                                        he

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



     IN  THIS  ISSUE


          Meditation:
            Diligent in Sanctification

          A New Year's Survey
            (see: All Around Us)

          Confessing Our Faith
            (see: The Strength of Youth)

          An Help Meet
            (see: The Day of Shadows)

          Editorials:
             Repudiation
/           Attack                                Volume XL VIII / Number 7 / January I, 19 72


146                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
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Meditation  -                                                                 Editor-in-chief:  Plot.  ii. C. Hoeksema
  Diligent in Sanctification . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .146 Department Editors::. Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                              Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
All Around Us -                                                               Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers. Rev. Marinus  Schipper,.Rev.  Gise J.
                                                                              Van  Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
  ANewYear'sSurvey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148               Editorial  otti&:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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Meditation

                                          Diligent in Sanctification

                                                                Rev. M. Schipper

                   "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be
               found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. "                                                       II Peter 3:14


   Wherefore, beloved . . .                                                   promised. While it may appear to some that he is slack
       Seeing that ye look for such things . . .                              concerning the promise of His coming, He is really not
   And the question is: What things?                                          slack at all; but longsuffering to us-ward, not willing
   The answer, of course, is to be found in the imme- that any of us should perish, but that all of us should
diately preceding context. There the apostle refers to                        come to repentance. That day of the Lord will surely
the coming of the day of the Lord, which He has                               come. As a thief in the night will it come. This is what


                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER                                               147


we must expect.                                           riage, living in the vain hope that nothing shall change,
   And when it shall come, there are two things we and that they can go on in their sin and corruption
look for. When that day comes, the heavens shall pass without fear of judgment. In those days they shall
away with a great noise, and the very elements of mock those whom they call "the prophets of doom,"
which they are composed shall melt with fervent heat; who warned them of the coming day of the Lord, a
and the earth also and the works that are therein shall day of judgment and retribution. Until they shall see
all be burned up. And, secondly, we, according to His the sign of the Son of Man, and begin to call on the
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth where- rocks and the mountains to fall on them, and vainly
in dwelleth righteousness.                                hope that somehow they can be annihilated and not
   Such are the things we are looking for!                have to stand before the great white throne.
   These are the things which He has promised!              Not so, however, shall it be with God's beloved!
  And His promises shall not fail! Our hope is well         Who have found grace in the eyes of the Lord!
grounded!                                                   With hearts filled with hope, and eyes  filed with
  We expect this old world to pass away. Pass away it holy expectation, they look for a new heaven and a
shall, not in the sense of an annihilation, so that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, and in
nothing of it remains; but in form and fashion it shall which the righteous shall dwell.
pass away. All the elements of which it is composed         Wherefore, beloved . . .
shall be burned into a molten mass. The heavens, that       Because this is true, because ye look for such
starry firmament in which now resides the heavenly things. . .
luminaries, shall be set on  fne, and shall be melted       Be diligent!
with fervent heat. The earth with all that it contains      That ye may be found of him in peace, without
shall also be burned up. Nothing in its present form spot, and blameless!
shall abide in that day of the Lord. All the works of       Diligent in sanctification!
man, in which he now so proudly boasts, upon which          And sanctification, you know, is that work of God's
now he sets his heart, which required all of his ingenu- grace in you whereby He delivers you consciously from
ity and skill to build, shall perish. What fools they are the pollution and dominion of sin, and renews you in
who imagine that their houses shall stand for aye! .      conformity with the image of Christ, and enables you
  As another year passes, never to return, and a new to walk faithfully in all good works, which He has
year has begun, so the cycle continues until the last before prepared, in order that you should walk in
year and the last moment that shall bring an end to them. Sanctification is that operation of the Spirit of
time and development as we know it. In the last Christ in you whereby a new spiritual-moral direction
moment of the last hour all history shall have run its is given to you, according to which out of a regener-
course, according to the counsel of the Most High. ated heart your thinking, willing, desiring, yea, the
Then the world will have reached its highest achieve- action of your whole being, are brought into harmony
ments, and sin and corruption will have reached its with His truth and His commandments. Sanctification
apex in the Man of Sin; and then God's covenant will is that work of grace in you whereby you in principle
have been realized in the salvation and repentance of begin to mortify the old man of sin in your members,
every last one of God's elect. Then the present cosmos, and to put on the new man, which is the beginning of
which has served as the stage upon which all these the new creation for which you now look in hope.
things will have been worked out to the end which.          In this be diligent!
God has determined, may be done away. Then the new          That is, be earnestly desirous of it, and with all haste
world, new heavens and new earth where righteousness follow after it!
shall dwell, may be ushered in. Out of the molten mass      So that ye may be found of Him in peace!
shall He bring it forth.                                    Without spot and blameless!
  This is what God has promised!                            Oh, the blessedness of them who shall be so found
  This is what we are waiting for, and, with hearts by Him when He shall come to renew all things!
filled with living hope, expect!                            To be found of Him in peace is the positive way of
  As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the stating what is negatively expressed in: without spot,
coming of the Son of Man!                                 and blameless. To be found in peace means that you
  In the days before the flood, men were wilfully ig- are so discovered by the Lord when He comes again as
norant, and mocked with the truth that God was com- being in perfect harmony with Him and His will. All
ing in judgment to destroy the world that then was; the natural enmity, the rebellion and hatred of your
and to purge the world with the waters of the flood, so old nature is removed. It means that you will be found
that in it the `righteous might dwell. Noah, the right- of Him with all the love of your heart going out to
eous, alone found grace in the eyes of the Lord,          Him, as being righteous as He is righteous, and holy as
  In the days before the final conflagration, men will He is holy. It means that you will be living and walking
be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar- as His covenant friend in the world, and expecting the


148                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


judgment of His favor, which shall declare unto you:         pecting the renewal of all things will not continue to
"Come. ye blessed, inherit the kingdom which I have          seek after and to pamper the old. He will be living
prepared for you." And to be without spot and blame- always in the desire to be found by the Lord in His
less means that He will find you unsullied from the          coming as ready to enter the new. Like the wise virgins
world, free from all vice, wholly unblemished, pure in in the parable, he will be watching and sober, with oil
His sight. It means that you will appear before Him          in his lamp, and see to it that it is burning.
h-reprehensible, beyond all censure.                           Oh, surely, the admonition to be diligent that we
  Oh, beloved, make no mistake about it, and do not          may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and
fall in the blundering error that somehow you can of blameless, we will heed, but with much difficulty. The
yourself bring about this relationship of peace, and         Scriptures always approach us as still living in the flesh.
that you can of yourself be so found as to be without and as we are so often overcome by the flesh. That is
spot and blameless. You must remember that sanctifi- precisely why we need to be continually admonished.
cation, as is true of all of our salvation, is entirely      The Lord also knows how in much we so often fail.
God's work of grace in us. You must remember, too, And we know also how strong the motions of the flesh
that this work of grace is preceded by another work of in us are. We have the new life and expectation of the
grace in us whereby He has begotten us again unto a          new in an old man that does not want to go to heaven,
living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the that does want to be found in peace, that has delight in
dead. We have been regenerated unto a living hope.           corruption, that is not concerned with perfection.
  Regeneration is the first principle, the beginning of Living in the present evil world, we are often more
the life of the new creation which we expect Him to          concerned with the reproach of the world than we are
bring out of the old which shall pass away. It is this       of being found of Him in peace. And because our flesh
grace that cannot perish, while all else, even your old loves the corruption of the world, and has no delight in
nature, passes away. And it is this grace of regeneration a sanctified walk, while the new man in Christ delights
that is the causal ground of His work of sanctification in the Lord, there is a constant strife, a strife which
within us. It dwells in our hearts, motivates our entire becomes the more intense as we are able by grace to
life, connects us with the living Christ Who is the Head head the admonition of our text.
of the coming new world. Out of the regenerated                Be diligent, therefore . . ,
heart, from which proceeds all your thinking, willing,         Beloved!
and desiring, yea, all the issues of your life, comes the      Also in this new year!
holy expectation, the longing for the new.                     Which you will find has really nothing new in it at
  Therefore, because we are expecting the new, we all, except a new period of time. All the rest is really
will also be diligent, that we may be found of Him in an old world, a world, since the flood, that is rushing
peace, without spot, and blameless!                          to its final destruction, the conflagration.
  As the man who is expecting presently to move into           In that world, in which you are expecting the new,
a brand new house will not be so foolish as to spend make haste to be holy as He is holy; . . .
his time and money in fixing up the old in which he            That you may be found of Him in peace!
dwells; so, in the spiritual sense, one who is truly ex-       At His coming!


All Around Us

                            A New Year's Survey
                                                   Proi H. Hanko

  The Church of Jesus Christ enters today into the with stedfastness in the year which lies ahead? There is
year of her Lord 1972. It is well for us, through our some value to be gained, it seems, in attempting to
periodical, to pause for a few moments and ponder look at the past year as a whole. We see only snapshots
some significant events which relate so directly to the as we pass from one day to the next. It is well that we
history of the Church of Jesus Christ. For the history sit alongside of the road for a few minutes and try to
of the world is God's history; and, because it is God's see the sweeping panorama of the past year in its
history, it is the Church's history  - above all else. whole and in its relationships. We must be sure, how-
What has history been saying to us who are called to ever, that we look at the way we have traversed in the
walk as pilgrims and strangers in the earth? What can light of the unfailing Word of God.
we learn which will enable us to continue our sojourn          It is, in the nature of the case, impossible to discuss


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   149



all that has happened. It has been a momentous year sidered legally to be adults, permissiveness, materialism
with countless events crowding in upon us from every and pleasure-seeking. The sanctity of marriage is
side. There are too many things which have happened mocked openly as divorce laws are liberalized. The
and we are still too near the year to weigh it all and home is subjected to an incessant bombardment of sex
put it all together into a coherent whole. But some - as if sex is the end-all and be-all of life. Abortion is
things stand out with clarity and sharpness. And these made legally acceptable in a world which cannot be
we do well to ponder.                                      bothered with the responsibilities of child-bearing and
  Casting about in our minds to recall the events child-training. The pilgrim must see all this and resolve,
which particularly made a deep impression upon us as by the grace of Almighty God, to fight with every
we read the daily newspapers and news weeklies to ounce of his strength against the corrosive and eroding
learn of what was happening in the affairs of the na- influences which threaten his home and family.
tions, we are impressed with the steady and relentless But the pilgrim is eminently a member of the
drift into moral chaos which characterizes the lives of Church of Jesus Christ. And, as he stands at the begin-
men. Crime rises steadily; disrespect for authority ning of another year and another stretch of road which
grows by leaps and bounds; lawlessness is the order of lies yet between him and his eternal destination, he
the day both in our own land and abroad; principle is cannot but consider what is happening in the Church
sacrificed daily on the altar of expediency; cynical dis- about him.
regard for principles of right and wrong mark indelibly      It is easy to see that things are not well in the
the actions of men in high places and low. Paul writes Church. Apostasy has always characterized the history
to the Thessalonians: "And now ye know what with- of the Church; this is no less true today. Apostasy has
holdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the made deep inroads into every denomination, and the
mystery of iniquity (better, "lawlessness", cf. the RV) pilgrim sees that churches which were once strong are
cloth  already work: only he who now letteth will let not such any longer. They have capitulated in whole or
until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that in large measure to the enemy. They have become like
Wicked be revealed (again, "Lawless One" is the better frail ships on the seas of history tossed about by every
translation), whom the Lord shall consume with the wind of doctrine. There are, however, a couple of er-
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the bright- rors which seem especially significant in the light of
ness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after apostasy which has raged throughout time. The most
the working of Satan with all power and signs and important is that the devastating work of the higher
lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unright- criticsin the 18th and 19th centuries is bearing much
eousness in them that perish; because they received not fruit in the church. And this results in the severest and
the love of the truth, that they might be saved." most reprehensible attacks on the sole authority of
II Thessalonians 2: 6-l 0.                                 Scripture. It is Scripture itself. which is under attack.
  While wars continue throughout the world (signs, This has not happened heretofore  - at least in the
according to the Lord Jesus, of  I-Es return, Cf. measure in which it is happening in our day. There are
Matthew 24: 6), major breakthroughs have been accom- many ways in which this can be done and is being
plished to bring the world into one universal empire. done; and the pilgrim scarcely has the time or inclina-
The European common market flourishes. President tion to keep up on them all. But he knows with an
Nixon is going on a trip of peace to America's arch- unshakeable certainty that his Bible which he carries in
enemy in the Orient. Peace talks seem to be bearing all his pilgrimage as his dearest treasure is being
some fruit between America and Russia. Harbingers of snatched from the hands of many; and that he must
the universal kingdom of Antichrist remind the often- cling to it with all his might if he is to preserve it and
times weary pilgrim that grim days lie ahead.              walk in its light. What was it Jesus Himself said? The
  One development of tremendous importance which words bring a chill. "Nevertheless, when the Son of
cannot help but  fnl the soul of the Christian with man  cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Luke
alarm is the devastating attack which has been 18:8b.
launched against the home and which reached alarming         But the relentless attacks on the authority of Scrip-
proportions in the past year. As the whole relationship ture, he notices, are closely intertwined with a growing
of authority and obedience breaks down in every area confidence in the authority of science. The Christian is
of life, this  ,pillar of the home is also undermined. not fooled by this. To ascribe final authority to science
Rebelliousness, disregard for authority, disobedience, is to ascribe authority to man. It is a particularly
failure to exercise authority  - these are the things deadly kind of rationalism and humanism; and the un-
which have invaded the home and brought'it nigh to godly have so many products of science and technol-
ruin. What contributes to it? A host of things. Women ogy which make life so pleasant and with which they
working, woman's' liberation, youth protest, anti- prove, to the destruction of many, the mighty power
establishment sentiment among the young, immature which science has. But when such authority is ascribed
youth given the responsibilities of adulthood and con- to science, then evil philosophies rush in to take the


