 The
STANDARD
 BEARER
  A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                             T





    Christ is risen!
    He is the living Lord!
    Without the resurrection on the third day, the cross of Christ has
 neither power nor meaning. If Christ is not raised, all is still dark.
 Then there is no answer to Christ's question of amazement on the
 accursed tree : "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" Then
 there is no corroboration from heaven of the confident statement
 made by the dying ~Christ : "It is finished." If Christ is not raised, His
 death is no atoning sacrifice, He did not satisfy the justice of God
 with respect to our sins, nor did <He merit for us eternal righteousness
 and life. If Christ is not raised on the third day, there is no living
 Lord that can quicken us, and make us partakers of the blessings of
 salvation.
    But He is risen!
   And by His resurrection we know that He Who died on the ac-
 cursed tree of Calvary is the true Son of God, God of God, Light of
 Light, and that He is the resurrection and the life. By His resurrec-
 tion we know that He represented us in all His suffering, took our
 place in `the judgment of God voluntarily, and by His perfect obedi-
 ence, even unto the death of the cross, blotted out the guilt of our
 sin, and obtained for us everlasting righteousness and life. By His
 resurrection we know that the cross is, indeed, a power of God unto
 salvation.
   That is the significance of the resurrection of Christ.'
                                           -    Rev. Herman Hoeksema,
                                   The Power of the Cross, pp. 124-125





                                            Volume L, Number 14, April 15, 1974 J


266                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITATION


                            Seeking The Things Above
                                                     Rev. M. Shipper


               "lf ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on
           the right hand of God. "
                                                                                                               Colossians 3 : 1

   Ifthen..  .!                                                of grace, which Christ gathers as a spoil after His
   0, indeed, not so must the apostle be understood,           battle with the powers of darkness, and which He
as if he held in question the fact that the church was         freely distributes to us as the Captain of our
risen with Christ. Such a question never entered his           salvation. Still more particularly, they are the victory
mind. The matter is not problematical, but absolutely          over sin and death, life and peace, wisdom,
sure. It is objective reality  - the church has died with      r i g h t e o u s n e s s ,   s a n c t i f i c a t i o n ,   a n d   p l e n t i o u s
Christ, the church has been raised with Christ, the            redemption. They are glory, honor, immortality,
church has ascended with Christ, and is in principle           which come with eternal life.
with Christ as He now sits at the right hand of God.               To seek these things means to set your heart on
   The term "then" denotes conclusion!                         them, to desire them above all else, to covet them
   Seeing it is true that you are risen with Christ and        because of their excellent worth. Moreover, to seek
are with Christ in heaven, therefore it must follow            the things which are above means that you lend every
that you must seek those things which are above                faculty you possess to attain to the object of your
where Christ is.                                               desire. By implication it means that you cannot be
                                                               satisfied until you are in possession of them. One who
   Seeking the things above!                                   truly seeks the things above cannot be satisfied only
  But what are those things which are above? And               to look for them, desire them, without ever obtaining
what does it mean that we are to seek them?                    them. On the contrary, one who seeks the things
  The term "above" designates especially two things.           above in the truest sense of the word cannot rest until
In the first place, it has reference to locality. It stands    he comes into the enjoyment of them.
in contrast to the earth. In the verse that follows our           I t   i s   m o s t   i m p e r a t i v e   t h a t   w e   h e e d   t h i s
text the apostle continues: "Set your affection on             exhortation!
things above, not on things on the earth." So that
what is above must be heaven in distinction from the              Are we not still on the earth? Though it is true that
earth. It is the place to which Christ ascended forty          in principle we are with Christ in heaven, nevertheless
days after His resurrection. With His resurrected and          we very really still exist here below. Strikingly the
glorified body He could not abide on the earth, but            standpoint of the apostle is also on the earth, and he
He must ascend to that place where His glorified               points heavenward as he gives us the imperative to
human nature could receive all the glory He merited,           seek the things above. This standpoint we also must
even at the right hand of God, where He is crowned             assume. We are still only strangers and pilgrims in the
with glory, honor, and power. But, in the second               earth.
place, the term "above" suggests the nature of the                Besides, is it not also true that we are to a very
things we are to seek. They are heavenly in character.         large extent carnal? Indeed, we are still of the earth
They are the things which belong to a better country,          earthy. We dwell in a body of flesh and blood which
a heavenly fatherland, to the new Jerusalem, the               cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And in that body
house with its many mansions.                                  we are adapted only to things earthly. We still need
  If you would inquire more particularly concerning            earthly bread to eat, and earthly water to drink. We
the things above, they relate undoubtedly to all the           need earthly clothing, and earthly houses to shelter us
heavenly blessings which are in Christ Jesus. They are         from the cold of winter and the heat of summer. And
those things which He merited for His people through           to our shame, we still set our affection on these
His mediatorial work. They are the spiritual blessings         earthly things. We often find ourselves spending most


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  267



of our time and energy seeking this world's wealth.               Because He is the Head of His people, we are
Like the children of this world, we catch ourselves            inseparably united with Him. This the testimony of
digging our foundations deep. And like the fool who            all Scripture. He is the vine, we are the branches. He
imagines his house shall stand for aye, we, too, lay up        is the Head, we are the members of His body. He is
for ourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust           the Bridegroom, we are His bride. By a mystical and
corrupt and destroy. Especially is this true in times of       spiritual union we are inseparably one with Him: a
affluence, and material prosperity. We forget that we          union which was an eternal reality in the counsel and
live in a tent, and as the builders of the tower of            purpose of God when He chose us in Him, and a
Babel, we refuse to move.                                      union which is reality also in time. So true is this that
  0, how we need to hear the exhortation, seek the             the Scriptures inform us that when Christ was
things which are above!                                        crucified, we were crucified with Him; when Christ
                                                               died, we died with Him; when Christ arose, we arose
  But how is it possible to seek the things above?             with Him; when Christ ascended into heaven, we
  The answer to this question resides in the fact that         ascended with Him.
Christ is risen and we are raised with Him!                      Undoubtedly, it is to this the apostle refers when
  Glorious reality!                                            he says in the text: Seeing that you are risen with
  Christ is risen from the dead!                               Christ, seek those things which are above, where
                                                               Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. No more
  Though it appeared that He was swallowed up by               than it is possible for the body of our flesh to live
the power of darkness, He was taken by wicked hands            when it is severed from the head, no more can the
and nailed to the accursed tree. There after hours of          body of Christ live were it severed from the Head,
agonizing suffering, He yielded up the ghost. And He           Christ Jesus. But the latter can never happen. By the
was buried in a tomb that had been sealed by the               bond of election, and by the bond of living faith, we
powers of the world. Yet He is raised by the power of          are connected to the Head in Whom is all our life and
God. Death could not hold its prey. He broke the               well-being. In Him are all the blessings of salvation,
bands of death as slender threads, and emerged on the          and with Him we must seek them.
other side of Hades triumphant over all the powers of
darkness.                                                        Though it is true that as far as our physical being is
                                                               concerned we are still on the earth and often
  Amazing truth!                                               overwhelmed with care and anxiety over the earthly
  He did not return in the likeness of sinful flesh, but       things, in principle and spiritually this is no longer
He arose in His human nature the glorious Lord of              true. We are in heaven with the risen and exalted
heaven and earth. Clothed was He with new, celestial,          Christ. And only because of this, is it possible to seek
eternal life and majesty! Presently, after He had given        the things above.
sufficient evidences that He was raised from the dead,           Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God!
He ascended into the highest heavens, to the very
throne of God, and was clothed with power and glory              The apostle adds this to the exhortation as motive
at His right hand. This latter is certainly implied in         for seeking the things above.
the truth that Christ is risen, because the apostle              Not only does this mean that Christ is merely
informs us that He is sitting on the right hand of God.        exalted to the pinnacle of glory and honor, though
                                                               this is surely implied. He has been clothed with glory
  What makes this fact so significant is the truth that        and majesty. Because He so deeply humbled Himself,
Christ was not a mere man who was risen and so                 God has glorified Him and given Him a name which is
highly exalted. A mere man could avail us nothing.             above every name. He is crowned with authority and
Enoch and Elijah, who also ascended to heaven, were            power, and  inGod's Name reigns over all things. Such
mere men. You may indeed marvel at the wonder of               is surely the significance of sitting at God's right
their translation. Yet, after you have finished with           hand. That hand, as a  figure of speech, holds the
the consideration of this wonder, you and I would              sceptre, symbol of dominion and power to rule. This
still find ourselves in the midst of the earth; and as far     glory we must understand, is given to Christ in His
as we are concerned, nothing is changed.                       human nature. According to His divine nature He
  But that it is Christ that is raised, carries with it all    cannot be exalted. Accordingly He `has all glory and
the significance! For He is anointed Servant of God            power. But it. is in His human nature, our human
Who was' appointed and qualified to deliver `God's             nature, which He assumed,  .that He is so highly
people from the power of sin and death, and `by                honored.
Whose power we are raised also to the highest                    But, understand well, the purpose of, His exaltation
heavens. He is the Head of all the  electof God Who is         is not only that. He might ascend. to heaven and  .God's
so highly exalted!                                             right hand to have honors conferred upon Him. Also


268                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



in His exaltation He is the Mediator of His people,                                     seek these things above where He is? You can obtain
representing them, and receiving for them all power,                                    them nowhere else.
not only to reign over all things, but to disperse to
His people all the blessings of salvation which  the                                       Then also the exhortation which Christ Himself
merited for them. He must serve at God's right hand                                     expressed while in the flesh upon the earth obtains:
also in His office as Mediator, to intercede for them                                   Seek and ye shall find!
with the Father, and to apply unto them all His                                            You profess that He is your Saviour, and that in
saving grace. There He received the Spirit without                                      Him is all your salvation?
measure which He pours out upon His church in                                              Well, then, seek those things which are above,
heaven. and on earth. There, at Father's throne, He                                     where He is, and you shall surely find them!
draws His saints to Him and dispenses to them all the
graces of salvation. From God the Father, through                                          Set no longer your affection on the things below,
the Spirit, He must receive these graces, which He in                                   on the earth. There is nothing here that can satisfy
turn gives unto them.                                                                   your soul's need. All that you need is in Him.
                                                                                        Therefore, set your, heart on the things above!
    Do you see then, beloved, that He is with the
Father to obtain these graces for us, and that we must                                     And you shall never be brought to shame!


