                                e

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-A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE




IN THIS ISSUE


    Meditation:
      The Gathering of the Israel of God

    All Around US:
      "Of Many Versions"
      Protests in the Gereformeerdb Kerken

    Feature:
      The Return of the Glorified Lord

    Beginning:
      The Concern of the Reformation for Education


                                            V&me XL VII / Number 1 / October 1, 1970


           2                                                             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.
                The Gathering of the Israel of God . . . . . . . . . . . . .2                          Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                           Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema
           Editorials -                                                                    Department Editors::  Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
            As To That "New Eye Opener. Tract" . . . . . . . . . .5                        Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rav. Jay
                                                                                           Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper,  Rev. Gise J.
                                                                                           Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
            All Around Us -                                                                Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                "Of Many Versions" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8                           1842 Plymouth Terrace,  SE.
                Merger News. . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9                       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                Protests in the Gereformeerde Kerken . . . . . . . . . .9 Church News Editor: Mr. Donald  Doezema
                A Footnote to Heart Transplants . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10                                         1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
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 9
-i-,.+     Meditation                      :
                                    - The-
                                          _ Gathering of the Israel of God
                             -.                                       _ Rev. 44. Schippev
                          "`Fear  not: fou I-am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the
                          west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not.back: bring my sons from
                          far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; eveti everyone that is called by my name'
                          for I have created-him fey my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. "
                                                                                                                                       Isaiah 43:5-7.


                Fear not!                                                                  the prophecy of Isaiah alone. Addressed to the people
                Hoti often fhis expression in-$cripture  is addressed of God who find themselves in-fearful circumstances,
            to the people of God! At least sixty-six times it  ap-                         while in t-he providence of God they are required to
            pears on the pages of Holy Writ, and eleven times in                           taste His chastening rod. Or, as is so often the  ca&,


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    3



while they grope in the darkness, doubts come over of this sovereign choice, Ethiopia and the Sabeans are
their souls that their God will not be able to realize His destroyed by the mighty forces of Sennacherib instead
covenant promises to them, or somehow their seed of Jerusalem. "Since thou wast precious in my sight,
shall perish in the way.                                  thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
  To such is this comforting word addressed in the therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy
text!                                                     life."
  The fearful are envisioned as captives in Babylon.        A redeemed people!
They despair of their Redeemer's redemptive love, and        "For I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
they are unable to believe that He will realize His cove- name, thou art mine."
nant promise to be their God and the God of their seed      Redeemed, of course, in and through our Lord Jesus
after them  - a seed which is now scattered over the Christ! The Son of God in the flesh atones for their sin
face of the earth.                                        on the cross. In the blood of that cross they are
  Fear not: for I am with thee!                           cleansed from all their guilty stains. And by the power of
  I am with thee, Jacob-Israel!                           His substitutionary sacrifice they are justified and sanc-
  Be not afraid! Be not afraid of thyself, for I am with tified, and delivered from sin and death. Adopted as
thee. Be not afraid concerning thy seed, for I will bring His sons and daughters into the family of God, and
them. There shall, indeed, be one people, and I shall heirs of eternal life.
forever be their God!                                        0, make no mistake! They are not the Jews only, as
  That it is Jacob-Israel that is so addressed is plain many would maintain. Though, to be sure, for a while
from the context. "But now thus saith the Lord that the covenant line ran through the Jewish nation. The
created thee, 0 Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0 Jews, as such, were never the people of God. But of
Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called both Jew and Gentile, of all nations, tribes, and ton-
thee by my name: thou art mine."                          gues is this people constituted. By nature no different
  A peculiar people!                                      than all the peoples of the world. Laden with sin and
  Named after their natural and spiritual forbearer  - guilt. Dead in trespasses and sins. Totally depraved.
Jacob; one of the fathers with Abraham and Isaac, With no intrinsic value in themselves. Yet chosen of
with whom God had established His covenant.               God; redeemed out of the world. Given to Christ to be
  Jacob  - that God-fearing child of Isaac, who, in redeemed by Him. Over whom God is pleased to call
distinction from his brother Esau, was to be heir of the His Name. His precious Jacob-Israel!
patriarchal blessing, but who was weak and sinful, not      A people realized historically in the generations of
willing to wait until God would give it to him. Who the believers. Note how marvelously the Lord identi-
sought the blessing in his own strength, and therefore fies the seed with Jacob-Israel. "I will bring thy seed
deceived his father, and stole from his brother, incur- from the east, and gather thee from the west." And at
ring his wrath. And who therefore was led through the same time the Lord lays claim to that seed as His
hard and devious ways until he met the Lord at the own. "I will say to the north, Give up; and to the
Jabbok.                                                   south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my
  Israel  - that name that was given to him after he      daughters from the ends of the earth."
had wrestled with God and had overcome. With weep-          The realization of the Israel of God is not, therefore,
ing and supplication he had wrestled all night, and with a haphazard thing, which it must be if God desired to
a new name he was rewarded, for he had power with save all men, but only succeeds in saving a few; which
God and had overcome. That was the significance of it must be, if the salvation of this people depended on
his name, Israel.                                         the fickle will of man.
  And the people that is now fearful, and should not        Nay, the realization of this people is a well-planned
fear, is named after their natural and spiritual forbear, and definite formation of a chosen people, as they are
because like him they partake of the same natural and found in the generations of believers, as they reside in
spiritual traits.                                         all nations of the world, and from the beginning of
  God's chosen people!                                    time to the end thereof. This is why the Lord Jesus, in
   So the Lord had designated them in the context. His mission mandate did say: "Go ye, therefore, and
"But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have teach all nations." And again, "Go ye into all the
chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend." And again, world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
"Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee        Indeed, the Israel of God that is to be gathered is
from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, 0 the sum-total of all the elect, no one else. They are
Jacob, my servant; and thou Jesurun, whom I have given in eternity to Christ to be redeemed by Him.
chosen."                                                  And they are found historically, from the beginn~ing to
  Because of this election, the Lord had reprobated the end of time, in the generations of the believers and
Egypt and gave Egypt to destruction, in order that He are their seed. And they are to be found not in one
might deliver with a mighty hand His beloved. Because nation, but are scattered over all the earth. In one


 4                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



 word, they are the Holy Catholic Church, as we ex- speaks it. Without His Spirit and Word the preacher of
 press it in the articles of our Christian faith.             the Gospel is powerless. The preacher is not a  co-
      Gathered by God Himself!                                laborer witlz God, but of God, nothing more.
      Contrary to the modern conception, the Israel of'          Christ, indeed, is pleased to speak His Word through
 God is not gathered by man! You are aware, are you human media. It is He Who calls and prepares men to
 not, of the philosophy of the modern church with its preach His Word. It is He Who sends them whitherso-
 social gospel, which conceives of the church as a soci- ever He pleases. It is He Who speaks through their
 ety to which members may be added by the moral preaching by His Spirit to gather His church. It is
 suasion of her ministry or its members? You have Christ Who must be heard in the preaching or there is
heard, have you not, of so-called fundamentalistic no preaching at all. Not the preacher wins souls for
 churches which operate under the Arminianistic doc- Christ, but Christ saves His own souls. Not the
 trine that men go out to save souls for Christ? You are preacher calls God's sons and daughters from far, but
 aware, aren't you, that there have arisen so-called God does it through Christ Who calls the weary and
 Evangelistic Associations which are bent on winning heavy laden to rest through the Gospel that is
 the world for Christ? And you must certainly be aware preached. All that the preacher must be concerned
 that even in so-called Reformed circles churches have about is that he preaches the Gospel, and nothing but
 added to their confessions the doctrine of common: the Gospel. God, through the Son, through the
 grace with its offer of the gospel and salvation.for all; preaching of the Gospel calls out: Give up! and, Keep
 men. And how these churches, out of an over-, not back! It is He, through Christ, and through the
 abundance of mission zeal, now maintain that unless; preaching of the gospel that gathers together all who
 you can say to every man, "God loves you," they can-! were ordained by Him unto eternal life into the sheep-
 not do mission work.                                         fold of Christ. It is He Who gathers the stones which
      All of these conceptions stem from the corrupt view He is pleased to polish and set into His temple in which
 that the gathering of the Israel of God is dependent on' He is pleased to dwell everlastingly.
 man, or at least on man in cooperation with God. Such           For His own glory!
 a conception militates both against Scripture and the           Such is the divine intention, according to the text.
 Reformed Confessions. Space will not allow us to "For I have  created.him for my glory, I have formed
 quote these Confessions and Scriptures upon which the him; yea, I have made him."
 Confessions are based. But pay attention to what the            Not for the glory of man, nor even in the first place
 Lord says in our text!                                        for his salvation! 0, to be sure, the Israel of God that is
      I will bring thy seed from the east!                     gathered shall in the process of gathering be saved and
      I will gather thee from the west!                       glorified.. There can be no question about that. When
      I will say to the north: Give up! And io the south: the salvation of the church shall be complete, she shall
 Keep not back! Bring my sons from afar, -and my appear in glory. This is the fruit of God's saving grace
 daughters from the ends of the earth: even everyone in her. The crown of glory shall be given to everyone
 that is called by my Name!                                    who -is saved by grace, as He promised. It is also true
      Indeed, the gathering of the Israel of God is a that those who are called of God to preach His Word
 wonder-work of grace, which God alone accomplishes shall receive the reward of the crown of righteousness.
 through His Son, and by His Spirit and Word! The Such was also the aspiration and expectation of the
 divine calling whereby the Israel of God is gathered out great Apostle Paul. But important as the salvation and
 of the world always takes place through Jesus Christ glory of the church may be; and as desirable as the
 our Lord. Always God speaks through the Son. That is, crown of righteousness may be to the preacher; this is
the Son of God in the flesh. Who reveals the Father. not the first purpose of the gathering of the Israel of
 Who died for our sins. Who was raised from the dead God.
 for our justification. Who was exalted at God's right-          That God may be glorified,  - that is the first and
hand. Through Whose Word and Spirit God gathers His the final purpose of it all!
 church out of the corrupt human race. The Son of God.           "This people have I formed for myself; they shall
 in the flesh is the mighty Word of salvation whereby shew forth my praise!"
 the church is called out of darkness into God's marvel-         Upon that people God attaches His Name! And that
 ous light, out of the fellowship of the sinful human Name is the revelation of. the God of their salvation.
 race into the communion of saints.                            Not their own name, but the Name of their God- is
      To  -be sure, the Son of God accomplishes this stamped upon them. And God, Who is jealous for His
 through the. preaching of the Gospel! But do not con- own glory, forms that people in such a way that only
 clude from this that man after all is responsible for the His virtues, His praises, shall be revealed in them.- Yea,
 gathering of the Israel of God. Never are the preachers .He creates them, for His own glory.
 of the Gospel co-laborers with God or with Christ. The          And because God will certainly attain unto His pur-
 Gospel is not of man, but -of Christ. He reveals it. He pose, namely, the gathering in of Jacob-Israel that shall


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   5



glorify Him; let not the people fear!                    the Son in His beauty. And everyone shall express His
  What a day that shall be when they shall all be glory!
assembled before Him! When the preaching of the (Note: This Meditation is based on a sermon preached
gospel shall have attained its end, when God through on the occasion of Rev. G. C. Lubber's installation as
the preaching shall call all His sons and daughters who Missionary to Jamaica.)
then shall surround. Him as He shall be manifested in


Editorial'

                     As To That "Mew Eye Opener Tract"
                                             Pro8  H. C Hoekserna

