explain          their time. And the great majority of them also did not
this part of the Baptism Form a very strange conception             enter into the salvation of the new dispensation. The
is distilled from it. However, it is very plain that' this          question therefore arose whether God had abandoned
conception of Prof. Heyns is forced upon the Baptism                His people, whether the Word of God was fallen out, vs.
Form. This Form certainly furnishes no basis for the                6. Was it thus, that God had promised something which
professor's conception of the covenant.  How would the              He did not fulfill? Was His Word become of none effect?
professor, on the same ground and with the same                     This would exactly be the case if the matter of God's
conception in mind, nevertheless be able to take the                covenant were as Prof. Heyns wants to present it. Then
language of the Thanksgiving Prayer of this same Form               all would have obtained the promise; then all would
upon his lips? There we find this language: "Almighty               have been children of the promise who were called the
God and merciful Father, we thank and praise Thee,                  seed of Abraham according to the flesh. And then,
that Thou hast forgiven us, and our children, all our               surely, the Word of God would have become of none
sins, through the blood of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ,            effect, seeing that all did not obtain the fulfillment of
and received us through thy Holy Spirit as members of               the promise.
thine only begotten Son, and adopted us to be thy                      But the apostle instructs us altogether differently. He
children, and sealed and confirmed the same unto us by              says that the Word of God has not fallen out, and that,
holy baptism." This language certainly does not allow               too, for the simple reason that all who had the promise
for a two-fold interpretation. The church here does not             also very really attained to the fulfillment of the
give thanks for something which the Holy Spirit will do,            promise. It was not all Israel which was of Israel. They
but for an accomplished fact. God has through His                   are not all children because they are called the seed of
Spirit received us as members of His Son and has                    Abraham. No, the children of the flesh are not counted
adopted us to be His children. Here there is mention not            for the seed, but the children of the promise, vss. 7, 8.
of a right to the application of salvation, nor of a                The apostle therefore makes a distinction between the
conditional promise; but here is a work which the Holy              seed of the flesh and the seed of the promise. Not all are
Spirit actually performs and applies to us. No, neither in          children of the promise. But the children of the promise
the confessions nor in the liturgical forms can the                 have indeed very really received all the blessings of
professor find any support for his conception of the                salvation, Hence, it is evident that Scripture here
covenant of grace.                                                  literally contradicts Professor Heyns. The professor
      But also in Scripture this presentation finds no              teaches that all the children of the covenant in the
ground. According to Professor Heyns, the essence of                external - historical sense are also children of the
the covenant is the promise. According to his concep-               promise; Scripture says literally that this is not the case,
tion, moreover, all the children of the covenant in the             but that distinction must be made between the children
outward sense of the word, head for head, have a part in            of the flesh and the children of the promise.
this promise. God bestows upon them all the promise of                 On the basis of Scripture and also on the basis of the
the covenant. Hence, too, they are all really children of           Reformed line of thought, especially as the latter is set
the promise, according to this presentation; and as                 forth in our Baptism Form, we may, therefore, first of
children of the promise they all very really have a part            all, come to the negative conclusion that the presenta-
in the covenant of grace. Now this is precisely not the             tion of Professor Heyns is to be rejected. The essence of
presentation of Holy Writ. In fact, the Word of God                 the covenant does not consist in a promise in the sense
literally contradicts this. This is the plain teaching of           of a general offer. All the children of the flesh, or
Romans 9. In this chapter the apostle does not speak in             rather, all the  .outward children of the covenant, all
general about election and reprobation, but about                   "covenant members" ("`bondelingen")  do not receive a
election and reprobation as these cut directly across the           certain life. God does not promise salvation in Christ to
line of the historical manifestation of the covenant and            every child `of believers. No more than there is a general
make separation. The subject is Israel  .of the old                 offer in the preaching to everyone who hears, no more is
dispensation. It seemed as though God had cast away                 there such a general promise in God's covenant. This
the people whom He had once chosen as His heritage.                 presentation must be totally rooted out. It lies wholly in
For what had become of by far the largest part of                   the line of Pelagius and Arminius.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 2'3