EDITORIAL

                                            A Step Toward A New
                                         Confession In The GKN

                                                                      Prof H. C. Hoeksema


 I t   i s   r a t h e r   i r o n i c ,   w e   t h i n k ,   t h a t   i n   t h e    1. The Synod expressed its great esteem and thanks
Gereformeerde Kerken  of the Netherlands, where our                                     for the manner in which Berkouwer and Ridderbos
Three Forms of Unity have been ruthlessly trampled                                      carried out their mandate.
and emasculated and where there has been no                                             2. The Synod expressed that this is a clear testimony
inclination whatsoever to respect and to maintain the                                   of faith which is faithful to the central content of
old  confessions, there has been discussion and action                                  God's Word and enters into various questions of these
toward producing a  new  confession. Yet such is the                                    times.
case.                                                                                   3. The Synod expressed that it is desirable that this
   In January of this year the Synod of the GKN took                                    testimony of faith, together with the section which
a decision with respect to a draft of a "Unanimous                                      reflects on the meaning of confessing our faith,
T e s t i m o n y   o f   F a i t h " p r e p a r e d   b y   D r .   G .   C .         should be spread abroad and that the churches should
Berkouwer and Dr. H. M. Ridderbos. The latter had                                       be encouraged to consider it extensively. This was
been appointed by the previous synod to prepare                                         apparently in view of the fact that Synod declared
such a "unanimous testimony of faith," and they                                         that it is not yet possible to determine whether this
submitted the fruits of their labors to this year's                                     testimony is a way to a new confession in the church
synod. The Synod of the GKN had given these men                                         political sense of the word.
the mandate to prepare "a unanimous testimony of
faith in clear language and in connection with the                                      4. The Synod expressed the hope that  this testimony
questions of these times as a possible way to a new                                     may be of use for  .the confession of our Lord and
confession in fellowship of faith with the confession                                   Savior in our own times and in a manner which is
of the fathers."                                                                        understood by the man of today.
   With respect to this draft-testimony this year's                                     5. The Synod expressed its expectation that this
Synod took a lengthy decision. We will not quote this                                   document will serve to put the central content of the
decision, but will give some highlights of it:                                          confessions of the time of the reformation in a clearer


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    269


light.                                                                                                   *****
                                                                                 A UNANIMOUS TESTIMONY OF FAITH (a.draft)
6. The Synod decided to send this testimony, along                               I. Our Christian Faith and Its Confession
with the decisions of Synod, to: 1) other churches
which have the same confessions as the GKN. 2) its                                  1. Our Christian faith is  faith in God.  Unless we
sister churches in the Reformed Ecumenical Synod.                                believe in God, we cannot believe in Christ nor be His
3) the Council of Churches in the Netherlands and its                            disciples. For not only has Christ been sent to us by
member churches. 4) the World Alliance of Reformed                               the Father, but He is also the way for us to the
Churches. 5) the Commission on Faith and Order of                                Father. However much this faith in its nature relates
the World Council of Churches. 6) the Contact-organ                              us to the world around us, there is no relationship
of the  Gereformeerde Gezindte.                                                  which can replace or fully coincide with our attitude
                                                                                 toward God. By this faith we know that we have been
7. Synod also decided to appoint a committee to                                  accepted by God as His children, we call on Him as
receive and evaluate the various responses from the                              our Father, we may place an unlimited trust in His
GKN and others, and to reflect on the question                                   power and love, and we understand ourselves as
whether this testimony of faith can be a way toward                              placed with our whole life in His service. Therefore
t h e   f o r m u l a t i o n   a n d   a c c e p t a n c e   o f   a   n e w    the confession of our faith surpasses all the
ecclesiastical confession, as well as to reflect on the                          knowledge that we could possibly know or express
question of the relationship between such a new                                  regarding man and the world, and our confession is
confession and the Three Forms of Unity. This                                    before all else a speaking before the face of God, such
committee is instructed to bring their report to the                             as is done in reverence, in obedience, and in deep
following synod.                                                                 dependence upon Him.
   That this is an important decision and that the                                 2. The confession of our faith is a response to that
draft of a "Unanimous Testimony of Faith" is an                                  which God has revealed concerning ourselves. We do
important preliminary step toward a possible new                                 not know God from ourselves but only from His
confession  - these facts are rather evident. Not only                           revelation. Moreover, we are not able in our
is this an important matter for the GKN, but it is also                          confession of faith to comprehend Him in the fullness
a matter of great importance for every denomination                              of who He is; but we believe that He is willing to
which stands related to the GKN, as well as for every                            enter into fellowship with us men and that for that
Reformed denomination which holds to the Three                                   purpose He has made us to know in a way that is
Forms of Unity with which the GKN is tampering.                                  sufficient and reliable. And although man by His sin
There are many questions to be faced in connection                               and apostasy has deprived himself of the true
with this entire procedure. And there is, of course,                             knowledge of God, God does not leave him to
also the question of an evaluation of this testimony                             himself, but continues to witness to him in many
itself. To some of these matters we hope to address                              diverse ways. For not only does the reality which we
ourselves in future editorials.                                                  observe and continue to discover display so much the
   However, in order that our readers may know what                              traces of His power and wisdom which transcend all
we are discussing and may also have an opportunity                               human understanding, that the question about God
to judge for themselves, we are reproducing in the                               has always arisen and continues to arise in the hearts
April 15 and May 1 issues this "Unanimous                                        of men, but He is also not far from any man to
Testimony of Faith." It consists of three main                                   illumine the spirit of man and to write the knowledge
sections: 1. Our Christian Faith and Its Confession. 2.                          of His will into his heart.
The Faith Which We Confess. 3. Conclusion. In this                                  God has revealed Himself supremely in the
issue we furnish the first section, and in the May 1                             magnitude of His grace and goodness in that He, by
issue we will furnish sections 2 and 3. We quote the                             means of the atonement, has brought back man who
translation prepared by the translation services of the                          was estranged from Him into a saving fellowship, and
Reformed Ecumenical Synod.                                                       in that He has made Himself known to him as a loving
                                                                                 Father. We believe that for this purpose God made
   We will not give any evaluation at this time. We                              Israel to be a light of the nations by revealing to this
suggest that our readers evaluate this testimony for                             people his saving deeds, by giving them the service of
themselves as they read, keeping in mind the question                            reconciliation and the prophetic Spirit and to cause
whether this is actually an improvement upon our                                 Jesus Christ, Who by His coming into the world
present confessions, as well as the fundamental                                  lightens every man, to be born from them.
question whether it is a  Reformed  testimony and in
harmony with our Three Forms of Unity.                                              All that we as a Christian church confess
                                                                                 concerning the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and
   Section I of this draft of "A Unanimous Testimony                             the Holy Spirit, is therefore grounded entirely in the
of Faith" here follows.                                                          revelation of Jesus Christ, the One Sent by the Father


270                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



and the Son of God. Therefore we speak of our              to receive the Scriptures as the Word of God. For in
universal and Christian faith and thereby signify that     His entire earthly ministry He has recognized and
the things which we confess as the content of our          fulfilled the Scriptures of the Old Testament as the
faith are given to us in Him, and that we have             prophetic Word of God that relates to Himself, and
received and desire to confess this in fellowship with     has made the testimony of His apostles to be the
all those who believe in Him.                              foundation of His church, and promised to build His
   3. We believe that God has revealed the will and        church upon it.
the council of His redemption not only in various             Therefore we believe that the Church has rightly
ways in the history of Israel, but that He has also        recognized the Scripture as the Word which God has
given us, through the service of man, the witness of       given to it, and has with good discernment received
this revelation in  the Holy Scriptures of the Old and     the books of the Old and New Testament as holy and
New Testaments  in an undeceivable and unshakable          canonical and has distinguished them from all other
foundation for the church, so that it can build and        human books. Also at the present time the church has
establish its faith upon it. For God has from ancient      no other ground and guideline for her faith than this
times called and endowed man by His Spirit in order        Holy Scripture. We cannot truly confess our faith in
that by their word he might communicate, interpret         any other way than in reverent subjection to this
His word in a clear, reliable, and authoritative way       Word, and to this Word alone.
and commit it to writing for the church of all ages.          We hereby recognize that the discernment and
  We do not deny that these Scriptures, because they       understanding of the Scripture as the Word of God
were written by men who lived in widely differing          does not lie in our own power or freedom, as if men
ages and were also equipped with greatly differing         had the Word of God at their command. Much rather,
aptitudes, education, and knowledge, bear traces of        w e   c o n f e s s   t h a t   w e   a r e   d e p e n d e n t   f o r   t h i s
their humanness in various ways, and that we can           discernment and understanding upon the guidance
understand the Scriptures only by due consideration        and illumination of the Spirit Whom Christ has
of them. We refer hereby not only to the foreign           promised to the church and upon His testimony in
languages in which the Scriptures were written and         our hearts. However this does not mean that the
the various forms `of literature (history, psalmody,       Scripture itself is unclear in its intention or that the
wisdom, prophecy, apocalypse) in which they have           key to its understanding and the ground of its
obtained shape and which must be explained                 authority does not lie in itself. But that which is of
according.to their own nature, but also to the fact        God can only be known from God, and it is by His
that the contents of the Scripture is determined in        Spirit that God makes us understand His Word, and
various ways by the circumstances and the age in           that Christ will lead His Church into all truth by the
which the writers of the Bible lived. For the fact that    light of the Scripture.
the writers were driven and guided by the Spirit of
God does not mean that they were relieved of all              4. We believe that God has revealed Himself to us
their own natural limitations. In this connection it is    in Christ so that we may attain to the purpose for
also of particular importance to discern  the purpose      which He has created us and placed us in the world,
for which Scripture has been given to us and under         namely to live as  true  men before His face and in
which viewpoint we must search and understand it;          fellowship with one another. For even as we cannot
n a m e l y , not in order to give infallible divine       live without the light of the sun, so we know that we
information concerning all kinds of arbitrary matters,     are lost in the darkness without the knowledge of
but to make us understand how God wants us to              God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Only in that knowledge
know Him rightly and to fear Him. Therefore we             do we learn the meaning and the purpose of our own
welcome all research and study of the Scriptures           lives, do we view our neighbor and the world in which
which help us better understand their place and            we live in the proper light; and do we understand,
background in history and their nature and purpose.        when not attaining to this goal the nature and the
                                                           seriousness of our failing not only as a lack in
  But we reject every thought that the Scriptures, be-
cause they have thus been committed to writing by          ourselves or as a shortcoming toward other people
man, are no longer the Word of God for us. For the         but as alienation from and sin against God our
knowledge of the true God comes therein to us so           Creator. Only in this light are we able to find again
clearly and powerfully in its enlightening and saving      the way back and learn to understand that only by
effect that the Scriptures need no other testimony         the forgiving and liberating grace of God can we live
than that they themselves contain to be the lamp           in the freedom of the children of God.
which God has given for our feet and the light upon           Therefore we in confession of our faith do not put
our path. We are the more convinced of this because        ourselves outside the common life of everyday nor do
Christ Himself has thus taught us to understand and        we separate ourselves from the world in which we


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       271



live, but we try in our confession to bear testimony             light in our darkness, as the power in our weakness, as
of that which is necessary and even indispensable for            our only comfort in life and in death. Thus we in the
every man, old or young, learned or unlettered, or               confession of our faith give praise to God; we give an
whoever he may be. That which we have learned to                 account of the hope that is in us; we put ourselves in
understand in subjection to the Scriptures we also               the fellowship with the entire church on earth and we
confess as the liberation and the joy of our life, as the        also seek to win others to the faith.





