     STANDARD
         BEARER
e- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                 ,         4




             It is not, therefore, a question of the lack of
          clarity in Scripture itself. Scripture is clear. It is
          not a lack of ability to understand the Scrip-
          tures. The child of God possesses the Spirit of
          truth, And this is why there can really be no
         2 such thing as tolerance in the sense in which it
          is used today. Concerning the truth of the Scrip-
          tures, the believer must be, before God, very
          intolerant. He must insist that the truth of Scrip-
          ture be maintained. He does not do this'out of a
          spirit of haughty pride. He does not claim that
          all men must see it his way simply because he
          thinks that he has the last word on all matters of
          doctrine. He is rather concerned about the truth
          as it is in Christ. For it is this truth which is
          God's glory. Any denial of this truth is a slander
          of the glory of God revealed in Christ and
          recorded infallibly in Scripture. He must be, as
          Elijah was, very jealous for the Lord God of
          Israel. He must be willing to say with Paul: "If
          any man preach any other gospel unto you than
          that ye have received, let him be accursed."
          Galatians 1: 9
          [See:  All Around Us,  page  130-l


.                                     Volume LI, Number 6, December 15, 1974  4


 122                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



 MEDITATION


                              The Rejected Christ Child

                                                     Rev. H. Veldman
                                  "Because there was no room for them in the inn. "
                                                                               Luke  2:7c

        Do we believe and embrace this sign of Jesus' birth,    toward Joseph and Mary. Apparently, we have no
 that there was no room for them in the inn? We                 sign here at all.
 surely have a sign here, a divine sign. This is obvious          However, this merely emphasizes the fact that we
 from the entire history of the birth of our Lord Jesus         do  have a sign here. The very ordinary character of
 Christ.                                                        these events should make this self-evident. It must be
        The world, too, embraces this sign. Do we not hear      obvious that God willed this ordinary course of
 it sung today wherever we go? Does not the world, in           events. All the miracles of God, in the Old and New
 this Christmas season, speak and sing of the Christ            Testaments, are always extraordinary and sensational.
 Child, of His birth in an animal stall, that they              . . . The birth of Christ is of all wonders  the  Wonder.
 wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a             The fact that there is nothing extraordinary here
 manger because there was no room for them in the               surely serves to emphasize that this simplicity is of
 inn?                                                           God and rich in symbolical significance. Besides, did
        And yet the question persists: do we understand         not the angel of the Lord tell the shepherds: `And
 this sign, embrace it, carry it in our hearts? It is only      this shall be a  sign  unto you"?
 if we do this that we can rejoice in this season of the          And what a sign this is: there is no room for them
 commemoration of our Saviour's birth.                          in the inn! Of course, the emperor must issue his
                            *****                               command that all the world be taxed. Others must
        No room for them in the inn  - a divine sign!           also go to Bethlehem at this time. There must be no
 Apparently, we have no sign here. With the history of          room for them in the inn. To be sure, there is nothing
 our Saviour's birth we are all more or less familiar.          here of man  - just a manger and some swaddling
 T h e   e m p e r o r , Caesar Augustus, had issued the        clothes. There must be nothing here of man, and this
command that all the world must be registered for               for the simple reason that it is all of God. There is no
 the purpose of taxation. This taxation was necessary           earthy glory here; this King is heavenly, and His
 for the maintaining of the Roman empire. Inasmuch              kingdom is heavenly. Why, then, should His birth be
 as this empire of Rome was a world-empire (the last,           marked by earthy power and glory?
 incidentally, until now), this command also involved             Specifically, however, there is now no room for
 the nation of the Jews.  III obedience to this                 them, for Jesus in the inn. Why should there be room
 command, Joseph and Mary had travelled to                      for Him in the inn? Is it not a fact that there is never
 Bethlehem, the city of David. Amid the most                    room for this Jesus? There is no room for this Jesus
 wonderful circumstances they had lived for several             in the hearts of men. There is not a single heart in all
 months, awaiting this Wonder Child from the Lord.              the world, from the beginning until the end of time,
 Completing their difficult journey of some three               that has a place for Him, desires Him; every human
 days, they arrive in Bethlehem at a late hour and              heart is closed to Jesus. And, remember, our heart is
 learn that there is no room for them in the inn. A             not a vacuum; it is not merely empty, but full. There
 stall is provided for them outside the city; and here          is no room for Jesus because it is full of sin and
 Jesus is born, laid in a manger, and wrapped in                darkness and corruption. What an awful indictment
 swaddling clothes.                                             we have here against the world, against us! One would
        Apparently, there is nothing here out of the            almost believe, in this Christmas season of cheer and
 ordinary. What we have here, it seems, is a very               good will, that this Jesus has a rather prominent place
 natural course of events. Augustus is surely unaware           in the hearts of men. They sing of Him everywhere.
 of the imminent birth of the Messiah. And there is             However, be not deceived. This is the Word of God,
 nothing unusual about the attitude of the world.               also today.
 There is no manifestation here of any antipathy                                         *****


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                             123


   what a shame! Imagine, if you please: no room for                         handful. It is simply a fact that the sign of this text
Jesus in the hearts of men, in the heart of any man!                          does not speak of man's prowess, but of his
   The world would deny this truth. They seem to                             unspeakable misery: there is no room anywhere for
embrace this sign. That the Christ Child was born in a                       Christ; no man is able to make room for Him,
stall, laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling                             inasmuch as the Scriptures declare: "No man can
clothes appeals to the world. They think this is                             come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me
wonderful; everywhere one may see this scene of the                          draw him."
Nativity; everywhere one can hear these songs sung of                            What a shame!
our Lord Jesus Christ as He was laid in a manger and                             What a shame that there is no room in us for Him
wrapped in swaddling clothes. How glad men seem to                           because we are full of sin and darkness! 0, the world
be that Jesus was born as He was born.                                       may like this sign, but the people of God are ashamed
   What, I ask you, motivates the world?                                     of it. Is it not a terrible thing that we are what we
   It is said that the story of Abraham Lincoln, who                         are? Is there anything filthier than sin? Is not God
was born in a log cabin, and "made it all the way" to                        great, incomprehensibly great, and worthy to be
the White House, is the typical American story. It                           praised? Are we not His creatures, the products of His
proves what every normal American boy can do if he                           hands, who live and move and have our being in the
only sets himself to the task. This is also spiritually                      Lord? Is anything more abominable than when man,
true. That Jesus was born in a stable simply                                 who is less than nothing, less than a drop of water on
e m p h a s i z e s   H i s   t r e m e n d o u s   p r o w e s s   a n d    the bucket and a particle of dust on the balance,
accomplishments: to arise out of such great depths of                        thinks himself to be something, refuses to give God
poverty and attain unto such great heights of success,                       all honor and glory? Can we conceive of anything
becoming the Great Example whom all men would                                more abominable than when clay rises in revolt
follow. All this surely speaks of the greatness of Man,                      against        t h e   p o t t e r ,    when the looking glass
what we are able to do if only we apply ourselves.                           appropriates to itself the glory reflected in it? Mind
This also applies to the teachings of our so-called                          you, there is no room in us for Him, and this because
Fundamentalist circles. The sinner does not mind                             we are full of sin and iniquity!
hearing that he is a sinner if only he be also told that                         This is not all. What a shame this is, also because
he can do something about it. He does not mind                               there is in  us  no room  for Him!  Mind you, He is the
hearing that all salvation is in Jesus, if only the gospel                   only One Who can possibly save us. This was His
be preached as an offer which the sinner must and can                        testimony in the synagogue at Nazareth. There He
accept.                                                                      read from the prophecy of Isaiah: "The Spirit of the
   What a shameless denial this presentation is of this                      Lord is upon me . .  ." (Luke 4: 17-l 9); and He added
Word of God!                                                                 these words: "Today is this prophecy fulfilled in
  0, it may appear that man is rather receptive for                          your ears." This was His testimony throughout His
the Christ. Did they not offer Him a crown, while He                         ministry: "I am the Good Shepherd; I am the Door
was among us, desire to make Him king, as did the                            . . . " We can never save ourselves; He alone can save
Galileans of John  6? Did they not shout, as late as the                     us. Yet, there is no room for Him in our hearts. To
last Sunday before His death: "Hosanna to the son of                         t h e   o n e   a n d   o n l y   G r e a t   P h y s i c i a n   w e   r e p l y :
David; blessed is he who  cometh in the name of the                          "Physician, heal thyself," and we would cast Him
Lord"? And, does not the same apply today? Today                             down to destruction from the edge of the cliff. In
people are eager to acclaim Him as their great                               reply to His testimony concerning Himself that He is
Example or Teacher or Reformer. They will give Him                           sent of the Father, we pick up stones to throw at
the place of honor in their peace councils, fervently                        Him. How desperately wicked is man! He cannot save
embrace His Sermon on the Mount, enthusiastically                            himself and rejects the only Way of Salvation; he is
declare that if men would only walk in His footsteps                         lost in sin and tramples under foot the only possible
and adopt His principles, this world would be a much                         Deliverer! What does this mean? It surely means that
better place in which to live.                                               we love our sin and iniquity to such an extent that we
                                                                             resent anyone who presents himself as a deliverer; it
  All this, of course, is merely a dream, an illusion. It                    means that we have not the slightest desire to be
is merely a dream because the Christ they would                              saved; we are slaves of sin and love it with all our
follow is not the real Christ, does not exist except in                      hearts.
their dreams. As soon as this Jesus reveals Himself,                                                           *****
things change drastically. As soon as He reveals
Himself to the Galileans, they all forsake Him. If                              Inde.ed, there is no room in us for Jesus. How soon
Christ be preached as He truly is, as the Christ of the                      this becomes manifest! Not long after His birth, the
Scriptures, His true followers will dwindle to a                             attempt is made by  Herod the Great to kill Him when


124                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



he kills all the baby boys in Bethlehem. How He was         wonder of it, that that cross, the symbol of our
hated throughout His earthly ministry! Men spied on         hatred, of our rejection of Him, becomes and is the
Him, sought to catch Him in His words, counselled           way whereby He saves, makes room in our hearts
together to destroy Him. And finally He is forsaken         through the power of that cross and presently by His
by all, including His disciples, and killed upon the        Spirit as the exalted King of kings and Lord of lords
cross of Calvary. They even remove from Him the             and of glory. His death is our life, and that in
manger and the swaddling clothes. Having engaged            everlasting and heavenly immortality. This is the
the services of one of the twelve, they lay their filthy    C h r i s t m a s   s t o r y .   T h i s   i s   t h e   s i g n i f i c a n c e   o f
hands upon Him, lead Him outside of the Holy City,          Bethlehem. Do we see it and grasp it?
and make Him an object of public and universal                  He alone is our salvation.
shame and scorn.                                                How ashamed we are of ourselves because of what
  Yet, this is really the wonder of this sign. Here all     we are!
we can do is stand and marvel. This is the wonder of
it, that that Sign, no room for Him is our hearts, is           How glad we are that  He  became poor, because
exactly our salvation. This is the wonder of it: He         otherwise we could never have become rich.
saves us, not merely in spite of the fact that there is         To God alone be all the glory, now and forever.
no room for Him, but exactly through it! This is the