150                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



place of sober Scriptural truth. The teachings of crea- of God. It ignores the church institute and runs rough-
tion and the miracles of Christ and His atoning work shod over the solemn injunction of the apostle to do
are discarded as outmoded beliefs of a superstitious all things decently and in order. It cuts the heart out of
and unscientific past in favor of fables and myths of true religion for it forgets the words of the Lord:
modern invention. And along with this goes that ter- "They that worship God must worship Him in spirit
rible perversion of the Christian's calling. It is a perver- and in truth." It is a religion of hypnotic suggestion; of
sion which denies the very heart of the pilgrim's life - Jesus Christ, Superstar; of a substitute for drugs and
that he is called to be a stranger in the earth. It sex while preserving the same kind of fleshly thrills. It
teaches, with a conviction that tugs at the heart of is a religion which reduces revelation to experience and
many, that this life is all we know now or ever shall the knowledge of God to an emotional roller coaster.
know. It propagates the vain philosophy that there is          And closely related to all this is what goes under the
no life beyond death, that our calling is to make this catch-all name of NeoPentecostal&m. The sober-
world the kingdom of Christ, for that is all we can minded pilgrim is disturbed that ordinarily sober-
expect. It becomes a social gospel in an age in which minded people are so taken in with this sort of thing.
"sociology" is considered a science and which distracts Cannot they see that Scripture never reduces religion
completely the minds of men from the "city which to such things as tongue-speaking, faith-healing, proph-
hath foundations."                                          esying, hypnotic enthrallment with the inexplicable?
  The pilgrim resolves, by the grace of the Lord               The trouble is that these things have great appeal
Christ, to give serious attention to his calling to be a and the temptation is strong to leave the narrow path
stranger in a strange land. He must spend some time, which leads to life and to  follow the road of those
and very shortly, in rereading I Peter, for it is the hand- whose way is so easy. There is something in all of us,
book of the sojourner.                                      the pilgrim muses, which likes to capture thrills and be
  Yet there is another element which came to the fore excited. And if religion can be made to do this, one
in the past year which deserves more than passing can have his thrills and heaven too. And indeed, so.
notice. He who journeys to the new Jerusalem has often we are responsible for making religion as Scrip-
noticed that there are many within the Church who ture characterizes it, a grim and distasteful thing. The
speak of revival in the world and a return to the princi- danger is ever lurking of dead orthodoxy; and the devil
ples of Christianity. Such news is to be taken with is adept at holding up the bug-bear of this evil to
utmost seriousness and ought to be investigated frighten us into sensationalism.
closely. What constitutes the reason for such optimism         But, the Christian ponders within his troubled soul,
on the part of so many? Why is it that normally sober life is not a toboggan slide where the air is rent with
men in the Church can suddenly become very excited the screams of excited people having a good time. Life
about a resurgence of religion and a revival of national for the pilgrim is a battle, and the noise is the shouting
and international proportions?                              and din of life-and-death struggle. Ecstasy is out of
  The answer to this question is disappointing. For, place here and distracting.
upon closer study, one  finds that the excitement  ,is         The pilgrim reminds himself that he shall have to be
about very strange movements which are different at pains to remind his children and his fellow saints
from anything the Church has ever seen. There is the that it is well, in the year ahead, to emphasize the true
Jesus-movement so-called. The name already arouses joy of salvation and the knowledge of God and to
suspicion. The pilgrim senses that His Lord and Master speak more of the true and abiding fruits of the Spirit.
would not like it to have a true religious movement He shall have to see that his sword and shield are in his
called by that name. But, we cannot be misled by hand and that his armor is firmly buckled into place.
names always. It is a movement which sweeps espe- For his weapons are the Word of God and the lofty
cially over the youth and which has so many different and eternal truths of the Scriptures. And the battle is
forms about it that it is hard to get a good hold on very fierce. It will, beyond doubt grow worse. He shall
what it is all about. There is a lot of slang involved in have to remind himself and his fellow travellers that he
it. There is a lot of excitement and noise. There is a lot cannot afford to miss, even once, the meeting of God's
of religious fervor and unusual zeal. Is the excitement people in worship services; for these are oases in the
about the right things? Is one, to use the words of wilderness.
Paul, zealous about the good things? Here is where the         But there are also rays of hope and reasons for joy
movement falls so far short. It defines religion in ways in the things which have transpired. For the pressures
quite contrary to the Word of God. It defines religion of false doctrine and the threatening tides of false
in terms of "feeling," of "a high" like a man on a drug ecumenism have served to remind the faithful that
trip; it speaks of religion in terms of  em&ions and their calling to be stedfast is very urgent. He hears
uncontrolled passions. But lacking so very badly in the from many parts of his own country and the world,
movement is the solemn and sober call to sound doc- that there are pilgrims like himself who are set upon
trine which Scripture so often urges upon the people the path of a sojourner,  ~who are content to live in


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           151



spiritual tents, whose eyes are lit, not with the fanati- to know each other and encourage each other and help
cism of emotional kicks, but with the light of the              one another in the difficulties of the way. The words
Jerusalem above. And these pilgrims are prepared to of Paul to Timothy ring through his soul: "Neverthe-
engage in the battle at whatever the cost. They are less the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
weary of their denominations and the silly subterfuges seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let
of their leaders. They are desperately tired of the hope- every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
less drift towards evil philosophy in their churches. iniquity." II Timothy 2: 19.
They are determined to stand fast.                                And so he turns to the future, to the year of his
  And these faithful, wherever they may be, see in-  _ Lord, 1972. The events which he has pondered all
creasingly the need of seeking out those who are of a speak,  after all, one truth: Christ is coming! His
like mind and who are faithful as they are. The calls go journey will soon be over and the reward of life will be
out throughout the world. They are not large in num- his in the kingdom of his Father. What shall we say to
ber. But they are there  - in many places. And they all these things? "The end of all things is at hand: be
see, increasingly, the need of each other. For them there ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."
are no lofty dreams of a super church. They are content


Contending for the Faith
                               The Doctrine of Atonement
                                              THE REFORMATION PERIOD
                                                 THE SYNOD OFDORDT

                                                       Rev. H. Veldman

   In our preceding article, calling attention to the               in a short time, which we do not intend to do at this
opinions of the delegates from  Emden to the Great                  time, so we place over against this proposition of the
Synod concerning the doctrine of atonement, we                      Remonstrants, these contra-distinctions.
noted that these delegates were prompted in their writ-                1. God has established the covenant of grace, not
ings by the power of logic. This does not mean that                 only with all peoples in these last times, but also with
they                                                                Abraham and his descendants in the Old Testament,
         permitted their logic to dictate to them the truths        and long before him with our first parents. Conse-
of the Word of God. The human mind, or reason may                   quently, the covenant with Abraham, as far as the
never rule over the Scriptures. These delegates surely              essence of the covenant itself is concerned, is not
based their conclusions upon the Word of God. But the               different from the covenant established with all peo-
Word of God does not teach nonsense. The Scriptures                 ples in the New Testament, but it is one and the
are not in conflict with each other. They do not teach              same.
contradictions. God is one and His truth is one, never                 2. This covenant encompasses everywhere two
in conflict with itself. The Word of God surely bases               very important benefits, in the Old as well as in the
one  aspect of the truth upon another aspect of that                New Testament, namely the gracious forgiveness of
truth. The logic of these delegates is surely based upon            sins, and the writing of the law of God in our hearts,
the Word of God. Now we understand that we are now                  Jer. 31:32.
                                                                  We must bear in mind that these delegates, in these
merely quoting these opinions of these synodical dele- propositions I and II, touch upon a critical point of
gates. What matters, in the final instance, is what the dispute between the reformed view and that of the
synod decided. However, it is nevertheless interesting Arminians. The Remonstrants contended that the Lord
to note the reasoning of. these delegates and also how established a covenant of grace in and with Christ. God
they  based their findings upon the Word of God. We will willed several ways to save His people. In Paradise He
now continue with these quotations.                             willed to save all men in the way of the obedience of
         VI. Whether Christ, through the merit of His           Adam. Then, in the Old Dispensation, He prescribed as
    death, reconciled God with the human race in such a
    way that the Father, because of the merit of it, with-      a way of salvation the way of works. With the coming
    out prejudice to His righteousness and truth, might         of Christ, God established a covenant of grace, and the
    and willed to establish a new convenant  of grace with      way of faith in Christ as the way of salvation. But in
    the sinners? The Remonstrants say Yes.                      these propositions it is set forth that God established
         We answer, in the light of many hidden  things         the covenant of grace not only with all the peoples of
    which lie concealed here, which cannot be examined          the earth, as in the New Dispensation, but also with