                                           All Around Us

                                                        Pr0.f H. Hanko



                          World Home Bible League and "Reach Out"

  There was a time when the World Home Bible                         course sent out from the local -church which
League was instrumental in placing Bibles in many                    distributes the Bibles. Over 10,000 people enrolled in
places and distributing translations of the Bible                    the Bible course in that month.
throughout the world. Through their efforts the Bible                     The World Home Bible League is an
was placed in the hands of countless people. This work               interdenominational Bible distribution agency with
was supported by many of our people and collections                  headquarters in South Holland, Ill. It was founded in
were taken for this work in many Reformed                            1928. Today its annual budget is more than three
Churches. But this organization is no longer worthy                  million dollars, and the league is working in 50
                                                                     countries around the world.
of our support. I quote from a recent article in
Calvinist Contact.                                                        The World Home Bible League, in cooperation
                                                                     with the New York Bible Society, is responsible for
      Churches in the United States and Canada are                   the publication of 95 per cent of the translations
   joining hands with the World Home Bible League in                 produced by Wycliffe Translators.
   an effort to place a copy of  Reach Out, the New
   Testament portion of  The Living Bible, in every                       During the next five years the World Home Bible
   motel room on this continent, according to the Rev.               League is undertaking a campaign to bring a gospel
   John De Vries, international director of WHBL.                    portion to every literate person in India. The
                                                                     organization is a service agency which works through
      .The project is about two years old at this point
   and has been set up in 32 states and three provinces.             existing churches and mission points.
   Of the 1,200,OOO motel rooms in the United States,
   200,000 have had Reach Out placed in them.                      The trouble is that  Reach Out  is not the Scriptures.
                                                                 It is a bad paraphrase of the Word of God which
      Paradoxically, the aim of the project is to have           distorts and corrupts the Scriptures and alters the
   transients take the New Testament with them, and to
   encourage Bible reading in this way. One month this           meaning of the Scriptures at many key doctrinal
  summer 100,000 copies of the modern English New                points. It is nothing less than a work of Satan. And it
   Testaments were taken by tourists. Printed on most            is a very clever work at that. It leaves people with the
   hotel Bibles are the words "Please Leave in Hotel             impression that they have in  Reach Out  the very
   Room."                                                        Word of God when, as a matter of fact, they have the
      By the end of 1974, DeVries  says the league plans         words of men and a corruption of God's Word. It
   to have contacted all the U.S. motels. An annual              gives a sense of piety to those who use it when as a
   turnover of more than three million New Testaments            matter of fact they cannot learn from it what God
   is anticipated.                                               has revealed. It destroys by a clever device of Satan.
      Inserts in each copy of Reach Out invite tourists            The World Home Bible League ought not to
   to take the New Testament with them and to enroll             distribute this book. But as long as they do, God's
   in an interdenominational Bible correspondence                people cannot support their labors.


272                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                           Trouble In The Armstrong Empire

  The Armstrong Empire is in serious trouble.                                    alleged adultery. Since then a large number of
Herbert W. Armstrong and his son Garner Ted are the                              ministers and people have broken away from the sect.
leaders of what has become known as the World Wide                               They charge the sect with many faults. They charge
Church of God. They have built a large and wealthy                               that Herbert Armstrong, the leader of the sect, is an
empire which includes an international radio and                                 autocrat in doctrine and will allow not even the
television network over which their views are                                    slightest deviation from his personal position. They
propagated, two colleges in California and England                               charge that huge amounts of money are squandered
with a branch in Texas, the publication of slick                                 by the leaders who live sumptuous lives, fly all over
magazines and pamphlets which have a world-wide                                  the world in privately owned jets, use the money
subscription list, and countless enterprises of one sort                         donated by tithing for their own personal fortunes.
or another.                                                                        It is not surprising that such troubles should beset
  They are a sect which denies many of the                                       the empire. The movement is, after all, a sect. And
fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures and main-                                there is no other explanation for a sect than that
tains a salvation by works, a Saturday Sabbath, a                                some charismatic leader leads thousands down the
British-Israeli view of history, and a post-millennial                           trail of his own imaginary doctrines and bilks
view of the kingdom.                                                             thousands of their money for purposes of personal
  The trouble started when Garner Ted was                                        gain. It is in the nature of a sect to be this way, for
temporarily suspended from the work last year for                                there can be no devotion to God and to His truth.


                                             Troubles In Concordia Seminary

  We have reported in these columns from time to                                 conflagration and has brought the church to the brink
time the troubles which have engulfed the Lutheran                               of a split. Nearly all the faculty, some 48 professors,
Church  - Missouri Synod. These troubles center                                  and nearly all the student body, some 500 students,
about a battle between liberals who deny the                                     support Tietjen and have boycotted the Seminary.
infallibility of Scripture and introduce higher critical                         The school has since been reopened with a sharply
methods of Scriptural interpretation into the Church                             reduced faculty and student body, but the protesting
and the conservatives who desire to remain faithful to                           professors and students have opened a Seminary in
the creeds of the Lutheran Church.                                               exile on the campuses of two near-by institutions:
                                                                                 The Jesuits' University of St. Louis and the United
  The controversy reached a climax of sorts last                                 Church of Christ's Eden Theological Seminary. Both
summer in New Orleans where the annual convention                                schools will grant theological degrees to the Lutheran
produced a major victory for the conservatives. Dr.                              students. The professors and students call their
Preus, the president of the Synod, has now made it                               seminary "Seminex" (Seminary-in-exile), while the
his business first of all to settle the problems in                              c o n s e r v a t i v e s   c a l l   i t   " S e m i n o p "
Concordia Seminary in St. Louis which is, in a sense,                            (Seminary-in-opposition).
the center of liberal theology. The president of the                               The  .burning  question is now whether these
Seminary, Dr. John Tietjen, has been dismissed as a                              students who graduate from the Seminary in exile
first step in "cleaning house".                                                  will be eligible for pastorates in the Missouri Synod
  It is this dismissal which has sparked the latest                              churches.


                                                        Berkhof On Christology

  I n   t h e   N o v e m b e r   6   i s s u e   o f   t h e   " R . E . S .       challenge: "Who do you say that I am?" He
Newsletter" an article appeared in which the views                                  emphasized the need to express the uniqueness of
of Dr. H. Berkhof concerning the person and natures                                 Jesus and His resurrection in contemporary terms. We
of Christ were discussed. We quote the article.                                     create unnecessary  offence  by continuing to
                                                                                    formulate our confession in terms drawn from
         (Grand Rapids) Dr. H. Be&of set the theme for                              Greek/Hellenistic thought. Dr. Berkhof especially
       the European Area Council of World Alliance of                               focused his criticism on the Chalcedon Creed (451
       Reformed Churches by raising once again Christ's                             A.D.). The terms used there were drawn from a


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          273


    philosophical climate that was above all interested in            J. Helderman took issue with the way Dr. Berkhof
   the being of things. Nowadays we think in terms of                 played off function overagainst being or essence. Nor
    `function'. We do not ask what something IS, but                  did they think it fair to reduce the statements of
    what it DOES. What does Jesus as liberator do in our              Chalcedon regarding Christ's nature (true God and
    world?                                                            true man; two natures in one Person) to the terms in
                                                                      which they were framed. Conceding that the terms of
       To this end, Dr. Berkhof emphasized the                        Chalcedon are by no means sacred, Runia persists in
    modalities of service, powerlessness, and suffering as            asking whether Berkhof's "functional" answer
   the way in which God is involved in this sinful world.             preserves adequately the confession of Christ's deity.
    Berkhofs personal answer to the question posed by                 Runia detects an emphasis on the Jesus of the
    Jesus was: "You are the true man, as God intended                 Gospels at the cost of the apostolic witness
   man to be from the beginning: the true obedient Son,               concerning Him. This results in losing sight of what
   the Man of Love, the one who was willing, taking the               theologians have called the pre-existence of Jesus.
   full consequences, not to maintain his life, but to lose           How does the view of Jesus as the eternal Son of God
   it for others, and who by that exceptional life of love            who became man for our sake  fir into the new
   and obedience started in our world the counter                     Christology?
   movement of resurrection."                                       Klass Runia discusses this whole problem  in an
      Dr. Berkhof s address aroused extensive comment.,           article which appeared  in Christianity Today.  We shall
    especially (in the) Gereformeerd Weekblad, a church           have to wait  till  our next issue to discuss this matter
    periodical in the Netherlands. Both Klaas Runia and           further.




                    The  Standard,Bearer                                                   T H E   T R U T H

                              in Retrospect                                                24  74
                                      Rev. G. Van Baren                                 521

                (A well-known writer in the Standard Bearer yet today is the Rev. J. A. Heys. In earlier
              issues of the magazine, and until recently, he wrote for the rubric, "ln His Fear". The Rev.
              J. Heys has been known for the clever titles of his articles as well as for the striking turn of
              the phrase. With these, he drives home the point of the Word of God to which he would call
              our attention. In the Standard Bearer of April 1, 1953 appears another of such articles. We
              present it both as representative of many others, but also as one which teaches a lesson we
              need know especially today.)

                                                  THAT FIFTH SPARROW
                                                        Rev. J. A. Heys

  Two plus two are five.                                          already have, we find that we have four.
  If your child came home from school with that                      And, yet, in  the  Scriptures we find what appears to
kind of arithmetic, you would not be surprised to                 be such a mathematical juggling. Only, this time it is
find a low mark on his report card. If he were                    not expressed by one man, but by combining the
actually taught that in school by his teacher, you                statements of two of the writers of the gospel
would make a certain visit to her and if that did not             narrative there seems to be a mathematical error.
avail, to the school board for allowing such things to            Matthew in the tenth chapter of his gospel narrative
be taught to your child.                                          quotes Jesus as saying in verse twenty-nine, "Are not
                                                                  two sparrows sold for  a' farthing? and one of them
 Two plus two are four.                                           shall not fall on the ground  .without your Father."
  That is what we have always been taught and                     Luke, however, differs from Matthew and.  iquotes
practical life will bear out the truth of that statement.         Jesus in the sixth verse of the twelfth chapter of his
-Always when we add two things to  the two we                     gospel narrative as asking, "Ate not five sparrows sold