EDITORIALS

                                         Editor's Notes

                                               Proc H. C. Hoekserna


  Note of Thanks.  I take this means of saying                                                  *****
"thanks to all who remembered me in various  Ways in            Unfinished Business.  In response to my last article
connection with my recent ear surgery. It was good          on the subject of a possible CRC-PRC conference, I
to experience concretely the communion of saints in         have received a letter from the Board of Reformed
this way. I may report that the surgery was                 Fellowship (publishers of  The Outlook).  However,
apparently successful, that I am well on the way to         this letter requires some clarification; and until that
recovery, and that I am getting back in the "harness"       clarification is received, I will not divulge its contents.
- at least partly.                                                                              *****
                        * * * * *                               Lecture.  Your editor has received and accepted an
  Anniversary  News. Some of you know already that          invitation from Calvin Seminary (via Dr. Henry Stob)
plans are under way in connection with next year's          to deliver a lecture at 10 A.M. on Thursday,
Fiftieth Anniversary of our denomination to have a          December 19, on the subject, "After Fifty Years."
denominational celebration at which, as much as             For any of our readers who might be able to attend
possible, our people from throughout the country            and who receive this issue of the  Stalldard  Bearer
will gather at the time of our annual Young People's        before that time, the lecture is open to the public.
Convention. In this connection, I was recently              For those unable to attend, I do plan to publish a
informed that the convention is scheduled next              transcript of my lecture in a future issue.
summer, the Lord willing, for the week of August 4.                                             * * * * *
It was suggested to me that perhaps some of our
people who must plan their vacation dates far in                Question Box.  There are a couple of questions on
advance would be interested in this information. The        the waiting list. Due to being sidelined for a couple of
secretary of the Fiftieth Anniversary Committee,            weeks I have had to put the Question Box chore aside
Rev. J. Kortering, has also promised an informative         for a while. Please be longsuffering, and I will try to
article in the near future.                                 answer.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   125


                                     The EPC and Common Grace

     In our last issue I promised to carry on our             `common grace' theory. We believe they will discover
discussion with the brethren of the Evangelical               it to be incorrect.
Presbyterian Church concerning the doctrine of                2. That they should consider the fact that the theory
common grace. The brethren of that denomination               o f   `c o m m o n   g r a c e ' i t s e l f   -  a p a r t   f r o m   t h e
have expressed themselves as being willing to have            offer-theory  - has implications for life which are not
such discussion and as being open for instruction in          acceptable. This is evident from the devastating
this matter. We greatly appreciate both this                  results of the theory both in the Netherlands and in
willingness and this openness. We want to make it             the U.S. The theory of `common grace' necessarily
plain, however, that our approach to the brethren of          involves one in the denial of the antithesis and of the
the EPC of Australia is not that of haughty                   antithetical calling of the Christian.
superiority, but of humility. For we have nothing
which we have not received, and what we are and               3. That they should also consider the close historical
have as Protestant Reformed Churches is all of grace.         and doctrinal connection between `common grace' and
For that reason, too, our appeal in this discussion is        the very offer-theory which they combat. I am afraid
to the Word of God and to our Reformed standards.             that if they concede `common grace' they will be
And we expect that our brethren down under will               helpless to combat the offer-theory.
accept only such instruction as meets this test.                 "We invite further discussion of this from the
     The occasion of this discussion is my comment in         Evangelical Presbyterian brethren."
the  Standard Bearer  of January  1, 1974 concerning a           Thus I wrote last January. When  the. Rev. Charles
brochure published by the EPC and entitled                    Rodman  v i s i t e d   l a s t   A u g u s t ,   w e   h a d   s o m e
"Universalism and The Reformed Churches: A                    opportunity to discuss these matters face to face.
Defense of Calvin's Calvinism." My comment was as             Now, however, we may carry on this discussion in
follows:                                                      writing and for our mutual edification.
     "We have earlier referred to an excellent treatise on       In connection with the comment just quoted and
the subject of the `free offer' published by the              also quoted in an article in  The Evangelical
Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia. This            Presbyterian  of May, 1974, the Rev.  Rodman writes
brochure is entitled `Universalism and the Reformed           the following introductory comment:
Churches.' It refers to the offer theology as `modern
modified Calvinism'. This brochure has many fine                 "The comment in the  Standard Bearer  affirms that
arguments; and we agree with its main thrust of               the publication by the Literature Committee at the
opposition to the offer-theory. However, we find              particular point to which it refers is inconsistent with
inconsistent  - and ultimately impossible to maintain         respect to the doctrine of common grace, which it
-                                                             seeks to refute.
     its insistence upon common grace in the following
paragraph on page 8: `Lest we be misunderstood                   "When criticized, we should not show too great a
when we deny the universality of the love of God, let         readiness to hasten to our own defense. Often under
it be clearly understood that we are not controverting        criticism we can learn of the deficiencies of our own
the fact that God is good to all, for "He maketh His          position. This is in fact the way many of us have
sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain        progressed in the knowledge of the truth from that of
on the just and unjust." (Mat.  5:45). Rather, we are         outright Arminianism and mysticism to the Reformed
concerned with refuting the doctrine which teaches            Faith."
that God's goodness in sending temporal blessings                At this point the Rev.  Rodman quotes the critical
upon all is indicative of His love and long-suffering in      remarks which I quoted above and which first
redemption toward the non-elect, and a desire in Him          appeared in the  Standard Bearer  of January  1, 1974.
that they might be saved. We maintain that the gospel
is given for the purpose of separating the elect from            After quoting my comments, the Rev.  Rodman
the reprobate, and in the providence of God, in the           continues as follows:
case of the latter who hear it, for their greater                "The background to the writing of the `Defense of
condemnation.'                                                Calvin's Calvinism' was our controversy with the Free
     "To the brethren of the Evangelical Presbyterian         Church in Australia. We found that those who
Church of Australia we suggest:                               maintained the theory of common grace, make it a
                                                              foundation of their system, that God must desire the
1. That apart from this question of the `offer' they          salvation of all men because He `maketh His sun to
should give confessional and Biblical account of this         rise on the evil and the good' etc.
whole idea of temporal blessings  - the traditional


126                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


   "We believe that there is no such thing as common        indulgence and clemency forgive sin, but is good to all
grace, because the word grace implies an unmerited          without discrimination, as He makes the sun to rise
mercy, love, and favor which in the Word of God is          u p o n   t h e   g o o d   a n d   t h e   w i c k e d .   ( M a t .   5:45)
never common at all. There can be no division of            Forgiveness of sin is a treasure from which the wicked
purpose in God's providence, one temporal and               are excluded, for their sin and depravity does not
the other spiritual. If God in His administration           prevent God from showering down His goodness
of the Covenant of Grace sends temporal bless-              upon them, which they appropriate without being
ings in the preaching of the gospel to men as               sensible of it. Meanwhile believers, and they only,
He pleases, He has but one purpose in respect               know what it is to enjoy a reconciled God, as
of His own glory,             namely the redemption         elsewhere it is said  - "Come ye to Him and be ye
of the Church and the greater condemnation of the           enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed; taste
reprobate. Any other concept concerning God's               and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm  64:5, 8). When
providence falls into the gross error of ascribing          it is added that "the mercy of God extends to all His
complexity and confusion to the will of God.                works" this ought not to be considered contrary to
   "We acknowledge God's providence in terms of             reason, or obscure. Our sins having involved the
Question No. 11 of the Westminster Shorter                  w h o l e   w o r l d   a n d   t h e   c u r s e   o f   G o d ,   t h e r e   i s
Catechism which states, `God's works of providence          everywhere an opportunity for the exercise of God's
are, His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and       mercy, even in helping the brute creation.'
governing of all His creatures and all their actions.'          "It is on the basis of such commentary as given by
Being holy and wise, God's works of providence are          Calvin, that the `defense of Calvin's Calvinism' has
good and include the making of His sun to shine and         been written. Unless we have misinterpreted Calvin, we
the rain to fall on all men alike. Though nature,           do not see where we differ from him in the statement
because of the fall of man has been cursed in the           of the `Defense' page 8 in respect of the goodness of
bringing forth of briars and thorns, God's providence       God to all men.
as He governs it according to His eternal purposes, is         "We believe that when Calvin's principle of
the means of manifesting His goodness both in the           s i m p l i c i t y   c o n c e r n i n g   t h e   w i l l   o f   G o d   i s
time of plenty and even in His severity in the day of       comprehended, he is seen to be entirely consistent in
calamity.                                                   this area of his theological system. If the position is
   "In Psalm  145:9  we read, `The Lord is good to all:     otherwise, we would cease to be Calvinists and take
and His tender mercies are over all His works.' Here        company with those who modify his system.
the word mercies must be understood to be restricted            "We are in entire agreement with the suggestions
in its extent for it can only refer to the works of         No. 2 and 3 above which are directed to us by Prof.
God's providence in respect of time, and cannot             Hoeksema.
include grace and favor, nor can it refer to God's
eternal purposes concerning angels and men. This                "With respect, the first suggestion, relative to the
interpretation is consistent with Psalm 103: 17 which      I position which we hold, appears to bring into
states, `But the mercy of God is from everlasting to       ' question whether it may be said that God in His
everlasting upon them that fear Him.' The idea of a         providence is good to all men as it is clearly stated by
mercy inclusive of grace and favor in the context of a      John Calvin, whose Calvinism we have sought to
supposed common grace makes nonsense of Scripture           defend. This is perhaps the area in which clarification
for the following reasons:                                  should be made.
  "God's goodness in respect of the physical creation           "We realize that the theory of common grace has a
which will pass away is not from everlasting to             wider context than its implications concerning the
everlasting. His mercy is not upon the reprobate            `free offer' and admit that our studies apart from
angels and men who are reserved for everlasting             those implications have not been in the same depth as
destruction. Rather God's mercy and grace govern all        has been the case with the brethren of the Protestant
that content of His providence, both temporal and           Reformed Church. Our response to the invitation for
spiritual, which belongs only to the elect who fear         further discussion is that we are open for instruction
Him and keep His commandments. Again, there is no           in the matter."
division of purpose and no such thing as common                First of all, let me express appreciation and joy
grace.                                                      over the fact that the brethren of the EPC want
  "John Calvin makes the position clear in his              nothing of common grace. When they assert that
commentary on Psalm  145:9.  `God is good to all,'          there is no such thing as common grace and that
etc. `The truth here stated is of wider application         God's mercy, love, and favor are in the Word of God
than the former, for the declaration of David is to the     never common to all, this is language after our hearts.
effect, that  not only does God, with fatherly              When, further, they insist that there can be no


