TANDARD
BEARE
A  REkORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE       R

  Thus the church receives her confessions not as the fruit
of the thinking of learned theologians, but as precious
gems gloriously prepared  forher by the Holy Spirit in the
way of the soul-struggle of believers and to satisfy the
great needs of the church. She finds in her confessions a
piece of her own life. She cherishes that confession as a
costly document by which her triumph over heresy and
error, thanks to the, Spirit's operation, is recognized. She
approaches that confession as the only compass which
leads her safely through the many interpretations of the
Word to the true meaning of that Word. She wants to see
that confession set forth more beautifully, more correctly,
more purely; but she never permits one part of its beauti-
ful organism to be mutilated, or, much less, to be cut out.
And without ever or in any way bringing that confession
to* a level with the altogether unique Word of God, she
nevertheless maintains her conviction in the power of the
Lord God that, as long as no purer confession is found, her
confession is the simplest and as yet most complete formu-
lated expression of the glorious truth which God has
revealed to us.
                                        - Abraham Kuyper, Sr.
            Tract on the Reformation of the Churches, p. 26



                               .-Volume LI, Number 2, October 15,  1974,


26                                                THE STANDARD'BEARER


MEDITA.TION


                                  Striving  For The Faith

                                                      Rev. M. Schipper

               "`Only let your conversation be as it becometh the'gospel of Christ: that whether I come and
               see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye'stand  fast in one spirit, with
               one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by your
              adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and
               that of God. "
                                                                                          Philippians 1:27, 28

      That the apostle would visit the church at Philippi        assumes our nature, and as such appears as the servant
again, or be denied this privilege, was only\a matter of         of Jehovah. He is Christ for us when He sheds His
relative importance to him.                                      life's blood on the accursed tree for our sin and guilt.
                                                                 When He makes complete atonement for our sin, and
      What was of great concern to him was that he               removes the wrath of God we deserved, and in its
might hear of their affairs, and particularly that the           place merits righteousness and life for us. He is Christ
church stood fast, striving together for the faith of            for us when He is raised from the dead and ascends
the gospel.                                                      into the highest heavens, where He continues to serve
      Striving for the faith of the gospel!                      as our advocate at the right hand of God, and to
                                                                 prepare a place for us in the house of many mansions,
      This has always been, and still is, the sole calling of
the church of Christ in the world!                               the house of God's covenant.
                                                                    Moreover, He is also Christ 
      0, we are aware of it that this statement is denied                                        in us. For at God's right
by many today, in  toto, or in part. The winning of              hand He receives the Spirit without measure, by
                                                                 which He returns unto us to take up His abode in us.
souls for Christ, is considered by many the chief duty
of the church. Others believe and loudly proclaim                As Christ in us, He makes us to be partakers of all His
that her main task is to become socially involved. Still         blessings.
others are prating about making this world to become                Even so, all is not said concerning Christ. He is also
the kingdom of Christ as the sole endeavor of the                Christ through us. And that means that He makes us
church. However, as popular as these claims may                  to become fruit-bearing branches of the Vine.
seem, they find absolutely no basis in the Scriptures.           Through His grace we walk in all good works which
      Only one directive does the church have of Christ,         also were before prepared, in order that we should
and therefore of the apostle - strive earnestly for the          walk in them. He works through us in such a way that
faith of the gospel!                                             where He leads, we follow; that where He blesses us
                                                                 with faith, we respond by appropriating, consciously
      By the gospel, the apostle means the gospel of             laying hold on that which He has merited for us and
`Christ. Of this he speaks in the first part of the text:        gives unto us as set forth in the Word of the gospel.
"Only let your conversation be as it becometh the
gospel of Christ." The gospel is the good news                      In one word, Christ is the Anointed One,
concerning the Christ. Of Christ, you understand,                appointed to raise up the whole house of God!
Who is the revelation of God as the God of our                      Concerning this the gospel speaks!
salvation. Of Christ, Who is the anointed of Jehovah,               Hence; the gospel is truly the revelation of God, of
ordained from before the foundation of the world to              God as the God of our salvation in Christ from
become Lord over all. Of Christ, Who is the first-born           beginning to end!
of every creature, and as such, unto Whom, for
Whom, and by Whom all things consist. Of Christ,                    When the apostle speaks of the faith of the gospel,
Who is the first begotten of the dead.                           this must `be understood in the objective sense. He is
                                                                 not speaking of our believing in the gospel, though
      The gospel speaks of Christ, first of all, as being        this may be true and necessary in itself. Rather, he
Christ for us, that is, His people. That He is when .lIe         has in mind that we strive for the faith expressed in


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   27


the gospel, that is, the truth of the gospel. By the          The apostle notes first of all, "Only let your
faith of the gospel he refers to the truth of the gospel    conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ."
as it is believed and confessed by the church in the        The term ` `conversation" hardly expresses the
midst of a hostile world. Briefly, that faith of the        thought of the apostle. To paraphrase the thought
gospel is expressed in the creeds of the church, in the     really expressed here, we could translate: "behave as
Reformed community called the Three Forms of                citizens." And make no mistake about it, the apostle
Unity.                                                      is not referring the members of the church at Philippi
  Striving together for that faith!                         to the fact that as Roman citizens they are to react
                                                            favorably with respect to the authority of Rome. But,
  The position which the church assumes in the              rather, he has in mind that the church of Christ
world must of necessity be that of strife, because the      belongs to another polity  - the members of the
faith of the gospel is constantly being gainsaid.           church, while Roman citizens, are nevertheless
Always there is the attempt to deny, to corrupt, to         citizens of the kingdom of Christ. In other words, the
destroy the faith of the gospel. The attempt is also        apostle is concerned that the members of the church
made to silence the church as she expresses the faith       live as those who are controlled by the gospel of the
of the gospel. This attempt comes not only from             kingdom of heaven. In the strife for the faith of the
without, but most generally from within the church.         gospel they are marching to orders not from Rome,
Not only do false teachers arise in the church who          but from heaven.
deny the faith of the gospel, but also the carnal
element in the church, especially when it becomes a           Moreover, the apostle adds to this, "Stand fast in
majority, will raise its head up to move the church         one spirit, with one mind." There must be unity of
from its very foundations, were that possible.              spirit and mind. Though the reference to the spirit
                                                            here is not to the Holy Spirit, but to the spirit of
   Like the Grecian athletes in the games, and like         man, the truth however is that it is the work of the
warriors prepared for battle, the church must always        Holy Spirit to realize this unity. When He realizes this
be prepared to contend for the faith once delivered to      unity, then the spirit of man, (that is, that part of
the saints.                                                 him that is capable of being directed to God), and the
  When the church preserves the faith of the gospel         mind (soul) of man, (that is, that part of him which is
in all its purity in all her preaching, instruction, and    the seat of his natural and physical life and the
discipline to her generations, when she unfurls the         subject of his thinking, willing, desiring, etc.), are not
banner of her faith in the midst of the world where         pulled apart; but' they cooperate, they stand together
God has placed her, when she seeks to maintain the          in the striving for the faith of the gospel. And as this
faith of the gospel in doctrine and in life, she must       takes place in the individual members of the church,
expect that there will be opposition. Consequently          so it takes `place in all the members at once - theT.
there will always be strife. And in the strife the          stand fast as one man.
church must stand as a unit.                                  In order to stand fast, there must of necessity be a
  Striving together . . .!                                  place to stand. That place is the sphere where the
   Not, you understand, striving with one another,          Holy Spirit operates, and where the faith of the
nor among themselves! Bickering and squabbling over         gospel is maintained.
petty differences and fighting among the members of           All this implies th& we live as under the power of
the church.can only lead to forsaking our posts in the      the gospel. The faith of the gospel and the striving for
striving for the faith of the gospel.                       that faith are a matter of the heart. And as the heart
   But striving together, in the sense that we stand        is, out of which all the issues of life proceed, so the
together in the line of combat, as one man, in              striving for the faith of the gospel demands our whole
contention for the faith  - that is the calling of the      life. It requires that we stand in the covenant of God,
church in the world.                                        and with all our mind, soul, and strength forsake the
                                                            world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and
   And that strife will assume both a defensive and an      godly life. So walking, we will never put the gospel to
offensive character. When the faith of the gospel is        shame. It implies that we walk as a people that is
attacked, the church will stand fast in defense.            brought under the power, and complete dominion of
However, as in all warfare, battles are not always won      the faith of the gospel. It means that we always keep
by merely taking the defensive position; but often the      within us a fresh sense of belonging to the mother
battle is won by strategically maneuvering on the
offensive.                                                  city, the New Jerusalem. It means that the gospel is
                                                            not only a message to be believed, but obeyed.
   Shall the church faithfully fulfill this unique            To all this the apostle adds a word of
calling, there are certain requirements that must be        encouragement.
met.


28                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



      How necessary that is!                                  arise to assail the church, it is that they may be
      If the church fails in her calling,`there will be no    destroyed forever. When Pharaoh and his host, for
enemies. You need not fear them. They will leave you          instance, pursued the children of Israel, it was that
alone. If you are a friend of the world, and make light       they all might be drowned in the sea. When the Devil
of heresy, you will, of course, not have to suffer.           and the world with the apostate church rose up to
There simply will be no opposition.                           destroy the Christ, it was that they might forever be
                                                              vanquished. And this victory of Christ is ours
      On the other hand, if you are faithful, many will       forevermore.
be your foes!                                                    And that is why the other side of the token must be
      When these foes arise, the apostle says, be not         a sign unto us of our salvation, which is all of God.
`terrified. Rather lay hold on this two-fold token: on        When the enemy threatens, it is because you belong
the one hand, their very opposition is a sign to you          to the God of our salvation.
and them of their perdition; on the other hand, it is a
sign of your salvation, and that of God.                        Remember, it is not only given unto you to believe
                                                              on Him, but also to suffer for His sake!
      Though the apostle does not demonstrate how this
is true, this is not necessary. We know from the                Be not terrified by your adversaries!
sacred pages of Holy Writ, and from the history of              Fight the good fight without fear. For the victory
God's covenant in the world, that when the enemies            is ours unto the day of Christ, and forever!