274                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten         does not charge even that sparrow a  farthing for all
before God?"                                                the life and food it has received and enjoyed. And its
   Two sparrows for one farthing. Five sparrows for         life cannot be taken from it, unless God brings it into
two far-things. It does not add up correctly. So it         that snare. Sparrows often die also outside the snare,
seems; but the faulty mathematics is only apparent; it      the trap set by man. They die in such a way that man
is not real. It looks as though Luke must have              is not even benefited. They die so that man cannot
misquoted Jesus, for we would not dare to ascribe           even use its flesh for food. That fall to the ground
such faulty arithmetic to Jesus, would we? Yet rather       also comes by God's appointment. And until the time
than to misquote Jesus, Luke brings to our attention        that He brings about its fall to the ground as a dead
by a faithful quoting of Jesus' words a wonderful and       creature, it will receive all its food, its feathery coat
comforting truth which strengthens those who live           to keep it warm, its life and its song from God. A pest
"in His fear".                                              to man! Lightly esteemed by man! And yet it is the
                                                            object of God's care through  all its life.
   Two sparrows for one farthing. For two farthings
we will then get four sparrows, except for the fact            What a lesson for us who so frequently waver in our
that he who buys two farthings' worth gets a  bargain.      calling to live "in His Fear"!
Or does he? We are accustomed (or we were) to  ,the            Compared with that little feathery friend, what a
5d a bottle soft drink that you could buy also at the       far more important creature on this earth is man!
rate of 6 for a quarter. You get the sixth one free.        Man is a rational, moral creature. He was created so
   That is not quite the case here, however. A  farthing    that he could live in God's fear. He could know God.
was the smallest coin used in the land of Palestine in      The sparrow cannot know the God that feeds him.
Jesus' day. And that poor soul, who had but a               Put your bird-feeding station in your yard and fill it
farthing and desired a little meat for his nourishment,     daily with bread. The sparrows will begin to pay you
could buy two sparrows for the little flesh that was        regular visits. They will even swoop down out of the
upon them. Notice, however, that he would get two           trees and from off the roof tops to consume it the
sparrows for that farthing. They were not sold for a        moment you have withdrawn a few feet from the
farthing apiece. Nay, so little value was there attached    feeding station you have erected. They will begin to
to a sparrow that two had to be sold for the smallest       look for you to come out and fill their "plates" with
piece of money known in that land. Even then, a man         food. More than this they will never see. God, Who
did not get his money's worth, and when he                  gave it to you to give to them, they cannot see. But
purchased two farthing's worth, that fifth one would        m a n   c a n , and even the unregenerated by the
be added, not as a special bargain price, not as an         testimony of the Spirit in their hearts knows that
inducement to buy them in a larger number for the           there is a God.     '
benefit of the man that sells them (that is our modern         Still more, how much more precious in the sight of
bargain sale motive) but to make the deal a little          the Lord is the death of His saints! If He watches over
more just.                                                  the needs of the little sparrow that is so lightly
  So little was the life of a sparrow valued in that        esteemed  - if not despised by man  - surely, He
day! Today you could not shoot them down for that           watches constantly over those whom He has chosen
price. The little pellet required to bring down such a      in Christ whom He has formed for Himself to show
little creature would well nigh cost that price, to say     forth His praises, for whom He sent His only begotten
nothing of the middle-man's profit. We may make the         Son and who according to His word are the very salt
observation that the word sparrow as used here may          of the earth.
refer to a large variety of small birds and could easily      That the unbeliever is filled with fear and terror;
be a creature somewhat larger than the English              that despair grows in his breast; that the nervous
sparrow we have in our land. And we may observe,            tension in their lives is mounting is to be understood.
further, that these creatures were caught in a snare        They do not live in the fear of the Lord. For them
rather than shot at individually. Even then, the            this life is  everything.  And when a  few things, or even
context of this saying of Jesus shows that the life of      one thing of the present seems to be slipping away,
such little creatures was of little value in man's          they are filled with worry and fear. Life becomes one
estimation.                                                 extended struggle to hold on to that which can be
  Man would hardly give his smallest coin for  two  of      enjoyed in this life and a losing battle to stave off the
these creatures. And Jesus divides yet these two and        things which take the joy out of living here below.
says that one of them cannot fall without our                 But what about you, the reader of these lines? Do
heavenly Father's will. The man with a  farthing in his     you appreciate this care of the Almighty for the
pocket would refuse to buy one sparrow at such an           minutest of things? You worry and are anxious. Your
inflated price of one  farthing apiece. But the Lord        soul is heavy and troubled. Is it because you doubt


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   275



God's power or because you doubt His love? Indeed,            God, Who after killing is able to cast into hell, and
the days in which we live are filled with uncertainties       you -will walk His way. You will dare to differ with
and there is no hope that they will get any better.           godless men. You will say "no" to man and "yes" to
The Scriptures tell us that  we  are yet in the  beginning    God.
of sorrows. If we may borrow a colloquial expression,
we haven't seen anything yet.                                    Fear Him, and you are not forgetting Him! And
                                                              remembering Him you will remember that He does
  Surely you do not say of the things that we do see          not even forget the little sparrow upon the housetop
and experience that things must have slipped                  and that you, being more precious than many
somewhat out of God's control. You do not doubt               sparrows, will also be remembered by Him. And you
His power to control all things. But, then, your heart        will have peace. In His fear there is peace. He who
has not throbbed with the complaint that surely He            lives in the fear of man knows nothing but terror,
does not care about you and His church, has it?               anxiety and a troubled soul. Men you cannot trust.
  "Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power            Men depend upon the Living God for their strength
to cast into hell" is what Jesus said in connection           and life, and outside of Him they are as helpless as
with that quotation about the fifth sparrow. Fearful          they would make you believe that you are over
men are coming. Fearful men have it in their hearts to        against their power. One of their leaders once said
bring bloodshed and extreme persecution upon the              during World War II that all we needed to fear was
Church of God. And well may the flesh tremble at              fear itself. How wrong! Fear God! The only ONE  -
the awful things that the future contains for the             we must never fear things!!  - we must fear is God.
Church of God as far as the flesh is concerned. But           We must fear to fear men. We must, indeed, be afraid
live in His fear, not in the fear of men. Believe Him.        to fear men.
Hold firmly in faith's hand the promises He has given
you. Put  all your trust in Him and not in how many             Fear men, and you will still see sparrows fall and
atomic bombs we have above the number possessed               fear your own fall. Fear God; believe in Him; put all
by opposing nations.                                          your trust in Him, and you will understand that He
                                                              Who causes that sparrow to fall considers you to be
  Fear Him! And that, means that no matter how                more precious in His sight, that He loves you and that
fierce the pressure may become that men may bring             when it pleases Him to take your life from you, He
to bear upon us, we still confess Him. He who fears           does it  ilz love. Live in His fear and you will live in the
man will in that fear of man disobey the living God           consciousness of His love. You will have peace of
and denounce Him either by word or deed. Fear men,            heart and mind in the midst of war and persecution.
and you will go the way man dictates; you will join
with him in his godless activities, you will say "no" to        Remember that fifth sparrow. God does. And let
God that you may say "yes" to godless men! Fear               that assure you that He remembers you also in love.





                                      Have YOU responded

                            to the "One Thousand" Drive?

                                        If not, do so today!


276                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



IN HIS FEAR


                                             Two By Two?
                                                   (conclusion)
                                                Rev. D. H. Kuipev




  In the last article on the above subject, a brief        makes the preached Word a power unto life and unto
&story  of  Synodical decisions (1946-1953) was            condemnation, and thus He works to bring forth the
presented. It was discovered that although one Synod       two-fold fruit of faith and unbelief. But to draw from
decided it was Biblically correct to have two              this text a  principle  that He wills to use two  melz for
missionaries laboring together in the same field, a        this work is not valid. One could as well conclude
later Synod determined that this was not a principle       from Acts 6:3-5 that there must always be seven
and did not set forth an inflexible rule for mission       deacons, and unless there are seven there can be no
work throughout the present dispensation. In this          congregation.
article several passages from the Book of the Acts will
be examined and some practical remarks will be                Nevertheless, there are several  practical  reasons
offered. It is hoped that  *these observations may be      w h i c h   m a k e   t h e   p r e s e n c e   o f   m o r e   t h a n   o n e
useful as our churches busy themselves with the            missionary almost mandatory. It is, perhaps, the
preaching of the Gospel to all creatures,                  pressing nature of these practical reasons that have
  The Synod of 1953 is correct when it decided that        led some to argue along the line of principle.
the Word of God does not set before us the principle       Undoubtedly these are the reasons for which the
that missionary work must always be conducted by           majority of early missionary work was accomplished
the labors of two men working together. This               through the labors of several. We do well, as churches,
conclusion is based on  ttie following considerations:     to consider them seriously  today.
  1) It is simply a fact that in the early church men         1) That the truth is established in the mouth of
called of God worked among the Gentiles singly.            two or three witnesses is taught in Scripture as an
Philip preached in  Samaria and after having preached      enduring fact. Jesus Christ is the faithful Witness
to the Ethiopian eunuch, returned to  Samaria,             (Rev.  1:7), the Holy Spirit witnesses (Acts  20:23),
preaching in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.     and therefore the "gospel of the kingdom shall be
Peter ministered to various quarters of the land.          preached in all the world for a witness unto all the
Barnabas was sent out by the churches as far as            nations . .  ." (Matt. 24: 14). On the mission field the
Antioch. Care must be taken in determining what is a       truth must be established. This can be viewed from
principle: the above mentioned labors took place           two points of view. The more important aspect is that
after the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit and were true     the truth as it is in Christ, the Gospel of salvation in
missionary labors.                                         His blood and all related doctrines, must be
  2) The Book of the Acts certainly gives us               established; this is saying more than that it must be
principles which determine church organization, life,      preached. When the doctrines of the Gospel are
and work. There must be ministers, elders, and             preached, taught, discussed, they are seldom readily
deacons. And the Church of Christ must engage in the       received: questions are asked, objections are raised,
proclamation of the Gospel to others. The oft-quoted       one meets with a great deal of skepticism as well as
passage, Acts  13:2: "As they ministered to the Lord       unbelief. The word of a man is not readily accepted.
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me               True, with some, the word of Moses and the prophets
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have            wouldn't change that. We don't have in mind that
called them," makes it clear that the Spirit of the        unbelief. We have in mind the situation where a
ascended Christ is active in missions. The Holy Spirit     person does not believe that such and such is the
is active in these ways: He determines who shall serve     teaching of the Word. And even the situation (which I
on the mission field, He provides the Church which         met on the field last summer) where a person does
He indwells with open doors or opportunities, He           not believe that what a man says is actually the


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   277



teaching of the church he represents. In both such                               work  is!  It is troubling to hear that the audiences at
cases the truth is established in the mouth of two  dr                           our worship services in Houston are about half of what
three witnesses. When confronted by the combined                                 they numbered last fall. It is troubling to discover
testimony of two missionaries, testimony which not                               that  no new families  are being added there. What is
only agrees formally but which also enlightens and                               our conception of the work? Is it merely to go into
enriches, both saved and unsaved gainsayer are                                   an area and preach to those who have called for help,
silenced.                                                                        and perhaps visit a few relatives of them? How do we
    There is also the aspect of establishing the truth                           know that there are not many more in that vast city
concerning the field itself. What is the true picture, an                        who are not destined to become Reformed believers
accurate evaluation, of the area in which the work is                            with us? And the basic question, of course is: how do
being carried out? Is this type of thing not subject to                          we know that there are not many there who must be
various interpretation? Ought a mission committee                                saved from damnation through the Gospel? There is
make far-reaching decisions on the basis of one man's                            such a thing as setting our sights too low, of saying to
report? Would one man actually want to bear this                                 ourselves that the church is always small, the truth is
great burden? Clearly a report back to the churches                              never popular, and we must not expect to be overly
that is based on the experience and observation of                               successful! And then with that negative attitude we
two or three, that reflects their discussion and                                 go into an area, we labor, and sure enough . . . it
agreement, is a safer instrument on which to base                                happens that way ! We have got to pound the
decisions of continuation,  .expansion,  or closing. This                        sidewalks with our wonderful Protestant Reformed
is not meant as criticism of any past actions: but all                           truth of the Scriptures. We have got to knock on
can recognize the necessity for the avoiding of error                            apartment doors, which house forty per cent of the
in judgement and the ascertaining of truth.                                      populace of Houston, with our literature and with a
                                                                                 sincere invitation to come worship with us! God will
   2) In close connection with this, there is the                                do the winnowing so that those who ought to be
practical matter of the living and working context of                            saved are added to the church, and those for whom
the missionary  himgelf. From the Jamaica experience                             the Gospel is not will not come or will not remain.
to date, the  extrehe loneliness of the missionary                               Jesus tells His disciples, "The harvest truly is
there stands out. How far he was from the churches                               plenteous, but the labourers are few." It is with the
and its life, how difficult and discouraging were the                            above in mind that we believe the work needs two
labors, how he was mistrusted, misrepresented, and                               men.
misused. And how often did the former missionary to
Jamaica plead for a fellow-laborer! It must  :be                                   This doesn't mean that they can never work apart,
remembered that the situation on the field is often                              or that every visit must be made by both, as some
such that there is no one with whom to share burdens                             seem to have thought. It does mean that they make
and have fellowship. Yes, the missionary lives with                              big plans, divide the work, and set about doing it.
Christ and prays. But that which is in Christ also                               And then they will have each other for advice and
becomes ours through fellow-laborers. Do we in the                               encouragement!
states not long for the meetings of  Classis in order to                            Let the designated Consistory continue to call men
see and speak with one another? A lone missionary is                             to be home missionary until the Lord separates one
burdened with a wide range of labors, the necessity to                           unto the work. And when that favorable response is
m a k e   m a n y   i m p o r t a n t   d e c i s i o n s ,   a n d   m u c h    received, let this Consistory (with mandate) continue
discouragement. It is well that these things be shared!                          to call until that lone man has a fellow-labourer. And
It is even possible that with such an outlook, when                              the churches? Let them continue to pray the Lord of
there is a determination to place  laborers  in the field,                       the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His
the office of missionary will more readily be filled.                            harvest.
Does not the character of the call change somewhat if                              The past five Synods have made commendable
the one considering it knows that he will be joined by                           progress in the area of seminary instruction. We have
a colleague, the Lord willing?                                                   a third professor of theology, the preseminary
   3) Finally, there are many cases in which the work                            department has been instituted and is being
itself demands  mure than one man. Perhaps two                                   expanded, and this work prospers in new facilities!
missionaries are not needed to work in the villages                              Praise the Lord! Perhaps the next number of years
which dot the plains of the Dakotas. But what about                              can be emphatic of mission work. Let there be at
the opportunities we have to work among the                                      Synod free, far-ranging discussion on every possible
millions in Philadelphia and Houston? It was my                                  aspect of this work. Let us bend a bit to include those
experience that there was so much to do  in Houston                              things not touched upon by agenda reports. And let
that the days were not long enough. Of course, this                              us place ourselves, our churches, our wealth, at the
subject involves us with our conception of what the                              disposal of the Lord Christ, willingly.