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      127



 division of purpose in God's providence, one                    the brethren of the EPC speak of "temporal
temporal and the other spiritual, this also is soundly           blessings" upon the reprobate as well as the elect. At
 Reformed language. And when, further, they insist on            the same time the brethren assert that they want no
the simplicity of the will of God, as they do both in            such thing as common grace. In fact, in their reply to
 their brochure and in the quotation just made, this             my criticism they even make the point that God with
also is sound theology. For this we are thankful. And            these "temporal blessings" has in view but one
it is plain to me from these remarks of the brethren             purpose in respect of His own glory, "namely the
that we are fundamentally agreed on these matters.               r e d e m p t i o n   o f   t h e   C h u r c h   a n d   t h e   g r e a t e r
       In the second place, it is plain to me that there is a    condemnation of the reprobate." The difficulty lies,
certain area of misunderstanding here. On the one                of course, in the fact that the very term "temporal
hand, this misunderstanding was on my part. The                  blessings" suggests the idea of an attitude of favor and
brethren "down under" did not understand  - in fact,             and grace. In other words, to us this language is
did  note even dream  - when they wrote their                    contradictory. We hold that God's favor is always
brochure, that the statement which I criticized would            upon His people, and that in that favor God always
be read by us of the Protestant Reformed Churches                blesses them. On the other hand, God's hatred and
from the viewpoint of and with the background of all             wrath are always against the wicked reprobate, and in
of the common grace controversy through which we                 that wrath He always curses them. Let me call
passed in our history. The fact is that already when I           attention to the fact that if this distinction is kept in
read this statement for the first time, I felt that it was       view, then the danger of positing a "division of
not in harmony with the thrust of the whole                      purpose in God's providence, one temporal and the
pamphlet. I felt  - if I may use an expression of the            other spiritual" is also avoided. It would seem to me
Rev.  Rodman  - that it was as incongruous as "a pig             that while the brethren wish to avoid that danger and
with feathers." And while I now understand a little              to insist that there can be no division of purpose in
better what the brethren have in mind, and certainly             God's providence, they run the risk of implying such
understand and accept the fact that they do not want             a division by speaking of "temporal blessings upon
common grace, I still find the statement inconsistent.           all." In this connection, it must be kept in mind that
On the other hand, I believe that there is some                  the work of God's providence is always motivated by
misunderstanding on the part of the brethren "down               His predestinating love toward His elect, but also by
under" with respect to such ideas as "temporal                   His purpose of reprobation toward the non-elect.
blessings" and God's being "good to all" and God's                  In this same connection I would criticize the
mercies not being inclusive of grace and favor. About            statement of the EPC brethren that "God is good to
this I shall write a bit more presently.                         all." This satement, of course, can be defended,
       In the third place, I can appreciate the allegiance of    provided the word "good" is properly interpreted. Do
the brethren of the EPC to John Calvin and their                 the brethren merely mean to say that God is good in
desire to defend Calvin's Calvinism. In this respect             all His works? Whether He blesses the righteous or
also we are in agreement. To me, however, this does              whether He curses the ungodly, whether He sends
not imply agreement with everything which Calvin                 rain and sunshine and fruitful seasons, or whether He
wrote, nor with his exegesis of every passage of                 sends drought and floods and famine, whether He
Scripture, but with the fundamentals of John Calvin's            saves some or whether He damns others, He always
theology and with all that he wrote which is                     does good? Is this their meaning? Then, of course, we
consistent with his "Calvinism," according to the test           are in perfect agreement. Or do the brethren mean to
of Scripture itself. John Calvin himself would not               say that God's gifts, which in His providence He
want it differently, but would certainly want his                bestows upon all men, are in themselves good gifts?
disciples to put his writings to the test of Holy                God's sunshine is good sunshine, and God's rain is
Scripture. Parenthetically, let me recommend the                 good rain. You understand, in that case we still do
writings of Calvin published under the title  Calvin's           not say that God's sunshine is a blessing upon all men
Calvinism.  This volume, one of the least known and              alike or that God's rain is a blessing upon all men
least quoted works of Calvin contains his writings on            alike, no more than we say that drought from God is
two subjects: "The Eternal Predestination of God"                a curse upon all men alike or that floods and storms
and "The Secret Providence of God." Perhaps the                  from God are a curse upon all men alike. But His
brethren of the EPC are acquainted with this volume;             gifts, bestowed in His providence, are in themselves
but if they are not, they ought to get acquainted with           good gifts. If this is the meaning of the brethren, then
it.                                                              also we are in agreement. But there is at least the
       But now let us get at this matter of terminology.         suggestion in what they write that they mean that
Twice  - once in the quotation which I originally                God is benevolent, or beneficent, to all alike. And
criticized, and once in their reply to my criticism  -           then, it seems to me, the brethren cannot avoid the


128                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


implication of an attitude of favor (even though it be                               with their assertion that there is no such thing as
temporal and non-saving) on the part of God to elect                                 common grace.
and reprobate alike. And if this is the implication,                                     That brings us to the matter of Psalm 145: 9.
then I cannot understand how this can be consistent                                      But this will have to wait until our next issue, D.V.

                           The Birth of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (2)

                                                                    Rev. Charles Rodman

  Now during this time the members of this group  -                                  in Launceston, in the north of this island. Strangely
they had no conception of the doctrine of the                                        enough, Mr. Morgan was only a Christian for a few
c h u r c h ,   b u t   .realized  t h a t   t h i s   w o r k   o f   a n           years. He was converted during a mission when we
interdenominational nature had no future  - some of                                  had ceased to make any public appeals. And under
them decided to commence fellowships, little groups                                  the preaching of the Word of God, as he was sitting
of people in certain areas. And I ministered to them.                                one night, he said, "If this is the kingdom of God, I'm
Others went into the Baptist denomination. There                                     not within bull's roar of it." And it pleased God to
w a s   a   g e n e r a l   c o n c e r n   a m o n g   t h e   s o - c a l l e d    cause him to seek the things of God, and eventually
evangelicals in that denomination about modernism                                    he was apprehended by the grace of God and brought
and about the fact that it made inroads into the                                     to a saving knowledge of Christ. He had not very
pulpits. This was manifested in various ways in the                                  much to unlearn, and that was a tremendous help to
studies for the training of the ministry, as well as                                 him. But in 1958 he produced a paper, with the
their policy for evangelism; and also the ambition of                                assistance of another fellow-elder. And the name of
that church was to join the World Council of                                         this paper was "The Effect of Humanism and
Churches. So in that denomination there was formed                                   Evolutionary Thought in the Teachings of the
what was known as the Baptist Alliance. It was an                                    Church," that is, the Baptist Church. Well, it deals
unofficial movement, but just a few statements from                                  with several things. It deals with modernism, the
it. It says that there is therefore an evangelism that is                            liberal and modern theologian, his history and
humanistic and producing a baseless faith with no                                    background, humanism that invades the fundamental
change of heart, thus improperly acknowledging                                       church and pulpit, the doctrine of decisions and
articles so and so of the doctrinal basis. And this                                  decisionism, the power of man to choose, the reasons
drift, their statement says, is being accelerated by the                             f o r   c a l l i n g   f o r   d e c i s i o n s ,   t h e   p r o d u c t   o f
apostate educational system being forced upon our                                    fundamentalized humanism, and the positive gospel
prospective ministers in contravention of the declared                               of phariseeism. Now that was published, as I said, in
doctrinal basis, and so on. And this was the aim of                                  the year 1958. It was sent to all the Baptist Churches,
the society. It was to combat an encroaching                                         and to all those who were interested in evangelical
a p o s t a s y , modernistic beliefs and practices,                                 things, as we termed it then.
worldliness, dishonesty, Free Masonry, unchristian                                      Now this created a real stir. In fact, it was
ideals within the denomination, and wherever found,                                  published at the same time as the Russians put up
as disloyalty to Christ, the true Head of the church. It                             their first Sputnik. But this created more concern in
was going to promote evangelism of the kind that                                     the Church than the Russian Sputnik did over here.
strictly honors the Word of God, the sovereignty of                                  The reaction to it was that there was not only a stir in
our Lord Jesus, and produces a true repentance from                                  the Baptist denomination; but both Mr. Morgan and
worldly and selfish sins and a true faith which can be                               his companion, who was a fellow deacon, were
seen in its obedience to God. Those are just some                                    removed from the diaconate of that church. And they
parts of their statement.                                                            were removed without having been charged with any
       But this never got off the ground because the                                 particular thing. When they were removed from the
leaders of that movement were afraid of the leaders                                  diaconate, they could see that on account of the
o f   t h e   d e n o m i n a t i o n .      The  l e a d e r s   i n   t h e        attitudes of the people there who wanted really to get
denomination put tremendous pressure on them. And                                    rid of him, that there was no alternative but to resign.
unfortunately, the leaders of this alliance were afraid                              They established what was known as the Evangelical
to launch out to do what they knew they should do.                                   Society. They accepted the Westminster Confession
But owing to the ineffectiveness of this Baptist                                     of Faith as their standard, with the exception of the
Alliance, a group of people, mostly of Baptistic                                     ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper.
persuasion, gathered under the leadership of a Mr. Ian                                  Now by this time the great doctrines of the
Morgan. He was then a deacon in the Baptist Church                                   Reformation commenced to dawn on the souls of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        129


several people in this island. The first thing that was      missionary college here, known as the World
discovered was the doctrine of sovereign election,           Evangelization Crusade, and to other places which
that man never chooses God; or, as our Lord says,            were interested. Now when it pleased God to give this
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."              revelation of Himself in His Word, it was a
That was the first thing. You might ask how did they         soul-shattering experience. In fact, the only way I
come to discover this? Well, they had a copy of the          can describe it is that it was like pulling the plug out
Westminster Confession, as stated before. The man            of the bath. And just as the water goes out of the
who started the Baptist Alliance also had a copy of          bath, all the religious sentiment went out of us. In
this first. He used to use it when he went to certain        fact, it let all the mysticism that was in us go. I
campaigns, or perhaps, I suppose, you would say they         believe the truth is the axe to all heresy. And this is
w e r e   c o n v e n t i o n s . And he used to copy the    what. happened. We discovered that we had to
statements out of the Westminister Confession and            unlearn all that we had learned, and had to admit that
put them on the board. And he would take the                 we were wrong. In the light of this revelation, we saw
Scripture proofs, and he would make a Bible study of         God upon His throne. We saw Him as Sovereign. We
them. One day a certain person caught him with this,         had used the term "sovereign" before, but we never
and they said, "Where are you getting that from?"            understood what it meant. And in the light of this
And he said, "I'm taking it out of the Westminster           revelation, those people were humbled before God.
C o n f e s s i o n . " The person said, "That's Roman       They confessed of the little knowledge that they had
Catholicism," and never turned up again to hear the          of the truth; and because of the little knowledge,
Bible lecture after that day. So he said to us,              those who had to teach and preach almost despaired.
"Whenever you use this, never let on where you get it        And I want to say that there was no wild fire, or
from. Just take the statements, use the Scripture            strange fire, when this came. If there is anything that
references of the statements, but don't let anybody          will humble you, it is the doctrine of sovereign
know where you get it from. If you do, they'll say,          election, the sovereignty of God! And when one
`We believe in the Bible,' and they won't listen to it       understands it, it's the means which God uses to
even though you say that this is what the Bible              humble you before Himself.
teaches."                                                        It was during this time that a minister came to the
  Well, at first this group started to grapple with this     island from another Reformed church. After he
great fact of sovereign election. When they had              returned from the island, he wrote in a Reformed
discovered it, or God had revealed it to them through        magazine the following comments:
His Word, then they put out articles, making use of              "Recent movements in Tasmania toward the
the works of some old divines; and they sent them            Reformed faith have gladdened the hearts of all to
around to the other smaller group, and the smaller           whom the faith of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin is
group sent them on to other places. And people               precious. The writer is able to give firsthand
commenced to buy the Westminster Confession. I               information on the quality and manifestation of the
never had a copy, but I bought a copy; and I'll never        work. That it is the work of  God. there is no doubt.
forget the copy that I bought. I bought it from Mr.          There has been a tremendous outburst of intellectual
Morgan. And we were really at that particular time in        activity in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. It has
the throes of what might be called, perhaps, an              stimulated and elevated their lives. Christians who
unholy war. But when I went to buy the Confession            h a v e   n e v e r   r e a d   a   b o o k   f o r   y e a r s   n o w   h a v e
from him, we were so taken up with what was                  moderate-size libraries with which they appear to be
happening that he gave me the change of a pound;             very familiar. Young ladies, as well as housewives, are
and I kept the change and the pound note and the             conversant with the Confession of Faith, Berkhof's
Westminster Confession, and went home. I thought I           Systematic Theology,  and the works of the British
had a tremendous deal, but never knew that I'd done          Puritans. This especially amazed the writer. For the
it. And he returned inside laughing. And it was only         interest of ladies  is.usually centered in the realms of
when one of the members told me what I had done              fashion and food, babies and household furnishings.
that I eventually, of course, made restitution.              In addition to this outburst of sacred study, there is a
  The next right doctrine was that of man's inability        spirit of love, an openmindedness that is rarely met
to do spiritual good. Really, normally we start with         with in Christian fellowship. Although under pressure
man's inability to do spiritual good and then come to        from former friends and associates  - for Calvinism is
the doctrine of election. But this is how it came to us.     an offense to many  - they exhibit no bitterness, only
First of all, election; then, of course, man's inability     the desire to win them and interest them in the way
to do spiritual good. Well, they sent out 120 copies         of God more perfectly. Amongst themselves they are
each week on whatever subject they were doing. And           tenderhearted and share a concern for the welfare of
they sent them out to the churches and to a                  each other. This latter attitude, so sorely lacking in


