                                 l-le

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A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE




In This Issue


       Meditation:
          A Prayer At The End Of The Year

       Editorial:
          The Erring Views of `Dr. H. M. Kuitert

       David's Repentance

       Rumblings on the Right (see All Around US)



                                             Volume XL V/Number 6/Dee. 15, 1968


122                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

                /
                                CONTENTS                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                            Semi-monthly,   except monthly during June,  July and August.
Meditation -                                                                                 Published   by  the  Reformed   Free  Publishing   Association,   Inc.
      APrayerAtTheEndOfTheYear  . . . . . . . . . . . . 122                         Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

Editorials -                                                                        Department Editors:  Mr.  John  M.  Faber, Rev.  Cornelius  Hanko,   Prof.
                                                                                       Herman  Hanko,   Rev.  Robert   C.  Harbach,   Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Jay
      Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125          Kortering,   Rev.  George   C.  Lubbers,  Rev.  Marinus  Schipper,   Rev.  Gise  J.
      The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert . . . . . . . . . .125                      Van  Baren,  Rev.  Herman  Veldman,  Rev.  Bernard  Woudenberg
                                                                                    Editorial Office:  Prof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema
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 .
M e d i t a t i o n


                                           A Prayer At The End Of The Year
                                                                       Rev. M, Schipper

                                            "`Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glov
                                            unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our
                                            God be upon us: and establish thou  ,the work of our
                                            hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish
                                            thou it. "                                              Psalm 90: 16,l Z

       A prayer of Moses, the man of God!                                            wilderness journey as this man of God led the children
       Such is the tenor of the entire Psalm from which our                          of Israel from the house of `bondage to the borders of
text is taken, and such is also the nature of the text                               the promised land.
itself. Probably written toward the end of the long                                      By Moses, the meekest of men, who, while no man


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   123



can look on God and live, was privileged to come so               That work of God which is to be seen all about us in
close to His God that he could behold His hinder parts.         the work of His hands. All creation is His work. Not of
Who, beholding the children of Israel  cpnsumed in              itself did it come into being. But by the creative Word
God's anger, was troubled by His wrath; and exclaimed,          of the Ahnighty all things have their being and
"For all our days are passed away in thy wrath, we              continuance. Thy work in the heavens which declare the
spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our         glory of God. Thy work in the dry land which Thou
years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of         broughtest into being by the Word of Thy power. Thy
strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength         work in the sea, where travels the great leviathan. Thy
labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly           work under the earth and the seas, where are stored up
away." Who, while beholding the brevity of life, sees it        fountains of water and ovens of fire.
on the background of the eternity of God. Listen to him           Thy work also as it becomes evident in all the affairs
extol that incommunicable attribute of God - `"Before           of men. For back of all the movements of men and
the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst            nations stands the everlasting God realizing His counsel
formed the earth, and the world; even from everlasting          and eternal purpose. He setteth up kings and presidents,
to everlasting Thou art God.". And again, "For a                and He removes them from office. He makes war and He
thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it        makes peace. He sendeth epidemics and scourges upon
is past,' and as a watch in the night." Who, beginning the      the peoples of the earth and they hurry to an early
prayer with: "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place           grave. He causes nation to rise against nation. Even the
in all generations;" prays further: "So teach us to             devils cannot stir without His control. The whole ship of
number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto              creation moves over the ocean of time, not by the will
wisdom;" and, "0 satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that          of man or Satan, but by the unchangeable decree of the
we may rejoice and be glad all our days." And who               All-Wise and Eternal God. And He experiences no
concludes the prayer with the words of our text.                contrary winds, no forces of evil that threaten to
  A prayer for the appearance of God's work! A prayer           destroy His ship which He brings into the haven of His
which could and should be uttered by the child of God           everlasting purpose.
at all times, but especially fitting it is at the end of the      Let Thy work appear!
year.                                                             Cause all Thy work to appear unto Thy servants.and
  A prayer expressing quite a different attitude from           Thy glory unto their children!
the man of the world, who is always passing away under            And in the midst of all Thy work, 0 Jehovah, there is
God's wrath. Is it not the desire of the ungodly, also as       one work which Thy servants and their children would
they stand at the end of the year, willingly or                 especially see. A work which Thou art performing
unwittingly taking inventory of all that has transpired,        throughout the ages.
and calling on himself and others to behold his work,             Thy work of salvation!
and to remind himself and others of the glory of his and          The perfection of Thy everlasting covenant in Christ
their accomplishments?                                          Jesus! That work which is not known through the things
  Not for the appearance of the work of man does the            which are seen  - the work of Thy hands in the
psalmist pray, beautiful as that work may sometimes             firmament and in the seas and the dry land. That work
appear. He is not interested in the culture of the world,       which is known and understood only through the
in the  fine arts thought out with scientific minds, and        promise of the gospel. That work which Thou didst
played with professional fingers. He has learned to assess      accomplish in the sending of Thy Only Begotten Son
the true value of all the productions of man, and               our Lord into the likeness of our flesh. That work which
concludes that they all shall perish  - even the artistic       Thou didst give unto Him to accomplish on the accursed
works of a Michaelangelo and the melodious tones of a           tree,. when `He battled all the forces`of darkness, when
Sebastian Bach. Though men describe these human                 He broke the power of sin and.Satan and death, when
endeavors as "immortal," and the memory of them may             He satisfied Thy justice and bore all the vials of Thy
last as long as the world endures, they shall all perish        `wrath that were due to us and merited for us Thy
when the world perishes. The works of mere man are as           righteousness and eternal life, the adoption unto sons sIo
mortal as the men who created them. '                           that we Thy servants could also become Thy sons anld
  Though the psalmist prays "establish thou the work            daughters. Thy work which through the Spirit of Thy
of our hands upon us, yea, the work -of our hands               raised and glorified Son Thou art accomplishing in our
establish thou it;" he does not look upon this work             hearts, making us to be transformed and conformed into
apart from. the work of God. In fact, he considers "the         Thy perfect image. Thy work according to which Thou
work of our hands" as very really the result of the work        dost implant in our hearts, renewed by Thy grace, a
of God in His people. They are the manifestation of the         living faith whereby we are able to see the unseen, and
beauty of the Lord our God which is upon.us, for which          to hope for that we see not. Thy work whereby Thou
the psalmist also prays.                                        didst shed abroad in our hearts Thy love, so that once
  Let Thy work appear!                                          more we `may go out to Thee in love and love one


124                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


another, and seek Thy perfection, Thy glory, which is            The prayer of the Church of the present!
but the radiation of all Thy virtues.                            Unto Thy servants, let Thy work appear! Thy
   And let Thy beauty be upon us!                              covenant-friendservants! Thy people whom Thou hast
       So that we are able to reflect it in such a way that    loved from before the foundation of the world, whom
Thou mayest see in us Thy own glory!                           Thou hast chosen in Christ Jesus our Lord, and
       0 Jehovah, let all Thy work appear! Also all that       determined to be saved by Him. We, Thy servants, who
which Thou must still do until we shall come to Thee           acknowledge Thee as our Lord and Master, before
and abide with Thee in Thy house forever. When all sin         Whose face we now humbly bow, confessing that we are
and shame shall forever be gone. When there shall be a         no more than dust and ashes in Thy sight, wholly
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness             unworthy of the least of Thy blessings. Unto Thee, our
shall dwell, and where Thou shalt be acknowledged and          Lord, we pray. Show unto us as we have never before
served as God alone. When our sinful flesh and Satan           seen it  - Thy work! Beholding which we may bow
and his angels and all the wicked shall be destroyed, and      before Thee in humble adoration. Even in the good
we shall be able to see Thee no longer through a               works which we, Thy servants, perform, establish it -
darkened glass, but face to face and know Thee even as         that is, make us to see that it is Thou Who workest in us
we are known.                                                  both to will and to do according to the good pleasure of
       0, we believe Thy work continues uninterruptibly        Thy will. So that not we, but Thou alone mayest receive
whether it appears unto us or not. Nothing can                 all the glory.
interfere, nor impede Thy work. And though it may                Now, at the end of another year! At that time when,
seem to us Thy servants that Thy mills grind slowly, yet       more than at others, we are so deeply conscious of the
we believe that they grind surely, and that Thou dost          truth that we are strangers and pilgrims in the earth, and
hasten to accomplish all Thy good pleasure.                    all things are developing so fast that they cry for an end.
       Yet Thy work does not always appear unto Thy            Let us see Thy work, and let Thy beauty be upon us.
servants and their children. We are no different than            But, 0 Covenant Jehovah, we are also concerned
Thy people Israel of old, 0 Lord, who saw Thy mighty           about our children! Those children which Thou hast
acts and then quickly forgot them and rebelled and             given unto Thy servants. In whom Thou hast promised
murmured against Thee. When Thou didst deliver them            to extend and establish Thy covenant forever. Never
with a mighty hand through the waters of the Red Sea,          allow us to become like our fathers were, who protested
they rejoiced for a moment in Thee the God of their            that Thou wouldest destroy them and their children in
salvation. But it was only for a moment that they              the dry and thirsty wilderness, and who had to be
rejoiced with thanksgiving. For when their feet touched        shown that not they but their children would enter the
the burning sands of the desert, and their lips became         promised land. Grant, 0 our God, that we with our
parched, they forgot their Deliverer, and murmured             children may see Thy work, and that we may see in our
against Him. We and our children are no different than         children Thy saving power and Thy glory. And our
they. We, too, 0 God of our salvation, fail to see Thy         prayer is that our children may be Thy children in
foot-prints which are traced out before us as we are           whom Thy work of grace appears, and that they may
required to go through the wilderness of this present          have grace also to know Thee as the God of their
time, showing us the way to our Canaan and Rest. The           salvation in Christ Jesus. This is our prayer so much the
lust of our flesh as a film covers our eyes so that we         more because we see our children beset by many
cannot always see the cloudy pillar by day and the fiery       temptations, temptations which neither we nor our
pillar by night. We so often become enamored by the            fathers have known. We believe, 0 God, that Thy
beauty of the works of men, which are so completely            promise also concerning them shall never fail, and
gilded that their sparkle blinds our eyes, that Thy work       therefore we pray that they may see Thy work and
does not appear.                                               rejoice with us in Thee, the God of our salvation.
  And Thou knowest that by Thy grace we have come                On this new year's eve grant, we pray, that we with
to know that all the work of man cannot be trusted nor         our children may rejoice. in the beauty of Thee, the
can we set our hope on these things, yea, that we even         Lord our God. And that work which we were privileged
become tired of beholding them because we know that            to perform in instructing them to know, love, and serve
they cannot last. They belong to that vanity that is of        Thee, may it be established. Yea, the work of our hands,
vanities.                                                      establish Thou it.
  That is why we pray, let Thy work appear, and Thy              Our concern, 0 Jehovah our God, is not only for the
beauty!                                                        Church of today, but also for that of tomorrow. We
   Let Thy work appear also in the work of our hands.          shall soon be cut off and come to Thee; but our children
And that work, which is nothing more than Thy work in          must yet remain for a time. And Thou hast foretold in
and through us, establish Thou it.                             Thy Word that perilous times shall come, when even the
       This is our prayer, 0 Jehovah, as we stand again at     elect would perish didst Thou not shorten the clays.
the close of another year.                                     Then, also, our Father, let the Church see Thy work,

                                                                     ~~_  ~__            - -   _ _ _   ~.  ~~-~-              I


                                                 THE.STANDARD  BEARER                                                    125


 and cause Thy beauty to be upon her. We know Thou             appear before Thee. Then, we with our children shall see
 canst not rest until all Thy children come to Thee.           Thy work in its fulness, and we shall glorify Thee
 Therefore continue Thy work - working in our hearts           forever!
 and in those of our children with Thy grace and Spirit          Amen and Amen!
until the very last one whom Thou hast chosen shall
                                                                                                                          -

 Editoria Is

                                            EDITOR'S NOTES

   If I believed in gremlins and jinxes, I would begin to      mitted- an unsolicited article in which he attempts to
 think that Rev. Van  Baren's department,  Examining           apply Reformed principles to Christian literature. In
Ecumenicalism, is currently jinxed. First only half of his     keeping with our policy of being an "open" paper and
 article on "The Dutch Meet Dixie" was placed; now his,        of publishing articles of interest in Reformed thought,
 article was not placed at alI in the Dec. 1 issue. If you     the Standard Bearer is publishing this guest article. A.s
were looking for "Another Suitor in the Wings?" in his         usual, publication does not necessarily imply endorse-
department, as promised on the cover page, the trouble         ment of all that is written; and the author himself is
was not with your eyes; that other suitor just  .wasn?t        responsible for what he writes. Moreover, comments on
there. If it makes any difference, the explanation is that     the contents, pro or con, are welcome in our Contribu-
the printer informed me that there was not sufficient          tions  department. We recommend the article as worth
space for that article; on my instructions he omitted it,      your careful attention.
but he failed to omit the promise of the article on the                                   *  Q  .*  *
cover page. In order to leave that promise  ,broken no
`longer than necessary, we are placing the article in this       Work on publication of "Behold, He Cometh!" is
issue.                                                         proceeding well on schedule,  - for the information of
                        *  *  +  .+                            several who have inquired orally. In the very  neca.r
   Our readers will meet with a new, and probably a            future, possibly in the January 1 or January 15 issue, we
surprise, name in the pages of this issue, that of Prof.       .hope to be able to announce details of the  pre-
Merle Meeter, who is assistant professor of English at         publication sale of this exposition of the Book of
-Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa: Prof. Meeter sub           Revelation by the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema.