,EDITORIALS

                                            Editor's Notes
                                                 Prof H, C. Hoeksema


      Volume  51 began with our October 1 issue. You          a pastor in the new denomination. Pastor Case is a
probably have already noticed one of the changes for          reader of our  Standard Bearer  and other literature;
this volume-year - in the Meditation department; and          and we have had some occasional correspondence. We
there are a couple more. First of all, the Meditation         thank Rev. Case for his willingness to furnish this
department this year will be shared by Rev. C.                report.
Hanko, Rev. M.  Schipper,  and Rev. H. Veldman. A                                        6 * *  * *
second change will be the dropping of the department            P u b l i c a t i o n   N e w s .   T o   m y   d i s m a y ,   t h e
Contending for the Faith for the time being - as soon         announcement of the Pre-publication Sale of our
as the current supply of articles for this department         newest RFPA publication,  Peaceable Fruit,  was
which I have on hand is exhausted. A third change is          omitted from the October 1 issue. Besides, from more
the revival of the department  The Voice  of  our             than one source I was needled for putting the
Fathers,  which will feature an exposition of the             announcement in the special anniversary issue
Belgic Confession by Prof. Robert Decker. And                 because, it was claimed, people did not want to cut
finally, from time to time we will feature special            up that issue; someone even said it was poetic justice
articles written by some of our ministers who are not         that the ad was on the back side of my own article in
staff members.                                                that issue! Besides, our Business Office reports that
                        .*****                                the pre-publication orders are trickling in very slowly.
      A Special Report on the Second General Assembly         So here is a reminder to take advantage of this special
of the infant Presbyterian Church in America                  offer. You will find an order form elsewhere in this
(formerly the National Presbyterian Church) appears           issue. If you don't like to cut up your Standard Bearer,
in this issue. This, our readers may recall, is the new       you don't have to use the form; but do send in your
denomination which was formed by those who                    order by November 1  - the cut-off date on the
separated from the Southern Presbyterian Church               special price. For those who are thinking of Christmas
because of apostasy. The report is from the pen of            gifts, we have been assured that copies of this new
Rev. Eugene C. Case, a recent graduate of Reformed            3 1 O-page book will be available in time for Christmas.
Theological Seminary (Jackson, Mississippi) and now                                      *  *  *  1  *


                                                   THE STANDARD  BEARER                                              29


       About THE PSALTER.  Recently it was called to             received the following reply which will be of interest
     my attention that copies of our book of praise, THE         to our people and churches: "Thanks for your note
     PSALTER, were not available. Because of this, and           concerning THE PSALTER. It just so happens that
     because our RFPA Publications Committee was                 our plant has delivered a new printing of THE
     mildly interested in a possible reprint, I inquired from    PSALTER, so it is now in good supply."
     the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. And I
I
                                  Some Recommended Reading

        Recently there was sent to me by the Reformed            Mr. Bonekamp, who does a rather thorough job of
     F e 11 o w s hip of Canada a neatly printed 64-page         exposing the dangerous views of the AACS with
     booklet entitled Five Essays On Christian Education.        respect to Christian education. Also the parents,
     Along with the booklet came a request for a review -        board members, and teachers of our Protestant
     a request I am happy to honor. In fact, I consider this     Reformed Christian Schools, however, may be
     booklet worthy of attention in our editorial columns        instructed by these chapters - not only with respect
     rather than in our somewhat irregular book review           to the errors of the AACS but also with respect to
     department.                                                 some important positive aspects of parental education
       As the `title indicates, this book consists of five       and with respect to the proper place and function of
     chapters. The first is written by a Rev. H. van Dyken       parents, boards, and staff in the operation of the
     and is entitled "Covenantally Ours." The next three         school.
     are written by Mr. Gerald Bonekamp, a Christian               If I may offer some negative criticism, it is this,
     school principal. They are entitled: "The Informal          that the first chapter, which undoubtedly purposes to
     Christian School, " "Authority: Behind the .Classroom       furnish a covenantal basis for Christian education, is
     Door," and "Response Revealed  - In Retrospect."            the weakest. It suffers from vagueness, from a lack of
     The last chapter is written by another Christian            proper definition of the covenant and of the place of
     school principal, Mr. H.  Bergsma, and is entitled          the children of believers in the covenant, and from
     "Christian Education: What About the Future?" The           some erroneous ideas (such as that of the covenant of
     chapter on "Authority: Behind the Classroom Door"           works). One more suggestion: the writers of these
     is perhaps already known to some of our readers; it         chapters could have been identified and introduced to
     received rather wide distribution in mimeographed           the readers. I hardly think they are so well known as
     form.                                                       to need no introduction.
       Why do I recommend this booklet?                            However, I suggest that you spend 75~ for a copy
       For the most part, the booklet is in the nature of a      of this brochure. It can be obtained for this price
     warning against the attempts of the AACS to                 from: The Reformed Fellowship of Canada, 242
     infiltrate the Christian schools of the National Union      Elmhurst Drive, Rexdale, Ontario, Canada. Follow up
     of Christian Schools. Those of our people who still         your reading of Prof. Hanko's "The AACS and the
     send their children to these schools and participate in     Kingdom" by reading of this worthwhile and
     the operation of these schools may profit directly          well-documented critique.
     from these chapters, especially from those written by





                                     Know the standard and follow it.

                                    Read  the STANDARD BEARER!


30                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 Universal Grace--Universal Atonement--Universal Salvation

      These three hang together.                             principles work through. Doctrinal principles work
      When in 1924 the Synod  of the Christian               through, and common grace has now borne its
Reformed Church raised to the status of a dogma the          consistent fruit: outright universalism. Ethical
theory of universal (better known as "common")               principles work through, and the result has been that
grace and, with it, the error of the'general, well-meant     in a denomination which refused to turn back from
offer of grace, it was predictable that in the years to      what  iyas plainly the path of false doctrine blatant
come the Arminian heresy. of universal atonement             heresy hardly creates a ripple. Worse yet, it has
would rear its ugly head in that denomination. It was        become increasingly impossible to move ecclesiastical
only a matter of time before this would happen. Our          assemblies to take firm and incisive disciplinary
leaders predicted this in the late 1920s.                    action in case of doctrinal deviation.
      This prediction was fulfilled  iri the  196Os, when      What is the Ellens Case?
Calvin Seminary's professor of missions, Rev. Harold            It is indeed difficult to get a detailed picture of the
Dekker, openly taught and defended the propositions          case. The Christian Reformed Church follows  the
that God loves all men and that Christ died for all          detrimental custom of `printing no "personal appeals"
men.                                                         in its Agenda or Acts. There is room, of course, for
      And in 1967 the Synod of the Christian Reformed        the prevention of spreading abroad matters of a
Church was unable and unwilling to condemn that              strictly personal and private nature through a
rank Arminianism. The way out was to declare this            synodical agenda; I am heartily in faz?r of-thaQut
.p!ain heresy only "ambiguous and abstract."                 to exclude all appeals from individuals; even ,in cases
                                                             involving public doctrinal deviation, cases involving
      W.hy?                                                  the public preaching and teaching of officebearers,
      Because the errors of universal grace and universal    cases involving the maintenance of the confessions
atonement hang together. Maintain the former; and            and `of the Formula of Subscription - that is a bad
you must, to be consistent, maintain the latter.             rule. It means that the churches are kept in ignorance.
Condemn the latter; and you must, to be consistent,          It means that an appellant has little, if any, chance of
condemn the former. And it is a matter of record that        getting his case directly before the ecclesiastical
the one big obstacle in `the path of condemning Prof.        assembly which must adjudicate the complaint. And
Dekker's Arminianism of the 1960s was the First              it means that the case is filtered down to synod
Point of 1924, which had to be maintained at all             through an advisory committee, with neither the
costs.                                                       delegates nor the churches at large usually being in a
      And when in the 1960s the heresy of universal          position to judge the accuracy and fairness of the
atonement was tolerated, it was inevitable and               advisory committee's handling of the matter and
predictable that sooner or later the error of universal      advice. Hence, in the Acts of the Christian Reformed
salvation, or rank universalism, would be taught in          Synbd of 1974 the information is rather scant and is
the Christian Reformed Church. And it was                    filtered through a committee. I will quote that
predictable too, that this error would not be                information  in  to to  from the  Acts of  Synod, 1974,
forthrightly exorcized from the church. In fact, when        pp.  96-99:
the Dekker Case was making headlines, the Standard               II. Appeal of Dr. John A. Kraft against Decision of
Bearer  warned that the logical consequence of the                    Classis  Lake Erie (Reporter: J.J. Hoytema)
error of universal atonement was universal salvation.                A. Materials:
      Today, less than ten years after'the Dekker Case,             1. Letter of approval to synod. Personal Appeal 7
that heresy of universal salvation has been set forth            of Dr. J.A. Kraft.
by a Christian Reformed minister.                                   2. Minutes of the September 1973 meeting of
      The story of this seems to be buried in the Acts of        Classis  Lake Erie.
the Synod of 1974. It received only slight journalistic             3. Minutes of the May 1974 meeting of Classis
notice in the various reports of the Synod's activities.         Lake Erie.
No alarm was sounded in any of the papers. And                      4. Report of the Committee to examine doctrinal
while at the time of the Dekker Case there was no                matters with Dr. J. Harold Ellens to Classis Lake Erie,
small stir, what could be called the Ellens Case has             May 1974.
thus far appeared to have created scarcely a ripple on              B. Background:  Dr. John A. Kraft, a member of
the ecclesiastical waters of the Christian Reformed              the University Hills CRC protests the decision of
Church. A clear instance this is of the truth that               Classis Lake Erie in regard to an alleged doctrinal


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   31


matter concerning Dr. Ellens. Dr. Kraft met privately                         investigations without having worked  through  the
with Dr. Ellens but the matter was not resolved to the                        matter in the context of the creeds and of his
satisfaction of Dr.  Rraft.  Dr. Kraft then took his                          responsibility as an ordained pastor of the CRC. It
protest to the steering committee of the University                           appears that Dr. Ellens did not make it clear to his
Hills CRC and then to the Cherry Hill CRC which was                           congregation when he was discussing "possibilities"
the supervising church. From there the matter was                             and questions  and  when he was stating definite
taken to Classis  Lake Erie.                                                  solutions, and thus gave occasions for confusion in
   Classis  then appointed a committee "to study the                          the minds of some members of the congregation, such
charges of Mr. John Kraft vs. Rev. H. Ellens." This                           as Mr. Kraft."
committee came back to  classis with the following                               Classis  then adopted the recommendations of the
recommendations:                                                              committee which read as follows:
    "1. That  classis  appoint three persons to                                    "a. That  classis advise Dr. Ellens that at this
         examine with Dr. Ellens his beliefs that it is                                  stage of his investigation his statement that
         a possibility that all men go to heaven and                                     it is a possibility that all men go to heaven
         that this possibility is supportable on the                                     and that this possibility is supportable on
         basis of Scripture.                                                             the basis of Scripture disagrees with the
         Grounds:                                                                        statements and intent of the Reformed
                                                                                         Creeds.
         a. The studied opinion of the present
         committee is that Dr. Ellens' statement                                   "b. That  classis urge Dr. Ellens to remember his
         appears to be contrary to the Reformed                                          responsibility as an ordained pastor of the
         creeds. This action would give him a chance                                     CRC, and, in any further investigation of
         to clarify and document his thoughts and                                        this issue, to carry out the investigation in
         examine them with representatives of the                                        the context of the creeds, as well as the
         church community.                                                               context of Scripture.
         b. We believe Dr. Ellens would be best                                    "c. That  classis  advise the consistory of the
         served if representatives of the church                                         University Hills CRC to assist Dr. Ellens in
       1 community could examine with him the                                            fulfilling recommendation (b) above.
         degree of his agreement or disagreement                                   "d. That  classis  accept this report as the
         with the Reformed creeds.                                                       fulftiment  of the mandate given to this
         c. Hasty action is inadvisable. Careful                                         committee `to examine with Dr. Ellens his
         investigation and study are necessary, since                                    beliefs that it is a possibility that all men go
         this is a central issue for Reformed theology.                                  to heaven and that this possibility is
                                                                                         supportable on the basis of Scripture.'
         d.  This action takes seriously the efforts and
         concerns of Mr. Kraft in this matter.                                     "e. Motion to thank the committee for their
                                                                                         w o r k   a n d   t o   a d o p t   t h e   f o u r
    "2. That this committee examine with the Rev.                                        recommendations (a-d).                   -Adopted  "
         Mr. Ellens the doctrine of hell, eternal
         p u n i s h m e n t ,   e l e c t i o n ,   a n d   l i m i t e d       Dr.  Kraft  then appealed to synod. In his letter of
         atonement, and the inspiration of Scripture                          appeal he states, "I am appealing this matter to
         in view of their relationship to his beliefs                         synod. Rev. Ellens has preached and taught that it is a
         stated in (1) above.                                                 `possibility' or a live option that all men go to heaven
                                                                              and that this view is supportable on the basis of
    "3. That this committee meet with Dr. Ellens                              Scripture. He did this without  fast presenting his
         frequently enough to  thoroughly  examine                            views in the form of a gravamen and getting approval
         and clarify the issues and hopefully bring                           of the  .church  a s   r e q u i r e d   i n   t h e   f o r m   o f
         this matter to a resolution. This committee                          subscription. . . . . In my judgment any CRC minister
         could advise Dr. Ellens on how to proceed                            who so preaches and teaches should be required to
         with his examination of the issues; could                            confess and repent of his heresy or be removed from
         offer him correction if needed, or could                             the ministry of the CRC. This has not occurred. My
         encourage him to present a  gravamen  if                             call is for discipline." Dr. Kraft furthermore states
         necessary.                                                           that the action of  Classis  Lake Erie is only a warning.
    "4. That this action be declared an answer to                                C. Summary:
         Mr. Kraft's charges and appeal, assuringbim
         that  classis will pursue the matter and seek a                         On the one hand the charge that Dr. Ellens
         resolution."                                                         preaches and teaches "that it is a possibility or live
                                                                              option that all men go to heaven and that this view is
   These recommendations were adopted.                                        supportable on the basis of Scripture" is a charge that
   The newly appointed committee reported to the                              is not substantiated by Dr. Kraft nor reflected in the
May classis meeting. This committee in its conclusion                         decisions of  Classis  Lake Erie. On the other hand
states: "We, with Dr. Ellens conclude that it is not                          Classis  Lake Erie did declare, "that  classis advise Dr.
proper to publicly reveal his question and/or                                 Ellens that at this stage of his investigation his