130                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



our churches today, was a characteristic feature of                                      money on tobacco, on the pursuit of worldly
primitive Christianity. Behold how these Christians                                      amusements, such as the patronage of the cinema,
love one another was the verdict of the wondering                                        where a godless way of life is portrayed and
pagans. One is also impressed by the consecrated lives                                   encouraged. They wonder why Christians have an
that these dear brethren live. And we out of the older                                   appetite for these things. In consequence they have
Reformed movements might take a leaf out of their                                        been repelled by those who have so much to teach
book. They spend their time, energies, and talents in                                    them. Let me say, in conclusion, that these brethren
seeking to know the will of God and the truth of the                                     were a challenge and an inspiration to the writer as he
Scriptures. If you join their company, you will find                                     moved among them. They have all the enthusiasm of
their conversation is on a very high level. The Person                                   those who have discovered a wonderful treasure.
of Christ, the sovereignty of God, the work of the                                       Their zeal in spreading the truth is a reflection of this.
Holy Spirit, the doctrines of the church they discuss                                    Some have criticized them for being aggressive; and
with earnestness and relish. Their time and money is                                     so, no doubt, there has been a lack of wisdom on
n o t   f r i t t e r e d   a w a y   i n   f r i v o l o u s   a n d   h a r m f u l    some occasions. But maturity comes with time and
amusements. They are in earnest. The revelation of                                       reflection. And there are signs already that their zeal
God's sovereign majesty has come as a glorious light.                                    is being tempered with discretion, although it is by no
The Bible is a new book. One of the saddest features                                     means abating. May God grant to us all such an
of the movement has been their disappointment with                                       insight in His holiness and majesty and such an insight
the worldliness of the brethren of the Reformed                                          into the grace that receiveth sinners that we with awe
churches. They cannot understand how Christians,                                         and devotion shall carry our faith to every creature in
especially those who profess the truth which God                                         this land." This is a quote from Rev. Edwin Lee.
gave to His church at the Reformation, can waste                                                                                (to be continued)


ALL AROUND US

                                                                      Tolerance
                                                                      ProJ:  H .   H a n k o


   Tolerance has become a fashionable word in                                              A large number of the ecclesiastical papers which
ecclesiastical circles these days. It is hailed as being                                 cross my desk have articles dealing directly or
one of the essential Christian virtues without which a                                   obliquely with the question of tolerance. Recently a
Christian's claim to Christianity becomes a hollow                                       paper which professes to be Reformed contained one
mockery. Intolerance and Christianity are mutually                                       such article. The author cited the appeals made to
exclusive - so it is said.                                                               Scripture in support of Pentecostalism and in
   Tolerance has also become the password of                                             opposition to Pentecostalism as being an example of
ecumenicism. It is the foundation upon which can be                                      the need for tolerance. He appealed also to the
built imposing ecclesiastical structures which house                                     difficult struggle going on among the Missouri
various denominations of widely divergent doctrinal                                      Lutherans to bolster his position. There, too, the
beliefs. The leaders of ecumenical movements appeal                                      author said, both sides appeal to Scripture; both sides
to the need for tolerance in support of the position                                     appeal to genuine Lutheranism; and both sides do
t h a t ,   t h o u g h   d e n o m i n a t i o n s   m a y   d i s a g r e e ,          little more than make a sorry spectacle of themselves.
disagreement in doctrine is not good and sufficient                                        Tolerance is the answer to these problems. In fact,
reason to remain separate ecclesiastically. In more                                      tolerance will do away with the folly of innumerable
liberal circles, tolerance is a sufficiently strong force                                sects and denominations bitterly warring against each
to bring Roman Catholics and Protestants nearer to                                       other over questions of doctrine. Tolerance will dispel
each other in an effort to heal the breach struck at                                     the arrogance of theologians who claim that God is
the time of the Reformation. Tolerance becomes such                                      on their side exclusively and opposed to all others
a powerful force that it is not at all uncommon to                                       who disagree.
find that Protestants can worship with Jews,                                               It seems as if tolerance will solve a lot of problems
Buddhists, Hindus and adherents of other pagan                                           in the ecclesiastical world.
religions.


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                131


   One ought, I think, to take the time to analyze a                               we must not be overly hasty in judging critically the
bit what tolerance is all about. Anyone who thinks                                 opinions of others. Or, if emphasis is placed upon our
about the matter at all will soon come to the                                      ability to understand the Scriptures, the position is
conclusion that, while tolerance is a nice word, and                               taken that human beings are fallible and limited in
while tolerance seems indeed to be a desirable                                     powers of intellect. The result of this is that human
Christian virtue, there are presuppositions lurking in                             beings fail rather miserably both in apprehending the
the background which ought to be carefully                                         truth as it objectively exists in Scripture and in
scrutinized. That is, if it is true that the plea for                              communicating that truth accurately to others. We
tolerance finds many ready ears today, what precisely                              must all recognize our limitations. If we recognize our
is presupposed when one adopts a "tolerant" attitude                               limitations, we will also recognize our proneness to
towards others? What is he getting into? What is he                                error. And if we are sufficiently aware of our
committing himself to? What baggage is being packed                                proneness to error, we will admit, in doctrinal
along when he carries a tolerant attitude towards                                  disagreements, that we could very well be wrong
others?                                                                            while our opponent could very well be right.
   There are a number of presuppositions involved in                               Tolerance then becomes a matter of proper humility.
this matter of tolerance. I do not say that everyone                                   These are the positions to which one commits
who pleads for tolerance will admit to them all. Some                              himself when he adopts an attitude of tolerance to
imply one thing when they speak of tolerance; some                                 others who disagree with him in questions of
i m p l y   s o m e t h i n g   q u i t e   d i f f e r e n t .   B u t   t h e    doctrine.
presuppositions are there. And we ought to know                                        There is, of course, a certain amount of truth in
what they are.                                                                     the above assertions. I recall that while I was
   Sometimes, perhaps in more liberal circles,                                     attending Seminary there were times when we would
tolerance simply means that all truth is relative; i.e.,                           g e t   i n t o   d i s p u t e s   w i t h   o u r   p r o f e s s o r   o f   O l d
that we possess no sure standard of what truth is                                  Testament. After arguing a bit, he would say to us,
because no such thing as absolute truth exists. This is                            sometimes with resignation, "You might just as well
a kind of spiritual agnosticism which claims that in all                           maintain your position; you are all prophets
matters which have to do with religion, the only real                              anyway." What he meant to say was: there is
standard of truth is what a man believes himself. A                                certainly room for disagreement and differences of
man must come to his own conclusions with respect                                  opinion within the Church of Christ on certain
to religion because he must find those religious beliefs                           matters of interpretation of Scripture. This is true,
which will be of the most help to him in the difficult                             and the result is a certain need for "tolerance" within
business of living. Whatever he can lean on in times of                            the Church between members. Without it the Church
stress, whatever brings him some measure of solace in                              cannot continue. There can never be rigid conformity
times of sorrow, whatever kind of crutch he can find                               on every single question of exegesis among the saints.
to help him walk when life's pathway becomes too                                   To expect it is to expect too much. To insist upon it
difficult  - this is the religion which is good for him;                           is out of keeping with the nature of the Church of
and, because it is good for him, this is the religion                              Christ here upon earth.
which is true.                                                                         But while we grant that this may be true, there are
   Others, not quite so ready to speak of all truth as                             other considerations which enter into the picture.
being relative, speak merely of the fact that God is                               The question quite naturally arises: How far must this
the incomprehensible One. And, because He is the                                   tolerance extend? The answer is not hard to find.
incomprehensible One, He is also essentially                                       Every Protestant denomination which at one time or
unknowable. We never can be very sure what the                                     another has maintained the truth of Scripture, has
truth concerning God is. And, if we cannot be sure,                                always also maintained that the limits of such
then we ought not to criticize those who have views                                tolerance are the Confessions which the Church has
differing from ours.                                                               adopted. On matters of the Confessions, there must
   Still others concentrate their attention on the                                 b e   a g r e e m e n t .   O n   a l l   m a t t e r s   o n   w h i c h   t h e
Scriptures themselves, or, perhaps, on our ability to                              Confessions do not speak, there must be room for
understand the Scriptures. The calling to be tolerant                              differences of opinion.
flows forth rather naturally from the position that                                   This is not merely an arbitrary line which is drawn
the Scriptures are not very clear. Taken as a whole,                               at some point. The Confessions are not simply chosen
the Scriptures are clear enough; but there is sufficient                           as the line beyond which tolerance cannot go because
doubt as to Scripture's meaning in the specifics of                                they happen to be a convenient "last ditch stand"
Christian doctrine to leave room for a variety of                                  against the inroads of doctrinal relativism. The truth
different interpretations. Thus, because different                                 of the matter is quite different. The Church has taken
interpretations lead to different doctrinal positions,                             the stand that the Confessions mark the limits of


132                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



tolerance because the Confessions constitute a  gift  of                                 God does not open and explain Holy Writ, no one can
the Spirit of Christ to the Church. They are not, as                                     understand it; it will remain a closed book, enveloped
such, mere human productions. It is true that they                                       in darkness."
are not on a par with Scripture. They are not                                              What did Luther mean by this? He meant, on the
infallibly inspired. They are not authoritative in the                                   one hand, that God interprets the Scriptures
way that Scripture is authoritative. The authority of                                    objectively through the Scriptures themselves.
the Confessions is  derivative.  The Confessions derive                                  Scripture interprets Scripture. This is the great
their authority from the Scriptures. But, because and                                    principle of the Reformation. Luther wrote often of
insofar as they agree with the Scriptures, they  afe                                     this. "Such is the way of the whole Scripture: it
authoritative. And the authoiity they possess is the                                     wants to be interpreted by a comparison of passages
authority of Scripture itself. This is possible only                                     from everywhere, and understood under its own
because they are the fruit of the operation of the                                       direction. The safest of all methods for discerning the
Spirit of Christ within the Church. Christ promised                                      meaning of Scripture is to work for it by drawing
this Spirit to the Church on the eve of His passion.                                     together and scrutinizing passages." In another place,
There is more than one passage in John's gospel                                          he writes: "The abominable sophists . . . support
which speaks of this. But we read in John 16: 12, 13:                                    themselves with Scripture because they would look
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye                                          laughable if they tried to force only their own dreams
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit                                        on men; but they do not quote Scripture in its
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for                                 entirety. They always snatch up what appears to
he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall                                   favour them; but what is against them they either
hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things                                   cleverly conceal or corrupt with their cunning
t o   c o m e . " The Church recognizes that these                                       glosses."
Confessions are the fruit of the Spirit of truth. By                                       But, on the other hand, God interprets the
t h i s   r e c o g n i t i o n ,   t h e   C h u r c h   r e c e i v e s   t h e s e    Scriptures by means of the subjective operation of
Confessions as statements of the truth as it is in                                       the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of truth of which
Christ, and as it is revealed in Scripture.                                              the Lord Himself spoke on the night of His betrayal.
       And this brings us to the next point which needs to                               When the believer has both, the objective Scriptures
be made. At the time of the Reformation, the                                             which he  carefLllly studies in their entirety and the
Reformers insisted that exegesis must be free. This                                      subjective operation of the Spirit, then he will surely
stood in direct opposition to what Rome had always                                       learn what the truth of the Scriptures is. When he
taught. Rome had insisted through the years and                                          bows before the Scriptures in humility, then the
centuries that exegesis could not be free. It had to be                                  Scriptures will speak to him. And when God's people
under the control and direction of the  magisterium,                                     do this together, they will learn the truth as it is in
i.e., of the teaching Church which was composed of                                       Christ. There may be disagreement about the
the clerical hierarchy with the pope at its head. The                                    interpretation of some passages, but there will be
Roman Catholic Church insisted that, only in this                                        agreement on Scriptures' teachings. And this truth
way, could uniformity of doctrine be preserved in the                                    will be so clear that anyone who wishes to understand
Church. When the Reformers insisted on free                                              the Scriptures will be able to see clearly that this
exegesis, Rome warned the Reformers that this would                                      truth is what the Scriptures teach.
lead to. a splintering of the Reformation movement                                         Why is it, then, that there is disagreement? It is
into innumerable sects and denominations each with                                       because the rule of Scriptural interpretation is
its own pet doctrines. When the Reformation did                                          transgressed. It is characteristic of heretics, Luther
break up into various denominations, Rome shouted:                                       says, that they always appeal to individual texts,
"We told you so." It seemed as if Rome was correct                                       jerking them out of context and refusing to take the
while the Reformers had broken the unity of the                                          teaching of Scripture as a whole. They "do not quote
body of Christ.                                                                          Scripture in its entirety. They always snatch up what
       The Reformers were obligated to take up the                                       appears to favour them; but what is against them they
charge of Rome. They had to answer Rome's                                                either cleverly conceal or corrupt with their cunning
accusations. They did this in various ways. Luther,                                      glosses." And, lacking the subjective operation of the
e.g., wrestled with this problem, but would not admit                                    Spirit, they nevertheless make appeal to Scripture
that the charge of Roman Catholicism was correct.                                        because if they did not, "they would look laughable."
He insisted, and rightly, that there were various                                          This is the beauty of the Confessions. These
principles which contradicted what Rome claimed.                                         Confessions teach the truth of the whole Scripture.
The chief principle was this: God alone is the                                           They  give us  the  analogia fidei,  the "analogy of
interpreter of Scripture. Luther emphasized this when                                    faith". And they give this to us as the fruit of the
he said: "God alone can interpret the Scriptures. If                                     Spirit.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    133