                  The Erring Views of Dr. H.;M. Kuitert (9)
                                                 Prot H. C. Hoeksema

                                                               that "all things were created by him and for him," and
   L&t time I offered a few observations about the             that "he is before all things, and by him all things  ~
 third, dogmatical part of Dr. Kuitert's lecture from a        consist."' Dr. Kuitert seems to take an  almost icono-
 formal point of view. We are now ready to consider this       clastic delight in sweeping to the side so-called tradi-
 same section, of his lecture materially, and to evaluate      tional dogmatics and in pointing outalleged weaknesses
 the contents of the dogmatical implications which he          and inabilities of traditional views, in order then to offer 5
 himself drew from. his presentation of Genesis l-3 and        his own views as a kind of panacea for all these ills. If
 creation.                                                     one listens to Kuitert, he gradually gets the idea that the
   In this connection I will begin with his severe             Christian church in the past, including our Reformed
 .mdictment that the traditional view of creation has been     fathers, had a very sterile dogmatics and really did not
 historically unable to connect creation and Christ, and.      know very much, not even about such fundamental
 specifically that the Christian church has never known        items as creation and the fall and redemption. In fact, if
 what to do with passages such  as.Folossizins  1: 15, ff.,    you consider that when you begin to talk about doing
 which speaks of Christ as "the image of the invisible         away with the whole historical scheme of creation-fall-
 God. the firstborn of every creature," and of the fact.       redemption, you are  ,getting down into the  `cmeat"  .of


126                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


dogmatics, getting down to the essentials of the gospel,        concerned, Reformed theology has certainly recognized
one almost gets the impression that Kuitert thinks that         a relation between Christ and creation, between redemp-
the church in the past never knew what the truth was.           tion and creation, between the new heavens and the new
This is true of the point now under consideration also.         earth and the  fast heavens and the first earth. One
For, you understand, Kuitert's indictment about a               would, of course, expect this too. It would certainly be
failure to connect creation and Christ and a failure to         an amazing thing if such an important facet of the truth
understand passages like Colossians 1: 15-l 9 was aimed         would never have been discovered by the church until
at the traditional view of Genesis and at the traditional       the brilliant theological lights of the twentieth century
creation-fall-redemption scheme. His point is that be-          came upon the scene. It may indeed be true that some
cause the church in the past has held to the traditional        theologians have not been explicit on this subject, and
view of Genesis and to the creation-fall-redemption             have not explained this relationship in an entirely
theme, therefore the church has been unable to see the          satisfactory manner. It may also be true that Reformed
connection between creation and Christ and has been             theology has, as a whole, not succeeded in unfolding the
unable properly to explain such a beautiful passage as          full riches of the creation-Christ relationship in the past.
Colossians 1: 15-l 9.                                           But the general principle of such a relationship is
   Now frankly I am rather unimpressed, and that for            certainly held.
more than one reason. For one thing, it would certainly            This is true, first of all, of our confessions. Think, for
take more than one-third of a  45minute lecture to              example, of the fact that our Heidelberg Catechism
convince me of these big claims. Perhaps this is the style      teaches that it was exactly "the eternal Father of our
of the Free University today. And perhaps in our times,         Lord Jesus Christ" Who "of nothing made heaven and
when there is upheaval and clamor for change, clamor            earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and
for the new, everywhere, it is rather easy to appeal to         governs the same by his eternal counsel and provi-
those who desire the new, also in the area of the               dence," (Lord's Day IX). Now Kuitert may object that
Reformed faith. But I, for one, am rather inclined to be        there is no explanation and development of this truth in
skeptical and to keep in mind the rule that "all change is      our Catechism; and this is entirely true. But the fact
not improvement." `It is one thing to make big claims; it       remains that the Catechism here posits a relation
is quite another to substantiate them. And as far as I am       between creation and Christ. Mark well: the Catechism
concerned, not only did Kuitert fail completely. to             does not merely speak of the Second Person of the Holy
furnish any proof for his bold claims, but it was also          Trinity and creation. But it speaks specifically of
rather foolhardy even to broach such far-reaching items         creation by the eternal Father ofour  Lord Jesus Christ.
in the span of a brief lecture. And it seems to me that         Perhaps it is true that Ursinus himself did not further
anyone who has his dogmatical feet planted firmly on            develop this idea, or even that he did not fully
solid ground will not very easily be swept off his feet by      comprehend its significance. Nevertheless, you have here
this kind of thing.                                             the seed, the principle, of Scripture's Christ-creation
   Nevertheless, I am willing to examine these claims of        relationship. Principally, the Catechism here gives ex-
Dr. Kuitert. And then there is more than one item to be         pression to the same idea that you find in Colossians 1.
examined. In the first place, there is the question             The same is true of the Belgic Confession. In Article X
whether his claim as such is true, namely, that the             reference is made to one of the passages which Kuitert
Christian church in general and Reformed dogmatics in           mentioned in his lecture. It ought to be noted that this
particular has failed to connect creation and Christ and        article is not speaking merely about the Second Person
has failed to come up with a satisfactory explanation of        of the Trinity as such, but about the truth that  Jesus
passages which point to such a connection, such as              Christ  is true and eternal God. And again, I readily
Colossians 1: 15-19. In the second place, there is the          concede that our Confession does not develop this idea
question  .whether, if there is any failure to establish a      further. Nevertheless, the fact remains that it recognizes
proper connection between Christ and creation, this is          a Christ-creation relationship by virtue of the very fact
due inherently to a weakness in the traditional concep-         that it mentions this. For you read in this article: "And
tion of creation and of Genesis l-3. That is, is it due to a    the apostle saith, that God made the worlds by his Son;
literal and historical understanding of the creation            likewise,, that God created all things by Jesus Christ."
record? And then, of course, there is the question, in             In the second place, if you turn to the works of
the third place, whether Dr. Kuitert contributes any-           various Reformed dogmaticians, you will indeed dis-
thing of significance to fill this alleged basic lack, as he    cover that they recognize such a relationship in various
claims. To these questions we shall address ourselves at        ways. They recognize, for example, that the first
this time.                                                      creation is the stage upon which God's work of salvation
  My answer to the first question, in the main, is No.          is realized. They recognize in the first Adam a type of
Dr. Kuitert's claim is not correct. In this connection, I       the second. They recognize the fact that Adam was not
wish to point to the following.                                 destined to be the last of God's works and that the
  In the first place, as far as the general principle is        highest perfection was not reached in him. They


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER  ~                                                              127


  recognize that the end of all things ( of the things which       which became necessary when sin and the devil and
  had their beginning in the first creation) is reached in         Adam's fall spoiled God's first work. Moreover, these
  the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth, in          are often men who have a very orthodox and strict view
  the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. One can find all kinds         of the Genesis record. L. Berkhof and Charles Hodge are
  of indications of this in the writings of men like Dr. A.        certainly not free of blame on this score, for example.
  Kuyper and Dr: H. Bavinck. Again, it may be true that            But Kuitert's blanket indictment of the Christian church
  they did not present a view which was in all respects            and of Reformed theology is simply not true. When I
  satisfactory and that they not develop properly the              first heard it, I thought it &as a preposterous claim. All
  riches of Scripture's presentation; I would certainly be         the theologians of the past would have had to be
  among the first to concede this. But this is again quite         theological ignoramuses if they had not recognized such
  different  $han the severe indictment that they did not          a simple truth at all. And when, for safety's sake, I
  recognize any connection. I will go a step farther. I will       began to check up on what various theologians have said
  concede that you can find Reformed theologians whose             in this connection, my doubts about Kuitert's claim
  dogmatics is very sterile on this score. They are                were confirmed.
  apparently content, to a large extent, to find the                  In the third place, I would call your attention to the
  significance of creation in the fact that it serves the          fact that if Kuitert has consulted  all  of Reformed
  .revelation  of God's glory and that it reveals God's            theology, he ought to know that the late Herman
  omnipotence. Apparently they make a mechanical                   Hoeksema repeatedly and most beautifully explained
  distinction between God's work in creation and His               this relation between Christ and creation. In fact, this
  work in redemption, even as there has been a tendency            idea runs as a golden thread through all of his theology.
  to identify the work of creation with the First Person of        And he certainly was one theologian who insisted upon
  the Trinity and the work of redemption with the                  a strictly literal interpretation of the creation record. In
  Second Person in a mechanical way. You will also find            the next issue I will quote at length to demonstrate the
  indications among some Reformed theologians that they            truth of this contention.
  view Christ and His work of redemption as a repair work


  All Around Us

            The Gereformeerde Kerken and the World Council
                                      Rumblings on the Right
                                                           ProJ: H. Hanko

  THE GEREFORMEERDE KERKEN AND THE                                      Churches in the Netherlands, a committee has issued a
~ WORLD COUNCIL                                                         36 page pamphlet "Reformed Persons Look at the
    The issue of membership in the World Council of                     World Council" (Gereformeerden Kijken  Naar de
  Churches is very much  alive in  the  Gereformeerde                   Wereld Raud).  In the pamphlet five leaders answer
                                                                        specific questions concerning the Reformed Churches
 Kerken  in spite of the decisions taken at the Reformed                and World Council membership: Why did the General
 Ecumenical Synod and in spite of unfavorable advice                    Synod change its course? Is this change due to changes
  which the  Gereformeerde Kerken  received from their                  in the Reformed Churches? Do vou welcome this
  sister church, the Christian Reformed Church. In the                  reversal of viewpoint? Do you fe& that membership
  October 22 issue of the RES News-Letter we read of a                  would endanger the unity of the Reformed Churches?
 pamphlet recently published by a committee appointed                   Would joining then be worth the risk?
 by the General Synod in which membership was                                The Rev. D. H. Borgers, pastor in Soest, replied that
  discussed. Our readers will bear in mind that the                     titemal  unity is worth more than membership. He
 Gereformeerde Kerken  has already officially decided                   found no change of course in the World Council and
 that there are no barriers to membership in the World                  therefore the objections brought against the WCC in
 Council. The denomination has not yet joined and                       1949 (that the WCC does not assume responsibility for
  thereby implemented the decision. But this is not for                 the functioning and interpretation of the basis and
  principle reasons. The reasons are practical. The article             claims to be a fellowship of faith while allowing liberal
                                                                        churches as members) still stand. Mi-. Borgers objected
 in the RES Newsletter reads:                                           also to the political declarations of t.he WCC and to the
        On request of the General Synod of the Reformed                 fact that the WCC chose against tie United States and