278                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                       Divinely Decreed Distinction

                                                Rev. John A. Heys



  Noah sinned and did so in a way that publicly            be his descendants.
introduced into the new world the sins for which God          Then there is the other side that insists that Ham
had destroyed the old world. His three sons were           was an elect child of God, as well as Noah. And as
aware of his sinfulness. One responded in delight, the     N o a h   w a s   f o r g i v e n   a n d   b r o u g h t   b y   G o d   t o
other two with sorrow before God and profound              repentance, so Ham himself was a believer who is not
respect for their father.                                  cursed by Noah who knew of the repentance that
  Waking up out of his drunken stupor Noah knew            God had given to Ham. In his youngest son, however,
what his three sons had done. And this means that he       Noah saw the moral weakness of Ham boldly and
also understood what he had himself done, and the          openly displayed, and it is for his own sins (not those
wickedness of it. God revealed both of these items to      of his father, Ham, for God never punishes the
Noah. Being dead-drunk he saw neither what Ham did         children for the sins of the father) that Noah
nor how Shem and Japheth had covered him in his            pronounces the curse, as guided  by`.the Spirit, upon
shame. God revealed that to him. And God also              Canaan alone.
revealed to Noah the sinfulness of his own deed. The
curse which he pronounced on Canaan makes it plain            We might interject here a little stress on what was
                                                           just said. That Ham need not be considered a
that Noah received grace from God to understand and        reprobate has for its basis the fact that his sin was no
to hate the sin he had himself so publicly committed.      greater than Noah's, who certainly in Hebrews 11 is
And then, he did not hate it simply because it was         pictured and listed as one of the giants of faith. And
public sin, but because all things are open and naked      the number seven need not exclude Ham. Eight souls
to the eyes of the living God against Whom he had          were saved in the ark. We need not take one of them
sinned.                                                    away in order to hold to the symbolism of the
  Of Shem and Japheth Noah in the name of God              number seven, the number of God's covenant. Every
declares, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem . . . God       time the number seven is used in Scripture it does not
shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents     have that symbolism any more than every time we
of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." Of Canaan       read of the number three, it refers to the Triune God.
he says, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall    And according to Genesis 17: 12 a covenant son had
he be unto his brethren." This is stated twice more        to be circumcised  when he was  eight  days old and not
when Noah says of Shem that, "Canaan shall be his          seven. According to Exodus  26:25 there were to be in
servant. " And, as pointed out, this same expression       the tabernacle, the symbol of God's covenant with
was used after the blessing was pronounced upon            His people, "eight boards and their sockets of
Japheth.                                                   silver. . . ."
  Now the point that stands out, in this whole                And as far as  all the descendants of Ham coming
prophetic pronouncement of Noah after his sin and          under this curse to be  servants  to Shem and Japheth,
that of Ham, is that not  oni? word is mentioned about     history itself shows that this is. not true. The second
Ham. It is, "Cursed be Canaan," who was the                son of Ham was, according to Genesis  10:6, Mizraim,
youngest son of Ham. And this has led to various           and his descendants are the Egyptians who have never
positions in regard to this curse. In the minds of some    served Shem and Japheth, while Shem's descendants
this is a far more severe curse than had the name of       were for four hundred years in  the.land of Egypt and
Ham been mentioned. For then it is, according to this      under some of Egypt's very cruel, hopeless servitude.
view meant not only  for Ham, who, found such delight
in that sin of his father,  but  frsm him down  though        By the same token, all of the descendants of Shem
all  his sons to the very youngest of  them. It. was a     were by no means blessed by God; and some of them,
total curse upon the whole race, or.races, that  would     in fact, crucified the very Christ!


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  Neither must the slavery imposed upon the African         according to the passage, a matter of color, and the
negroes be cited as a fulfillment of this prophecy.         curse is not removed by the change of the color of
They are  not  descendants of Canaan, though they are       the skin. It is deliverance from the servitude of Satan,
of Ham. And white races have been in slavery as             and slavery under the power of sin that is needed and
surely as part of the black races were. And our             thai today God is pleased also to give to some of
missionary to Jamaica, the Rev. Lubbers, used to tell       Ham's and Canaan's children.
these descendants of Ham whose skin is of various
shades of darker color than ours  - black is not the          But the slavery of the negro races surely is not the
word for it; neither is colored, for we also are colored    fulfillment of this prophecy also from the point of
people with the color of pink shining through our           view that it was not Shem's descendants in the Old
skin  - that it is not a skin problem, but a sin problem    Testament dispensation who were served by them to
that is evidence of the curse and that must be              such a special degree that God would here predict it
changed.                                                    through Noah. If any of Shem's descendants were
                                                            guilty of selling the bodies and souls of the
  But a little review of Bible history will show that       descendants of Ham in Africa for slaves, it was not
Canaan moved after the confusion at the tower of            the spiritual seed of Shem, and it was not the Church
Babel to what became known as the land of Canaan.           that had their servitude, but it was the fleshly seed,
All of Ham's descendants did not by any means or            and the flesh of that seed that had this service from
stretch of the imagination move there. God called           Ham's descendants.
Abraham some years later out of Ur of the Chaldees            But the striking element in the whole account is
where Shem's descendants had settled; and before            the sovereign decree of God that makes such a sharp
this the Canaanites had already begun to dig wells,         distinction between four men involved in one
plant vineyards and oliveyards, pave roads and build        incident, together with their descendants. Noah
cities, cultivate land and prepare a land for Shem's        initiated the sin, and can be held guilty for Ham's sin.
descendants, who, in God's time would come up out           Had Noah walked as an upright example for his son,
of Egypt to enjoy what Canaan's children had                his son would not have committed the sin of calling
prepared  - be it unwillingly and unconsciously  - for      his brothers to enjoy with him the evils of the first
Shem and his descendants as they were now centered          world. But no curse is pronounced upon Noah.
in Abraham and his seed. These descendants of               Instead he may with joy pronounce a blessing upon
Canaan served the Church of God in a very unique            his son Shem that signifies all the covenant blessings
way. And the prophecy of Noah looks forward to this         being upon him  andhis spiritual seed. Through Shem,
service they rendered by God's decree.                      and that means through Christ, Noah himself will be
  Shem and Japheth here do not simply stand as              blessed with the forgiveness of sins. No wonder it is
individuals, nor are all their descendants included in      that he  says,) "Blessed be the God of Shem." God be
the blessing and in the service which Canaan                blessed for His pardoning grace and sanctifying Spirit
individually or in his descendants shall give. The          that bought him upon his own knees in sorrow and
promise of God is always to His Church. And Canaan          contrition for his evil deed and example before his
shall serve the Church, and that includes those of          children. And that Jehovah is Shem's God indicates
Japheth's descendants who belong to that Church.            that all the blessings of salvation are promised to
                                                            Shem and to his spiritual seed after him. Here the
  The slavery of the negro never served in that             covenant line will be found until that day when
capacity. They were made to be slaves of unbelievers,       Japheth's children shall also be gathered into that
were cruelly torn from their land by unbelievers and        same temple of God  - here called the tents of Shem.
sold for carnal reasons. That is not in the fulfillment     And the word enlarge can mean persuade, that is,
of God's promise to His Church. And let no man sell         convert and bring to trust in this same God.
the Holy Spirit short as though He cannot gather into
the tents of Shem also those with Ham's blood in              B u t   w e r e   N o a h   a n d   S h e m   a n d   J a p h e t h   i n
their veins, yea even with Canaan's blood in their          themselves any different or better than Ham's
veins.                                                      youngest son would soon reveal himself to be? Why
                                                            the distinction made? Noah sins. Ham has pleasure in
  What will you say of Rahab, a Canaanitess? What           them that do such things and is led by Noah into sin.
will you say of the Canaanitish woman of whom               Ham's youngest son progresses in evil beyond this and
Jesus said that He had not found so great faith in          without any repentance or concern. That Shem and
Israel? What about the Ethiopian eunuch to whom             Japheth receive a reward of grace for their work is
Christ sent  .Philip? And what of Simeon called Niger       not hard to understand. But Noah goes  Scott free?
(which means black and perhaps from it comes the
shameful word "nigger," which surely ought NEVER               Divinely it was decreed that Noah should be set
to be used upon a child of God.) The curse is not,          aside for salvation, now not by the waters of the


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flood and in an ark, but by the blood of the cross of          with the divine Potter? Well, you may not tell Him
Christ and in the mercy and grace of a sovereign God.          what He may or may not do. You may not tell Him
We are reminded of Paul's words to the Thessalonians           whom He may elect and that He may not reject. The
in II Thessalonians 2: 13, "But we are bound to give           decree to distinguish between His creatures belongs to
thanks  alway to God, for you, brethren beloved of             the Creator. However, it is not an unjust distinction
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning                  that He makes. It is not measuring with two rods. He
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the          is righteous is all His ways. It is the distinguishing
Spirit and belief of the truth." For there you have it.        grace of God's sovereign predestination that has Noah
God made a distinction eternally, and while we were            chosen in Christ and that Canaan has rejected. It is a
yet sinners, Christ died for us according to that              divine decree that makes distinction between sinners.
distinction.                                                   And because according to this eternal distinction
                                                               Noah is in Christ and Canaan is not, there is
  And who shall say that God may not deal with two             forgiveness for Noah and a curse upon Canaan in
sinners in two different ways? Who will find fault             strict righteousness.


STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                                        If Ye Be Willing

                                                 Rev. Robt. C. Harbach

                Come you now, and argue together, saith Jehovah: if your sins were made as crimson, as
           snow they will be made white; if they were caused to be red as crimson, as wool they will
           be. If ye be willing, and hear, the goodness of the land ye shall eat. But if ye refuse and
           rebel, by the sword ye shall be eaten: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.