  Hence, Luther writes in another place, "God's                 this truth which is God's glory. Any denial of this
Word has to be the most marvelous thing in heaven               truth is a slander of the glory of God revealed in
and on earth. That is why it must at one and the same           Christ and recorded infallibly in Scripture. He must
time do two opposite things, namely, give perfect               be, as Elijah was, very jealous for the Lord God of
light and glory to those who believe it, and bring              Israel. He must be willing to say with Paul: "If any
utter blindness and shame upon those who believe it             man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye
not. To the former it must be the most certain and              have received, let him be accursed." Galatians  1:9.
best known of all things; to the latter it must be the             Tolerance is a rather strange thing. Tolerant people
most unknown and obscure of all things. The former              can be most intolerant. If you talk to a tolerant
must extol and praise it above all things; the latter           person sometimes, notice that he will be very, very
must blaspheme and slander it above all things. So              tolerant of every conceivable heresy under the face of
does it operate to perfection and achieve in the hearts         the heavens. But he will be very intolerant of the
of men no insignificant works, but strange and                  truth. This is also characteristic of heretics. They can
terrible works."                                                be the most tolerant of men when heresy is rampant.
  It is not, therefore, a question of the lack of clarity       But they will not tolerate the truth. The truth will
in Scripture itself. Scripture is clear. It is not a lack of    make them exceedingly angry and upset. And they
ability to understand the Scriptures. The child of God          will strike out against the truth with viciousness.
possesses the Spirit of truth. And this is why there            Denominations can also do this when they have
can really be no such thing as tolerance in the sense in        begun to shelter heretics under their ecclesiastical
which it is used today. Concerning the truth of the             wings. This is why the Belgic Confession points out
Scriptures, the believer must be, before God, very              that one of the marks of the false Church is the
intolerant. He must insist that the truth of Scripture          failure to discipline heretics and ungodly, while
be maintained. He does not do this out of a spirit of           persecuting those who confess and love the truth.
haughty pride. He does not claim that all men must                But tolerance is a devil's ploy. It is used to deceive
see it his way simply because he thinks that he has             the unwary. It is a trap to snare many. It is a means
the last word on all matters of doctrine. He is rather          to protect heresy and to destroy the truth as it is in
concerned about the truth as it is in Christ. For it is         Christ.


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

               God, The Overflowing Fountain Of All Good

                                                 PvoJ: Robert D. Decker

           "We all believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is one only simple
           and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that he is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible,
           immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all
           good. "                                                               Article I, Belgic Confession



  That the Belgic Confession is true to the Scriptures          entire Confession of Faith is the object of the living
is obvious from its opening words, "We all believe              faith of the children of God. This means, in the first
with the heart, and confess with the mouth. .  ." These         place, that natural understanding and a corrupt heart
words are taken almost literally from Romans  10:9,             can never believe what is contained in this creed. This
which reads: "That if thou shalt confess with thy               fact is not because there is something defective about
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart          the revelation of God, but rather because the ungodly
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt              and unrighteous always  ". . . hold the truth in
be saved." Thus the inspired Apostle states the                 unrighteousness." (Romans 1: 18-32) The fool always
content of the  ". . . word of faith, which we preach,"         says in heart that there is no God, and this is precisely
(verse 8). The significance of this opening statement           why he is a fool! (cf. Psalm 53) Only he who has been
is rich: for it emphasizes that what is contained in the        conquered by the almighty grace of God in Jesus


134                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ can receive by faith what is contained in the                                       The Being of God is the subject of Article I.
Confession of Faith. Apart from faith, the gift of                                      Concerning the Being of God the Reformed believer
God's grace, man rejects the plain truth of the Word                                    confesses that God is one, simple, and spiritual. That
of God set forth in this creed. In the second place,                                    God is one means that He is the only God. God is not
the significance of these opening words lies in this:                                   the greatest of many gods. There is no god beside or
they emphasize that what the child of God believes in                                   under God in heaven or on the earth. God says this of
his heart he also confesses with his mouth. Those two                                   Himself in that beautiful passage, Isaiah 45: 5-7: "I
can never be separated. There can be no believing in                                    am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God
the heart without confessing with the mouth, and                                        beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not
there can no confessing with the mouth apart from                                       known me: That they may know from the rising of
believing in the heart. In other words, a true faith                                    the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside
always or inevitably results in an oral confession. The                                 me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the
fruit of a true faith in the hearts of God's people is                                  light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create
that together with God and with one another they                                        evil: I the Lord do all these things." That God is one
confess the Lordship of Jesus in the darkness of the                                    also means, however, that He is the absolutely
world of sin. Finally, this statement makes clear that                                  Self-sufficient One. God is wholly complete and
what is contained in the creed is not a set of dogmas                                   perfect in Himself, and He has no need of anyone or
arranged in strict, cold, logical order. Rather the                                     anything outside of Himself to make Him perfect or
contents of the creed is the object of the vibrant faith                                to enhance His glory. Hence the confession of the
of the Church. The child of God knows these truths                                      Church is always: "Now unto the King eternal,
and, knowing them, is assured in his heart that the                                     immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and
God of Whom they speak is the God of his salvation                                      glory for ever and ever. Amen," (I Timothy 1: 17).
through Jesus Christ.                                                                   With this confession of the oneness of God the
   N o t i c e ,   t o o ,   t h a t   t h e   c o n f e s s i o n   p r o c e e d s    Church has maintained from her earliest history the
theocentrically. It begins with God, continues and                                      truth concerning God overagainst the two errors;
ends with God. This is characteristic of the Reformed                                   Deism and Pantheism. The former heresy denies the
faith. Lutheranism, by contrast, was always rather                                      immanence of God while Pantheism denies the
s o t e r i o l o g i c a l   ( d o c t r i n e   o f   s a l v a t i o n )   a n d     transcendence of God. While God's whole Being fills
anthropological (doctrine of man). The Calvinistic                                      the entire creation, He always remains above all that
branch of the Reformation always emphasized God.                                        is called creature.
This is characteristic of our Belgic Confession. Before                                   God is  .a simple Being, i.e., God is not divisible, but
anything else is confessed, our creed expresses faith in                                remains One in all His attributes and works. There is
God, the overflowing fountain of all good. This is                                      never any division in God nor any essential difference
more than an interesting observation of which we                                        between any of God's attributes. God's attributes are
may take leave having once made it. That the                                            not only one in Him but these are His Being. Think of
Confession begins with faith in God is of principal                                     how plainly this is emphasized throughout the Word
importance. To begin with God means: 1) To find in                                      of God! God is: "love" (I John  4:8), "light" (I John
God that beginning of all truth; 2) To speak                                            1:5), "the God of all grace" (I Peter  5:10), "the true
essentially of nothing else than God in the entire                                      God, and the living God" (Jeremiah 10: 10) etc.
confession; and, 3) To end with the glory of God
which is the goal of all things. In God is the principle                                  God's Being is also a spiritual Being. This means
of all the riches of the truth revealed in the Scriptures                               that God's Being or Essence is essentially different
and set forth in the creed. God is the God of truth,                                    from man's or any other  creature's.  There is no
and the whole truth of the Word is the revelation of                                    similarity between the being of the creation and the
God. That is very obvious from the first words of the                                   Being of God. This is true of the world of spirits, too.
Bible; "In the beginning God. .  ." (Gen. 1: 1) The                                     God is not like the angels in that they are spiritual
Word of God is not merely a collection of narratives,                                   beings; He is also infinitely different from those
prophecies, letters, etc. The whole Scripture in its                                    ministering spirits. This is true simply because God is
constituent parts is the revelation of God. So it is                                    always the Creator and every being outside of Him
with the Belgic Confession. The creed begins with                                       must be created. Jesus made this truth plain to the
God. In this light it is of crucial importance that we                                  Samaritan woman at Jacob's well when in answer to
                                                                                        her question concerning the proper place of worship
understand the truth concerning God: for how we say
"God" will profoundly influence how we say "Man,"                                       He said: "God is Spirit: (note, not "a" Spirit as the
"Salvation," "Christ,"  "Church," and "Last Things."                                    K.J.V. has it  - R.D.D.) and they that worship him
                                                                                        must worship him in spirit and in truth," (John
And contrary to those who are saying that we cannot                                     4:24). It is this truth which precludes man's ever
say anything about Who and What God is, the Belgic
Confession begins with the truth concerning God.                                        knowing God by himself. By the powers of his


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       135


intellect and the reasonableness of his logic man will           man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and
never attain to a knowledge of God. No mystical                  power everlasting. Amen." Note well that this passage
experience and no emotional "inner light" will ever,             teaches emphatically that no man is able to approach
cause him to know God. If man is to know God, God                the light in which God dwells, and no man is able to
must come to man in His love and grace and  reveal               see Him. God can only be seen by grace in the face of
Himself.                                                         Jesus Christ. (cf. also; I Tim. 1: 17, Romans  1:20, Col.
  Some of the attributes of God are also mentioned               1:15)
in this article. Five of the incommunicable attributes             T h e   C h u r c h   b e l i e v e s   a n d   c o n f e s s e s   t h e
(those which belong to God alone) are listed. The                Immutability of God. This quite naturally follows
article speaks of God's eternity. Eternity is not time           from God's eternity. Time necessarily means change,
infinitely extended as the common misconception has              but God is above all time. God, therefore, is also
it. The eternity of God is His transcendence above               unchangeable. This is a most comforting truth, for
time. The idea is that God is not bound or limited by            God declares through His prophet: "For I am the
time. In all His Being and in all His counsel God is             Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
above time. This is why  ". . . one day is with the Lord         consumed," (Malachi  3:6). Not only is this true but
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one                 God's immutability is also the reason why He is the
day," (II Peter  3:8). Thus the Church confesses:                giver of every good and perfect gift according to
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever                James 1: 17.
thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even                    Finally, in this connection the Reformed Churches
from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (Psalm           confess the infinity of God. This is certainly implied
90:2) This is what God revealed of Himself to Moses              in those attributes the article has already mentioned.
in the flame of fire out of the midst of the bush: "I            Let it be understood that God cannot be limited in
AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say                   any sense. He is absolutely without boundary. Notice,
unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto              too, that when we speak thus on the basis of the
you," (Exodus 3 : 14).                                      0    Word of God about our Sovereign and Maker, we
  Although God can certainly be known, the Church                must needs speak in negative terms; God is not
confesses He can never be comprehended. If the                   visible, He is not comprehensible, etc.
creature could comprehend Him, God would not be                    T h e   a r t i c l e   a l s o   m e n t i o n s   s o m e   o f   t h e
God any more. Comprehension implies setting the                  communicable attributes of God (those which are
limits of something or someone. God cannot be                    reflected by grace in the elect in Christ). Among these
limited or defined by man. He is infinitely above and            are God's Omnipotence (His absolute power),
beyond man's knowledge of Him. Even behind that                  Wisdom, Righteousness, and Goodness. All these are
which He reveals of Himself there remains a depth of             clearly taught in the Scriptures. We call your
glory of God which no man will ever plumb. The real              attention to I Timothy 6: 15, Romans 1: 19, 20, Eph.
reason for this incomprehensibility of God is His                1:17-21,  Romans  16:27,  I Cor.  1:18,ff.,  Deut.  32:4,
invisibility. This does not merely mean that God                 Psalm 145: 17, and I John  2:29.
cannot be seen, but that He cannot be known apart
from His own revelation. "No man hath seen God at                  Indeed, God is the overflowing fountain of all
any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the                 good. He is worthy of praise. One must be convinced,
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," (John                too, that in this brief but profound statement
                                                                 concerning what we all believe in our hearts and
1: 18). The inspired Apostle teaches the same in that            confess with our mouths concerning the ever blessed
profound verse, the  16th, of his first Letter of                God of our salvation the Belgic Confession breathes
Timothy: "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in a               the Holy Scriptures.
light which no man can approach unto; whom no





