STANDARD
 BEARER
 A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE




             For, surely, this poor babe of
          Bethlehem, for whom there was no
          place in the inn is destined to have room
          in the world. But it is room, not given
          Him by the world, but created for Him
          by the very wonder of His own grace.
          The glory is all His. From the very edge
          of the world in the humiliating stable,
          He pushes His way into the world. Over
          the cross and through the grave He
          steadfastly advances till He is received in
          the highest heavens, angels and
          principalities and powers being made
          subject unto Him. Thence, as the Lord
          of heaven and having become the
          quickening Spirit, He edges His way into
          the hearts of thousands from all nations
          and tongues and tribes, exposing sin,
          breaking sinful pride, making humble
          publicans of conceited Pharisees,
          cleansing and justifying and dwelling in
          them even as the Father dwells in Him.
          And thus, by the irresistible power of
          His grace He realizes the spiritual temple
          of God's covenant: "I in them and Thou
          in Me, that we may be perfect in one."
             And presently all things will be
          united in Him, things in heaven and
          things on earth, and God shall spread
          His tabernacle over all. [From the
          Christmas Meditation in Volume I]



                                     Volume L, Number 6, December 15, 1973


122                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITATION


                                         Jesus  - Saviour

                                                  Rev.  M. Schipper


            "And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.  "
                                                                                              Matthew  1:21b.

  Such was the word which the angel of the Lord                contemplated thing; saying unto him: "Fear not to
had declared unto Joseph the carpenter, who was                take unto thee Mary to be thy wife; for that which is
engaged to a virgin whose name was Mary, and who               begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost." This should
was to become the mother of the long awaited                   allay  all his fear. And in our text besides being
Messiah.                                                       informed that she shall surely have a Son, he is
  All through the Old Dispensation there was the               commanded to call His Name Jesus, for He shall save
promise of His coming. Beginning already with the              His people from their sins.
prot-evangel, pronounced in the Garden of Paradise                Jesus, Saviour!
to Adam and Eve, our first parents, reaffirmed in all             No more fitting theme for meditation in this
the patriarchs, reiterated by all the prophets,                season in which we celebrate the Saviour's birth!
foreshadowed in all the sacrifices and ritual, and            Theologically these words contain profound truths.
brought to fulfillment in the birth of Christ in the           Practically there lies hidden in them the faith and
cattle stall of Bethlehem. It is the purpose of                hope of many hearts. The Apostle Paul puts it this
Matthew's gospel to show this fulfillment. Clear this         way : "It is a faithful saying and worthy of all
is from the verses that immediately follow our text.           acceptation: Christ Jesus came into the world to save
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled             sinners!  "
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring             That's what Christmas is all about! Yet, in the
forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,            midst of all the tinsel, bell-ringing, and frivolity, this
which being interpreted is, God with us."                     is precisely what is forgotten in our modern manner
                                                               of celebration. 0, indeed, there is room for joy and
  Marvelous revelation to Joseph, and to all those            thanksgiving on this occasion. For did not the angel
who look for salvation in Israel!                             say: "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy,
  Joseph was engaged to Mary, a virgin of the lineage         which shall be to all people"? But remember, that joy
of David. And Mary was great with child, of which             rests only on the fact that we rejoice in the fact that
Joseph knew that he was not the father. The only              He Whose birth we celebrate is the Saviour from sin!
thought therefore that could cross his mind was that              He shall save His people from their sins!
Mary must be considered an adulteress. Jewish law
required that such cases should be publicly dealt                 And their sins are many and great! For not only
with, and would serve as legal grounds for divorce or         are they conceived and born in sin, burdened with the
separation. And before the law engaged couples were           original sin and guilt of their first parents, Adam and
as good as married. Consequently were he vindictive           Eve, in Paradise; but from the moment of their birth
enough, he could legally and publicly be separated            to the day of their death, they constantly add to their
from her forever. But he was a just man, and one who          sin and guilt. As an insurmountably high mountain
feared God, and besides he loved Mary so much that            has the pile of their sin become, crying out as it were
he would spare her this publicity, and therefore he           for the judgment of God's holy wrath.
was of a mind to have this separation done secretly,              When man sinned in the beginning he missed the
which, according to some was also permissible.                mark, the goal that God had set up for him; namely,
  Just at the moment when his soul was heavy with              to love the Lord God with all his heart, mind, and
these thoughts, the angel of the Lord appeared to him         strength. And ever since that first sin, man's nature
in a dream, exhorting him not to do this                      has become so corrupt that all he does is miss that


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               123


mark. And God Who is unchangeably good and holy,            end of the covenant generations that must bring forth
cannot rescind  His law, remove the goal, relinquish        the promised Saviour. This He does by the miracle of
His demand, `lest He deny Himself. Consequently, all        grace which causes the Person of the Son to be
men are pronounced sinners and guilty before God,           conceived without the will of man. This He does by
and subject to His righteous judgment. Scripture            causing this Son to be born under the law, and under
pronounces all men sinners. "All have sinned and            our sin and guilt, while He remained the sinless One.
come short of the glory of God." The natural man is         This  He does by sending this beautiful Saviour to the
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts       cross of Calvary laden with our sin and guilt, where
and pleasures, hateful and hating one another. All          He bore' all the vials of Jehovah's holy wrath
have gone astray. There is none righteous, none that        overagainst our sin, until no more wrath remained for
understandeth and seeketh after God. There is none          us. This He did when He made Him sin for us Who
that doeth good, no, not one. Such is the undisputed        knew no sin, in order that we might be made the
declaration of the Word of, God.                            righteousness of God in Him. This He did when He
  And not only so, but because of sin man is also           washed us from all our guilty stains in His precious
subject to all the attending miseries of sin. For with      blood, the blood of atonement. But even so, the
sin came also death. Man is not only desperately            gospel of salvation is not complete. He does much
wicked, but he is also desperately miserable. He is         more to save us!
pressed down under the curse of God and the Divine
law. God shackles him in the prison of sin and death.          Jehovah causes Jesus, our Lord, to be raised from
In that confinement he is a slave of sin. He lost his       the dead. And He was raised in order to show to us
real freedom, which is the privilege to do the will of      that we are now justified before God and acquitted
God. He became by nature spiritually blind, deaf, and       from all our unrighteousnesses. Yea, He even exalts
dead. As by one man sin entered into the world, and         the Saviour to the highest heavens, and gives unto
death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that        Him all power in heaven and earth, and fills Him with
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.         His Spirit by which He returns to our prison and
                                                            opens its doors, and liberates us from the bondage of
  From such a plight, no mere man is able to                sin and death. 0, indeed, He is Jehovah Who saves
extricate himself. From such a prison-house of death,       unto the uttermost! He makes us who once were His
no mere man is able to deliver himself. No more             bitter enemies, to become  His covenant friends. He
than a dead man can rise up from physical death,            calls us from darkness, and makes us to walk in His
much less can a spiritually dead man make himself           marvelous light. He makes us His sheep who will
alive. He does not, neither can he will to save himself.    follow Him whithersoever He leads, and at last into the
He is without God, without hope in the world.               realm of everlasting glory.
  But God, Who is rich in mercy, even when we were             Beautiful Saviour!
dead in trespasses and sins, while we were His
enemies, sent His Son, made of a woman, without the            Whose salvation cannot fail! For He SHALL save
will of man, born under the law, in order to redeem         His people from their sins!
them who all their life time were subject to bondage.          Jesus, Jehovah saves, is the Saviour of His people!
  Jesus, Saviour! That is His Name!                            Contrary to the popular, belief that He is the
  That name Jesus signifies: Jehovah is salvation, or       Saviour of all men, or that He makes salvation
Jehovah saves!                                              possible for all men, the text specifically teaches that
                                                            He saves His people, and His people only. Jehovah,
  There is no other Name given among men whereby            which is that Name of God whereby He revealed
we must be saved. Salvation is only in Him, and He          Himself to His people as to none other; has made a
only can save. And salvation is that act of                 covenant with His people in Christ from before the
Jehovah-God whereby He delivers from the deepest            foundation of the world. With them He established
woe and brings us to the highest bliss, from the            this covenant, and for them He maintains it. The
deepest hell unto the highest heaven.                       purpose of that covenant is that He may bring to
  Jesus-Saviour!                                            Himself through the way of sin and grace this people,
  Jehovah saves!                                            whom He has predestinated to be conformed to His
                                                            image. Jesus called them His sheep, for whom he lays
  None other than the living God Himself, the               down His life. These He efficaciously calls out of
eternal and unchangeable One, saves!                        darkness into His marvelous light. These He justifies
  This He does through the sending of  His Son into         in the blood of atonement, and sanctifies by His
the world, Who is united to our nature through an           Spirit. In them He implants saving faith, and gathers
operation of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the             them by His Spirit and Word. And them will He also
virgin Mary, the last of the royal line of David, the       at last present without spot or wrinkle in the


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assembly of the elect in life eternal. This people He               people from their sins.
forms for Himself and they shall show forth His
praise.                                                               And with the grace of salvation in our hearts, we
                                                                    will embrace this gospel with a true and living faith.
   Indeed, this is not a popular doctrine, and modern               Yea, we will embrace Him Who is of God our only
evangelism will not have it so. In this Christmas                   Saviour.
season a different doctrine will be proclaimed, that                  The good work which He had begun in us He will
contradicts the truth of our text. But understand  it               finish it unto the end!
well, a Jesus for all is a Saviour of none!
                                                                      And when His work of salvation shall be finished,
   The gospel in our text, is not a gospel of man, but              we with all His people shall exclaim:
it comes directly from the throne of God. It speaks to
His servant Joseph, and through bim to all His people:                Beautiful Saviour!
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His                 Gracious God!