  In connection with our discussion of Bible transla- King James Version cannot be made on this radical
tions, several of our readers called my attention to a basis. Those who attempt it are likely to receive a jolt
little tract published by a certain Missionary J. J. Ray, some day, should they encounter someone who is op-'
Junction City, Oregon. This tract is a defense of the posed to the KJV and who is able to expose the very
King James Version over against all other translations obvious error of the radical position taken in this
and versions solely on the basis of the claim that the pamphlet.
King James Bible is founded on the Greek  Textus           You see, a radical over-simplification of the issue is
Receptus (Received Text), which& turn, is claimed to not a strong position, but a weak one. Should any
be the only authentic Greek text of the New Testa- opponent of the KJV be able to show that this one,
ment. It contains a list of "200 KEY REFERENCES" apparently simple, argument  based on the  Textus
which "show how all modern Bibles differ from the Receptus is false, the entire position of this tract is
King James Version, and the Greek  Textus Receptus destroyed. And the friend of the KJV is then left with
from which it was translated." And in connection with the proverbial "mouth full of teeth." This tract leaves
these 200 references it furnishes statistics showing how the impression that anyone with a smattering of
various other versions differ from the King James Ver- knowledge that there is such a thing as a Greek Textus
sion by omitting, bracketing, or italicizing as  non- Receptus and even without any knowledge of New
authentic many of these 200 expressions which are Testament Greek and of the entire science known as
found in the King James Version and in the Greek "textual criticism" is able to apply the acid test and to
Textus Receptus. We will not enter into all of the defend the KJV as the only authentic text. This is a
claims made in this tract in detail. Rather do we call case of "A little learning is a dangerous thing."
your attention to the fundamental argument of the          As is well-known to our readers, I am a defender of
author under the heading, "Here's The Acid Test." the King James Version and an opponent of the intro-
This "acid test" is stated as follows: "Any version of duction of all kinds of new versions for general Bible-
the Bible, that does not agree with the  Greek  Textus reading usage. But I certainly do not want to be bound
Receptus, from which the King James Bible was trans- hand and foot to the King James Version. And I am by
lated in 1611, is certainly to be founded upon cor- no means ready to call for a book-burning party at
rupted manuscripts."                                     which all the other versions will constitute the fuel for
  On the basis of this so-called "acid test" many a gigantic bonfire. And in my studies and exegetical
severe warnings are sounded to adhere to the King work I will not allow anyone to bind me to the Greek
James Version and condemnatory statements are made Textus Receptus. Nor will I defend the KJV on the
concerning all departures from the Greek  Textus basis that it alone is correct when it comes to the
Receptus, (which, by the way, concerns only the New textual variations involved in these "200 key refer-
Testament!).                                             ences." Nor, in fact, would I care to defend the KJV
  To the unwary reader this tract might seem to be a solely  on textual grounds. One almost gets the impres-
strong defense of the King James Version; and seem- sion from this tract that the  Textus Receptus  is an
ingly some of my readers have sent me this tract  foli exact copy of the autographs, the New Testament as it
that very reason.                                        came from the pens of the sacred writers, or that it
  However, at the risk of being in the uncomfortable dropped out of heaven, rather than coming from the
position of opposing someone who defends the King Amsterdam and Leyden printing presses of the Elzevir
James Version, I must disagree with the position taken Brothers.
in this tract; and I must warn that a defense of the       No, this tract, while it leaves the impression of


6                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



taking a very strong position, actually takes a position WHICHSHALLPREPARETHYWAYBEFORETHIEE."
of weakness.                                                  You can imagine a little how easy it would be to make
     We must not try to defend the KJV on an absolute mistakes in the process of copying such a manuscript!
basis. Nor must we try to defend it on the ground that          Thus it comes about that there are thousands of
it is in every key instance textually correct. It is much such manuscripts, and that among these manuscripts
better to defend the KJV on a comparative basis - not there are many thousands of variations in the text.
as the onZy, but as the best English version. And it is Some of these variations may involve only a letter or a
correct to do so not merely on textual grounds, but on single word. Some were unintentional mistakes, such as
the basis of all the considerations which enter into the the repetition of a line already printed. Some were
picture, such as accuracy of the text, inclusiveness of well-intentioned changes, the scribe thinking he was
text, accuracy and smoothness of translation, beauty correcting a mistake made in the copy which he was
and majesty of language, familiarity of the language copying. And undoubtedly there were also some inten-
and long-standing usage, etc. On this basis I will defend tional changes made by those who were attempting to
the proposition that it is far better for our people, our use the text to support their peculiar doctrinal views.
families, our schools, and our churches to stick to the         It is about these variations in the thousands of
use of one English version, the King James.                   manuscripts that the science of textual criticism is con-
     Without going into all the intricate details of the cerned. Properly, it is the task of this science to arrive
science known as "textual criticism," let me try to as nearly as possible at the original text of Scripture.
explain a few matters which will make plain the fallacy         It is in this connection that I said we should keep
of this tract's argument.                                     the proper perspective. In the first place, lest anyone
     First of all, we should keep this entire matter of imagine that this makes all of the New Testament
manuscripts and textual variations in the proper per- highly doubtful, it should be emphasized, on the con-
spective. As is commonly known, we do not have the trary, that the New Testament is extremely well pre-
original writings (often called "autographa") of the served. A.T. Robertson, An Introduction to the Textu-.
Scriptures. If we had these, this whole problem would al Criticism of the New Testament  Broadman Press,
not exist. Those autographa were perfect; and when we 1925, writes, pp. 69, 70:
speak of infallible inspiration, the ultimate reference is          But the wealth of manuscript evidence is a great
to these perfect original books. We have only copies of           blessing and helps us to restore the original text.
these books, however. And there are well over 4000 of             There is but a single manuscript that preserves most
such manuscript-copies of the New Testament. There is             of the Annals of  Tacitus. Only one manuscript gives
among them only one major manuscript which con-                   the Greek Anthology. The poems of Catullus come to
tains all of the New Testament intact. Several others             us in three manuscripts later than the fourteenth cen-
contain a large part of the New Testament. But many               tury A.D. The best attested texts like those of
are only one book, or a part of a book; and there are             Sophocles, Euripedes, Vergil, and Cicero can only
also hundreds of fragments, some of which contain                 count the manuscripts that give them by the hun-
                                                                  dreds. And these are from 500 to 1600 years after the
only a small piece of one of the N.T. books. These                autographs were written. The manuscripts of  AeS-
copies, mind you, are not nicely printed copies such as           chylus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Thucydides are
we can buy today at a bookstore. No, they were all                1400 years after the death of the authors. Those of
hand copied. Some of the earliest fragments were                  Catullus and Euripides are 1600. Those for Plato are
copied by hand on papyrus rolls. Later, in the fourth             1300 and those for Demosthenes are 1200. Only
century, they began to make copies of parts or all of             Vergil has one manuscript in the fourth century and
the Scriptures in book form, on parchment. Also these             two in the fifth (cf. Kenyon, op. cit. p. 5).
were laboriously hand-printed by scribes, or companies              But this is not all. There are some 8,000 manu-
of scribes, and in a manner which makes it a tremen-              scripts of the Latin Vulgate and at least 1,000 for the
dously laborious task to decipher them today. For                 other early versions. Add over 4,000 Greek manu-
example, there is a whole group of important manu-                scripts and we have 13,000 manuscript copies of
                                                                  portions of the New Testament. Besides all this, much
scripts called uncials.  These were written in all capital        of the New Testament can be reproduced from the
letters, much like what children call printing letters. In        quotations of early Christian writers. It was obviously
a picture of a part of such a manuscript which I have             impossible for the New Testament to perish from the
before me as I write this, there is no Ijunctuation, no           earth unless the world itself were to be destroyed.
separation between words,  - simply a continuous                  Even then much of it will go to heaven in the minds
string of block-style letters. It would be much as                and hearts of the saints.
though I would print, say, Mark 1: 1 and 2 as follows           But, secondly, of how much importance are the
(but not even in such neatly printed letters):  "THE- textual variations? One scholar, Nestle, sets the num-
BEGINNINGOFTHEGOSPELOFJESUSCHRISTTHE-                         ber of textual variations at about 150,000. He tells us
SONOFGODASITISWRITTENINTHEPROPHETS-                           that only one-twentieth of these has any significant
BEHOLDISENDMYMESSENGERBEFORETHYFACE-                          authority to support it. But, mind you, of this  one-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   7



twentieth there is again only one-twentieth which is of printer, Froben, and in a race to beat the publication
any significance for the meaning of Holy Scripture. of the Complutensian, Erasmus hurriedly prepared his
This already reduces that 150,000 to about 375 signifi- first edition for publication in 15 16. It was based on
cant variations in the whole of the New Testament! manuscripts from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries;
Add to this the fact that there is no single article of and again, parts were filled in from the Latin Vulgate.
faith which depends on these variant readings! And In 1522 Erasmus published his third edition, which
add to this the fact that even of these 375, many are of became the foundation of the  Textus Receptus for
very small importance! Another scholar, Hort, tells us Britain since it was followed by Robert Stephen.
that "the amount of what can in any sense be called Peculiar about this third edition is the fact that be-
substantial variation . . . can hardly form more than a cause of a rash promise made to the editor of the
thousandth part of the entire text." There is, there- Complutensian, Erasmus inserted I John 5 : 7 although
fore, only a very, very small fraction of the entire New he rightly inferred that it had been translated from the
Testament about which there is any textual question. I Latin, according to A.T. Robertson. This is interesting
do not write this to belittle the science of textual criti- because it explains how this passage found its way into
cism; the latter is important and valuable. But no one the Textus Receptus.
should be left with the impression that we have a            Next followed the work of Robert Stephen, a
doubtful Bible, an undependable Bible, - especially in printer at Paris. It was Stephen's third edition which
view of the fact that our King James Version was trans- became known as the  Textus Receptus for Britain,
lated before many of the manuscripts had been dis- 1550. It was mainly the text of Erasmus's fourth and
covered and before the science of textual criticism had fifth editions, but it contained marginal readings from
developed. The Lord our God has in His providence the Complutensian and  from. fifteen manuscripts,
and grace taken care that His church has a dependable among which were D (from the sixth century) and L
Bible even in the English language!                       (from the eighth century). This work is recognized as
  But what about this thing called the  Textus the first collection of  vario.b? readings of any impor-
Receptus?                                                 tance, and is said to have  be&-of real value to stu-
  The simple fact is that the  Textus Receptus is a dents, in spite of its many defects.
printed edition of the Greek New Testament, pub-             Theodore Beza, the friend and successor of John
lished by the Elzevir brothers of Leyden and Amster- Calvin at Geneva, is responsible for ten editions of the
dam in the year 1633. It is  not  a manuscript. It is a Greek Testament from 1565 to 1611. However, it is
printed edition based on other printed editions, and, said that he was not diligent in collecting fresh material
for the most part only indirectly, on some manuscripts for the correction of the text, though he had access to
of late date. It was produced long before the great two important major manuscripts for the Gospels and
majority of the more than 4000 manuscripts men- Acts.and for the Pauline Epistles. His textual basis was
tioned earlier had even been discovered. And it was mostly Stephen's fourth edition, with partial substitu-
produced before the science of textual criticism had tion of new readings by himself and partial use of
been developed. The marvel is that the  Textus Erasmus and the Complutensian. Beza's Latin Transla-
Receptus is as good as it is! And let me hasten to add: tion and Commentary, however, were a guide for the
it is indeed a basically sound text! But it is not what is Genevan  Bible, which was a forerunner of the King
called a critical edition, that is, not the product of James Version and exercised a marked influence on the
textual-critical study.                                   latter.
  To understand the rise of this  Textus Receptus a          This brings us to what is commonly known as the
little review of history is necessary.                    Textus Receptus. The brothers Bonaventure and
  The first printed copy of the Greek New Testament Abraham Elzevir established a press at Leyden and
was the Complutensian, prepared by the Spanish later at Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from which they
Cardinal Ximenes, printed in 1514, was not actually issued seven successive editions of the Greek Testa-
published until 1522, due to a delay in approval by ment (1624 to 1678). Their second edition, 1633:
Pope Leo X. Authorities differ somewhat as to the which was actually printed in London and which con-
basis of this edition. But they agree that whatever tained notes by Robert Stephen among others, is the
manuscripts were used, they were late ones, probably one which became known as the Textus Receptus. It is
from at least the eleventh century to the fifteenth. based on that of Stephen and Beza and the last edition
Some even claim that the passage of I John 5:7, which of Erasmus. But here is the interesting fact. Where did
appears in only a couple of late Greek manuscripts, this expression Textus Receptus (Received Text) come
was inserted by way of translation back into the Greek from? The 1633 edition of the Elzevir Brothers con-
from the Latin Vulgate.                                   tained the announcement in Latin to the effect that
  Erasmus, the prince of humanists and the pride  (?) here was the "text received by all," (Textum ergo
of Rotterdam, was responsible for the first edition habes  nunc AB OMNIBUS RECEPTUM). As Vincent
which was published. At the suggestion of a Base1  .puts it, "The term `Textus  Receptus' is, in itself, un-