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136                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                                             The Church's Corrupt Ru.les

                                                                    Rev. Robt. C Harbach

    How she is, the faithful'city become a harlot! She                               separated themselves from justice, proving themselves
(was) full of judgment, righteousness was lodging in                                 not silver in the smelting process, but dregs, scum and
her; but now murderers! Thy silver is become dross,                                  slag. Once they were the choice silver of the
thy wine cut with water.  Tlzv princes, rebels and                                   theocratic state. Now they are refuse, fit only for the
companions  of thieves, all loving a bribe, and pursue                               dunghill. So the Lord complains, "The house of Israel
rewards. They judge not the orphan, and the cause of                                 is become dross unto Me" (Ezek. 22: 17). "Thy wine
the widow comes not unto them. (Isaiah 1:21-23)                                      is mixed with water." The vintners adulterated their
    In the immediately foregoing context, the Lord                                   strong drink with water to cheat their customers. In
reminds us that obedience is the way of blessing for                                 the dairy business, checks are made on the milk to
the child of God. At the same time He issues warning                                 prevent its dilution with water. We also speak of  "cut
against refusing to obey, marking the dangers of                                     wine", cut or wounded with water! Wine-dealers
determined unwillingness and the heinousness of                                      commerced in mutilated wine and spurious money.
wilful rejection of the Lord. We are in need of such                                 They caught their innocent patrons coming and going
warning, lest we continue in a way of destruction, for                               in their fraudulent traffic in bad wine and counterfeit
we are all prone to rebel most bitterly against the                                  money given in change. Both dross and water-wine
mercy of God, and throw ourselves against the thick                                  have the appearance of genuine silver and good wine;
bosses of His buckler in hostile resistance against                                  but neither is worth the corrosion on a counterfeit
Him. For the sentence of the just Judge of all the                                   coin. So the rulers of Jerusalem had dengenerated to
earth is pronounced with the certainty and finality of                               politicians. They had a showing and form of justice
the highest tribunal against the unfaithful and                                      and legal ethics, but in actuality nothing of these.
disobedient. That sentence is from the very mouth of                                 How good it is when pastor and people can still turn
Jehovah, and He makes no idle threats. Justice shall                                 from the corrupt state and the apostate church to say
b e   e x e c u t e d   s p e e d i l y   u p o n   t h e   c h i l d r e n   o f    humbly and truly with Paul, "For we are not as
disobedience, the sword of divine retribution cutting                                many, who corrupt the Word of God, but as of
them out of  Isreal, destroying them utterly. But                                    sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we
now, in both figurative and natural terms, the Lord                                  in Christ" (2 Cor. 2: 17).
laments the degraded condition of the chosen nation                                    Then the prophet illustrates conditions from
and its capital city.                                                                married life. "How is the faithful city become an
    1. Their Depraved Character.  "How is she become                                 harlot ! " Here is a fallen bride, once a chaste virgin
a harlot, the faithful city!" Emphasis deserves to be                                espoused to Christ. Jerusalem had heretofore been a
placed on the word  how,  for it expresses shocking                                  faithful city, true to the covenant of the Lord, which
surprise (How could she! how strange that she                                        covenant is a marriage covenant. The marriage
should!), and is an exclamation of complaint, pain and                               covenant establishes a relationship of intimate
grief which God feels for a people who are the exact                                 friendship and love between husband and wife. But
opposite of their original state of bride of Jehovah.                                the wife, the beautiful, virtuous woman broke the
He, the Husband, who rejoices in the presence of His                                 covenant and became a harlot. She doted upon many
angels over one  sinn& that repents (Lk.  15:7,  lo),                                lovers, yet was worse than a city prostitute. For she
laments the degeneracy of Judah and Jerusalem, and                                   professed the strictness of the Pharisees while living as
the ruin of the whole state and church. For in the                                   a harlot. In Jesus' day, the people, as represented by
time of David and in the early part of Solomon's                                     t h a t   c i t y , were called by Him an "adulterous
reign, the city was a holy city, a type of the true                                  generation"; and in John's day, "the great city which
church, which is the faithful, chaste virgin of Christ.                              spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.*' So the fallen
But now citizenry and rulers are fallen. Then passing                                bride became a depraved wife. "She was (once) full of
from the figure of adultery to adulteration the                                      justice; righteousness was lodging in her: but now
prophet illustrates from the business life of the times.                             murderers." Licentious love hardens the heart, soon
"Thy silver is become dross." The nobles and princes                                 turns into hatred, and easily falls into murder.
who had been pure, shining examples are now                                          Hardened by sensual lust, she  now  unfeeling takes
corrupted. They had departed from righteousness and                                  murderers (those who dash into pieces) for her


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          137



paramours. Righteousness  used  to lodge in her, but                                    III.  Their Evil Fruit.  In their evil-doing they were
now there is a change in her so great that she cannot                                oppressive. "The orphan they do not judge," but
be recognized from her former self. The just and the                                 withhold justice. As someone has well said, "proud
right used to remain and dwell in her. But now,                                      and rich oppressors are the worst robbers." The
antipodal to love and righteousness, harlotry and                                    fatherless, the bereaved, the lonely they overlook,
murder fill her heart. So is this city which represents                              pretending they do not see their miseries, shutting
a people. When the church departs from the true                                      their ears against their pitiful cries. They are  ctiel to
worship of God, she becomes guilty of spiritual                                      the small and insignificant. Murders go unpunished.
adultery. If David and Isaiah could rise from the dead                               How much like our own day! There used to be
and see Palestine today; if Calvin could thus return to                              certain cities in the U.S.A. especially noted for crime,
Geneva; i f   t h e   P u r i t a n s   c o u l d   s o   r e t u r n   t o          such as St. Louis and Detroit. Now no one city has
Westminster, and if  Warfield to Princeton today, they                               such notoriety. All the cities of the land are full of
would all exclaim, "How is the faithful city become                                  rapists and murderers. True, to the end of time tares
an harlot!"                                                                          shall grow among the wheat, and we may not root
                                                                                     them up. But swine are not to be tolerated in the
    II.  Th,eir Perverted Activity.  By the inspiration of                           grain-field. Yet law and order are fast becoming a
the Holy Spirit, Isaiah not only delineates their                                    thing of the past. What intensifies this wickedness of
character, but also their wicked activity. It is                                     the princes is the fact that they came from a
crooked. For they have deliberately departed from                                    generation of righteous and godly people. When the
the highway of holiness and righteousness. Having the                                most faithful of men degenerate, they become the
position of right men, they are actually rebel men.                                  most wicked of all. We, therefore, must be warned
"Thy princes are rebels." They are stubborn and                                      t h a t   i f   a s   p e o p l e   o f   G o d   w e   d e c l i n e   f r o m
obstinate, even in the administration of perverted                                   righteousness we become monsters of iniquity. That
justice. Where they have it as their calling to maintain                             which was originally best, after corruption, becomes
the law of God, they are themselves rebels against it.                               worst. "Did not thy father . . . do judgment and
Rulers of the state are responsible to God to protect                                justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the
the good and to punish the evil (Rom.  13:1-4). But                                  cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with
they became thieves, "companions of thieves," so                                     him; was not this to know Me? saith the Lord. But
that the innocent man stood a better chance with a                                   thiule  eyes and  thine  heart are not but for thy
band of thieves, a gang of bandits, or a horde of                                    covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
assassins than with a bench of these judges. Where in                                oppression, and for violence, to do it" (Jer.
Jerusalem, in all Judah, may one find a just, impartial                              22: 15-17).
judge? They are all associated with thieves, are their                                  We see what these elders of Israel were, what they
accomplices. The expression in the original means "to                                became, what they did, and now, what they produce.
join together, to  charm,  to bind with a spell."                                    Their product-in-trade is blood and sweat and tears,
Crooked men have charmed them and bound them                                         which they squeeze out of others in abundance. It is
with their evil spell. Instead of driving out these                                  customary for them to forget the needy. "The cause
t h i e v e s ,   t h e y   b e c a m e   t h e   s e c r e t   h e a d s   a n d    of the widow does not come unto them." The widow
master-minds of crime. All this is to be understood                                  has no access to them.  S/ze has no bribe to give. The
spiritually, primarily, and as such, they were moral                                 judge hates the weak. The cause of the defenseless
vultures and jackals.                                                                never reaches the chambers of these so-called
                                                                                     dispensers of justice. They cannot stoop to their
   Their activity is also characterized by a craving,                                grievances. The term `cause' has in it the root idea of
mad, itching lust. They were graft-lovers, setting their                             quarrelling, and is illustrated by the thought of
hearts on the court salaries, fees and fines, and any                                "seizing each other by the hair," as might easily come
extras they could exact. They were "all loving a                                     to pass in the case of jealousy and oppression
bride," and sought gifts from the rich. So they                                      between a prosperous wife and a poor widow. But the
became extortioners and thieves. Such do not enter                                   wicked judge will not take up the case, nor look into
into the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6: 10). They follow                                  the contention of the weak. It is  his  purpose and
after, pursue rewards, are gift-seekers. They help only                              profit to crush God's people, and grind the face of
those who can come to them with secret presents.                                     the poor (Isa. 3:  15). So there are times when holiness
The word  rewards  has as its root the idea of "peace,"                              and righteousness are little attended to in the church.
something they did  not  pursue, but rather that which                               But this God orders in His wise providence "that they
would  pacify   their greed. Thus is come to pass the                                which are approved may be made manifest among
saying that "a bribe blindeth the wise (or them that                                 you" (I Cor. 11: 19). Also He would teach us to leave
have sight), and perverteth the words (cause) of the                                 the unjust and impenitent who persecute us to the
righteous" (Ex. 23: 8).                                                              Judge of all who shall speedily avenge His own elect.