32                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



statement that it is a possibility that all men go to             conclusion, I am equally guilty of violating the
heaven and that this  possib@ty  is supportable on the            Formula of Subscription. In fact, it is the usual tactic
basis of Scripture disagrees with the statements and              of heretics to begin by suggesting possibilities rather
`intent of the Reformed creeds." The classical                    than blunt conclusions.
committee in its conclusions also states that it
appeared that Dr. Ellens did not make clear to his                   In the third place, the decision of Synod is even
congregation when he was discussing "possibilities"                weaker than that of  Classis Lake Erie. The latter at
and questions and when he was stating  deftite                    least took a stand that Dr. Ellens' position disagreed
conclusions, and thus gave occasion for confusion.                 with the Reformed Creeds, though it failed to advise
      D.  Recommendations:                                         disciplinary action or to declare Dr. Ellens to be de
      1. That synod appoint a committee in  Zoco to               facto suspended from office as is the requirement of
investigate the matter presented by the appeal of Dr.              the Formula of Subscription. But Synod decided
John A. Kraft and to deal pastorally with the parties             upon investigation and so-called pastoral dealing.
involved.                                                            In the fourth place, what about this `"dealing
      Grounds:                                                    pastorally with the parties involved"? Is that not a
      a. There are conflicting interpretations of the              fine idea? Is that not the course of Christian love? I
          report of  Classis  Lake Erie on the issues             will admit that it has a fine sound. But it is deceptive!
          involved.                                               First of all, Synod is not a pastor, and cannot deal
      b. The history of the appeal as presented to synod          pastorally. This is basically a hierarchical notion of
          indicates the need not only of investigation but        the power of ecclesiastical assemblies other than a
          also of pastoral guidance that can best be given         consistory. In the second place, Dr. Kraft was not in
          by a committee  in loco.             -Adopted           need of "pastoral dealing." So it is not correct to
      2. That this committee report back to the Synod             speak of "the parties involved." He was only in need
of 1975 for  final adjudication of the appeal of Dr.              of an ecclesiastical decision sustaining or denying his
Kraft.                                         -Adopted           appeal; and it should have been the former. Thirdly,
      (Note: The Rev. H. Petersen abstained from                  the time for pastoral dealing in a case of violation of
voting on the above recommendations.)                             the Formula of Subscription is  after,  not  before,  a
      What about all this?                                        finding of error and sin; and it is, in the case of
                                                                  o f ficebearers, after, not  before,  suspension from
      In the first place, the  "Summary"~ by the advisory         office. Then there is plenty of time for a consistory -
committee in this matter is rather astounding. The                not a synod - to deal pastorally with (admonish and
conflict which they claim to have discovered appears              rebuke and seek to bring to repentance) its erring
to have been sucked out of the committee's thumb -                minister. Moreover, with all this high sounding talk
unless, of course, there is information which is not              about dealing pastorally, a synod ought to consider
recorded in the printed record. For there is no                   that it is not dealing pastorally with a flock when it
scintilla of evidence that the charge that Dr. Ellens             permits an undershepherd to poison the flock with
preached and taught universalism was an                           false doctrine, and to do so with impunity even for a
unsubstantiated charge, or even that this was an issue            time. True pastoral dealing will surely take into
in the case. On the contrary, when one reads the                  consideration the true welfare of the sheep and will
information given in "Background," he can only                    place the welfare of the flock above the seeming
come to the conclusion that both  Classis Lake Erie               protection of an individual.
and Dr. Kraft (and there is nothing to the contrary
from Dr. Ellens in the record) were certainly agreed                 In the fifth place, the action taken by the Synod
that in one form or another Dr. Ellens had preached               appears to be suspiciously like the kind of action
and taught universalism to his congregation. And the              taken by synods of the  Gereformeerde  Kerlcen  in
striking thing is that though Dr. Ellens must have                recent years. Synod promises "final adjudication" of
known that this matter was going to:Synod, there is               Dr. Kraft's appeal next year. Personally, I will have to
no indication in the printed record that Dr. Ellens               see it to believe it - and even then, remember, it is a
disagreed with any presentation of alleged facts on               year too late. But by this failure to act incisively, by
the part of either Mr. Kraft or the classis. And if there         this choosing of the course of postponement and
is more information than is printed, then this should             dialogue, Synod is putting the door `ajar for all the
have appeared in the record to substantiate the                   .evils which are presently plaguing the GKN.
committee's summary and synod's decision.                           Meanwhile, common grace has borne its finished
 In the second place, the matter of "possibilities" or            fruit - in blatant universalism.
"definite conclusions" is of no merit for the case. If I             And make no mistake! Dr. Ellens is not the only
propose the possibility of universal salvation as being           heretic. There are others. Harold Dekker's rank
Scripturally supportable, or if I propose the definite            Arminianism - never recanted  - is incipient


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  33


modernism and universalism. James Daane's blatant           these intolerable evils but also the fact that 1924 is
denial of reprobation and his insistence that Scripture     the root from which they have grown? And when will
is only saving in its message is incipient universalism.    they exercise their right and duty of reformation  -
                                                            not by splintering, but by joining themselves where
  A question! How long will it take, and how bad            they can discern the marks of the church and where
must things become, before right-thinking Christian         for well-nigh fifty years. those marks have been
Reformed brethren and sisters recognize not only            manifested?


S P E C I A L   R E P O R T

                             National Presbyterian Church
                                 Second General Assembly
                                                 E. C. Case, Pastor
                                             `First Presbyterian Church
                                               Woodville, Mississippi


  By the time this report is printed, most of the              After the preliminaries, including an address by
readers will have heard something about the Second          retiring moderator, W. Jack Williamson of Greenville,
General Assembly of the National Presbyterian               Ala., and the election of Rev. Erskine Jackson of
Church. At the very least, they will most likely know       Kosciusko, Mississippi, the Assembly was confronted
that we are no longer the NPC, but have become the          with the problem of choosing a new name. This item
Presbyterian Church in America. Therefore, the              was destined to occupy the attention of the Assembly
purpose of this effort will be to consider some of the      for a good part of the next three days.
decisions made by the Assembly from a point of view            The problem was brought about by the threat of a
that is very similar to that held by most of the readers    lawsuit by the officers of the National Presbyterian
of the  Standard Bearer.  This writer was a                 Church and Center, Inc., of Washington, D.C. This
commissioner to the Second Assembly and had a first         group is a congregation of the apostate United
hand look at the proceedings.                               Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. They claimed that since
  The Assembly convened in the First Presbyterian           their fund-raising efforts were directed beyond their
Church at Macon, Georgia, which has a distinguished         own congregation and  `over thirty percent of their
history, including the fact that it has hosted two          budget was received from across the nation, their's
other General Assemblies. One of the most interesting       was a ministry of a national character. The resolution
facts about the old church is that it was the site of a     asking the Assembly to change the name made a
city-wide thanksgiving service ordered by the               questionable reference to Matthew  5:40, 41, which
commander of the Union troops who captured the              really deals with our response to those winning a
town during the War Between the States. The senior          judgment against us in court. There was also reference
pastor of the church was so overcome by the                 to the court decision of the late 1930's which ordered
mockery of being required to give thanks for the            that the Presbyterian Church of America (now the
presence of enemy troops that he could not preside at       Orthodox Presbyterian Church) change its name
the service. The task fell to the assistant, Rev.           because it was confusingly similar to the name of the
Goulding, who, in the face of the conqueror, boldly         group from which they had separated. All of this led
proclaimed the Word of God from Psalm 137:3: "For           the Assembly, after a few hours debate, to adopt the
there they that carried us away captive required of us      name National Reformed Presbyterian Church.
a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth,         We thought the matter was settled. But, the next
saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion." I                day, in response to much breast-beating by some of
wondered, as I stood before that church, whether the        the brethren to the effect that we had not really
courage displayed by that man would find a                  complied with the spirit of our decision to change the
complement .in the meeting of the Second Assembly.          name to avoid offending the Washington
  I found that I was to be disappointed.                    c o n g r e g a t i o n, the Assembly reconsidered. After