8                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



truthful. It was put forth simply as a clever advertise-          discovery of many manuscripts is very small indeed. To
ment of an enterprising publisher. The edition which this, too, many New Testament scholars must agree.
bore this pretentious announcement varied somewhat                  But if you know this history, and understand some-
from that of 1624 in the correction of some of the thing of the story of the manuscripts and of textual
worst misprints, though it retained others equally bad, criticism, then it is abundantly plain that it is a grave
and added a few of its own."                                      mistake to set up the so-called  Textus Receptus as
     And thus it is that they speak of a Textus Receptus THE standard by which the value of any English ver-
for Britain (Stephen's edition) and a Textus Receptus sion is to be judged. Providentially, the KJV was based
for the Continent (Elzevirs' edition of 1633). And the on a substantially correct text, indeed; but to claim
King James Version is based primarily upon the that the KJV is based on the only authentic text is a
Stephanus-Beza-Elzevir text. There was some use weak argument, not a strong one.
made of other manuscripts; but many manuscripts                     In conclusion, therefore, I repeat: while the purpose
were not then discovered and accordingly could not be of this "Eye Opener Tract" to defend the King James
used.                                                             Version is a good one, and while I am heartily in favor
     Now, as was said, the Textus Receptus, which lies at of the retention of the King James Version, I cannot
the basis of the King James Version, is basically a go along with the argument of this tract,.and,  in fact,
sound edition. Many scholars will agree to this. And as would warn against being fooled by this weak
we pointed out, the number of significant variations in argument.
the text which have been brought to light through the


All Around Us

                                                "Of Many Versions"
                                                       Merger News
                                Protests in the Gereformeerde Kerken
                                    A Footnote to Heart Transplants

                                                          Pro! H. Hanko

"OF MANY VERSIONS"                                               goes on:
     In a recent issue of "The Banner of Truth" appeared                   The purpose of Scripture is to reveal God to us in
a reprint from "Missionary Monthly" written by Johr.                 His fulness and grace thereby to do His work to build
R. De Witt in which he makes some interesting com-                   Christ's church, to change lives, to incorporate us into
                                                                     the new creation of God. It is practical, direct, effec-
ments on the proliferation of Bible translations. Some               tive, sharp and quick and powerful, more so than a
of these comments are worth sharing with our readers.                two-edged sword. . . .
     After making it clear that he is not opposed to Bible                 The ancients understood this. It was not only be-
translations in themselves, he writes:                               cause a few men could read, and fewer still could
          I do however, have some critical reflections on the        possess for themselves a copy of the sacred writings,
      subject of translations and their use which probably           that so great an accent fell upon the memorization of
      are  not popular and which certainly are very little           the Scriptures. Others have understood it, too. It is
      considered . . . It seems to me that one. of the chief         not for nothing that on the title page of the Author-
      considerations in the study of the Word of God is the          ized (King James) Version the words appear:
      need not  olzly abstractly and objectively to penetrate        `appointed to be read in churches.' To be sure, the
      into its meaning, within a certain historical frame-           words mean that the translation had a very high,
      work and the context of the place each part of Scrip-          authoritative status. One notices, however, that the
      ture occupies in the history of God's dealings with his        familiar version reads much better out loud than any
      people - such things are of course enormously signifi-         of the other, more recent, and sometimes more ac-
      cant, and one only does men a disservice when he               curate translations of the Bible. Why? Because atten-
      depreciates them,  but also  to absorb, to assimilate          tion clearly was paid to this very matter. The transla-
      that meaning into the very substance of one's own              tors were concerned with the oral effect of their
      life.                                                          work, with the ease with which it could be used in
     After quoting several pertinent texts, the author               public and private worship, and  - still more  - with


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         9



    the facility with which men could commit verses and               Synod. Talks have been under way for two years.
    whole passages to memory, thus helping them to hide                 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has 13 1  affli-
    it in their hearts. Everyone knows and has been struck           ated churches and 14,000 members. The Reformed
    by the grandeur and beauty of the cadences in the                Presbyterian Church - Evangelical Synod has 115 af-
    common version; not everyone has realized what an                filiated congregations and 11,000 members. The lat-
    enormous aid these are to the getting of the Scrip-              ter is distinct from the Reformed Presbyterian
    tures by heart, the memorizing of them.                          Church, sometimes called the  "Covenanters" in refer-
  From this the author draws some conclusions. He                    ence to early Presbyterians in Scotland. Orthodox
freely admits that there are advantages to newer trans-              Presbyterian leaders, meanwhile, reported an increase
lations. But he goes on to say:                                      of 1.1 percent in membership.
           It does seem to me incontrovertible, however, that           A survey of attitudes about the proposed union
    there are great advantages in the use of a single, great         indicates that most ministers on the Reformed Pres-
    translation of the Word of God  - not to the exclu-              byterian side expect and want that union to occur.
    sion of others, which indeed may be consulted occa-              An extensive but informal mail survey was conducted
    sionally. I refer to the devotional reading of                   by Rev. George P. Hutchinson. The survey revealed
    Scripture, its memorization, its use in worship: in a            that "Christian Liberty" is easily the most significant
    word, to the reading of the Scripture in every other             consideration in most  RPs' minds as an obstacle to
    instance than the specific study of certain portions of          union, receiving four times more recognition than any
    it.                                                              other issue.
           When and while one reads, he ought to be getting             The practical advantages of union are regarded as
    the Word by heart, allowing his whole being to be                the primary incentive for union, although a sense of
    saturated with what he reads, permitting it to affect            scriptural authority and a desire for a more Reformed
    him  intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. And if he         church were mentioned with less frequency. Of the
    changes his versions by the day or week or even year,            94 replies, 59 state that they are leaning toward
    though some advantage may be gained in terms of the              union.
    understanding of an occasional thought or word, yet            While the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is also talk-
    the end result will be that he knows no version thor-        ing merger with the Christian Reformed Church, much
    oughly, that his mind is quite confused as to the            of the desire for such a union is gone among Orthodox
    wording of the Scriptures, that, in short, he memo-          Presbyterians. These continue. to be alarmed at the
    rizes and gets by heart nothing at all.                      strong tendencies towards liberalism among Christian
           My'own view is that people ought to choose a          Reformed Churches.
    great, churchly, version of the Scriptures  - not one
    produced privately, or by a group of men working on          PROTESTS IN THE GEREFORMEERDE KERKEN
    their own  - and stick to it, getting it by heart, learn-      Again quoting from the RES Newsletter, we call at-
    ing it, mulling over it, loving it, letting it penetrate     tention to the large number of protests against the
    them, altogether, so that its language becomes their         liberalism in the Gereformeerde Kerken with which
    own. Leave the litter of modern translations or para-        .their Synod must deal.
    phrases to one side, except for the purposes of occa-               In an interview in Trouw, Dr. P. G. Kunst, presi-
    sional consultation and study. Which version? That is,           dent of the General Synod of the Reformed Churches
    of course, not easy to say. My view continues to be              in the Netherlands, stated that he has received at least
    that whatever its drawbacks in terms of the text upon            200 letters of protest concerning the new theological
    which it was based and the increase of our acquaint-             views of Prof. H. M. Kuitert and others. The protests
    ance with the biblical background since it was pro-              come from individual persons, consistories, classes
    duced, the King James Version remains unequalled in              and two provincial synods. In many letters, Dr. Kunst
   the splendour of its language, its devoutness, its dig-           stated, the same train of thought was obvious and he
   nity, and its sheer memorizableness. To be sure, some             attributed this to an "organized concern." In the ma-
    difficulties have to be overcome. Some words need to             jority of letters, however, he detected a tone of up-
   be checked in a good dictionary. But what of that?                right concern. The letters have been forwarded to a
    Have it always with you, read it, and get it by heart!           committee which will present the Synod with advice.
  The author has made, in our opinion, some very                     While most of the letters deal with the views of Pro-
excellent comments on this subject and we find our-                  fessor Kuitert, many of them, especially those which
selves in wholehearted agreement with them.                          do not display the same pattern, deal with the bind-
                                                                     ing force of the church confessions.
MERGER NEWS                                                             In answer to the question whether in his view
  From the RES Newsletter we quote the following:                    there is room within the Reformed churches for the
           A merger between two small Presbyterian groups is         views of Kuitert, Dr. Kunst replied, "There must be
   a step nearer in the wake of the yearly meeting of                room within the frame of the confessions for diverse
   leaders of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, held in              views. This is not just my personal view, the Synod
   Portland.                                                         has said it. That became clear in our discussions con-
           The General Assembly authorized a negotiating             cerning the relation to the Liberated churches.
   committee to work out a possible plan of merger with              Whether this is the same leaway as Kuitert expects, is
   the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical                     a question which the committee and the Synod will


10                                                         THESTANDARD BEARER


        have to decide. I am personally of the opinion that                 A FOOTNOTE TO HEART TRANSPLANTS
       Professor Kuitert by his way of writing and his  open-                  In several newspapers an interesting news item was
       heartedness - I would say his disarming openhearted-                 carried concerning an interview with the daughter of
       ness  - has aroused justified criticism." In the view of             Dr. Philip Blaiberg who was the world's first heart
        Dr. Kunst a compromise is not possible. "A division                 transplant patient and who died a little over a year ago
       in the church should not be charmed away at all                      after his body rejected the new heart and after he had
        costs. I stand for Reformed churches which know
       what they confess."                                                  lived with the new heart 19 months and 15 days. The
           The General Synod will meet during the last week                 news item was carried by UP1 and datelined Capetown,
        of October to deal with the letters of protest.                     South Africa.
      It would be a surprising though welcome develop-                         In this interview, the daughter of Dr. Blaiberg says
ment if these letters of protest resulted in a strong and that the 19 months during which her father lived with
uncompromising condemnation of the heretical views his new heart were "hell". She claimed that her father
of Dr. Kuitert. But this is unlikely. It is unlikely in the was, after the transplant, a different man, that he
light of past decisions which the Synod has made  - underwent a complete personality change and that the
decisions which have already severely compromised the change was for the worse. She speaks of the terrible
doctrinal stand of the Gereformeerde Kerken; it is un- physical suffering which he endured and of the all but
likely in the light of the fact that the views which are impossible task of living even a semblance of a normal
being taught by Kuitert and many others involve these life. It was her opinion that the heart transplant was
men in a violation of the Formula of Subscription - a not worthwhile.
matter that has never been treated and, if it had been                         She admittedly does not know whether the person-
treated, would long ago have resulted in their deposi- ality change which cam'e over her father was due to the
tion; it is unlikely in view of the fact that those who transplant or to the drugs which he was forced to take;
oppose Kuitert do not do so with any kind of severity but her interview raises some very interesting ques-
- a severity which the situation demands if the Re- tions. When this operation was first performed, we
formed faith is to be preserved in these churches. For raised questions in an article in this column  - ques-
the most part, the ones who protest are mild and tions which we thought ought to be answered in the
equivdcal.  There is a spirit of tolerance abroad in the light of the major role Scripture assigns to the heart of
churches. And this tolerance extends -to the most vi- man. These remarks of Miss Blaiberg add urgency to
cious heresies. It is a tolerance which permits the these questions. It would seem that until they are
church to sit by while the devil captures her confession answered, a heart transplant is ethically out for a
and destroys it.                                                            Christian.
                                                                                                                                             -

Contending for the Faith

                         The Doctrine of Atonement
                                                   FIRST PERIOD - 80-254 A.D.