138                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE


                      The Prayer That God's Will Be Done (2)

                                                 Rev. Richard G. Moore




       (The second  of  two articles treating the third        lifts his voice to God for grace. Jesus teaches him to
petition as it is explained in the 49th Lord's Day of          pray through this petition for grace and the fullness
the Heidelberg Catechism)                                      of the Spirit of Christ to walk in ways conformable to
                                                               the law of God in thanksgiving. It is the prayer for
  In our first article on the third petition of the            consecration, and above this it is the prayer for grace
"Lord's Prayer" we concerned ourselves with the                to be sustained in the battle of faith. For in this life
treatment of the basic idea of the petition, "Thy will         as we pray this prayer, we will never be free of the
be done," and in this connection the treatment of the          natural inclination of the flesh. We have but the
phrase, "Grant that we and all men may renounce our            smallest beginnings of new obedience. And this is
own will," in the answer to the 124th question of the          what draws the child of God daily in prayer to
Heidelberg Catechism. It is the intention at this time         Father, "`Let Thy will be done." Daily our sins rise up
to complete the study of the answer to the question,           against us, and daily they testify we are worthy only
"Which is the third petition?" as set forth in the             of desolation  - the law condemns!
49th  ILord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism:  " `Thy           Hence, daily we need the testimony of the gospel
will be done on earth as it is in heaven': that is, grant      of Jesus Christ  - that gospel that testifies that for the
that we and all men may renounce our own will, and             sake of His Son God forgives our sin and gives us the
without murmuring obey thy will, which is only                 Spirit of sanctification. And we pray by this petition,
good; that so everyone may attend to, and perform              "0 God, for Jesus' sake give us more and more and
the duties of his station and calling, as willingly and        more grace, and more and more obedience, that we
faithfully as the angels do in heaven." It is the              may walk in Thy ways. Give us grace to be strangers
author's desire that you read the first article on this        and pilgrims in the midst of this world, in order that
petition before taking up the reading of this present          Thy name may be glorified." So our prayer indeed
one.                                                           becomes a prayer for grace to cast off our own will,
  This prayer, taught to us by our Lord Jesus, guides          which seeks the wisdom of this world. A wisdom
us to pray: "Lord, so submit our wills to thine, that          which is concerned with the logic, philosophy,
in all of our life, our ways may be submitted to the           psychology or politics of this life. And we must pray
testimony of Thy Word. And so guide each step we               for grace that our eyes may be drawn away from this
take or decision we make, that we may be certain it is         life, that they may be set upon the kingdom of
based upon and rooted in the truth of the gospel of            heaven. For to walk in obedience to God, we must
Christ." Our prayer, therefore, must be for diligence          come to know His will, and learn therein to be
to walk from the law of God. For our calling is to             content.
walk in ways well pleasing to God, to walk in                    Hence when we pray this third petition, we pray to
obedience before Him, and to serve Him in love! But            know. The prayer of the third petition is the prayer
naturally we stand in enmity against God, and our              of the child of God, who naturally rebels against the
natural inclination is not to please Jehovah. Rather,          Word, that God may so rule in our hearts by the
we are concerned with our flesh, and desire naturally          Spirit of Christ, that we may long for the preaching
to please it. Our desire is not to obey God's law, but         of the gospel. It becomes manifest upon the lips of
to make our own laws!                                          the child of God in the following manner: "0 Lord,
       There is a conflict within God's children. The elect    give us grace to love the pure Word preached, give us
according to the principle of new life desires God's           grace to prepare for the preaching of God's Word.
law and way, but according to his flesh he serves sin.         Grant that we may renounce our natural inclination
Thus the child of God when convicted in his heart of           to love this world, which natural desire would keep us
sin by God, and when aware of his natural depravity,           from the preaching. Grant that we may above all


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 139


things set Thy Word and its proclamation before us."            Such must be the child of God's prayer!
It is also a prayer for grace to overcome our natural           If you don't pray this prayer, then you don't walk
inclination to treat the Bible as any other common           as the child of the living God! And if this prayer does
book; and instead we must seek strength to love the          not bring you away from the world, and does not
Word so much, that it becomes the central part of all        separate you from secular goals, and if this prayer
of our life. Then the Bible will not lie idle on the         does not cause you to flee from sin and to fall on
table or night stand in our homes; and our prayer            your knees before God in repentance, then it is not a
shall be: "Give us grace to open the Scriptures, to          prayer from the heart either. Rather in such case it
read them, to study the Bible; that we might come to         becomes rank hypocrisy!
a knowledge of thy ill. And, our God, grant that we
may live with Thy Word having the central place in all          But the child of God, who prays unto Jehovah,
of our activity and life!"                                   prays this petition in humility, out of love!
  Further, our prayer must be for sanctified wisdom.            0, all too often we fail to utter the prayer, "Thy
Thus we pray: "0 God, our wisdom naturally is that           will be done,"' from the heart. But God's elect have
of the world, which counts the preaching of the cross        the assurance as they seek to do the will of the
of Christ foolishness and vanity. Forgive our                Father, but fail, falling to the side of His law in their
sinfulness. And, Father, even though we do not have          seeking, that Christ hath walked in perfect obedience
the most fluent tongue, or are not the most educated,        even unto the cross in their behalf. And upon the
pour forth the Spirit of sanctification that by grace        merits of His cross Christ takes our prayer in
we may come to know Thy will. And give us wisdom             perfection unto God. And He will lead His children
to apply it to all of our lives. May Thy Word direct         most assuredly to glory!
our every step."                                               This, too, is the end of this petition. Thy will be
  According to the Heidelberg Catechism, we then             done on earth, as it is in heaven! It is a prayer for
must pray for grace to acknowledge obedience to the          perfection. And it is a prayer for God's final glory,
will of God as the only good. Understand, our natural        Thy will be DONE! The angels who dwell in heaven
inclination is to see good in many things. We would          have no sin to pollute or dilute the principle of new
reason that it is good to have certain nice clothes, a       life that dwells within them! They walk before God
fine home, a new car, plenteous food, or the best job.       in perfect obedience, rejoicing in and glorifying His
And it must be said that it is not necessarily wrong to      Name. Now this prayer of God's loved ones is, "So,
have some of these things. However, it is only good to       Lord, may Thy will be done on earth as it is in
walk, labor, and to seek fellowship in the midst of          Heaven. Understand, this is essentially a prayer for
this world as we make all things subservient to our          the new heavens and new earth. It is a prayer for the
service of our God. Never must these things become           day Christ comes upon the clouds of heaven in glory.
the principal goals of our life. And thus our life must      It is a prayer for the glorification of the saints
be rooted in and grounded in the Word of God.                everlastingly, and a prayer for the final casting away
                                                             of the enemies of God and His church. And this for
  Especially is this true of the particular portion and      the end that there only remains perfect obedience
talent that becomes ours! This petition must be a            unto the precious will of Jehovah! In your life and
prayer for contentment in the way in which God has           mine!
placed us. God's children are called to be content
with the talents God has given them. When we pray,             Hence, the church prays for the grace to set all of
"Thy will be done," Jesus teaches us to pray that            our hopes in this life upon the things that are to
God will keep us from being envious of our brothers          come. It is therefore a prayer to do that today and
who may have more talent. Thus the prayer: "Lord,            every day of our lives. So we pray, "Lord grant that
keep us from discontent. Gracious God, keep us from          we might so submit our wills unto Thine that our
our natural inclinations to tear apart our brethren,         spiritual eyes may be fastened upon Thy heavenly
that we might gain a portion or honor to which we            kingdom and its righteousness. And may this give
have no right, and which does not belong to us. Give         direction to all of our life and activity. May Thy
us grace in our daily life to be content with the way        church be faithful, may Thy people be gathered
in which Thou hast placed us. And if that portion is         together, and may they be taken to glory. That Thy
sickness, give us grace in this sickness to glorify thee.    Name may be all in all!" It is a prayer above all for
Our natural inclination is to complain or to fall into       the glory of God's Name. And so it shall be as God
despair when Thou hast brought us low. Give us grace         for Christ's sake hears this prayer, and brings His elect
to do Thy will, to serve Thee, and to thank Thee for         church into perfection. There  shall be only holiness,
all Thou dost send. Make us by Thy Spirit and Word           obedience, righteousness, and that which is good; and
to become conformable to the life of Christ that             God's name through it all shall be glorified.
dwells within us."


140                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


SIGNS OF THE TIMES

                                      The World Food Crisis
                                                            Rev. G. Van Baren



          For nation shall rise against nation . . . and there         the pathetic pictures of children with distended
       shall be famines and troubles; these are the beginnings         stomachs  - at the point of death?  Time  reports,
       of sorrows -Mark 13.8                                           "Then, in the past two years, this optimism turned to
                                                                       despair as hunger and famine began ravaging  hundreds
          Nothing is older to man than his struggle for food.          of millions of the poorest citizens in at least  40
       From the time the early hunters stalked the                     nations. Much of the ground gained in the battle for
       mammoths and the first sedentary "farmers"                      food seemed lost as the world's harvest in 1972 was
       scratched the soil to coax scrawny grain to grow, man           roughly  3% short of meeting demands. This year's
       has battled hunger. History is replete with his failures.       harvest has also been disappointing, and experts now
       The Bible chronicles one famine after another; food             question whether man can prevent widespread
       was in such short supply in ancient Athens that                 starvation."  (Time, Nov.  11, 1974).  Time  continues
       visiting ships had to share their stores with the city;
       Romans prayed at the threshold of Olympus for                   by reporting some of the figures of the current
       food.                                                           problem:
  Where would you conclude the above quote comes                                 Then came 1972. Bad weather started to plague SO
from (including the Scriptural reference)? One might,                      much of the world's crop land that many experts
                                                                           conclude that the climate itself is changing. Harsh
at first glance, conclude that it came from some                           winters, droughts, or typhoons cut output in the
religious periodical. Not so. It rather introduced a                       Soviet Union, Argentina, Australia, the Philippines
striking article on famine and food shortages and                          and India. Off the coast of Peru, a change in ocean
appeared in  Time  of Nov. 11, 1974.                                      currents and overfishing decimated the anchovy
  I have in earlier articles both quoted from  Time                       catch, a major source of protein for animal feed. In
and referred to the growing food shortages and                            Southeast Asia and parts of Africa, the peanut crop -
famines. At the risk of appearing repetitious and even                    providing mainly animal feed and cooking oil - fell
boring, I would call your attention to this subject                        far below normal. All told, the world% food output
                                                                           dropped for the first time in 20 years, down 33
again. I do so because the news media and the secular                     million tons, from 1,200 million tons. Merely to meet
press has been doing this.  And especially striking does                  the added demand of increased population and rising
their treatment of the subject become when these                          living standards it should have increased by at least 24
quote from Scripture the very reference of one of the                     million tons.
signs of the end of time! Is the secular and worldly                     The  Time  article continues by suggesting that even
press recognizing the hand of God in all this?                         the experts see little or no reason to hope for
Probably not. Likely Scripture, when apparently                        improvement of the situation. These see only that the
pertinent, is quoted in the same manner that                           problem will become aggravated.
Shakespeare is. Yet it remains striking when one sees
Scripture quoted at the head of an article appearing                             NO economist sees any way that the developing
in a secular and worldly magazine.                                        nations will have enough money even for the food.
                                                                          Nor can they rely on aid. Though the U.S. has given
  Time  points out, correctly, that there have been                       away $25 billion worth of food in the past two
famines throughout the ages of the world. These are                       decades, the American people will probably not
recorded in Scripture  - we think of Abraham in                           support large aid programs if prices at their
Egypt because of famine; and mention is made of a                         neighborhood supermarkets remain high. It is also
later famine in Abraham's days as well as in the days                     uncertain whether the world has enough ships, trains
of Isaac. History is filled with instances of terrible                    and trucks to move such quantities of grain.
famines in specific localities.                                                  This grim prognosis has led to apocalyptic
  Recently, famines again have been prominently                           warnings from some of the world's top food experts.
                                                                           "We will see increasing troubles, not declining
presented in news reports. Who has not seen the                           troubles," predicts Dr. John Knowles, president of
shocking pictures of the poor in Bangladesh standing                      the Rockefeller Foundation. "We will see increasing
in line to get a pail of watery gruel? Who has not seen                    famine, pestilence, the extermination of large