  The Book of the Prophet Isaiah opens with the old            because of so much ingrained corruption in both
heavens and earth, and closes with the new heavens             leaders and people, there is no possibility that there
and the new earth. It treats of the whole intervening          will be!
history of the church from the beginning of time to              But we can be thankful that true reformation
its end and to eternity. The book has a very sad and           proceeds in the line of the very small remnant, and
d a r k   b e g i n n i n g , exposing the ingratitude, and    that we have our portion in the remnant of the
incorrigibility and criminal immorality of the rulers          election of grace. God's people have ever been a very
and people. But Isaiah foretells a blessed end of glory        little flock. In the time of the Flood it was Noah and
and covenant fellowship in the New Creation.                   his family. In the destruction of Sodom, it was Lot
  The picture is so deplorable because Israel                  and his. In the captivities, it was "Shear-Jashub," "a
belonged to the Lord more than their cattle belonged           remnant shall return." It was always like this.
to them. Yet Israel did not serve the Lord nearly so           Multitude was never a mark of the true church. The
well as their cattle served them. Their sins had               multitudes of Isaiah's day were members of Sodom
degraded them to a lower than animal level. The cup            and Gomorrah, that is, Jerusalem, which spiritually is
of iniquity had filled up to nation-wide extent: "Ah,          Sodom. All is not Israel which is of Israel. There are
sinful nation!" and had developed in the line of               two seeds in Israel: the seed of evildoers, and the holy
continued corrupt generations until the whole nation           seed (6: 13). All through this prophecy these two are
was a seed of evildoers. Now the point is reached              related as light is to darkness. Jehovah speaks to both.
where the Old Testament church, for the most part,, is         Read the prophecy without keeping that in mind,
beyond the means of reformation. The work of                   without seeing that there are two seeds, and
reformation in the midst of the churches is always a           confusion results. The confusion appears in Jehovah
good sign. However, in the case of many churches               declaring that He will rescue and save His people, and
today, there has been no reformatory movement for              in the very next breath saying that He will destroy
generations, there is no sign of such at present, and          them. Therefore, the book cannot be understood


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except from the point of view of divine, absolute                                        failure to meet the conditions, that then the promise
predestination,            with its two parts, election and                              is forfeited, and so cancelled out. The demand, "be
reprobation. This is precisely the case with the text                                    willing," and the threat, "but if ye refuse," suggest
before us. Verses 18-20. Keeping in mind the two                                         that it is in man's power to accept the proposition, or
seeds we may then easily answer the question: what                                       reject it. If this is true, then isn't it also true that
part speaks He to His elect, and what part to the                                        there is the possibility (according to this Arminian
reprobate?                                                                               thinking) that none might be willing, and that all
                                                                                         might refuse? Then the promise of God would
    I.  The Activity Explained.  `
                                                lf  ye be willing. .  ."                 be frustrated. But this shall never be. The threatening,
First, in the light of humanistic views, this is not a                                   "if ye refuse and rebel," puts the situation on an
request for man's consent. It is not God making an                                       "either-or" basis: it is either Christ or destruction!
attractive offer of terms to which He would have all                                     Either one bears the mark of the Christian, the white
men accede. That would put God in the place where                                        robe of Christ's righteousness, or the mark of
He would have to wait for man to act. What is it in                                      anti-Christ, the scarlet robe of Babylon. To refuse is
man on which God is dependent? Is it man's sense of                                      the mark of the reprobate. God warns him, but makes
politeness? Does God wait for man's innate courtesy                                      no promise to him, no promise of cleansing under
to be expressed, as in a sort of "gentlemen's                                            that shed blood. That promise goes to those who bear
agreement"? But Scripture does not picture man as a                                      the marks of His elect, the marks of faith and
natural gentleman. Spiritually, he is enmity against                                     obedience.
God; he is dead to God. An offer to him would be                                            Nor is there a contradiction when the Lord says,
useless. He has no ability to comply with an offer,                                      "If ye be willing," and "it is not of him that willeth
nor does an offer have any enabling qualities about it.                                  or runneth," not of man's fulfilling conditions, "but
What man needs is a promise of that ability.                                             of God that showeth mercy." "So then, it," that is,
    Nor is this a divine contrivance with conditions.                                    electing mercy (Rom. 9: 11, 15) is "not of him that
A c c o r d i n g   t o   t h e   g e n e r a l i z i n g   t e n d e n c i e s   o f    willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God." Men
Arminianism, in Scripture there are promises merely                                      have no power to run, except that "their feet run to
this-worldly, having nothing to do with salvation. For                                   evil" (Isa.  59:7).
example, there is the promise that the disciples                                           Next, in the light of Scripture, consider the
should find a colt tied and ready for their use (Mk.                                     promise, which is not in verse 19, to be exact, but in
11:2); and the promise that the men on board ship                                        verse 18, and it is absolutely unconditional.
with Paul would be safe if they remained aboard                                          Following the promise is an enlargement on it, and
(Acts 27). Beside these so called promises, so the                                       that enlargement takes in the whole range of the
claim is, God even promised life to the reprobate                                        promise, from the forgiveness of sins to  The Land  -
Ahab. The truth is that Jehovah merely predicted                                         the New Earth (18-l  99.  The promise is enlarged upon
that judgment would not fall in his day; and not life,                                   with an exhortation to willingness and obedience. But
but death was predicted for him (I K.  22:X). Such                                       the whole of Scripture, with its promise-content, sets
error would not persist if distinction were maintained                                   over against its exhortations the heartening feature of
between predictions and promises. God makes                                              corresponding promises. There is the exhortation,
predictions to the reprobate, but promises never. He                                     ` `walk in My statutes," and the corresponding
makes exhortations to the reprobate, but never the                                       promise, "I will cause you to walk in My statutes."'
promise which corresponds to the exhortation. For                                        (cp. Ezek.  20:19 with  36:27, and Dt.  10:6 with
example, He says to the reprobate, "walk in My                                           30 : 19). There are three elements in the text,
ways," but never promises the reprobate, "I will                                         "willingness," "obedience" and "goodness;" really
cause you to walk in My ways."                                                           but two: good works and reward. Is the one a
    But, it is argued, the promise here, "ye shall eat                                   prerequisite to the other? Impossible; for both are
the good of the land," is conditional, because the                                       gifts. (cp. Eph.  2:8-l 0). Man's willingness is the work
stipulation is there laid down, "If ye be willing and                                    of God. In proof of this, such texts as the following
obedient," and the promise made here does not                                            should immediately come to mind merely on reading
include the willingness and obedience. There is a                                        their references. (Psm.  110:3;  Jn. 1: 12, 13; Phil.
"good" promised, and there is a condition demanded.                                      2:13;Tit.   3:5; Jas.  1:18).
The demand must be met before the promise can be                                           As for the obedience demanded, the promise
enjoyed. The answer to this is that then the promise                                     makes it possible. Isaac was the child of promise. But
will never be realized, for who will or can perform the                                  there could be no obedient Isaac if there were no
conditions? Conditional promises are of no value, and                                    promise. Just so, no Abraham who believed God, if
are no gospel, to dead sinners.                                                          no promise of faith; and no willingness, nor
    Also it is sometimes argued that where there is                                      obedience, if no promise of either! Why talk about


282                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



the activity of faith when it is only to divorce it or                     contingency! There are no such humanistic boastings.
abstract it from that which produces it? Both the                          But this summons is the plea of the shed blood of
being of faith and the power of faith must remain                          Christ. "Come now," enter into court and begin the
unseparated from its source, the fountain of election.                     trial, argue the case. Not that man, a gnat of a
But why do some want the flowing stream, without                           summer's day, may or can quarrel with God. There is
the fountainhead? Why do they want the light of day                        no quarrel possible with the Almighty, nor does man
without the sun? Why do they call the children of the                      have a legitimate case to sue out in God's court.
promise beautiful and well-behaved, but have no                            There is no reasoning with God at the bar of justice.
praise for their mother? If men loved these virtues as                     If He should mark iniquity in strict justice, none
much as they pretend they do, they would love the                          could stand before Him. There is no arguing (of
sovereign election which produces them.                                    condemned  criminals!) with God on the basis of
                                                                           justice. Therefore, to reason together with Jehovah
  II.  The Ground of Its Performance.  "Come now!"                         means to draw near to Him, mindful of the breach
The performance of that willingness is on the ground                       our sins have made between Him and us, but,
of an efficacious summons, and not a mere suggestion                       nonetheless, to come, "Just as I am without one plea,
left 0 ptional, for man to give his approval or                            but that Thy blood was shed for me." This means
disapproval of it. This is not a mere opportunity to                       that the sinner does the only reasonable thing; he
come to the Lord to be regenerated or not to be                            throws himself on Christ's just mercy and on His
regenerated. It is not an "invitation," followed by a                      merciful justice. There alone is discharge from God's
" c o n d i t i o n , " a contingency dependent on a                       court with pardon and acquittal!


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

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

                                                    THE INTERMEDIATE STATE


                                                            Rev. H. Veldman


  Discussing the history of the doctrine of the                                those of the Koran) mix sensual and spiritual delights.
Intermediate State as confessed by the church during                           The righteous enjoy the vision of the Shechina and
the early years of the New Dispensation, we were                               feast with the patriarchs, and with Moses and David
calling attention in our preceding article to the Jewish                       of the flesh of leviathan, and drink wine from the cup
doctrine as being far in advance of heathen notions                            of salvation. Each inhabitant has a house according to
and conjectures, as set forth by Philip  Schaff in his                         his merit. Among the punishments  of hell the chief
                                                                               place is assigned to fire, which is renewed every week
History of the Christian Church, Vol. II. And we                               after the Sabbath. The wicked are boiled like the
concluded our article with the remark that in this                             flesh in the pot, but the bad Israelites are not touched
article we would call attention to the Talmud as it                            by fire, and are otherwise tormented. The severest
adds various fanciful embellishments, Vol. II, page                            punishment is reserved for idolaters, hypocrites,
596. We now quote:                                                             traitors, and apostates. As to the duration of future
          The Talmud adds various fanciful embellishments.                     punishment the school of Shammai held that it was
       It puts Paradise and Gehenna in close proximity,                        everlasting; while the school of Hillel inclined to the
       measures their extent, and distinguishes different                      milder view of a possible redemption after repentance
       departments in both corresponding to the degrees of                     and purification. Some Rabbis taught that hell will
       merit and guilt. Paradise is sixty times as large as the                cease, and that the sun will burn up and annihilate
       world, and Hell sixty times as large as Paradise, for                   the wicked.
       the bad preponderate here and hereafter. According
       to other rabbinical testimonies, both are well nigh                   How different is the Christian and Scriptural
       boundless. The Talmudic descriptions of Paradise (as               d o c t r i n e   o f   t h e   f u t u r e   l i f e   f r o m   a l l   t h e s e