                                                           R e v .   H .   V e l d m a n

      In this article we would call attention to the views                       of the celebrated Clement at the catechetical school,
of Origen with respect to the doctrine of atonement.                             he received a pious and le'arned  education. While yet a
Concerning this church father Philip Schaff,.in his His-                         boy, he knew whole sections of the Bible by memory,
tovy of  t&e Christian Church,  `writes in Vol. II,                              and not rarely perplexed his father with questions on
786-787:                                                                         the deeper sense of Scripture. The father reproved his
                                                                                 curiosity, but thanked God for such a son, and often,
          Origenes, surnamed "Adamantius" on account of                          as he slept, reverentially kissed his breast as a temple
       his industry and purity of character, is one of the                       of the Holy Spirit. Under the persecution of
       most remarkable men in history for genius and learn-                      Septimius  Severus in 202, he wrote to his father in
       ing, for the influence he exerted on his age, and for                     prison, beseeching him not to deny Christ for the
       the controversies and discussions to which his opin-                      sake of his family, and strongly desired to give him-
       ions gave rise. He was born of Christian parents at                       self up to the heathen authorities, but was prevented
       Alexandria, in the year 185, and probably baptized in                     by his mother, who hid his clothes.  Leonides died a
       childhood, according to Egyptian custom which he                          martyr, and, as his property was confiscated, he left a
       traced to apostolic origin. Under the direction of his                    helpless widow, with seven children. Origen was for a
       father, Leonides, who was probably a rhetorician, and                     time assisted by a wealthy matron, and then sup-


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        11



    ported himself by giving instruction in the Greek lan-             And there is nothing absurd in a man having died,
    guage and literature, and by copying manuscripts.               and in His death being not only an example of death
  Later, in the same chapter, on page 790, Philip                   endured for the sake of piety, but also the first blow
Schaff writes the following appraisal of this church                in the conflict which is to overthrow the power of
father:                                                             that evil spirit the devil, who had obtained dominion
           It is impossible to deny a respectful sympathy,          over the whole world. For we have signs and pledges
    veneration and gratitude to this extraordinary man,             of the destruction of his empire, in those who
    who, with all his brilliant talents and a host of enthu-        through the coming of Christ are everywhere escaping
    siastic friends and admirers, was driven from his coun-         from the power of demons, and who, after their  de:
    try, stripped of his sacred office, excommunicated              liverance from this bondage in which they were held,
    from a part of the church, then thrown into a dun-              consecrate themselves to God, and earnestly devote
    geon, loaded with chains, racked by torture, doomed             themselves day by day to advancement in a life of
    to drag his aged frame and dislocated limbs in pain             piety.
    and poverty, and long after his death to have his              Seeberg,  in his  History of Doctrines,  Vol. I, pages
    memory branded, his name anathematized, and his             154-l 55, writes the following concerning the sufferings
    salvation denied; but who nevertheless did more than        and atonement of Christ:
    all his enemies combined to advance the cause of                   The death of Christ is accordingly presented in the
    sacred learning, to refute and convert heathens and             light of deliverance from the power of the devil and
    heretics, and to make the church respected in the               the demons; sacrifice for sin offered to God; the puri-
    eyes of the world.                                              fication of man from sin; and the advocacy of man's
  Origen writes about the atonement and sufferings of               cause before the Father. (Incidentally, there are refer-
Christ in his refutation of the teachings of a certain              ences in the writings of Origen to which  Seeberg  re-
Celsus. Celsus was a pagan philosopher and controver-               fers but to which we do not have access.  - H.V.)
sialist against Christianity. These quotations of Origen,           Through sin the souls of men have surrendered them-
in his refutation of Celsus, are taken from Vol. IV of              selves to the devil. Jesus gave his soul (life) to death
the  Ante-Nicene Fathers.  These writings are divided               as an exchange or ransom to redeem them from the
into eight books and each book is again subdivided                  devil. But the devil was not able to retain these souls
into several chapters.                                              ("For he controlled us until the ransom for us, the
                                                                    soul of Jesus, was given to him, deceived as being able
  In the following quotation, Book I, 54, Origen rec-               to rule over it, and not observing that he does not
ognizes the fact that the salvation of the believer is              possess the touchstone for maintaining possession of
dependent upon the sufferings and death of Christ:                  it," in Joh. 16: 8). Thus the souls of men - even those
           And since Celsus, although professing to know all        in Hades  - became free from the power of the devil
    about the Gospel, reproaches the Saviour because of             and his demons. An idea is thus expressed which was
    His sufferings, saying that He received no assistance           destined to play an important role in the History of
    from the Father, or was unable to aid Himself; we               Doctrines. (b) Sin requires a  propitiatio   before God,
    have to state that His sufferings were the subject of           and this is effected by the bringing of a sacrifice.
    prophecy, along with the cause of them; because it              Christ is the high-priest, who offered to God in our
    was for the benefit of mankind that He should die on            behalf his own blood as a spotless sacrifice, in order
    their account, and should suffer stripes because of His         that God might become gracious to us and forgive our
    condemnation. (And then, in this same paragraph,                sins. He bore in our stead the penalty belonging to us
    Origen quotes two passages from Isaiah 53, the verses           (in Joh. 28: 14, p, 355: "And he assumed our sins and
    13-l 5 and the verses l-8.)                                     was bruised for our iniquities, and the penalty which
  Also in Book II, 23 Origen speaks of this benefit of              was our due in order to our discipline and the recep-
Christ's sufferings for all mankind, and we quote:                  tion of peace came upon him"). Since Christ thus, as
           Since, therefore, He voluntarily assumed a body,         the Head of the church, intervenes for us, God is
    now wholly of a different nature from that of human             reconciled to us and we to God. This work of recon-
    flesh, so along with His body which it was not in His           ciliation extends beyond the world of men to the
    power to avoid enduring, it being in the power of               realm of the angels. Origen even seems to hint at a              _,'
    those who inflicted them to send upon Him things                continuation of the sufferings of Christ in heaven.         '
    distressing and painful. And in the preceding pages we          Thus the sufferings of Christ constitute a sacrifice
    have already shown, that He would not have come              which is offered to God as an atonement for sin,
    into the hands of men had He not so willed. But He              while at the same time his soul was delivered to Satan
    did come, because He was willing to come, and be-               as a ransom.
    cause it was manifest beforehand that His dying upon          We may say, in regard to the history of the doctrine
    behalf of men Would be of advantage to the whole            of the atonement during this first period, 80-254 A.D.,
    human race.                                                 that the Church's conception of this work of our Lord
  Moreover, the death of Christ is not only presented Jesus Christ was not clearly and sharply defined. The
as a model for our dying on account of piety, but also Church certainly did not emphasize that the  work of
effects the beginning and progress of our deliverance Christ's atonement was limited to the elect. And the
from the evil one, the devil, as in VII, 17:                    essence of this work of Christ was not sharply set


12                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



forth. This, of course, is understandable. This sharp                    multitude of His followers; but also, that when He
definition of the sufferings of our Lord did not occur                   became a soul, without the covering of the body, He
until also this truth came under attack by the `enemies                  dwelt among those souls which were without  bodily
of the truth.                                                            covering, converting such of them as were willing to
      We would call attention, briefly, to one more phase                Himself, or those whom He saw, for reasons known
of the truth before we call attention to the second                      to Him alone, to be better adapted to such a course.
period of the church in the New Dispensation, as ex-                   What Origen says here is plain language. When this
pressed also in our Apostles' Creed: Christ's descension church father writes of Jesus that He became a soul
into hell. Concerning this Hagenbach writes, and we without the covering of the body, he refers, of course
quote:                                                               to the moment of His death upon the cross of Calvary.
           We have seen that the fathers of this period,  wit&       It was then, according to Origen, that Jesus dwelt
        the exception of Origen, limited the direct efficacy of      among those souls without bodily covering, and this
        Christ's death to this world. But several writers of the    means that Jesus descended into Hades. Although it is
        second and third centuries thought that it was also         not clear just what the authors of the Apostles' Creed
        retrospective in its effects, and inferred from some         understood by the expression, "descended into hell,"
        allusions in Scripture that Christ descended into the        because of the fact that it appears in the confession
        abode of the dead (underworld, Hades), to announce           after Jesus' death and burial, thereby leaving the im-
        to the souls of the patriarchs, etc., there abiding, the    pression that it must have occurred after His burial,
        accomplishment of the work of redemption, and to            Hagenbach calls attention to the fact that church
        conduct them with him into the kingdom of his                fathers of the early or first period spoke of a "descen-
        glory.
      Origen, in his writings against Celsus, writes in Book sion into hell." He does say that the passage quoted
II, 43, the following:                                              from Ignatius is doubtful. He states that more definite
           Celsus next addresses to us the following remark:        language is first used by Ireneaus, and he calls atten-
        "You will not, I suppose, say of him that, after failing    tion to the quotation which we have quoted from the
        to gain over those who were in this world, he went to       writings of Origen. This concludes our articles on the
        Hades to gain over those who were there." But                atonement of Christ as set forth by the Church in
        whether he likes it or not, we assert that not only         the early or first period of the New Testament. The
        while Jesus was in the body did He win over not a           Lord willing, we will next call attention to the second
        few persons merely, but so great a number, that a            period, from the year 254 to the year 730.
        conspiracy was formed against Him on account of the



Pn His Fear

                                     A Shift of Emphasis
                                                           Rev. John A. Heys

      Quite suddenly we moved from the "Atomic Age" go to the ant and be wise. Paul tells the  Thessalo-
to the "Space Age." So quickly does time fly. So nians that "If any would not work neither should he
quickly are we speeding toward the end of the ages.                 eat. " II Thessalonians 3: 10. And that man who is
      Looking at the matter from another point of view,             spiritual will be zealous also as far as his physical,
observing the change in family life and the social struc-           natural needs are concerned.
ture sonieone once said, "We are in the shift age.                     But when the emphasis is upon the material rather
Father works the night shift. Mother works the day                  than upon the spiritual we are not walking in His fear,
shift. And the children shift for themselves." And but in sin. When we seek the material as an end in
therein we do see a shift in emphasis.                              itself, when we seek earthly things only because we
      What we have in mind is a shift from the spiritual to         want earthly things, we walk contrary to the fear of the
the material. We need both. As earthly creatures,                   Lord. Matthew 6:33 teaches us, "But seek ye first the
created out of the dust of the ground, depending upon               kingdom of God and its righteousness; and all these
that which grows in the dust of the earth for our very              things (the material that we need in order to seek the
life, we must seek the material. We need food, clothing             kingdom) will be added to you." Certainly when we
and shelter. There can be no denying of that. And twist this around and live from the principle, "Seek ye
Scripture rebukes us if we are not diligent in seeking first the earthly; and all these things of God's kingdom
the things of this earth. Solomon tells the sluggard to             will be added unto you" we not only commit great


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      13



folly5 but we walk in wickedness. Does John not coufi-         liberately that he must be born again, because, being
se1 us? "Love not the world, neither the things in the         spiritually dead, he needs life. Nothing short of new
world." And then he explains what these things in the          spiritual life will enable him even to see that there is
world actually are (in spite of what nice names we may         such a kingdom.
give to them) when he calls them the lust of the flesh,          But we are speaking of those in the church where
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. I John 2: 15,      rebirth has taken place. We are speaking of those who
16. And while father works the night shift, mother             are able to seek and have been seeking the things of
works the day shift, and the children shift for them-          God's kingdom because they have been made spiritu-
selves, the dollar, pleasures of the flesh, and ambitions      ally alive. We are at least speaking of the sphere where
of the evil nature are  worshilped; and the covenant           such seeking has been conducted and where you ex-
seed is neglected, is trained to walk out of His fear,         pect works in the fear of God's name. Many covenant
walks with mother and father in a materialistic way,           parents are shifting the emphasis from the spiritual to
and travels arm in arm with the world.                         the material and are drifting into gross worldliness.
   Of course, a shift of emphasis such as this is found          Indeed, the pressures of the day are here. The high
only in the church. And that is what makes it so tragic,       cost of Christian instruction makes it almost manda-
You cannot speak of a shift of emphasis, and therefore         tory that mother go out on the day shift and that
you cannot speak of a shift of emphasis in the world.          father take a higher paying night shift to make ends
The unbeliever seeks only the material. He never shifts        meet. We are being sorely tried to give up Christian
from the material to the spiritual, and he never shifts instruction for our children because of the tremendous
back from the spiritual to the material. And this.is true      cost of obtaining it. But we do not label such work on
exactly because he is spiritually dead. He is not spiritu-     the part of both parents as a shift of the emphasis to
ally weak, sick, or paralyzed. He is spiritually dead.         the material when in all sincerity the labour is sought
That is why Jesus says that we have to be born again.          and performed solely in order to provide Christian edu-
A sick man needs healing to be able to resume his              cation for the children, and when father and mother
work. A weak man needs a new supply of strength, and make full use of every moment still available to train
the paralyzed needs a new surge of power in his nerves         their children, and when it is not a case of trying to
and muscles in order to work again. But a dead man             raise this school tuition while still seeking to prosper
needs new life. It is not a case of working upon the old materially and to get ahead with the pleasures and trea-
life to restore some of its activities. It is a case of        sures of the world.
receiving life itself.                                           With the emphasis upon the spiritual the child of
   That the natural man is spiritually dead does not           God is willing to sacrifice and go without luxuries and
mean that he cannot do any spiritual work. It means many conveniences. Paul tells the Philippians that he
that he cannot do any work that is spiritually good. He `counts all things but loss for the excellency of the
is constantly doing spiritual deeds. There always is knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. Moses gave up all
ethical, moral content tQ what he does. The awfulness the treasures of Egypt to walk in God's fear and to be
of it is that he always does that which is spiritually evil    able to seek the spiritual. And when parents will not
in God's sight. All his actions are motivated by hatred        sacrifice a few conveniences and luxuries in order to be
of the living God. All he can do is rebel against his          able to provide a Christian education for their children
Creator, Who gives him his life, his food and drink, his in His fear and find it therefore necessary to work the
clothing and shelter.                                          night shift and day shift and let the children shift for
  The apostle Paul points out this spiritual death of themselves in their training and Christian education, it
the natural man when he tells the Ephesians that God is a shift of emphasis from the spiritual to the material,
hath quickened them, who were dead in trespasses and even though these children are sent to a Christian
sins. They were not physically dead. They were dead in         school for their formal education.
trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2: 1. And that they are           Have you not gone through that experience? Yes,
quickened, that is, made alive, underscores the fact you are both on the day shift, and mother is home
that the natural man is  fiTcapable of doing anything          when the children leave in the morning and back home
that is spiritually good, though he is physically alive.       before the children return from school. And father,
Paul gives another very clear description of this spiritu- though he has put in a few extra hours at overtime
ally dead man in Romans 3: 10-l 8 when he quotes pay, still is home with the children at night (If indeed
from the Psalms and points out what spiritual activity the baseball, softball team, the bowling team, the
the natural man performs. And it is because of this            fishing fever, the speedboat cruise and the like do not
awful condition that Jesus remarks that a man must be receive the emphasis and preference for his time). But
born again to see the kingdom. John 3: 3. That he can-         the work of the day has wearied us to the point where
not even see the kingdom then is not due to blindness.         we are irritable and out of sorts to do any training of
If that were the case Jesus could have and would have          the children except into irritability and into shifting
said that man needed healing to see. Now He says de- the emphasis from the spiritual to the material. It is