                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     141


      numbers of people. Malthus has already been proved                                  fulfilled. Famines have always taken place. But
      correct." The most vulnerable to such disasters:                                    before, these were not usually brought to the
      India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Sahel nations,                                     attention of the peoples of the whole world. And if
      Ethopia, Northeast Brazil, the high regions of the
      Andes and the poor parts of Mexico and Central                                      only by virtue of the larger numbers of people on the
      America.                                                                            earth, there are today many more people affected by
                                                                                          famine than ever before in history. The famines
    The concern about famine conditions represents                                        which occur are being brought to our attention via
only a beginning of problems. Many have pointed out                                       television and newspaper and magazine. Now, even
that shortages and famines likely result in political                                     while filling our stomachs with the abundance which
i n s t a b i l i t y ,   l o s s   o f   " l i b e r t y ",   b e g i n n i n g   o f    we still enjoy, we can watch the pathetic multitudes,
dictatorships. One man stated, "You cannot have                                           presented in the news broadcasts, dying before our
political stability based on empty stomachs and                                           eyes because of a lack of food.
proverty. When I see food lines in developing
countries, I know that those governments are under                                           The result of famines is that another of the
pressure and are in danger of falling." Recently, too,                                    prophecies of Scripture is being  fulfilled.There is not
Secretary of State Kissinger, warned that even in our                                     only the black horse (famine) of Rev.  6, but also the
own country with increasing inflation, concern about                                      pale green one. The latter represents death in its
food prices, there is a real danger of a change of                                        various forms. For the past few years, it seemed as
government and dictatorship. A person is ready for                                        though man had succeeded in prolonging the life-span
change when problems seem overwhelming. At least                                          of man. The average age of man was increasing. But
in part, this explains the rise of a Hitler in Germany.                                   the past few years, this has changed.  Time  mentions,
The same can easily arise in nations today.                                               "Indeed, in parts of Central America, in ten
                                                                                          sub-Saharan nations and in some rural areas of India,
   Though many see little hope of real solutions,                                         the 20-year trend of declining death rates and infant
some have nevertheless been suggested. Recently, we                                       mortality is being reversed. Death rates are
have heard of a World Food Conference which had                                           rising. . .  ."
been held in Rome. Not much seems to have come
from that  - except rhetoric. Some solutions                                                 So, God's Word is proving to be so very true. Nor
suggested were: 1. the stockpiling of grain to prepare                                    ought the child of God be frightened at beholding
for future shortages; 2. an "early food warning                                           this fulfillment. We know that all these things must
s y s t e m " to give advance warning concerning                                          be  - before our Lord returns on the clouds of
impending shortages; etc. Other solutions are being                                       heaven. Perhaps we will be seeing much of this famine
suggested, too. Presumably, only half of the world's                                      in the days to come. How long all this will last, we do
arable acres are being presently used. That could be                                      not know.
increased. It has been suggested that more fertilizers                                       And what ought the child of God to do? How can
be used (but these fertilizers are already in short                                       he "help" in these times of famine in many lands?
supply). More irrigation might help. One must also                                        One must take care lest he be caught up in the foolish
improve food  distriljution and storage (25% of the                                       fads of man. There were reports the very day this
world's food "disappears" between the field and the                                       article is written of college students conducting a
table). Develop new varieties of crops. Study                                             day-long fast  - to find out how it feels to go hungry
possibilities of using different kinds of edible foods.                                   and to contribute the money saved to famine relief.
Then there is the "stork-farmer" race. The solution                                       Yet we do have a calling. It is difficult, almost
proposed is increased population control.                                                 impossible, for an individual to do anything that
   Those are some of the solutions. Man will try many                                     might help; in fact, it is difficult even for a small
things in order to overcome the disasters which befall                                    denomination such as ours to be able to assist in
him. Sometimes, it seems, man in his inventiveness                                        foreign lands. Yet perhaps our diaconate ought to
does for a time find solutions. More often than not,                                      investigate this matter. Like the church at Antioch
man's cleverness appears to "backfire" when the                                           which took collections for the famine-affected
situation becomes worse for the meddling of man.                                          Jerusalem church, so also perhaps we could seek to
                                                                                          help the saints in other lands in their need. Our
   But in all of the proposed "solutions", God is left                                    assistance, I think, ought not to be directed
from the picture. That His hand is seen in all of this,                                   promiscuously to famine areas  - but specifically
is ignored or denied by man. Man blames the                                               toward the saints of Christ who are in need. The
"population explosion". He has theories of "changing
w e a t h e r   p a t t e r n s ".   H e   s u g g e s t s   "chance" o r                 church in the early New Testament age did that.
"accident" as the explanation of what befalls man.                                          And if there are ways in which we can help, let us
And that too, even when he quotes from Scripture                                          not forget that the famines themselves are part of the
pertinent passages which foretell all of these things.                                    signs of the end of the age. The time shortly comes
  The child of God does see the Word of God being                                         when our Lord returns. Let us be sure that we watch.


142                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



FEATURE

                                       Doon Church Building Progress





   During the summer of 1973, our congregation                                     and collected much more than the needed amount.
decided to buy four choice lots in  Doon on which to                               The response of one of the committee members to
build a new church. This decision was made because                                 the drive was "It was fun!" With the full support of
our present building is in need of extensive repair and                            the congregation, the contract was signed before the
because we have grown in numbers to such an extent                                 July 1 deadline and thus we were able to purchase
that an addition to the old building was needed.                                   material at the old price.
Rather than put new wine in an old bottle or a new                                   In August the basement was dug and the basement
patch on an old piece of cloth we decided to buy this                              walls were laid. In September the floor joists and
property and to look into the possibility of building a                            subfloor were added. It was, however, in October that
new edifice.                                                                       the work began in earnest. The sound of hammers,
   At the beginning the financial burden this would                                heard half way across  Doon, and the snarling table
p l a c e   o n   o u r   s m a l l   c o n g r e g a t i o n   s e e m e d        saw were music to the ears of our congregation
insurmountable. How would our thirty-three families                                anxious to see the building progress. Within three
come up with even enough to begin such a project?                                  weeks, the rough in work was nearly completed. The
One committee was appointed to study the financial                                 walls first, then the rafters, roof boards, shingles,
problems and made recommendations and another                                      trim, windows, and stairs to the basement.
committee to consider building plans. After hours of                                 We hope to occupy the new building by the first
hard work, frustration and many disappointments,                                   Sunday in March. This day has been designated by
they presented their recommendations to the                                        the 1974 Synod as the day all our churches should set
consistory. The consistory presented their work to                                 aside for our fiftieth anniversary.
the congregation for approval. The proposal was to
build a one hundred thousand dollar structure if and                                 As this house of worship nears completion we
only if the congregation would support this building                               remind ourselves that "Except the Lord build the
program with the initial amount of forty thousand                                  house, they labor in vain that build it." It is our
dollars in cash and pledges to be paid within six                                  earnest prayer that the Lord will continue to bless us
m o n t h s .   I t   p a s s e d   a n d   t h e   s u p p o r t   o f   t h e    in this work and use it to the glorifying of His holy
congregation was overwhelming. The financial                                       name.
committee with a week to work, visited every family                                                                       - John Kalsbeek, Jr.


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      143


                                       News From Our Churches

                       November 30, I9 74                                        putting up a new church building. Early in August,
   From a trio consisting of Revs.  Miersma,. Veldman,                           already, the basement walls were in place, and by the
and Woudenberg, Kalamazoo elected to extend a call                               end of October the roof was being shingled.
to Rev. Woudenberg.                                                              According to a September bulletin from  Doon, the
                                *****                                            congregation decided to install an electric heating
                                                                                 system in the new building, and to provide for air
   A recent Hudsonville bulletin included an excerpt                             conditioning in both the main floor and the
from a letter received from Rev. Kuiper. In that letter                          basement. It's expected that the building will be
our missionary in Skowhegan gave a brief account of                              ready for use "by about next March."
his activities there. He mentioned having given a                                                               *****
Reformation Day speech, a condensed version of
which he later presented in the Canaan Christian                                     From several Grand Rapids' bulletins we learn that
School. The speech, he said, attracted a "few                                    the Radio Choir has been reorganized. It's replacing
visitors." He also reported that he has begun                                    First Church's Choral Society, and is under the
preaching a third service near Portland. His plans are                           sponsorship of the Radio Committee which,
"to do that every other week for a while, and                                    according to the announcements, "has a real need for
encourage the people down there to come up here the                              more recorded choir music."
alternate weeks."                                                                                               *****
                                *****                                                South Holland's pastor has apparently had a
  A number of bulletins have recently included                                   variety of speaking engagements lately. On October
information concerning building projects. The                                    23 Rev. Engelsma spoke at the chapel exercises of
Forbes' congregation, and Faith Church in Jenison,                               Illiana Christian High School. The following week he
f o r   e x a m p l e , a r e   e a c h   c o n c e r n e d   w i t h   t h e    spoke at the chapel exercises of our Hope School in
construction of a parsonage. Southwest planned to                                Grand Rapids (while there to record sermons for his
consider, at its December 3 Congregational meeting, a                            current series on the Reformed Witness Hour). The
proposal "regarding purchase of property for future                              following week he spoke at the chapel exercises of
building. " And  Doon is in the process of actually                                                                              (continued on back page)




                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                          NOTICE!!!
   The Lord willing, on December 21, 1974, our parents, MR. AND                     Classis  East will meet, the Lord willing, in regular session on January
MRS. KENNETH A.  RIETEMA hope to commemorate their 25th                          8, 1975, at the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,
wedding anniversary. We, their grateful children, are thankful to God            Michigan. Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of
for the Christian home and instruction they have, by His grace,                  the Stated Clerk no later than ten days prior to the convening of this
provided. We pray that God will bless them in their future years                 session.
together.                                                                                                                                    John Huisken
                                            Mr. and Mrs. Michael Engelsma                                                                      Stated Clerk
                                                            Bonita Fiietema
                                                           Barbara Rietema
                                                          Kenneth Rietema
Grand Rapids, Michigan                                      Ronda Rietema




                                                                                      Know the standard  ,n,  I,
                                                                                                                               !a?
                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On January 1, 1975, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.                           and follow it.
SIMON ONDERSMA will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
   We, their children are thankful to our covenant God for all He gave
us through them. It is our prayer that they may continue to experience                         Read the
the Lord's blessings in their remaining days.

                                           Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Ondersma
                                             Mr. and Mrs. David Ondersma
                                             Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Holstege
                                                         Barbara Ondersma                    STANDARD BEARER!
Jenison, Michigan                                and their 13 grandchildren

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





                ".'
               .J-
144            VI

Rest Haven Christian Convalescent Home. Then, after
a couple of weeks' break from his chapel exercising,
he was at the Holland Home, for the November 21
chapel exercises there.
                                *****
  And, since we're on the subject anyway, I could
refer to another bulletin which announced that
chapel exercises for the students of our  Doon school
would be held in the  Doon Church on October 3 1.
The parents were invited to attend, too, and, in
addition, according to the announcement, "Edgerton
will be coming down." Rev. Moore was the chapel
speaker. After the program everyone went over to the
school, where refreshments were served.
                                *****
  For the remainder of the news column, I'll have to
dip into my reserves. Actually, it's high time I do
that, for some of the material in my box, I see, dates
back to the middle of  1973!  For this time, though,
how about a little news (if you'll permit the use of
that term in this context) concerning the various
Church Picnics held during the summer of 1974.
  I t   a p p e a r s ,   f r o m   b u l l e t i n   a n n o u n c e m e n t s
concerning them, that the picnic dinners are
something of a highlight in those affairs. We notice
that Southwest's people enjoyed a catered chicken
dinner on June 8. First Church's picnic, held on that
same date, again featured an ox roast. And on the 4th
of July, South Holland's congregation enjoyed a hog
roast,  .held on the school grounds. Several of our
western congregations got together, also on July 4,
for an inter-church picnic at Hull Park. Candidate
James Slopsema spoke at the afternoon program.
Canteen service was available for the noon lunch. At
Doon's church picnic, held on July 17, there was a
"p o t   l u c k " dinner, as there was also at the
Isabel/Forbes' picnic on July 4. The latter included a
short program, with Rev. Mark Hoeksema as the
speaker.
  Whether fried chicken is brought in, or rounds of
juicy beef turn on a spit all day, makes very little
difference, of course. It's wonderful that the
members of our various congregations can come
together on occasion for a day of fun and fellowship.
As Rev. Miersma put it, in his June 23 bulletin, "for
those who seek and enjoy the fellowship of the saints,
this is an excellent opportunity to do so."
                                                                        D.D.