152                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



Abraham and his descendants and, long before him,                       8. Thus God would be dependent upon man, not
with our first parents. Then, we read that this covenant             man upon God. For God wills, so they say, that all
encompasses two very important benefits, the gracious                men shall fulfill these conditions, in order that they
forgiveness of sins and the writing of the law of God in             all may be saved. Why, then, are they not saved?
our hearts, in the Old as well as in the New Testament.              Because, so they say, they have not willed to fulfill
So, in these words the oneness of God's covenant as                  the conditions of the New Covenant. Consequently,
throughout the ages is established. We now continue                  thus all things are dependent upon the willing or un-
                                                                     willing sinner.
with these quotations. In  .th.is following proposition                 4. This is in conflict with the order and cause of
the Remonstrants declare that Christ obtained by His                 causes. For where is here the first cause, which
death for the Father the possibility and desire to estab-            appoints and controls the second? Yea, in this man-
lish a covenant of grace with all sinners.                           ner the second causes appoints the fnst, and the first
           4. And consequently Christ by His death did not           is dependent upon the second.
        at that time first obtain for the Father a possibility          5. Thus man chooses himself, accepting the suffi-
        and desire, in order that He, without prejudice to His       cient grace offered to him; or he rejects himself, rejec-
        righteousness and truth, might and willed to establish       ting the same.
        a covenant of grace with sinners; but Christ Himself is         6. Thus the honor is not of Him Who has mercy,
        with all His benefits, merited by His death, exactly         whom He wills, but of him who accepts the offered
        the proper and most important gift of the New Testa-         condition or rejects it and despises it.
        ment, in the light of the fact that He Himself, Who is          7. Thus the decree of God is dependent upon His
       the true Jehovah, has established this covenant with          foreknowledge, not the foreknowledge on the decree.
       His death.                                                       8. Thus God's goodness is conquered by human
           5. The conditions of the New Testament are not            evil; and man, Satan, the world and the flesh are
        only commanded but also promised. Thus namely,               mightier than God. For, they say, God would have all
       that God, the author of the gracious covenant, has            men be saved, but man does not will it.
       promised that He will also give faith and repentance,            9. Thus God gives man no other grace than that
       which He demands of His members of the covenant,              which is in the power of man to accept or to reject.
        and what He promises He also fulfills.                          10. Thus the will of God is permitted to remain
           6. They who ascribe life and salvation to the ful-        uncertain and it hangs in the balance, until the condi-
        fillment of the condition of the New Covenant rob            tion is fulfilled by man.
        God and Christ of His glory, and deprive the anxious            VIII. Whether the reprobates are bound to be-
        consciences of the living of comfort, yea, cast down         lieve, that Christ died for them. It is this question
       the manner to save sinners, which is presented in             which the Remonstrants present in their fourth prop-
       Holy Writ, and which is asked under the disguise of           osition. We answer shortly: Whereas the elect and
       words set forth in the second transmitted proposition.        reprobates are together in this life; Matt. 24:40, Two
          VII. Whether it be the will of God, to ascribe the         shall be in the same field, the one shall be taken, the
       merit of Christ, by subject to a condition, namely if         other shall be left; and whereas to both together the
       man fulfill the conditions of the New Covenant. This          Word of God is preached, hence no man can know
       the Remonstrants say repeatedly; they declare: As             who are reprobated, and, therefore, according to the
        often as man neglects this condition, then God does          judgment of love, we hope the best of all; conse-
       not obtain that which He has set before Himself.              quently, let the Remonstrants show us who are repro-
                           Contra-Distinction                        bated, and then we shall see what the reprobates must
           Although it is true that God demands the faith and        believe.
        repentance of the members of His covenant, neverthe-            To this they object: But God commands all, to
        less this does not mean that His will is subject to a        whom the Word is preached, that they shall believe.
        condition; neither is the will of God respecting the            We answer that there is a certain command of obe-
        application of the merit.of Christ dependent upon the        dience and a certain command to prove. The elect,
        fulfiient of the same; in the light of the fact that         then, are obedient to God when He commands them,
        the fulfillment of this condition is a pure gift of God,     having been drawn' of God unto obedience. But the
        Who gives the willing and the fulfilling, and which in       reprobates, whether they are disobedient at once, or
        no sense of the word can and must be ascribed to             believe for a short time, with a temporary faith, after-
        man. Here these delegates emphatically affirm the            wards they again depart from it; thus they are tried in
       unconditionahty of salvation as bestowed upon the             order that it may be revealed what lies hidden in their
        sinner. - H.V.)                                              hearts. Consequently, they reveal their unbelief and
                                Reasons                              corrupt nature, with which they were born but in ao
           1. If the will of God be dependent upon condi-            sense implanted into them of God.
        tions, which must be fulfiied by man, then His works            But, whereas this beast, the one head having been
        are not known to God from eternity, Acts 15: 18.             cut off, gets many others, so it shall be necessary to
           2. Thus God would be impotent and weak. For               show and examine other erring opinions of the Re-
        He wills, and that seriously, so they say, that some-        monstrants, arising from the above mentioned .or liv-
        thing be done and be fulfilled which nevertheless does       ing out of the same.
        not happen.                                                 Of interest is all the following, in which these dele-


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      153



gates refute the contention of the Arminians that they               appear to present, that Christ should have paid fully
present a far richer interpretation of the atonement of              for the sins of men through the merit of His death,
Christ:                                                              and have furnished for us the ransom money. Not at
           IX. Consequently, whereas they repeatedly and in          all; for everywhere they deny that Christ satisfied
    many places, often make mention of their explana-                fully for sins.
    tion of the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with        How true! The Arminians claim that their presenta-
    God, and therefore deceive the simple minds, as if           tion of a universal atonement is so much richer than
    they ascribe very much to Christ and His merits, by          the conception of  the Reformed. They teach a Christ
    which He should have reconciled the entire world             for all; the Reformed teach a Christ only for some!
    with God, so they must be drawn out of their hiding-         The reality of the matter is, however, that, whereas
    places, m order that their deception may be known            they teach that Christ died also for those who perish,
    more and more and people see what they mean when             they actually teach an atonement which really is no
    they speak of "having obtained for all men the for-
    giveness of sins."                                           atonement, inasmuch as having died also for those who
           When, then, they say, that Christ has obtained for    perish Christ therefore did not pay for their sins, and
    all the forgiveness of sins through the merit of His         therefore did not die for the sins of any.
    death, then their meaning is not at all, which they


Feature
                            The Concern of the Reformation
                                   for Christian Education (9)
                                                       Rev. David Engelsma

  Whether believers realize the importance of Chris- that the theologians, who possessed an adequate share
tian schools or not, the Devil and the antichristian of the learning and eloquence of the age, would be
world are well aware of it. An event in the early his-           succeeded by a generation of blind and ignorant fanat-
tory of the post-apostolic Church illustrates this. In the ics, incapable of defending the truth of their own
early years of the 4th century, Emperor Constantine principles, or of exposing the various follies of Poly-
the Great made Christianity the religion of the Roman theism."* * In justification of his action, Julian derided
Empire, thus delivering the Christian Church from the the Christian faith much as the learned heathen in the
severe persecution which she had been suffering. But in universities do today, remarking that "the men who
A.D. 361, Constantine's nephew, Julian, became sole exalt the merit of implicit faith are unfit to claim or
ruler of the Roman Empire. Julian renounced the                  to enjoy the advantages of science and . . . if they re-
Christianity which he once professed and manifested fuse to adore the gods of Homer and Demosthenes,
himself as a bitter, implacable enemy of Christianity. they ought to content themselves with expounding
He determined to eradicate Christianity from the Em- Luke and Matthew in the churches of the  Galilae-
pire and to restore the old paganism. For this reason he ans."3 * The almost universal reaction of the Christian
is  known as Julian the Apostate. One, aspect of his parents was the withdrawal of their children from the
all-out attack on the Christian religion was the edict Empire's schools. As the historian, Gibbon, remarks:
that prohibited Christians from teaching in any of the "The Christians were  directly  forbid to teach, they
schools in the Empire.l. All teachers had to be pagans. were  indirectly forbid to learn; since they would not
They were encouraged, in all their classes, to inculcate frequent the schools of the  Pagans."4. But they were
the idolatry of old Rome upon the students. Julian had not of a mind to permit their children to remain ignor-
a two-fold purpose with this law. He intended to cor- ant. They established their own schools and even wrote
rupt the Christian children that might attend his pagan their own textbooks. Julian's attack on the Church in
schools. At the same time, knowing that the Christians the realm of the education of the Church's children
would abhor such schools, he intended to drive the was abruptly ended by his death, after a reign of only
Christians out of the schools and, thus, deprive them            eighteen months. We would be foolish to suppose that
of an education. This, he foresaw, would have a disas- Satan's attack in the sphere of education ended at that
trous effect upon the Church in the future. "Julian had time also.
reason to expect that, in the space of a few years, the            An evaluation of the Reformation's concern for
church would relapse into its primaeval simplicity, and Christian education must also emphasize that the


154                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Reformation viewed Christian education as grounded             tions, he wrote, "in which loose living prevails."5  * He       ~
in the covenant. Christian schools are schools in which excoriated "the scandalous and immoral life there in ,
the children of believing parents are instructed in the which many a  fine young fellow was shamefully cor-
fear of the Lord, because these children are included          rupted."6. Luther had quite a different view of the
by God in the Church of Christ. For this reason, the           Christian school from that which sees it as exclusively
Reformers proposed that the girls also be educated, a          academic, as the institution for educating minds. He
thing  almost unheard of at that time. In this view of saw it as the sphere of rearing the child in the fear of
Christian education, the Reformers were right. A Chris-        the Lord  - an extension of the home! Therefore, he
tian school, therefore, differs radically from those edu-      called schoolteachers to concern themselves also with
cational institutions today that are set up to give the virtue and honor of their pupils. He speaks of
instruction to a few brilliant children of wealthy par-        "honest, upright, virtuous schoolmasters and teachers
ents, even though these institutions may call them-            offered . . . by God" who raise our children "in the
selves Christian. A Christian school is no aristocratic        fear of God, and in virtue, knowledge, learning, and
center of learning for the intellectual elite. This smacks honor by dint of hard work, diligence, and indus-
of the  hubris  of the Greeks, not of the lowliness of try."`.
Christ. A Christian school exists, and is called by God,         As soon as the Christian school is no-longer control-
to give Christian instruction to all the children of be- led by this practical, ethical purpose, it ceases to be
lievers, the dull as well as the bright, the future farmer,    Christian. The abstracting of the education of the mind
carpenter, or wife and mother as well as the youth that        from the ethical calling upon the heart, love the Lord
intends to become a doctor, minister, or teacher. In- thy God, produces educated devils, of which we now
deed, if any child is to receive special attention, it must    have a world full. Ethical, or moral, training of the
be the slow learner. It is a fundamental law of the            children in the Christian school is not something
Kingdom of Christ that "those members of the body,             tacked on to the other inst.ruction.  Rather, it lies in the
which we think to be less honourable, upon these we            nature of the school. The school as a whole, and every
bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely                  subject in the school, serves the'glory of God. It does
parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely this, not secretly or secondarily, but openly and pri-
parts have no need" (I Cor. 12:23,24a).  The Christian         marily. By the grace of God, the effect that such edu-
schoolteacher may not drive out, neglect, or discourage        cation has is to lead the student to take his place in the
the intellectually inferior students, whether in assign- world under God and for the sake of the glory of God
ments, in marking, or in the attitude shown them. He in every sphere. This "moral influencing" of the child
must abstain from doing this  on  principZe:  Christian is simply inherent in the Christian school. On the other
education is covenant education.                               hand, the non-Christian school also has an inevitable,
  Because it viewed Christian education as covenantal,         moral effect. That effect is not only the immorality of
the Reformation had a practical, ethical goal in all its       the  hippie and the revolutionary. It is also the immo-
efforts on behalf of Christian education. The goal of rality of Machiavellian politicians; of doctors who
the Reformation was not intellectually brilliant stu- gouge their patients for their services, mere robbers; of'
dents who would astound the world with their erudi-            lawyers who unscrupulously manipulate the law and
tion and achievements. The Reformers wanted men toy with justice; of common, ordinary people who live
and women equipped by their schooling to occupy                and work and play in God's world  ,for themselves,
their positions in the Church and in the world as ca- exactly as if it were true that man is the end of evolu-
pable, faithful, obedient  servants,of the Lord. In har-       tion, the goal of all things, and god. This is the fruit of
mony with this goal, they required schools which were          education that leaves God out. As we now have pain-
free from licentious behavior, schools which would             fully impressed on us by all that is taking place in our
rear the children in the fear of the Lord also morally.        wretched society, this fruit is very bitter indeed, bring-
The Reformation, as a spiritual movement, intuitively          ing misery, chaos, and destruction.
knew the message of the book of Proverbs, that the               In addition to the ethical training inherent in its
beginning of knowledge and wisdom is the fear of the nature as a God-centered, God-glorifying institution,
Lord and that this true wisdom is characterized,               the Christian school will also engage in moral training
through and through, by reverence for the Lord God             of a more deliberate, overt kind. The Christian school
and a holy walk in His ways. As far as the Reformers           will exercise discipline. It will insist upon obedience
were concerned, any school that fostered or permitted          and purity of life on the part of the students while
wickedness on the part of the students could sink into         they are at school. The standard to which the students
the abyss, and the quicker the better, no matter how           are required to conform will be God's law as revealed
high the academic standards of that school might be. in. the Bible. The school will rebuke and chastise the
One of Luther's basic objections to the existing schools       students for sin, so that the students will not walk in
from the beginning was his simple aversion to the sin in the school. The Christian school will concern
moral environment of the schools. They were institu-           itself, not only with pupil's academic advancement,