EDITORIAL

                     The  OPC and the "Free Offer" (4)


                                                       ProJ:  H. C. Hoeksema


  In this concluding article of the fourth section of              men. This, of course, would make the above
our critique of the offer-theory we call attention, first          statement of VIII, 5 useless and nonsensical. Besides,
of all, to one more article of the Westminster                     this would make the Westminster Confession
Confession of Faith with which the offer-theory is in              Arrninian  and contradictory. What we have in this
conflict. We refer to Chapter VIII, Paragraph 5 :                  article is what is popularly known as the doctrine of
           The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and           "limited atonement" but more correctly known as
       sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal          particular, or definite atonement. But, in the second
       Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied      place, if there should be any doubt as to whether the
       the justice of His Father (Rom.  5:19; Heb.  9:14,16;       Confession here means the elect,  and them only,  I
       Heb..   10:14;  Eph.  5:2; Rom.  3:25, 26); and             refer the reader to Chapter III, 6, which we quoted
       purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting      earlier. There you find a definite limiting clause:
       inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those         "Neither are any other redeemed by Christ,
       whom the father  bath given unto  Him (Dan.  9:24,26;       effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and
       Col. 1:19,  20; Eph. l:ll, 14; John 17:2;  Heb. 9:12,       saved, but the elect only." And I submit that if there
       15).                                                        is any doubt about the meaning of the article now
  In this article on the atonement the Westminster                 under consideration, that doubt is dispelled when we
Confession plainly teaches, first of all, that Christ by           read VIII, 5 in the light of III, 6. The Westminster
His sacrifice objectively accomplished something in                Confession definitely holds to limited, or particular,
behalf of others. He fully satisfied the justice of His            atonement.
Father; and He purchased reconciliation and an
everlasting inheritance; And, in the second place, the                B u t   t h e n   t h e   r e m a r k s   w h i c h   w e   m a d e   i n
article plainly stipulates who are the beneficiaries of            connection with III, 6 also hold true here. This article
that objective work of Christ, namely, "all those                  makes a general, gracious offer impossible. He who
whom the Father hath given unto Him." Now it is                    would attempt to hold on to both particular
true that in this article there is no negative and no              atonement and the free offer becomes guilty of
limiting phrase such as "and those only" or "and for               making God out to be a dreadful, mocking monster.
no others." But, in the first place, this does not                 God invites all men to be saved, genuinely wills and
justify any assumption that Christ might also have                 desires their salvation, but does not have salvation for
purchased these benefits for others, perhaps for all               all? What is more, He does not even make salvation


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           125


possible for all? He does not provide payment for all?          real disposition of lovingkindness" toward all. Still
What kind of God is it who thus teases men, who thus            more, it even recognizes that faith is the necessary
toys with men's souls? No one has ever made it clear            means unto salvation. For in the last paragraph of the
how the offer-theory can be harmonized with the                 introductory section of this pamphlet we read:
veracity of God, nor with the truthfulness of  Him
Who is the way, and the truth, and the life. And that                     Still further, it is necessary to point out that such
                                                                    "desire" on the part of God for the salvation of all
preacher who proclaims a free offer in the name of                  must never be conceived of as desire to such an end
God takes upon himself a heavy responsibility, and                  apart from the means to that end. It is not desire of
will have to give account some day of his tampering                 their salvation irrespective of repentance and faith.
with the gospel of the Scriptures!                                  Such would be inconceivable.
   But there is harmony among Reformed confessions                 Now I realize that Murray and Stonehouse here do
with respect to this subject. The Westminster                   not intend to emphasize that faith is one of the gifts
Confession is by no means alone in this position                of salvation and that it is absolutely a gift of grace,
which excludes any possibility of the offer-theory. As          the God-given means and instrument whereby He
might be expected, this is also true of the Canons of           saves His people. The contrary is true. It is just
Dordrecht. And do not forget: the Canons were in a              exactly their purpose to teach that faith is a
sense a Reformed ecumenical creed, due to the fact              condition  of salvation, that it is the condition
that almost every Reformed church of that day in                attached to the offer. In fact, they say this in so
lands other than the Netherlands had representatives            many words: "This is the same as saying that he
who took an active part in the Great Synod and who              desires them to comply with the indispensable
subscribed to the Canons. In this light, it is                  conditions of salvation." And thereby they land
worthwhile to note how the Canons rule out the                  themselves squarely in the Arminian camp, of course.
offer-theory. We shall not go into great detail, but            The offer of salvation is conditional; and unless man
merely call attention to some outstanding features.             complies with the condition of faith and repentance,
Meanwhile, we recommend that those who are                      God cannot and will not make good on His offer.
interested in this subject read and study the Canons
as a whole, and pay particular attention to Chapter               But this is precisely the point of my citing Canons
III, IV, which has much to say, both positively and             I, 6. The Canons want nothing of this view. They
negatively, on the whole subject of the call of                 teach that faith is a gift of God for the elect only.
the gospel and the conversion of the elect sinner to            And they teach that the reception of the gift of faith
God. In fact, it will do none of our readers any harm           on the part of some, but also the non-reception of the
to give himself a refresher course in the Canons. They          gift of faith on the part of others proceeds from God's
are as up-to-date today as they were at the time of             eternal decree of election and reprobation. And this
the Arminian controversy.                                       means - apart from anything else that may be said of
  With respect to the subject under discussion, I               the offer-theory  - that God just exactly does not
                                                                desire the salvation of the reprobate ungodly. What a
would call attention, first of all, to Canons I, 6:             strange and contradictory theory this is, then, which
       That some receive the gift of faith from God, and        teaches that God desires the salvation of the reprobate,
    others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal        but nevertheless wills not to bestow upon them the
    decree, "For known unto God are all his works from          gift of faith, without which they cannot possibly be
    the beginning of the world," Acts  15:18.  "Who             saved!
    worketh all things after the counsel of his will," Eph.
    1: 11. According to which decree, he graciously               I need not quote in this connection what the
    softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and     Canons say about election, about reprobation (I,  7
    inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect     and I,  15>,  nor what they say about particular
    in his just judgment to their own wickedness and            atonement (II, 8). On all these matters the Canons
    obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the            and the Westminster Confession are in complete
    profound, the merciful, and at the same time the
    righteous discrimination between men, equally               agreement, and we have commented on them in
    involved in ruin; or that decree of election and            connection with our discussion of the Westminster.
    reprobation, which though men of perverse, impure             There is one article in Canons III, IV to which we
    and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction,          may pay attention for a moment. It was used in 1924
    yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable            by the Synod of Kalamazoo. It was employed by the
    consolation.                                               opponents of Dr. Clark in the case which preceded
  The Murray-Stonehouse pamphlet on "The Offer                 and gave rise to the Murray-Stonehouse pamphlet. It
of the Gospel" proposes that  `fGod  delights that             is not quoted in the latter; in fact, all references to
those to whom the offer comes would enjoy what is              the confessions are conspicuously absent from this
offered in all its fullness." It posits a "real attitude, a    pamphlet  - not a high recommendation for a


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pamphlet on such an important subject. But more                  external call of the gospel say? Or rather, what does
recently it was quoted by Dr. John R. de Witt in the             God Himself say in that outward call of the gospel?
British magazine, Banner of  Truth  (January, 1973),  in         He says that men must believe and repent. He says
an article entitled "Distinctives of the Reformed                that they must come to Him. And the article states
.Faith." Dr. de Witt evidently counts the free offer of          that God is serious about this. He calls unfeignedly.
the gospel as belonging to the distinctives of the               He means what He says! And the article states further
Reformed faith. He writes:                                       that it is "pleasing" to God that those who are called
          It (the Reformed faith) does not tamper with           should come. This simply means that it is right in
       human responsibility, nor cancel out the free offer of    God's sight that men should heed the call to faith and
       the gospel. `As many as are called by the gospel are      repentance. Not to heed it is terribly disobedient, and
       unfeignedly called; for God bath most earnestly and       it is displeasing to God; it incurs His fierce wrath and
       truly declared in his Word what will be acceptable to     displeasure.
       him, namely, that all who are called should comply
       with the invitation. He, moreover, seriously promises       Notice, further, that there is no suggestion
       eternal life and rest to as many as shall come to him     whatsoever that any man is by nature  able  or  willing
       and believe on him.' [IILIV/8]                            to heed that call of the gospel. None is! But that has
  Now it has been pointed out many times in the                  nothing to do with the fact that it is nevertheless
past in the pages of this magazine and elsewhere that            right to come to. Christ, and terribly sinful and
this is a corrupted translation of Canons III, IV, 8.            displeasing in God's sight not to heed the demand of
But let it be pointed out again. [To our shame, by the           faith and repentance. Our Heidelberg Catechism
                                                                 maintains this same position with respect to the law
way, we still have this corrupted translation in our
Psalter!] The correct translation, which cannot be               of God when it asks: "Doth not God then do
confused with the offer-theory, is as follows:                   injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law
                                                                 that which he cannot perform?" Answer: "Not at all;
          As many, however, as are called by the Gospel are      for God made man capable of performing it; but man,
       seriously called. For God has seriously and most truly    by the instigation of the devil, and his own wilful
       shown in his Word what is pleasing to him, namely,
       that the called should come unto him. He even             disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of
       promises seriously to all those coming to him and         those divine gifts." We must always be on our guard
       believing rest of soul and eternal life.                  against the insidious notion that somehow
                                                                 responsibility implies  ability  on the part of the
  Those who hold the offer-theory must hold that                 natural man, whether with respect to the law or the
this article teaches something like the following: "As           gospel. That simply is not the case.
many as are invited by the preaching of the gospel are
unfeignedly invited by God. For God hath most                      But my point is: there is no offer mentioned or
earnestly and truly declared in His Word that He is              suggested in this article of the Canons. Nor is there so
desirous, yea, longs and yearns that every one that              much as a hint of a favorable disposition, an attitude
hears the gospel invitation should comply with it and            of lovingkindness, or a desire for the salvation of all
accept it. Moreover, He seriously promises to all who            on the part of God.
accept the invitation, and thus come to him and                    Nor is this taught in the final statement of the
believe, rest and eternal life."                                 article. That statement plainly teaches a particular
   But this is by no means what the article teaches.             promise: a promise of rest and eternal life to all those
It does not speak of an invitation with so much as a             coming and believing.  And they are, without any
word, nor of complying with an invitation. It speaks             doubt, the elect, who come and believe through
of the calling. And in the light of the article itself and       sovereign grace and through the effectual calling.
also of the context, the Canons here mean the                      But of an offer there is not so much as a breath in
external call of the gospel. Now what does this                  this article, nor anywhere in our Canons.





                              Know the standard and follow it. Read THE STANDARD BEARER!