3           4                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


several more hours of debate, the name Presbyterian             One area where Scriptural principles did win out
Church in America was adopted. I will mention only             was in the matter of the inactive roll. For those
passingly that another objection to the name                   unfamiliar with this ecclesiastical queer duck, let me
previously adopted had been the inclusion of the               say that this is the roll on which are placed members
word "Reformed." Some of the brethren were very                of a church who have not participated in the program
uncomfortable with that word.                                  of the church for a long period of time. It is simply a
     A third attempt to change the name was beaten             device to escape the responsibility of discipline. The
back when the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to                 first General Assembly had eliminated this oddity.
refuse to reconsider again. So, the National                   However, some who were afraid they might hurt
Presbyterian Church has officially become the                  someone's feelings, or were afraid to exercise
Presbyterian Church in America.             '                  discipline, sought to have it reinstated. Finally acting
                                                               in a decisive way, the Assembly rejected the proposal.
     The name problem did not occupy all of the time           We later adopted a specific set of steps to be taken
of the Assembly, though problems associated with               with regard to members needing discipline.
that caused a rather gloomy spirit to settle over the
meeting.                                                         The most explosive controversy of the Assembly
                                                               centered around a proposal by the Committee on
     An item of business which many thought would              Mission to the World, and kept us in session until near
stir extreme controversy was a report dealing with the         one o'clock Friday morning.
question of the so-called "charismatic" gifts. There
was surprisingly little debate about the matter. The             The committee proposed to the Assembly that
pastoral letter which says very little except that these       they be allowed to establish relationships with other
gifts, as related to new revelation, have ceased, was          evangelical mission agencies in order to be able to
adopted as information. The Book of Church Order               send missionaries out under their auspices. At the
section which had brought on the controversy was               same time, these missionaries would maintain full
changed from stating flatly that these extraordinary           relationship to the PCA and there would be a strong
gifts had ceased, to read as follows:                          emphasis on allowing them to proclaim the Reformed
                                                               Truth. It does not take long for one to see that this is
       Under the New Testament, our ,Lord at first             impossible. Most "evangelical" mission agencies are
     collected his people out of different nations and         Arminian  to the core. Even if they will allow
     united them to the household of faith by the ministry
     of extraordinary officers who received extraordinary      Reformed People to go out under their banner, it
     gifts of the Spirit and who were agents by whom God       places us in a position of being tied to a group that
     completed His revelation to His church. Such officers     denies truths we hold very dear. Since the
     and gifts related to new revelation have no successors    missionaries going out under such a group would be
     since God completed His revelation at the conclusion      governed by the rules of the group, the church gives
     of the Apostolic age.                                     up its proper oversight to a para-church organization.
                                                                 Dr. Morton Smith', Stated Clerk of the
     As can be seen, there is nothing wrong with that          denomination and a Professor at Reformed Seminary
statement, as far as it goes. However, it does not rule        in Jackson, Miss., rose to speak eloquently against the
out the possibility that there are other extraordinary         committee's proposal. He pointed out that the first
gifts, not related to new revelation, which have not           Assembly, in adopting "A Message to all Churches of
ceased. This'was obviously a compromise intended to            Jesus Christ," had taken a position directly opposite
keep neo-Pentecostals from leaving the church. I fear          to the proposal of the committee. He cited a section
this compromise will bring nothing but trouble in the          of that "Message" which had been drawn from the
future and destroy what little purity there is in the          "Address to all Churches" adopted by the
church.                                                        Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of
     At the first General Assembly, last December, a           America in 186 1:
committee had been appointed to study the question
of whether ruling elders may perform the sacraments.                 The only thing that will be peculiar to us is the
The majority of this committee reported against such              manner in which we shall attempt to discharge our
a proposal. But, there was a minority report which                 duty. In almost every department of labor, except the
favored allowing ruling elders to function in this way,           pastoral care of congregations, it has been usual for
thereby eliminating the distinction between ruling                 the church to resort to societies more or less closely
and teaching elders. In keeping with the general                   connected with itself, and yet logically and really
                                                                   distinct. It is our purpose to rely upon the regular
attitude of the Assembly not to take a position on                 organs of our government, and executive agencies
anything, the whole matter was committed to the                    directly and immediately responsible to them. We
Committee on Constitutional Documents for further               wish to make the church, not merely a
study.                                                             superintendent, but an agent. We wish to develop the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        35


    idea that fhe congregation of believers, as visibly           I have tried to give a summary of the activity of
    organized is the very society or corporation which is       the General Assembly with commentary. As can be
    divinely called to do the work of the Lord.                 plainly. seen, the Assembly took some very
  These are noble words. As Dr. Smith pointed out,              questionable, nay, wrong, positions. I fear that an
receiving.the committee's recommendation would put              observation made to  .me by the editor of this
us in the position of being hypocritical with regards           magazine is quite correct. There is "considerable
to that statement. Later speakers emphasized the fact           strange fire upon the altar."
that Presbyterian polity was at stake; that we were               Only time can tell what will happen to the PCA.
deciding whether we were Presbyterians or Baptists in           The hopes for a reformed church are tied to
our view of the Church.                                         Reformed Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and a
  Spokesmen for the committee asserted that their               flow of graduates from that seminary into the PCA.
proposal would get the `message of Reformed truth               How ever, if plans for extension seminaries are
into more parts of the World. They failed to note               adopted, that source may well be diluted by
that, at the same time, they were denying and                   night-school Arminians.
destroying Reformed methodology in missions.                      You can mix ice cream into axle grease with little
  The committee carried the day. Once  ,again, the              harm to the axle grease. But the least bit of axle
truth was sacrificed on the altar of expediency to the          grease in a bowl of ice cream ruins the whole dish.
god of Pragmatism. Many of us, not wishing that we              There appears to be the axle grease of error in the ice
be partakers in this abomination,' recorded our                 cream of truth in the Presbyterian Church in
negative votes to the committee's proposal.           .         America.


SIGNS OF THE TIMES

              What Does GRACE Mean To You?
                                                      Rev. G Van Buren


  Among the mass of "junk" mail that regularly                    A list of supporting'churches and members proves
enters one's mailbox, the minister is subjected to              to be rather revealing and enlightening. One would
some in addition to that which most laymen receive.             expect to see (and does) many Lutheran churches on
Here in Grand Rapids, we receive regularly and                  the list, as well as United Methodist and Presbyterian.
without charge, Grace Notes. Judging from its name,             But there are others there too: St. Nicholas
one would think it to be a commendable                          Orthodox, Salvation Army, Society of Friends,
organization. How could it not be - if its emphasis is          several Roman Catholic churches. Not quite so
upon grace? In fact, a recent flier from GRACE asked            expected is the list of supporting Reformed
the question, "What does GRACE mean to you?"                    Churches:  Bethany, Central,  .Church of the Saviour,
Alongside of that question one could  find the                  Ninth, Olivet; and one Christian Reformed Church:
definitions presented in the dictionary. But the flier          LaGrave Ave. But on the list is also Temple Emanuel
identified what GRACE meant to us, here in Grand                - and as the name suggests, it is a Jewish Synagogue.
Rapids. What do you think it means? It's an acronym             One recent news letter from G.R.A.C.E. stated, "We
for  Grand Rapids Area Center  for  Ecumenism.  Not             are very grateful to all who support us; we hope we
surprisingly, this organization uses the symbol of the          are serving you well and look forward to continuing
World Council of Churches: a boat on the sea with a             and increased support from the community. We are
cross as its mast.                                              very pleased to list Mayflower Congregational Church
  G.R.A.C.E. recently adopted a new constitution                and Temple Emanuel as new members this year."
setting forth its purposes and goals. G.R.A.C.E. itself         Well - that is how ecumenism goes in our city.
originated out of an organization of ministers in                 The purpose of G.R.A.C.E. is stated in  its
Grand Rapids. Its new form makes it broader than                constitution, adopted on January 29, 1974:
the earlier organization, and allows it to further the                The purpose of GRACE shall be to promote
cause of ecumenism.                                                 programs and activities that will reflect the concerns


36                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


       of the faith community represented in the greater                                   Let us keep in mind what has been going on. It is a
       Grand Rapids area. Recognizing the diversity of                                   fact of our times that the drive towards formal
       congregations, GRACE  will not seek to effect                                     mergers of churches has somewhat floundered. Some
       doctrinal unity, but shall endeavor to bring together                             mergers are still in the wind. Most have fizzled. That
       people of concern, through joint ministry, based on                               is the case often because many people in individual
       the strengths and resources of our Judaeo-Christian                               denominations refuse to go along with leaders who
       heritage, demonstrating the power of ecumenism.                                   are more ecumenically minded.
      G.R.A.C.E. proposes to work through two major                                        What is the next best thing  - and perhaps even
units of ministry: Ministries to the Church and                                          better in the long run than formal mergers? That is
Ministries to the Community. It professes "to enable                                     cooperation with all sorts of groups. Many peoples,
collective action where individual action would be                                       many churches, cooperating together, can accomplish
impractical or impossible." G.R.A.C.E. presents a                                        very much. And in the process of this cooperation,
statement also of its activities for 1974:                                               these churches and people come' to know and
          Activities in 1974: representation on numerous                                 appreciate each other. They come to admire the
       boards of community agencies; workshops: Criminal                                 respective strengths of each group. These become fast
       Justice, Religious Education Resources; Resources for                             friends. They may remain in their own separate
       counseling, planning and management, Death and                                    denominations, but they are one in heart and mind.
       Dying, Serendipity; research and planning for
       churches and community organizations. We are also                                   It is this sort of ecumenism which must be
       involved in planning for and implementing                                         deplored and denounced as wrong. How can there be
       ecumenical worship experiences. Through the media                                 union in spiritual endeavors, in areas of education, by
      m i n i s t r i e s   d e p a r t m e n t   w e   a r e   i n v o l v e d   i n    those who are not one doctrinally? How can, for
       programming for religious topics in radio and TV as                               instance, Reformed unite with Roman Catholic (of
       well as instrumental in securing fair employment                                  whom the Reformed confess that these are guilty of
      practices in the media industry.                                                   an accursed idolatry)? How can Jew and Christian
          GRACE also works closely with Church Women                                     support the same projects? Fact is, light and darkness,
       United, the Sunday Evening Club, the Grand Rapids                                 the truth and the lie, can not unite together. Working
      Ministerial Alliance and the Religious Educators of                                together may "demonstrate the power of
       our Area.                                                                         ecumenism," but it surely does not demonstrate the
      G.R.A.C.E. recently (Sept. 8) held an "Ecumenical                                  power of the cross.
Service of Prayer and Praise confirming Gerald R.                                          A further consequence of this sort of ecumenism is
Ford as President." The clergy of the city as well as                                    becoming very evident, especially among the youth.
others were invited to participate on Sunday at 7:30                                     These see no major differences anymore between
p.m. Prayers were offered by all those gathered                                          churches. They see no reason for separation. These
together. This is one example of the "ecumenical                                         increasingly approve closer ties between churches.
programs" of the "faith community" that this                                             And intermarriage between those of differing,
organization sponsors. Many have considered such                                         radically differing, churches (at least, in former years)
action praiseworthy and deserving of the support of                                      is on the increase. If the rabbi, priest, and minister
any true Christian.                                                                      can cooperate in many projects, why can not the
      More distrubing have been recent announcements                                     youth unite in marriage with those of differing
which link G.R.A.C.E. with Pine Rest Hospital. At                                        religious backgrounds? Why not "demonstrate the
least two announcements I have received, inform the                                      power of ecumenism" in this way? An ecumenism
clergy that "Grace and the Chaplains, Department of                                      which could not attain its goal of formal unions, now
Pine Rest Christian Hospital invite you to a film                                        seems to have been more successful through a unity
discussion and lunch, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1974 at                                       in separation by cooperation. And it is having a
Pine Rest Christian Hospital." I am uncertain what is                                    decided effect upon the churches and especially the
involved in this joint sponsorship. However, there is                                    youth.
at least the appearance of what I would consider to                                        Criticism can justly be raised also concerning joint
be an unholy alliance.                                                                   prayer and worship services. Now no true child of
      Well, what's wrong with all of this? What                                          God is against proper prayer. And surely prayer is not
objections could we possibly have for organizations,                                     uttered only by those of one specific denomination.
such as G.R.A.C.E., providing .for such endeavors                                        But: in these joint services, are all really praying to
which perhaps individual churches could not? One                                         the same God? When all are invited, from Temple
might indeed be regarded as a "stick in the mud" or                                      Emanuel to  LaGrave Ave. Christian Reformed (and
some sort of fool for refusing cooperation.                                              we were too), can one really believe that unitedly
Opposition to all of this is considered tantamount to                                    these all would be addressing the same God? Can those
opposing Christ and His work.                                                            guilty of "accursed idolatry" unite in prayer with