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             155


but also with his attitudes, his diligence, and his behav-              Young saplings are most easily bent and trained, even
ior. The Christian school will be alert to give  good,                  though some may break in the process. It surely has
spiritual counsel to the students who show fears or                     to be one of the supreme virtues on earth faithfully
weaknesses.* - All of this belongs to the task of the                   to train other people's children; for there are very few
Christian schoolteacher. This implies, first, that parents              people, in fact almost none, who will do this for their
and school boards must be interested in the spiritual,                  own.g
as well as academic, credentials of the Christian school-                                   (to be concluded)
teacher. It implies, secondly, that the labor of the
Christian schoolteacher is demanding. It implies,                     l*The account of this event is found in Edward Gibbon's
thirdly, that the calling of teaching in the Christian classic work,  The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,  The
school is of great worth in the Kingdom of heaven. Let Modern Library, New York, Vol. I, Chapter XXIII.
Luther say it:                                                        *-Ibid.,  p. 784
    I will simply say briefly that a diligent and upright             3*Ibid., p. 783
    schoolmaster or teacher, or anyone who faithfully                 4-ibid., p. 783
    trains and teaches boys, can never be adequately re-              5-An Open  Letter to the Christian Nobility  of  the German
    warded or repaid with any amount of money, as even             Nation concerning the Refoim of <he Christian Estate (1520)
    the heathen Aristotle says. Nevertheless, this work is            6*Luther's  Works, Vol.  45, The Christian in Society II, "To
    as shamefully despised among us as ifit amounted to            the Councilmen of all Cities in Germany that they Establish and
    nothing at all. And still we call ourselves Christians! If     Maintain Christian Schools"  (1524),  Muhlenberg  Press, Phila-
    I could leave the preaching office and my other                delphia, 1962, p. 252
    duties, or had to do so, there is no other office I               `*Luther's  Works, Vol.  46, The Christian in Society III,  "A
    would rather have than that of schoolmaster or                 Sermon on Keeping Children in School" (1530), Fortress Press,
    teacher of boys; for I know that next to that of               Philadelphia, 1967, p. 218
    preaching, this is the best, greatest, and most useful            **On  the calling and competency of the Christian school-
    office there is. Indeed, I scarcely know which of the          teacher to counsel his students, see chapter XI of Jay E. Adams'
    two is the better. For it is hard to make old dogs             excellent book,  competent to Counsel,  Presbyterian and Re-
    obedient and old rascals pious; yet that is the work at        formed Publishing Company, 1970
    which the preacher must labor, and often in vain.                 g=Luther's Works, Vol. 46, op. cit., pp. 252,253


From Holy Writ
                            Exposition of Hebrews
                                                           Rev. G. Lubbers

THE CITY PREPARED FOR THE  PARTRIARCHS  from the current usage of the verb "hath prepared"
(Hebrews 11: 13-l 6 continued)                                     when used to refer to the outgoing works of God in
   We are concerned in this little paragraph with what Scripture. Thus we read in I Cor. 2:9 where the apostle
the writer states  in Hebrews 11:  16b, "for he hath  pre- Paul quotes Isaiah 64.4. The apostle, quoting from the
pared for them a city."                                            Septuagint  Version, writes "the things  which eye  hath
   This subordinate clause states the reason why God is not seen, and ear hath not heard, and hath not risen in
not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, Isaac the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
and Jacob. It speaks of a Divine preparation which is, for them who love Him." What is he here proving from
of such a nature that it behoves God to be called with this Scfiptwe? He is ass&kg that the. Christ, the Lord
the surname: God of Abraham etc. We do well to in- of glory, was crucified by the hands of evil men. They
quire into the meaning of this clause under considera- were not aware of the deep import of what they were
tion.                                                              doing. It never entered into their heart that they were
   The question is whether the verb "hath prepared" nailing the Lord of glory to the accursed tree. Had
(Greek: "eetoimasi")  refers to the actual finishing of they known this they  would not have crucified  Him.
the city historically or whether it refers to a city which But now we begin to see the  things which God  pre-
God has preordained to be inhabited by the number- pared for those who love him. God is here uncovering,
less throng of *Abraham's spiritual seed, the church of revealing that mystery which had been completely hid
God. After some study and reflection we are of the but which is now revealed by the Spirit. God had  pre-
conviction that this clause expresses the completed act pared a "good" in the Lamb which is slain from the
of God's preparation in his counsel. This is evident foundation of the world. Besides, we ought to notice


156                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



that Jesus tells us that to sit on the right hand or on wonder of God. God's ways are past tracing out. Here
the left hand of Christ is determined by God, prepared in the nether parts of the earth (poetry!) Isaac was
of my Father in heaven. (Matt. 20:23) And in the last formed in a most wonderful way. We see it but do not
day when the Son of Man shall come in his glory with comprehend it. But it is so very true; it is no myth but
all the holy angels . . . then shall the King say unto it is a fact of history!
them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- SARAH RECEIVES ABILITY TO CONCEIVE
tion of the world."                                      SEED.(Hebrews 11: 11)
  Wherefore we hold that here, too, the term "pre-          No, I do not understand, I do not comprehend this.
pared" refers to this preparation of the city as God has I do not comprehend the birth of a child which is born
it in His counsel of peace, in readiness for the heirs of from the will of a man and born according to the flesh,
the kingdom of heaven. And in view of this city and all as was the case in the birth of Ishmael from Hagar.
the inhabitants which are elected before the founda- Much less do I understand this mystery and miracle of
tion of the world in Christ, God is not ashamed to be God here disclosed. The writer puts it very simply.
called historically and to all eternity: the God of Sarah received power, ability to conceive seed. A two-
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God not of the fold miracle transpired in her. The natural barrenness
dead but of the living! !                                was overcome and taken away. All her life Sarah, in.
THE FAITH OF SARAH (Hebrews 11: 11,12)                    the inscrutable providence of God, had been barren. It
                                                         was wonderful wisdom of God. It was a wisdom of
  The discerning reader will have noticed that we God which is, foolishness with men. It must have been
by-passed these two verses in our former essays. We did a difficult cross for Sarah and Abraham to bear. But
not tarry to interpret this passage when finished with God took away her barrenness. However, He did more.
the foregoing verses concerning Abraham's sojourn in He took away her deadness. It had ceased with Sarah
faith, but went on to the verses 13-16 to see the deep to be after the manner of women. She-was past the
motif of these patriarchs in their pilgrimage, Now we age. She was simply an old woman. Was she not ninety
must return to see what the writer has to tell us con- years old? And now God will rejuvenate her. She will
cerning the faith of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, the be a young woman again. God will work in her
mother of Isaac in whom the Seed is called.               "`Dunamin"  power, ability, life-producing energy and
  It will become abundantly evident that Sarah has strength. She will have pleasure again. It is so laugh-
the same faith as all the elders had, who walked in able, but it is true. (Gen. 17: 15) She will be a mother
faith and obtained a good report. Also here faith is the of nations. Says the Lord, who cannot lie, to Abraham
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things "And I will bless her, and give a son also of her: Kings
not seen. Faith ever deals with two things: the things of people shall be of her." And when the Angel of the
hoped for, and the things not seen. Here, too, we must LORD comes to her tent and informs Abraham of the
remember that without faith it is impossible to be birth which will be next year at this time Sarah laughs
well-pleasing to God. No one can place his life as a in her heart. It is too ridiculous. Such are the ways of
sacrifice of thanksgiving upon the altar of God without the LORD with His people. And then Sarah is rebuked
faith.                                                   with the stern yet loving "Is anything too hard for the
  And Sarah also is another example of the faith Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee,
which we need to press forward unto the salvation of according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a
our souls. That is the intent of the writer. The readers son." (Gen. 18: 14) Yes, Sarah laughed. Had Sarah not
must not fall back into the unbelief of Jewry, who call in hope against hope done everything possible to have
Jesus accursed, and count the blood of Christ a com- a child, even if she must have it through an Egyptian
mon thing. Since we have a great high priest and have handmaid? Small wonder that she was afraid when she
boldness to enter into the holiest of all, we must draw hears "Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?" And
near with true hearts in the full assurance of faith!    in this trembling before the Lord she submits to the
   Sarah has the singular place of being a mother by LORD. She submits to the name Sarah: mother of
faith. The text says "by faith even Sarah herself." She nations. That `was faith! It was the substance of things
is one of whom it would never have been thought that hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Here is life
she would be a mother of children. For the fast notice out of death. It is the miracle, the wonder of God. It is
which we read concerning her is that she "was barren; grace breaking through all sin and death. Such is the
she had no child." (Gen. 12:30) She became a mother birth of the church.
"by faith." God wrought a miracle in her "by faith."
She pleased God by faith. The power which trans- SARAH ACCOUNTS GOD FAITHFUL WHO PROM-
formed her was by faith. And from so very little, yea, ISED. (Hebrews 11:l lb)
from nothing came a multitude as the stars of the
heavens for multitude. Don't ask me to explain this         Now there is but one thought that lives in the soul


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        157



of Sarah who had laughed but now believes. It is that not fulfilled.
the Almighty God is not only able to do all things, but              This is indeed a great and precious promise. It made
he is also a faithful Father who cannot lie. She takes            clear that Abraham would have a son from his own
God at His Word. That is faith. It regarded that  .the            bowels. And now this is become a reality. No, not in
same LORD who had visited her tent would also visit the birth of Ishmael from Hagar, but in this son which
her and perform his wonders. She believed this while is born from the promise. The text here refers to this
she was still past the age of child bearing. She walked           "One out of whom" this multitude becomes a reality.
by faith and not by sight. The dead Sarah believed that           It becomes history! !
in the very next year she would have a child. The fact               And it becomes history with a rich meaning and
had not only been told Abraham and Sarah, but also import. For this multitude refers to the great nation
the time when it would come to pass! Sarah "lead" which comes forth from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
this thought'out  before her mind. Such is the meaning the twelve tribes of Israel. It is really the Israel of God
of the Greek verb `eegeesato." She simply regarded it             from both the Old and the New Testament.
as being true that the promise of God would stand, and               At Mount Moriah the Lord repeats this promise by
that not  qne of His words would fall to the ground.              swearing by Himself when he could swear by none
Over and over it went through her heart and mind, and greater. (Gen. 22: 17) And when Israel worships the
it set her soul on fire: God is faithful, God is faithful!        golden calf and God will destroy Israel, Moses appeals
He will perform his own promise to me!                            to this promise of God that Israel shall be as the stars
                                                                  of the heaven in multitude. And then we see that this
SARAH'S FAITH NOT PUT TO SHAME  (Hebrews                          "multitude" is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
11:12)                                                            runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy!  This is the
  No, Sarah's faith is not put to shame. It is'rewarded. truth and reality which David forgot when Satan
She will be a mother of nations. The promise to                   tempted him to number the people. Do we not read in
Abraham concerning the multitude of the people as I Chronicles  27:23 that very obscure notice "But
the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is by the David took not the number of them from twenty years
seashore is fulfilled in her. (Genesis 15 : 5)                    old and under: because the LORD had said he would
  When Abraham's faith needed to be bolstered and                 increase Israel like the stars of the heavens." He num-
strengthened God came to him and said- "Fear not,                 bered only the army and the plague killed 70,000, the
Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great re- number of God's election as God numbers the people.
ward." It was then that Abraham had cried to the                     Yes, by faith Sarah conceived and she becomes
LORD that he was childless. Then he was told to go                really allegorically Jerusalem above, which is the
out under the stars of heaven, and the LORD said "So              mother of us all. For the church after Babylon will be
shall thy seed be." That was a'long time before this, at          greater than before. (Gal. 4:27) And thus the city four-
least some fifteen years earlier. But the promise was square shall be full of Sarah's children.