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 127


QUESTION BOX

                       About The Death of Christ

                                              ProJ:  H. C. Hoeksema


  From a Grand Rapids reader we received the                more death for God's people; that is, in the sense that
following question:                                         there is no more punishment for us. Even as far as our
  "What death did our Lord Jesus Christ die on the          physical death is concerned, the sting of it has been
cross? Men that sin are dead; and when they pass on,        removed: "our death is not a satisfaction for our sins,
they pass on into eternal death. The believers'             but only an abolishing of sin, and a passage into
punishment, including eternal death, is laid upon our       eternal life," as the Heidelberg Catechism puts it in
Lord and Savior. Did He die our eternal death, and          Lord's Day 16, Question and Answer 42.
how did He die that death for us?"                             But notice that in that same Lord's Day it is
                                                            plainly taught that our death also in its spiritual
Reply                                                       aspect and its everlasting aspect has been removed. As
  In reply, I would emphasize that our Lord Jesus           far as our being dead in sin is concerned, Question
Christ died our death in the full sense of the term,        and Answer 43 teaches: "That by virtue thereof (i.e.,
that He did so vicariously for all those whom the           by virtue of the sacrifice and death of Christ on the
Father gave Him, and that thus He completely                cross), our old man is crucified, dead and buried with
removed the punishment of death for all His elect.          him; that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may
                                                            no more reign in us; but that we may offer ourselves
  In briefly explaining this reply, let me point to the     unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving." And as far as
following:                                                  the anguish and torments of hell are concerned, the
   1) Death is one, not several. I think we tend to         Catechism teaches this in Question and Answer 44:
overlook this sometimes, and unintentionally we             "That in my greatest temptations, I may be assured,
begin to think and to speak as though there are             and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord
several deaths. We speak of physical death, of              Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains,
spiritual death, of everlasting death. And before we        terrors, and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged
realize it, we begin to use these terms as though they      during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross,
refer to three different deaths. Actually, of course,       hath delivered me from the anguish and torments of
they are but aspects  of the one death.                     hell. "
  2) What is more important is that we understand              4) The final question is already answered in the last
what death really is, whether in its spiritual, its         quotation from the Heidelberg Catechism. How did
physical,     or its everlasting aspect. Death is           Christ die that death for us? "By his inexpressible
punishment. It is the visitation of the wrath of God.       anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in which
It is the execution of the sentence of God's justice        he was plunged during all his sufferings ("all the time
against the sinner. It is the experience of the curse of    that he lived on earth," Lord's Day  15),  but
God in all our existence, body and soul, from the           especially on the cross." We must remember that
cradle to the grave, and then on into everlasting           when our Lord Jesus Christ was "born of a woman,
destruction in hell. It is to be banned from God's          born under the law," He came under the wrath of
fellowship, to be alienated from Him. "To live apart        God immediately  - not personally and individually
from God is death,"  - that is, in the sense of being       (for He was the sinless Son of God in the flesh), but
apart from His favor and fellowship, of being the           as our Mediator and Head. As such He suffered under
objects of His holy wrath and His fierce displeasure.       the wrath of God all His lifetime; and this suffering
  3) This death, in the full sense of the word, the         reached its climax and its completion on the cross,
death which was our just punishment because of sin,         especially at the moment of the fourth word from the
Christ assumed in the stead of and in behalf of all His     cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
elect people, and them only; and He obediently and          me?"
voluntarily endured and suffered that death on the             That our Lord Jesus Christ was able to do this in
cross to the very end. The fruit is that there is no        the place of all His people was due to His being the


128                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


Son of God in the flesh. That He was able to be the                          the beginning of his incarnation, to the end of his life
substitute for us and to suffer in our stead was due to                      upon earth; and that he hath fulfilled, for us, all
His being by divine appointment the Head of all the                          obedience to the divine law, and righteousness;
elect.                                                                       especially, when the weight of our sins and the wrath
                                                                             of God pressed out of him the bloody sweat in the
       Two concluding remarks: 1) It must be emphasized                      garden, where he was bound that we might be freed
that Christ died for the elect, and for them only. If                        from our sins; that he afterwards suffered
the above is the meaning of the death of Christ - and                        innumerable reproaches, that we might never be
it is!  - then it should be plain, too, that as soon as                      confounded; that he was innocently condemned to
one makes the death of Christ general and universal,                         death, that we might be acquitted at the
he is also compelled to conclude that all men are                            judgement-seat of God; yea, that he suffered his
actually saved. For if Christ died for anyone, there is                      blessed body to be nailed on the cross  - that he
no more punishment for that person. 2) I always                              might fix thereon the handwriting of our sins; and
t h i n k   t h a t   t h e   f i r s t   p a r a g r a p h   o f   t h e    hath also taken upon himself the curse due to us, that
communion-section of our Form for the                                        he might fill us with his blessings: and hath humbled
Administration of the Lord's Supper is a classic                             himself unto the deepest reproach and pains of hell,
description and exposition of Christ's atoning                               both in body and soul, on the tree of the cross, when
suffering. I refer to this paragraph: "That we are                           he cried out with a loud voice, `My God, my God!
confidently persuaded in our hearts, that our Lord                           why hast thou forsaken me?' that we might be
Jesus Christ (according to the promises made to our                          accepted of God and never be forsaken of him: and
forefathers in the Old Testament) was sent of the                            finally confirmed with his death and shedding of his
Father into the world; that he assumed our flesh and                         blood, the new and eternal testament, that covenant
blood; that he bore for us the wrath of God (under                           of grace and reconciliation when he said: `It is
which we should have perished everlastingly) from                            finished.'  "



                                                    About Isaiah I

       From a west coast reader we received a question                         However, I think the main problem set forth by
which arose in connection with a Men's Society                               my correspondent concerns the relation between the
discussion of Isaiah 1. "In my opinion it is spiritual                       spiritual and carnal elements in Israel as it is
Israel that we must see  fast  of all in verse 25 and                        addressed here in Isaiah 1. On this main problem I
following. I believe verse 10 shows us carnal Israel.                        think I can shed some light. And then if I have missed
The prophet comes in this verse with judgment. The                           the point of the question, or if my correspondent has
others did not go along with it. In my opinion carnal                        still more questions about this subject, he may write
Israel cannot be liberalized with spiritual Israel.                          me again.
Judgment cannot be balanced with grace. I believe
this leads to a liberalized covenant idea, and the result                       I will quote the particular passage in question,
is common grace."                                                            Isaiah  1:25, ff.: but it will be helpful for our readers
                                                                             to get out their Bibles, so that references to other
Reply                                                                        parts of the chapter will be clear. Here is the passage
   I am not at all certain that I understand some of                         from 25  to. the end: "And I will turn my hand upon
the details of this question and of the discussion                           thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away
which evidently went on in the Men's Society referred                        all thy tin: And I will restore thy judges as at the
to. I would guess that my correspondent could                                first, and thy  counsellors as at the beginning:
express himself better in his native tongue, the Dutch                       afterward thou shalt be called, The city of
language; and, incidentally, if there are those who                          righteousness,     the faithful city. Zion shall be
have a little problem expressing themselves in the                           redeemed with judgment, and her converts with
English language, they are welcome to write me in                            righteousness. And the destruction of the
Dutch. In this particular instance, I am not quite                           transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and
certain what my correspondent means by                                       they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For
"liberalized." I was tempted to put "liberated" in                           they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have
parentheses; but, on the other hand, I don't want to                         desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens
put words in someone's pen.                                                  that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  129


? leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And          significance of Jerusalem. It was the city where God
   the strong shall be as tow,. and the maker of it as a        dwelt among His people, and where His people had
   spark, and they shall both burn together, and none           fellowship with Him; such was the idea of the temple.
   shall quench them."                                          And it was the city where God reigned as King, and
      Here are my suggestions:                                  where His people obeyed Him and lived according to
                                                                His commandments; such was the proper idea of the
      1) We must bear in mind that throughout the               theocratic throne and kingdom. But we must
   entire prophecy Isaiah is concerned,  from a positive        remember that this Zion never exists  historicahy  in
   point of view, with the remnant according to the             the world unmixed. There is always the true, real,
   election of grace, graphically pictured. in 1: 8, 9 as "a    elect Zion, but also the reprobate-ungodly shell. And
   cottage in a vineyard, a hut in a garden of cucumbers,       when that reprobate-ungodly element in historical
   a besieged city." The positive purpose of the                Zion is in the majority and is in control and in
   prophecy is the comfort and encouragement of that            positions of power (the throne and the priesthood,
   elect remnant. And to be sure, that which comforts           for example), then Jerusalem becomes manifest as
   that elect remnant is the promise of salvation, of           spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah. That was the
   redemption and deliverance. "Zion shall be redeemed          situation, to a large extent, during Isaiah's ministry.
   with judgment, and her converts with righteousness,"         This accounts for the description which you  find in
   vs. 27. Or, as you have it in Isaiah 40: "Comfort ye,        the first part of Isaiah 1 also: a sinful nation, a people
   comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak to the           laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, etc. And this
   heart of.Jerusalem,  and cry unto her, that her warfare      accounts for the severe words of reproof in vss. 10,
   is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she      ff., where you have described the abominable
   hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her          hypocrisy of a church that is ecclesiastically and
   sins."                                                       religiously punctual and precise, but which in its walk
                                                                is wicked and oppresses the poor, the fatherless, and
      2) Hand in hand with this positive intent goes the        the widow. This accounts, too, for the demand of
   purpose of the hardening of the wicked reprobate and         repentance in the context of vss. 16-20, as well as for
   the message of reproof and judgment. In fact, this is        the promises of forgiveness and cleansing for the
   on the foreground in Isaiah 6 in the account  o,f            repentant, but also the threats of destruction for the
   Isaiah's calling as prophet. Isaiah is commissioned,         rebellious.
   "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
   understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.           4) This also accounts for the sudden changes from
   Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears       dire words of judgment and warnings of destruction
   heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their         to beautiful and comforting words of promise and
   eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with          salvation. This is not due to the fact that "judgment
   their heart, and convert, and be healed," Isa. 6 :9, 10.     is balanced with grace." This is never the case. And it
   A very heavy task Isaiah. received from the Lord,            is plainly not the case in the passage under discussion.
   therefore. And when he asks the Lord, "How long?"            According to vs. 27, judgment is not  balanced  with
   he receives the answer that this must go on "Until the       grace. Not at all! But judgment  Sewers  grace, serves
   cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses          redemption. Zion shall be redeemed through
   without men, and the land be utterly desolate, And           judgment! Besides, the whole context militates
   the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a           against the idea that judgment is balanced with
   great forsaking in the midst of the land." This is all       grace. Notice that judgment goes through! It is
   dreadfully negative. Isaiah must preach until and for        executed! The destruction of the transgressors and of
   the purpose of the complete hardening and                    the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake
   destruction of the reprobate ungodly element in              the Lord shall be consumed, etc. Or, as Isaiah
   Jerusalem-Judah. But do not overlook the positive            repeatedly puts it elsewhere: "There is no peace, saith
   purpose of this all, namely, the salvation through           my God, for the wicked!" But it is precisely through
  judgment of the remnant: "But yet in it shall be a            this judgment and destruction of the carnal element
   tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil    in historical Zion that the true Zion emerges purged
   tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when        and purified and shall be called "The city of
   they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the        righteousness, the faithful city."
   substance thereof." (Isa. 6: 1 l-l 3)                          5) Centrally, we must remember, this redemption
     3) Jerusalem-Judah (the church of that day) is             of Zion is accomplished through the judgment of the
   spoken of here as Zion. Zion is another name for             cross. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the
   Jerusalem, the city of God. Jerusalem is frequently          judgment and condemnation. of the wicked world. At
   designated by this name because in Zion (the mount           the cross is revealed all the fierce wrath of God over
   of the throne of David and of the temple) lay the real       against sin and the sinner. But what about elect Zion,


i30                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


then? How does she escape that wrath and                    at the same time the salvation of the church!
condemnation of God? For -the elect remnant, too,              But to the wicked, saith my  -God,  there is no
remember, are no better than the rest. They, too, are       p e a c e !                         .~
dead in trespasses-and- sins by nature; They, too, are
the- proper objects of God's wrath- and condemnation.          Grace is never common - whether in the gospel or
They, too, -by  nature stand condemned at  `the cross!      apart from it.
The answer is that all the waves and billows of God's          Well, there my correspondent has a few brief
wrath which were due to that elect remnant by               thoughts in connection with a weighty and very
nature are made to come upon our Lord Jesus Christ.         important subject.  .As  I said, if he has further
He. endured  them- all,  -and did so obediently and         questions, he `may call again.
voluntarily and fully, in our behalf and in our stead.      P.S. I have one more letter for Question Box  - this
And thus Zion is redeemed through judgment. And             one from Canada; but  .it will have to wait until the
thus throughout history, the judgment of the world is       next issue, the Lord willing.