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                37


those who confess, `"I am not my own but belong to         but part of the world-wide endeavor to unite
my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ"? Can those who           mankind.
deny Christ as Son of God unite in prayer with those
who acknowledge Him as Divine? Can those who                  We too must be warned. Our youth must beware.
deny or question the hereafter unite in prayer with        Be not swayed by the siren songs of unity and
those who look for the new heavens and new earth           ecumenism. There may and can be the seeking of
where righteousness dwells? The answer ought to be         proper fellowship between those of  Iike mind also
obvious.                                                   within different denominations. But worship and
                                                           prayer and cooperation in various endeavors between
   I am convinced that in this instance G.R.A.C.E. is      those of vastly different doctrinal positions certainly
not grace. This sort of G.R.A.C.E. can only serve to       is not a fulfillment of Christ's prayer, "That they may
tear down and destroy the foundations of the church.       .all be one." Mark this sign of the end of the age. We
Increasingly, there. is less opposition to improper and    will be seeing much more of this sort of thing in the
godless unions. The idea of cooperation is appealing.      next months and years.
In unity there appears to be strength. And all this is


THE VOICE OF OUR  FA'THERS


                                     The Belgic Confession

                                              ProJ: Robert D. Decker



I n t r o d u c t i o n   '                                wish to separate ourselves. It is true that creeds are
   This is the third time in the fifty year history of     products of their times and we shall take note of this
The Standard Bearer that an exposition of the Belgic       as we proceed with our exposition of each article of
(or Netherlands) Confession of Faith is begun. The         the Belgic Confession. Nevertheless it is our firm
first exposition is a brief series written in the Dutch    conviction that the Three Forms of Unity express
language and may be found in volume VII. In volume         eloquently the truth of the infallibly inspired
XXXVII Prof. H. C. Hoeksema began a, new series            Scriptures. If the Church is really serious about her
which, due to the press of other editorial duties, was     calling she could do no better than listen carefully to
never completed. Several articles appeared from the        "the voice of our fathers." If ever there was a time
pen of the Rev. J. Kortering who is now editor of the      when the Church needs to be firmly anchored in the
rubric, The Strength of Youth. It is our prayer that       truth of the Scriptures as set forth in the Belgic
God in His mercy may grant that this new series of         Confession, it is now. The truth is assailed on every
expositions of the Belgic Confession may be                crucial point and the departures from the faith occur
completed.                                                 so rapidly that one can hardly keep abreast of them.
                                                           The Church and our Protestant Reformed Churches
   As we begin we pray, too, that these expositions        in particular had better know the truth lest the
may contribute toward a deeper understanding and           lament of God's prophet be true of them: "My
appreciation of the faith of our fathers; The danger       people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. .  ."
threatening the Church of our time is not dead             (Hosea 4: 6)
orthodoxy as so many allege. The opinion is widely
held that the Church must revise and update the            The Historic Setting. . .
creeds because they as products of their time do not         To understand and appreciate the Belgic
accurately reflect the faith of the Church in the          Confession we ought to know something of the
twentieth century. The creeds, so it is said, do not       fascinating historical situation in which it was
speak to the issues we are facing in these days. If the    written. Because the period into which we delve is as
!Church refuses to revise her creeds she will become       detailed and complicated as it is fascinating we shall
hopelessly enmeshed in the past and become unable          offer but a sketch drawn in only a few, broad strokes.
to fulfil her task in the world. From this position we     Those readers interested in further study may consult


38                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


any good Reformation history text or Dr. Peter Y.             appointed his sister, Margaret of Parma, as his regent.
DeJong's  two volume exposition of the Belgic                 Margaret, with the assistance of a council of three,
Confession entitled  The Church's Witness To The              flagrantly ignored the rights of the nobility. At this
World.                                                        point Prince William of Orange became leader of the
      Our interest is in the lowlands during the fifteenth    resistance movement which eventually won
and sixteenth centuries. These territories included           independence for the northern provinces. By the
what are now the countries of The Netherlands,                papal bull of 1559 the lands were divided into fifteen
Belgium, and northern France and at that time were            bishoprics and three archbishoprics, appointments to
called simply, Netherlands. Until 1477 these lands            which were made only by the pope. Politically and
had been ruled by the Burgundian princes whose line           religiously the lowlands was in the cruel grip of Philip
became extinct at that date. In 15 15 Charles of              II.
Spain, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, began his                  By now the teachings of Calvin had entered the
rule. Having been crowned emperor. of the Holy                Netherlands and won the allegiance of thousands.
Roman Empire in 1521 Charles set about the task of            These were attracted to the clear, simple statement of
unifying the independent states under his rule. This          the Christian faith rooted solely in the Word of God
meant trouble, for the states of the lowlands were            which Calvinism offered. While the Anabaptists
rather fiercely independent. Though the writings of           continued with no little vigor, Calvinism gained a
Martin Luther were widely read they had minimal               significant foothold among the people of the
impact on the people of the lowlands. The latter, who         lowlands. Among the leaders of the Calvinistic
found themselves being robbed of rights and                   Reformation in the Netherlands was Guido de Bres,
privileges almost daily under Charles V, were much            the author of the Belgic Confession.
more attracted to the teachings of the Anabaptists            Guido de Bres
who advocated defiance of the government. Charles
V, believing himself to be king by divine right, and                 The statement of P.Y.  DeJong is worthy of
being a faithful son of the Roman Catholic Church,            emphasis: "The memory of this intrepid preacher and
initiated the infamous inquisition in an attempt to           teacher of the holy gospel deserves to be permanently
compel the people of the lowlands to submit to the            enshrined in our hearts." (The Church's Witness To
pope. By 1524 the inquisition was in full swing with          The Wc+d, vol. I, p. 21)
papal approval.                                                      We are told that just prior to his brith (ca. 1522) de
      What the Scriptures say of Israel in Egypt's            Bres' mother heard the preaching of an Augustinian
bondage could be said of the saints who suffered              monk, Hendrik van Zutphen, as he traveled through
under the inquisition: "the more they were afflicted,         Mons, de Bres' birthplace, on his way to Wittenberg.
the more they multiplied and grew." And they were             Upon hearing the message his mother prayed that if
afflicted! Historians tell us that more Christians were       the Lord gave her a son he might become a preacher.
put to death in the sixteenth century than in the days        Little did she realize what God had in store for her
of the persecution of the early church by the Roman           son. As child de Bres was brought up in the Roman
emperors. In 1529 an ordinance was imposed which              Catholic faith. Later he described himself as being at
ruled that all' who made insulting remarks about              first unbelieving and blind! Apparently, though we
images of God, the virgin or saints, failed to report         know very little of-his early life, he was converted to
heretics, or who even discussed questions about the           the Reformed faith at an early age.
faith were to be put to death. Even this failed to stem         These were not easy times for the faithful, for the
the tide. The printing presses were groaning under the        flames of persecution under the Spanish ruler were
load of forbidden books and reformation literature            burning fiercely. Everywhere those suspected of
poured into the lowlands especially from Germany.             heresy were hunted and if found, subjected to the
By 1540 all heretics were deprived of their property          most cruel tortures and put to death. In 1547 de Bres
and those who sheltered heretics were liable to the           fled for his life to England where under Edward VI
death penalty.                                                adherents to the Reformed faith were cordially
      Charles V died and was succeeded by his son,            welcomed. During the nearly live years de Bres spent
Philip II, in 1555. If Charles was a faithful son of the      in England he came into contact with several gifted
Roman Catholic Church, Philip was fanatical in his            leaders of the Reformation. Among these were John a
devotion to Rome. He recognized that the                      Lasco, the homeless Polish nobleman, who was
Netherlands with its industrial and commercial                pastoring a refugee church in London; and, Petrus
advances was crucial to the success of the Spanish            Dathenus, an outstanding preacher; later considered
Empire. In order to increase his control of the               to be the father of the liturgy of the Dutch churches.
lowlands he increased taxes and withdrew the                  In 1552 de Bres was able to return to his homeland
constitutional privileges of many of its cities. Philip       where he traveled from city to city preaching the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               39


Reformed faith and gathering small groups of                 During the night of Nov. 1, 156 1, he took a copy
believers into congregations. During this time he          of his Confession of Faith, together with a letter
wrote his first book,  Le Baston de la Foy                 addressed to the authorities,- and tossed it over the
Chrestienne, "The Rod of the Christian Faith." In          castle wall where the commissioners of Margaret of
this volume de Bres, by quoting voluminously from          Parma were lodging. de Bres became the object of an
the Bible, demonstrated that what he and others were       intense and relentless search. The years 156 1 to 1566
teaching was the truth of the Word of God. Many of         were spent in exile in France among the Calvinists.
the subjects dealt with, as well as the general outline    Subsequently de Bres returned and ,became pastor of
of this book, are incorporated in the Belgic               a congregation in Valenciennes, a town in southern
Confession. After a period of exile in Frankfurt,          Netherlands. When the iconoclastic disturbances
Lausanne, and Geneva, de Bres was able to return to        broke out and many images and relics were destroyed
southern Netherlands in 1559, at which time he             and Roman Catholic sanctuaries profaned, the
married Catherine  Ramon. Under Philip II the              hostility of the authorities knew no bounds. The city
floodgates of persecution were opened and all who          was besieged and capitulated after three months. de
broke with the Romish church were accused of               Bres was captured while fleeing and imprisoned. On
undermining the authority of government, a charge          the evening of May 30, 1567, having refused to deny
stemming from the excesses of some of the                  the Reformed faith, Guido de Bres was hanged. He is
anabaptists with whom the Reformers were lumped            said to have addressed his fellow prisoners: "My
by the enemies of the Reformation.                         brethren, today I am condemned to death for the
  For the two-fold purpose of replying to these            doctrine of the Son of God. Let Him be praised for
unfounded charges and instructing the faithful, de         this. I am very glad on account of it. I never thought
Bres wrote his Confession of Faith. He was laboring        that God would show me such an honor. I feel my
in Toumai, a city wrested from the French by Charles       heart swelling with grace, which God causes to
V in 1521. Both because of the reformers who               descend upon me more and more; and I  .am from
resided there and on account of this city's sympathies     moment to moment strengthened. My heart springs
for the French, Tournai was closely watched by the         with joy within me."
authorities. When a large group of believers                 This is how precious the Reformed faith was to
spontaneously gathered in a public place and began         Guido de Bres. He lived for what he wrote in the
singing the Psalms, which was strictly forbidden,          Belgic Confession and he died for it. Would we?
Margaret of  Parma ordered the arrest of all those
suspected of heresy. de Bres was forced to flee once.
more.                                                                              * *  rc



THE DAY OF SHADOWS

                                      Sovereign Separation

                                                Rev. John A. Heys


  By faith Abram left Ur of the Chaldees to go to the      perhaps, he had never given'any or much thought. He
land of Canaan.                                            may have heard of the land, but he certainly never
  He was not some venturesome soul looking for             gave any thought to moving there and living there.
something better or different. He was not a man with       The verse also explains that he went by faith. He
a pioneering spirit who had dreams of other places for     believed God when He told him that there He would
himself and his family to settle in  .for fleshly          make of him a great nation. He obeyed God because
advantage. He was not at odds with his relatives and       He trusted Him. He believed God's covenant promises
neighbours so that it became wise for him to leave .the    even apart from this new aspect of God's covenant.
                                                           He believed that he belonged to the seed of the
area and get as much distance between himself and          woman, was of the seed of Shem, with whom God
them as possible.                                          had established His covenant and whose God He
  Hebrews 11:6 declares that God called him to leave       would be. It was by faith that he took such a long
and to go to a place he had never seen, and to which,      and important journey to come to Canaan.