The Strength of Youth
                               Confessing  bur Faith
           "Whosover  therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
           But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny befork  my Father which is in heaven. "
                                                                                                       Matt. 10:32,33
                                                   Rev. Robert D. Decker

  One of the most joyful experiences for elders and               Christ. Pastor, consistory, and the entire congregation
pastors is the occasion of  thzperiodic confessions of see the visible fruit of covenant instruction in the
faith by the youth of God's church. This joy is shared            home (and Christian school) and the visible fruit of the
by the entire congregation when those confessions are means of grace - the preaching of the gospel and cate-
made public in one of the worship services of the                 chetical instruction by and in the church. God says, as
church. Joyous is this event because it provides con- it were, through these occasions: "I am thy God and
crete evidence of the saving grace of our Covenant God            the God of thy seed after thee,"
as He through the Holy Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ               For this very reason the occasion of the confession
brings the children of His covenant into the conscious-           of faith is of no less significance and joy for those
ness of their faith, their unbreakable union with Jesus           young people who by God's grace stand before the


158                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



church to express agreement with the doctrine of the in so doing reveals many aspects of what we call faith.
Old and New Testaments as taught in the Articles of But' generally speaking, the Bible reveals faith in an
the Christian faith "here in this Christian Church," and objective sense and in a subjective sense. (We hear
to express their resolve to live a new and godly life in these terms often - Prot. Ref. preachers use them fre-
harmony with the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and quently.) What do we mean? In the objective sense the
under the gracious discipline of Jesus Christ exercised term faith indicates the contents of the Word of God,
by His Body, the Church. The keen joy of salvation the doctrine or teaching of Scripture, or that which the
thrills the hearts of godly young people as they confess Scriptures reveal to us. We find an instance of this use
their faith. A new sense of consecration to the cause of of the term in Jude verse 2 where the Word of God
Christ often grips their hearts as they publicly say: "I admonishes the Church to "contend earnestly for the
belong to Jesus in life and in death." And because of faith  which was once delivered to the saints." Here
this the church properly devotes the entire service and faith means the doctrine of the Scriptures which was
sermon to this occasion.                                   delivered (through prophets and apostles and the other
  Because of the tremendous significance of this act inspired, holy men of God) to the saints. The Church is
for the church and especially for the youth of the called to fight for the faith, the truth of God's Word,
church we wish to devote an article or two to this because of the false teachers who creep in unawares
subject. The writer (and no doubt all our pastors and and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness (vs. 4). In
elders share this experience) is aware of the fact that the subjective sense faith is the actual believing in God
there is a measure of misunderstanding concerning the and His Christ. It is the conscious knowing of God as
idea and necessity and significance of confession of our Father for Jesus' sake and the confident clinging to
faith in the minds of many young people. Most wonder Christ. In this sense faith is trusting, hoping, believing
just what is involved. Some have the mistaken notion in Jesus as MY Lord and Savior! Now then, the idea of
that to confess one's faith means that we join the confession of faith includes both of these.
church. For a few it's just the proper thing to do when      What is it to CONFESS that faith? The word uses in
we reach our middle or late teens. For a very few          the New Testament conveys a rich and beautiful idea.
(thank God) it is a way to escape the tedious routine It means "to say the same thing as another or with
of attending weekly catechism classes. And still others others." Thus our confession of faith is an expression
lack a proper understanding of the utter seriousness of of the unity of all the saints of God in Jesus Christ. We
taking this step. These in some cases (altogether too are ONE in Christ. And that means the entire Church
many!) confess that the doctrine of Old and New Tes- of Christ: the Old Testament Church as well as the
taments, which is contained in the Articles of the New, the saints of God gathered out of every nation,
Christian faith, as taught in the Protestant Reformed tribe, and tongue. The members of the universal Body
Churches is the true and complete doctrine of salva- of Jesus Christ all confess the same faith in the same
tion, only to leave those churches for one reason or Lord, through the power of the same Spirit. They say
another (usually for a wife or husband from another the same thing together.
denomination) a short time later. Assuming that the          Still more, the child of God  says  that! That is, he
youth of God's covenant are vitally interested in this expresses that which the Scriptures teach and which he
subject we will address ourselves to some of these believes. He gives conscious expression to the faith, the
things. In the interest of providing Biblical instruction truth. He acknowledges before the Church, before the
and with the prayer that the Holy Spirit will bless world, and before the face of God that he believes the
these efforts we set ourselves to this task.               faith once delivered to the saints to be the true and
  In the brief course of this writer's ministry he recalls complete doctrine of salvation.  .And he is acknowl-
an incident in his pastoral work which brings this edging that this faith is the conviction of his heart, or
whole subject of confessing our faith to mind. A young the principle that governs his whole life. He is really
person once said to him "Confession of faith?, that        ;aying, "Jesus died for me; He's my Savior; He is for
doesn't mean much! All you do is say `yes' to three me the way, the truth, and the life! I know He loves
little questions. What's the big deal about that? That me with the love of His Father and, therefore, I love
doesn't mean someone has faith, and that's not much Him! His will is MY law. Him I serve always and every-
of a testimony." Is that true? Is that really all that's where. All my joy is in Him and in His service! To live
involved? Just saying "yes" to three questions, is with my Lord in the fellowship of God in the glorious
THAT what it means to confess our faith? Oh, no!           Kingdom of Heaven is the goal of my life!" Joining the
That is only the FORMAL aspect of confessing our saints of all the ages we say when we confess our faith:
faith. Just what does it mean then to make confession "By grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of
of faith?                                                  ourselves, it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8).
  In answer we may say that the Scriptures speak of          The Scriptures make perfectly obvious that this is
faith in two senses. We mean this quite in general, for the calling of every child of God! Have you confessed.
the Bible speaks of faith from many points of view and your faith? Do you know the truth of the Word of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               159



God as taught in the confessions and in your church? not ready." "I don't know enough." Be assured of
Do you hear the voice of Jesus through the preaching this: we never know it all! The Scripture is a mine of
of the gospel convicting you of sin and assuring you of infinite treasures of truth. One of the writer's former
pardon in His shed blood? Does the Spirit witness with pastors, the late Herman Hoeksema often expressed
your `spirit that you are  a. child of God? "Yes," you the sentiment in his later years that if the Lord gave
say? Then confess that! Say that in God's Church and him another fifty years to preach he still would.not be
before His face! That is our calling! The contents of able to plumb the depths of the Word of God. That we
the Word of faith which is preached by the Church is confess our faith does not mean that we "have ar-
according to Romans  10:9,10: "That  if- thou shalt rived." With respect to our knowledge of the truth as
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, (that Jesus is well as with respect to living the new and godly life we
THE Lord) and shalt believe in thine heart that God have but a small beginning. For that reason the Scrip-
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. tures admonish us more than once not only to con-
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; tinue in the Word, but also to "grow in grace and
and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- knowledge."
tion." Faith is believed in our hearts but also confessed      If you have not yet confessed your faith perhaps it
with our mouths! Jesus said in that text quoted above is because the Spirit has not yet brought you to the
this article: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me be- consciousness of your salvation in Jesus. Perhaps that's
fore men, him will I confess also before my Father true. But be sure that that is the case with you, lest
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me be- you deny your Lord by failing to confess His name
fore men, him will I also deny before my Father which before men. Pray about this. Talk to your godly par-
is in heaven." Matt. 10:32, 33. Denial of Christ can be ents about this and to your pastor or elders.
by silence as well as by actual expression!                                    (to be continued)
  Perhaps you react at this point and say, "But I'm


The Day of Shadows

                                      An Help -Meet
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys

  So often when we read or use the phrase that forms Eve. Doing this He did not simply make a mate for
our title, we do so as though it were another way of Adam. He did not simply bring forth a companion. He
writing An Help Mate. In fact, it is exactly for this made a creature that was in every respect fit and suit-
reason that we can use it as our title without creating a    able for helping Adam as God's royal priest and stew-
discordant sound for most of our readers. It would ard, and as His prophet who was called forth to confess
grate upon our ears to write A Meet Help, although and praise His Creator.
this would be good grammar. And it would certainly             Adam needed a companion. That we will not deny.
sound very strange if we would substitute a synonym He was alone with no creature that was tit and would
for meet and write An Help Fit, or An Help Suitable.         serve to give him companionship and fellowship; of
We would by far prefer then to write it A Fit Help, or       this he saw a picture in the lives of the animals that
A Suitable Help. We have used this phrase so long and God had brought before him to name. He could not
often in the sense of helpmate that we have become exchange thoughts and desires, he could not communi-
dull and insensitive to its real meaning in Genesis 2:20     cate with the birds and beasts. He did talk with God to
when God says that He will make for Adam "an help a degree. But he did not have a creature on his own
meet-for him." In fact you can even find in your dic- level with which he could communicate in a fellowship
tionary that we coined a new word; and now we have of mind and will. There was something missing in his
the word helpmeet.                                           life. And the procession of the animals before him for
  God created Eve as an help that was fit or suitable him to name brought this out very clearly to Adam
for Adam. And that is what this word meet says in that himself. These animals and birds and fish all had mates.
phrase. The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and Adam stood alone!
the fish of the seas God created in pairs. He called male      God gave him thereafter more than a mate, more
and female into being at the same time. Adam He cre- than a companion. Before the sixth day was over, and
ated alone. And then out of one of his ribs He created before God's work of creating was finished and God


160                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



could-say of all that which He did that day, `"It is very      which we call a woman's intuition. And a woman's
good," He brought forth an help meet for him. The              viewpoint is not the same as a man's. In a spiritual
angels have companions. Do we not frequently read of sense, of course, the sanctified husband and wife see
them in company with each other? Were there not                eye to eye. But the woman was created by God to see
three that came to visit Abraham? Do we not read of in creation what man would not see, and to have her
two of them at the open and empty tomb of Christ?              point of view to assist man in getting the whole pic-
(They are not male and female, though they are com-            ture. Indeed, since the fall she is often man's downfall
panions.) They do not, however, have helps meet for because spiritually she sees differently than he does.
them, as God gave Adam an help meet for him.                   Paul, in I Timothy 2: 12, does not suffer a woman to
  Consider that the phrase implies that Adam needs teach in the church and thus usurp authority over the
help. Women may forget that today and marry for man. And his reason in verse 14 is that Adam was not
mqney, for prestige and honour or some personal am-            deceived, but the woman. But Eve was perfect and was
bition they may have. A man may look for a compan-             created as a perfect help for Adam. She fell, but so did
ion  - and all too often for a playmate  - without             Adam. And God made her so that the appeal to the
concern for character and qualifications that will help        senses was stronger in her than in man. The beautiful
him in his very serious calling before God. But man            to the eye, the pleasing to the ear, the softness to the
needs help in that threefold office of being God's             touch, the delightful to taste and smell was so much
prophet who must confess and praise Him, His priest            stronger in her. All this, of course, without sin, which
who must be dedicated and must dedicate all to God,            will again be our spiritual condition in the new Jerusa-
and His king to rule and subdue all things in the service      lem when we are neither male nor female but as the
of God. And consider further that for help he needs            angels of God. Then we will not have female helps or
one who is fitted for that work, one suitable because be female helps as now. Instead all together will be the
that one is designed with a view to that work, and so          bride of Christ and to serve Him and with Him in the
created that this one is adapted to man in that need           new creation.
and in that work.                                                With a view to supplying Adam with this help God
  The woman created by God out of Adam's rib was               caused him to fall into a deep sleep. Adam had not yet
adapted to him as his counterpart. She was not and is          taken one wink of natural sleep, but he and Eve would
not his opposite. She supplemented him - being taken           do so during the hours of darkness which would soon
out ,of him - and supplied that which he lacked. To-           fall upon the land of Eden. Their need for sleep does
gether they made one whole that was able to subdue             not imply an imperfection in them. They were crea-
the whole earth from every point of view, so that all of tures, and all creatures have needs. Whether these
God's earthly creation would return to Him in praise needs be food and drink, or oxygen and rest makes no
and glory.                                                     difference. The perfect creature will have needs exactly
  Physically and organically the woman resembles because he still is only a creature. Therefore Adam,
man, for and from whom she was made, except for who was created to serve a very definite and special
that change wrought by God so that she might assist            purpose in creation, and was created on the sixth day
him in bringing forth seed that he might multiply, re- as one fully able to serve that purpose, was a perfect
plenish the earth and subdue it all. And let it be re- creature with his needs. Let us not say, "A perfect
membered in this adulterous age, this world of free sex        creature in spite of his needs," for all creatures, as we
in which we live, that she was made to be an help and          pointed out, have needs by virtue of being creatures.
not a hindrance to man, to serve him in his calling and        Only God is self-sufficient, and independent, having in
not in his carnality, to assist him as God's image bearer Himself all His life.
and not as just another beast of the field with powers           The sleep into which God placed Adam before He
that drive without direction, and without thought of took one of his ribs for the creation of Eve, however,
the Creator. And man must seek a wife only in order            was not an ordinary sleep, but a very special and unus-
to have her help to fulfill his calling before God, and ual one. Genesis 2:21 calls it a "deep sleep." It was one
not to help Satan in the development of sin!                   out of which Adam would not waken while his rib was
  But even then, when it pleases God to give a man a           being removed to be formed into a woman. A sleep it
barren wife, she still is there to be an help to l-rim. She    was during which he would sense nothing of what God
still has something to contribute to him in his calling.       was doing in his body. He could not watch God re-
The woman is not a man that physically and organ- move his rib. He was not given to observe the forma-
ically is constructed somewhat different from the male         tion of Eve. Later on he will in amazement watch the
she resembles. She is not a variation of man. She is not       birth of his firstborn. But the creation of his wife he is
some higher or lower form of a male. For psychically           not given to see. Nor did he suffer any pain during or
as well as physically she differs from man, because God        after this "operation." Only after it is all finished and
made her to be man's psychical as well as physical             God brings the woman to him does God reveal to him
counterpart and supplement. There is, you know, that           her origin out of his bone and flesh. Then Adam can


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           161



say, for God Himself informed him, that she is bone of which He exercises in and upon her. He will reign with
his bone and flesh of his flesh, and that she shall be her and through her over all the new creation. She will
called woman.                                                    be His companion in a covenant fellowship that will be
  This means that she  is  woman. She is not simply wonderfully sweet. But we need not fear to say also
called bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, but is all that she will be an help meet for Him, designed by God
this. This is carried out in the word ishshah, which for His service and glory.
Adam uses, and which at its very beginning contains                When we say that she will be an help meet for Him,
the element of ish which is the Hebrew word for man, we are not, of-course, denying the self-sufficiency of
or husband. We have that somewhat in our word                    God, Who He needs nothing and no pne. We are speak-
woman, but you note that in  woman  the element of ing here of His human nature, which also needed an
man comes at the end while Adam places this element              earthly mother, food and drink and all that which our
first. And he who is ish calls that which was formed             bodies need. Besides there are those needs and those
from his flesh and bone ishshah.                                 events which must come to pass because God decreed
  Now let us understand that no matter how wonder- them. There are no needs which the creature imposes
ful and beautiful all this is, no matter how real and            upon God, or on His Christ. But there are those events
actual the fact of it is, this is still only the picture - we    and objects (such as the cross) which are necessary
mean, of course, before the fall - of that intimate and because God decreed thus to bring the kingdom of
wonderful relation between Christ and His Church, Christ into being. And the church is an help perfectly
wherein that Church is His bride, His wife, yea we may meet for Christ when. He reigns over the new creation,
say His help meet .for Him.                                      because God decreed this and formed her for Christ
  In Mark 4: 11 Jesus says that the things of the king- and gave her to Him.
dom are done in parables. In John 15 : 1 He says, "I am            In this life she is meet only in principle and with a
the true vine. . . ." That which we see in the field, small beginning of that new obedience. Therefore to-
then, and call a vine is a real vine, but it is not the true day she "helps" Him but little, and the day is yet
vine. It is a picture of Christ and His Church. He is the        coming in which she shall fully be meet for her role
true vine and we are the branches. All that which we over all the new creation with  H&n as God's Royal
see round about us in this creation - though we may Priest, Who shall show forth God's praises.
not yet be able to see it that way - is a picture of the           You do find in yourself a beginning of being made
truth as it is in Christ. All creation revolves around fit for all this, do you not? Then rest gssured that you
Him. Not only by Him but also for Him were all things will in perfection be meet to reign with Him by His
created. See Revelation 4: 11. All is leading to the day         covenant faithfulness. Adam was in a deep sleep and
when The Ish is united with His Ishshah, the Bride- did not assist God. Neither do we help I3.i.m cause us to
groom with His Bride. `And a picture of this we have in          be helps meet for Christ. He does all the work of salva-
the creation of Eve as an help meet for Adam.                    tion. And that will be our praise also when as the bride
  However, His bride is not taken out of Him, as is-the of Christ we are brought to Him with glorified bodies
case in the picture. Yet His bride does receive her life         in His day.
from Him.  And she is meet for  Him by the power


Editorials

                     Repudiation--Reformed Journal Style

                                                      ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

  In our issue of September 15, 1971, page 488, we                   it meas more, not less, than the wildest and most
called upon the  Reformed Journal  to repudiate, the                 beautiful thing ever imagined. If his Kingdom shall
rank universalism  from the pen of Gracia Fay Ellwood                have no limit we can expect that every moment of
in its July-August issue. We referred especially to the              past time will be transformed; that is, every human
following paragraphs of the EllvVood  article:                       being that ever lived, every animal, every blade of grass
       What sort of supernormal events shall we look for?            will be revealed as transformed and charged with the
    Our creed says that Jesus will return in glory, and              glory of God.
    that his Kingdom shall have no end  - that is, no                   Let us hasten the great day! For he is able to do
    limit, for he is Lord of all. I am not sure just what it         far more abundantly than all we ask or think!
    means that Jesus will return, but we can be sure that          We commented that the entire article was gospel-less


162                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



and that there was much in this "sermon" which could not very well escape its implication. Some measure of
be criticized. But we called special attention to the rank repudiation was necessary.
universalism which appears in the above paragraph in a                But by all means the repudiation must be minimal!
magazine which purports to be "A Periodical of Re- It must be tempered and qualified and carefully cir-
formed Comment and Opinion."                                        cumscribed. It must not be understood as a repudia-
  We concluded our comments with the following call tion in toto of the Ellwood article. In fact, it must not
for repudiation:                                                    even leave the impression of a total and flat repudia-
          But this universalism is about the w`orst thing they      tion of Ellwood's universalism.
       `have published recently.                                      Notice how the Journal hedges.
          I would like to see a repudiation by a responsible          First of all, in the editorial comments (unsigned)
       representative of  the Reformed Journal,  and, along
       with it, some thorough-going "Reformed Comment               on the contents of this issue Dr. Daane's article is intro-
       and Opinion" about the entire miserably modernistic          duced as follows: "James Daane, Journal-Editor and
       article.                                                     Director of the Pastoral Doctorate Program at Fuller,
          Or do the members of the editorial staff. . . agree       responds to a response to an article in the July-August
       with this modernism and call it "Reformed Comment            issue, whose conclusion ought not to have appeared,
       and Opinion?" Let them say!                                  according to some, in a journal that calls itself Re-
  Somewhat to  our  surprise, the  Reformed Journal formed. Daane finds a certain irony in that charge."
responded to this call for repudiation, and in its edito- Notice two things: 1) The concern is only with the
rial columns in the December, 1971 issue it published a conclusion  of the article, as though all the rest were
repudiation.                                                        good.  2) Already here the  Journal does not say flatly
  A repudiation, that is, Reformed Journal style!                   and objectively that this  universal&tic  conclusion
  Or should I say: Dr. James Daane style? For true to ought not to have appeared, but only that "according
style, Dr. Daane is again right - or, at least, halfright to some" it ought not to have appeared. I ask: does the
this time - but dead wrong.                                         Journal repudiate, or does it not?
  Here are the pertinent paragraphs of the repudiation                In the second place, Dr. Daane qualifies his repudia-
proper:                                                             tion also. He calls the Ellwood article "a beautiful,
          Gracia Fay Ellwood's "Birth of a New World"               sensitive piece," as though  all of the article with the
       (July-August issue) was a beautiful, sensitive piece. Its    exception of this one element of  universal&m was
       conclusion, however, brought me up short: "If His            sound and Scriptural. Fact is that the article in its
       Kingdom shall have no limit we can expect that every         entirety was devoid of the gospel and thoroughly mod-
       human being that ever lived . . . will be revealed as        ernistic. Fact is, too, that even in the short quotation
       transformed and charged with the glory of God."              made by us there were other obviously bad statements.
       Ellwood writes more as a poet than theologian (But it        For example, "I am not sure just what it means that
       was called a "sermon," not a poem; i.e., proclamation        Jesus will return. . . ." And again:  "Let  US hasten the
       and exposition of the Word of God. HCH); nonethe-
       less I wondered about this apparent expression of uni-       great day!" (emphasis added) Fact is, too, that the
       versalism.                                                   Standard Bearer did not ask only for a repudiation of
          Professor Homer Hoeksema,  editor of the                  the one element of universalism, but also for "some
       Standard Bearer,  the voice of the Protestant Re-            thorough-going `Reformed Comment and Opinion'
       formed Church, (should be: Churches, HCH) won-               about the entire miserably modernistic article."
       dered too. In an editorial, "Rank Universalism," he            In the third place, also Daane (and the editorial staff
       challenged some responsible editor of the Refomzed           for whom he is the spokesman) fails to state that this
       Journal to declare that this journal does not endorse        was an instance of rank universalism, and therefore
       one possible implication of Ellwood's statement, that        fails wholly to repudiate the error. He speaks of "this
       is, that all men will be saved. I herewith, at the re-       apparent expression of universalism." I say: Not true;
       quest of the editorial staff of tbis journal, do so de-      the universalism is  obvious  and  literal.  He speaks of
       clare. For what follows, I alone am responsible.             "one possible implication of Ellwood's statement, that
  To "what follows" we shall call attention later. But              is, that all men will be saved." I say again: Not true! It
what about the above repudiation?                                   is neither  an implication  nor a  possible  implication.
  This is what I characterized as a repudiation,  Re- The statement is as plain as the sun in the heavens. It
formed Journal style.                                               has only one  possil$e  meaning for anyone who can
  It leaves one with the distinct expression that the               read the English language. It is as brazenly and literally
Reformed Journal does what little repudiating it does and totally universalistic as possible. Just read it again
only very reluctantly. In fact, and almost gets the im- for testing purposes: ". . . every human being that ever
pression that they do their repudiating only because lived . . . will be revealed as transformed and charged
someone caught the  Journal  with its hand in the with the glory of God." I ask: Why does Dr. Daane
cookie jar, that is, because the universalism was so bra- hedge?
zenly obvious that even the  Reformed Journal  could                  In the fourth place, Daane evinces absolutely no


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          163


sensitivity for the truth of the Word of God and of our (emphasis added).
confessions and no sense of the horribleness of denying           Does not Daane understand at all that universalism
that truth and teaching men to do so when, in the is not an overextension of the grace of God, and surely
second part of his article, he minimizes Ellwood's not a version of "the triumph of grace," but a denial?
heresy still further, and, by comparison with Protes- Does he not realize that universalism.strikes at the very
tant Reformed theology, makes it come out smelling heart of the truth of God's grace: sovereign predestina-
sweet as a rose. Writes he:                                     tion? Does he not realize that a Reformed man ought
       Ellwood's "universal&m" is an overextension of           to cringe at the very thought of universalism? Is he not
    the grace of God, a version of "the triumph of grace."      horrified that he and his fellow Journal editors became
    It is, therefore, at worst heretical, heresy by defmi-      co-responsible for spreading abroad such a wicked de-
    tion being a distortion of a Christian truth. But Prot-     nial of the beautiful truth of sovereign, particular
     estant Reformed theology, as  this article clearly         grace? Does he not have the grace to repudiate this
     demonstrates (reference is to Rev. J. A. Heys's "A         wicked he wholeheartedly and forthrightly and with an
    Perfect Beginning," in our October 15 issue, HCH),
    makes sin, indeed every moment of history, "perfect"        expression of sorrow and repentance?
    and is, therefore, a universalism more demonic than           When one takes all this into account, he can only be
    heretical. It makes the fall as perfect as God's crea-      left with the impression that Daane's repudiation is at
    tion, for each is said to be equally useful to "God's       best partial, and at worst not genuine.
    purpose of uniting all things in Christ," The clue to         And this impression can only be confirmed when
    Ellwood's universalism lies in God's grace; the clue to     Daane launches his vitriolic and hateful attack  on Prot-
    Protestant Reformed theology's universalism lies in         estant Reformed theology,  once he has gotten the
    sin. If one had to choose, it were better to choose         technicality of repudiating Ellwood's universal&m  out
    Ellwood's kind of universalism than that of Protes-         of the way. To say the least, it surely is no sign of
    tant Reformed theology, for God is on the side of           genuine repentance when one immediately turns about
    grace, and with his whole being in creation and re-         and points an accusing finger at someone else, to say,
     demption and every moment of history against sm.           "But your sin is even worse than mine!" But this is
  Again, we shall comment on Daane's main thesis in what Daane does, and that, too, in a totally unjustifi-
this part of his article later.                                 able way.
  At present we want to point out his insensitivity to            It would seem that Ellwood must be insulted by this
the Reformed faith, the truth of God's grace.                   kind of partial repudiation and half-hearted support.
  Notice that he characterizes Ellwood's universal&m              But a .Reformed man, who will surely love and em-
as "an overextension of the grace of God, a version of brace the truth of sovereign, particular grace, can only
`the triumph of grace.' " Again, if faced by a choice, be offended by this style of repudiation.
"it were better to choose Ellwood's kind of universal-            And Almighty God? This is an abomination to Him!
ism . . . for God is on the side of grace." Notice, too,          And He is the Judge!
that Ellwood's universalism, according to Daane, is
only doubtfully heretical:  "at worst  heretical"