           -- The Standard Bearer
                         I n   R e t r o s p e c t .

                 .  .
  In our reprint for this issue of The Standard Bearer         Before the film is ready its contents have been
we reproduce in shortened form an article entitled          played by living men, impersonating the characters in
"Dr. Martin Luther On The Stage."  T,his article is         the film.
found in Volume IV, pp. 197-199.
  There are several reasons why this article is of             You cannot dramati-ze  life.
interest. 1)  -It  is an illustration of how rapidly the     You may not play sin.
principle  of'common  grace broke down the, wall of            And it is equally~impossible to imitate..holy  things.
the antithesis in  then Christian Reformed Church,
especially in the area of public entertainment. 2) It          The film on the life and time of Dr. Martin Luther
has some thin@ to say about drama which are still           offers no exception to this. By it Dr. Martin Luther is
important today as this problem rises repeatedly in         thrown on the screen,, is forced on the stage, is
the Church. 3) It makes an astonishing prediction at        compelled to play over a large `part of his life. Were he
the end of the article concerning what will come of a       still  -among  the living, he would surely refuse to
Church which. opens its doors to dramatic                   appear on the stage for the purpose of re-enacting his
productions.                                                life for the. entertainment of the public that is too
  It ,seems- that a Young Men's Society in a Christian      spiritually weak and disinterested to make a serious
Reformed Church sponsored a movie on the life of            study of the history of the Reformation, that has
Dr. Martin Luther. The author of this article which         forgotten to commemorate the thirty-first of October
we reproduce was concerned, first of all, about the         as Reformation-day, and that rather indulges in the
fact that this indicated a decline in the spiritual         "fun" of halloween parties. But what he would surely
strength of Young Men's Societies. This decline, is         refuse to do, others do for him and by imitation and
described and discussed; but -we are not primarily          impersonization they force him on the stage "to play
concerned about that, and so that portion of the
article we omit.                   .                        for us," even as Samson before the Phil&tines.
  But' then Rev. Hoeksema goes on the argue that "a            Men have imitated Martin Luther as the seeking
good movie is impossible." He writes as follows:            soul, hungering and thirsting after peace with God and
                          .****                             seeking the righteousness which is by faith; they have
  The movie is not essentially different from the           mimicked the indignation of his soul at'the corrupt
theatre-play.                                               practices of the Roman Catholic Church of his day,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   1 3 1


his joy at finding what his soul desired, his fight for    But the conclusion is of particular interest.
the truth, his spiritual agony and struggles, his                                      ****
preaching and prayer. All these experiences were in
reality the fruit of the operation of the grace of God            I will not emphasize now, that these "good
upon the man Luther, the Most High using him as an         movies" will create a taste for all movies, and that it
instrument for the deliverance of His Church in the        is not at all impossible, that under the auspices of
world. How abominable it must be in the sight of           some Reformed (?) body all shows and theatres will
God when men imitate and mimic such a deep                 be open unto our young folks.
spiritual struggle and glorious victory of the grace of           Why not? Concede the principle of the theatre and
God, in order to entertain the public!                     what remains is only a relative matter.
  The men that were used to produce the fdm  acted                Presently you may see  consistories investigating
as if their soul was overwhelmed with spiritual agony      whether or not a play or movie is good or bad, in
because of sin and  it was not; acted  as if they          order to determine whether or not anyone becomes
hungered and thirsted after righteousness and they         subject to the discipline of the Church by attending
did not; acted  as if they found peace and it was but      it.
an empty act; acted  as if they raised their eyes in              And within a short time we will see the day, that
longing and earnest prayer to God Most High and            the whole matter of the theatre and vaudette (the
they only  feigned; acted  as if they were the very        word does not appear in my unabridged, but it is
instruments of God filled  with an holy enthusiasm for     apparently an old word to designate the place where
the truth as it is in Jesus, and they only played!         vaudeville acts were performed;  vaudeville  acts were
   And thus they throw the man Martin Luther on            live theatrical performances usually of a humorous
the stage. Thus they force him on the stage. And he        kind. H.H.) is dropped, or their frequenting is
will play for you for money. Thirty-five cents you are     sanctioned by some Synod. Perhaps some future
asked to pay, fifty cents if you want a reserved seat,     Synod will pass a resolution that the attendance of
and you may see Dr. Martin Luther reproducing for          theatre and vaudette is not at all a sin, providing we,
your entertainment the most serious incidents of his       as Christian people strive to make them as good as
life and struggle! . . .                                   possible and that we protest whenever  .something
  Is it not unspeakably sad?                               ungodly is presented.  .,.
                                                                  I venture to prophesy that such will be the end of
                            ****                           the amusement problem.
  The author then goes on to discuss the fact that                But in the meantime I warn our own young folks
the film also conveyed erroneous theology and              not to go along with the present tendency.
became an instrument for the propagation of heresy.               Rather go in the radically opposite direction.





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132                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL AROUND US


                                    Mental Trouble And Sin

                                                                  Prof  H. Hanko


   Most of our readers are aware of the fact that there                        developing or coping at times. Under such pressure, a
has been quite a stir in the Christian approach to                             person may be unable to deal with problems, and
mental  illness  - a stir brought about by a book writ-                        thus behave immaturely. If he is emotionally
ten by Jay Adams and entitled, "Competent To                                  immature, chances are his spiritual means of coping
Counsel." This book, briefly, repudiates most, if not                         will not be fully developed either. That is why the
all, of modern psychiatry and psychology and                                   total  person is treated at Pine Rest.
explains mental problems from the viewpoint of sin.                          Whatever the author may mean by "the total
Jay Adams claims in his book that this is Scripturally                     person," I know from personal experience that Pine
sound. He insists that the Bible points to sin only as                     Rest gives  little attention to the spiritual aspect of a
the source of all mental and emotional trouble. He                         person's problems. I recall that years ago I used to
refuses to speak of *`mental  illness" because he claims                  attend doctor-pastor conferences. One of the reasons
that this is a holdover from unbelieving psychology                       I quit going was that scarcely any attention was paid
and psychiatry and is .a concept not found in the                         to sin. It was so bad as a matter of fact that at one
Scriptures. He finds that the solution to all mental                      meeting, a minister rose after a speech and pointedly
problems therefore, is admonition which is based                          asked a doctor whether it was true, as the doctor
upon and comes with the Word of God.                                      seemed to intimate, that we did not believe in sin any
  In the summer issue of the Pine Rest News Bulletin                      more, but explained  alI unacceptable behavior in
this position was indirectly challenged. While the                        terms of mental illness which required psychiatric
article did not refer directly to Jay Adam's position,                    care. I know, too, from personal experience that,
it spoke of the same idea and emphatically repudiated                     generally speaking, the staff frowned upon and
it. The article speaks of the relation between sin and                    sometimes tried to prevent ministers from visiting
mental suffering and refuses to acknowledge that                          their sheep and bringing to them the Word of God.
such a relationship exists. The author writes:                            Pine Rest has .no real Christian psychology and
                                                                          psychiatry. In another issue of the News Bulletin, the
          A person who is emotionally disturbed is not just
       spiritually confused, but he experiences riiany                    whole theory of so-called transactional analysis is
       interpersonal and intrapersonal difficulties. Man is a             defended. This is one of many current "fads" in the
       unity. When any area of relationship is in jeopardy,               field of psychiatry, and leaves Pine Rest open to the
       other areas are affected. On this basis, I  find  it helpful       suspicion that the staff is susceptible to any passing
       to remember that rather than saying a person is                    theory that comes along. But the fact remains, that,
       suffering because of separation.from God, it seems                 on the whole, there is very little left in Pine Rest
       more appropriate to say he feels separated from God                which is Scriptural.
       because of suffering.                                                                          *****
  Now apart from anything else in the above
quotation, the article  fails to explain the reason for                      A review of the above mentioned book appeared in
this suffering. However, the author does make an                          a recent. issue of  Reformation Today.  While the
effort to do this when he writes:                                         author of this review finds some favorable aspects to
                                                                          the book, he nevertheless severely criticizes it. Some
          Having said this, let me emphasize another                      criticisms are to the point. He charges Adams with
       conviction. Spiritual problems are to be recognized as
       a part of the total malfunction of a person. Many                  being too simplistic in some areas of the book. He
       who come for care of physical and emotional                        also castigates Adams for failing to distinguish
       problems have concurrent spiritual difficulties. These             properly between the office of believers and the
       must be recognized if the "whole" person is to be                  special offices in the Church with respect to this
       helped. Throughout our lives, there is a natural                   problem of mental distress. But there runs through
       development and growth. Due to social, emotional, or               the criticism of the book a rejection of Adams' basic
       other pressures, individuals often have difficulty                 position.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  133