                                       B O O K   R E V I E W S

A  ~SYMPOSIUM  ON CREATION, by Henry M.  Morris               the last word on many issues. E.G., Patten explains the
and others; Baker Book House, 1968; $1.95, 156 pp.            ice age in terms of ice which fell upon the earth shortly
(paper)                                                       after. the flood and which came from other bodies
                                                              within our solar system. I find this theory and his
  This book contains several papers delivered  at. the        argumentation for it unconvincing. Nevertheless, the
annual conference on Christian Schooling in Houston,          explanation for scientific problems  s from a scientific
Texas under the auspices of the Association for Chris-        viewpoint offered in the book within the context of
tian Schools. The Conference is usually held in St.           Scripture are surely as possible (and in many cases more
Thomas Episcopal School of which T. Robert Ingram is          probable) as anything evolutionism has to offer..
Rector.                                                         The book is heartily recommended and deserves a
  The book contains the following papers: Science             place in the libraries of our schools and in our homes. H.H.
versus Scientism, by Henry M. Morris; Creationist
Viewpoints, by John W. Klotz; Can We Accept Theistic
Evolution?, by Paul A. Zimmerman; The Origins of                 NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY ON  GALA-
Civilization, by R. Clyde McCone; The Noachian Flood          TIANS,  by William Hendriksen; Baker Book House,
and Mountain Uplifts, by Donald W.  Patten; The Ice           1968; 260 pp., $6.95.
Epoch, by Donald W.  Patten; Evolutionary Time: A                Dr. William Hendriksen has completed another of `his
Moral Issue, by R. .Clyde McCone.                             commentaries in his New Testament series. Anyone
  All these men are "creationists" believing in a             looking for a good commentary for society use and for
creation in six days of twenty-four hours. They all hold      Bible study in the home is urged to consider carefully
to a universal flood. They all repudiate evolution in any     these commentaries by Hendriksen. He is a conservative
form including so-called "theistic evolution". The book       theologian who works with deep reverence for and
is an attempt to explain certain scientific phenomena         submission to the authority of God's infallible Scrip-
within the context of Scripture while at the same time        tures. This volume on the important book of Galatians
showing the manifest absurdity of evolutionary hypoth-        has all the strengths of his other volumes. The commen-
eses. It is a very good book, a worthwhile addition to        tary takes time to develop important concepts, as, e.g.,
the growing library of scientific literature written by       the concept of justification; it includes a helpful
"creationists". It is not too technical to be read by one     summary of the discussion at the end of each chapter; it
not versed in the jargon of science. It can be read           includes thorough discussions of disputed points; it is
profitably by anyone including those who have only a          written clearly and understandably.
theological rather than a scientific interest in the             While the book is especially adapted to lay use, it is
subject.                                                      also helpful for ministers inasmuch as it includes lengthy
   The most interesting articles were those by Morris         discussion of technical points in the copious footnotes.
and Zimmerman on "Science vs. Scientism" and "Can                Although this commentary is highly recommended to
We Accept Theistic Evolution?" Morris, as in his other        our readers it must always be remembered: 1) that there
works, writes clearly and convincingly of the errors of       are points in it with which we cannot agree where
scientism.  Zimmerman shows the absurdity and impos-          Hendriksen lets his theology color his exegesis; 2) it is a
sibility of any attempts to preserve Scripture through        commentary and ought never to be a substitute for the
some sort of theistic evolution.                              study of the Word of God itself. It must be used as a
   There are indeed sections with which it is difficult to    help, nothing more. Yet we hope that Dr. Hendriksen
agree. The authors themselves are not claiming to speak       will be able to complete his entire series.            H.H.


            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                ATTENTION LADIES
  The Consistory of the Southwest Protestant Re-                 The date. for the Fall Meeting of our Eastern Ladies
formed Church extends heartfelt sympathy with Mr. Jay         League is Thursday, October 10, 1968 at 8:00 P.M. We
Boone, a fellow  - elder, in the recent death of his          look forward to seeing you at Southwest Protestant
mother,                                                       Reformed Church for an evening of Christian fellow-
                 MRS. RENA BOONE.                             ship. Rev. G. -Lubbers will speak on the topic "Sancti-
May he and his family be comforted in the hope of the         fied Attention."
blessed resurrection.                                                                           Elsie Kuiper, Vice Sec'y.
                         Rev. G. Lubbers, Pres.
                         Elder Herman Kuiper, Vice-Sec'y.