                           Attack--Dr. James Daane Style
                                                     Pro5 H.C. Hoeksema

   As already indicated, to his semi-repudiation in be-             Adam God might display His perfect righteousness."
half of the  Reformed Journal's  editorial staff Dr.                 So, "the beginning was perfect." But not only the
James Daane adds to his article something for which he               beginning: "so is every  step of the way from that
alone takes responsibility.  We  quote this section of his           moment of the beginning onward through all time."
article in full:                                                     Not only creation as it came from the hand of God,
                                                                     but the fall, and every sinful moment that issues from
        Protestant Reformed theology has its own version             the fall is also "very good," and indeed "perfect."
     of universalism. It. came to expression in the October          Hence says the writer, "Of the cross God also said, as
     15th issue of the Standard Bearer in an article written         He looked down from heaven, `Behold it is very
     by one of its writers, a minister in the Protestant             good.' Of the fall of man He said the same thing."
     Reformed Church, entitled, "The Perfect Beginning."                This, too, is a kind of universalism, one which has
     In it we are told that God made a perfect Adam                  sin at its core. It makes sin "very good," and "per-
     because he made Adam fallible. Adam was `Very                   fect" because sin makes possible, as the author of this
     good," because "the first Adam must fall . . . lose his         article says, the realization of God's purpose of unit-
     righteousness so that through the cross of the Last             ing all things in Christ.


164                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



          ElIwood's "universalism" is an overextension of          Daane doesn't know better. But he is a man of better
       the grace of God, a version of "the triumph of grace."      than average' intelligence; and therefore I can only
       It is, therefore, at worst heretical, heresy by defmi-      come to the conclusion that Daane is deliberately dis-
       tion being a distortion of a Christian truth. But           honest in his treatment of the article in question.
       Protestant Reformed theology, as this article clearly          In the second place, this is all the more wicked be-
       demonstrates, makes sin, indeed every moment of his-        cause Daane proposes to present the God of Protestant
       tory, "perfect" and is, therefore, a universalism more
        demonic than heretical. It makes the fall as perfect as    Reformed theology as a dreadfully immoral monstros-
       God's creation, for each is said to be equally useful to    ity, who delights in sm. Although Daane does not use
       "God's purpose of uniting all things in Christ." -Ihe       the expression, the Thrust of his wicked attack is the
       clue to ElIwood's universalism lies in God's grace; the     same as that of those who have frequently attacked
        clue to Protestant Reformed theology's universal&m         Reformed theology with the charge that it makes God
       lies in sin. If one had to choose, it were better to        the author of sin. Now all this is terribly wicked!
       choose Ellwood's kind of universalism than that of          Daane knows very well that even in the very article
       Protestant Reformed theology, for God is on the side        which he criticizes God is presented as an awful and
       of grace, and with his whole being in creation and re-      h-reprehensible Judge of sin and the sinner. Daane, I
        demption and every moment of history against sin.          say, knows this because it is stated in the very para-
           This raises an interesting question that has long       graph from which he misquotes. Two sentences later
       fascinated me. Why is it that in conservative Re-
       formed churches heretical expressions about God's           we read: "So often His judgment will be, `Depart from
       love and grace bring forth immediate response and           Me, ye that work iniquity!' " To misquote Rev. Heys is
       sharp criticism, but worse than heretical expressions       unethical. But to misquote in order to present the God
       about God in terms of sin evoke only silence, no            of Reformed theology as an immoral monster is ter-
       matter how often and how loudly proclaimed as Re-           ribly wicked!
       formed  .orthodoxy. The answer to  this question               To this he adds the sin of calling this theology`
       would be a moment of revelation.                            "more demonic than heretical." Now I confess that I
  It is not my purpose in this article to defend the do not fully understand the disjunction between
beautiful and sound and clear article of the Rev. Heys             "demonic" and "heretical." To me, heresy is of the
to which Daane refers to these paragraphs, If Rev.                 devil - even as all lying and slander is the proper work
Heys feels inclined to write in detail on Daane's criti- of the devil. But Daane evidently sees some kind of
cism, the columns of the Standard Bearer are open to disjunction between the two; and evidently, to him, to
him, as he well knows. I believe, however, that the be demonic is to be something worse than heretical.
Journal  owes Rev. Heys a genuine apology for this Well, let that be. The point is that he calls the beautiful
unethical attack.                                                  conception of God which is embodied in our Re-
  Nevertheless, a few remarks of a general nature are formed (not only Protestant Reformed) theology devil-
in order.                                                          ish!
  In the first place, Dr. Daane ought very earnestly to              I sincerely wish that Daane would repent of this
examine his ethics. I am referring to the totally unethi- dreadfully sinful attack.
cal manner in which he deliberately distorts the article              In the third place, - and this makes matters worse -
in question by misquoting. For one thing, Daane yanks this kind of attack from Daane's pen is becoming habit-
a few sentences and parts of sentences completely out ual. HecannotleaveProtestantReformedtheology  alone.
of the context of a carefully written article in order to          And when he' attacks it, he always attacks it on this
make that article say exactly what it does not say. For central point of the absolute sovereignty of God,
another thing, Daane, at the end of the first paragraph especially of God's counsel, and more particularly in
quoted above, presents as a complete sentence from relation to sin. Not long ago we had an exchange about
the article what is only part of the sentence without the doctrine of reprobation in the Canons. I recall, too,
indicating in any way that he omitted an-entire clause. that when he was supposed to be reviewing Therefore
Just compare the two. Daane writes: "Hence says the Have I Spoken, he devoted by far the larger part of his
writer, `Of the cross God also said, as He looked down article not to a review of the book, but to a critique of
from heaven, Behold it is very good. Of the fall of man Herman Hoeksema's theology; And again, he concen-
He said the same thing." But the Rev. Heys wrote: "Of trated on this same fundamental issue. More over, every-
the cross God also said, as He looked down from time Daane gets on this subject he bases his criticism
heaven, `Behold it is very good.' Of the fall of man He on his own distorted presentation of Protestant Re-
said the same thing with a view to the higher glory that formed theology, his own caricature of it, just as in the
man will have in that universal kingdom of Christ." present instance. In the article under discussion, Daane
There is a vast difference between the statements, as knows very well that he has to stretch a point or two
anyone can .see. This kind of misquotation character- to connect his vitriolic attack with the subject of
izes all of what Daane writes here. This is unethical. It          universalism. He .understands theological language too
is dishonest. I wish I could say that I believe that well to imagine that what he is writing about in con-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   165



nection  with Protestant Reformed theology can be ology of one who calls attention to that error. This is
classified under the dogmatic name  universal&n.   But why, after all, he would choose universalism to
Daane cannot stand the thought of Reformed particu- Protestant Reformed theology, if faced by the choice.
lar grace. He cannot stand the true concept of a sover- The reason is that he is at heart a universalist himself.
eign God. Especially can he not stand the Reformed             It will indeed be "a moment of revelation" when
doctrine of sovereign reprobation, which is inseparably Daane learns to understand and acknowledge this.
connected with the truth of sovereign, particular grace.       In conclusion, I will make Dr. Daane an offer. Let us
And so, too, he cannot stand the thought that God's debate these matters in print. Here are the conditions:
sovereignty means that the event of the fall and the         1) The debate will take place on the basis of Scripture
fact of sin have a subservient place in God's eternal and and the Reformed confessions. 2) Both sides of the
sovereign decree. This is the reason why even when he        debate will be carried in full in both the  Reformed
has to concede error on the part of the  Journal,  he Journal and the Standard Bearer.
cannot do so without venting his spite against the the-        How about it, Dr. Daane?


Studies in Election
                                       Its Character
                                              Rev. Robert C. Harbach

8. Its Character                                             tive to sin. God viewed His people first of all as perfect
  The last paragraph of the previous article really be- and glorified in Christ, and therefore as vessels unto
gan this new turn of our subject. There we said elec- honor, made so from an unfallen lump. In this view,
tion is solely an act of God. God does the electing and      election is first and primary. Everything else, including
the choosing. Men and angels are the chosen ones.            the fall and reprobation, is subservient to it. The end
Election is further characterized in Scripture as abso- does not serve the means, but the means serve the end.
lute. It is entirely free, independent of everything out- What is implied here is that election is of a supralapsar-
side of God himself. Why did He write some names in ian character. This means that the decree of predestina-
the Book of Life, and eliminate others from that regis- tion, in the order of the decrees, is above, beyond and
ter? Paul would say it was the good pleasure of His will preceding all the other elements in the divine system of
to do so (Eph.  1:4,5). Why does God save some and redemption. The view which puts election after the
condemn others? Because salvation is through faith, fall, and so with a view to the fall, is called the infra-
and some believe,-while some believe not (Acts 28:24; lapsarian view. According to it, total depravity is made
John 3: 18). Why do some believe? It is because they the basis of election. That is, God elects a people for
were ordained to eternal life (Acts  13:48). Why do himself out of the total mass of fallen humanity.
some believe not? It is because they are not Christ's Infralapsarians were known as low Calvinists and
sheep (John  10:26), and because they could not be- Supralapsarians as high Calvinists.
lieve because God sovereignly hardens them (12: 39f).          Although he does not enter into the supra-infra is-
Why did God decree to choose some and to reject sue, J. H. Thomwell in his Election and Reprobation
others? There is no other answer than that of His nevertheless slashes at the supra view, not only calling
sovereign pleasure!                                          it an "extreme of squeamish timidity" (p.4), but also
  Election is immutable, because founded on nothing accusing the supra view relative to the decrees of God
in man, but on the unchangeable God alone. His decree as amounting "to a downright denial of their certainty
is before all things, before His so-called foresight. God    and sovereignty" (ibid.), and as "excesses . . . no more
does not decree because He foresees. He can only fore- to be regarded as the genuine doctrines of Calvinistic
see and foreknow what He has decreed. There is               churches" (p.8). These statements are not in harmony
nothing else to foreknow. He cannot possibly foresee with the history of the Reformed and Calvinistic
something not ordained in His decree. Whatever He churches, to say nothing of not being in harmony with
foresees is certain. God cannot foresee an uncertainty.      Scripture and reason. For, although the Canons of
Therefore, if He foresees anything, it is certain,  and Dort, for example, are infralapsarian, there never was a
certain because He decreed it. So His purpose accord- formal, synodical condemnation of supralapsarianism.
ing to election stands.                                      Supra men were always accepted as Reformed and al-
  What follows is also most important as to the char- ways found a place in the church. There is no credal
acter of predestination. God's purpose to have an elect repudiation of supralapsarianism. In those Reformed
people was prior to His consideration of anything rela- and Calvinistic creeds which are admittedly and defi-


166                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



nitely injka, the matter of infra was not made binding, with the church viewed as yet neither created nor fall-
not at least in the sense that it is the only view of en, since the creation and the fall belong to God's
predestination which may or is to be maintained, and         counsel concerning the  means.  It is the infra view
that to the exclusion of supralapsarianism.  Toplady         which tends to deny the "certainty and sovereignty"
tells us that the Church of England's Thirty-Nine Arti-      of the decree of God, for it is on that score difficult to
cles are, strictly speaking, infra, "though with such        see clearly any purpose of God. For if God first deter-
moderation as not to exclude the" supra view. The mined to create men, next permitted their fall, then
supra-infra question was never ecclesiastically or con- out of the fallen mass to choose some to salvation, did
fessionally resolved at any point in the history of the He not purpose to do all this without any end in view?
Reformed and Calvinistic churches. Neither does it This conception of the decrees leaves God with less
seem likely nor desirable that it ever should be. Besides wisdom than man, who first determines his  purpose
all this, history reveals that supralapsarians were          and end, say, in the making of a journey, then decides
nothing like a Mr. Timorous, Little-faith, Faint-heart,      ways and means to realize his end. How else, even for a
Mr. Feeble-mind or Mr. Ready-to-halt. They were lion- moment, could God determine and act?
hearted men  - like Great-heart and Valiant-for-truth.         This distinction of God's purpose and God's means
Then it is more than ridiculous to regard the views held (to secure His purpose) is supported by the Word of
by such men as Calvin, * Gomarus, Voetius, Beza, God. We read, "For it became Him, for whom are all
Zwingli, Twisse, John Gill, Thomas Goodwin, Arthur things and by whom are all things, in bringing many
W. Pink and H. Hoeksema as "squeamish timidity."             sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation
  The infra view might seem to be the easier to main- perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2: 10). The decree of
tain. because we perhaps the most often think of our His purpose is first in that God ordained many sons
redemption from the point of view of our sin, misery unto glory. Next is His decree of the means in which
and lost condition. It is a little more difficult to think He ordained that the Captain of our salvation be made
of the original glory, perfection and excellency of the      perfect through sufferings. So it was with Christ in the
Church of Christ as comprehended in the eternal decree. There He stands at its head, first. "The Lord
thought and counsel of God. But it will be found to be       said unto My Lord, `Sit Thou at My right hand' " (Ps.
the presentation of Scripture that God conceived of 110: 1). It was God's purpose to exalt the Mediator to
His people in a supra-creation with Christ prior to their the place of highest dominion. Yet in order to that
creature-union with Adam. God had blessed all His intention, it was ordained that "He shall drink of the
people with all spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ brook in the way" (v. 7). Christ's main purpose was
before the creation of the universe (Eph. 1: 3,4), and so indeed to drink of the fulness of the pleasures which
before they fell in Adam and under the curse.                are at God's right hand forevermore, but the way He
  In God's decree and purpose of election, we are to         would take to that end would be to drink the bitter,
distinguish what is the end He has in mind, and what black, Kedronic waters of woe and anguish. So His
are the means He has ordained and will use to that end.      people were destined to Canaan, but the wilderness
The end God planned was to glorify His Son with the was also appointed as the way through which they
gift of a people, and that for the praise of the glory of were to attain to the higher ground.
His grace. The means, by which His eternal purpose is
put into execution and brought to fulfilment, are also 9. Its Supralapsarian Character
ordained from the beginning. We are  to  determine,            It is to be doubted that anyone can understand how
then, what in the divine purpose is end and what are that going to the supralapsarian view is going to the
means. The end concerns the glorification of a people        "extreme of squeamish timidity." For it, more than
in their elect Head. The means include the purpose to the Infrascheme, elevates the certainty and sovereignty
create those people, ordain their fall, recover them of the decrees of God. It was nothing to do with
from it via redemption and sanctification. The end and "timidity," either, that the Supra view had never been
the means are not two separate determinations, but confessionally condemned, not in the Anglican
two parts ofthe one eternal purpose.                         churches, not in the Presbyterian churches, not in the
  The end in mind is naturally first before the deter- Reformed churches, nor in any churches calling them-
mination of the means, so that "what is first in inten- selves Calvinistic. But what is important to see, in the
tion is last in execution." The converse is also true:       main points at issue, is the distinction between the end
"The last thing in execution is the first thing in pur- God has in mind, and the way He keeps in mind to take
pose." The glory of God is that "chief end," that to that end.
"chief and only good" which He always keeps in view.           God foreknew His people with a knowledge of ever-
He works all things to that end, so that it  ,is the last    lasting love. Then, according to the foreknowledge of
thing in execution; but it also follows that it was al- love, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
ways fast in His intention. Wherefore, God's purpose of His Son all these people. Finally, whom He predes-
beholds His glory revealed in Christ and His church, tinated, He also glorified. Certainly, it must be plain


                                                THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                            167



from Romans 8 that this foreordination of God puts              *Schaff says Calvin "must be classed rather with the  Supralap-
His people in glory definitely prior to His prescience of       sarians" (History of the Christian Church, VIII, 553). See in
their fall in Adam. Certainly this understanding of the         Calvin's "Institutes," Bk. III, XXIII, VIII, concerning which
truth is also in better agreement with the cases of Schaff says, "`Here we have Supralapsarian logic combined with
                                                                ethical logic." - (His. of Chr. Ch., VIII, 555). Also in the "Insti-
Jacob and Esau mentioned in Romans 9: 11 than the               tutes," Bk. III, XXI, V, VII; XXIII, XI; XXIV, XII, especially in
infralapsarian view, which has the divine decree regard         the last place mentioned, there is strong supralapsarian language.
them as fallen creatures.                (To be continued)




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               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                       NOTICE
  The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull Protes-                An Office Bearer's Conference is to be held, the
tant Reformed Church expresses its sincere sympathy Lord willing, Tuesday evening, January 4, at the
to one of its members, Mrs. George Hoekstra, in the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, at 8:00 P.M.
passing of her step-mother,                                     All past and present Office Bearers are urged to attend.
            MRS. EDWARD VANDER WERFF.                           Rev. C. Hanko will speak on the subject - "What is the
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His deacons' responsibility toward those who cannot pay
saints." (Psalm 16: 15).                                        school tuition?"
                                    Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.                                                    P. Knott, Sec'y.
                               Mrs. John Hoekstra, Sec'y.
                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                              The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant
  The Men's Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Re- Reformed Church expresses sincere sympathy to our
formed Church extends sincere sympathy to Mr. Peter Vice-president and one of our members, Mr. and Mrs.
Lubbers in the death of his son,                                Peter Lubbers, in the sudden loss of their son,
                   JAMES E. LUBBERS                                                   JAMES LUBBERS.
whom the Lord took home on November 28,197 1.                      May our heavenly Father comfort the bereaved in
   "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and the knowledge that He doeth all things well. "The
whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we                Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be
live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." (Romans the name of the Lord." Job 1: 2 1.
14:8)                                                                                                     Rev. C. Hanko, Pres.
                                           H. Kuiper, Pres.                                             Mrs. J. Lubbers, Sec'y.
                                             H. Boer, Sec'y

               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                        RESOLUTION OF SYWATHY
   The Adult Bible Class of the Hudsonville Protestant             The Choral Society of Hudsonville Protestant Re-
Reformed Church extends its sincere sympathy to our formed Church expresses its sympathy to the
President and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lubbers and          Karsemeyer Family, in the passing of Mrs.
their family in the loss of their son and brother,              Karsemeyer's step-mother,
                    JAMES LUBBERS.                                         MRS. EDWARD VANDER WERFF.
   May our covenant God comfort them by His Word                   May they find comfort in the following  .words of
and Spirit.                                                     scripture, "For we know that if our earthly house of
   "And they shall -be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in        this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of
that day when I make up my jewels;  -". (Malachi                God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
3: 17a).                                                        heavens." (II Cor. 5: 1)
                               Donald Dykstra, Vice Pres.                                                  Paul Schipper, Pres.
                                      Kae.Miedema, Sec'y.                                               Betty Haveman, Sec'y.


THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


168                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                             From 0 ur Churches
  As a follow-up to our rather extensive list of trios are not Reformed?"; and "How does God reveal Him-
and calls in the last issue, we can report the following: self in the animate and inanimate creation?" A couple
Rev. Van Baren has declined the call extended to him of League Meeting topics were "An Evaluation of the
by the Redlands' congregation, and the call from Jesus' Movement," and "Campus Crusade and Modern
Grand Rapids' Hope Church has gone to Rev. Decker, Evangelism"; and, for an Office Bearers' Conference,
who, as you probably recall, is also considering the call "Is it proper to use the office of the Deaconate to
from Randolph, Wisconsin.                                    collect funds for various causes we represent, such as,
                        *****                                the schools, the Standard Bearer, etc."
  There was a special "Announcement" in the Decem-                                  *****
ber 1 issue of the Standard Bearer,  to the effect that        Sunday bulletins from our Kalamazoo Church give,
Seminarian Joostens has been "licensed to speak a almost invariably, plenty of evidence of having been
word of edification in the Protestant Reformed thoughtfully written, in order to make them  thought-
IChurches." In connection with that, we could pass provoking. Take, for example, the following item from
&long the following little item from the November 28 the December 5 bulletin? "Last Thursday morning the
ibulletin  of Southwest Church: "We welcome Prof. H. pastor was again invited by Rev. H. Minnema, instruc-
Hanko and Sem. M. Joostens to our pulpit today. We tor in `Reformed Doctrine' at K C H S, to speak at
are especially happy that Seminarian Joostens, a mem- three of the morning classes. When the class in `Ref
ber of our congregation, will deliver his first sermon to Dot' gets to the lesson on `Common Grace,' Rev.
us. We pray that the Lord may continue to bless him Minnema usually has the pastor over to debate `Grace
(and all our students) as they study to attain this high Always Particular' vs. `Common Grace.' Very lively
and holy office of minister of the Word."                    and good-spirited discussions took place in all three
                        *****                                classes. Common Grace trends show that there is no
  We learn from Hull's bulletin that the consistory of more Kuyperian common grace, no more Berkhotian
Rev. Kortering's congregation has decided to increase common grace. It is all Heynsian, thoroughly Arminian
its size by one elder and one deacon. Probably of even common grace now at K C H S."
greater interest than the  decision, is  one of the            The "pastor" is Rev. Harbach, of course.
                                                                                    ***%:e
grounds,  namely, that "the increase in the size of the
congregation warrants ,it."                                    We would like to thank the Standard Bearer business
                        *****                                manager for furnishing this column with the following
  In other news from Hull, the consistory there, at the
request of the Hudsonville diaconate, took a collection interesting and most welcome report:
to help defray expenses involved in shipping to Ja-            "It might prove of interest to our readers to learn
maica the used clothing collected in the recent drive. that more than 25 new subscriptions have been added
                        *****                                to the mailing list of our STANDARD BEARER dur-
                                                             ing the past three months. We are growing, and that's a
  In glancing through the stack of bulletins received sign, a healthy sign, that much `good food' for thought
during the last several months of 197 1, I was impressed and study appears on the pages of our publication!
by the variety of interesting topics for discussions and/      "The majority of the new subscribers reside here in
or speeches in the various societies throughout our `the States.' One of the exceptions is the following: A
denomination. With the hope that you'll find them as regular subscriber, residing in Nova Scotia, Canada, was
interesting as I did, I'll mention a few, along with the sent his renewal notice a month or so ago. He (a Scots-
name of the church in which they were considered. man) promptly sent in his renewal payment of $7.00.
"Proper Sabbath Observance," by a Hull society; He also included with his remittance an equal amount
"Separation of Church and State," in Loveland; for a one year's gift subscription to a person residing in
"Speaking in Tongues," in Grand Rapids' Hope The Netherlands. A transaction such as this creates a
Church; "Pentecostalism and NeoPentecostalism," in great deal of interest in the Business Office of our
Southeast; and three rather lengthy titles from South- magazine. (If the subscriber in Canada reads this
west, "If it is wrong for a Christian to let out a child column, perhaps he would give our readers an explana-
for adoption, is it also wrong to adopt a child?"; "How tion as to how this came about. We will be most happy
must we evaluate the missionary work of those who to insert his answer in a future issue)."                     DD.