128                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


       for Russia in the Cuba crisis.                                     servers to Uppsala one can see a changing of course.,
         Dr. P. G. Kunst, President of the General Synod,                 The change, he continued,. is due to the means of
       traced the history of the church since 1834  and                   communication; to the tendency to `decqnfessionalize
       showed how the isolation of the church in the early                and to the `misery of the divisions in the church'.
       years and the early stage of development has gradually             "One is overwary of the unpalatable church struggle
       led to contacts and relations with the wider circle of             and longs for unity." He welcomed the possibilities for
       the world church. "Whoever wants to carry out his                  greater contact with other churches but regretted the
       responsibilities in his own and  <the wider circle is              deconfessionalizing and the ecclesiastical  indiffer-
       confronted with all the questions of the ecumenical                entism: In reply to the question whether membership
       movement. This presents to our churches a new                      is worth the risk,.he pointed to the danger of causing a
       situation," Dr. Kunst stated. "I am of the opinion that            crisis among the churches of the Reformed Ecumenical
       our churches are called to ask for membership in the               Synod if the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
       World Council as soon as possible. The decision to do              would join the World Council. "If the danger of a
       so is the seizing of an opportunity, the acceptance of             schism in the church would become real and great, I
       an experiment," he concluded.                                      consider it an act of true ecumenism to remain
         Prof. A. D. R. Polman wrote in his contribution that             together."
       membership is a duty. He saw in the Reformed                     It was a rather nice balance that the pamphlet stuck:
       Churches change in view regarding the World Council:           two on one side; two on the other; and one in the
       no change, of  course,`in principle, but rather  "obe-         middle. Those two who are opposed to membership.
       dience to the facts." The World Council has declared           appeal chiefly to the generality of  the  basis which is
       against a multiplicity of interpretations regarding the
       confession of Christ as God in Evanston and in New             subject to so many interpretations and to the political
       Delhi. The Reformed Churches on their part came to             pronouncements of the WCC. These are certainly
       recognize that the confession that Christ is Savior            important objections because they raise the funda-
       includes different possibilities of interpretation and         mental issue of whether the WCC is a Scripturally
       that one may not posit the doctrine of atonement               correct expression of the unity of the Church of Christ.
       through satisfaction as a sina qua non. He stated also         Any man who bases his conclusion on Scripture will
       that it has become clear since 1949 that the refusal of        have to conclude that the WCC certainly does not and
       the WCC to express a judgment concerning the                   cannot in its present form express this unity.
       seriousness and the uprightness with which a member              The two men who favor WCC membership advance
       church accepts the basis is not due to a relativizing of       no worthwhile argument at all. Dr. Kunst simply speaks
       its basis but to a respect for the limits set for itself in
       not wanting to become a super church. Therefore,               of the responsibilities of the Church over against a wider
       Prof. Pohnan  stated, there is no objection in principle       circle of other churches. This means nothing. He speaks
       against joining the World Council.                             of membership in the WCC as  "the acceptance of an
           Mr. A. Warnaar &n, who has a leading position in           experiment". Is the church of Jesus Christ something
       the International Council of Christian Churches in the         with which to experiment? But Dr. Polman, in my
       Netherlands, stated that in no case was the change in          opinion, really touches upon the central issue - at least
       standpoint due to a change in the World Council. He            in the minds of those favoring membership. He speaks
       cited instances in Canada, the United States, and New          of a certain compromise which the WCC has made when
       Zealand as proof that churches in the WCC do not               it declared against a multiplicity of interpretations
       abide by the basis of the Council. In his view,                regarding the divinity of Christ  - a declaration which
       therefore, the development in the Reformed Churches            means nothing if we may judge by the current member-
       is plainly in conflict with the Word of God. "Eventual
       membership would not only endanger the unity of the            ship. And he speaks of a certain compromise which the
       Reformed Churches but could be a breaking point."              Reformed Churches have made: that the interpretation
         Professor C. van der Woude, a delegate of the                of Christ as Savior and of the atonement has different
       Reformed Churches to Uppsala, pleaded for careful-             possibilities. In fact, he goes on to say that the doctrine
  \  ness and wisdom in the matter of World Council                   of the atonement through satisfaction is not a necessary
       membership. He stated that he was not a priori against         doctrine. This  is,. after all, the point. The truth of the
       membership but feared that there would be dire                 Word of God  must  -be sacrificed to find entrance into
       consequences. The change in viewpoint by the General           the WCC. And the fundamental truth of Scripture is
       Synod, he found to be in the fact that the WCC has             precisely the truth of atonement through satisfaction by
       not made any declarations which are in flagrant con-           Christ.. To deny this truth is to deny the blood of
       flict with the basis adopted in New Delhi and in the           atonement. This is the end of the church.
       refusal of the WCC to become a super church. The
       change in viewpoint was also due to a development                When Prof. Vander Woude takes a position in
       within the Reformed Churches. The tactics of the               between he really comes out in favor of membership
       General Synod have been to lead the churches ever              from a principle point of view; but from a practical
       closer to membership. In mission work, in world relief,        point of view he has reservations. He is afraid of a
       in participation in the Nyborg Conference and in               possible split in the RES and in the Reformed Churches.
       sending observers to New Delhi and delegated ob-               His opinion is that it is better to forego the unity of the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        129    I
                                                                                                                             -     I

WCC even though joining it is not wrong in order to                 the whole movement which he heads. In the first place,
maintain the unity of the RES. This argument really                 they are embarrassed over the use of the Twentieth
means very little except that if Scripture demands of us            Century Reformation Hour and the  Christian Beacon
that we seek the unity of the church, and if that unity is          over the use to which McIntire puts these instruments of
to be found in the WCC, Prof. Vander Woude faces the                teaching. They would like to see the "rabble-rousing"
onerous task of trying hard to persuade the brethren of             character of them toned down. In the second place,
the RES that this is their solemn duty.                             they are not happy with McIntire's involvement in all
  It seems increasingly to be but a matter of time                  kinds of political issues and, apparently, want McIntire
before several of the churches which bear the name                  to stick more to ecclesiastical matters. In the third
"Reformed?' will join the World Council. This will be a            place, and closely connected  .with the above two
sad day in the history of the Reformed faith.                       objections, they protest the fact that McIntire does not
                                                                    always make clear the organizational distinctions that
RUMBLINGS ON THE RIGHT                                              exist between the various projects in which he has a
   Dr. Carl McIntire has long been associated with                 hand. They protest the fact that, in the minds of many,
conservative politics and fundamentalist religion. He has          the voice of McIntire's radio broadcast and of the
organized a large network of radio broadcasting, news-              Christian Beacon  is the voice of the ICCC and the
paper writing, and ecumenical organization to further              ACCC. This objection certainly has validity to it. But
the cause for which he stands. His voice is heard over             the ACCC leaders are not of a mind to let McIntire
600+  radio stations in the "Twentieth Century Refor-               speak for them on everything. And, finally, there seems
mation Hour". His Christian Beacon. has a circulation in           to be some objection to the "one-man-rule" which
excess of 200,000. He is an influential voice in the                characterizes most of McIntire's enterprises.
American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC). He is                   On the other side of the picture, McIntire objects that
president of the International Council of Christian                the leaders of the ACCC are executing a coup d' etat Ito
Churches (ICCC) which numbers about 8 million people               get rid of McIntire so that they can go their own
from all parts of the world. He is president of Shelton            individual way. McIntire is afraid that that way is a
College in New Jersey and has a large resort area on the            softening of attitude towards communism and apostasy.
Atlantic seaboard. He is also minister of the Bible                He charges the leaders with desiring broader contacts
Presbyterian Church of Collingswood, New Jersey. His               with other men who have already sold their ecclesiasti-
voice,' inveighing against the evils of liberal politics, of       cal heritage for a mess of ecumenical pottage. Specifi-
Roman Catholicism, of the NCC and the WCC, and of                  cally McIntire has in mind some alleged overtures made
all apostate Christianity, is the voice of thousands the           by the ACCC to the leaders of neo-evangel&&m of
world over.                                                        which movement  Christianity Today  is the chief voice.
   But there are rumblings of trouble. Chiefly these                   What the full extent of the problem is, is at this point
rumblings come from the current leadership of the                  difficult to determine. But a possible split between
ACCC including especially the newly elected president,             McIntire and the ACCC seems to be a definite possi-
Dr. Philip Clark, and the general secretary, Dr. John E.           bility. What repercussions such a split might have in the
Millheim. It is somewhat difficult as yet to  determine            ICCC is difficult to say. That it will have its effects is
precisely what the issues are. But, at least in part, the          certain.
ACCC has the following objections against McIntire and


Guest Article

                  The Urgent Possibility of a  JZwis,tian Literature

                                                         M e r l e   M e e t e r
                                      Assistant Professor of English, Dordt College

                                For.other  Foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
                                which is Jesus Christ (I.Cor. 3:ll).


   In his essay "The Impossibility of a Christian Litera-           of man's rebellion) but Christ-redeemed (although still
ture" (The Church Herald, Dec. 22, 1967),  Dr. Richard              only in principle) creation by purveying sensationalism
Jaarsma deprecates the pseudo-Christian, melodramatic              and sentimentality. I share Dr. Jaarsma's revulsion with
novels that distort the realities God's sin-cursed (because         such unnatural, unBiblical romanticism.


                                                    .


130                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                  . .

   Stereotyped conversions and easy sanctification are           quotation, can it be denied that what the work. "says"
not the true components of Christian literature  - the           through its total metaphorical-propositional structure
Holy Spirit works through means, especially through the          about God and His created order crowned by man is the
Inscripturated Word. Also, propriety and beauty as well          measure of that work's essential importance?
as charity and truth are found in Christ and in Him alone.         The core message, then, the interpretation of life, the
Certainly, Christian literature must "please and in-             view of destiny, the religious heart-commitment evinced
struct" (as the pagan poet Horace suggested); but since          in the literary work is, in fact, its central meaning, its
the Christian must please God rather than man, his first         major significance. And the extent of approximation to
concern as writer is to declare the truth about reality -        the truth (which is authorized and manifested in Christ,
which includes all human relationships and activities -          the  Truth) is the crucial criterion of its literary  - and
as it consists in Christ. For  in  Him  all things  cohere,      ultimately all other  - value. For Christ is the  Lor'd of
hold together, have their meaningful interrelationship           literature, just as He is also Lord of economics and
(see Colossians 1: 13-17). Pleasing God first in his             ethics and biology and physics and basketball. He is the
literary composition is a goal, however, that may gain           Lawgiver, and no value in this  His creation can be
for the Christian artist the ridicule, even the virulent         dissociated from Him; no apostasy can finally negate His
condemnation of men who wish to remain "free" from               pronouncement that all things were and are created for
the authority of the Bible, God's inerrant rule for every        His glory in the Triune God (see' Hebrews 2: 10 and
aspect of faith and practice (and that holds also for            Romans 11: 36).
Christian authorship).                                             Dr. Jaarsma also prefers a presumed dichotomy
  And literature must also instruct, that is, it must            between style and content that has led many, over the
edify the reader Christianly: it must either build up the        centuries, to champion an art-for-art's-sake priority (in
believer as a new creature in Christ, or it must point the       the name of classical liberal arts, the Thomistic natural
non-Christian to the Savior-Ring as He is made known             light of reason, Christian humanism, and a distorted
to man by the Holy Spirit in the Bible. This does not            view of God's general goodness as unrelated to Christ's
mean, of course, that Christian scholars and students            work of redemption), an approach that fragments the
should not study the "best" imaginative writings of              organic work of art, absolutizes some certain aesthetic
non-Christian writers to reclaim from their God-denying          feature, and destroys the incrafted coherence by avow-
(false) religious frameworks what must be corrected and          ing that there are "aspects of it which have little or
presented in `homage to the Triune Sovereign God in              nothing to do with the subject or `message.' "
Christ our Ring. But because the fear of the Lord is the           But a work of art must be integral, unified, coherent
beginning, the principal part, of wisdom and only the            to deserve the designation "art." Certainly, then, no
knowledge of the Holy One is  understandmg, any                  aspect of a literary production has "little or nothing to
instruction that is not founded;  *on the  princrpral  and       do with the subject or message"; such an unassimilated
practical teachings of God's Word 1s foolishness.                feature would inevitably be disintegrating, would impair
  The antithetic,al  spirits~of  light and darkness, life and    the aesthetic wholeness of the work. The imaginative
death, truth and the lie, Christ and Satan inform all            (not creative; only God is creative) artist's vision of life,
education and literature. And God's command is always            his way-of-worship, his faith-commitment is indissolubly
that we discern (try, evaluate) the spirits to see whether       and interanimatingly compounded with  his style and
they be of God. Our business, of course, is not to justify       with the deliberately contrived literary structure that is
or condemn authors; God in His perfect wisdom will do            the- vehicle for his God-centered or man-centered inter-
that. We are called to discover, identify, and judge the         pretation of life.
organizing,  the. thematic, the vitalizing  spirit  of the         In this vital unity, the self-consciously Christian critic
literary work, without which a novel, poem, play is              can discover the ultimate focus of the author's worship,
chaos.                                                           the god (or God) to whom he commits his art and life -
  Dr. Jaarsma `disavows  then theory that "literature            for all life is religion, not just Sunday worship in church
should hammer home some sort of `message' with the               or dinner-table devotions. And literature, too, is a
intent of persuading us to this or that point of view."          fundamentally God-praising or God-rejecting human
And he also challenges the view that "`judges all                activity,    one important manifestation of man's
literature by the standard of the significance of what the       (worship-full) life.
work says." Now agreed that imaginative literature is              The secular writer always serves self (or a delusion of
significantly metaphorical presentation of meaning and           meaning, even of perfectibility, apart from the Savior's
not primarily didactically explicit statement; but,              blood) and the antichrist, whereas the Christian writer
surely, literature  - even poetry  - also contains much          worships the Lord Christ in his literary productions. Yet
that is expressed with  creedal,  denotative clarity and         Dr. Jaarsma says that the "works of a secular writer
aphoristic precision. Metaphorical (or symbolical)               such as William Faulkner" are "infinitely more satis-
"meaning" that cannot, finally, be put into words is in          fying" than John Bunyan's `The Pilgrim's Progress. Now
reality no meaning at all. And, concerning the second            surely Bunyan did include much homiletical dialogue,