14                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



quite easy to teach the children. that last things come we could live without any of these luxuries and dain-
fEst and first things come last, because that is exactly ties. No one wants to give up any of the conveniences
their' own philosophy. This is a lesson they like to             and luxuries of the day. The clamor is for more and
learn. They will be eager, attentive students in that more goods, higher and higher wages, shorter and
classroom.                                                       shorter working hours to be able to live, as Paul points
      What is the cause of all this? First of all is the fact    out, as lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
that after our rebirth we still have the old nature. It What a shift of emphasis that is! But that is the point.
will not enter the new Jerusalen. There all the empha-             And a generation has arisen that starts on the top!
sis will always be on the spiritual, and we will fully be Young couples who marry today often must have all at
dedicated and consecrated to the -glory of God. But once; and then again husband and wife must both find
now we still have the flesh to molest and trouble us.            a shift to work, preferably simultaneous shifts, to
The rebirth does not do away with the first birth. At maintain that level of affluence. We have a generation
the rebirth something is added to us, but the old is not that does not know what it means to work themselves
subtracted by that rebirth. Only God by the cold hand up, but rather one that is worried about maintaining
of death makes this separation and frees the soul of all itself on the top while broadening out to further con-
that carnality.                                                  quest of the world.
      And because we have this old nature Satan can                For spiritual exercises there  is little or no time. A
tempt us, put pressure upon us, and draw us from the worldly minded generation arises that has learned to
spiritual to the material, from seeking the kingdom of worship the dollar and ought to hang on its wall, "Seek
light and unto seeking the kingdom of darkness, from a ye first the dollar and its buying power, and you will
walk in His fear to a walk void of His fear. If we did have added to you what really counts." No value is
not have that old nature he could not cause us to shift attached to the spiritual, but great value is placed on
from  .an upward look to a downward aim. He can the things of this life. And instead of trusting in a
dangle dainties before our eyes because we consider Saviour Who was called Jesus, "For He shall save His
them dainties. He can appeal to our lust exactly be- people fvom their sins" (Matthew 1:21) it becomes the
cause we still have our lust for the things of this world. rage of the day to trust in a "saviour" who will satisfy
      Not only has he a point of contact with us, but the materialistic, worldly cravings of those on the bot-
Satan has led the world to a tremendous climax of tom of the social pile. That fits in better with the spirit
affluence, to a fantastic pinnacle of materialistic ad- of the age. With a shift of emphasis from the spiritual,
vancement. We have arrived at such a high fulfillment the old theology of salvation from sin is left behind
of all the wealth of Babylon as she is pictured in Reve- and is discarded.
lation 18: 12ff by Satan's persistent goading and guid-            0, that in His fear, father and mother with the chil-
ing from paradise till the present moment that we have dren would work the spiritual shift that will be our
come to the point where we cannot possibly see how everlasting lot in the new Jerusalem.


From- Holy Writ

                             Exposition of John  1,:  18.
                                                      Rev.  G. Lubbers

      Salvation is of the Lord; it is from God alone. To           In the beginning was the Word (Logos)! The Word
Him be the glory, majesty, power and dominion, both was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God.
now and forevermore! For He is the God of all glory              The same was in the  beginn$g with God. All things
and of grace. Out of Him, through Him, and unto Him              were made by Him and without Him was not anything
are all things. This is particularly true when we receive made that was made!
the benefits of God's covenant in Christ Jesus.                    This explains the deep mystery of God, of His Son,
      We are given to see something of the deep back-            of Creation. It is the exegesis of Genesis 1, "In the
ground, the height and depth, the length and breadth,            beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
of this salvation, here in the context of John 1: 18.            And again, "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens
This section is known as the "prologue" of John's made, and all the host of them by the breath of His
Gospel. Here we are afforded a glimpse into the deep             mouth." (Psalms 33 :6)
background of God's essence and work, of the relation-             Emphatically this makes the Logos, the Son, very
ship of God and man, Creator and creature.                       God, the only Begotten Son in the bosom of the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    15



Father. He who denies this is antichrist. He denies and the active sense the term refers to that which  fills:a
opposes all that is of God, Denies God in Christ! He given measure. It is then the last drop of water
that has the Son has life, and he that does not have the which fills the vessel. On the other hand if the term be
Son does not have life.                                      taken passively it refers to the entire content of the
  There is in all of creation not any light, no speech of vessel, every drop of water in the pail, including the
God in the creature if it were not for this Logos. In last drop. We take fulness here to refer to all that is in
Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The the measure of Christ.
truth of God is manifested before the eyes of every             We must bear in mind that here is a measure which
man. No, the world does not recognize this speech knows no limit. The apostle Paul, speaking of this ful-
correctly. They did not know him.                            ness from the viewpoint of God's love, speaks of the
  Even, in the sphere of the Old Testament Covenant, length and breadth, the height and depth, that sur-
as God tabernacled amongst His people in the types passes all knowledge. He speaks of a God who is ex-
and shadows, His own things, the people of Israel did ceedingly able to do far above all that we can ask or
not know him by and large, even in the glory of the think; The fulness is immense,. deeper than the sea,
Shekinah. He came unto His own things, and His own higher than the heavens, as far as the. East iS from the
did not receive Him.                                         West! This is true of every perfection of grace in
  Thus in bold and clear strokes the apostle sketches Christ. It is not only true of the love, but also true of
us the history of the world, the history of the Logos grace, mercy and peace, of the power and might to
before he was made flesh in history. This is called by save !
theologians the "Logos a-sarkos", not-flesh. But then          And this fulness was displayed by Christ in all His
came the great central "moment" in history. It is the wonders, miracles, His mighty deeds. The lame walked,
mystery and wonder of the Incarnation. He who did the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, and the dead
not need to deem it robbery to be equal with God were called to life. It was all the ?ulness  of the godhead
came in the form of a man, a servant. (Phil. 2) God was in Him bodily. Thus it was the.fulness of the godhead
manifested in the flesh. The Word (Logos) was made in Him sustaining Him hi' his suffering in Gethsemane
flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, and on the cross at  C!alvary..`And all the fulness and
glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of superabounding greatness, the full immensity of this
grace and truth!                                             power of his might was shown, in the resurrection
  And it is in this situation and background that we from the dead, when he came forth triumphantly! And
read `<And from His fulness have we all received, even then he' went, to heaven; in:the fulness of the power of
grace for grace" (John 1: 18)                                His Godhead which was in Him bodily He ascended.
  Most emphatically this "fulness" ,(pZeeuoma)   is the And in that same fulness of blessing which he received
fulness of Him, the Word made flesh. This is important. from God by  the. promise of the Spirit, he bestows
to notice. It means that all the fulness of the godhead these great gifts upon us, showers of blessings! All the
dwells in Him bodily, that is, in the incarnated Son. spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
(Col. 2:8, 9) God tabernacled in our midst, still taber-       Of this "fulness" of Christ we have a picture in the
nacles in our midst, in him; He makes his abode and broken bread and poured out wine. For this fulness
resting-place in our midst.                                  which flows to us from the wells of salvation can be
  It is important to notice this and to confess this ours only when the foundation is opened. It was
basic fact of the incarnation lest we be carried about opened to us in the Word made flesh, in His suffering,
with every wind of doctrine by the sleight and cunning death, and resurrection. At the table of the Lord we
of men. We must not be carried away by the false receive from this fulness by faith even as we do so in
teaching and philosophy of men, which are the rudi- the washing of baptism, the washing of regeneration.
ments of man void of the Spirit, and which rudiments And it is from a fulness, a well which never grows dry.
are not according to Christ. It is the false teaching off      Our text argues for the reality of this "fulness". It's
man which ever denies that all the fulness of the God- real, 0, it's real. It is the argument from experience
head dwells bodily in Christ. It ever denies that it was here! It is an appeal to the sanctified and believing
the Father's  good:pleasure that all the fulness should heart and consciousness of all who were born not of
dwell in Christ, both those things which are in heaven flesh, nor of the will of men, nor of bloods, but who
and which are upon earth. We must deem it established were born out of God! (Vs. 13) For all have not  re--
as the rock of Gibraltor that the Word became flesh ceived from this fulness, nor did all drink waters from
and dwelt among us!                                          this well to quench their thirst forever!
  Only thus can we seriously consider that it is "His          No, the argument is from experience. And the writer
fulness". It is `the fulness of the Son, who has,life in appeals to a very wide audience. The Greek. text em-.
Himself even as the Father hath life in Him. He is able, phasizes -this exc+siveness of this very broad audience.
even as the Father, to forgive sins on earth. When we "We all" have received from His-fulness. "We", not all,
consider the term "fulness", we should notice that in have received. Yet, all of the living, reborn `members in


16                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



the church have received from this fulness! None are day, morning, noon and night!
excepted from this emphatic confession! The fulness is          Yes, grace for grace. No, we could not have received
in Him. The Word was made flesh. Proof and evidence? such a fulness from Moses. He is the law-giver, a
We all received from His fulness!                            faithful servant in God's house! But the Son is the
      Yes, this is a dogmatic truth. It belongs to the strut-' Builder! Grace and truth became a reality in Him. Yes,
tural truths of the Christian religion. Here is Theology, grace became a reality in Christ. That is the fulness in
Anthropology, Christiology, Soteriology, with all the Him. And from this fuhress have we all received. Grace
Eschatological perspectives and prospects of seeing for grace! 0', for a thousand tongues to speak of it!
God as He is, face to face! Yet, it is not simply a dog- Yea, one good tongue, touched with coals from the
natic, logical statement of the truth. It is the highest altar of God. A people prepared by God Himself to
polemic of faith which will not meet the unbeliever on proclaim the praises of this fulness! For this is the
his own ground of unbelief, but where the believers "truth" which was implicit in all the types and shad-
stand in joyful confession as those who have drunk ows of the law given by Moses. This was exemplified in
from the brook in the way, and have now lifted up all the things of the temple to which Christ came. He
their head in earnest expectation. Here is a giving ac- came and tabernacled in our midst. He fit exactly into
count of the hope which is in us to those who demand this temple. He ful-filled it. He did more than fill the
an answer!                                                   temple with His glory. He realized it and went to
      And here we stand in never-ending streams of heaven, and sat down on the right hand of the majesty
mercy!                                                       of God, the very effulgence of His glory, the expressed
      The text says that we receive from this fullness image of His being. Thus grace and truth became a
"grace for grace". Much has been said about the mean- reality in Him!
ing of this phrase. The interpretation, which would            And now we have the pledge and assurance!
make our receiving grace a work which ,we perform by           We have the proof of it. We have received from his
grace, is against the plain teaching of Christ and all the fulness. Well did John speak of him, and he cried and
Scriptures. This is basically the teaching of Roman still cries concerning  (peti) him: this was the one of
Catholicism. Better is the interpretation which makes whom I spake! He that  cometh after me is preferred
the sense "grace after grace." When the one grace has before me. He was before me.
been given from the fulness and we have received from          And Jesus says: Before Abraham was, I am!
this, then God has another grace in store for us from          And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call
this fulness. And, 0, these graces can be so manifold in upon his name, declare his doings among the people,
our life, more than we can count. We have a recounting make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the
of them in Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, 0, my soul, and Lord for he hath done excellent things . . . Cry out
forget not all his benefits; pardon of sins, right to life, thou inhabitant of Zion: For Great is the holy One of
hope of the resurrection, reviving of our spirits day by Israel in His fulness in the midst of thee! (Isaiah II)



                              Come Ye Apart... And Rest A ,While
                            (For children and teen-agers, and especially for young people.)