 24                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


                                News From Our Churches
                                               Sept. 14, 1968      preached his inaugural sermon, beginning a busy life of
       Rev. G. Van Baren, of First Church in Grand Rapids,         service in Isabel, with catechism classes and other
 has declined the call he had from his home church,                meetings in the offing. It is reported that the gladness in
 South Holland, Ill.                                               the hearts of the people and in that of the new pastor
                            * *  *                                 was clearly evidenced. The readers of the Standard
       The societies of some of our churches have begun            Bearer wish you well under the blessing of our Covenant
 meeting right after Labor Day.  Doon's  bulletin an-              God!
 nouncement speaks for all of our churches when it says,                                       * *  *
 "Once again our societies begin their weekly meetings.               The Prot. Ref.`Chr. School in Doon opened its doors
 You are urged to take part in this wonderful privilege            this Fall with an enrollment of forty-five pupils. Mrs.
 from week to week. Our prayer is that through the                 Robert Decker has been appointed to, teach the  Icower
 discussion of God's Word, God will draw us closer to              grades having twenty-five children under her tutelage.
 Himself and to each other in the bond of faith." Did              Mr. Fred Hanko, principal, administers the affairs of the
 you notice that the "we urge you" was not an                      school and teaches the twenty older children.
 invitation,  and the "wonderful privilege" was not an                                         * *  *
 obligation?  And, that the prayed-for result was not
 some sort of sociability but a "closer                              Adams St. School and our new Covenant High School
                                            bond of faith "? If
 all of us were agreed to the principle underlying this            have also opened their doors, but we have not yet
 announcement our societies would be better attended               received particulars attending these occasions. A special
 and appreciated.                                                  report of the High School opening (with pictures) may
                           *  8  8                                 be expected in the next issue of our paper. A report
                                                                   from our Theological School Committee is scheduled to
       Candidate Richard Moore and family arrived in               appear in an October issue of the Standard Bearer
Isabel, South Dakota Aug. 20, very anxious to see their            regarding the opening of our Seminary with an increased
new home and congregation. Several ladies of the                   enrollment. So, "bide-a-wee" and ye shall know all.
 church were at hand to make the parsonage ready for                                          *  *  8
 occupancy, but it needed little cleaning because it was
new. The parsonage is a mobile home measuring 12 by                  In the monthly letter sent out by the church
 68 feet. The men of the congregation are going to build           extension committee, Rev. Van  Baren wrote about the
 an addition of 10 by 44 feet to provide a study, utility          Young Peoples' Convention that his societies hosted.
room, and playroom with extra storage space. Even                  The pastor used the convention theme as a basis for his
`without this addition, Mrs. Moore writes, "Our new                letter, treating it in an expository way, setting forth the
home is more spacious than one could believe possible,             truth of God's greatness in His creation, and in the
 and is very comfortable." The moving van was held up              re-creation of His people; he also found therein a
 three days in Mayor Daley's city, but finally arrived at 4        condemnation of the emphasis currently placed upon
 on Saturday afternoon, and the Moore family were                  the "social gospel" which stresses an earthly utopia
 again ensconsed  amid familiar surroundings. Candidate            without God. The pastor ended his missive with this
 Moore did not have much time to rest, however, for his            exultation, "Thanks be to God in these days of hippies
 examination before  Classis was to take place Sept. 4,            and  yippies, of open rebellion of youth against all
 and the matter of his Ordination and Installation also            authority, God still has covenant youth who can sing
 added to the excitement of those days. The Classical              out in spiritual fervor, `How Great Thou Art'. To God
' Examination was passed successfully, and the Ordi-               be the glory."
 nation was scheduled for Friday, Sept. 6. After an organ                                     *  *  *
 prelude by Carol Collmann, Rev. B. Woudenberg, of                   Hope School has begun its twenty second acedemic
 Lynden, Wash., led in opening devotions with prayer,              year under new management. Mr. John Buiter, one of
and the reading of Scripture as recorded in Acts 20.               their regular teachers, has been appointed administrator
 Rev. C. Hanko, of Redlands, Calif., preached the sermon           in the place of Miss A. Lubbers, who is now teaching in
which was based on the 28th verse of that chapter,                 the High School. ,In the August issue of the "Highlights"
 pointing out in a practical way the joys and responsi-            the new principal wrote, "I hope, by the grace of God,
 bilities of a minister as an under-shepherd of the flock          to continue to serve you faithfully in the new responsi-
of Christ. Rev. G. Lanting, of Edgerton, Minn., con-               bility you have entrusted to me. I will endeavor to
 ducted the ordination rites which were finalized with             continue the fine history of administration that our
the "laying on of hands" and a prayer of thanksgiving.             school has enjoyed for many years. To continue this
Thereupon Rev.  Moore  closed the service with an                  fine reputation I desire your suggestions, your help,
 official pronouncement of the benediction. After the              your co-operation, and, above all, your prayers." In-
 services those present were invited to the Isabel com-            deed, this school is off to a fine start!
munity building for a delicious lunch and hot coffee
prepared by the ladies. On Sunday, Sept. 8, Rev. Moore             . . . see you in church                             J.M.F.
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