40                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      But even as faith brought him into the land of           With Abram it was no such situation, but he
promise, unbelief soon brought him out. Unbelief did         figured that his life was in danger and failed to put his
not bring him back to the land of ,his. fathers. He did      trust in the God Who said that He would make of him
not lose his faith. But he did falter, and in an act of      a great nation and would give him the whole land.
unbelief he left the promised land because there was a       And lack of trust in God is sin. Unbelief is sin, and let
famine in the land. He never considered the sin of           us not try to deceive ourselves into minimizing it and
returning. His faith never left him so that he turned        by labeling it anything less than sin. It is saying that
his back upon God and lost all interest in the land          God is not God. In Abram's case it was saying that
promised him. God will never allow His children to           God might not be,able to keep His promise without
do that. But they, as Abram, can sin. They as Abram          Abram's help. It was questioning His almighty power;
can falter in their faith and walk in a way of unbelief      and that is sin against God!
for a time.                                                     And one sin leads to another.
      With Abram it was a case of full intention of going       Unbelief breeds unbelief, lack of trust breeds more
back, of believing that this was his land and that he
would inherit it. It was a case of being sure that God-      lack of trust, as rats breed rats. Having succeeded in
                                                             getting Abram to doubt God's word, Satan got him to
would fulfill all His promises. It was therefore also his    corrupt his own words. He, with  Sarai, his wife,
intent only to sojourn in Egypt, not move there for a        resorted to the lie, to a half truth which is a lie as well
permanent place of residence.                                as an open falsehood. They schemed to hide the truth
      Nevertheless it was an act of unbelief. It was a       that  Sarai was Abram's wife and spread the lie that
failure to trust fully the God Who called him and            she was his sister. It was bearing false witness; and
placed him in that land of famine. Indeed, Genesis           although it was not false witness against the
12: 10 calls it a grievous famine. It was not a matter       Egyptians in that it falsified their words and got them
of having had choice food and of now experiencing            in trouble because they were found guilty when not
lower living standards. It was a matter of the               actually guilty, but because it did get them into
necessities of life being so scarce that life itself         trouble through no deliberate act of evil on their part.
seemed threatened. And before we become harsh and            Pharaoh took  Sarai to be his wife in good faith
overly critical with Abram, let us look around, and in       believing the half truth of Abram and Sarai.
the mirror, and see how in a land of the highest
standards of living man has ever known, we find men,           This ought to be a double warning to us and to our
                                                             children. Not only does sin produce nothing but sin,
(and maybe ourselves) going on strike for the choicest
of steaks, while they are still well able to eat cheaper     one sin breeds more sin. And when we sin, we not
                                                             only hurt ourselves by adding to our guilt before
cuts of meat, fill their stomachs with all kinds of          God, but we place ourselves in the position wherein
delicacies, having a trailer and a boat in their back
yards, spending thousands of dollars on vacations,           we endanger the neighbour with whom we are to
                                                             walk in love before God.        -
never spending a penny or only a few, on church or
school, and say that they cannot make ends meet!               We had not better foolishly try to defend Abram
Their homes are more luxurious than that of many             and Sarai. (And she, of course, was as guilty as Abram
kings in years gone by, and they have just traded in         in the matter.) We had not better say that they had to
their black and white television set for the one with        seek food for their lives and that Abram had a
the biggest screen made` for color television. These         responsibility toward his family. Of course he did.
"necessities" force them to forego the top choice of         But one's responsibility given one by God never
foods, and they cry of hardships and violate God's           demands sin, distrust and the lie. And that Abram's
law to seek to climb higher while knowing a luxury           move to Egypt was sinful is evident in that he found
unknown to Abram and his contemporaries. And in              it necessary to tell a lie there to protect that life that
the church world this is not at all a rare thing either.     was threatened by famine in Canaan. The point is
Nor are such strikes condemned, and membership in            this: Abram did not put his trust in God to give him
such organizations called what it is, namely,                bread, and so he is in no spiritual condition to put his
agreements to violations of the fifth and eighth             trust in God to keep his life from being taken by
commandments. It is lording it over the master               Pharaoh. He did not pray to God to ask what he
instead of honouring him. And it is stealing his             should do. He simply spoke out to  Sarai and said,
property in that the strike declares, "We will see to it     "We are going to Egypt for food." Therefore he also
that you make no money and lose in your business, in         had to say to  Sarai, "You tell all in Egypt the half
order to force you to give us a higher standard, one as      truth that you are my sister." In effect this meant,
close to yours as we can get!" And the church will           an-d he could just as well have said "Deceive them in
often approve rather than condemn such evil!           :     regard to our closer relationship of husband and
                                                             wife."


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                            41


  It is on the background of such unfaithfulness on          mercy, even though he strayed from the land of
man's part that God reveals His faithfulness and             promise, for OUR SAKES! Appreciate that. Praise
assures us that His covenant stands because He is            God for it!
unchangeably merciful and true to His Word. He                  And remember that it all is possible because of
promised a Seed of the woman Who would give us               Him Who came out of Abram's loins and as the last
victory.  He. had narrowed down the line of those            Adam, and our new Covenant Head, was never guilty
from whom this Seed would be born. It was to                 of any covenant breaking. He fulfilled God's law and
Abram, and although not literally stated, through his        broke not a single commandment from any aspect of
wife,  Sarai, that God was going to give that Seed.          its truth. He loved God with a pure and perfect heart.
Sarai as well as Abram must be spared for our sakes,         He suffered the punishment of Abram's and  Sarai's
for the covenant's sake. The Christ must be born of          and your and my sins and lies and rebellion and
Abram and his lawful wife in a line that would soon          covenant breaking. And for His sake we are guarded
be narrowed down to Judah and David.: And even               in God's grace, even when we least deserve it.
though in sinfulness, in a faltering faith Abram went
down to Egypt and trusted in his own lie to protect             In a sense that sums up the whole of Scripture
him, God's goodness and mercy followed him that we           which shows us a fallen man so very soon after his
may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He saves         perfect creation in God's image. The whole of
us not only from sin but in spite of our sins.               Scripture shows us to be sinners, and even after being
                                                             brought to faith, shows us to be saints who falter in
  All this was in sovereign, unchangeable grace. God         their faith, often look more like unbelievers than
was under no obligation to continue His covenant             believers. And' on this background Scripture shows a
with Abram anymore than He was with Adam, who                faithful God Who guards us as the apple of His eye, is
had been created in a covenant relationship with God.        gracious to us and blesses us, even though we are so
Adam became a covenant breaker, and God drove                very unfaithful so very often.
him out of the covenant garden where they had sweet
communion together. Then in sovereign and                       We can read, and do read in the Scriptures of
unchangeable grace He saved Adam and gave rich               faltering faith; but never do we read of faltering
covenant promises. Now, too, He is dealing with a            grace. We can read and do read of saints who are not
covenant breaker, one who left the land where God            on guard while the enemy is seeking their destruction;
called him to live and wait for a son, and a great           but we never read of God being caught off guard or
nation, and the land itself. Abram had not kept his          failing to guard His elect children. Faithless and
part of the covenant. He had gone away from the              unfaithful we are so often. No man has ever or ever
covenant land. God was under no obligation to                will find Him unfaithful.
protect, to guard him in Egypt; and He did bring great          Truly it may be said, as one has once cleverly
fear into his heart by having his wife taken from him.       pointed out by using each letter of the word grace to
  But the gospel runs throughout the whole of                form a new word and a definition of that grace of
Scripture; and we see and read of it here. In His grace      God," Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense."
G.od guarded Abram and Sarai. He let no harm befall          Indeed, without Christ there is no explanation for
them, though they asked for great harm and serious           this guarding grace of God to faltering Abram, or to
results upon their lie.                                      you and me. Though cast to the depth of hell for our
  The word is grace, sovereign, precious, wonderful          sins, He continued to love the Father and cry for His
                                                             fellowship. And in Him we have pardon. At His
grace!                                                       expense we enjoy God's unchangeable grace. Let that
  What Abram - and let not us not overlook, what             encourage us when we find ourselves having faltered
we  - did not deserve, God bestowed. The angel of            in our faith. Let it not lead us to carelessness and
God went with him. God did not forget or forsake             more sin, but to a thankful appreciation of salvation
him, but sent an angel to guard him well, and to             that is all of grace.
protect him for our sakes. Do not read this passage of          For here, too, on the pages of Holy Writ we have
Holy Writ as simply an account of what happened to           the glorious message of the gospel that we are not
Abram and in his life. Remember that God's Church            saved by works but by the grace of an unchangeable
is one body, and all the members belong together.
God was here following Abram with His goodness and           God.



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42                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH


                        Eschatol,ogy  - The First Period  -
                                            The Resurrection
                                                          Rev. H. Veldman


      Discussing the doctrine of the  ,resurrection as                 compressed into ashes; or is attenuated into smoke, is
taught and set forth by the church during the years,                   withdrawn from us, but it is reserved for God in the
80 A.D. to  250 A.D., we called attention in our                       custody of the elements. Nor, as you believe, do we
preceding article to the writings on this subject of                   fear any loss from  sepulture,   but we adopt the
                                                                       ancient and better custom of burying in the earth.
Athenagorus. We now continue with these fathers                        See, therefore, how for our consolation  all nature
during these early years of the church in the New                      suggests a future resurrection. The sun  sinks down
Dispensation, calling attention first to'Minucius  Felix.              and arises, the stars pass away and return, the flowers
      We read of this writer in Vol. IV of the                         die and revive again, after their  wintry decay the
Ante-Nicene Fathers, pages 169 f.f. Minucius Felix is                  shrubs resume their leaves, seeds do not flourish again
said by Jerome to have been an advocate at Rome                        unless they are rotted: which in winter hide their
prior to his conversion to Christianity. Very little else              verdure with a deceptive dryness. Why are you in
is known of his history. And nothing is known with                     haste for it to revive and return, while the winter is
                                                                       still raw? We must wait also for the spring-time of the
any certainty, except the dialogue, known as the                       body. And I am not ignorant that many, in the
Octavius of Minucius Felix, from which we will                         consciousness of what they deserve, rather desire than
presently quote. This  Octavius  is a supposed                         believe that they shall be nothing after death; for
argument between the heathen Caecilius and the                         they would prefer to be altogether extinguished,
Christian Octavius, the writer being requested to                      rather than to be restored for the purpose of
arbitrate between the disputants. The date of its                      punishment. And their error also is enhanced, both
composition is still a matter of keen dispute.                         by the liberty granted them in this life, and by God's
                                                                       very  great  patience, whose judgment, the more tardy
      In chapter  XXXTV the following argument is                      it is, is so much the more just.
pursued: Moreover, it is not at all to be wondered at                 And in chapter XXXV the argument is advanced
if this world is to be consumed by fire, since                     that the righteous and pious men shall be rewarded
everything which has a beginning has also an end.                  with never-ending felicity, but unrighteous men shall.
And the ancient philosophers are not averse to the                 be visited with eternal punishment. The morals of
opinion of the probable burning up of the world. Yet               Christians are far more holy than those of  the
it is evident that God, having made man from                       gentiles. This concludes our quotations from the
nothing, can raise him up from death into life. And                writings of Minucius Felix. However, we WY quote,
all nature suggests a future resurrection. We now read             the Lord willing, from other church fathers, such as
the following:                                                     Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and
                                                                   others, in subsequent articles.
          But who. is so foolish or so brutish as to dare to
       deny that man, as he could first of all be formed by           The names of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and
       God, so can again be re-formed; that he is nothing          Tertullian are familiar to many of our readers.
       after death, and that he was nothing before he began        Clement of Rome and Theophilus of Antioch have
       to exist; and as from nothing it was possible for him       also expressed themselves with respect to the
       to be born, so from nothing it may be possible for
       him to be restored? Moreover, it is more difficult. to      resurrection.
       begin that which is not, than to repeat that which has         Clement, known as Clement of Rome, in
       been. (Is this necessarily true? Is it easier, for          distinction from Clement of Alexandria, was
       example, to make an egg, than to restore perfectly a        probably a Gentile and a Roman. He seems to have
       shattered one? - H.V.) Do you think that, if
       anything is withdrawn from our feeble eyes, it              been at  Philippi  with Paul (A.D. 57) when that
       perishes to God? Every body, whether it is dried up         first-born of the Western churches was passing
       into dust, or is dissolved into moisture, or is             through great trials of faith. There, with holy women