                                                    THE  STANDARDJSEARER                                                 I31
                                                                            :


but what of the local color, the variety of characters          the, meaning of a literary work, must attune to the
(humors), the unforgettable scenes of Vanity Fair, the          writer's mind, must experience the heart-issues of the
Castle of the Giant' Despair, the River of Death?               characters (to some degree), that does not mean he
-Moreover, we should be reminded that the genre we              divests himself.of  his armor of faith, of his Word- and
now call the novel had not yet taken definitive literary        Spirit-enlightened conscience, of his life-giving com-
form. Many scholars - both Christian and non-Christian          munion with Christ (for he who has not Christ has
- have lauded  The  Pilgrim'i  Progress as  .the finest         neither truth nor life.). The Christian reader, .then,  is a
allegory in the English language. Also, a number of             self-conscious. critic,  _ illumined by the Holy Spirit
recent critics have (unfaddishly) indicted Faulkner's           through the Scriptures; he does not repudiate his
grotesque syntax, bungling transitions in point of view,        God-honoring integrity for a vicarious debauch in
ostentatious and unidiomatic diction, tediously digres-         literature that he speciously labels "amoral" because it
sive plot development, and noisome preoccupation with           is assumed to be sacrosanct under a humanistically
sexual perversity and racial degeneration. (Nor, in my          devised quasi-aesthetic law.
opinion, do the few kernals of stoical anthropocentrism            For all laws are God's laws; He is the Law-Maker and
sufficiently rejoice Faulkner's long-suffering readers.)        is above all laws. And no law can exclude Him Who is
  Incontrovertibly, writing that is "concerned solely           the Truth and the Source of law. Nor does the Christian
with proclaiming the salvation of man,`: in Dr. Jaarsma's       reader approve the .popular  assumption that literature is
pejorative sense of that definition for literature, is,  I      neutral as it deals with the "raw data" of human
agree,  not  Christian literature at all. For such  pseudo-     experience, with the phenomena of "brute facts" and
evangelical (the Gospel is the Good News for all life)          "objective realities." But the Christian reader realizes
and self-limiting productions often present "salvation"         that all facts have meaning only in their patterns (plots,
as moralism, humanitarian self-regeneration, purgation          in novels) of interpretation, in their faith frameworks,
through man's suffering, or instantaneous, ecstatic             that all facts are interpreted facts and that there are no
conversion. But salvation is actually, that is, Biblically,     "objective realities," only God-ordained, God-created,
the whole grace-of-God process of the repentant sinner's        God-sustained realities.
(prior) regeneration and redemption in the blood of                "All men share their experiences," says Dr. Jaarsma,
Christ, as well as the consequent life-long, life-wide          and "A Christian can no more deny his essential
experience of sanctification by the Holy Spirit.                humanity . . . than he can deny the fact that he has arms
  "A communication between the work of literature               and legs." Experiences, however, are only in one sense
and the reader," continues Dr. Jaarsma, "demolishes             shared, for "All things work together for good to them
religious, cultural, and political lines [and, therefore, he    that love God," not  to the reprobate who reject Him.
concludes that] no literature can be said to be either          But accepting (for this discussion) the common experi-
Christian or nonchristian." Certainly one should. read:         ences of our "essential humanity" (a sadly typical
sympathetically (that is, understandingly), but not             liberal-humanist phrase), the life-and-death difference is
neutrally, blankly, unself-consciously, a-religiously - in      the direction of a man's religious heart-response to these
fact, such reading is impossible. A man in the totality of      "common" experiences: whether, in humble faith and
his response is, always approving or disapproving of a          sin-sorrow, he thanks God for them  or  denounces the
work of literature according to the deity that he               Triune, Covenant God of Creation, Providence, and
(awarely or una'warely) serves: hedonism, aestheticism,         Redemption by living the self-deifying blasphemy that
rationalism, empiricism, romanticism, naturalism, exis-         presumes to make its own laws and'to control its own
tentialism, nihilism, or the Christ as revealed to us in His    destiny.
Word.                                                             That is, the antithesis between the Church (Christ's
  Frustrated by the paucity of distinctively Christian          body, His chosen) and the world (the unregenerate, for
literature, we all-feel inclined to refuse the struggle, to     whose salvation the redeemed must testify and pray and
consign the determinative reality of the antithesis, the        serve) is a determinative reality in every cultural
ever-present temporal warfare between the spirit of             activity. These antagonistic principles (or spirits) are
darkness and the Spirit of Light to some ethereal zone          warring in all human endeavors - in every art, science,
where we would be free to conduct our literary criticism        profession, area of life.
and compose our imaginative works in fraternity with              One more quotation and a brief comment on it:
the world and according to presumedly neutral, objec-           `"Ultimately, it must be the individual Christian who
tive, common standards. But, of course, God will not            once more focuses the insights of the writer through the
permit such compromise (see II Cor. 6: 1415). If one            glass of his own Christianity.~' With this last observation
cannot speak of Christian literature, how can one speak         of Dr. Jaarsma I can concur. That is, if the Christian
of Christian philosophy, Christian hymns, Christian             reader's "glass" is the perspective of God's inerrant'and
charity, Christian education, Christian witness, Christian      authoritative Word, the Bible. (I must demur,.however,`if
ethics, Christian friendship?                                   this quotation means that the Christian reader can some-
  Although the reader must empathize to understand              how. sanctify the intention of a pagan author and, there-


132                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER


by, make his work appear Christian despite its apostate       evaluation.
root.)                                                          May God's Word be our  principial guide as we
  Also, I am encouraged by reading that Dr. Jaarsma           advance in the development of distinctively Christian
affirms the ability of the Christian  reader  to evaluate     critique and imaginative literature, "Casting down imagi-
literature according to his Christ-centered commitment;       nations, and every high thing that is exalted against the
for that excites me to hope, further, that  Christ-           knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into
believing  teachers and  writers may also come increas-       captivity to the obedience of Christ. . . . That in the
ingly to realize and demonstrate that Christ's compre-        name of Jesus every knee should. bow, of things in
hensive Lordship extends over the domain of                   heaven and things on earth, and that every tongue
imaginative literature. Grace Irwin, for one, has already     should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God
written well-crafted Christian fiction. And Elisabeth         the Father" (II Cor. 10: 5 and Phil. 2: 9-l 0).
Elliot's No Graven Image also deserves our interest and




Studies in Depth


                                A Campus Movement (cont.)

                                               Rev. Robert C. Harbach


       Campus Crusade for Christ claims to do work for        claims of God. The demands of a holy God, a divine
Christ, and in proof points to the results it obtains. But    Lawgiver and an offended Judge must not be allowed to
the appeal is not valid, for results do not prove a           interfere with man's chance to come to Christ. Hence
doctrine, a cause or a movement. Dazzling productions         the note of repentance is notably absent. At first
with an imposing array of "stars" are not necessarily         contact with a sinner, no more is required than a slight
adjuncts of the truth. Moses learned this in connection       and passing reference to danger, as in a hurried
with the divinely directed use of his rod. Jannes and         quotation of Romans  6:23. The nearest approach to
Jambres also produced astounding results. Apparently          repentance may be in the advice that no unconfessed sin
good results may be obtained by application of the            is to be tolerated in the life, and "following I John 1:9.
poultice or salve of a modern cult. Perfectly good results    takes care of that." The biblical definition of sin offered
may be forthcoming from means and methods neither             is that sin is an attitude of indifference to God
God nor His Word sanction (I Sam. 6; II Sam. 6). If           characterized by rebellion. This makes sin funda-
worthy results are brought about in just such a manner,       mentally indifference to God. To quit sin one only has
it does not follow that no criticism should be made of        to quit being indifferent. Not only faith, but confession,
the.  means  used. Yet the matter is often presented in       too, then, becomes easy. No wonder if members of
such a way that any criticism of it would appear to be        some religious movements deem the preaching of
opposition against the work of the Lord. Any practice is      repentance as a necessary element of the gospel as "not
acceptable, so long as souls are saved, is the reasoning.     evangelical!" But a much more biblical definition of sin
But the cause of God and truth do not need a boost            would be, "Sin is any lack of conformity to the law of
from anything unscriptural. Nor does the church need          God" (Westminster Catechism). A much more biblical
any movement away from the old Bible, the old gospel,         proclamation of the truth of the gospel would be, not
the old creed and the old worship. The "old paths" and        against, but according to the Epistle to the  Remans,
"the good way" (Jer. 6: 16) are the only paths and the        where it is emphasized that  .in order to live and die
only way for young and old.                                   happily, and to have the only true comfort of belonging
   What so plainly characterizes this movement is its         to the one only faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, a man
pushing for "decisions" rather than the preaching of          must, first, know how very great his sins and miseries
repentance. As it views the gospel, the purpose of the        are. To acquire that knowledge one must get into that
good news is man's convenience, not the pressing of the       body of truth found in Romans I-III. Then, second, a