   The whole question of the relation between sin and        idea with no relevance to modern times. Sin is
mental suffering is a difficult and complex one. It is       banished from our thinking as a useless remnant of
not our purpose to discuss the matter in this article.       bygone years and the thinking of a superstitious folk
This is far too involved a matter to be the subject of       who have long since departed the world's scene. And
the articles in this column. But there are a few             so everything must be explained in terms other than
remarks which we want to make.                               sin. If this idea prevails in the Church, there is simply
   In the first place, the Scriptures are filled with        no more room for the Word of God -and the cross of
references to all different kinds of mental anguish and      Christ. We must be very, very careful that we never
distress. One has only to read the Psalms to discover        allow this type of thinking to influence us - not even
how deeply the Psalmists of Israel experienced great         in the area of mental problems.
trouble and agony. Yet, while this is particularly to                                *****
be found in the Psalms because they are given by God
to serve as a kind of spiritual biography of the child          I had really intended to end the article at this
of God, the same thing may be found in many other            point. But last night, while reading Calvinist Contact,
passages of God's Word. Many, if not most of these           I came across an example of what we were discussing.
passages describe accurately much, if not all, of what       In that paper an article appears, written by the
today goes under the name of mental illness.                 chaplain of Pine Rest Christian Hospital on
                                                             "Infidelity" under a sub-heading of pastoral
   In the second place, Scripture always puts all this       counselling.  The article discusses the reasons for
suffering and distress of the soul in a spiritual            infidelity and enumerates the following: 1) Married
context. That is, Scripture finds the reason for all         life becomes after a time "rather drab, monotonous,
these problems which we face and burdens of the soul         and routine," and the wife tends to place her family
which we bear in our own sin. Not just in our sin in         and housework ahead of her marriage. 2) We are more
general, but in our own lack of spiritual-mindedness:        exposed to the temptations of infidelity than years
our failure- to pray, our spiritual carelessness, our        ago. 3) Marriage has its "ups and downs" and
pride, our lack of turst and confidence in God, our          infidelity comes at "low spots in marriage." 4) Men
proclivity to let hatred eat away at our hearts, our         tend toward infidelity because, after they get to be
covetousness, etc. And Scripture, therefore, finds the       fifty, they "are trying to prove something."
cure for these distresses in confession of sin and in           These are the reasons given in the article. Notice
spiritual renewal by the operation of the Holy Spirit.       that there is absolutely no reference at all to sin.
Scripture indeed acknowledges that we may need
help in our troubles, but this help is to be sought             What then is the cure? The cure is "commitment":
from the Lord; if not directly, then from the Lord           "To me, fidelity is not just simply the fact that
through His Word and through those who are                   somebody doesn't go out with some other woman.
appointed in the Church to bring us His Word. Cf.            Fidelity means that he is fully committed to his wife,
e.g., James 5: 14, 15.                                       to his family, and to his relationships with her. When
                                                             you look at all these factors, to me the solution of
   In the third place, there is great need for us to be      the whole matter of infidelity in marriage is to build a
reminded of the fact that sin is not a plaything, a toy,     stronger commitment for each other and to each
something which need not be feared. Whenever we              other. If a wife is deeply committed to her husband
harbor-.&-r  in our lives, we may expect that it will        and makes sure that he knows this and that he
have the most dreadful consequences for us, for God          realizes this; if a husband is genuinely committed to
is not mocked. What we may consider insignificant            his wife, no matter how much he is tempted by these
and minor sins, not worth a great deal of attention,         secretaries who wear rather short skirts, or by people
and not fraught with any particular dangers to our           who openly flirt with men in a factory. It's not going
spiritual welfare, are nevertheless sins in the sight of     to bother him because he knows that he is committed
God. And sin will not go unpunished. We must learn           to his wife and he is not going to be unfaithful to
more and ,more  to confess our sins to God and to one        her."
another.                                                       Notice again that there is nothing of Scripture in
  Finally, I am very much distressed about the fact          all this, nothing of the calling of the Word of God. It
that modern psychology and psychiatry (even as it is         is true that in the very last paragraph we read: "Of
practiced in Christian institutions) has capitulated to      course, I know that in all of this commitment, there
God-denying theories of the cause of mental suffering        must also be the commitment to God, before whom
and the cure for it. Sin is being more and more ruled        we make our sacred vows when we marry, and we
out of the picture. This is generally `true throughout       commit ourselves to each other until death us do
our society. No longer will men reckon with sin. Sin         part. This, too, is often lacking."
is  .erased  from the dictionary. Sin is an old-fashioned      The fact remains nonetheless, that there is nothing


134                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


particularly Christian, or Biblical, about the whole         Christian really has nothing to say to God's people
discussion. The entire article could just as well appear     which the world has not said and cannot say. And,
in the Reader? Digest or in an Ann Lander's Column.          generally speaking, the world says it a whole lot
In fact, one reads the same thing there time and             better.
again. If what- is written above is true, then the


TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                Our Protestant Reformed Position

                         Regarding The "Free Offer

                                        Of The Gospel"
                                                        ( 2>
                                               Rev. David J. Engelsma


  In opposition to the free offer, it is Biblical and        them, and Jesus, in full agreement with His Father,
Reformed to teach that God loves and desires to save         thanks God for this too (cf. Matt.  11:25-27).  The
the elect Church of Jesus Christ and her only. In the        preaching of the gospel is not an impotent offer but
Old Testament, He loved and desired to save only             the scepter of the risen Christ, the sword of the
Israel, not the other nations (cf. Deut. 7:6-8; Psalm        Spirit, and the almighty power of God to call the
147: 19, 20; Matt. 11:20-24).  Among Israel, He loved        things that be not as though they were (Rom. 4: 17).
the elect, not all (Rom. 9:6-13). In the New
Testament, He loves, elects, and desires to save some           Although our controversy with the offer is not a
only out of the fallen human race, but He hates,             quibbling over words, even the term, "offer," is
reprobates, and wills the punishment of damnation            objectionable. It is not a Biblical term. Although at
for others (cf. Rom. 8:28ff.;  Rom. 9; I Pet. 2:7-g).  In    one time it could be used to describe the call of the
opposition to the offer, it is Biblical and Reformed to      gospel,5 since the Latin word,  offero, meant `carry
teach that the grace of God is sovereign and                 to, place before, present,' by this time the word itself
irresistible and that the love of God in Christ never        is so freighted with Arminian connotations as to be
fails (cf. John  6:37; Rom.  8:29, 30; Rom.  8:39). In       unserviceable and dangerous.
opposition to the offer, it is also Biblical and                Does our rejection of the free offer make us
Reformed to teach that the preaching of the gospel           "hyper-Calvinists"? The term, "hyper-Calvinist," is a
does not have the nature' of an offer, but that the          term of reproach and condemnation, describing
preaching is "the power of God unto salvation to             someone as a person who has driven the truth of
everyone that believeth," (Rom. 1:  16).4  God's grace       Calvinism to such an extreme that he has actually
in the preaching is sovereign grace that saves everyone      marred and even destroyed true Calvinism. The name
whom- God desires to save. By the preaching, God             is bandied about very loosely today. Many enemies of
also hides the truth from some and hardens them  (cf;        Calvinism refer to genuine Calvinism as
Matt.  11:25-27;  Rom. 9: 18). This  .is His will for        "hyper-Calvinism" in order thus to blacken Calvinism


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                135


itself in the eyes of the ignorant. Others are only too     work of the Spirit in our hearts.
ready to call a solid, consistent Calvinism,                   We maintain that God calls everyone who comes
"hyper-Calvinism." Apparently, however, there have          under the preaching to-repent and to believe. God
been those who have deserved the criticism of               does this through the Church's preaching. The Church
"hyper-Calvinists." Claiming to be Calvinistic, these       and preacher `are  order.ed  by God to call everyone,
churches denied that God calls anyone by the
preaching of the gospel except the regenerated elect,       whether regenerate or unregenerate, whether
and they denied that the Church, or preacher, should        converted or unconverted, whether believer or
call anyone to repent and believe except those who          unbeliever,' to repent and believe. "(God) now
show themselves to be regenerated. Evidently, they          commandeth all men. every where to repent" (Acts
drew the conclusion from the doctrines of election          17 : 30). As far as the reprobate unbeliever is
and limited atonement that the Church may preach            concerned, the nature of the call is that it is a demand
only to the regenerated elect, especially, that the         that sets forth his duty. It does not express God's
Church may only call the regenerated elect to               love for him nor God's desire to save him. It certainly
repentance and faith. They called their position a          does not imply the ability of the one who is, called to
denial of the free offer.                                   do what he is commanded to do, any more than
                              Reformation Today  (Summer
1970),  in an article entitled, "The Ill-Fated Articles"    God's demand to fallen men to keep His law implies
accuses the Gospel Standard Churches (in England) of        their   ability  to.  do  SO.6 But the  call  expresses the
holding this view. Confessional articles adopted by         sinner's responsibility. This is the Reformed, position
these churches in 1878 and maintained at the present        in the Canons of Dordt : "As many as are called by
time express a doctrinal position that may with some        the gospel, are  unfeignedly7  called. For God hath
right be criticized as "hyper-Calvinism." Article 26        most earnestly and truly declared in his Word, what
states: "We reject the doctrine that men in a state of      will be acceptable to him; namely, that all who are
nature should be exhorted to believe in, or turn to         called, should come unto him. He, moreover,
God" (p. 25). Article 33 states: "Therefore, that for       seriously promises eternal life, and rest, to as many as
ministers in the present day to address unconverted         shall come to him, and believe on him," (III, IV, 8).
persons, or indiscriminately all in. a mixed                When the Canons say that "God hath . . . declared
congregation, calling upon them to savingly repent,         . . . what will be acceptable to him (or, pleasing to
believe and receive Christ, or perform any other acts       him), namely, that all who are called, should come
dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy           unto him," this. does not mean that God loves all and
Ghost, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power         desires the salvation of all. The Canons have been
and on the other, to deny the doctrine of special           busy in Heads I and II refuting this very notion. But
redemption"  (p. 26).                                       the meaning is that the activity of coming to Christ is
                                                            pleasing to God, .whereas  the refusal to come in faith
  Our denial of the offer differs fundamentally from        is displeasing to Him, and God makes this known in
the denial of those who mean to deny that the               the preaching when He calls men.. Therefore, when
Church should call all and sundry to repent and             men wickedly refuse to come to the marriage, the
believe. We must dissociate ourselves from such             king of the parable in Matthew 22 sends out the army
churches, even though they also vehemently oppose           of His wrath to kill those obstinate men.
the offer. It is indeed true that there is a sense, an        Some have charged that without a love of God for
important sense, in which God calls only the elect.         all and a desire of God to save all, there is no warrant,
The efficacious call of God is directed to the elect        i.e., foundation or justification, for the call to all men
and to no other. This is taught, e.g., in Romans 8:30.      in the preaching. But they are mistaken. Nowhere
"Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also            does Scripture indicate that the warrant for the call
called." But there is also a sense in which God calls       to all who hear the preaching is the universal love of
others besides the elect, i.e., the reprobate               God. The Church brings to everyone God's call to
unbelievers. This is plain from Matthew 22: 14: "For        repent and believe on Christ crucified because God
many are called, but few are chosen." These words           has commanded her to do so. She knows that God
are the conclusion of the parable of the king's             will use that call both as a savor of life and a savor of
wedding-feast, in which Jesus teaches that God calls        death (II Cor. 2: 16). As she goes forth into all the
many to salvation who perish eternally. According to        world sounding the call of the gospel to all to whom
the parable, God commands His servants to, call "as         God sends her, she does not say, "Behold God loves
many as ye shall find" (vs. 9) to the marriage. This' is    you: Come to the marriage." But she says, "All things
the call that God makes in the preaching of the             are ready: Come unto the marriage" (Matt.  22:4).
gospel, the call that Reformed theology has termed          From the viewpoint of the ones who are called, the
"the external call," in distinction from the "effectual     warrant of the call is that God has perfected salvation
call" which consists both of the preaching  Andy  the-      in Jesus Christ.