                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                            43



and others, he ministered to the apostle and to the                                               and slept; I awaked, because Thou art with me"; and
saints. In his first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter                                          again, Job says, "Thou shalt raise up this flesh of
XXIV, he writes, and we quote:                                                                   mine, which has suffered all these things." (It appears
          Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord                                                  from the above that Clement believed this fable.)
      continually proves to us that there shall be a future                                    T h e o p h i l u s   df  A n t i o c h   a l s o   w r o t e   o n   t h e
      resurrection, of which He has rendered the Lord Jesus                                resurrection. Little is known of the personal history
      Christ the fnstfruits by raising Him from the dead.                                  o f   T h e o p h i l u s .   I t   i s   b e l i e v e d   t h a t   h e   w a s   b o r n   a
      Let us contemplate, beloved, the resurrection which
      is at all times taking place. Day and night declare to                               pagan, and owed his conversion to Christianity to the
      us a resurrection. The night sinks to sleep, and the                                 grace of God and the careful study of the Holy
      day arises; the day (again) departs, and the night                                   Scriptures. In chapter VII, writing to his friend,
      comes on. Let us behold the fruits (of the earth), how                               Autolycus, he writes:
      the sowing of grain takes place. The sower goes forth,                                          When thou shalt have put off the mortal, and put
      and casts it into the ground; and the seed being thus                                      on incorruption, then shalt thou see God worthily.
      scattered, though dry and naked when it fell upon the                                      For God will raise thy flesh immortal with thy soul;
      earth, is gradually dissolved. Then out of its                                             and then, having become immortal, thou shalt see the
      dissolution the' mighty power of the providence of                                         Immortal, if now you believe on Him; and then you
      the Lord raises it up again, and from one seed many                                        shall know that you have spoken unjustly against
      arise and bring forth fruit.                                                               Him.
    In chapter XXV of this epistle he speaks of a                                              And in chapter VIII of this writing He writes the
wonderful sign, the phoenix as an emblem of our                                            f o l l o w i n g :
resurrection, and we quote, leaving it to  our readers                                                But you do not believe that the dead are raised.
to judge of its importance:                                                                      When the resurrection-shall take place, then you will
          Let us consider that wonderful sign (of the                                            believe, whether you will or no; and your  faith.shall
     resurrection) which takes place in Eastern lands, that'                                     be reckoned for unbelief, unless you believe now.
     is;in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a                                      And why do you not believe? Do you not know that
     certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only                                    faith is the leading principle in all matters? For what
      one of its kind, and lives five hundred years                                              husbandman can reap, unless he first trust his seed to
      [according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, a                                       the earth? Or who can cross the sea, unless he first
     phoenix is a legendary bird which according to one                                          entrust himself to the boat and the pilot? And what
      account lived 500 years, burned itself to ashes on a                                       sick person can be healed, unless first he trust himself
     pyre, and rose youthfully alive from the ashes to live                                      to the care of the physician? And what art or
      another period-H.V.]. And when the time of its                                             knowledge can any one learn, unless he first apply
      dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself                                  and entrust himself to the teacher? If, then, the
      a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices,                                       husbandman trusts the earth, and the sailor the boat,
     into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and                                       and the sick the physician, will you not place
      dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is                                    confidence in God, when you hold so many pledges
     produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the                                       at His hand? For first He created you out of
      dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has                                        nothing, and brought you into existence (for if your
      acquired strength, it takes up the nest in which are                                       father was not, nor your mother, much more were
     the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes                                        you yourself at one time not in being), and formed
     from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called                                      you out of a small and moist substance, even out of
     Jeliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all                                    the least drop, which at one time had itself no being;
     men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and                                            and God introduced you into this life. Moreover, you
     having done this, hastens back to its former abode.                                         believe that the images made by men are gods, and do
     The priests than inspect the registers of the dates, and                                    great things; and can you not believe that the God
      find that it has  retumed  exactly as the five hundredth                                   Who made you is able also to make you afterwards?
     year was completed.                                                                        Also Justin Martyr writes on the resurrection. To
    In a footnote of this chapter, it is stated that this                                  him we have referred in the past. Justin Martyr was a
f a b l e   r e s p e c t i n g   t h e   p h o e n i x   i s   m e n t i o n e d   b y    Gentile, but born in  Samaria, near Jacob's well. He
Herodotus and by Pliny, and is used as above by                                            m u s t   h a v e   b e e n   w e l l   e d u c a t e d :   h e   h a d   t r a v e l l e d
Tertullian and by others of the Fathers. And then, in                                      extensively, and he seems to have been a person
chapter XXVI of this epistle, Clement writes:                                              enjoying at least a competence. The writings of Justin
          Do we then deem it any great and wonderful thing                                 Martyr are among the most important that have come
      for the Maker of all things to raise up again those that                             down to us from the second century. He was not the
      have piously served Him in the, assurance of a good                                  f i r s t   t h a t .   w r o t e   a n   A p o l o g y   i n   b e h a l f   o f   t h e
      faith, when even by a bird He shows us the mightiness
      of His power to  fulfil His promise? For the Scripture                               Christians, but his Apologies are the earliest extant.
      saith in a certain place, "Thou shalt raise me up, and I                             They are characterized by intense Christian fervor. He
      shall confess unto Thee;" and again, "I laid me down,                                w r i t e s   o n   t h e   r e s u r r e c t i o n   i n   w h a t   i s   k n o w n   a s


44                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



Fragments  of  the Lost Work  of  Justin on the                         believe He had truly risen in the body, and were
Resurrection.                                                           looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them,
      Justin Martyr speaks of the resurrection in .these                "Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I"; and He let
Fragments  in several chapters. He speaks of the                        them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the
objections that are raised against the resurrection of                  nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind
the flesh. He also asks the question whether, when                      of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the
the members rise, they must discharge the same                          body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they
                                                                        might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had
functions as now. Then he asks whether the deformed                     in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb
shall rise as deformed. It is interesting, I believe, to                and fish., [but is it not Jesus Who-asks them whether
quote this passage of Justin Martyr:                                    they have any meat?  - H.V.] And when He had thus
           Well, they say, if then the flesh rise, it must rise         shown  them that there is truly a resurrection of the
      the same as it falls; so that if it die with one eye, it          flesh,  wishing  to show them this also, that it is not
      must rise one-eyed; if lame, lame; if defective in any            impossible for flesh to ascent into heaven (as He had
      part of the body,  in this part the man must rise                 said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was
      deficient. How truly blinded are they in the eyes of              taken up into heaven while they beheld," as He was
      their hearts! For they have not seen on the earth                 in the flesh. If, therefore, after all that has been said,
      blind men seeing again, and the lame walking by His               any one demand demonstration of the resurrection,
      word. All things which the Saviour did, He did in the            he is in no respect different from the Sadducees, since
      first place in order that what was spoken concerning              the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God, and,
      Him in the prophets might be fulfdled, "that the                  being above all reasoning, is established by faith, and
      blind should receive sight, and the deaf hear," and so            seen in works.
      on; but also to induce the belief' that in the                  And then, in a concluding paragraph, this church
      resurrection the flesh shall rise entire. For if on earth    father declares that the body, having been saved, will
      He healed the sicknesses of the flesh, &rid made the
      body whole, much more will He do this in the                 therefore rise. Justin Martyr speaks of the body as the
      resurrection, so that the flesh shall rise perfect and       home of the soul, and of the soul as the house of the
      entire. In this manner, then, shall those dreaded            spirit. These three, according to him, will be saved in
      difficulties of theirs be healed.                            all those who cherish a sincere hope and
  In chapter                                                       unquestioning faith in God. And inasmuch as the
                       X  of these  Fragments  Justin Martyr
writes that the resurrection of Christ proves that the             Saviour in the whole Gospel shows that there is
body rises, and we quote:                                          salvation for the flesh, he deplores the lamentable
                                                                   f a c t   t h a t   w e   s h o u l d   a n y   l o n g e r   e n d u r e
           If He had no need of the flesh, why did He heal it?     those unbelieving and dangerous arguments of evil
      And what is most forcible of all, He raised the dead.        men who would reason that the soul is immortal but
      Why? Was it not to show what the resurrection                the body mortal. This, writes he, is what we used to
      should be? How then did He raise the dead? Their
      souls or their bodies? Manifestly both. If the               hear from Pythagoras and Plato, even before we had
      resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that      learned the truth. But now He has come proclaiming
      He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying          the glad tidings of a new and strange hope to men,
      apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But    that He would not keep incormption in incorruption,
      now He did not do so, but raised the bodv.                   but would make corruption incorruption. Indeed.
      confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise        Justin Martyr certainly believed in the resurrection of
      in  the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the       the dead, as was generally true of the saints of God
      resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm
      .     . . -.                                                 throughout this early period of the church of God.
      this, when  I&s disciples did not know whether to





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                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  45





                               Secretary's Annual Report,
                                                  R.F.P.A.