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   1133


man must know how he may be delivered from all his             faith" or mere assent for believing unto salvation. .In the
sins and miseries, and for that knowledge he must be           interest of the rule of the gospel, "by faith and not by
instructed in the truth embraced in Romans IV-XI.              works," faith is made a mere ready acquiescence to "the
Third, he must know how to express gratitude and live a        fact of God and His Word." This still makes faith a kind
life ?of thanksgiving to. God for such deliverance, and        of works, since it originates, anyway, from man's heart,
that knowledge is clearly outlined in Romans XII-XVI.          being native to the natural powers of all men. When
There in that Epistle you have the fulness of the gospel       faith is thus stripped to "Only-believe" it may appear to
of the grace of God. The truth in those opening chapters       be antithetical to everything of a "legalistic life"
cannot, be omitted from true evangelism in the interest        (Crusade jargon), whereas, in reality, it is but another
of preserving "a free gospel."                                 form of creature-merit, and a brand of it simplified and
  There is in this ministry so much of "sudden                 made easier for man to perform. True and saving faith is
decision" for Christ. Why? Why does "decisionism"              opposed to salvation by works, but not to enlightened
prevail in the place of the preaching of true repentance,      feelings. For "with the heart man believeth unto
and the preaching of the effectual calling of God to the       righteousness" and does so with the hearty "confidence
dead sinner from darkness and death to His marvelous           (which the Holy Spirit works by the gospel in his heart)
light, and that when, where and as He pleases? The             that remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and
answer is because this whole scheme is based on                salvation are freely given by God merely of grace, only
free-willism. It is  egocentric,  and we use that word         for the sake of Christ's merits" (Heid. Catec., 21). That
.deliberately, as a favorite word in the jargon of the         and nothing less is saving  faith! Sudden "decision" or
movement is "ego." `It is the Ego which in the case of         "easy faith" are not marks of grace; if anything, they
the natural man or the "carnal Christian" is found on          are marks of streamlined legalism.
the throne of the human heart. Here is simply a                  This is so when misguided zeal proudly opposes
different way of referring to man's "Free Will" viewed         anything sounding like the sovereignty of God. Preach
                                                                                                       .
as "on the throne." This is evident from Crusade books         as Paul did in Romans III that man  1s totally undone
which teach that the reason people are not saved and           without the power of God bringing him under the reign
"most Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit is        of grace, preach as he did that the work of grace is not
because they are unwilling to- surrender their will to         of him that willeth, but of God who has mercy, preach
God. " Then follows a diagram showing Ego (Free Will,          as he did in Romans IX that salvation is completely in
RCH) on the throne of the life. One may then come              the power of God's sovereign will, and men, though
across the statement that the most important thing a           they may not bluntly deny `Paul (for to depart from
person can do as a Christian is, not to glorify God, but,      Paul is heresy), will advise omitting such emphasis, lest
"to allow the Lord Jesus Christ to have control of his         some be offended, others made careless and profane,
life." This is not the gospel of the grace of God, but the     `and still others led to lethargy and discouragement.
old humanism, the old Pelagianism revived.                     Such leaders must be deficient in Christology, for they
  There is also the danger of wrongly relating faith and       do not preach Christ in His threefold office where
feeling. Through faith, not feeling, are ye saved. "The        especially He needs to be seen as Ring. They must also
Christian life is based on faith in God's Word, not            be deficient in theology, which teaches the great
feelings - emotions come and go." It would be an error,        fundamental of the faith that God is God, and therefore
admittedly, to think that without a certain emotional          sovereign not only in providence, but also in grace. This
experience, there could be no genuine faith, or to take        primal law of the sovereignty of God Jesus preached,
feeling for faith and rest upon it, rather than on the         not only privately before His apostles, but openly to all
objective Word of God as the ground of faith. True, the        men from the beginning of His ministry. He knew the
confidence of faith comes not from feelings, but the           reaction that preaching would bring  - hatred and
statements of Scripture. Nevertheless, faith and feeling       animosity  - yet he shunned not to declare all the
are not mutually exclusive. Faith is not without feeling.      counsel of God. He believed that "the salvation of the
Faith is a form of feeling, as well as a form of               righteous is of the Lord" (Ps. 37) as is evident from His,
understanding. True faith is a certain saving knowledge        "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth . .  1
and an assured confidence. This makes faith something          even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight!"
of not only intellectual but spiritual depth, so that it       But there is that Ego, Free Will, even in the work of
functions inwardly and outwardly not without feeling.          "`presenting the claims of Christ," which in -the interest
Divorce faith and feeling, and faith becomes mere              of gaining "decisions for Christ" finds very annoying
mental assent to the call of the gospel. Then it is no         any will above its own. The idea of trusting all to the
more saving faith, but the "faith" which the natural           sovereign will of God and resting the work of true
man can generate in his mind or produce from his will.         conversion to the almighty power of the Spirit does not
It is said, faith in the fact of God and His Word are first    fit with the aims and ,endeavors  of would-be autocratic
of all necessary, then feelings  will follow. The danger       man. That man thinks he can put faith in Christ without
lies in taking this which has been made a "historical          asking Him to give him the faith. He rests satisfied with


134                                             THE  STANDARD.&EARER


a faith which is not  "the operation of God," and one          still.has  a natural knowledge of natural thingSj and a nat-
which can be exerted without the grace of the Spirit.          ural knoivledge  of `God, a moral sense of good orderly
Like Samson with shaven locks assaying to go out as            deportment and a natural ability to believe with a
before, he thinks fallen man, because still commanded,         temporal faith. But that is far from "the faith of  Glad's
can perform. Spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, man      elect," which is the gift of God.





From Holy Writ



                                     The  Book  of  Hebrews
                                                        (7:16,17)

                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers





THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF THE  TWO'PRIEST-                    one case the term is "sarkinos"  and in the other case it
HOOtiS DISTINGUISHED                                           is  `sarkikos.   " Thus, for instance, in I Corinthians  3:3,
                                         (Chapter 7:16,171     Paul says that the law was written by Christ not in
       It ought to be grasped clearly and once for all that    tables of stone but in fleshy tables of the heart. Here the
the priesthood of Aaron failed exactly because it was          term  in  the Greek  is  `Savkinos.  " On the other hand
based on the premise of being "according to a carnal           Peter speaks in I Peter 2: 11 `I. . . abstain from fleshly
commandment." At the same time we ought to notice              lusts, which war against the soul." Here the term is
that the strength of Christ's priesthood, which was            "savkikos" and refers to evil and sinful lusts.
according to the power of an indissoluble life, could not         From the foregoing it ought to be perfectly clear in
fail, but is such that it saves us to the uttermost. (Vss      which sense the writer to the Hebrews is speaking of a
 16, 25)                                                       "carnal Commandment." It was a commandment of
       It is evident from every page of the Gospels that       God in the law of Moses, an ordinance in Israel
Christ's priesthood is that of the eternal Son of God in       governing the priesthood. And such a "commandment"
our flesh. The Son of God is called Jesus! And that            could not be set aside by.man with impunity. Only (God
makes this a priesthood, which has not become a                can annul his own temporary arrangements and institu-
historical reality, manifesting itself in the "law of a        tions. Meanwhile a commandment of God is sacred as a
carnal commandment." On the contrary it is evident             particular expression of the Torah. And of such a
from every page. of the Old Testament, which speaks of         commandment the writer to the Hebrews is here
the priesthood of Aaron, that it was a matter of flesh,        speaking! The question is: in which sense of the word is
and mere external ceremonies, which in themselves were         this commandment carnal? And the answer to this
powerless to save and to cleanse the conscience Ifrom sin.     question is that this refers to the physical requirements
       One has but to peruse such a passage as Leviticus       which God laid down for anyone who was to serve in
21: 16-14 to see the "carnal commandment." For the             the office of High Priest (In Hebrew: the Great Priest.
term in the Greek translated "carnal" means: that which        "Ha-coheen  ha-gadool. "Y
is  made of flesh. There are passages in the writings of          This carnal commandment concerning the priesthood
Paul where the term carnal has an ethical meaning. It          we have spelled out to us in detail in Leviticus 21: 16-24
then refers to our sinful Adamic nature. The term in the          "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto
Greek, however, is then a different one from what we           Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their
have here in our text which is translated "carnal." In the     generations that .hath any blemish, let him not approach


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   135


to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be       after, the Babylonian captivity and during the times of
that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man,      Christ. However, of this the writer to the Hebrews
or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything           would warn the readers. They must see Christ as the end
superfluous, or a man that is brokenfooted or  broken-        of the law for righteousness. And toward this end he
handed, or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a             clearly and correctly calls the priesthood of Aaron one
blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his.    of a "carnal commandment.",
stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of seed of            On the other hand it is quite evident that the
Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings       priesthood of the eternal Son of God in our flesh is n,ot
of the LORD made by fire; he hath a blemish; he shall         at all according to the rule of a carnal commandment.
not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall         His is a priesthood according to the "power of indis-
eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of        soluble life." It has been pointed out by many inter-
the holy, only he shall not go into the vail, nor come        preters that there is here a strong contrast between the
nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he       description of these priesthoods. The contrast is:  ZUW
profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify        (commandment) and  power,  and the further contrast:
them. And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons,          fleshen and endless life!
and unto the children of Israel."                               The "endless life" here spoken of by the writer is the
  Now this "commandment" is rather clearly spelled            indestructible life of the eternal Son of God in the flesh.
out, isn't it?                                                He said, I am the way and the truth and t1ze life. (John
  Yet, it is clearly a "fleshy" commandment. It deals         14:6) This is not simply life which will not cease, which
merely with the bodily qualifications of the priesthood       will continue on and on forever. It is that too. However,
after Aaron. These are not qualifications at all of the       it is much more. It is a life which cannot be destroyed
spiritual nature. These are physical qualifications. Yet,     by death. It is immortality. It is divine life in human
their idea was not merely of a physical nature, but           form. He it is who only hath immortality, who dwelleth
"because the blemishes were to be regarded as the             in the light which is unapproachable, which no man
bodily counterpart of inward spiritual defects and            hath seen, nor can see, to whom be glory and power
shortcomings. The bodily perfection of the priests was        everlasting. He who came according to the order of
not intended merely to point to Jehovah's holiness,           Melchizedek's priesthood is God Himself i.n our human
merely to be a reflection in their persons of the             nature. Was Melchizedek not made after the likeness of
sacredness of their functions and ministry, and of the        the Son of God? (7:3)
place in which they officiated, but rather to symbolize
their (the priests') spiritual blamelessness, and to sym-        Such a life is indestructible by sin. Christ did not
bolize the sanctification of the heart." (Keil, Vol. I,       need to abstain in ceremonial purity but he entered into
Biblical Archeology, page 228) Dr. Keil further notates       our world to destroy him who had the grip of death on
"Only in the various physical defects enumerated in the       us. (2: 14) He came to do this through death. And thus
law we must beware of looking for figures or symbols of       he, through the suffering of death, brings many sons to
certain specific moral or spiritual shortcomings, as          glory. It is life in the midst of death, conquering death.
Theodoret, for example, in `his Quaest. 30 in Levi. has       Thus he says: because I live ye shall live. (John 14: 19)
done."                                                          This is according to the `testimony, the constant
   To underscore that his physical perfection of a carnal     testimony of God through David. This is the testimony
commandment meant to demonstrate a spiritual reality          of the LORD to David's Lord, the Christ. (Psalm 110: 1)
the Priests and High-priests were admonished also             This is the testimony which God gave concerning His
concerning their marital relations. Thus we read in           Son. This testimony is "Thou art a priest forever after
Leviticus 21: 13-l 5 as follows "And he shall take a wife     the order of Melchizedek." Hence, when the Christ
in her virginity, a widow, or a divorced woman or             comes in the flesh this is said of him continually. This is
profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take; but he        a testimony of God to the Son in the flesh, to David's
shall take a virgin of his own people to wife. Neither        Lord. And David in his day already spoke these words in
shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the         the midst of a.priesthood  after a fleshen commandment.
Lord do sanctify him."                                        It is true that God testified this through David at least a
   From the foregoing it is quite evident that the priests    thousand years before the birth of Christ, but the writer
"were enjoined not only to shun every Levitical               here in Hebrews presents this testimony are being one
defilement that could possibly be avoided, but also to        which continues in the present moment. The verb
show by their domestic life and in their conjugal             "mavtureitai" is in the present' tense of fact. This
relations that they were consecrated to God." (Lev. XXI       testimony, therefore, is as -real for the readers to the
7 f.f.) Idem.                                                 Hebrews as it was for the believers in the days of David.
   It was the fleshy cleanliness which was emphasized in      And thus it is today, and it shall remain so forever!
the washings and cleansings with water in Israel. And         Forever the Son will hear in the present tense: Thou art
these were amplified and multiplied tenfold by Judaism        a priest after the order-of Melcbizedek.


136                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


T H E   A N N U L M E N T   O F   T H E   F O R E G O I N G     this latter case we have the law as subject and not
COMMANDMENT                                                     "better hope." It is of interest. to notice that the
                                       (Hebrews 7: 18, 19)      "kantteekening" in the Holland Bible here gives us the
  Yes, there verily was such a disannulment of the              following remarks. "`the bringing in  of a better hope;
Commandment which went before. It was the com-                  namely, perfect all things, by which the power of the
mandment of the priesthood as given in Leviticus. It is         New Covenant is to be understood, and of the priest-
also the annulment of all that pertains to the priesthood       hood of Christ, which is called a better hope, because it
of Aaron. This means that this entire priesthood was            powerfully realizes sanctification in our lives. Others
done away and superseded by the priesthood of                   translate "but was the occasion (introduction)  l'o a
Melchizedek.                                                    better hope,  namely, the law itself, which is therefore
  The grammatical construction here in the text affords         denominated a pedagogue to Christ, Gal. 3: 24."
a bit of difficulty in the Greek. The difficulty is the             Besides these two renditions there is still a third
question of the grammatical relationship of the phrase          translation given by Luther in his translation, and which
"but the bringing,in of a better hope." You will notice         is also advocated by Dr. Westcott. Luther's translation
that the KJV adds the verb "did" in italics. The                reads as follows "For because of this the former
translators believe that this clause needs a verb added         commandment was annuled (lifted out) because it was
which is not written in the Greek, but which  `, is             weak and profitable to nothing . . . and a better hope
demanded by the context. We have here a case of where           was introduced, by which we draw nigh to God." `Here
the verb is presupposed. However, thus it is not in the         the verb "became" (ginetail  is made the predicate of
Holland translation. Here we read translated "for the           both the "annuled" and the "bringing in on a better
law hath perfected nothing, but was the occasion of a           hope." With the annulment of the old commandment
better hope, through which we draw nigh to God." In             there was the bringing in of a better hope.