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presentations, to which we now need not call                                               Origen even refers to this fire in connection with the
attention. Much of the above presentation of the                                           fmal destruction of the world. Of the doctrine of
Talmud is pure speculation and imagination. We can                                         Purgatory, however, there is no trace in this period.
understand that the severest punishment in hell is                                        These observations of the late Rev. H. Hoeksema
reserved for hypocrites and apostates. But we also                                     are verified by what Philip  Schaff writes in his
may note in the above presentation of the Talmud                                       History of the Christian Church, Vol. II, 599  f.f., and
that the school of Hillel inclined to the milder view of                               I believe that this quotation will be of interest to our
a   p o s s i b l e   r e d e m p t i o n   a f t e r   r e p e n t a n c e   a n d    readers :
purification, and that some Rabbis taught that hell
will cease. This denial of the everlasting character of                                       Among the darkest points in eschatology is the
                                                                                           middle state, or the condition of the soul between
hell is, we know, held today among universalists and                                       death and resurrection. It is difficult to conceive of a
others.                                                                                    disembodied state of happiness or woe without
   Writing on the doctrine of the Intermediate State                                       physical organs for enjoyment and suffering. Justin
as held during these early years of the church in the                                      Martyr held that the souls retain their sensibility after
New Dispensation, Rev. H. Hoeksema, in his History                                         death, otherwise the bad would have the advantage
of Dogma, writes as follows:                                                               over the good. Origen seems to have assumed some
                                                                                           refined, spiritual corporeity which accompanies the
           Since the end of all things and the perfection of                               soul on its lonely journey, and is the germ of the
      salvation were waiting for that  final judgment the                                  resurrection body; but the speculative opinions of
      question arose even in this period concerning the                                    that profound thinker were looked upon with
      condition of the souls before the resurrection. The                                  suspicion, and some of them were ultimately
      answer which the Apostolic Fathers gave to this                                      condemned. The idea of the sleep of the soul
      question was rather vague. About the place of the                                    (psychopannychia) had some advocates, but was
      souls between death and resurrection they speak very                                 expressly rejected by Tertullian. Others held that the
      little. Justin Martyr speaks of a better place for                                   soul died with the body, and was created anew at the
      believers and a worse place for the ungodly. As to                                   resurrection. The prevailing view was that the soul
      their condition, they do not teach definitely that the                               continued in a conscious, though disembodied state,
      souls of believers immediately after death go to                                     by virtue either of inherent or of communicated
      Heaven. They do have indeed a certain presentiment                                   immortality. The nature of that state depends upon
      of their eternal destination and wait for the                                        the moral character formed in this life either for weal
      resurrection of the body. Only the martyrs are                                       or woe, without the possibility of a change except in
      received up into Paradise immediately after death but                                the same direction.
      even this Paradise must be distinguished from Heaven.                                   The catholic doctrine of the status intermedius
      This was the conception of Irenaeus, and Tertullian                                  was chiefly derived from the Jewish tradition of the
      approximately agrees with him. The place of the dead                                 Sheol, from the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke
     he conceives as being in the heart of the earth. It was                               16: 19 sqq.), and from the passages of Christ's descent
      divided into two apartments separated from each                                      into Hades. The utterances of the ante-Nicene fathers
      other by a deep ravine. On the one side of this ravine                               are somewhat vague and confused, but receive light
     was the place for the believing souls. On the other                                   from the more mature statements of the Nicene and
      side was the  fire which  cannot be quenched. Far                                    post-Nicene fathers, and may be reduced to the
      above both these two parts of the Sheol is Paradise.                                 following points:
      Thither went Christ after His death. There are Enoch                                    1. The pious who died before Christ from Abel or
      and Elijah and there also the martyrs find their place                               Adam down to John the Baptist (with rare
      until the resurrection.                                                              exceptions, as Enoch, Moses, and Elijah) were
           The Gnostics taught that the souls of the perfect                               detained in a part of Sheol, waiting for the first
      elite who are even now risen with Christ and attained                                Advent, and were released by Christ after the
      to the perfect knowledge (gnosis), after death enter                                 crucifixion and transferred to Paradise. This was the
      immediately into the fulness of glory. Others who did                                chief aim and result of the descensus ad inferos,  as
      not reach that height of perfection in this life must                                understood in the church long before it became an
      pass through various stages after death until they                                   article of the Apostles' Creed, first in Aquileja
      reach that same fulness of glory. This might seem to                                 (where, however, Rufmus explained it wrongly, as
     be the beginning of the Romish doctrine of                                            being equivalent to burial), and then in Rome.
      Purgatory. In fact Clement of Alexandria and Origen                                  Hermas of Rome and Clement of Alexandria
      do speak of a certain purifying fire through which the                               supposed that the patriarchs and Old Testament
      souls of believers enter into glory. However it would                                saints, before their translation, were baptized by
      be an error to find with them the beginning of the                                   Christ and the apostles. Irenaeus repeatedly refers to
      doctrine of Purgatory. It is evident from their                                      the descent of Christ to the spirit-world as the only
     writings that, by this purifying fire, they mean                                      means by which the benefits of the redemption could
      something quite different, a mystical process whereby                                be made known and applied to the pious dead of
     the souls are cleansed from the defilement of sin.                                    former ages.


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          2. Christian martyrs and confessors, to whom were           early Christians. Tertullian bears clear testimony to
       afterwards added other eminent saints, pass                    its existence at his time. "We offer," he says,
       immediately after death into heaven to the blessed             "oblations for the dead on the anniversary of their
       vision of God.                                                 birth," i.e. their celestial birth-day. He gives it as a
          3. The majority of Christian believers, being               mark of a Christian widow, that she prays for the soul
       imperfect, enter for an indefinite period into a               of her husband, and requests for him refreshment and
       preparatory state of rest and happiness, usually called        fellowship in the first resurrection; and that she offers
       Paradise (compare Luke 23:41)  or Abraham's Bosom              sacrifice on the anniversaries of his falling asleep.
       (Luke  16:23).  There they are gradually purged of             Eusebius narrates that at the tomb of Constantine a
       remaining infirmities until they are ripe for heaven,          vast crowd of people, in company with the priests of
       into which nothing is admitted but absolute purity.            God, with tears and great lamentation offered their
       Origen assumed a constant progression to higher and            prayers to God for the emperor's soul. Augustine calls
       higher regions of knowledge and bliss. (After the fifth        prayer for the pious dead in the eucharistic sacrifice
       or sixth century, certainly since Pope Gregory I,              an observance of the universal church, handed down
       Purgatory was substituted for Paradise.)                      from the fathers. He himself remembered in prayer his
                                                                     godly mother at her dying request.
          4. The locality of Paradise is uncertain: some
       imagined it to be a higher region of Hades beneath               This is confirmed by the ancient liturgies, which
       the earth, yet "afar off' from Gehenna, and                   express in substance the devotions of the ante-Nicene
       separated from it by a "great gulf' (camp. Luke               age, although they were not committed to writing
       16:23,  26); others transferred it to the lower regions       before the fourth century. The commemoration of
                                                                     the pious dead is an important part in the eucharistic
       of heaven above the earth, yet clearly distinct from          prayers. Take the following from the Liturgy of St.
       the final home of the blessed.                                James: "Remember, 0 Lord God, the spirits of whom
          5. Impenitent Christians and unbelievers go down           we have made mention, and of whom we have not
       to the lower regions of Hades (Gehenna, Tartarus,             made mention, who are of the true faith, from
       Hell) into a preparatory state of misery and dreadful         righteous Abel unto this day; do Thou Thyself give
       expectation of the final judgment. From the fourth            them rest there in the land of the living, in Thy
       century Hades came to be identified with Hell, and            kingdom, in the delight of Paradise, in the Bosom of
       this confusion passed into many versions of the Bible,        Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, our holy fathers;
       including that of King James.                                 whence pain and grief and lamentation have fled
          6. The future fate of the heathen and of                   away: there the light of Thy countenance looks upon
       unbaptized children was left in hopeless darkness,            them, and gives them light for evermore." The
       except by Justin and the Alexandrian fathers, who             Clementine Liturgy in the eighth book of the
       extended the operations of divine grace beyond the            "Apostolical Constitutions" has likewise a  prayer
       limits of the visible church. Justin Martyr must have         "for those who rest in faith," in these words: "We
       believed, from his premises, in the salvation of all          make an offering to Thee for all Thy saints who have
       those heathen who had in this life followed the light         pleased Thee from the beginning of the world,
       of the Divine Logos and died in a state of                    patriarchs, prophets, just men, apostles, martyrs,
       unconscious Christianity, or preparedness for                 confessors, bishops, elders, deacons, subdeacons,
       Christianity. For, he says, "those who lived with the         singers, virgins, widows, laymen, and all whose names
       Logos were Christians, although they were esteemed            Thou Thyself knowest."
       atheists, as Socrates and Heraclitus, and others like
       them.                                                        I am sure that the reader, reading these things,
          7. There are, in the other world, different degrees     must ask himself the question whether there is any
       of happiness and misery according to the degrees of        connection between these views as entertained
       merit and guilt. This is reasonable in itself, and         during this early period of the Christian church and
       supported by scripture.                                    the Romish doctrine with respect to purgatory. Philip
          8. With the idea of the imperfection of the middle      Schaff asks and answers this question as follows:
       state and the possibility of progressive amelioration,           9. These views of the middle state in connection
       is connected the commemoration of the departed,               with prayers for the dead show a strong tendency to
       and prayer in their behalf. No trace of the custom is         the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, which
       found in the New Testament nor in the canonical               afterwards came to prevail in the West through the
       books of the Old, but an isolated example, which              great weight of St. Augustine and Pope Gregory I.
       seems to imply habit, occurs in the age of the                But there is, after all, a considerable difference. The
       Maccabees, when Judas Maccabaeus and his company              ante-Nicene idea of the middle state of the pious
       offered prayer and sacrifice for those slain in battle,       excludes, or at all events ignores, the idea of penal
       "that they might be delivered from sin." In old               suffering, which is an essential part of the Catholic
       Jewish service-books there are prayers for the                conception of purgatory. It represents the condition
       blessedness of the dead. The strong sense of the              of the pious as one of comparative happiness, inferior
       communion of saints unbroken by death easily                  only to the perfect happiness after the resurrection.
       accounts for the rise of a similar custom among the           Whatever and wherever Paradise may be, it belongs to


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       285


   the heavenly world; while purgatory is supposed to be       this they enjoyed an advantage over other  Christians,
    a middle region between heaven and hell, and to            as  we may' read in Vol. III, 646, of the Ante-Nicene
   bprder rather on the latter. The sepulchral                 Fathers:
   inscriptions in the catacombs have a prevailingly
   cheerful tone, and represent the departed souls as                For indeed the Spirit had sent the injunction to
   being "in peace" and "living in Christ," or "in God."          the angel of the church in Smyrna: "Behold, the devil
   The same view is substantially preserved in the                shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be
   Oriental church, which holds that the souls of the             tried ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
   -departed believers may be aided by the prayers of the         give you a crown of life." Also to the angel of the
   living, but are nevertheless "in light and rest., with a       church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas,
    foretaste of eternal happiness."                              the very faithful martyr, who was slain where Satan
      Yet alongside with this prevailing belief, there are        dwelleth. Also the angel of the church in Philadelphia
   traces of the purgatorial idea of suffering the                (it was signified) that he who had not denied the
   temporal consequences of sin, and a painful struggle           name of the Lord was delivered from the last trial.
   after holiness. Origen, following in the path of Plato,        Then to every conqueror the Spirit promises now the
    used the term "purgatorial fire," by which the                tree of life, and exemption from the second death;
   remaining stains of the soul shall be burned away; but         now the hidden manna, with the stone of glistering
   he understood it figuratively, and connected it with           whiteness, and the name unknown (to every man save
   the consuming fire at the final judgment, while                him that receiveth it); now power to rule with a rod
   Augustine and Gregory I transferred it to the middle           of iron, and the brightness of the morning star; now
   state. The common people and most of the fathers               the being clothed in white raiment, and not having
   understood it of a material life; but this is not a            the name blotted out of the book of life, and being
   matter of faith, an& there are Roman divines who               made in the temple of God a pillar with the
   confine the purgatorial sufferings to the mind and             inscription on it of the name of God and of the Lord,
   conscience. A material fire would be very harmless             and of the heavenly Jerusalem; now a sitting with the
   without a material body. A still nearer approach to            Lord on His throne, - which once was persistently
   the Roman purgatory was made by Tertullian and                 refPlsed to the sons of Zebedee. Who, pray, are these
   Cyprian, who taught that a special satisfaction and            so blessed conquerors, but martyrs in the strict sense
   penance was required for sins committed after                  of the word? For indeed theirs are the victories whose
   baptism, and that the last  farthing must be paid              also are the fights; theirs, however, are the fights
   (Matt.  5:20) before the soul can be released from             whose also is the blood. But the souls of the martyrs
   prison and enter into heaven.                                  both peacefully rest in the meantime under the altar,
                                                                  and support their patience by the assured hope of
  Tertullian  taught that the martyrs went at once to             revenge; and, clothed in their robes, wear the dazzling
paradise, the abode of the blessed, and taught that in                                                  (continued on page 286)