Members, Friends and Supporters of the R.F.P.A.              and Australia. More than 100 copies of each issue are
Dear Brethren:                                               mailed to Canada and 75 to Australasia. Over 100
                                                             copies are mailed to such countries as Japan, India,
  Another year has quickly flown by, and once again          Mexico, Germany and even behind the iron curtain to
it is our privilege, on this special 50th anniversary, to    Budapest, Hungary. A grand total of 250 new
bring to you tonight our annual report on the                subscriptions were received during the past year,
activities of your Board and Staff, during the past          increasing our subscription list by approximately
twelve months.                                               15%.
  This has been an eventful year for your: Board and            Postal rates have been increasing drastically. It now
our Business Manager, who was able through the               costs 16e to mail one copy to a foreign country. Our
grace of God, to report to us monthly, consistent            publishing costs have increased 20% during the year.
growth of the Standard Bearer. We surely can see the         However, we are thankful for the fact that our
fruits, of laboring in His vineyard. He has blessed the      financial status has kept pace with all these increases,
efforts at spreading His word and the truth through          and the Board is determined not to increase the cost
the written page, far beyond our fondest hopes and           of subscriptions, as long as our loyal supporters and
expectations, by allowing the  Standard Bearer  to           churches continue to make up the deficit between
reach into the far corners of the earth. He has given        publishing costs and subscription income with their
us the financial backing enabling us to produce the          many gifts. Our treasury was also given a considerable
Standard Bearer in ever increasing quantity, and most        boost this year through a gift of $4,200 from our
importantly, the dedicated servants who devote many          former Oaklawn congregation, who specified that this
h o u  r s every two weeks, producing spiritually            money `be used in the distribution of the  Standard
enlightening articles for our paper.                         Bearer in the Chicago Area.
  Let us give you a few interesting facts:                      It is most gratifying to all those involved in
  The 10 for 2 offer has proved to be, the most              publishing the Standard Bearer, that a major portion
successful means of increasing our subscription list.        of our time and efforts can be devoted to
Since its inception, we have had 564 responses to this       distribution, and that our financial needs are so
campaign, adding 114 new regular yearly subscribers.         wonderfully taken care of by you, our supporters.
  You have also seen the inserts in the  Standard            Retiring this year are the brethren R. Bos, F.
Bearer  periodically through the year, urging our            Huizinga, and C. Kuiper. We wish to thank these men
subscribers to send in names of interested friends, in       for the hours spent on the Board during the past
order that we might send them a free copy of the             three years, and we know that they have enjoyed
Standard Bearer; and your response to this has been          seeing the growth of the Standard Bearer during these
gratifying. Over 500 sample copies were requested,           years. A word of thanks also to Mr. Pipe, who
resulting in 49 new subscribers. The Board feels this is     continues to handle the mailing of our paper, and also
an excellent way of reaching brethren in other               to our able business manager, Mr. Vander Wal for his
denominations, and we urge you to continue sending           untiring efforts.
in names for free copies throughout the year.                  In concluding this report, the Staff and the Board
  Our last report in 1973 informed you that 1,525            of the R.F.P.A. continue to covet your prayers and
copies were being printed each issue. With this report,      your support for this kingdom work, on this our 50th
we are happy to inform you that 1,700 copies of each         birthday.
issue are now being printed, and 125 additional                                                          Thank you
copies for those desiring bound volumes. Of special                                                   THE BOARD
interest is our growing list of subscribers in Canada                                              D.Knoper, Sec'y


46                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                                            Book Reviews

The Freedom  of  God (A Study  qf  Election and                   does not demolish Hoeksema's theology, or the
Pulpit), by James Daane; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co.,               theology of any so-called decretal theologian, but a
Grand Rapids, Mich. 208 pages, $5.95 [Reviewed by                 mere straw man.
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema]                                                When the author turns to positive development, he
      For those readers interested in a more detailed             produces little that is clear, less that is substantial,
reveiw, such a review was published in the May, 1974              and nothing Reformed. In fact, the heart of Daane's
issue of our  Protestant Reformed Theological                     solution to a purported problem is the denial of
Journal. A few brief remarks will suffice here.                   sovereign reprobation, and, thus, of sovereign
      This book purports to offer a solution to a                 predestination.
problem, the problem of the absence of election from                 Do I recommend this book? By all means! Read it,
the preaching in Reformed pulpits. I say "purports"               in order to keep up on developments. But don't take
because the book engages, first of all, in false                  anything that is written for granted. Go to the
problematics. That is to say, the problem which the               sources, and check for accuracy.
author sets up is not the real problem in those cases
where election is absent from the preaching. And
naturally, false problematics will lead to false                  The Atonement, by Archibald A. Hodge; Baker Book
solutions. And on this count the author is more guilty            House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 440 pages, $3.95 (paper)
than on the first count.                                          [Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema]
  The first part of the book is a diatribe against what             This is a reprint in Baker's series of "Notable
the author calls "decretal theology," which receives              Books on Theology." I have long had a copy of this
100% of the blame for the alleged absence of election             b o ok in my library, and I deem this a very
from preaching. It is marred by the fact that the                 worthwhile reprint. This is a very thorough work on
author misrepresents those whom he criticizes, among              the atonement by this Princeton theologian. It is
them, as you might expect, Herman Hoeksema. In                    written from a fundamentally Reformed viewpoint.
fact, I have seldom seen such gross misrepresentation             At this price, one would be foolish not to add the
- and I have documented this charge in the longer                 book to his library if he does not already possess it.
review mentioned above. The result is that the author               Heartily recommended.



                                             PRE-PUBLICATION SALE
                                                   PEACEABLE FRUIT
                                       (For The Nurture Of Covenant Youth)

                                                            by
                                                   Gertrude Hoeksema
            This new R.F.P.A. publication is scheduled to come from the presses on or about November
             1. The regular price of this clothbound volume will be $5.95. If you place your order before
            November 1, you can take advantage of the pre-publication sale price of $4.95. Your check
            or money-order must accompany your order. All orders will be filled as soon as the book is
            .available. Mail your order to: Reformed Free Publishing Association, P.O. Box 2006, Grand
            Rapids, MI 49501.


            Street or R.F.D.

            City                                   State                                Zip
                                                   (Please print plainly)


                                                           THE STANDARD,  BEAREq                                                                              47
                                                                                        .
                                                                                      .  ` ,  ;

                                     News From Our Churches
                                                                                                       _ I,

                                                               September 30, 19 74


   Rev. Dale Kuiper preached his farewell'sermon in                                                             *  *  *  *  *
Pella on September 22. On September 25, he was                                   An Open House was held in Hudsonville Church on
installed into his new office of missionary minister of                       September 21, in honor of Rev. C. Hanko, who at
the Word, in a Divine Worship Service held in                                 that time observed forty-five years in the ministry of
Hudsonville Church. The church was nearly filled on                           God's Word!
that occasion, as a goodly number of our people came
to witness what First Church's bulletin called, "this                            A couple of weeks earlier, on September 7, Rev. G.
important event in the history of our churches." The                          Lubbers observed the completion of forty years of
following week Rev. Kuiper moved with his family to                           faithful ministry, both as pastor  and. missionary. It
Skowhegan, Maine, in order to begin his labors there                          happened that he was in Skowhegan on that occasion
as the second Home Missionary of the Protestant                               and, thanks to the thoughtfulness of a faithful
Reformed Churches of America.                                                 member of the group with which we are working
                                                                              t h e r e , w e   h a v e   a n   a c c o u n t   o f   a   s p e c i a l
   Two of our churches have, of course, been left                             commemoration of that occasion. We quote the
vacant as a result of the recently accepted calls to the                      following from that much appreciated letter from the
office of missionary. Both of those churches,                                 brother in Maine:
Kalamazoo and Pella, have extended a call to Rev. J.
Kortering.                                                                       "After the church service on the evening of
                                                                              September 8, we gathered in his honor at a home.
   On Tuesday, September 10, the congregation of
Southwest Church held a farewell for then                                        "In recounting highlights of his ministry, Rev.
Pastor-elect James Slopsema and family. The                                   Lubbers said that he and Mrs. Lubbers longed for the
following Tuesday evening the June graduate from                              day when they could hear, `Well done, thou good and
our Seminary was ordained into the office of the                              faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few
ministry, in Edgerton, Minnesota. The congregation                            things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter
of Edgerton extended invitations to neighboring sister                        thou into the joy of thy lord.'
churches to join with them on that happy occasion
Rev. Moore conducted the service.                                                                                                 (continued on back page)



          ANNIVERSARY CONGRATULATIONS                                                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   We express our congratulations to Professor H. C. Hoaksema on this            The board of Adams St. Protestant Reformed Christian School
25th anniversary of his ordination into the ministry of our Lord. We          wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to members: Mr. Wm. Hoffman
pray that God will continue to bless him and use him in his labors to         in the death of his father, and Mr. L. Dykstra in the death of his
the propagation of His truth and the gathering of His Church. May             mother. Our prayer is that they may find comfort and strength in God's
Professor Hoaksama see the blessings of the Lord on his labors and            Holy Word.
when  his ministry on this earth is over, the reassuring word of our Lord,       Psalm  34:18, 19 "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken
"Well done good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of your         heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Lord."
                                                                                 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth
                                     The Theological School Committee         him out of them all."
                                                Rev. G. Van  Baran, Pras.
                                                Richard  H; Teitsma, Sec.                                                                  Chas. E. Kregal, Pres.
                                                                                                                                    Kenneth Schipper, Sec'y.



                          Subscribe Now                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                   to                                            The Mary-Martha Society of the South-East Protestant Reformed
                                                                              Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sincere
                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                          Christian sympathy to Rev. and Mrs. Marinus Schipper, our Bible leader
                                                                              and President, respectively, in the death of Rev. Schipper's sister, MRS.
                                   Or                                         ELIZABETH DYKSTRA, of Holland,  Mich.
                      Send a Gift Subscriptioq                                   May the God of grace comfort the hearts of the bereaved family.
           use the envelope enclosed in this issue                                                             Mrs. G. Pipe, Vice Pres.
                                                                                                               Mrs. H. C. Ophoff, Sec'y.


                                          ___ --~- __--~   ---
   THE STANDARD BEARER
            P.O. Box 6064
  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





  48

  "Rev. Lubbers stated that many times he learned
  that God didn't need him  - that God doesn't need
  anybody - but that nevertheless God was pleased to
 use him. He would be happy if God continued to use
 him for a few more years.
        "In moments of trial Rev. Lubbers would
 remember often the words, `Nothing in my hand I
 bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling,' and then add, `I
  can't cling. Hold me Lord!'
        "After his remarks, the group sang `Great is Thy
faithfulness,' `Holy, Holy, Holy,' and a few others.
        "We in Maine feel greatly blessed to have partaken
  of Rev. Lubbers' ministry during his stay, and to have
 shared this momentous occasion with him."
                             * * * * *
        Another welcome contribution comes from our
 Business Manager. Mr. Vander Wal writes:
        "Many items concerning our Protestant Reformed
 publications have been reported in this column.
 Letters received from the readers of our  Standard
 Bearer, and from listeners and readers of our
 Reformed Witness Hour radio sermon, have been
 printed in our News Reports.
        "This time, we are happy to give our readers a
 report on an entirely different facet of literature
 published by our Protestant Reformed Churches. We
 refer to the Catechism Booklets published by our
 Churches, for the catechetical instruction of our
 Covenant children. Recently an order for these books
 was received from Northampton, England! In part,
 the letter reads as follows:
        " `You asked about our use of your catechism
 materials - well, all I can say is that we in England
 find them really excellent, and we publish nothing
 like them here (only "Mark's Sketchbook of Christ"
 by Helen Tenney, pub. by Banner of Truth Trust). I
 have a little girl aged 7.4 years and a little boy aged 1
 year  - I have been working -through the first O.T.
 Workbook with her and also on the Junior and
 Beginners Catechisms (Bible Stories) during our daily
 family devotions. The folks at our Church are
 becoming quite keen on using them too. We would
 love to know of any other children's materials or
 children's reading books (fiction or non-fiction) that
 you can whole-heartedly recommend as Reformed, as
 it is so difficult to find any in England?' "
                                                        D.D.