A Cloud of  Witnessesj

                                       David's Repentance
                                                   Rev. B. Woudenberg

                                   I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever
                                before me.
                                   Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this
                                evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when
                                thou speakest, and be cleav when ,thou judgest . . . .
                                   Purge me with hyssop, and Ishall be clean: wash ,me,
                                and I shall be whiter than snow.
                                                                             Psalm 31:2, 4, 7

       David was a great man of God. His greatness was not      king. But David was different. To be sure, he had sinned
in his sinlessness for there is something about the sinof       two terrible sins and had used his royal power to
David that made it most abhorrent among the great sins          perpetrate them both. But when the word of God came
recorded in Scripture; in its own way it repells  us even       to him it broke him, it penetrated into the depths of his
more than almost anything that his predecessor, King            heart, it brought him down as a guilty slave  to lie
Saul had done. Still David was a great man of God, not          prostrate in the dust before his God. In fact, it was
because of his sinlessness but because when accused of          undoubtedly from his own pen that the first written
his sin he bowed in repentance before God. It is really         record of his transgression proceeded in a song to be
amazing. How many other men in his same situation                sung in public worship that all the nation might knolw of
would not have turned upon the accusing prophet in              the sorrow which he felt for his sin. We have the words
offended indignation to punish him for his presumption,         written yet in Psalm 51, "I acknowledge my transgres-
as Ahab did to Micaiah when he commanded that                   sions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee
Micaiah should be fed on bread of affliction with water         only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight . , . "
of affliction until his prophecy was proved wrong, or as        This, and not sinlessness, is the mark of God's true
Herod did to John the Baptist when he cast him in               children.
prison for reproving him concerning his marriage. This is           In answer to his repentance, David received the
to be expected of one who rules with the power of a             assurance, "The LORD also hath put away thy sin: thou


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    a37



shalt not die." But this was not the end of the matter.         honesty in which he had always lived before, even if it
Regardless of his repentance, the effects of David's sin        had to be the honesty of a repentant confession. Now,
still remained, and they too had to be answered.                with the barrier of sin out of the way, he could return
   David in his sin has, as nearly everybody always does,       once again to hold communion with his God. Now once
failed to take into account the fact that what he did           again he could feel in his heart the warmth of love and
reflected not just upon himself but also on many others.        compassion for others. All of the warmth and sensitivity
It had its effect upon other people, but in a very special      of spiritual life was returned to him, and it was this that
and important way it reflected upon his God. After all,         made the severity of his punishment so hard to bear
almost any king of any other heathen land might have            because it was to be exacted not on himself but  upton
done the same thing, and many of them often did                 another.
together with things much worse; and yet it shocked no            Here is a thing which we all so frequently fail to take
one for this was to be expected of them. But David was          into consideration. We like to think of our own deeds as
different. He stood as the representative of the God of         being pretty much our own business for which we
Israel, a God of all holiness who demands purity among          personally hold the sole responsibility; and in a way this
men. It has been His testimony from the beginning of            is so. At least from a legal point of view everyone bears
time that wickedness will not be countenanced by Him.           the responsibility alone for his own sins. But there is
When then' David, the royal representative of Israel's          more to the matter than this. The effects of our sins
God, acted in direct contradiction to all that God had          often spread much farther than our own life. Seldom (do
commanded, he gave to all of the world an occasion to           we do anything in life in complete isolation from others.
blaspheme the name of his God. At that moment there             Life is very closely intertwined and almost everything
remained only one thing that could be done. Jehovah             we do reaches out in some subtle way to touch the lives
the God of Israel had to make evident to all the world          of everyone about us. It is the principle set forth in the
that such sin even from his own servant David could not         law, "I will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the
go unpunished. For the sake of His own name it had to           children unto the third and fourth generation." It is
b e   s o .                                                     something which every person, and particularly every
   The punishment which God demanded of David                   parent, should take very seriously. We may try to sooth
was of the most painful kind, especially at this moment         our consciences by assuring ourselves that whatever we
of his life. For months David had found himself                 do is after all only our own business; but the fact is
wandering in a spiritual desert. He had turned away             quite other. Life has all of its involvements, and
from the paths of righteousness to seek the pleasures of        whenever we sin it reaches out to touch and affect the
the flesh, and then tried to escape and cover his tracks        lives of many others, and in a very special way the lives
as though he had done nothing amiss. It meant that              of the children that come after us. It was this point that
through all of that time he had found himself moving            God determined to bring home to David and through his
farther and farther away from communion with God                example to all of us who follow after him. Accordingly
and from the gracious virtues that had always been              the last word of Nathan to David before leaving him
typical of his life. While by nature a kind and.                was, "Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given
compassionate man, his heart had grown cold and                 great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blas-
insensitive to others, their rights and their feelings. This    pheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall die."
had been why he had been able to take Bathsheba to                Almost immediately the word of God took effect.
himself without thought for her husband away at the             The child was struck and became very sick. For David it
war front of Israel. This had been why he had been able         was a hard blow, harder than if he had had to bear it
to summon Uriah home and deal with him as callously             himself. He was a warm-hearted man with deep feelings
as he had. And this had been why he had been able to            of sympathy and compassion whenever he met the
order Uriah's death as he had in cold blood. It must            suffering of others, and as a father his heart went out to
have been for him, so used as he was to living in close         his children completely. From the very first sign of
communion with God, a strange and even frightening              suffering the heart of David went  with'his child. He
experience. It must have been terribly painful, an              fasted, he wept, he lay upon the ground and cried to the
anguished loneliness such as he had never known, not            Lord in hope that some way might still be found in
even when forsaken and fleeing alone from Saul. And             which this child might be spared. Day after day this
yet, such was the grip of sin upon him that he could not        continued, until the whole household was upset, more
break it.                                                       because of the actions of the king than because of the
   But now all of this was past and a new spirit had            sickness of the child. Again and again they came to
come upon him. God had come to him and had spoken,              David to try to persuade him to rise up off the ground
accusing him of sin in terms that could no longer be            and to take of some food to eat. But all was to no avail.
resisted. It had hurt, even as exposure. of one's sin           David knew that there was only one who could remove
always hurts, but it had also been a tremendous relief.         the results of his terrible sin, and so he would heed none
Now he could return again to honesty, the kind of               other but wrestled in prayer with his God.


138                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER.


  Finally, on the seventh day, the child died. The,             the child may live? But now he is dead," -wherefore
servants simply did not know what to do. If David               should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall glo to
grieved so deeply while the child was sick, what would          him, but he shall not return to me."
he do when he heard that the child had actually passed             When correctly understood, we have here a most
away? As they said to each other, "Behold, while the            beautiful confession. David was a man who had come to
child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would            live his life in very close responsiveness to His God. He
not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex                knew when it was proper to storm the heavens in
himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?"                prayer, and he knew when it was proper to refrain and
  David, however, through all of his sorrow, was not            yield himself in complete submission. His fasting and
acting merely on feeling without reason. He knew what           tears were not artificially devised with the hope of
he was doing and with what purpose. Thus, he immedi-            gaining a purpose. David was a man of deep feeling and
ately detected the uncertainty of his servants as he saw        his prayers for his son undoubtedly arose from genuine
them whispering together and asked them, "Is the child          and sincere feelings. But his bond of faith that united
dead?" leaving them no choice but to answer, "He is             him with his God was equally real and effective. Once
dead." It was then that the true enormity of David's            he knew that the will of God was firmly established, he
faith came to the fore. Rising from the earth, he went          believed and submitted knowing that in the end the way
immediately to wash himself, to change his s&led and            of the Lord, no matter how hard, is always best.
wrinkled clothing, and to go to the tabernacle of God to           It was for this reason that he could conclude with the
worship. It was much as though he was at that point             firm confidence, "I shall go to him, but he shall not
repeating the great confession of Job, "The LORD gave,          return to me." The death of the child was after all not
and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of            really a punishment to him. Where he had gone was far
the LORD."                                                      better. It was the sorrow of David and of Bathsheba that
  But the servants of David could not understand it:            they would never come to share this child's life until
and it testifies of the intimacy of the relationship            they too had passed that way. But as covenant parents,
between David and his servants that they were not               they had this final comfort. They  would go to him. It
afraid .to ask of him an explanation. They asked, "What         was the one hope in which they could find comfort and
thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and          peace. And meanwhile God gave to them another child.
weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child      It was Solomon. The day was to come when David
was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread."                       would know of him too, as we read, "The LORD loved
  The answer of David came without hesitation, "While           him." It was to be the comfort of David in the day
the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said,         when, through other of his children, he was to see more
Who can tell whether God will ,be gracious to me, that          results of his sins.


Contending for the Faith

                                THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                    THE THIRD PERIOD-730-1517 A.D.
                                                    GOTTSCHALK
                                                       Rev. H.  Feldman

   In our preceding article, we had begun with a                 reasons. We named these reasons in our preceding
historical survey of, Gottschalk, the champion of the            article. And we concluded by calling attention to the
truth, as set forth by Philip Schaff in his History of the       fact that the denial of the doctrine of predestination
Christian Church, Vol. IV, 522, f.f. Particularly, we            always goes hand in hand with the theory that the Lord
were quoting from Philip Schaff as he wrote about                would have all men to be saved, and that the advocates
Gottschalk and Rabanus Maurus. Rabanus Maurus, who               of this presentation hate the Scriptural truth of absolute
had in the meantime become archbishop of Mainz, had              predestination. We recognize this also in our present
been urged to refute this "new heresy," as advocated             day. Indeed, our Protestant Reformed Churches are
and taught by Gottschalk. He wrote a letter on                   surely in good company. We now continue with this
predestination, intended against Gottschalk though               quotation from Philip Schaff.
without naming him, putting the worst construction on                      Foreknowledge and foreordination are distinct, and
the views on predestination as set forth by Gottschalk,              the latter is conditioned by the former (Maurus had
and- rejecting this doctrine of predestination for seven             just written prior to this that God would have all men