                                                    Rev. C Hanko

      Catechisms are once more in full swing.                you wonder why they bother to do it at all.
      Some of you are going for the first time; some are        Your catechism is important. I can already hear you
more familiar with catechism, some are veterans. You         say, "But so is my school work. And so is my music
have your memory work, the lessons in your work- lesson. And so is my practice for the team," etc. May-
book, your other assignments and your weekly meet- be all those are important. But `you cannot put cate-
ings. Somewhere in your busy schedule you must also          chism in the same category as those other things. Your
take time for all that.                                      school work is important? Well, this is more important.
      No, you must not try to squeeze it in somewhere.       Your other work is also important? This is far more
Some children and.also some teen-agers try to get away       important.
with as little work as possible. They quickly memorize          Catechism lessons always come first.
their lessons just before catechism, so that they can           You say, "You just think that because you are a
recite the answers; but by the time that they get home       preacher." Or maybe you counter with the argument,
they have forgotten already what they learned. Some          "My teacher says the same thing about my school
do their written work so carelessly and slovenly that        work, my mom says the same thing about my music


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  17



lessons, and I think that my ball game ought to come iget that? A glorious Gospel. A glorious Gospel of the
first. So who is right?"                                      jblessed God. This was committed to his trust, that is,
  Yes, I agree that I do say that catechism comes first jas minister of the Gospel. And then he says: "And I
because I am a preacher. But that does not mean that thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for
your school teacher and your Mom will not agree with that He counted me faithful, putting me in the minis-
me if they stop to think a moment. And even you will try." Again here we are told that not man, but Christ
agree with me if you think about it a bit.                    puts a person in the ministry, and Christ also enables
  I could point out to you that catechism prepares him, fits him for the work.
you to make confession of your faith, and thus pre-             Now I also want to show you that this makes the
pares you to become an active member of the church,           work of the minister important. It makes catechism
so that it even prepares you in a very special way for just as important as our Sunday worship.
your place in the kingdom of heaven. That in itself             We turn next to II Corinthians 5: 10. "Now then we
gives catechism top priority. But instead of that I am        are ambassadors for Christ."
going to stress the very important fact that is often           You have heard that our government sends an am-
forgotten or completely overlooked: Catechism is offi- bassador to foreign countries, to England, to Russia,
cial ministry of the Word. Catechism and school are           and the like. The ambassador speaks in that country
not the same. Catechism and Sunday School are not for the president. The president tells him what to say
the same. Catechism is led by your minister, and if not and he says it. Two Americans may be in Russia; the
by your minister then surely by an elder of the church.       one an ordinary citizen, and the other an ambassador.
  I want to show you, first of all, that this makes all The American citizen may spread around that our
the difference, because ministers are called of God for country is making plans to help Israel in a war against
the very special office of preaching the Word.                Egypt and the Arabs. But no one knows whether this is
  Will you turn with me a moment to Acts 13? There            true or not. It may be an American who is just trying
we read in verse 2: "As they (Barnabas, Saul and to stir up some excitement in a foreign country. But if
others) ministered to the Lord. . . ." They were labor- the ambassador goes to the Russian government with a
ing in the work of the Gospel in the church at Antioch.       message from our president that II we are going to in-
Now when they were busy with that, "the Holy Ghost volve ourselves in that middle-east trouble, then you
said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul (later called Paul) can be sure that the Russian government will sit up and
for the work whereunto I have called them."                   take notice. The American citizen talks for himself; the
   The Holy Ghost told the church that these men ambassador speaks the official language of the
were called of God for a special work of the ministry. government.
The church is told to separate these two unto that              That is the importance of catechism. There the min-
work.                                                         ister speaks as ambassador of Jesus Christ. He does not
  Now we read in verse 3: "And when they had teach you what Ize thinks or he knows. But he teaches
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they you: "So saith the Lord." Now your parents and your
sent them away."                                              school teacher may do the same thing, but when the
   This is what happens when a new minister comes to minister does that he speaks directly in the name and
a church. The whole congregation comes together. on the authority of Christ. Catechism is official minis-
Another minister preaches a sermon. A Form is read try of the Word. Christ speaks there, just as in the
from our Psalter. You can find this Form on page 67. preaching of the Word through the minister.
It is called "The Form For The Ordination Of The
Ministers Of God's Word." In this Form the office and           We' have a name for that. We speak of  means  of
,the duties of a minister are described. And then we grace. As you have learned or will learn in catechism,
read: "From these things may be learned what a glori- Means of Grace are those means used by the Holy
,ous work the ministerial office is, since so great things    Spirit to apply to our hearts the Grace which is ours in
are effected by it; yea, how highly necessary it is for Christ Jesus. We even refer to two means of grace: The
man's salvation, which is also the reason why the Lord preaching of the Word and the sacraments. And of
will have such an office always to remain."                   those two we say that the preaching of the Word is the
   Now I want to ask you a question. Who sent Paul more important, because it both works and strengthens
and Barnabas out as missionaries? To find the answer,         our faith.
read verse 4 of Acts 13. Now another question: Who              That makes catechism very important; gives it top
calls and sends a minister to a congregation? Does the priority.
church do that, or does the Holy Spirit do that? Does            There Christ teaches us from the Bible about God,
that make the office important?                               about Himself, about us, and about the whole way of
   Paul thought so. He wrote to Timothy: "According salvation. All that we must know to grow up as men
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was and women of God, to take our places as active mem-
committed to my trust." (I Tim. 1: 11, 12). Did you bers of His church, is taught us in catechism.


     18                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



           And God uses that by His Spirit in our hearts.            We had better work hard this year in catechism.
     Everything else we learn depends on that.                     Don't you think so?


     Feature

                            The Return of the Glorified lord (1)
I                                                       Rev. G. Van Baren

           The day of October 22, 1844 was rapidly approach- with the amount of material; with the divergent views
     ing. Expectation had been rising within the hearts of which have been introduced; with the many questions
     many. There was anticipation; a longing that this day that have been asked. I can not possibly treat all the
     of October 22 would quickly come. Some had sold questions in this one article. I would rather impress on
     their possessions and their homes. Some farmers had each of us an awareness of the nearness of the return
     neglected their fields. Some who bought and sold, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we forget that He
     neglected to restock their shelves. These were con- is coming again soon. Often we become too involved in
     vinced that on October 22, 1844, Christ was coming our daily affairs. We have our hearts too set on those
     again. Several men had so taught. The most  well-             things which are earthly. We overlook and ignore or
     known of them was a certain William Miller who had forget that it will not be long before our Lord shall
     carefully studied Scripture, and particularly come again. `Perhaps, and I regard it as very likely, He
     Daniel 8: 14. On the basis of this study, he had in- shall come again in the lifetime of many of us living
     formed many people that Scripture clearly foretold today. What are you looking for? How are you looking
     that Christ was coming again on this special day. When for that return?
     October 22 arrived, many gathered within churches;              We sing it, and we say it: "Jesus Christ is coming
     some met at schools or other meeting places; still            again." And I believe without any doubt that He is
     others stayed within their own homes - waiting. The coming again when the last moment of this age draws
     daylight hours quickly passed; the night arrived. People to its close. That will be the moment that He will come
     more and more eagerly awaited the certain return of on the clouds of glory with power and in great honor.
     our Lord Jesus Christ at any moment. Then, quickly,             I can not enter into the various divergent views con-
     midnight approached. Finally the hour of twelve cerning the return of Christ. But I can remind you that
     struck - and a new day began: October 23, 1844. But           there are the different views on the return of Christ
     Christ had not returned.                                      called: pre-millennialism, post-millenialism, and  a-mil-
           This man, William Miller, one of the founders of, lennialism. I would only emphasize the positive truth
     Seventh Day Adventism, and many others, have made that Christ does not come to establish an earthly king-
     the mistake of trying to ascertain on the basis of dom lasting a thousand years, but that Christ comes at
     prophecy the specific day and hour of the return of the close of this age to usher in the new heavens and
     our Lord Jesus Christ. They have all failed, and must         the new earth. And I would point you to a few pas-
     necessarily fail, in determining the exact day and hour.      sages of Scripture which plainly teach this truth. We
     For Christ Himself said plainly in Matthew  24:36,            often read Matthew 24. In this interesting chapter, you
     "The day and the hour knoweth no man, no not even             will notice in verse three that the disciples came to
     the angels which are in heaven."                              Jesus and asked Him, "Tell us when shall these things
           Nevertheless, the fact of Christ's second return stirs be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the
     in the hearts of the saints great interest; and it ought      end of the world?" Did you notice? "What is the sign
     to. These are concerned. Christians study Scripture of  thy  coming,  and  of the end of the world?" In the
     which speaks of His coming again. And they do this minds of the disciples, these two events were linked
     not to satisfy idle curiosity. They realize, rather, that together. Christ, Who instructs the disciples and an-
     this coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ is the apex, swers their questions, did not tell them that they were
     the high point, and culmination of all the plan. and wrong; He taught them along that same line: that all
     work of our God. And it is the time of our deliverance things transpire in this age until that moment when He
     from sin, from death, and from this sin-cursed world.         comes again. Then this world shall be destroyed by fire
     It will be a time when we are brought to everlasting and He shall establish the new heavens and the new
     glory and life. Of course, we are properly concerned earth. You have, for instance, verses 29-31 of Mat-
     with the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.               thew 24, "Immediately after the tribulation of those
           In studying this subject, one, is almost overwhelmed    days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     19