136                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


  We ought to make clear to others and we must be          Calvinistic, compare the notion of the free offer with
aware ourselves that our denial of the free offer in no    the teaching of the Canons of Dordt. The Canons
way hampers our preaching or hamstrings missions           speak only of God's love for the elect in Christ, of a
and genuine evangelism. Men lay this charge against        desire of God that the elect be saved, and of a grace
those who deny the free offer. In a recent work on         of God that is particular and sovereign. It  knows
hyper-Calvinism,      Peter  Toon  has written: "The       nothing, absolutely nothing, of a love of God for all,
combined influence of the Hyper-Calvinists                 of a desire that all be saved, or of a grace, whether in
mentioned above was to produce in the Churches             the preaching or elsewhere, that fails to save. But
connected with them, and amongst those whom they           does this imply a weakening of the preaching? Does
influenced, a tendency only to maintain their              this mean a hindrance to a serious call by God and by
Churches but not to expand  them."8  Hulse charges         the Church to all to whom God sends the gospel?
that "hyperism undoubtedly affects preaching and           Such has been the accusation of the Arminians from
teaching and is very dangerous because it can stultify     of old. But the Canons give the lie to this accusation,
and destroy the witness and life of a church" ("The        most fully and most clearly. Those who hold to the
Free Offer," p. 15). As Churches, and as preachers,        free offer out of fear that otherwise they lose the
we are able to preach to the unconverted. We               preaching must see this. And we ourselves must see
proclaim Christ crucified to them, presenting Christ       this, so that we never apply our denial of the offer
in the preaching of His Word, always, of course, as        wrongly. The Canons begin with the importance of
the righteousness of God. We pass upon them the             "the joyful tidings" as the means by  which men are
judgment of the gospel, that they are by nature guilty     brought to faith" (I, 3). They stress that the
and totally depraved, children of wrath, exposed to        preaching must promiscuously proclaim the
the damnation of hell except they repent. We call          (particular) promise "together with the command to
them, in the Name of God, to repent and believe. As        repent and believe" (II, 5). They insist that the call of
we command all men everywhere to repent, we                the gospel in the preaching is "serious" (III, IV, 8).
proclaim to all the promise that whosoever believeth       They conclude with an encomium to the preaching:
in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have              "And as it hath pleased God, by the preaching of the
everlasting life. This is Reformed  preaching.g  This       gospel, to begin this work of grace in us, so he
was the preaching and procedure of the apostles.            preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing and
  Let those who intend to be Reformed, truly                reading of his Word . . ." (V, 14).

  4Note  the title of Hoeksema's attack on the                   6Cf.  the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day IV, Q-
well-meant offer in 1930:  Een   Kracht  Gods Tot          9.
Zaligheid. . . (A Power  of  God unto Salvation. .  .I           7 Latin:  setio, `seriously.'
  51t  was so used in the Canons of Dordt: "It is not            *Peter Toon, The Emergence of Hypes-Calvinism
the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ, offered therein    in English Nonconformity  (London: The Olive Tree,
. . ." (III, IV, 9). Long ago, someone noted that           1967),  p. 150.
offer0  in Calvin had the sense of "to present, to
exhibit or set forth"  (Calvin's Calvinism,  Eerdmans,           9Cf.  the Canons, II, 5.
1956, p. 3 1, footnote).



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                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 137


THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH

                                           Peace With God
                                                        Rev. J. Kortering


   One thing that you covenant young people have in                 time you are surrounded with monstrous tempta-
common with Martin Luther is your quest for peace                   tions. We use that word deliberately, for iniquity has
with God.                                                           abounded and depravity has intensified. You cannot
   Luther longed for it. The burden of his sins                     naively say, "My folks may have gone to movies when
pressed so sorely upon him that he would wrestle                    they were young, or they listened to the pop music of
with God in prayer for long hours. He was sensitive to              their day when they dated, therefore they have no
the presence of the Holy God. There were times when                 right to stop me." The movies and music of a decade
he would confess his sins with weeping and groaning,                ago were corrupt, but can hardly be placed on a level
crying out for forgiveness. The very first time he                  with the rot produced today. It is much worse and
officiated at the holy mass, he trembled at the pres-               even more devastating today. You have a strong
ence of God. He tells us,                                           desire to experiment with sex; the yearnings of
                                                                    interest in the opposite sex are rising within your own
       At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror            bodies, and the lust of the world tempts and excites
    stricken. I thought to myself, "With what tongue
    shall I address such Majesty, seeing that all men ought         you to live and let live. You have opportunities for
   to tremble in the presence of an earthly prince? Who             excellent instruction in school, catechism, and the
    am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my              home, and yet you resist them at times, maybe even
   hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround                by wasting your time. And when all this happens you
   him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a              know the turmoil that follows. Sometimes you feel so
   miserable little pygmy, say, `I want this, or I ask for         guilty you retreat to your own room and want to be
   that?' For I am dust and ashes and full  of sin and I            alone. You get disgusted with yourself. There are
   am speaking to the living eternal and the true God."            times you cannot sleep nights, for the pangs of guilt
    Quoted from  Here I Stand,  by Bainton, page 30.               won't let you. You are deeply afraid. And this fear is
The thought of dying obsessed him. What if he would                before the face of God. Yes, you long to have peace
die and have to face so great a God? He underwent a                with God. Oh, that you may know forgiveness for
traumatic experience when in July of 1505, Luther,                 sins, that you may be free from the guilty conscience
being 21 years old, was walking home and lightning                 that bothers you. How you seek strength to overcome
struck close by him. In his holy fear he thought God               temptation. In your prayers you ask God to guide
                                                                   you through the storm.
had hurled that lightning bolt at him.
                                                                      You seek peace with God.
   Overagainst such terror, Luther sought peace with
God. If only he could be sure that God had forgiven                    From the life of Luther we can learn how God
his sin. If he could only know for certain that God                 brought him that peace. Luther was a child of his
smiled upon him with divine approval, that would                    times. The church of his day emphasized the holiness
make the difference. How he longed to be able to                    and righteousness of God. The emphasis was so great
pray and have peace in his soul. He cried to God to                 that the people became afraid of God. They saw that
take the turmoil away.                                              He was pure and holy and that He would not com-
                                                                    promise His holiness. As righteous, He would punish
   Covenant young people know something of this. It                 the evil and reward the good. Since Luther could see
may be in varying degrees, but it is no less real. You
know the burden of your sins and in that way know                   only evil in His life, all Luther could see was a mon-
the struggle of soul. Certainly Christian young people              strous God lurking in the background ready to hurl
have a difficult role in life. You know what is re-                 Martin Luther into hell.
quired, you read this in your Bible, you hear it ex-                   Within that setting, Luther tried to follow the
plained from the pulpit, your parents  t@k  to you                 instruction of the church as to how to find peace
about Christian living. Your teachers in School point               with God. Already at fourteen years of age, Luther
this out to you. In a real sense you are confronted                 saw Prince William of Anholt walking down the street
with the Word of God from every side. At the same                   carrying a sack of flour like a donkey. It struck his


138                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


impressionable mind that someone who would re-                      our day does the very opposite. It emphasizes love
nounce his throne to do that must indeed be holy and                and mercy at the exclusion of justice and holiness.
have peace. He resolved to enter the monastery.                    The end result is the same. It takes away peace with
   Once within the monastery, he did everything re-                 God.
quired of him. In his words,                                           We need not belabor the point that the church in
          I was a good monk, and I kept the rule of my              general emphasizes God's love and mercy at the ex-
       order so strictly that  I may say that if ever a monk        clusion of justice. If you are the least alert to what is
       got to heaven by `his monkery, it was I. All my             going on in the world today, you know this. Church
       brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me          papers, so called Christian radio and television pro-
       out. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed      grams, pulpits in the churches, speakers at retreats,
       myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work,       emphasize that God loves everyone. We supposedly
       page  34, Here I Stand.                                     have such a God of love that He does not want to
All of this was, however, to no avail. His ultimate                hurt anyone. He wants to save everyone. In His love,
hope rested in his trip to Rome. He had the privilege              He provided Christ for making salvation possible for
to travel to the eternal city. Surely, if he was to find           everyone. Now He comes to us and tells us His good
peace with God anywhere on earth, it had to be here.               news that we can be saved if only we will let him save
He climbed the  scolu   sane&,  supposedly the steps               us. This God of love is presented as being so close to
that' were before Pilate's judgment hall and upon                  us that He talks to us like the guy next door and if we
which Christ had stood while on trial. He was told                 want to pray to Him we can use the latest jargon and
that if he did this, he would release a soul from purga-           He won't mind. Some so called religious songs de-
tory. For good measure he  .kissed each step and                   scribe one's relationship with Christ as if He is our
secretly regretted that neither his father nor mother              "Lover" and they croon out mockeries. In this set-
was dead, he would have to settle for releasing his                ting, where do we hear that God is just and holy?
grandpa Heine. Still no peace.                                     When does anyone tell us that God is filled with
   It came when he opened the Scripture. This was                  wrath against those who reject His Word? Who tells us
new to him. Even though he was thirty years old, he                that the Holy God is exalted in heaven, and we must
had not studied the Bible. He was assigned the task of             worship Him with fear and trembling? All this is lost.
teaching the Scripture at Wittenburg. While preparing              As in Luther's day the church emphasized God's
for his lectures on the Psalms and Romans, the Lord                justice and made people afraid of Him, today the
led him to Romans 1: 17, "The just shall live by                   church emphasizes God's love and brings God to the
faith." Upon meditating on this he tells us,                       level of man.
          Night and day  I  pondered until  I saw the connec-         Where will we find peace with God?
       tion between the justice of God and the statement              As Luther could not find it with a God of justice
       that the "just shall live by his faith."  Then I grasped    and holiness apart from love and mercy, neither can
       that the justice of God is that righteousness by which      we find it with a God of love and mercy, apart from
       through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us             justice and holiness.
       through faith.  Thereupon  I felt myself to be reborn
       and to have gone through open doors into paradise.             Why? Because they go together. To deny God's
       The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning and            justice or love is to deny God as the God of our
       whereas before the "justice of God" had filled  me          salvation. His justice demanded that sins be paid, and
       with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet          the penalty for sin is death. No man can make this
       in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a        payment. If we think that we must earn our peace
       gate to heaven, page  50, Here  IStand.                     with God by making up for our sins, we are doomed
His peace came when he saw that  God is not only just              forever. Luther tried, but failed. Here is where the
and holy, but also merciful and loving. The justice of             love of God comes in. In love God sent Christ to die
God which He lovingly provided for His people is                   in our place and make this payment. His righteous-
satisfied in Christ. At the cross, justice and mercy kiss          ness must not be denied, and we must not think that
each other. This produces peace.                                   the love of God cancels out  His justice. The opposite
       This is also where you young people must find               is true. His love provided the payment whereby His
your peace with God; There is peace nowhere else,                  justice is satisfied.
only at the foot of the cross.                                        Hence justice and mercy embrace at the cross.
       There is a difference, however. As Luther was a                The flood gates of heaven opened for Luther as he
child of his time, so you are children of your time.               meditated upon these words, "Therefore being justi-
Our times are different. The church in Luther's day                fied by faith we have peace with God through our
emphasized the justice and holiness of God at the                  Lord Jesus Christ." Peace is through our Lord Jesus
exclusion of His mercy and love. The church world in               Christ. He has made our peace with God. And all the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            139


benefits of His death become ours through faith in          gift of the Reformation. Look at that beautiful
Him.                                                        passage and see how justice and mercy unite in Christ.
   There is a lesson here. You young people are                It is an amazing wonder that God forgives sinners.
searching for peace with God. The church of Luther's        Surely, we do not deserve such favor. It is this that
day offered a pseudo peace, but  to the spirit-filled       makes salvation so beautiful, because it is all of grace.
soul of Luther it did not suffice. The nominal church       The strength to face temptation and sin comes to us
does the same today. It offers a pseudo peace with a        from this God of all grace.
false Christ and a caricature of God that is not true.         Peace with God - do you have it?
A peace that does not include justice and love is not
for real.                                                      Believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. He leads us to the
                                                            God Who in love satisfied His justice. On that rock,
 . Search the Scriptures. They are given to you as a        we have the victory over all our sins.