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             `I 39



      to be saved, yet He actually saves only a part; why He           known, but Rabanus, who presided over the Synod,
      makes such a difference, we do not know and must                   gives as the result, in a letter to Hincmar, that
      refer to His hidden counsel - H.V.). Here is the point             Gottschalk was condemned, together with his perni-
      where Rabanus departs from Augustin and agrees with                cious doctrine (which he misrepresents), and handed
      the Semi-Pelagians. He also distinguishes between                  over to his metropolitan, Hincmar, for punishment and
      praesciti  and  praedestinati.  The impenitent sinners             safe-keeping. (Of course, it need not surprise us that
      were only foreknown, not foreordained (this surely                 Gottschalk was condemned. Was not Rabanus the
      reminds us of the Arminian doctrine of a predestina-               president of this synod? Besides, does it surprise us
      tion upon foreseen faith or unbelief  - H.V.). He                  that the truth is condemned? - H.V.)
      admitted that "the punishment is foreordained for the
      sinner," but denied that "the sinner is foreordained for                    GOTTSCHALK AND  HINC'AR
      punishment." He supported his view with passages                     Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, a most influential,
      from Jerome, Prosper, Gennadius, and Augustin.                     proud and intolerant prelate, was ill-disposed towards
    To teach, we understand, that "the punishment is                     Gottschalk, because he had been somewhat irregularly
  foreordained for the sinner," simply means that the                    (though not invalidly) ordained to the priesthood by a
  Lord, in His counsel, saw who would not believe and                    rural bishop, Rigbold of Rheims, without the knowl-
  continue in sin, and so foreordained punishment for                    edge of his own bishop of Soissons, and gone on
  that sinner. But Rabanus would not teach that the                      travels without permission of his abbot, although
  sinner is foreordained for punishment. He would not                    Gottschalk is vindicated in both respects. He treated
  teach that the Lord had eternally foreordained sinners                 the poor monk without mercy. Gottschalk was sum-
  who would perish because of their sins.                                moned before a synod of Cbiersy in the spring of 849.
        Gottschalk saw in this tract (the letter of Rabanus              He refused to recant, and was condemned as an
      Maurus to Noting, to reject the views of Gottschalk                incorrigible heretic, deposed from the priesthood,
      -H-V.) the doctrine of the Semi-Pelagian Gennadius                 publicly scourged for obstinacy, according to the rule
      and  Cassiarius rather than of "the most catholic                  of St. Benedict, compelled to burn his books, and shut
      doctor" Augustin. He appeared before a Synod at                    up in the prison of a convent in the province of
      Mainz, which was opened Oct. 1, 848, in the presence               Rheims. According to the report of eye-witnesses, he
      of the German king, and boldly professed his belief in             was scourged "most atrociously" and "nearly to
      a two-fold predestination, to life and to death, God               death," until half dead he threw his book, which
      having from eternity predestinated His elect by free               contained the proofs of his doctrine from the Scrip-
      grace to eternal life, and quite similarly alI reprobates,         tures and the fathers, into the fire. It is a relief to learn
      by a just judgment for their evil deserts, to eternal              that St. Remigius, archbishop of Lyons, expressed his
      death. The offensive part in this confession lies in the           horror at the "unheard of impiety and cruelty" of this
      words  two-fold  and  quite similarly,  by which he                treatment of the miserabilis monachus, as Gottschalk
      seemed to put the two foreordinations, i.e. election               is often called by his friends.
      and reprobation, on the same footing; but he qualified               In his lonely prison at Hautvilliers, the condemned
      it by a reference to the guilt and future judgment of              monk composed two confessions, a shorter and a
      the reprobate. He also maintained against Rabanus                  longer one, in which he strongly re-asserted his  '
      that the Son of God became man and died only for the               doctrine of a double predestination. He appealed to
      elect. He measured the extent of the purpose by the                Pope Nicolas, who seems to have had some sympathy
      extent of the effect. God is absolutely unchangeable,              with him, and demanded a reinvestigation, which,
      and His will must be fulfiud. What does not happen,                however, never took place. He also offered, in reliance
      cannot have been intended by Him.                                  on the grace of God, to undergo the  fiery ordeal
    It surely must warm our hearts to hear Reformed                      before the king, the bishops and monks, to step
  language  such as this. Indeed, this is  reformed  and                 successively into four cauldrons of boiling water, oil,
                                                                         fat and pitch, and then to walk through a blazing pile;
  Scriptural language. Gottschalk maintained that the Son                but nobody could be found to accept the challenge.
  of God died only for the. elect. We need not ask                       Hincmar refused to grant him in his last sickness the
  ourselves the question on whose side the modern                        communion and Christian burial, except on condition
  "reformed" church world would have stood at the time                   of full recantation. Gottschalk scorned the condition,
  of this controversy, on the side of  GottschaIk or of                  died in his unshaken faith, and was buried in uncon-
  Maurus. Gottschalk maintained that the extent `of the                  secrated soil after an imprisonment of twenty years
  purpose must be measured by the extent of the effect.                  (868  or 869).
  Hence, that  the cross saves only some must mean that                One might ask the question whether all this suffering
  the Son of God died only for those and not for all men.            was worthwhile. After all, it only concerned a matter of
How true: what does not happen, cannot have been                     conditional or unconditional predestination. Had Gott-
  intended by God. God is absolutely unchangeable, and               schalk recanted and taught that the "punishment is
  His will must be fulfilled. It must surely do our hearts           fforeordained for the sinner," rather than maintain that
  good to hear a champion of the Middle Ages defend this             the "sinner is foreordained for punishment," he would
  same doctrine which we also hold dear and precious.                have been spared all this misery and pain and humilia-
        The details of the  synod&l transaction are  un-             tion. But he stood firm. To him the truth he loved was a


140                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


vital matter. It was of such stature that he was willing to         absolute or relative; in other words; whether it
suffer and die for it. And this should also be true of us.          embraced all men and all acts, good and bad, or only
After' all, this doctrine of a "double predestination"              those who are saved, and such acts as God approves
does not only touch upon the certainty of our salvation,            and rewards. This question necessarily involved also
but, more important still, it touches. upon the question            the problem of the freedom of the human will, and the
whether God is God alone. And this is all important!.               extent of the plan of redemption. The absolute
                                                                    predestinarians denied, the relative predestinarians
Gottschalk had the courage of his convictions. It is                affirmed, the freedom of will and the universal import
certainly true that his ruling and all-controlling idea of          of Christ's atoning death.
the unchange ableness of God reflected itself in his own                  The doctrine of absolute predestination was
inflexible conduct. His enemies charged him with                    defended, in substantial agreement with Gottschalk,
vanity, obstinacy and strange delusions. Jesuits con-               though with more moderation and caution, by Pruden-
demn his doctrine; whereas Calvinists vindicate him as a            tius, Bishop of Troyes, Ratramnus, monk of Corbie,
martyr to the truth. We do well to take note of this.               Servatus Lupus, Abbot of Ferrieres, and Remigius,
Notice, please, that his Bnemies charge him with vanity             Archbishop of Lyons, and confumed by the Synod of
and obstinacy. Note, too, that Jesuits condemn his                  Valence, 855, and also at Langres in 859.
doctrine  - this surely means that the doctrine of a                      The doctrine of free will and a conditional predesti-
"double predestination," a predestination that consists             nation was advocated, in opposition to Gottschalk, by
of election and reprobation, as condemned by the                    Archbishop Rabtius  Maurus of Mainz, Archbishop
                                                                    Hincmar of Rbeims, and Bishop Pardulus of Laon, and
Jesuits and supported and maintained by. Calvinists, is             confirmed at. a synod of Cbiersy, 853, and'in part
surely according to the Word of God. We repeat: our                 again at Savonnieres, near Toul, in 859.
Protestant Reformed Church, teaching and maintaining                      A  third  theory was. set  foti by John  Scotus
the absolute sovereignty, is in good company.                       Erigena, intended against Gottschalk, but was in fact
                                                                    still more against the orthodox,view,  and disowned by
T&E CONTENDING THEORIES ON.                                         both padies.
PREDESTIh?ATION,  AND THE VICTORY OF                              Before we discuss these contending theories on the
SEMI-A  UG USTINIANISM.                                         doctrine of predestination, it is always well to bear in
  During the imprisonment of Gottschalk a lively                mind that the doctrine of free will goes hand in hand
controversy was carried on concerning the point in              with conditional predestination, and that these doc-
dispute, which is very creditable to the learning of that       trines also go hand in hand with the doctrine of a
age, but after all did not lead to a clear andsatisfactory      universal atonement. And this is also true today.  .This
settlement. According to Schaff:                                history of doctrine has surely much to teach us. And we
         The main question was whether divine predestina-       may also be comforted by it. With this we plan to
       tion or foreknowledge  which all admitted as a           continue in our following afiicle.
       necessary element of the Divine perfection, was


Examining Ec7~mik~alisni

                            Another Suitor in .the Wings?
                                                     Rev. G. Van Baren
  In several recent articles we have considered the             which is offered to encourage this union.
proposed merger of  .the Reformed Church in America
with the Southern Presbyterian Church. Within a few             The overture of 1964
months the outcome of the merger proposal should be               In 1964 at the Synod of the Christian Reformed
known. But one wonders why the Reformed Church                  Church, in harmony with recommendations proposed
and the Christian Reformed Church would not rather              by the Reformed Ecumenical Synod,  Classis Central
more actively seek each other? A recent editorial in the        California came with the following recommendations:
                                                                          Classis Central California wishes to go on record as
Reformed Journal together with an examination of past               heartily endorsing the recommendations under VLC,
decisions of the Christian Reformed Synods reveal that              of the report on the Reformed Ecumenjcal Synod.
within this denomination there are those who are                          Classis. specifically overtures $ynod to apply .this
watching the  present courtship with interest  - and                principle to the Reformed church in America:so that
hoping that they may yet have a chance to woo the fair              the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed
maiden themselves. What ought to be a matter of serious             Church in America `may officially be drawn into closer
concern to those involved, however, is the  enticemeat              fellowship witi one another.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         141
                                                                                                                                    -


       Grounds:                                                       such fraternization if it. considers that there are
         1. Besides having a  common  credo, we  have a               sufficient reasons for declining. If any classis considers
       common cultural and spiritual heritage..These  cultural        that the reasons for doing as synod has urged are
       and spiritual ties have continued since our people live        insufficient, it is free to decline or to define the range
       close together in America.                                     and extent of a relationship it is willing to establish.
         2. We should also recognize that the Reformed                   5. Our committee has had no further meetings with
       Church in America is one of the largest  bona fide             the Inter-Church Relations committee of the Re-
       Reformed churches in America. (Note: We might also             formed Church in America. It was mutually agreed
       add that the way to true unity is found first of all in        that it appeared advisable in view of their present
       the Bible, second in common creeds, and third in               negotiations with the Presbyterian Church US that no
       common spiritual heritage. Thus it would appear that           further meeting be scheduled until the matter of their
       the way to true unity is going back to heal the old            merger has been settled.
       splits as the Holy Spirit through time and circum-            So the question of closer contact between the C.R.C.
       stances gives us time to look at them afresh.") (Acts,     and the R.C.A. stands. The "suitor in the wings" awaits
       1964, pages 482-3)                                         the consummation or cancellation of the "marriage" of
     The above overture was given into the hands of the           the R.C.A. and the P.C.U.S.
~ Committee on Inter-Church Relations. This comn$ttee
  submitted a definite answer to the Synod of 1966. They          Suggestions from the Journal
  had had contact with a similar committee of the                   In the most recent issue of the  Reformed Journal
  Reformed Church. After discussions the committee                (Sept. 1968) one of the editors seeks to discourage the
  proposed the following:                                         present merger plans between the R.C.A. and P.C.U.S.
         1. That Synod seek co-operation in the area of           with the suggestion that a more natural "marriage"
      liturgical concerns.                                        would be between the C.R.C. and R.C.A. He writes:
         2. That Synod urge their Foreign Mission Board to               Of all the factors involved in evaluating the validity
      explore ways in which the two churches might                    of a given merger none would seem to be more
      co-operate on that level.                                       weighty than the factor of what I would call historical
         3. To seek to work together in the area of world             naturalness. There should be in the respective histories
      relief.                                                         of the uniting Churches significant backgrounds that
         4. To seek to develop a "united strategy for church          make union not only desirable but natural. A church
      extension in areas that are contiguous or overlap."             union should normally have the effect of fulfilling a
         5. To encourage closer fellowship at congregational          historical yearning. This certainly is not all that goes
      and classical levels.                                           into the validation of a union between Churches, but
         6. To seek further joint meetings with the Inter-            in given situations it can be of great significance.
      Church Committee of the R.C.A. The Synod specifi-                  Looking at the proposed merger between the
      cally approved points 1,5, and 6 of the proposals.              Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian
  Clarification in 1966                                               Church in the United `States one is hard put to see
    There had been some question concerning the deci-                 compelling reasons for union from the point of view
  sion of Synod to approve the suggestion of  5 above.                here entertained. There doubtless are reasons of
  Classis Illiana asked Synod to clarify this decision - and          another kind that have moved the respective general
                                                                      assemblies to propose the merger to the classes and
  Synod suggested that this  classis seek an answer from              presbyteries of their denominations. But from an
  the Committee on Inter-Church Relations. The commit-                R.C.A. point of view a possibility will be sacrificedin
  tee answered as follows:                                            the union which ought not to be lightly surrendered.
         To the Synod of 1967, classis Illiana presented a            This possibility is the ultimate reunion of the Re-
      letter seeking information regarding synod's decision           formed Church in America and the Christian
      of 1966 encouraging "the exchange of fraternal                  Reformed Church.
      delegates at classical meetings with the Reformed                . . . By foregoing an immediate union with a Church
      Church of America." Synod advised classis Illiana to            historically and geographically rather distant, the
      seek such information from our committee, in view of            R.C.A. would be keeping open a door to a reunion
      the fact  $hat the original proposal which synod                between blood brothers that ought to take place. By
      adopted had been the recommendation of our com-                 saying No to the present possibility with this more
      mittee. Classis Illiana did forward to us such a request        inviting possibility in mind the R.C.A. would certainly
      and our committee sought to answer the  classis by              be placing the C.R.C. under the obligation of re-
      replying that the action of the synod encouraging such          examining the validity of a continued separate exis-
      exchange of fraternal delegates was with the hope               tence.
      "that through such contacts misunderstandings can be
      cleared away which will pave the way to future                 The argumentation appears good. After all, the two
      contacts" of a more meaningful nature. We also stated        denominations do have (for the most part) a common
      that this action was recommended in view of an earlier       background as far as origin and creeds are concerned.
      decision of the synod of 1964 (Acts, p. 83). Further-        They are similar in many ways.
      more, it should be perfectly clear that the synod of           But what of those differences which had formerly
      1966 leaves each classis free to decline to enter into       separated the two denominations? To mention only two