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286                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


       halo of brightness, until others also may fully share in                        to his own declaration to present the history of the
       their  glory. For yet again a countless throng are                              Church from the apostles to his own time. He
       revealed, clothed in white and distinguished by palms                           mentions a small section of Christians in Arabia who
       of victory, celebrating their triumph doubtless over                            held that the soul remained unconscious from death
       anti-Christ, since one of the elders says "These are they
       who come out of' that great tribulation, and have                               to the resurrection. At the time of the Reformation
       washed their robes, and made them white in the                                  there was such a revival of that doctrine that Calvin
       blood of the Lamb. For the flesh is the clothing of                             deemed it expedient to write an essay devoted to its
       the soul. The uncleanness, indeed, is washed away by                            refutation. The fathers, writes Hodge, say but little
       baptism, but the stains are changed into dazzling                               about Hades. According to this writer (Vol. III,
       whiteness by martyrdom. For Isaias also promises,                               739-740),  we read the following:
       that our of red and scarlet there will come forth the                                 The fathers say but little about Hades. Hippolytus,
       whiteness of snow and wool.                                                        however, gives an account of it which is in substance
                                                                                          as follows: Hades, in which the souls of the righteous
    Of course, this idea, that martyrdom prepares the                                     and unrighteous are detained, was left at the creation
soul for immediate entrance into heaven is not                                            in a state of chaos, to which the light of the sun never
sustained by the Word of God. First of all, how can                                       penetrates, but where perpetual darkness reigns. This
one's passing through the fire of martyrdom cleanse a                                     place is the prison of souls, over which the angels
soul from sin? One can easily understand how such a                                       keep watch. In Hades  there is a furnace of
conception can lead to a conception such as the                                           unquenchable fire into which no one has yet been
Romish Purgatory, which teaches that the fire of                                          cast. It is reserved for the banishment of the wicked
purgatory cleanses a soul from sin and prepares it for                                    at the end of the world, when the righteous will be
                                                                                          made citizens of an eternal kingdom. The good and
its place in the perfect glory of heaven. But, in the                                     the bad, although both in Hades, are not in the same
second place, this presentation is surely a denial of                                     part of it. They enter the under-world by the same
the Scriptural truth that the blood of our Lord Jesus                                     gate. When this gate is passed, the guardian angels
Christ cleanses us from all sin and that no fire is                                       guide the souls of the departed different ways; the
needed, either of persecution or of a purgatory, to                                       righteous are guided to the right to a region full of       Q
prepare us for the everlasting glory of heaven.                                           light; the wicked are constrained to take {he left hand
                                                                                          path, leading to a region near the unquenchable fire.
   The doctrine of the Intermediate State also                                            The good are free from all discomfort., and rejoice in
includes the doctrine of "soul-sleep," the teaching                                       expectation of their admission into heaven. The
t h a t   t h e   s o u l   s l e e p s   b e t w e e n   d e a t h   a n d   t h e       wicked are miserable in constant anticipation of their
resurrection. Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop of Caesarea                                    coming doom. An impassable gulf separates the abode
in Palestine, the father of church history, was born                                      of the righteous from that of the wicked. Here they
about 275 or 280, and died either in 340 or 339. In                                       remain until the resurrection, which he goes on to
his "Church  Histor.y," Eusebius  at.tempted- according                                   explain and defend.





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                                                          .,  -I  T,klE  STANDARD  BEAR+                                                                  287
                                                                                    "
                                                                                "  ,.

                                        News From Our Churches
   Calls being considered at the time of this writing                           Hoeksema and his family moved to within a stone's
are the following: Rev. G. Lanting, from Loveland;                              throw of his lecture room.
Rev. G. Lubbers, from Prospect Park; and Rev. R.                                                                   *****
Harbach, to serve as home missionary in Houston.                                         It's been quite some time since correspondence
                                   et:****                                      received by Mr. Vander Wal has appeared in this
                                                                                column. It isn't that he's no longer receiving
   At a request from  --the Mission Committee, the                              interesting response to the literature he mails; it's
Council of our Southwest Church decided to release                              rather that some letters that he kindly forwarded to
Rev. H. Veldman for the four Sundays of April, in                               me have been collecting in my box. I have three of
order that he might labor in Maine. And from a                                  them before me now, and I notice that one dates
bulletin of First Church we learn that the Mission                              from April of 1973. They make, however, a kind of
Committee also decided to send Rev. G. Van  Baren to                            "news" which cannot be dated. So I pass them on
visit several interested families in Cleveland, Ohio.                           now, confident that you'll find them as interesting in
                                                                                1974 as you would have found them in 1973.
                                   **:***                                                One of the three came from Belfast, Northern
                                                                                Ireland, and concerned a pamphlet written by Rev. H.
   Rev. Van  Overloop  and his family have moved into                           Hoeksema and published by the First Protestant
a new home. In the March 17 bulletin of Hope                                    Reformed Sunday School Mission Publishing Society.
Church, they thanked "all those who helped them in                              I'll quote the entire short letter: "I received a few
any way to move into the beautiful, new parsonage."                             copies of Rev. Herman Hoeksema's  The Biblical
The old parsonage, incidentally, has been taken over                            Ground for the Baptism  of  Infants.  One of these was
by the four pre-seminary students who had previously                            a great blessing to a friend of mine who had been
been renting near First Church. The move puts them                              troubled on this matter. From the booklet, he saw
considerably nearer to their new classrooms on                                  the Scriptural ground for infant baptism and his
Ivanrest. Even closer to our Seminary building is the                           whole view of this matter was changed. Thank you
new residence of the Rector. On March 25 Professor                                                                                  (continued on back page)

                                                                                            .-

                            IN      MEMORIAM :                                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   On February 20, 1974, the Lord  called  home our beloved husband,                     The Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hull (Iowa) Protestant Reformed
father and grandfather, DICK DYKSTRA, at the age of 84 years.                   Church expresses its sincere sympathy to their fellow members, Mr. and
   "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we             Mrs. Ken Hoksbergen, on the death of their infant. May  our  covenant
                                                                                God 
might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (I I Cor.  5:21).                         comfort the bereaved in their sorrow and grant them His peace.
Mrs. Dick Dykstra (Kate)                 Mr. and Mrs. Ben Huizenga (Clara)               "Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee. He shall
Mr. and Mrs. Arie Dykstra             Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Postema (Winnie)       never suffer the'righteous  to be moved." (Psalm  55:22).
Mr. and Mrs. Simon Dykstra            Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Klinge (Jackie)                               Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.; Mrs. Joel Kooima, Vice-all.
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Cole (Sally)                         39 grandchildren
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Nyenhuis (Jeanne)                   44 great-grandchildren
                            Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                         The Consistory of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           Redlands, California, on behalf of the congregation, extends its
                                                                                sympathy to our former pastor, Rev. C. Hanko, and his family, in the
   The Theological School Committee extends its heartfelt sympathy              loss of their wife, mother and grandmother, MRS.  JENNIE HANKO.
to Rev. C. Hanko and Prof. H. C. Hanko in the  death  of their wife and
mother, MRS. C. HANKO.                                                                   "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
                                                                                which also sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."  (I Thess.  4:14).
   May the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who
comforteth us in all our tribulation," comfort them with the hope of                                          Rev. M. Kamps, Pres.; Edwin B. Gritters, Sec'y.
eternal salvation for all who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.

         The Theological School Committee; Richard H. Teitsma, Sec'y.                              RESOLUTIONS OF SYMPATHY
               RESOLtiTlON  OF SYMPATHY                                                  The School Board and teachers of the Hope Protestant Reformed
                                                                                Christian School extend their sympathy to two of its staff members. To
   The Hull  (Iowa)  Protestant Reformed Young People's Society                 Mr. Fred Hanko and family in the death of his mother, MRS.
wishes to express its sincere sympathy to their vice-president and his          CORNELIUS HANK0 and to Mrs. R. Petersen and family in the death
wife, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Hoksbergen, in the loss of their infant son.             of her father, MR. CHARLES REITSMA.

   "The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them                    "How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, 0  God1 therefore the children
that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).                                                of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings."  (Ps..   36:7)

                       Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.; Carol Van Maanen,  Sec'y.-                                      Dewey Engelsme, Pres.;  Glare Kuiper, Sec'y.


  THE STANDARD  BEAR;ER
        P.O. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49596





288


very much for publishing it. If you can send me a few
copies, I shall be grateful  - ten copies would be
enough."
   Another request for the Sunday School pamphlets
came from Glasgow, Scotland. At Mr. Vander Wal's
suggestion, I wrote the man and asked how it
happened that he came upon our-literature. From his
prompt reply, I learned that his church (in Glasgow)
has a book shop in Edinburgh. He wrote that he
"happened to be in Edinburgh and in the book shop
buying some books. So the assistant," he wrote, "put
your pamphlet along with the books I bought and
said that they got your pamphlet free and that they
were giving it away free."
   The pamphlet he received happened to be "The
Unbreakable Bond of Marriage," another of those
written by Rev. Herman Hoeksema.  Our friend from
Glasgow enjoyed the pamphlet and, sent to us for
other titles listed on the back cover. How our
pamphlets got to the  bookshop in Edinburgh, though,
we have no idea.
  Another, rather lengthy, letter came from South
Wales, Great Britain. We'll lift a few interesting
excerpts from it.
  "As a theological student, completing a S-year
course on 5th July this year at the South Wales Bible
College, I was delighted to have been introduced to
your publications via a fellow student.
   "Particularly helpful was the study of `The Means
of Grace' by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, and his
excellent treatment `The Biblical Ground for the
Baptism and Infants.' . . .
   "1 trust that God will continue to encourage you in
your work of putting forth, in these days of
confusion, sound publications which will aid those
who seek the glory of God in preaching and the
salvation of many precious souls through the faithful
exposition of the Holy Scriptures.
   "Two acquaintances of mine would also be
pleased, as I myself, to receive any literature you may
have available and thus in the days ahead be able, if
God so` desired, to increase the circulation of your
publications here.
   "Again may I say how much of a blessing it was  to
have been introduced to your publications . .  ."
                                                     D.D.