give her light. And the stars shall fall from heaven and or that man has ever heard before. It will be the sound
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then which calls forth the dead from their graves. It will be
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And the sound that is heard by every human being. It will
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they       be a sound which at the same time works in the hearts
shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of             of the saints unspeakable comfort and assurance, but
heaven with power and with great glory." You notice,         works in the hearts of the wicked immeasurable dread
there will not be a first coming of Christ followed by a     and fear.
reign of Christ for a thousand years - but one coming,         And what sights we shall see! It will be light, glori-
a coming that takes place after the tribulation. It takes    ously light! We read that He shall come on the clouds
place after the signs of which Christ speaks. It takes       in power and great glory. The light will be the manifes-
place after the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens is     tation of His glory.
seen. Then He shall return. He shall send His angels           One might try to describe what takes place by
with the sound of the trumpet. They shall gather His         stating that all of God's universe must be focused upon
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to         Him when He comes again on the clouds of heaven. It
the other. Those two go together: the end of this age        will be as though all of the light is centered in Him; all
and the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.            of the sound of the universe will be centered in Him;
   One other passage which teaches the same truth is II      the glory of the heavens will be focused upon Him. All
Peter 3: 10, 12, "But the day of the Lord shall come as      of this shall cause within the hearts of the saints amaz-
a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass        ing comfort and peace, but it shall work great fear and
away with a great noise and the elements shall melt          dread within the hearts of the wicked.' None will have
with a fervent heat, and the earth also and the works        to ask in that day, "Where is He?" All will know.
that are therein shall be burnt up." And in verse 12,          When He comes again, He comes bodily and person-
"Looking for and hastening unto the day of the com-          ally. He will not return only in a spiritual sense, as
ing of the Lord wherein the heavens being on fire shall      some suggest. It is not true that merely the Spirit of
be dissolved and the elments shall melt with a fervent       Christ shall then fill the earth. But He comes again
heat."                                                       bodily even as the disciples saw Him taken up bodily
  But we can say more about that coming of Christ. It        into heaven. The angels confirm this in Acts 1: 11 when
is something so amazing; so utterly fantastic. Human         they tell His disciples, "As you have seen Him taken up
language is not adequate to describe this wonder. When       into heaven, in like manner shall He come again." And
Ch `st our Lord comes again, this represents the climax      His  coming  shall be a visible one. One can not fully
  3
of a of the eternal work of God. He had planned from         explain how this takes place. By the wonder and power
all eternity to gather unto Himself a people in Jesus        of God, every eye shall see Him, and, so we read in
Christ. He would send His Son in the fulness of time.        Revelation  1:7, "also those that pierced Him."
He would pour upon Him the vials of wrath for our            Whether man dwells in Australia or Africa, in China or
sin. God would cause Jesus to be buried in the tomb          the United States, he shall see Him return. Those who
and on the third day to rise again and to sit on the         thrust the sword into His side and nailed the nails into
right hand of the Almightly. But all of these events         His hands - they shall see Him. For also the resurrec-
would still mean nothing to us unless this climax is         tion from the dead, both of the righteous and the
realized. If Christ did not come again, then all that        wicked, shall take place shortly before He returns.
happened in the past was for nought. But He is coming          In the third place, when Christ returns, it will be
again.                                                       with suddenness. We read in II Peter 3: 10 of this; and
  The Word of God says in I Corinthians  15:24,              again in Revelation 16: 13, "Behold I come as a thief."
"Then  cometh the end when He shall deliver up the           The wicked will not be expecting Him in that day.
kingdom to God, when He shall put down all rule and          They convince themselves that the world lasts forever,
all authority, and all power." That event eclipses every     or at least many years beyond their own lifetimes. But
other event that had happened in the past. Every other       when they say, "Peace and quiet; ease and prosperity,"
event in the history of this world serves that final         then He shall suddenly return, casting grief, sorrow,
glorious return.                                             and terror into their hearts.
  What will you see when He comes again? What will             He shall also come triumphantly. The second
you hear? The sights and sounds of that day are beyond       coming will be quite a contrast to that first coming of
our imagination. We read in Scripture that when Christ       His. Then He came in a lowly manger; a babe, the Son
comes again, the trumpet shall sound. That certainly         of God incarnate. No royal knees bowed down before
suggests that God announces throughout all of His            Him. No royal clothing was wrapped about Him. No
creation that now His Son is coming again. The trum-         crown of gold was placed then upon His head. And
pet represents a very loud sound, a sound heard, there-      though angels sang at His first coming, they sang only
fore, over the length and breadth of the earth. It is a      into the ears of lowly shepherds in the fields where
sound transcending any sound that man can produce            they were watching their flocks by night. But the


20                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



second coming will be entirely different. He comes as        the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive
the Lord of heaven and earth, triumphantly and in            the things done in his body according to that he hath
great glory. Jesus said it in Luke 21: 7, "Then shall        done, whether it be good or evil."
they see the Son of man coming in the cloud with               In His coming again, He shall renew the heavens and
power and great glory. " And in His second coming, He        the earth. II Peter 3 states, "Nevertheless, we according
shall accomplish the good pleasure of our God. He            to His promise, look for new heavens and new earth
shall raise the dead. The righteous shall be raised unto     wherein dwelleth righteousness." And Christ Himself
life eternal, the wicked unto eternal damnation. So He       will send the wicked to that place where there is weep-
taught in John  5:28, 29. He shall come to judge. All        ing and gnashing of teeth, from which there is no es-
men shall stand before Him: the righteous and the            cape; there they must bear the eternal wrath of God.
wicked. Every deed, every word shall be exposed be-          And to His own He shall say, "Come, enter into the
fore the righteous eyes of Him Who will judge. We read joy of thy Lord. " The saints shall dwell in the blessed
in II Corinthians 5: 10, "For we must all appear before      presence of God forever.


Education

        The Concern of the Reformation for Education (1)
                                                Rev. David Engelsrna


      From the very beginning, the great Reformation of      something vital, as something essential in the Reforma-
the Church in the 16th century concerned itself also         tion itself. But Luther wrote about the need for a ref-
with the education of the children of believers in the       ormation of the schools even earlier than 1524.. Al-
schools. It condemned the existing schools and their         ready in 1520, less that three years after he began the
education of the children, and proposed new schools in       Reformation by publishing the 95 theses, Luther ex-
which the education of the children would be in har-         pressed some thoughts on the education of children. He
mony with the truth of God's Word, as the Reforma-           both condemned the un-Christian nature of the exist-
tion was proclaiming that truth anew. As was the case        ing schools and set forth Christian principles to govern
with almost every aspect of the Reformation, it was          the Christian Schools which should be established.
that mighty man of God, Martin Luther,  who first            These thoughts were included in Luther's famous,
called the people of God to the reformation of their         world-shaking work of 1520, "An Open Letter to the
children's education.                                        Christian Nobility of the German Nation concerning
      Luther sprinkled many of his writings with remarks     the Reform of the Christian Estate." The following
on education. But he also wrote two works that were          quotations from this "Open Letter" show the Reforma-
devoted specifically to the subject of the education of      tion's urgent concern with education, at this early
children in the schools. In 1524, he wrote the work          date.
entitled, "To the Councilmen of all Cities in Germany                 The universities also need a good, thorough refor-
that They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools."             mation - I must say it no matter whom it vexes - for
(The original, German title was:  "`An die Radherrn              everything which the papacy has instituted and
aller Stedte deutsches lands: dass sie Christliche               ordered is directed only towards the increasing of sin
schulen auffrichten urzd halten sollen.  ") In 19530, he         and error. What else are the universities, if their pres-
wrote a longer work, `"A Sermon on Keeping Children              ent condition remains unchanged, than as the book of
in School." As the titles indicate, the earlier work             Maccabees says, `Places for training youth in Greek
called for the establishment and maintenance of Chris-           glory,' in which loose living prevails, tile Holy Scrip-
tian Schools, while the later work admonished (very              tures and the Christian faith are little taught, and the
vehemently) parents to make use of the schools that              blind, heathen master Aristotle rules alone, even more
did exist by sending theti children.                             than Christ?"
      It is worthy of note .that Luther concerned himself             "In truth, much depends upon it (that is, the
                                                                 reformation of the schools - DE); for it is here that
with Christian education so soon after the Reforma-              the Christian youth and the best of our people, with
tion began. He wrote "To the Councilmen" in 1524, a              whom the future of Christendom lies, are to be edu-
mere seven years after the Reformation began, that is,           cated and trained. Therefore I consider that there is
after the posting of the 95 theses in 1517. This is              no work more worthy of pope or emperor than a
evidence that Luther viewed Christian education as               thorough reformation of the universities, and there is


                                                         THE STANDARD  BEA'RER                                                       21



        nothing worse or more worthy of the devil than unre-           The Devil is the great foe of Christian Schools,-
        formed universities."                                        Luther taught..For  he knows that the Church of Christ
           "But where the Holy Scriptures do not rule, there         is built up from the children of believers, who are given
        I advise no one to send his son. Everyone not unceas-        Christian instruction. Therefore, the Devil was respon-
        ingly busy with the Word of God must become cor-             sible for the ungodly schools of the Pope before the
        rupt; that is why the people who are in the universi-        Reformation. These schools were "the great gates of
        ties and who are trained there are the kind of people        hell," because the Devil "went to work, spread his
        they are . . . I greatly fear that the universities are
        wide gates of hell, if they do not diligently teach the      nets, and set up such monasteries, schools, and estates
        Holy Scriptures and impress them on the youth.               that it was impossible for any lad to escape him, apart
      The fundamental reason why Luther and the other from a special miracle of God" ("To the Councilmen
 Reformers, including Luther's colleague, Philip of Germany"). Luther was not surprised that the Devil
 Melanchthon, and John Calvin, so earnestly struggled continued to work, after the Reformation,. to make
 for education that was Christian was their understand- some parents neglect sending their children to  the.
 ing that the children of believers belonged to God's Christian Schools:
 Church and covenant. As members of God's Church,                           It is  not surprising that the wicked devil takes a
 which membership was signified in their infant                          position in this matter and induces carnal and worldly
                                                                         hearts thus to neglect the children and young people.
 baptism, these children had to have an upbringing that                  Who can blame him for it? He is the ruler and god of
 was Christian. At the same time Luther realized keenly                  this world (John  14:30); how can he possibly be
 that an education which was un-Christian was one of                     pleased to see the gospel destroy his nests . . . in
the Devil's most effective weapons for attack upon the                   which he corrupts above all the young folks who
 covenant children. That Luther viewed God's covenant                    mean so much, in fact everything, to  him? How can
 with believers and their children as the basis of the                   we expect him to permit or promote the proper train-
 Christian School is evident in his work of 1524, "To                    ing of the young? He would indeed be a fool to allow
 the Councilmen of Germany." Luther gives reasons                        and promote the establishment in his kingdom of the
 ("considerations") why the councilmen should estab-                     very thing by which that kingdom must be  .most
 lish Christian Schools for the children:                                speedily overthrown, which would happen if he-were
                                                                         to lose that choice morsel  - our dear young people
           The third consideration is by far the most impor-             . . . ("To the Councilmen of Germany").
        tant of all, namely, the command of God, who                   It would be a mistake to isolate this concern of the
        through Moses urges and enjoins parents so often to          Reformation for Christian Schools. The  1 Reformers
       instruct their children that Psalm 78 says: How               were not interested in Christian Schools only, but in
        earnestly he commanded our fathers to teach their
        children  and to instruct their children's children          the total Christian upbringing of the precious children
        (Ps. 78:5-6). This is also evident in God's fourth (fifth    and youth. Christian Schools were part of this upbring-
        - DE) commandment, in which the injunction that              ing. Luther preached not only the Christian School,
        children shall obey their parents is so stern that he        but also, and above all, the Christian home: Luther was
       would even have rebellious children sentenced to              correct when he said that-no one from the apostles'
        death (Deut. 21: 18-21). Indeed, for what purpose do         time did more for Godly marriage and home and
       we older folks exist, other than to care for, instruct,       Godly training in the home than he. In 1522, for
       and bring up the young? It is utterly impossible for          example, Luther wrote  L`The Estate of Marriage,"  in.  -
      these foolish young people to instruct and protect             which he described the importance of the instruction
       themselves. This is why God has entrusted them to us          of the children by the parents in-the home:
       who are older and know from experience what is best                  But the greatest good in married life,.that which
      for them. And God will hold us strictly accountable                makes all suffering and labor worth while, is that God
       for them. This is also why Moses commands in  Deu-                grants offspring and commands that they be brought
 -     teronomy 32  (:7), "Ask your father and he will tell              up to worship and serve him. In all the world this is
       you; your elders, and they will show you."                        the noblest and most precious work, because  to-God
The Christian School arises from the duty of believing                   there can be nothing dearer than the salvation of
parents to instruct their children, that is, from the                    souls. Now since we are all duty bound to suffer
covenant calling of believing parents. Although there                    death, if need be, that we might~bring  a single soul to
a r e   o t h e r ` `considerations" for having Christian                God, you can see how rich the estate of marriage is in
Schools, this one "is by far the most important of all,"                 good works. God has entrusted- to its bosom souls
according to Luther. Because God uses Christian in-                      begotten of its own body, on whom it can lavish all
struction as the means of safeguarding the children                      manner of Christian works. Most certainly father and
                                                                        mother are apostles, bishops, and priests to their
from the Devil, "none among the outward sins so                          children, for it is they who make them acquainted
heavily burdens the world and merits such severe                         with the gospel. In short, there is no greater or nobler
punishment as this very sin which we commit against                      authority on earth than that of parents over their
the children by not educating them" ("To the Council-                    children, for this authority is both spiritual and
men of Germany").                                                        temporal.