142                                                    THE STANDARD  BEARER


major differences, there is the divergent stand on lodge           suggesting that the C.R.C. is rapidly changing. Though
membership and Christian school instruction. One can               there have been those who strongly opposed the
not help but be disappointed with Boer's suggestion in             adopted decisions, the decisions were neverthelessmade
the  Reformed Journal.  Rather than giving reasons for             - and are binding. Certainly such decisions "auger well
believing that the R.C.A. might be persuaded to agree              for a fruitful dialogue" with the R.C.A.
with the C.R.C. positions, he seems to' suggest that                  Outside of the possibility of merger, now that
possibility of merger restsupon the changing positions             "traditional viewpoints" are being re-examined and
of the C.R.C.'                                                     revised, this must at the same time cause sorrow in the
           when the B.C.A. observer of the C.R.C. scene pays       hearts of those who still love and hold to the Reformed
        more attention to fundamental ecclesiastical decisions     truth within the C.R.C.' Do not these people realize yet
        than to the debates that precede them, he cannot fail      into what paths they are being led? Do they not see how
        to be impressed by the fact that there is developing in
        the C.R.C. an openness to other than traditional           rapidly the "traditional viewpoints" are being changed?
        viewpoints which augurs well for fruitful dialogue and     Such might find a passing comfort in the strong
        fellowship, first .between the two Churches and later      opposition to the change in "traditional viewpoints,"
        hopefully wimin the united Church.                         but they close their eyes it seems to the reality ,that the
       Now Boer is not specific when he mentions an                changes are nevertheless made  - and they and their
"openness to other than traditional viewpoints . . .  ."           children must live with them. And not the Reformed
What does he have in mind? Is he thinking of the "other            truth, but these changes will open the possibility of
than traditional viewpoints" represented in recent de-             merger with the  R.C.A; And these same changes will
cisions on the so-called `"Dekker case," in the decision           open the way toward participation with the W.C.C.' And
granting a limited approval of movie-attendance, in the            these changes will lead toward the possibility of wider
divorce-remarriage decision, in the woman suffrage in              mergers as well in the future. How far must one be
the church, in the decision to send observers to the               dragged along such a path before he sees the danger -
W.C.C. this past summer, etc.? He is then correct in               and forsakes such a way?




                                    Come Ye Apart... And Rest A While

       Watchman, what of the night?                                  The answer lies in the summons of the watchman: ."If
 Centuries  .ago the prophet Isaiah heard this question            ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come!" From the
coming to him from afar, even from a neighboring                   watch tower at Jerusalem the Word of the Lord reaches
country. (Isaiah 21: 11) He stood as watchman upon the             out to Edom. Those of you who are burdened, seek,
walls of Sion, jealously guarding the City of God against          yea, keep enquiring. But you must not seek your dawn
the sneak attacks of the enemy, and at the same time               in Edom. Edom is Esau, and Esau is the reprobate. So
alert throughout the night for the coming of the dawn,             that Edom represents the world of wickedness that is
even the dawn of the new day. He heard a voice of                  making its measure of iniquity full unto the day of
inquiry from  Seir, which is Edom; from one who                    judgment. Edom is the land of curse and death, of
realizes the darkness of the night and longs for the               perpetual night. There is no dawn there.
morning. "What of the night?" He even repeats  the.                  But in Jerusalem the day dawns. For out of Sion
question in eager anxiety.                                         must come the Deliverer, from the root of Jesse and out
       Was it possibly a convert from Edom? Or was it one          of the dead stump of David. Do you seek the dawn of
of Jerusalem's children who had wandered off to Edom               the eternal day in the coming of the Christ? Then come,
for carnal security, and there found the darkness of sin           for you find it only in Jerusalem, in the church, where
pressing heavily upon his soul in anguish of death? It             the eternal Word speaks and where the Spirit dwells.
appears to have been the latter, but in any case, he is              And they undoubtedly came.
representative of those who are spiritually concerned                And saw the dawn. For the dawn did break. The
and seek their help from God's servant in Jerusalem.               Christ did come.
       And this servant answers: "The morning cometh, and            But it is still night.
also the night!
       Strange answer, one would say. "The morning com-              The night of sin and death in an evil world.
eth," does not that bring an end to the night? And if the            The prince of darkness still rules in the hearts of
night still lingers beyond the hour of dawn, how can the           wicked men, who arise in proud defiance against our
morning ever come?                                                 God and His Christ. The fool still says in his heart: .God


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                        143


is dead!                                                      touch Thee, our ears heard Thee, and our eyes even saw
   And since God is dead "sin" has become a bad word.         Thee.
They tell us that there is no such thing as sin. Social             Thou art the Lamb of God that was slain and  lives;
disorders? Yes. Racial inequality? To be sure. Economic       All power is Thine in heaven and upon ,the earth.
problems? Many. `Individual frustrations?  Over:                    Yet Thy Holy Scriptures are being torn in shreds. We
whelming. Man is "sick, sick, sick." But a sinner? NO!        are told. not to believe any more that Thou hast
   God has been replaced by the vailiidol "Man". Man's        infallibly spoken to us on every page of Scripture. Much
intelligence and wisdom, man's ingenuity and skill,           of the Bible, they say, is but wrapping paper. They do
man's inventions and accomplishments deserve the              not tell us how much. But we are not to take the life
admiration of all the world. Man will bring about social      and the walk of the saints too seriously, for much of
reform, racial equality, world-wide peace and prosper-        that might be folklore. Their example and their warning
ity.                                                          evidently should not mean too much for us.
   There will be more time for recreation, sports,                  Even Thy Words and Works while Thou didst
vacations, carnal satisfaction. The effort will be inten-     tabernacle among us, are being questioned. And  Thgr
sified to banish God from their thoughts and quell the        holy apostles are accused of listening to old wives fables.
plaguing voice of conscience. More cursing, more Sab-               If we lose Thy Word what have we left?
bath desecration, more defiance of all decency, law and             Watchman, what of the night?
order, will fill man's day. Hatred, immorality, sexual        I
atrocities, theft, lying, slander, whisperings are all              The morning cometh!
excusable, and can be perfectly proper, even good, if               Tell My people: All flesh is as grass, and all its glory is
done "for the good of others."                                as the flower of the field that fadeth. But the Word of
   Wickedness already abounds.                                the Lord abideth forever. And this is the Word which by
   The darkness thickens.                                     the Gospel of the Scriptures is preached unto you.
                                                                    The Lord reigneth, let the nations tremble. Come ye
                                                              out from among them.
   Watchman, you do hear us?                                        The night is already far spent.
   Thou art the Christ, the Word that became flesh.                 Our King cometh unto us!
   Thou hast spoken through the prophets of old. Thou               Let Sion now rejoice and be glad!
hast dwelt among us in the flesh, so that our hands did                                                                                                                    C.H.


                                                                                                                                                                              -

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144                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                               News From  Our. Churches
  First Church auditorium was the place Rev. Heys               Schipper were not evident. John Hoekstra played,
chose to give an illustrated talk on the labors performed       "Open the Gates of the Temple" on his cornet,
last summer in Jamaica. Men, women and children came            accompanied on the piano by his cousin, Karen; The
out to see the slides picturing the beauty of the-island        Westra girls sang, "For the Beauty of the Earth" and
and, the smiling faces of many of the members of the            "The World is not My Home". Eunice Hoeksema was at
Jamaican Prot. Ref. Churches. The ability of our                the organ and Brenda Rietema was at the piano for the
"travelogue speaker" to pick and choose scenes that             singing. According to reports this, too, was an evening
"tell it as it is" was clearly evident in those slides which    of spiritual enjoyment in the company of saints.
showed the lush beauty of the hilly terrain, as well as                                   *  * *  1
those which gave intimate glimpses of the friendly                Kalamazoo's Adult Bible Class is currently studying
brethren and sisters in the faith as they were gathered in      Revelation 8, and has been reminded that "things are
and around their churches. Included in these were two           not what they seem" but that things and the world are
river baptisms, one with nine "candidates" waiting their        as the Word  reveals them.
turn to enter the river, and one with a lone candidate                                    *  8 *  *
being immersed in the waters of the river. The lecturer           Loveland's pastor was scheduled to preach in Hull on
assured us that infant baptism was on the increase and          a classical appointment Nov. 17 and 24, and Hull's
proved his point with a slide showing the rite being            parsonage was furnished for light-housekeeping so that
administered to an infant.' During the intermission an          Rev. Engelsma and family might occupy it while there
offering was taken for the Jamaican Benevolent Fund,            for two weeks.            *  * * *
and a tape was heard reproducing some Sunday School
children in the singing of Psalter numbers. Rev. Heys is          Rev. Engelsma is treating "Marriage, The Mystery of
an ardent champion of our Jamaican friends and one is           Christ and the Church" in a series of Sunday evening
readily convinced of his love for them and for the cause        services. A November bulletin carried this quotation
of the further instruction in the doctrines of the church.      from Martin Luther's "On Marriage Matters": "`And
Pictorial proof was also furnished in regard to the good.       why did you not seek advice from your pastor? People
arrival of the many bales of used clothing packed and           no longer want to have preachers or pastors; they do not
shipped by the deacons of Southeast Church: One fact            heed them or need them, and they act as if they could
stood out in these pictures, and that was that one must         do all things and well live without them. Well then,
be strong of limb and agile in footwork to negotiate the        people will have to suffer the consequences of this and
steep and stony paths which lead up to the churches             take it as their reward and spare us the complaining and
inevitably situated on top of the hill. A salute to the         howling . . . . Why does God provide you with parents,
plucky wives of our emmisaries, Mrs. Heys and Mrs.              pastors and authorities if you do not need them?"
                                                                                          * * * *
Feenstra, who huffed and puffed their way up those                A Hudsonville bulletin' notice regarding a joint meet-
hills! The lecture was not clear as to the role Mr:             ing of their Young People's Society with that of Hope's
Feenstra played on the Island, but the illustrations were       society read in part, "They are expecting at least 45 of
very clear: the children adopted him as their  grandpa-         us, so let's all be there". Forty Jive?
sure enough! The evening was a fitting. close to                                          ****
Thanksgiving Day.                                                 Lynden's consistory has begun scheduling monthly
                         * *  *  *                              collections to meet the expenses of having purchased,
  Kalamazoo's congregation recently welcomed a fami-            new church furnishings.* * *  *
ly of four from Bryan, Ohio. The bulletin notice read, in         Kalamazoo's Young People's Society has secured Mr.
part, "In their area they have been members in the
Methodist and Baptist Churches. In the providence of            Ed Lotterman from Grand Rapids to be their leader. Mr.
God they were led to the Reformed Truth as had in the           Lotterman is a member of our Southwest Church and is
writings of  Spurgeon and Calvin, and as had in corre-          one of our Seminary students.
                                                                                          * *  * *
spondence with Rev. B. Woudenberg of Lynden, Wash."
                         * 8  8  8                                A look at the budget adopted at the Congregational
                                                                meeting at First Church reflects the rising cost of
       The Beacon Lights Thanksgiving Hymnsing was heid         running our ecclesiastical household. Twenty years ago
in Southeast Church Nov. 24 after the evening service.          the budget per family was $2.00, and in 1969 it will be
Henry Vander Vennen was the enthusiastic song-leader;           $8.00.
an offering received was for the young people's maga-                                     *  *  *  *
zine, Beacon Lights. Our young people were a bit guilty           And in Hope's bulletin we found the joyous an-
of fraudulent advertising for they had announced that           nouncement: "Hope School reports that the recent
special feature -numbers would feature "Karen and John          financial drive has been a success. $7,125.00 has been
Hoekstra, the Westra girls, Mark and Eunice Hoeksema,           collected in cash and pledges. Thanks to each one who
Henry Vander Vennen, Jim Slopsema and Rev.                      supported this cause, and also much thanks to the
Schipper; but the features of Mark and Jim and Rev.             collectors".             . . . see you in church.    J.M.F.