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH


                  Eschatology  - The First Period
                                                   (80 - 250 A.D.)

                                       THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

                                                  Rev. H. Veldman


                        IRENAEUS                            the vine and of the corn, declaring that Papias also
  Only very scanty accounts are possessed of the            taught this, and that the fulfillment of these words
personal history of Irenaeus, one of the Church             could not apply to a super-celestial place, and that
Fathers. It has been generally supposed that he was a       they who drink it are not devoid of flesh, inasmuch as
native of Smyrna, or some neighbouring city, in Asia        to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains to
Minor. But, it is also believed that he was born in         flesh, and not to spirit. We now quote from Irenaeus:
Syria, and that he removed to Smyrna in his                           For this reason, when  about to undergo  His
boyhood. He himself tells us that he was acquainted             sufferings, that He might declare to Abraham and
in his early youth with Polycarp, the illustrious               those with him the glad tidings of the inheritance
bishop of that city.                                            being  ttiown open, (Christ), after He had given
                                                                thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it,
  It is certain that Irenaeus was bishop of Lyons, in           and given  it to the disciples, said to them:  "Drinkye
France, during the last quarter of the second century.          all of it: this is My blood of the new covenant, which
He is supposed to have died about A.D. 202; but                 shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I
there is probably no real ground for the statement of           say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit.
Jerome, repeated by subsequent writers, that he                 of this vine, until that day when I will drink it new
                                                                with you in my Father's kingdom. Thus, then, He will
suffered martyrdom, since neither Tertullian nor                Himself renew the inher3anc.e  of the earth, and will
Eusebius, nor other early authorities make any                  re-organize the mystery of the glory of His sons; as
mention of such a fact.                                         David says, "He who bath renewed the face of the
  His great work, Against  Heresies,  was, we learn,            earth." He promised to drink of the  fi-uit of  the vine
written during the episcopate of Eleutherus, that is,           with His disciples, thus indicating both these points:
between A.D. 182 and- A.D. 188. It is from this                 the inheritance of the earth in which the new fruit of
                                                                the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of His disciples
writing that we now quote Vol. I of the Ante-Nicene             in the flesh: For the new flesh which rises again is the
Fathers, page 562 in support of the contention that             same  w&h  also received the new cup. And He
also Irenaeus'advocated premillenarian teachings. We            cannot by any means be understood as drinking of
will notice that Irenaeus appeals, for example, to              the  fiuiit  of the vine when settled down with his
Matt. 26: 29 and Isaiah 11:6, speaks of the fertility of        (disciples) above in a super-celestial place; nor, again,


140                                                   THE STANDARD  EEARER


       are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of     covenant, according to Tertullian. The good God
       that which flows from the vine pertains to flesh, and      knows all things and is all-powerful. The Old
       not spirit.                                                Testament with its ceremonial law and its low
  Later, in this same chapter, Irenaeus quotes                    standard of morality is quite fitted to the creation
passages from Papias which we have already quoted,                God, but neither he nor his book should have
referring to the future establishment of a wonderful              recognition among Christians. This teaching, we
kingdom. It appears from this quotation from                      understand, is wholly contrary to the teachings of the
Irenaeus that also this learned Church Father held                Word of God.
premillenarian views.                                               We now quote from Tertullian, Vol. III of the
                                                                  Ante-Nicene Father, page 342:
                         TERTULLIAN
  Tertullian was born a heathen, and seems to have                     Yes, certainly, you say, I do hope from Him that
been educated at Rome, where he probably practiced                  which amounts in itself to a proof of the diversity (of
as a jurisconsult. We may, perhaps, adopt most of the               Christ's), God's` kingdom in an everlasting and
ideas of Allix, as conjecturally probable, and assign               heavenly possession. Besides, your Christ promises to
                                                                    the Jews their primitive condition, with the recovery
his birth to A.D. 145. He became a Christian about                  of their country; and after this life's course is over,
185, and a presbyter about 190. The period of his                   repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most
strict orthodoxy very nearly expires with the century.              excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He
He lived to an extremely old age, and some suppose                  took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who
even till A.D. 240. More probably we must adopt the                 both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace!
date preferred by recent writers, A.D. 200.                         Oh, what a God, that is merciful even down to Hades!
                                                                    I shall have something to say about Abraham's bosom
  It seems to be the fashion to treat of Tertullian as a            in the proper place. As for the restoration of Judaea,
Montanist, and only incidentally to celebrate his                   however, which even the Jews themselves, induced by
services to the Catholic Orthodoxy of Western                       the names of places and countries, hope for just as it
Christendom (the writer of this sketch, in Vol. III of              is described, it would be tedious to state at length
the Ante-Nicene Fathers, when speaking here of                      how the figurative interpretation is spiritually
"Catholic Orthodoxy," does not refer, we                            applicable to Christ and His church, and to the
understand, to the Roman Catholic Church  - H.V.).                  character and fruits thereof; besides, the subject has
Were I his biographer I should reverse this course, as a            been regularly treated in another work, which we
mere act of justice, to say nothing of gratitude to a               entitle  De Spe Fidelium At present, too, it would be
man of splendid intellect, to whom the filial spirit of             superfluous for  this reason, that our inquiry related
Cyprian accorded the loving tribute of a disciple, and              to what is promised in heaven, not on earth. But we
                                                                    do confess that a kingdom is promised to us in
whose genius stamped itself upon the very words of                  another state of existence, inasmuch as it will be after
Latin theology, and prepared the language for the                   the resurrection for a thousand years in the
labours of a Jerome. In creating the Vulgate, and so                divinely-built city of Jerusalem, "let down from
lifting the Western Churches into a position of                     heaven," which the apostle also calls "our mother
intellectual equality with the East, the latter as well             from above;" and, while declaring that our citizenship
as St. Augustine himself were debtors to Tertullian in              is in heaven, he predicates of it that it is really a city
a degree not to be estimated by any other than the                  in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of and
Providential Mind that inspired his brilliant career as a           the Apostle John beheld. And the word of the new
Christian.                                                          prophecy which is a part of our belief, attests how it
  Our quotation from the writings of Tertullian                     foretold that there would be for a sign a picture of this
                                                                    very city exhibited to view previous to its
appears in Book III of his five books against Marcion.              manifestation. This prophecy, indeed, has been very
Marcion  was a disciple of Cerdo, and, according to                 lately  fulffled  in an expedition to the East. For it is
Irenaeus, Cerdo taught that the God announced in                    evident from the testimony of even heathen
the law and the prophets could not be the father of                 witnesses, that in Judaea there was suspended in the
Jesus Christ.  Marcion  did not regard the Cosmos as                sky a city early every morning for forty days. As the
the creation of the supreme God; it was the                         day advanced, the entire figure of its walls would
production of a demiurge, an inferior or lesser god.                wane gradually, and sometimes it would vanish
His demiurge is the creator and lord of all men, who                instantly. We say that this city has been provided by
has, however, a chosen people, and is the God of the                God for receiving the saints on their resurrection, and
Jews, the God of the Old Testament. Marcion's                       refreshing them with the abundance of all really
reading of the Old Testament convinced him that the                 spiritual blessings, as a recompense for those which in
                                                                    the world we have either despised or lost; since it is
principle of retributive justice found in the Old                   both just and Godworthy that His servants should
Testament could not be reconciled with that of love                 have their joy in the place where they have also
and goodness as represented by the God of the new                   suffered affliction for His name's sake. Of the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               1 4 1


     heavenly kingdom this is the process. After its                     of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth,"
     thousand years are over, within which period is                     are there not in his words examples of both kinds of
     completed the resurrection of the saints, who rise                  blessing?
     sooner or later according to their deserts, there will
     ensue the destruction of the world and the                        Tertullian, although speaking of a heavenly
     conflagration of all things at the judgment: we shall          kingdom, also believed in a period of a thousand
    then be changed in a moment into the substance of               years which would precede the heavenly
     angels, even by the investiture of an incorruptible            establishment of the kingdom of God. And all this
    nature, and so be removed to that kingdom in heaven             was declared by the one God of all the earth,
     of which we have been treating, just as if it had not          therefore also by the Creator of the world. This
    been predicted by the Creator, and as if it were                concludes our references to the truth of the advent of
    proving Christ to belong to the other god and as if he          Christ toward the end of the ages. It is apparent that,
    were the first and sole revealer of it. But now learn          in the period A.D. 80-250, premillenarian views were
    that it has been, in fact, predicted by the Creator, and       held by the Apostolic and Church Fathers. As Justin
    that even without prediction it has a claim upon our           Martyr wrote, namely that others did not share this
    faith in respect of the Creator. What appears to be
    probable to you, when Abraham's seed, after the                conception which is known as  Premillenialism,  there
    primal promise of being like the sand of the sea for           were those who did advocate this view. In our
    multitude, is destined likewise to be equality with the        following article, the Lord willing, we will call
    stars of heaven - are not these the indications both           attention to another subject in connection with these
    of an earthly and a heavenly dispensation? When                doctrines of the last things. At that time we expect to
    Isaac, in blessing his son Jacob, says, "God give thee         call attention to the truth of the resurrection.





                                              Book Reviews

                                                          Pro.f H. Hanko


Christian Science, Mormonism, Seventh-Day                          Proof is therefore offered for all Hoekema's
Adventism, Jehovah's Witnesses;  by Anthony                        contentions.
Hoekema; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., (paper).                     The books can well be used for personal study, but
   These four paperbacks are a reprinting of                       also for society discussions. They range in price from
Hoekema's work:  The Four Major Cults.  They  are                  $1.25 to $1.95.
however, more than reprints; they bring the material
on these cults up to date with added information `on               Explosive Evangelism, b y   G e o r g e   R .   J a f f r a y   J r . ;
recent developments among these sects.                             Tyndale Bible Society, 1972 (paper).
   These are very valuable books for anyone                           The author of this book on evangelism is intent on
interested in a study of these sects. The books all               bringing the message of the gospel to every person.
include a brief history of the sect; a separate and               He takes the position that this can only be done if the
important chapter on the basis and source of                       people of God themselves engage in personal
authority of these cults; an analysis of the major                 evangelism. He writes in the preface:
teachings of each, usually grouped under the general                        Of course, if churches could be turned right side
headings of the main loci of Dogmatics; and various                    up, oriented toward building Christians up instead of
important and interesting appendices in which the                      pampering non-Christians and the fleshly, there
author supplies additional information and                             would be a dramatic change in evangelism. Things
documents.                                                             being what they are this is not likely, if left alone.
   The value of the books is to a great extent due to                  But it is up to Christians to put pressure on them, to
                                                                       be used by God to cause changes and get the
`reliability. Hoekema refers often to and quotes at                    emphasis where it belongs. This book is not for the
length from the writings of these sects themselves.                    unmotivated! It is for those who are serious about


142                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


        evangelism and ache to see more done than a mere         course for the membership of the Burlington,
        scratching of the surface.                               Ontario, Canadian Reformed Church.
  And in the Epilogue he writes:                                        There are many valuable and interesting features
           We have found out that evangelism is basically        about this book which commend it to the reader.
        going out with God's message to men, with the goal       1) It is written within the context of the Reformed
        of telling it. to every person and making some
        disciples in every nation. In examining the various      heritage which gives it a Reformed perspective in
        types of evangelism, it became clear that only a         many parts, and which brings into the material
        combination of personal evangelism with visitation of    quotations from the Confessions and Church Order.
        each individual within  every locality has the           2) It has a very interesting discussion of evangelism
        capability of coming anywhere close to being able to     programs in the Churches in the Netherlands of which
        reach the goal.                                          the author was formerly a member. 3) It includes an
       In stressing lay evangelism, the author insists upon      abundance of practical material on the matter of
a trained laity to perform this task. He obviously               Christian witnessing and  cgngregational evangelistic
wants to be Scriptural and Reformed; but there are               work. All these features make the book well worth
serious weaknesses in his book. In setting the goal of           getting for anyone interested in the work of
bringing the gospel to every person, he sets before the          evangelism.
people of God an impossible task not only, but a task                   But there are other features of the book with
which has never been accomplished and which will, in             which I cannot agree. 1) The whole thrust of the
the nature of the case, never be accomplished. He                book is based upon an exegesis of Eph. 4: 12 which is
fails to put evangelism into a proper theological                dubious. By eliminating the comma after saints, he
context, and therefore is never clear on what he                 comes to the conclusion that the saints are also called
means by lay evangelism other than to imply that                 to the work of the ministry. On this point is based a
there is no distinction between the official ministry            great deal of the emphasis in the book on personal
of the Word and the witnessing of people of God.                 evangelism. 2) He seems to approve of (or at least
There are from time to time Arminian overtones, as,              does not condemn) Key 73, Campus Crusade, Youth
e.g., when he discusses methodology as working with              For Christ, The Jesus People. 3) He condones Sunday
the Spirit  - in what amounts to some kind of                    School as an arm of evangelism, something which
cooperative venture.                                             seems to me to be out of keeping with the doctrine of
       A lot of stress is placed upon methodology and            the covenant. 4) There are instances of  Arminian
step by step instructions are given on how to                    language. We read on p. 26 e.g., "Let us beware that
approach the unbeliever.                                         we, with our smooth theories, do not enter into
       The book can be obtained by writing the author at         conflict with the patience, the longsuffering and
1995 52nd St. S.E., Kentwood, Michigan, 49508. It                lovingkindness of the LORD! He is most certainly
should however, be read with discretion.                         willing to give a new chance to the lost children and
                                                                 grandchildren of apostates; even to these apostates
                                                                 themselves . . . " He mentions on p. 61 that the
Get Out!,  by G.  VanDooren; Premier Printing Ltd.,              calling of the Christian is "to win souls for Christ".
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; 1973; 98 pp., $2.00 +                This is certainly not Reformed language. 5) The book
postage, (paper).                                                suffers from lack of organization.
       The subtitle of this book by a minister of the
Canadian Reformed Church is: "A Guideline for                           We recommend the book to our readers for its
Reformed Congregational Evangelism." The contents                valuable suggestions, but we urge caution in reading
of the book were first offered as subject matter in a            it.





                               Have  you made use of the "green sheet" in our November 15 issue?


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   143



                             News From Our Churches
   In looking over the bulletins which I receive           Reformation Day Rally sponsored by The Reformed
regularly, I rather enjoy noting the topics of speeches    Witness, we learn that printed copies of Rev.
 presented at mass meetings, league meetings,              Engelsma's speech entitled "The Reformation and
officeibearers' conferences, etc., in various of our       Good Works," were made available to those who
 churches. Since this issue of the  Standard Bearer  is    want them, free of charge. According to the printed
likely the last which will appear in 1973, I suppose       program, "anyone desiring a copy of the speech can
that now is as good a time as any to pass along a few      obtain it by writing The Reformed Witness, 709 E.
of those topics. An Office-Bearers' Conference in          57th St., Loveland, Colorado 80537." Rev. Engelsma,
Hudsonville featured Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, who             incidentally, is currently considering the call to serve
spoke on "Censura Morum: Is  it. Conducted                 as home missionary of our churches. At the
Properly?" A week prior to that, Prof. Hoeksema            congregational meeting held in Hope Church on
spoke at a Sunday School Teachers' Mass Meeting, in        November 29, Rev. Engelsma was elected from a trio
First Church, on "The History of the Ten Tribes in         which included also Rev. R. Harbach and Rev. H.
Proper Perspective." "Is Women's Liberation                Veldman.
Affecting Us?" was the title of the speech delivered          Two of those same ministers were also on another
by Rev. C. Hanko for the Mr. and Mrs. League Fall          trio. Part of the agenda for the December 3
Mass Meeting at Hope Church. Rev. R. Harbach spoke         Congregational Meeting of South Holland was to be
on "Christ's Covenant Line  - Its Purpose," at the         the calling of a minister from a trio consisting of the
League of Ladies' Societies, meeting in First Church.      Reverends D. Engelsma, D. Kuiper, and H. Veldman.
Rev. G. Van  Baren  delivered a speech entitled,
"Affluence and its Effect on Home  and  Church," at                                        *****
the Men's League Meeting held in First Church. And            At the time of this writing, Rev. Van Overloop  was
at an Office-Bearers' Conference held in Loveland,         probably on his way to Prospect Park. He followed
Rev. D. Engelsma spoke on "The Free Offer of the           immediately after Rev. Heys, and planned to stay for
Gospel."                                                   three Sundays, beginning December 2. Seminarian J.
                       *4***                               Slopsema intends to spend his Christmas vacation in
   From Loveland, a couple of short items: Around          New Jersey, bringing with him seven sermons for a
the middle of October the congregation gathered for        two week period - two Sundays, Christmas Day, New
a program in celebration of the ten years of Rev.          Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. During that time
Engelsma's ministry there. And, concerning the             Mr. Slopsema's dogmatics' professor will be  prepar-
                                                                                                            (Continued on back page)


            ATTENTION, OFFICEBEARERS!                                                      NOTICE
   The Officebearers Conference of  Classis East will         Classis  East will meet in regular session on January 3, 1974
meet the evening of January 3, at 8 P.M., at the           (Thursday) in the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church. Material to
                                                           be treated at this session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at
Southeast Protestant Reformed Church. Professor            least ten days prior to the convening of this session.
Robert Decker will speak on the topic, "Creeping
Compromise."                                                                                                           John Huisken
                                                                                                                       Stated Clerk
                                                                                                                       Classis  East


                                                                               Resolution of Sympathy

                                                              The Martha Society of the  Doon,  Iowa, Protestant Reformed
               Gift Idea? Give good books.                 Church expresses sincere sympathy to Mrs. John Van Den Top and
                                                           family in the death of her father

                                                                                 MR. ALBERT VAN  BEMMEL

                Give RFPA publications!                       May our covenant God comfort the bereaved by His Word and
                                                           Spirit. "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we
                                                           die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
                                                           Lord's."  (Remans 14:s)

                                                                                                       Rev. Richard Moore, Pres.
                                                                                                       Mrs. Henry Bleyenburg, Sec'y.

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





144


ing, among other things of course, the semester exams
for his students. And then, immediately after the
holidays, Professor Hoeksema will head for New
Jersey, where he will preach for two Sundays, during
the time in which Mr. Slopsema, now back in Grand
Rapids, will be, with the other Seminary and  pre-
seminary students, laboring through those exams.
That's what you call team work.'
   On Tuesday, November 27, Rev. Schipper,  after a
week's siege of the flu, headed for the balmier climate
of Texas, where he expected to labor for the first
three weeks of December. According to current plans,
his visit there would be followed by that of Rev. G.
Van  Baren, who intends to remain in Houston for
two weeks.


  Then, last but hardly least is the following contri-
bution from our Business Manager. The subscription
statistics, which are interesting in themselves, are
made even more so by the comparisons suggested by
Mr. Vander Wal. Read on, for what he calls, allitera-
tively,-"startling  statistics."
   "Some of our readers may be acquainted with
Robert A. Ripley's news items entitled "BELIEVE IT
OR NOT!" These interesting but almost unbeliev-
able facts, appeared in newspapers across the entire
U.S.A. a few years ago. We would like to add a few
facts of our own which prove quite interesting and
almost unbelievable.
   "Believe it or not, but in the State of New York,
with a population of  18,241,266,  only nine of this
vast number receive  our Standard Bearer!  On the
other hand, in the State of Iowa  - population
2,825,041  . . . more than 100 subscribe to our maga-
zine.
   "Believe it or not, but the great city of Chicago,
Ill.,  - population  3,369,359  . . . only three residents
of that metropolis receive the Standard Beaver. But of
little Isabel, South Dakota, population 394, seven
receive and read our publication.

  "In Detroit, the largest city in Michigan, with a
population of  1,5  13,601, only one, that's right, only
ONE  resident receives our paper. But, in Edgerton,
Minn., population only 1 ,119, eighteen are
subscribers."