22                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      From this zeal for Christian instruction in the home, naturally flows.
zeal for the same Christian instruction in the school                           (to be continued)


Question Box

        Questions About The -"New Theology" (continued]\
                                                ProJ H.  C. Hoeksema

      1 For the sake of clarity in our discussion, I will quote scientific data which compels theologians to accept
again the questions raised in our last issue by a reader new exegetical ideas in regard to Scripture" is
from Holland, Michigan: "Today one reads much .thoroughly corrupt. I am well aware that these theolo-
about the new theology, neo-orthodoxy, and recent gians  claim  that they do not mean that science must
scientific data which compels theologians to accept rule Scripture or our interpretation of Scripture. This,
new exegetical ideas in regard to the Scriptures. What, of.course, would be too blunt. No, they claim that this
must we say about this? Our fathers gave us our Doc- `so-called recent scientific data (and the twentieth cen-
trinal Standards. Are they becoming obsolete? Are tury is immensely proud of its science and scientific
there really new truths which call for a new interpreta- data, you know) is only the  occasion  which should
tion of the Scriptures? Doesn't the authority of the make us re-examine and modify our exegesis. But this is
Scriptures depend,on its infallibility?"                    a ruse. And for this reason it is also a mistake to speak
      The last question I called a key question and chose of new exegetical ideas. The new scientific data does
to answer it first (cf. Sept. 15 issue).                    not lead to exegesis, but to what the Dutch call
      The question may be asked: why is this a key           `Linlegktmde ", a laying into the text of Scripture ideas
-question?                                                  which are not in the text, ideas from outside of Scrip-
      There are several aspects to be considered here. ture. The most basic rule of true exegesis is that Scrip-
Among them; I would mention, in the first place, the tune is its own interpreter. But this, you see, is in the
fact that it is this very foundational doctrine of Holy deepest sense a question of the authority of Scripture.
Scripture which is under attack, which they seek to The question becomes this: who is going to interpret
change (or ignore) today. Anyone who follows con- Scripture, science or Scripture itself?  &nd that ques-
temporary theological and ecclesiastical developments tion is at bottom: whose word is authoritative, sover-
knows that one of the most discussed and most fre- eignly authoritative  - man's or God's? Study the
quently attacked truths is that of the doctrine of Holy attacks made today on the Scriptural account of crea-
Scripture. It is safe to say that to a large extent this has tion or of the flood, and you will soon discover that
become the issue. In. the second place, I would men- this is the issue. In the fourth place, there is this
tion the fact that this doctrine of Holy Scripture is aspect, that it is precisely this authority of Holy Scrip-
foundational. Why? For the simple reason - to put it ture which is the basis of our confessions, our doctrinal
in terms of the well-known formula - that Scripture is standards. The confessions have no' authority in them-
the only infallible  rule (canon, standard,  measuring-     selves. They are of authority only as they set forth the
rod) of faith and practice, or of doctrine and life. If, truth revealed by the Scriptures. And it is for this
therefore, you can succeed in breaking down and reason that the court of appeal for the confessions and
modifying the authority of that rule, or if you can for objections to the confessions is Scripture. But this
deny (by modifying, because no one likes to admit to brings me to some of the other questions raised.
denying directly) the infallibility of that rule of doc-       My correspondent hits upon another crucial matter
trine and life, you can open the door to all kinds of when he mentions the confessions. For there is a great
changes and modifications with respect to doctrine and clamor today about the confessions being obsolete and
life. In the third place, in this same connection, we. a clamor for changing the confessions. In the Nether-
should see plainly that in the deepest sense, therefore, lands they are already busy with this. In this con-
all the changes and modifications presently being pro- nection, a few comments:
posed in the faith and practice of the church (also of         1) What has given impetus to this clamor for
Reformed churches, both here and in the Netherlands) change? The fact that the Formula of Subscription is
are a .question  of authority, the authority of Scripture, not enforced and that doctrinal discipline is neglected
the authority of the Sovereign God. In the same con- is a big factor. Today there are those in the Nether-
nection, we may note that the entire notion of "recent lands, for example, who are demanding that the


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            23



Formula of Subscription be enforced and that men be               new confession. Confessions have come into existence
required to adhere to the confessions. I propose that when the church, the true church, is living on a high
this has come too late. The method of the liberals has spiritual plane, when the love of the truth of God's
been to propose their deviating views in public (contrary Word is strong and firm and warm. The latter is not
to the Formula of Subscription), and then, when they characteristic of our age, to put it mildly.
have made sufficient propaganda and have gained                      Finally, new truths? There are no new truths. They
enough adherents, to press for official decisions to have all been revealed in the Scriptures. To -be sure,.
modify the confessions. This is altogether wrong further development and refinement and enrichment
and wicked. But it is the tried and successful method             of the truth as the church possesses it in the whole
of heretics. And frequently, while they carry out this body of dogma is possible. But this does not mean new
policy, they do lipservice to the creeds.                         truths and new interpretations. This does not involve
   2) The test of the confessions is Scripture. This idea departure and beginning anew. It is development, --
of the creeds being obsolete is a thoroughly non- advancement in the same line of the old truth.
ecclesiastical idea. Besides, it is a ruse. But let it be
stressed: the only court of. appeal with respect to the
confessions is Scripture. If there is something wrong
with the confessions, this must be demonstrated on                           OFFICE BEARERS CONFERENCE
the basis of Scripture: otherwise the confessions stand!             There will be an Office Bearers Conference October
And this demonstration must not'be by public propa- 6, 1970, at 8 P.M., in The South East Protestant Re-
ganda but in the manner set forth in the Formula of formed Church. Professor H. C. Hoeksema will speak
Subscription. Obsolete? Is this a ruse to get the oppor- on the topic, "WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF -ARTI--
tunity to tear down the truth expressed in our confes- CLE 66 IN THE CHURCH ORDER?" What circum-
sions? Obsolete? Because some upstart,  twentieth-                stances are required to call such a prayer Service?
century theologian has the colossal brass to go against                                                       John Dykstra, Sec'y.
not only the entire consensus of the church-of the past
but also, mind you, against the guidance of the Holy
Spirit Who dwells in the church? I ask: does the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ -' Who is the same yesterday and                                  O B I T U A R Y
today and -forever - become obsolete? Or do theolo-                  Our Heavenly Father called unto Himself our be-
gians and preachers and churches become so wise in loved husband, father and grandfather,
their own -conceits and so "up-to-date" and "relevant"                                 RICHARD DEPPE
in their outlook and so ecumenical and world-con- into His eternal rest. Our comfort is found in the
forming in their entire approach to life that they can- words of Jeremiah 3 1: 3 - "Yea I have loved thee. with
not endure the "narrow" confides of those  "old- an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have -
fashioned" confessions?                                           I drawn thee."
   3) Confessions are not made, but born. History                                                        His loving wife, Alida
shows that confessions do not come into existence be-                                             Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Deppe
cause the church (and especially not, the theologians)                                             Mr. and Mrs. Frank Deppe
sit down and decide that something is obsolete and                                                  Mr. and Mrs. John Wigger
needs replacement and revision. Confessions arise out                                                Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Kuiper
of the bosom of the church, out of the faith of the                                      Dr. and Mrs. Glenn Van Dommelen
people of God. They are -spontaneous. And especially                                               Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sellers
do they arise out of the crucible of controversy and                                            Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Rotman
conflict and persecution. In such refining fires the pure                                            Mr. and Mrs. Jack Deppe
gold of the truth of the Scriptures has come .to clearer                                   Mr. and Mrs. Gary Vander Scheer
light and understanding and expression in the life of                                                Mr. and Mrs. John Deppe
the church. It is for this reason, too, that I would                                         Mr. and Mrs. Richard Deppe, Jr.
remark that of all times, today is not the time- for a                                           and his loving grandchildren


                                 News From  Qur Churches

Report I$ Classis West of the F'rot. Ref'd. Chwhes convened at _ addressing the Classis from this passage.
   Hull, Iowa `on September 2, 1970                                  Eleven of the twelve churches in Classis West were repre-
   Rev. George Lanting, president of the previous Classis, led sented at Classis. Oak Lawn sent the Classis a letter expressing
the Classis in its opening devotions by reading John 17 and by regret at their inability to send delegates to this Classis. _


I     ..--


      /THE STANDARD BEARER
                 P.O. Box 6064                                                                                SECOND CLASS
       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                           POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, IWIICH.


      24                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


            Rev. Richard G. Moore served as president of  Classis for the    mittee. The Committee needs them to send to people
      first time.                                                            who write in for them." And, "In cooperation with
            In grief,  Classis learned from the consistory of Oak Lawn       our sister churches in Iowa and Minnesota, (we are)
      .that their minister, the Rev. Gerald  Vanden Berg, has requested      now putting out a pamphlet a month. We have stepped
      and received a certificate of dismissal from  the Oak Lawn Pro-        up the pace for the sake of a more effective witness."
      testant Reformed Church. The consistory also informed  Classis           One last line, yet: "May the Lord Christ bless our
      that the congregation  has continued to hold worship services          testimony to His great Name!"
      regularly, in spite of the leaving of their minister. Rev. Robert        Hope Church, of Grand Rapids, has a newly formed
      Decker of South Holland has been preaching for them at an              Church Extension Committee, called the Reformed
      afternoon service. Oak Lawn asked  Classis for  cla&cal appoint-
      ments, and she asked that Rev. Decker be appointed her                 Witness Committee, which "has been meeting regularly
      moderator.  Classis granted both of these requests. Above all,         and has made decided progress." In an August letter to
      Oak Lawn asked for the prayers of the  Classis and our churches        members of the congregation, this committee notes a
      in her present distress.                                               "feeling for a need to witness and work in our own
            In executive session,  Classis advised a consistory on disci-    immediate area." To that end, the intention of the
      plinary action.                                                        committee is to engage, with the "participation of the
            Classis adopted a schedule of classical appointments for the     members of the congregation," in "as much, personal
      vacant churches in Doon and Hull, Iowa; Forbes, North Dakota;          contact with people outside of our church as we pos-
      Oak Lawn, Illinois; and Rafidolph, Wisconsin.' This schedule in-       sibly can."' This will begin with "a door-to-door survey
      cludes the request for help from  Classis East. Rev. Decker was        in the Allendale area," to determine whether or not
      appointed moderator also of Randolph.                                  "there is sufficient interest to warrant further work." ,
            Classis West will meet next in Doon, Iowa, on March 3, 1971,       Speaking of Hope Church, we should mention that
      the Lord  wil$g.
                      .I               Rev. David Engelsma, Stated clerk     Rev. J. Kortering has accepted the call from the Hull
                                                             Classis West    congregation. This leaves two Grand Rapids churches
                                                                             without an undershepherd, since Rev. C. Hanks has
            As we mentioned last time, some of our churches                  declined the call extended to him from Southwest.
      are  engaged.in  church extension work which should be                   Three more items with which to deal. And room for
      of general interest. Perhaps as good a way as any of                   only one. Did you know that our Isabel, South
      passing along information concerning that of the Love-                 Dakota, congregation has a new church building - or,
      land congregation would be  to  quote  from several of                 at least, a different one? They decided to sell and re-
      that church's July and August bulletins.                               move their old church building, which "bordered on
       "Copies of the latest `Reformed Witness' pamphlet                     being too small, and was in need of extensive repair."
      are available in the bulletin rack today. They are titled,             After its removal, a new basement was prepared (a
      `The Great Apostacy,' and are written by the pastor                    basement which included, incidentally, a study-room
      (Rev. D. Engelsma). If you can distribute some of                      for Rev. Moore, who was forced out of his home
      these pamphlets, take extra. The Church Extension                      study-room by an enlarging family). The Roman
      .Committee plans to mail over 500 of these pamphlets                   Catholic church building of nearby Glad Valley, pur-
      in our area soon."                                                     chased at "a nominal cost," was then moved onto the.
            In a later bulletin we find this concerning response             new foundation.
      to that work: "One letter, from the state of Virginia,                   That the proceedings were followed with much in-
      reads, in part: `Thank you for sending leaflet entitled                terest and anticipation is evident from a bulletin
      The Great Apostacy - it is excellent. I am wondering                   announcement that reads like this: "The footings are
      if you could send 30 or more copies to make available                  poured, the sewer is in. Next week ye should see the
      to our people? I will be happy for you to send the                     walls of the basement arise."
      pamphlets listed on page 2 of the leaflet. Please keep                   Immediately following, there was this  pkagraph:
      my name on your mailing list. Writings of this charac-                 "More important than those walls are the walls of
      ter are badly needed today in so-called evangelical                    Zion, that God presently builds in time. Even as we
      churches. . . .' "                                                     look forward to the completion of our church base:
            And in a following bulletin -we read this response to            ment walls, so with more desire should we look for-
      the response: "The Church Extension Committee                          ward to the completion of God's house." The follow-
      needs copies of several `Reformed Witness' pamphlets.                  ing week (appropriately, one would almost say) Rev.
      They are: `Our Lord's Return,' `Signs of the End of the                Moore announced that his home was blessed with two
      World,' and `Lawlessness.' If you have a copy of any of                covenant additions. Twins! Making a total of  seven
      these, we ask you to give it to a member of the Com-                   children in the Moore family.                      D.D:


