      The
STANDARD
     BEARER
/-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                                 1





              The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was bound
           with our sins. At Gethsemane He was  bou.nd
           with chains. Before Pilate and  Herod He was
           bound. So when He was scourged and while
           bearing the, cross to Golgotha. He was bound
           with.nails. Our sins riveted Him to the gibbet.
           There He was our Substitute. He took the
           place of condemned bondslaves. Because He
           was so bound we are able to overcome the
           devil, bind the strong man, spoil his house and
           trample him vanquished under our feet. Then
           we go on to sing the song of the soul set free!
           Hallelujah !

                           See "Studies in Isaiah" - page  116





                                       Volume  LIII, Number 5, December 1, 1976    /
                                                    ISSN 0362-4692


98                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                  Semi-mOnthly.   except  monthly  during  June. July. and August.
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                                                                              Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                              Department  Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker. Rev. David J.  Engalsma.
Meditation  -                                                                 Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. Robert C. liarbach.
                                                                              Rev.  John A.  Heys.  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M.  Hoeksema..  Rev.
      All By Grace! . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98    George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Meindert  Joostens. Rev.  Marmus   Schrpper.
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      Present Truth Betrays Its Real Colors . . . . . . . .103                Church News Editor:         Mr. Kenneth  G. Vink
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      A Sad Spectacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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MEDPTA TIO N



                                                     All By Grace!
                                                                                     `\
                                                                 Rev. M. Schipper



                 "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
                of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. " Romans 11~6.




      Here is a deliberate contrast made between grace                          Either it is grace or it is works; it can never be both,
and works.                                                                      grace and works. If you say it is all of grace, you must
      The two, grace and works, are mutually exclusive.                         of necessity say there is nothing of work. And if you


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  99



say it is of works in any sense of the word, then you           Election, that eternal and sovereign decree of'God
should never speak of grace again.                            whereby He chose certain persons in Christ Jesus to
                                                              share with Him in the glory of His eternal covenant
                                                              and kingdom - that is by grace!
  And this contrast is emphasized in the last part of
the text. Yes, we are aware of the fact that the                Election is eternal, from everlasting, before the
Authorized Revised Version omits this last part; but,         world and time began. Election is not in time, or
as we see it, not with good reason. But even if it is         affected by time. It resides in the eternal mind and
omitted, the contrast between grace and works would           will of God, and is irresistible, unchangeable, and un-
remain. On the other hand, if the last part is retained,      conditional as God is Himself. It is therefore a
the contrast becomes all the more emphatic. Then the          sovereign decree. In our election, God was not
first part would stress the truth that it is all of grace;    affected by, nor did He choose us because of what we
while the last part would stress the truth with the           were, or because He saw beforehand what we would
added notion that he who says it is of works in any           become. Rather He chose us in order that we might
sense of the word should never speak of grace in any          become the heirs of His glory, that we might be holy
sense of that term.                                           and without blame before Him.
                                                                Election is personal. We must have nothing of the
                                                              philosophy that election pertains to nations. Though
  More important, however, is the question: Why did           it is true that historically God realized the election of
the apostle insert this verse in this particular context?     grace in the old dispensation in the nation of Israel, it
                                                              was never true that the nation of Israel per se was
  There are those who insist that the text has no             God's chosen people. The apostle Paul in another
meaning or significance here. They see no connection          portion of this epistle (9:6) writes: "for they are not
with the foregoing, nor do they see any connection            all Israel, which are called Israel." This was true in the
with what follows the text. This, we believe, is a            old dispensation as it is in the new. If this means
serious error.                                                anything at all, it certainly means that Israel as a
                                                              nation was not the chosen people of God. The truth
                                                              is that the line of election ran through this nation.
  It should be quite apparent that there is a definite        God's people in the old dispensation were found
connection with what follows the text. There the              almost exclusively, not entirely, in this nation.
apostle shows that Israel sought for a righteousness          Rather, Scripture teaches that God has chosen very
before God; however, Israel sought that righteousness         definite persons. Scripture implies this when it
not by grace, but by the works of the law. And the            informs us that our names are written in the Lamb's
apostle makes it very clear that what was not obtain-         book of life. Christ knows His sheep, and calls them
able by the works of the law, was obtained merely by          all by name. (John 10:2,14)
grace.
                                                                We hasten to add, however, that though election is
                                                              personal, it is also organic. By this we mean that
  Moreover, as we hope to make plain, there is also           when God chose His people He did not determine
very definitely a connection between our text and             merely upon so many individuals, loose and apart
that of which the apostle had been speaking in the            from each other. Rather, He chose them in Christ
preceding.                                                    Jesus. Christ is the elect, and Head of all His people.
                                                              And all whom the Father gave to Him in election are
   Still more important is the question: What does the        as members of His body. In one word, God chose the
apostle refer to when he says, "it is all of grace"?          church, of which Christ is the Head, and all the elect
                                                              constitute the members of His body. Such is the
  The answer to this question must be sought in the           Scriptural view of election as set forth by the apostle
preceding context. There we notice that he speaks of          in Ephesians and Colossians.
election by grace. (verse 5) He also speaks of the
remnant that is saved. (verse 5) And still farther back,        Election is by grace! Not by works!
in verse 4, he speaks of those who are reserved, or             You ask: Is there anyone who believes and says
preserved, namely, those who had not bowed the                election is by works? The answer is: Indeed, there
knee to Baal. So it is evident that when the apostle          are!
says in our text: "And if by grace," he is referring to         This was precisely the doctrine of the Pharisees in
these three truths: to our election, to our salvation,        particular and of Judaism in general. They believed
and to our preservation. It is all of grace!                  not only in work righteousness, that they were
  Election by grace!                                          justified by performing the works of the law; but


100                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


they believed also that God had chosen them because              But you ask: Is there anyone who would deny
of their works. They believed that, because of their          this? And again, the answer is: Indeed, there is!
long prayers, because of their tithes and offerings,            Always there are those who deny the vicarious
and because they did the works prescribed in the law,         atonement upon which the salvation of the remnant
God had chosen them in distinction from others who            rests. They repudiate what they call Blood Theology,
did not the works.                                            and in its place substitute an atonement which is
   This doctrine of the Pharisees has projected itself        accomplished by the repentance and faith through
in the doctrine of Arminianism as we know it today.           which the saved are supposed to redeem themselves.
0, indeed, the Arminian believes in election. He even         To them the cross was not God in Christ reconciling
goes so far as to say that election is of grace. But here     the world to Himself, but merely a demonstration of
is his deception - he says, God chose those whom He           God could do to every man that is a sinner, but which
saw beforehand would believe. To them faith is not            He will not do if they will only repent. To still others
the fruit of election, but the ground; or it is the           the Christ of the cross was merely an example of how
condition man fulfills, on the basis of which God             we must also be willing to die, if necessary, for our
elects him. It is election by works, or, at best, by          principles. It was not so that Christ on the cross died
grace and works, not by grace alone. The apostle              for our sins.
denies this when he says: "If it be of works, then is it
no more grace." It is all by grace!                            Arminianism, also in respect to the matter of the
  Moreover, the apostle also speaks of the remnant            salvation of the remnant, remains consistent; it insists
that is saved. "Even so then at this present time also        that the saved are those who accept the proffered
there is a remnant according to the election of grace."       offer of salvation which God has prepared for all
  We need not delineate the Scriptural idea of the            men, head for head. To the Arminian, faith is the
remnant, which we have done in another Meditation             ground of salvation, or the condition which man ful-
quite recently, except to say that the remnant does           fills in order to be saved. He will not accept the truth
not refer to some kind of a left-over which God gets          that we believe because we are saved. In one word,
after the devil has had his first choice. Rather, always      Arminianism, while it prates that salvation is all of
in Scripture the remnant is looked' upon as God's             grace, denies this truth by adding grace and work, the
prime choice, His very special possession. And thatis         work of faith man performs. He cannot and will not
surely the idea here. It is the remnant according to          accept the truth that salvation is all by grace.
the election of grace.                                           Finally, the text, in the light of the context, also
  It is this remnant that God saves.                          insists that the remnant is preserved by grace.
  This salvation of the remnant may be viewed both               The apostle, in the context, reflects on the days of
objectively and subjectively. Objectively He does             Elijah, when all appeared so dark to him in respect to
everything to save this remnant. He sends His Only            the state of Israel. Elijah laments that Israel, in spite
Begotten Son into the world, Who in His incarnation           of all that the prophets had preached, went a whoring,
becomes partaker of their nature. His Name is called          after every strange god, and killed all the true proph-
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He       ets sent to them, and that Elijah, so it seemed to him,
bears their sins in His own body on the tree of the           was the only one of the true people of God left. But
                                                              God came to him with the startling revelation: "I
cross, under the vials of God's holy wrath. In perfect
obedience He lays down His life for His sheep, the            have reserved to myself seven thousand men who
                                                              have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."
remnant. He justifies them in His blood, and is raised
from the dead as the testimony of their justification.
He is exalted in their nature to God's right hand,              These seven thousand constituted the remnant that
where in their behalf He serves as their Paraclete.           is preserved by Jehovah.
Here He receives of the Father the Holy Spirit                  God preserves the Church, which is the remnant
without measure, whereby He is enabled to complete            according to the election of grace. While the forces of
the work of their salvation.                                  evil may assail the remnant, and while it may appear,
  Subjectively He works that salvation in the                 as it undoubtedly did to Elijah, that the cause of
remnant by the Spirit of the exalted Redeemer. He             Jehovah God is hopeless in the world, though it may
applies to all the remnant all the blessings of salvation     look as if apostasy destroys the Church of God in the
He merited for them. He regenerates, justifies, calls,        world - God, nevertheless, reserves, and preserves His
sanctifies, and at last also brings into eternal glory all    precious possession. So, as Jesus expressed it, the very
the elect remnant.                                            gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. That
                                                              Church which God preserves also therefore perseveres
  This salvation, from beginning to end, is all of            unto the very end, and the latter is the fruit of the
grace. Of grace alone!                                        former.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         101


        This preservation is also all of grace!                         God, Who is the Thesis, and makes His people to
        You ask: Is there anyone who will deny this? end             be of the thesis, also creates the antithesis, and calls
     again, the answer is: Indeed, there is!                         His people to oppose the darkness, to fight against sin
        Those who deny that election and salvation is all of         and evil. He even promises a crown of life to those
     grace, also insist that God helps those who help them-          who are faithful unto death, so that there is no crown
     selves. They teach that you may be saved today, but             without battle.
     if you are not careful you may be lost tomorrow.                   But let it be abundantly clear, the good work He
     They put it all in reverse, and say: If you persevere,          begins in us, He also finishes, and His preserving grace
     God will preserve you. Not, do they say, you per-               also causes us to persevere in the battle until we
     severe because God preserves you.                               obtain the crown.
        The text says: It is all of grace, also your preser-            Indeed, from beginning to end, God alone brings
     vation!                                                         His people to everlasting glory, so that His also alone
                                                                     may be all the praise.             r
        Not of works, in any sense of the word!                         Your election is all of grace. Your salvation is all of
        Does that mean then that God elects and saves the            grace. And your preservation is ali of grace. Can you
     remnant in such a way that they are put to sleep, and           think of anything that must be added? That's every-
     ride, as it were, in a Pullman sleeper to heaven? Not           thing, isn't it?
     at all!                                                            It is all by grace!

     EDITORIALS
                                        Baptism on the Mission Field (2)
                                    Present Truth Betrays Its Real Colors
                                                        A Sad Spectacle
                                                        ProJ: H. C. Hoe ksema



                    Baptism on the Mission Field (2)                 fectly natural explanation for the order of the duties
                                                                     bf the missionary in the Form. This we will try to
,       In our previous editorial we explained that our              make plain.
     Form of Ordination of Missionaries was originally                 First of all, let us get before us the language of the
     only a form designed for the ordination of mission-             Form of Ordination in which the duties of the mis-
     aries to the heathen. If you want to read the Form as           sionary are set forth:
     it was originally composed, then you must omit the                     In the first place thou art to bring to their atten-
     section entitled, "Unto the Dispersed." The latter was              tion by all fit and lawful means, the glad tidings that
     added by the Christian Reformed Church in the early                 Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners.
     19OOs, and we inherited this revised form. The im-                  All thine actions, thy speaking and thy silence, yea,
     portant point here, as we hope to make plain, is that               all thine influence is to co-operate to recommend the
     the duties of the missionary were originally formu-                 go$el of Christ, etc.
     lated for a missionary  to the heathen;  and this has                  Secondly, thou art  holden, if it pleases God to
     something to do with the order in which these duties               make thy work fruitful unto the gathering of a
     are listed.                                                         church, to administer the Sacrament of Holy Baptism
        Synod's Study Committee was instructed "to in-                   according to the institution of the Lord and the re-
                                                                         quirement of the covenant. (Note: Lest there be any
     vestigate whether on the mission field there may be,                doubt about it, let it be noted that this point speaks
     or should be, administration of the sacraments,                    very definitely of "the gathering of a congregation,"
     especially baptism" and "to take into account . . . the            as is plain from the Dutch original, "indien het God
     Form for the Ordination of Missionaries . . . ." The               behaagt uwen arbeid vruchtbaar  te  maken tot het
     Study Committee did this. But we believe: 1) That                  vergaderen eener gemeente." HCH)
     the Study Committee's explanation of the Form is                      Furthermore, thou art called wherever it is neces-
     contrary to the plain language of the Form. 2) That                sary and possible to ordain elders and deacons even as
     the Study Committee did not see that there is a per-               Paul charged Titus, chapter 1:5, saying: "For this


102                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


       cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in     when a congregation is organized membership testi-
       order the things that were wanting, and appoint            monials must be received by those in charge of
       elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.",But  lay
       hands hastily on no man.                                   organization: "In order to organize the congregation
                                                                  the committee meets with the persons concerned,
          Moreover, there is committed unto thee, as min-         who have meanwhile requested their certificates of
       ister of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God,       membership, or if it be impossible to have their certif-.
       the administering of the Holy Supper of the Lord
       according to the institution of Christ.                    icates transferred, those present shall give testimdny
                                                                  one of another that they were members in full com-
          Besides this, there is commended unto thee the          munion and of good report in the congregation from
       maintaining of Christian discipline in the midst of the    which they are now separating. After a service of
       congregation, by faithful use of the keys of the King-
       dom, etc.                                                  worship shall have been conducted under the gui-
                                                                  dance of the committee, the latter shall request those
          And finally, beloved brother, be a faithful servant     present to tender their certificates, in as far as pos-
       of Jesus Christ, and a careful shepherd of the flock,      sible. The committee having found the certificates in
       etc.                                                       good order and having accepted  them, they shall
  Notice the order here: 1) Preaching. 2) Baptism.                proceed to election of officebearers, who shall
3) Ordination  6f elders and deacons. 4) The Lord's               immediately upon their election, be installed in their
Supper. 5) Discipline. 6) Shepherd of the flock.                  respective offices." (Decision #3, Article 38, Church
  Especially should  we notice that the duty of bap-              Order) If my memory serves me correctly, there have
tism comes  before the duty of ordaining elders and               also been instances of profession of faith at such an
deacons, while the duty of administering the Lord's               organizational meeting  - prior to election of  office-
Supper follows the duty of ordaining elders and                   bearers. And I suppose that there could also be - if
deacons. Why?                                                     the situation arose - the profession of faith and bap-
                                                                  tism of a previously unbaptized adult.
  There can be no question, about it that this order is
intentional. As we saw in our historical study, Dr.               3. A missionary to the heathen would also neces-
Beuker himself, the author of this Form, stated that              sarily have to administer the Lord's Supper for a
he adhered `as much as possible to the Form for the               time. Ordinarily a home missionary does not do this,
Ordination of Ministers. But here he departed from                except , perhaps, immediately after organization.
that Form. For the latter has the following order:                Usually the missionary moves on to a new field, and
1) Preaching. 2) Public prayer and supplication.                  the new congregation receives classical pulpit supply.
3) Administration of the Sacraments (both men-                    The situation would be different on the foreign field.
tioned in the same paragraph, HCH). 4) Discipline                 There would be elders and deacons, but perhaps for a
and government.                                                   long time no native pastor. The missionary remains in
                                                                  the area, possibly serving more than one newly
  We repeat the question: WHY this order for mis-                 established congregation. Hence, he preaches and also
sionaries?                                                        administers the supper.
  The answer is a perfectly natural one: this Form                4. The same is true of the duty of discipline. Ordinar-
was originally designed to fit the peculiar situation of          ily the home missionary has no occasion to exercise
a missionary to the heathen; and for a missionary to              discipline in a congregation established through his
the heathen, because of the peculiar circumstances,               labors. He moves on. But on the foreign field this
this order is necessary and all these duties are in-              would be different. There is no native pastor. And
cluded. Bear in mind the following:                               although there are elders and deacons, they are new
1. A  missionary to the heathen will be laboring                  to the faith and in much need of the instruction and
among unbaptized persons exclusively. Not only will               guidance of the missionary. And the same is true of
there be unbaptized infants, but the adult converts,              the last duty mentioned, the labor of a pastor. One
coming out of heathendom, will be unbaptized.                     can well understand that on the foreign field the
Ordinarily a home missionary does not encounter                   missionary cannot simply move on and drop the care
that situation: the adults have usually been baptized.            of an infant congregation once it has been organized.
2. A missionary to the heathen must ordain elders                 And again, this is different on the home mission field.
and deacons. But an tinbaptized, non-confessing elder               Now all this is a far cry from the ordinary situation
or deacon is an impossibility. Hence, such a                      on the home mission field. And it is also plain as the
missionary must .necessarily  receive the confession of           sun in the heavens that surely the baptism of infants
faith of adult  converts and must thereupon baptize               prior to the ordination of elders and deacons is not at
them  before  a congregation can be instituted and                all necessary. And yet the fact remains that this same
elders and deacons be ordained. Roughly equivalent                Form was simply taken over by the Committee of the
to this step on the home mission field is the fact that           Christian Reformed Church in the early 1900s and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              103



adjusted a bit so that it could be used for Home               However, if there were any doubts about the
Missionaries. I would hazard a guess that there was         heterodoxy of this magazine until now, these should
some carelessness and thoughtlessness involved here,        now vanish like the morning mist in the light of the
and that in making this adjustment due consideration        September, 1976 issue, which is devoted to the sub-
was not given to the obvious differences of situation       ject of election.
between the foreign field and the home field.                  From a Reformed point of view, it would be
   Nevertheless, the decision stands. We as Protestant      difficult to find a more complete catalogue of errors
Reformed Churches, having inherited this form, are          with respect to cardinal Reformed truths.
also bound by it; and it applies to a home missionary
as well as to a foreign missionary. And this means,            It is not my purpose to offer an extensive critique
therefore, that to the extent that the same situation       of all that is stated by Editor Robert D. Brinsmead in
prevails on the home mission field as on the foreign        his lengthy third article on "The Legal and Moral
mission field, the same order of duties also prevails.      Aspects of Salvation," in which he especially writes
   Do not forget, however, that the stand of our            about the subject of Election. To do so would require
churches in this regard does not simply depend on the       more time and space than it is worth; one could, in
alleged synodical precedent of 1956. It is also a bind-     fact, fill an issue of our magazine with such critique.
ing decision of our churches in 1934 and 1944: "If             But this is not necessary. I only wish to point out
possible the organization of a congregation shall pre-      several very obvious errors which any Reformed
cede the administration of the sacraments." (Decision       reader could discern, and then sound the warning not
under Article 39, Church Order)                             to be misled by the alleged loyalty to Reformation
  Do not forget, moreover, that the question still          principles of this widely distributed magazine. What-
remains: what is the meaning of the stipulation in the      ever  Present Truth  may claim to be, it is our con-
Form, ". . . if it pleases God to make thy work fi-uit-     tention that it actually is an enemy of the principles
ful unto the gathering of a church  `. . .  ."? On this     of the Reformation.
also I am in disagreement with the Study Com-                  In the space of this one issue one can without
mittee's report.                                            difficulty discover the following errors:
  But about this next time, the Lord willing.                  1. The denial of sovereign predestination. And as
                                                            you might expect, this denial concentrates on the
         Present Truth Betrays Its Real Colqrs              denial of sovereign reprobation! That viper is every-
  Present Truth is a magazine which apparently has a        where clasped to the bosom!
rather wide readership among people of Reformed
persuasion, including not a few who are also readers           2. The denial of total depravity under the guise of
of our Standard Bearer. Although the originally favor-      teaching it. This is plain in the footnote on page 9,
able opinion of this magazine which some Reformed           where we are told that total depravity "does not
people had has probably changed somewhat, never-            mean that man is as bad as he can be but that the
theless occasionally I still hear favorable comments        whole man, even the best in man, is tainted with
about it. Besides, the magazine itself claims to go         human sinfulness." That is a far cry from being by
under the banner of the Reformation. Its masthead           nature "incapable of doing any good, and inclined to
boasts that it is "dedicated to the restoration of New      all evil," as our Heidelberg Catechism puts it.
Testament Christianity (why not Old Testament also?            3. The denial of definite atonement. "Christ did
HCH) and committed to upholding the great Ref-              not only purchase some men by His blood, but He
ormation principle of justification by faith." Again,       bought the whole race of men and thereby gained the
it claims to proclaim boldly "those great principles        right to be the Judge of all." (p. 13).
upon which the Reformation was founded - namely:               4. The denial of regeneration and, with it, the
1. Sola gratia. God's saving activity outside of us in      denial that faith is the gift of grace. Mr.  Brinsmead.
the person of Jesus Christ is the sole ground of our        insists that justification by faith precedes regenera-
salvation. (A very poor definition of sola gratia when      tion, and he denies that the sinner must be regen-
you analyse it. HCH) 2. Solo Christo. Christ's doing        erated by the Holy Spirit before he can believe and be
and dying on our behalf is the sole basis of our            justified.
acceptance and continued fellowship with God.                  5. The error of a sort of general offer of the
(Again, a defective definition, as analysis will reveal.    gospel. This is couched in different terms than those
HCH) 3.  Sola  fide.  The Holy Spirit's gift of faith       to which we are accustomed, but the error is no less
through the hearing of this objective, historical gospel    Arminian. Notice: "In Christ humanity is already
is the sole means whereby Christ's substitutionary life     justified and freed (Rom.  5:18;  6:7). When, by the
and death are imputed to us for justification unto life     power of His intercession and the agency of the Holy
eternal . . . ."                                            Spirit, Christ comes in the power of the gospel to the

                                                  ,


 104                                           THE STANDARD; BEARER


sinner, justification and freedom verily draw nigh to             The trouble is that Mr. Brinsmead's appeal to
him, and - irrespective of his moral condition - he is           enemies of the Reformed view is no accident. He is in
given-  thg right to exercise the freedom which                  their camp !
humanity has in Christ," (p. 14). And if there remains                                A Sad Spectacle
any doubt about the above error,, let it be noted that
the next paragraphs make it plain that there can be                In connection with our comments about  Present
                                                                 Truth 
and is a reaction of unbelief as well as a reaction of                     there is a very sad spectacle to which attention
faith when Christ through His Spirit comes with the              must be called.
above objective gospel. After all, you see, it is up to           We have already mentioned the fact that  Present
Man!                                                             Truth capitalizes on the writings of James Daane in
  I have one more grave objection to Present Truth               ohposing the Reformed view of election. And while
in this issue. That objection is of an ethical nature. It        it is true that Daane has become notorious for his
is two-fold:                                                     u&Reformed writings on this subject, the fact re-
1. In the article to which I have  referred:above, the           mains that he is supposed to be a Reformed man, and
                                                                 in name and official connection is a Christian Re-
writer challenges Reformed Christians to depart from
the position of Luther, Calvin, Westminster, and                 formed minister. It is a sad spectacle when the writings
Dordrecht under the ruse of the Reformed motto,                  of those who by solemn vow' are supposed to be de-
"reformed and always reforming." This, is deceit.                fenders of the Reformed faith can be used as ammu-
Departure from the  ,Reformed faith and "reformed                nition against the Reformed faith.
and always reforming" have nothing in common. Be                   As I said, however, we Ihave come to expect such
not deceived!                                                    things from Dr. Daane.
2. In his "Editorial Introduction" the writer tries to             An even sadder spectacle it is that Present Truth is.
leave the impression of objectivity when he writes:              able to use a publication of Reformed Fellowship in
"We have reprinted several articles on the subject of            opposition to the truth of sovereign predestination.
election by some notable scholars, not because we                But this is exactly what has happened. In 1968
necessarily agree with them, but because (1) we                  Reformed Fellowship published the book Crisis in the
should all know what significant points are being                Reformed Churches.  In that book, sad to say, there
taught in the Christian church, and (2) we think the             were not only. some instructive chapters but also a
articles are significantly stimulating to challenge our          veritable diatribe against the Reformed doctrine of
thought and study on the question of election." And              reprobation by Dr.  Klaas Runia. This chapter is en-
later he writes: "We have not repeated the orthodox              titled, "Recent Reformed Criticisms of the Canons."
Reformed view of election, because that is well                  At one time we criticized it in detail in connection
known." And what happens? Without exception,                     with events "down under." Lo and behold, it is this
Present Truth presents the writings of those who are             chapter which is now reprinted in Present Truth!
enemies of the Reformed view. Besides, in his own                   Sad spectacle!
article Mr. Brinsmead presents the views of men like
Hoeksema and Van Til through the rnisvepresentation                Not long ago Reformed Fellowship in its The Our-
of that arch-enemy of the Reformed view, Dr. James               look  was critical of Harry Boer's denial of reproba-
Daane. Moreover, Brinsmead makes it very plain that              tion. Rightly so!
he cites Daane with approval. Well, if Brinsmead                    But in its own publication Reformed Fellowship
thinks that Daane's caricature of Hoeksema (and Van              gives occasion for the enemies of the Reformed truth
Til) is a correct representation of their "orthodox              of reprobation to blaspheme!
Reformed view of election," then Mr. Brinsmead is                   It is time that Reformed Fellowship repudiates
only betraying his own ignorance of the orthodox                 that publication and forbids further use of it. They
Reformed view.                                                   should not go about hiding a lie in their right hand!

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                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              105




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TRANSLATED TREASURES



               Acts of the Synod of Dordrecht
 Historical  Foreword Addressed TO The Reformed Churches of Christ
                                                            (3)
  To this the States-General declared that this clause             happy that after so many years of waiting consent
must not be understood as if by it they wanted some-               had finally been won for the convening of a National
thing in the doctrine of these Churches changed, see-              Synod; but they were nonetheless not a  httle of-
ing that review does not always bring with it change,              fended by this clause. The problem was not that they
but can also imply establishment of the doctrine. But              did not desire that the Confession and the Catechism
even so, they declared that the clause could not be                should be revised at the National Synod in the ordi-
left out without the preceding judgment of this Prov-              nary and proper manner, but rather that they feared
ince, which had expressly added it. Accordingly, on                that those persons who were attempting to get
March 15, 1606, they gave to the Deputies of the                   changes in doctrine would thereby be emboldened,
Churches letters of consent in which this clause was               just as though by this clause they were allowed, by
also included. And the Deputies sent these letters to              the public authority of the States, to upset and to
the Churches of the respective Provinces, at the same              change everything as they pleased, and as though
time informing them how diligently they had at-                    these disputings and differences had come forth not
tempted to have this clause omitted. The Netherlands               out of curiosity, but out of a desire to fulfill the will
Churches, having received these letters, were indeed               of the States. The States-General also let it be known


     106                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


     in these letters, that they deemed it good that some        Brandius, from Zeeland; Everardus Botius and
     learned and peaceable Theologians from every Prov-          Henricus Johannes, from. the Province of Utrecht;
     ince. should be called together, in order that they         Sybrandus Lubbertus and Johannes  Bogerman,  from
     might take counsel with them concerning the time,           Friesland; Thomas Goswynius from Overijsel;
     place, and manner of holding the National Synod.            Johannes Acronius and Johannes Nicafius, from the
     Matters standing thus, the annual Synod of the              city of Groningen and Ommelanden, in order to
     Churches of Holland was held at Gorinchem, in               obtain their advice concerning the time, place, and
     August, 1606. At that Synod; after the Deputies of          manner of the holding of the National Synod. The
     the Churches had reported what they had done in the         States-General presented to them various items which
     matter of the National Synod, and what the States had       were to be treated at this gathering. As far as the time
     decided, they saw fit to instruct the Deputies diligent-    was concerned, it was declared unanimously that it
     ly to persist in seeking the convening of a National        was necessary that the Synod should be convened
     Synod. And although the Synod judged that the               immediately at the beginning of the coming summer,
     Confession and the Catechism could be properly              in the year 1608. Concerning the place, they declared
     reviewed in the National Synod according to the             that the most suitable place to hold the Synod would
     normal procedure for such matters, nevertheless they        be in the city of Utrecht. And concerning the
     wanted those who would be called together by the            manner, they declared:
     States of Holland from South Holland to the meeting            1. That the objections which would be treated at
     at which they would deal with the time, place, and          the Synod should be brought by every Provincial
     manner of holding the National Synod to be in-              Synod to the National Synod;
     structed to seek from the States-General, in the name
     of these Churches, that the aforementioned clause,           2, That from every particular Synod, by vote of
     for the reasons already cited, should be omitted from       the same, four ministers and two elders should'be
     the letters of authorization, and that in the place of      delegated; but that in place of the elders they might
     that clause some softer words, which would occasion         also delegate men of singular learning, experienced in
     less offense, should be used.                               Theological matters, and of pious testimony, even
       At the same Synod, the' demand was made of all            though they were not serving in any ecclesiastical
     Ministers of the South Holland Churches and all             office;
     Professors of Sacred Theology in the Academy of                3. That these Delegates would be given power not
     Leiden that they should immediately make known              only to deliberate but also to make decisions and to
     their suspicions and their insights against the doctrine    give decrees in all matters treated at the Synod;
     contained in the Confession and the Catechism. For             4. That the rule according to which judgment
     Arminius and the Ministers siding with him frequent-        would be made in all differences concerning doctrine
     ly tried to boast that they had very many such reser-       and morals would be the only Word of God, or the
     vations. The Ministers were to do this in their Classis,    Holy Scripture;
     and the Professors to the Deputies of the Churches.
     The purpose was that these objections might be                 5. That not only the Churches in the United
     brought lawfully to the National Synod, in so far as        Netherlands, namely, those of Dutch and of French
     they could not be dealt with in the Classis. When this      language, but also those Churches of the Netherlands
     was placed before the Ministers who adhered                 which are scattered outside of the Netherlands,
                                                           to
     Arminius, they refused to present their reservations in     whether under the cross or elsewhere, would be
     the  Classis. They claimed that they were not yet           accredited to the National Synod;
     ready to do so. But they promised that they would              6. That they should request the States-General to
     do so at the right place and at the proper time.            send their commissioners, men making confession of
     Arminius, who was also admonished -about this by the        the Reformed Religion, to the Synod, and that these
     Deputies of the Churches, replied that this could not       commissioners would preside over the order in the
     take place at that time in an edifying manner, but          name of the States-General;
     that he would reveal them in full at the National
     Synod.                                                        7. That also the Professors of Sacred Theology
                                                                      should be called to the Synod.
       Not long after this, May 23, 1606, the  States-
     General called together certain Theologians from              In all of these points they were agreed, but not in
     every Province, namely: Johannes Leo, Johannes              certain others. For Arminius, Uitenbogaard, and the
     Fontanus, from Gelderland; Franciscus  Gomams,              two Delegates from Utrecht whom they had attracted
     Jacobus  Arminius, Johannes Uitenbogaard, and               to their side had pressed for these three items over
     Johannes Becius, from South Holland; Werner                 against the others:
     Helmichius and  Gerardus Hermannus, from North                1. That for a decision and judgment of the Synod
     Holland; Hermannus Faukelius and Henricus                   should be counted not that which was approved by


L


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                              107



the majority vote of those who were delegated to the           nevertheless thus, that the proceedings of the Synod
Synod, but that which would be decided by the votes            were not to be disrupted, but that when, how, and
of all delegated Ministers; and that by the name of            for what reasons one should be excused should not be
Synod not only those delegated were to be under-               according to the whim of every individual Delegate,
stood, but also all the delegating ones themselves;            but according to the judgment of the whole Synod;
   2. That the Delegates would always be free, as                3. That the Confession and Netherlands Catechism
often as they pleased, and if they would find them-            might well be reviewed in so far as the Synod for
selves aggrieved in any matter, to leave freely for the        proper reasons judged it necessary; that everyone
purpose of asking advice;                                      would also be free to present to the Synod whatever
  3. That the revision of the Confession and of the            he might think to have against those documents, so
Netherlands Catechism was completely necessary, and            that the Synod might consider the same and pass
that on this account they saw no reason why the               judgment; but since the clause concerning revision, if
clause concerning revision of those documents should           it would be placed in the letters of authorization,
not be placed in the letters of authorization.                 would give to one an offense and to others too great a
                                                               freedom to bring up all kinds of innovations, they
  The other Ministers and Professors judged:                   judged that it was proper to request the States-
   1. That for anything to be counted as a decided             General that for the peace of the Churches, this
opinion of the Synod that which would be decided               clause should be omitted in the letters of authoriza-
either by unanimous vote or by the vote of the ma-             tion; and instead, that these or similar words should
jority of the Delegates to the Synod would be                  be proposed, namely that the Synod is convened for
counted. Further, that by the name of Synod were to            the establishment, agreement, and furtherance of the
be understood only those who, being lawfully dele-             pure and sound doctrine, for the preservation of
gated with power to decide, were gathered together;            peace and good order in the Church, and finally for
  2. That it would indeed be permitted freely to               the provision of the true religion among the in-
take time off to consult with one's own people, but            habitants of these lands.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                             A Mark of Distinction

                                                    Rev. John A. Heys




  God's people are a peculiar people.                         duck. We are queer in the sight of those whose citi-
  Be careful, however, when you say that. They are            zenship is in the kingdom of darkness and whose lives
strange but not odd. They differ, but they are not            have been fashioned and designed by the father of the
queer. There is something unusual about them, but             lie. More than the clothing of the Pilgrims looked
they are not squares.                                         queer to the American Indians when they landed on
                                                              our shores, the child of God today looks queer to the
  The world likes to call us oddballs, queer, squa.res        world - and indeed ought to look queer - in dress,
and the like. And indeed we do have sharp corners             practice, and speech, in the home he builds, in the
of faith and of principle and therefore are like              God he serves, in the things wherein he finds pleasure,
squares in the midst of round characters that roll with       and in the deeds he condemns, in the way he con-
every temptation and lust that presents itself. We do         ducts his business and in his Sabbath activities, and in
seem odd to those whose vision is distorted by the            fact all that he says and does.
spiritual intoxication of the pleasures of the flesh,            We well remember going some ten years and more
and whom the Word of God has never penetrated, off            ago into the interior of the island of Jamaica, up into
whom that Word rolls as water off the back of a               the hills near the little town of Latium. A native was


108                                           THE STANDARD  ,BEARER


coming down the hill with his little son aged about         creation. The lie corrupted the truth concerning Him
two or three. This little child had never been far from     and presented a distorted picture of Him which man
home up in the hills amid subtropical vegetation of         began to believe. Today the natural man cannot see
thick banana groves and coconut palm trees. He had          God correctly. And he cannot understand the believer
never seen a tourist and knew only his own  dark-           recreated in the image of Christ. He has spiritual
skinned neighbors and friends. Suddenly confronted          astigmatism, a spiritually defective eyesight, a
with a "white man" was too much. With a frantic             distorted picture in ,his mind of God; and therefore he
scream he rushed to hold tightly to his father. And         must have queer ideas about the children that God
we can only wonder how queer, how strange, how              brings forth through the Spirit of His Son. The be-
utterly different we must have looked to that child.        liever is not queer, but the unbeliever has queer ideas
But do we really look so different from a spiritual         concerning him. There is nothing odd about God's
point of view to the world? Is there not a sickeningly      covenant people, but the covenant breaker is simply
desperate attempt on the part of the church today to        incapable of appreciating that covenant and has odd
look as much like the world as it can? This is so tragic    thoughts in regard to such a precious fellowship and
because the child of God is peculiar. He is different.      friendship which God exercises with His people.
He has an entirely different life, world-and-life view,       Christ, our covenant Head, the Last Adam, they
set of standards, way of thinking, desires and ambi-        did not understand and His ways they did not want.
tions, and consequently an entirely different conduct,      He looked too much like the God from Whom they
behavior, and outward walk of life.                         were estranged. And so they nailed Him to the tree
   Remember, however, that the child of God is              and could not understand why people would want to
strange and different because all the rest of the           follow Him. In fact the whole idea of a covenant of
human race has departed from the norm and he has            God and"a relationship of friendship with Him was so
been returned to it. Man was created.in the image of        very contrary to all their thinking. The natural man
God, and there is nothing queer and odd about that.         wants to get as far from God as he can. God is ruled
This made him to be an extremely beautiful creature.        out of His whole creation. And today man will spend
But in Adam he lost it all and became a citizen of the      billions upon billions of dollars to send his rockets
kingdom of darkness. Created in the image of God,           and men to the moon and to the planets to prove that
and in .His likeness, he from a spiritual point of view     there is no God and for proof of his atheistic evolu-
now began to look like the devil. His thinking and          tion. He hates the very thought of God. That is, he
willing became devilish, and his outward behavior           hates the very idea of a God such as the one of
revealed him to be an enemy of God. The whole               Scripture, a sovereign, holy, and righteous God Who
human race became odd because man was now at                demands our whole life and upon Whom we depend
odds with God. He who was created as God's friend-          for every breath of life.
servant became His enemy. Therefore Paul writes in
Romans  8:7, "The carnal mind (that is, the fleshly            The people God has called out of such a wicked
mind of our first birth obtained through fallen             world and formed for Himself to show forth His
parents) is enmity against God, for it is not subject to    praises, with whom He will live in covenant fellow-
the law of God; neither indeed can be." He who was          ship and friendship, were in the Old Testament given
created saying "My God I love Thee" began with              a mark of distinction when God gave to Abraham the
vehemence to say, "How I hate Thee!" He who lived           sign and seal of circumcision. Now here we had a real,
for God and dedicated himself and the whole earthly         visible mark that distinguished all of Abraham's seed
creation in the service of God now elevated his own         from the rest of the human race of that day. Genesis
flesh to the throne to dedicate himself and all he has      17:9-27.  It was, however, a mark that had spiritual
to satisfying the lusts of that flesh, and to denying       significance, being a sign and a seal of an inner,
the God Who created him and sustained him upon His          spiritual distinction that God had made between His
earth with His rain and sunshine and food and drink.        people in Christ and the whole generation of Satan.
He who was created aiming his whole life at the glory       Those who had the distinction of being chosen to be
of God turned his back upon God to deny Him His             God's children received this sign and seal. A distinct
glory and seek it for himself. No wonder then that          and a distinguished people they are indeed: sons of
those who are restored to this former spiritual state       God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ of the
look strange to those whose eyes and minds have             whole creation.
become estranged from God.                                    This they must also believe, and therefore they
                                                            must be circumcised and not fail to circumcise all
  Bear in mind that the lie of Satan was designed           those born in their family and all the servants which
exactly to make God look strange to man who was             God gives to them together with the children born
`made in His image. The lie, gave man a strange presen-     unto them. No, not every one of these is by that sign
tation of the sovereign God Who made  the. whole            made to be a covenant child. Not all who were of the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       109


children of Abraham were such peculiar people. But               They are righteous and holy in His sight.  'rhey are
the sign, the mark must be placed upon all in the                renewed after the image of God's Son to  1             in the
sphere of that covenant, and God will make distinct              likeness of God once again. What a distinguished
and different whom He sovereignly and eternally wills            people they are! What a tremendous differelnce there
to have as His people. This we can never know, for we            is between them and the seed of the serpent!
cannot read the heart. We can misjudge so quickly                   That mark, of course, does not make them differ.
and so readily. We can be too quick in saying that one           The blood and Spirit of Christ do that. But t:hat mark
is not and too swift to judge that one is because of             symbolizes such a difference. And such a rn:u-k, both
outward works which we see. Judas Iscariot was                   in the giving of it and in the reception of it, is an
deemed by the eleven as such a child of God and was              exercise of faith on the part of this  distinc:t people
trusted with the bag and the money for the poor. The             that such a difference does exist. It is God's sign and
one thief hanging there on the cross was till the last           seal to them that -He indeed makes such a distinction
hours of his life judged to belong to Satan's family of          between men and has been pleased to  reallize it in
reprobates. But it is in the sphere of the covenant              their midst and homes and families. It also becomes
family and home that God is pleased to have                      an oblikation to this peculiar people to make use of it
covenant instruction given, and it is in such a sphere           to express their faith in God's promises and thereby
that He gathers His children and makes for Himself a             to testify to the world their trust is in God as the God
distinct and spiritually different people.                        of their salvation.
  And so Abraham was circumcised and bore a mark                    Let us consider some New Testament truth1s in con-
of belonging to this distinguished people that has               nection with this sacrament as given to Ab:raham in
God's covenant promises and in principle is God's                order to see the blessedness of the covenant: and the
friend among a host of His enemies. And to Ishmael               beauty of the sign. Paul writes in Romans 7 : 1 I3, "For I
he gave that sign. Upon all the servants which he had            know that in me, (that. is, in my flesh)  dwc:lleth no
and upon all the male seed which they brought forth              good thing. . ." And then in the next  ch;spter, in
he placed this mark of distinction.                               Romans 8:7, 8 he writes, "Because the carnalI (that is,
  And of what was it such a mark of distinction                  the fleshly) mind is enmity against God: for it is not
besides declaring these to be God's peculiar people?             subject to the law of God, neither indeed cam be. So
Or if you will, what does this mark declare the work             then they that are in the flesh cannot plea:se God."
of God to be whereby He makes them distinct? There               Both texts speak of our sinful flesh. In it d!wells no
is a cutting away but not disfigurement, even  as in             good thing. It is full of enmity against God. In it we
baptism, which later on replaces this mark of dis-                cannot please God. All this would bar us from
tinction and gives us a new kind of mark; there is                covenant fellowship with Him not only, but ure would
removal by washing but not robbing and depriving of              not want it in that enmity which fills this fllesh. But
something valuable. In baptism there is the removal              the sacrament of circumcision (and for us tc3day the
of sin, a washing away of sin. It is a depriving of that         sacrament of baptism) speaks of the cutting away of
which is obnoxious, a deliverance of that which is to            that flesh, separating  `us from the sinful flesh, de-
our harm and hurt. And so in circumcision there was              livering us from its enmity and  wickednes: ;. In  cir-
a cutting away, a removal symbolically of filth, and              cumcision only a little of the flesh was remolved. But
then again, a removal of the, filth of sin. That makes           it was God's sign of delivering us from it all, even as
us spiritually different from the world. That makes us           baptism speaks of the washing of our whc)le body
a spiritually different people. The guilt of sin is gone         from sin. A distinguished people tie are. ArId God's
from God's covenant people, and the power and                    sacrament is indeed a mark of distinction wh erein we
corruption of sin have been removed. They are clean.             may rejoice, and for which we may give than1LT.

THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

               Christ: Very God and Very Man
                                                 ProJ Robert D. Decker


          "We believe that by this conception, the person of the Son is inseparably united and connected with the
          human nature; so that there are not two Sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in one single
          person; yet, that each nature retains its own distinct properties. As then the divine nature bath always
          remained untreated,  without beginning of days or end of life, fdling heaven and earth: so also bath the


  110                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


           human nature not lost its properties, but remained a creature, having beginning of days, being a finite
            nature, and retaining all the properties of a real body. And though he hath by his resurrection given
            immortality to the same, nevertheless he hath not changed the reality of his human nature; forasmuch as
            our salvation and resurrection also depend on the reality of his body. But these two natures are so closely
           united in one person, that they were not separated even by his death. Therefore that which he, when dying,
            commended into the hands of his Father, was a real human spirit, departing from his body. But in the
           meantime the divine nature always remained united with the human, even when he lay in the grave. And
            the Godhead did not cease to be in him, any more than it did when he was an infant, though it did not so
            clearly manifest itself for a while. Wherefore we confess, that he is ve?y God and veiy Man: veIy God by his
           power to conquer death; and very man that he might die for us according to the infirmity of his flesh."
                                                                                    The Belgic Confession, Article XIX

    This article speaks of a profound and great                      demned at Constantinople in 3 8 1. There was also the
 mystery, the union and distinction of the two                      error of Nestorius. This man denied the unity of the
 natures, divine and human, in the Person of the Son                two natures of Christ and, according to some, almost
 of God. While much can and must be said in this                    fell into the error of teaching that Christ had two
 connection, it remains the incomparable mystery of                 persons. Finally there was the error of the Eutychians
 the wonder of the incarnation. With the words: "by                 who denied the distinction between the two natures
 this conception," the article refers to the subject of             of Christ. These spoke of the two natures as being
the previous article which concludes:  ". . . so that in            fused together into one. The Council of Ephesus in
 truth he is our Immanuel, that is to say, God with                 43 1 condemned this error. All of these errors were
 us." Thus Article XIX contains a most beautiful con-               referred to when the church finally adopted its
 fession concerning the truth that Jesus Christ is "very            definitive statement concerning the Person and
 God and very man. "                                                natures of the Mediator at the great Council of
    This statement of our faith concerning the Medi-                Chalcedon in 45 1. This council declared that the two
 ator is the product of a long and involved struggle                natures of Christ were united in the one divine
 concerning the truth of the Person and natures of                  Person: "inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, in-
 Christ. Early in its new dispensational history the                separably; the distinction of natures being by no
 church was forced by the great Christological con-                 means taken away by the union, but rather the
 troversies to crystallize and proclaim its faith con-              property of each nature being preserved, and con-
 cerning the wonder of the Person and natures of                    curring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted
 Christ. A variety of errors were quickly to appear on              or divided into two persons, but one and the same
 the scene and had to be dealt with by several great                Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord
 councils of the church. There was the error of                     Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning have
 Docetism. These denied the human nature of Christ.                 declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ
According to Docetism Christ possessed no real                      himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy
 human nature, but only appeared in a human nature                  Fathers has handed down to us." (Philip  Schaff,
 for a time. Another error was that of the Arians                   Creeds of Christendom, vol. II, pp. 62, 63) The posi-
 under the leadership of Arms. They denied the divine               tion of the church, as is also obvious from the care-
 nature of Christ and insisted that while Christ was the            fully worded statement of Article XIX, has remained
 best man who ever lived, He was nonetheless merely a               unchanged from the position of Chalcedon.
 man and not God. Thus the Arians were really the
 forerunners of modernism which teaches that Christ                    The church confesses with this Article that Christ
 was the most "Godlike" of men, but only our ex-                    is personally the Son of God Who is "inseparably
 ample and not our divine Savior. Arianism was dealt                united and connected with the human nature; so that
 with and condemned by the Council of Nicea in 325.                 there are not two Sons of God, not two persons, but
 In close connection with the error of Arius there                  two natures united in one single person." In other
 arose a group known as the semi-Arians. They taught                words, the one Person of the Son of God exists in
 that Christ did not have the same nature as God, but               two natures, the divine and the human. A person may
 a nature which was like God's in every respect. The                be defined in general as an individual subsistence in a
 Council of Constantinople in 381 condemned this                    rational, moral nature. The person is the subject of all
 error and reaffirmed the church's position against                 the actions and life of the nature. Or, if you will, the
 Arianism. At about the same time a man by the name                 person is that which says "I" and which is the subject
 of Apollinarius who was bishop of the church at                    of all the activity of the nature in which it subsists.
 Laodicea taught that Christ did have a complete                    The person is that which remains unchanged through
 human nature, but that the divine "logos" took the                 all the changes from birth, to life, to death which the
 place of the human soul. This error was also  con-                 nature undergoes. The Person from the cradle to the
                                                                    grave remains unchanged. It is always the same "I."
                                                                               -


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     111


The Person of the Mediator is the Second Person of         the revelation. of the divine nature. We cannot, of
the Holy Trinity, the Person of the only begotten Son      course, see the divine nature either of God or of
of God. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity,             Christ. Yet when Christ is in heaven in all of His
therefore, assumed a human nature, grew up in that         exalted `glory, the divine nature will be fully and com-
nature, lived in that nature, suffered and died in it,     pletely revealed to us for Christ is ". . . the brightness
took it out of the grave and into the glory of heaven.     of his (God's)' glory, and the express image of his
  Secondly the article emphasizes the relationshiu         person." (Hebrews 1:2) And, Christ is "the image of
between the two natures within the one divine Per-         the invisible God . . . for it pleased the Father that in
son. Concerning the distinction between the two            him should all fulness dwell . . . ." (Cal. 1: 15, 19)
natures, it says that they always retained their own         This perfect union of the two natures in the one
individual properties. This means that the divine          divine Person of the Son of God is necessary accord-
nature always remained "untreated,  without begin-         ing to this article. It is necessary for Christ to be very
ning of days or end of life, tilling heaven and            God in order that He might conquer death by His
earth . . . ." And, although the divine nature was         power. Only as very God could Christ possess the
always present, that nature "always remained united        almighty power necessary to endure the terrible death
with the human, even when he lay in the grave. And         of the cross. Only as very God was Christ able to bear
the Godhead did not cease to be in him, any more           the full penalty against sin. Only as very God was
than it did when he was an infant, though it did not       Christ able to defeat death by His death. Only as very
so clearly manifest itself for a while." The divine        God was Christ able to die the death of the elect and
nature during the life of Jesus often remained hidden,     deliver them from that terrible power. Likewise it was
wrapped in human flesh. Likewise does the human            necessary for Christ to be very man in order that "he
nature retain its properties. It remains "a creature,      might die for us according to the infirmity of his
having beginning of days, being a finite nature, and       flesh." Christ had to die as very man because man had
retaining all the properties of a real body." Not only     sinned. Man, therefore, had to pay the penalty for sin
so, but while through the resurrection from the dead,      in order to satisfy the justice of God.
the human nature became immortal, "nevertheless, he          Thus too we see the practical significance of all
hath not changed the reality of his human nature;          these great truths. The perfect union between the
forasmuch as our salvation and resurrection also de-       divine nature and the human nature in the eternal
pend upon the reality of his body." Thus it is that the    Person of the Son of God is the only possibility of
two natures of Christ always remain distinct and           our salvation. This is the kind of Mediator we need in
separate with respect to their own properties. This        order to be saved. When we understand this truth,
truth the Reformed churches maintain overagainst           then we can also understand that our salvation is fully
the error of Luthernism which, in connection with its      and perfectly accomplished by our God on our be-
doctrine of the Lord's Supper, teaches the ubiquity        half. We need not doubt, therefore, but that all that is
of the human nature.                                       necessary for our final salvation and glory has been
  Article XIX also refers to the relation between the      merited for us by Jesus Christ.
two natures from the point of view of their being            Finally, this doctrine is basic for the whole doc-
inseparably united in the one Person of the Son of         trine of the Covenant. In Jesus Christ, very God and
God. The two natures were so inseparably united, the       very man, is the closest possible union between God
article affirms, that they were not even separated by      and man. And it is because Jesus Christ is both very
the death of Christ. This means, the article explains,     God and very man, that when the elect are engrafted
that when Christ was dying He commended into the           into Christ by a true and living faith and become
hands of His Father a real human spirit. Therefore         members of His body, they also dwell in perfect and
also the divine nature of Christ was present with His      most intimate fellowship and communion with God
human nature even when it lay in the grave, as the         in the eternal covenant of grace. It is in Christ that
article explains: ". . , And His Godhead did not cease     God tabernacles with His people. It is in Christ in the
to be in him any more than it did when he was an           highest possible sense of the word that God dwells
infant." This, it must be remembered, is a great           with His people in friendship and fellowship. In
mystery. Christ remained all through His life and in       Christ God becomes their God and they become His
His death both very God and very man. It is true that      people. In Christ they enjoy the blessings of His
the human nature only partially revealed the divine        presence and communion for ever and ever. Christ is
nature of Christ, while He was on earth. In glory, the     the temple of the living God in Whom dwells both
human nature of Christ is the perfect instrument of        God and the elect by a true and living faith.

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


112                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE'


                                  Letter to the Members
                                                          A  4
                                                    01 the
                            Congregation at Philadelphia
                                                                                                             Dec. 1, 1976
To the members of the church at Philadelphia,                     England; but even before that movement, the Church
  In my last letter to you, written about a month                 in England was an Established Church under the con-
ago, we began a discussion of this rather common                  trol and direction of the State. In many cases this
tendency among some members of the Church to                      State control was, at least in part, responsible for the
form small groups of Bible-studying Christians who                decline in doctrine and life which characterized the
meet together in the homes of the members for per-                "main-line" Churches. And, indeed, in England, when
sonal edification and spiritual strengthening. I men-             the Separatists left the Church, there were many
tioned to you the fact that this movement, in-                    believers who did not, for one reason or another, go
creasingly popular, has in some instances become a                along with this Separatist Movement and who, in the
substitute for church attendance, and has even be-                State Church, formed such "home-study groups."
come a substitute for membership in the church. In
fact, sometimes groups of believers have withdrawn                  But in the early part of the 19th Century, in
from the established Church and have been content                 almost all the countries on the continent, there were
                                                                  movements such as this. Groups of dissatisfied be-
to be "members" of such an informal group without                 lievers, unhappy with the state of affairs within their
joining. another Church or without organizing a con-              denominations, formed informal groups which met
gregation of their own.                                           within homes to gain for themselves what they could
  They have, for one reason or another, become dis-               no longer get from dead and heretical preaching
satisfied with the established Church; they are dis-              within their denominations. In many instances these
illusioned with a Church which has apostatized; they              groups were directly related to movements of seces-
have concluded that the Church as institute has out-              sion - not only in the Netherlands, but also in such
lived its usefulness. They are content to go their                countries as Germany and Switzerland. Yet, when
independent and informal way. They  find, that the                new denominations were formed by secession move-
spiritual edification which they need is better found             ments, not all those who were dissatisified with their
in such small groups of believers meeting together for            denominations went along. In many instances people
personal Bible study and devotions than in the formal             felt a certain obligation to stay with their mother
worship services of the established Church.                       Church. They refused to separate and go along with
  Last time I wrote that we were going to take a                  those who departed from their mother Church. They
closer look at this whole tendency, to evaluate it                stayed where they were. But they chose to satisfy
from an historical point of view and from the point               that which was lacking in their spiritual life by means
of view of Scripture.                                             of such "Gezelschappen" or fellowship groups.
  Let us then get on with the matter.                               Now, you must clearly understand that there is
  I said in my last letter that this phenomenon was               nothing wrong in itself in groups of believers getting
not new in the Church. This is true. Especially at                together to turn to God's Word, study its truths,
times when the Church sank deeply into dead ortho-                mutually seek to understand better the Scriptures and
doxy and when heresy was rampant in the Church,                   edify one another in the faith. In fact, this is indeed
believers would come together in the homes to study               part of the functioning of the office of believers. Far
the Scriptures, to read the writings of pious men of              better it is for God's people, when they come to-
God from former years, to pray together, and to                   gether for a social visit, to talk about spiritual things
build one another up in the faith. You must remem-                than to discuss things of little or no value, to engage
ber that, in the years prior to the early part of the             in unseemly hilarity or, worse, to spend the time in
19th Century, most of the Churches of the Reforma-                gossiping. And indeed, insofar as these "Gezelschap-
tion in Europe were State Churches. Earlier than this,            pen" in the early part of the 19th Century led to the
of course, had been the Separatist Movement in                    Secession Movement (under De Cock, Brummelkamp,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                113


Van Raalte, et. al., in the Netherlands) these groups      organized Church. Perhaps this lack is apostasy from
served a good purpose.                                     the truth. Perhaps the Church they left is charac-
   But the fact is that these same groups assumed a        terized by worldlimindedness. Perhaps the Church of
different form in subsequent years. In some instances,     their birth is fallen into dead orthodoxy. Perhaps a
for example, groups of people would come together          sort of hierarchy of ecclesiastical assemblies had
because they considered themselves the "kernel"            choked the spiritual life of the saints and had made
within the Church. This was often found in those           effective protest against wrongs impossible. Perhaps a
Churches which emphasized a wrong conception of            certain "spirituality" is lacking for which their souls
conversion. The majority of the congregation were          thirst. Perhaps the Church which was once their home
unconverted because as yet they had had no definite        is too much devoted to the intellectual, to doctrine,
"conversion experience." But there were some who           and not sufficiently devoted to the emotional, to ex-
did consider themselves "converted" and who could          perience. Or perhaps there are combinations of the
point to some usually dramatic incident in their life      above which  form the reasons for their leaving.
which was considered an experience sealing their con-         In any case, they find life among  "Pentecostals"
version. These "converted" would consider them-            much more worthwhile because there free rein is
selves the "kernel" in the Church and, would meet          given to the spirit, experience is emphasized, Godly
together as a kind of a church within a church. They       life is stressed, fellowship is rich and full; in short,
were the true elect within the Church, the truly con-      there is no stifling institutional structure which makes
verted within the outward structure of the Church.         the spiritual life of the saints difficult at best and
  When such groups came together, one of the chief         impossible in many cases.
purposes of such meetings was to discuss and perhaps          We must examine these trends of our day and test
evaluate their conversion experiences and to tell one      the spirits to see whether they be of God. But we
another what "great things God had done for them."         must do this in the light of God's Word.
These groups became highly mystical and subjective;
and the whole concept fostered pride  - as anyone             Before we go into this in any kind of detail, I want
can readily see.                                           to assure you that in these letters I do not intend to
                                                           give a lengthy critique of modern day Pentecostalism.
  In development of another sort, and this especially      Enough has been written about this so that you can
in recent years, small groups of believers, totally un-    discover easily the evils and dangers of this movement
happy with the situation in their mother Church, and       without my writing about it. Nor do I want to crit-
sometimes not knowing where else to turn, withdrew         icize in detail the whole idea of "Gezelschappen." At
from their mother church and formed small and rela-        least, I do not intend to criticize these movements in
tively informal groups which never became an in-           detail from the viewpoint of their dangers and. evils. I
stituted Church but remained unorganized groups            am particularly interested in the question of the
which met on the Lord's Day to read old writers'and        importance of the Church as institute in the life of
to study and pray together. I recall the time I talked     the  child of God. That is the main purpose of my
with such a group. They assured me that they re-           writing., I do not want to see you tempted to look
ceived the preaching of the Word through the old           askance at the church institute and abandon that
writers who spoke to them more powerfully than any         institute as a hopeless structure which is incapable of
minister they had ever heard. They said that their         meeting your spiritual needs. This is the real danger,
experience of the communion of saints, while some-         and this needs our emphasis.
what restricted here on earth because of the smallness
of their group, was nevertheless primarily with the          Nor do I intend to defend the institute of the
saints in heaven. They admitted that it was difficult      Church at all costs. There are some who define patri-
to have a celebration of the sacraments, but that they     otism as being, "My country, right or wrong." I am
could themselves administer these sacraments when          not going to defend loyalty to an ecclesiastical
the need arose. There are many such groups around          institute on the grounds of: "My Church, right or
today. They seem to have become so disillusioned           wrong." The question is not whether there are things
with the organized Church that they are frightened at      wrong with the instituted Church or whether all is
the very thought of becoming a part of such a group        well. It simply is a fact that cannot be contradicted
again.                                                     that the. movement towards fellowship groups is often
  I said in my last letter to you that the various         born in a fi-ustration  with the Church institute which
forms of Pentecostalism are other manifestations of        is completely justified. But the,question  is whether to
this same general tendency. Those who depart from          leave the church institute and establish such an in-
their denominations and join themselves to various         dependent, unorganized, "informal" group is the
Pentecostal groups express that their reasons for do-      solution to the problem.
ing this are mainly that there is a serious lack in the      Our discussion will therefore be somewhat narrow;


       114                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


       but this is because I am primarily interested in being                  But we will wait with this until our next letter. In
       positive. We shall have to see that the institution of               the meantime, think on these things, and let me knoiv
       the Church is ordained by Scripture; and, seeing this,               your reaction to them.
       we shall have to see that the Church institute is a                                                With fraternal greetings,
       necessary part of the life of the believer; that, in fact,                                         H. Hanko
       he cannot get along without it.

       ALL AROUND  CJS:



                                            The R.E.S. and Sunday Observance
                        The. Synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
                                                      The "Mark of the Beast"?
                                                           Kuitert on Election
                                           "Concerned Presbyterians" no more

                                                                  Rev. G. Van Baren



                    The R.E.S. and Sunday Observance                            varied so greatly that they could not be fused into
                                                                                one without doing injustice either to the one or to
             The Reformed Ecumenical Synod, meeting in                          the other, or to both. The advisory committee of the
       Cape Town, South Africa this past summer, faced                          RES analyzed carefully both reports and then pro-
       the question of a united  .stand of all Reformed                         posed that the Synod not choose between them but
       churches on the issue of observance of Sunday. In the                    accept with brotherly forbearance both views as being
       R.E.S. News Exchange, it is reported that in 1968 the                    in the Reformed tradition. It is expected that this will
       matter of Sunday observance was raised, and in 1972                      terminate the discussion in the  RES, for the time
       an international committee was appointed to study                        being.
       the issue. They were to give attention to:                                    Faced, however, also with the growing secularism
                                                                                of society and its erosion of the faith-life of God's
             1. the existing views among Reformed churches,                     people, the Synod urged that all the churches "should
             2. the henneneutical problems underlying these dif-                stand together on their united conviction that the
                ferences,                                                       Lord's day has been given for the good of man, to be
             3. the significance of the history of salvation for our            used, like all God's gifts, to the glory of God." The
       -_       understanding and observance of the Fourth                      Synod called upon its member churches to "maintain
                Commandment, and                                                the observance of the Lord's day as a day of rest,
             4. the practical implications of the Fourth Com-                   worship, good works and Christian joy." The Synod,
               mandment for both the older and younger
-..                                                                             upon recommendation of the advisory committee,
                churches.                                                       also adopted a "Message to the Churches" on the
             One would think that among  Reformed,churches                      Sabbath/Sunday issue.
       there ought to be no real question on the proper use                  It is interesting that the report mentions the
       of Sunday. But evidently such is not the case. In                    attempt to "fuse" two reports (which was impossible
       addition, the R.E.S., which presumably exists to                     in this case). A better word might perhaps be: "com-
       provide guidance and leadership within the Reformed                  promiiing." And when "compromising" is impossible,
       churches, did not dare to take a stand. Division with                then one accepts with "brotherly forbearance" two
       the R.E.S. was clear-cut - so a decision was taken to                opposing positions. Such decisions do not bode well
       "accept with brotherly forbearance both views." The                  for the R.E.S. Perhaps at a later date, when these
       report states that:                                                  reports are `available, we can present a summary of
                 The study  committee produced two reports which            them.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        115


  The same R.E.S. news letter reports that three                      In this new, totally electronic age, the enforce-
more denominations wei-e added to the membership                   ment of financial obligations will present few diffi-
of the organization. All three are from South Africa               culties, since failure to pay up could be disastrous.
and are black. This brings membership of R.E.S. to                 The culprit might even be forced to undergo what
38 denominations and above 5,000,OOO members.                      EFT men call "plastic surgery" - the cutting off of
                                                                   his bank cards. Economically speaking, this would
           The Synod of the Reformed Churches                      make him a non-person.
                    in the Netherlands                           The same magazine contains the interesting para-
  The  Clarion,  paper  .of the Canadian Reformed              graph on "Galloping Knowledge":
Churches, reports on the meeting of the Reformed                      A century ago, it may have been possible for a
Churches (Synodical) of the Netherlands. The Synod                 truly well-educated person to absorb almost ail the
is an on-going gathering that meets this year until                important knowledge accumulated by mankind. To-
Nov. 27th. To be treated there is a book of Dr.                    day, human knowledge is expanding so rapidly that
                                                                   no one can catch up with it.
Kuitert entitled, "Zonder Geloof vaart niemand wel."
There are questions to be treated concerning restruc-                 "By the time the child born today graduates from
turing of the consistory; child or adult baptism;                  college," says Robert. Hilliard, chief of educational
church-visitation; reports from the W.C.C:and R.E.S.               broadcasting at the Federal Communications Com-
                                                                   mission, "the amount of knowledge will be four times
meetings. By a vote of 38-28 the Synod decided to                  as great. By the time the same child is 50, it will be
maintain its decision of 1914 that those who reject                32 times as great - and 97 percent, of everything
infant baptism cannot be considered eligible for the               known in the world will have bee? learned since that
offices of elder or deacon. The Synod is also discuss-             child was born."
ing the question of participation of children in the                  The memorizing of reams of facts will not be
celebration of the Lord's Supper.                                  necessary; they will be quickly available in com-
                                                                   puters. But future man wiU need great knowledge if
                The "Mark of the Beast"?                           only to know what it is he wants to know.
  An interesting article is found in the November
1976 issue of  Reader's Digest.  Entitled, "Coming                                 Kuitert on Election
Soon: `Electronic Money'," it speaks of the time in              Present Truth magazine of September 1976, quotes
the near future when money will hardly be used any             from Dr. Harry M. Kuitert who wrote in his book,
more. Rather, by means of a card assigned to all, and          Sigttals  porn the Bible,  on the  .subject  of election.
a secret number which an individual must use in                Striking, that a "Reformed" theologian can easily
connection with the card, deposits can be made at              twist the truth of election into something entirely
banks, purchases will be made, etc. But even those             different from that traditionally taught in Reformed
who say this will surely come, and that it will be             churches, and maintained in the Reformed creeds. He
good, feel some nagging doubts. The article states:            writes:
      An even greater worry is the threat to individual               The main issue of the Bible's message of God's
   and business privacy. At the push of a button these             election is not what we sometimes call predestination.
   computers can instantly array on an electronic screen           It is rather God's preference, as He brings it to light.
   all your financial transactions - your earnings, debts,         But is this democratic of God, to prefer one people?
   where you travel, how you spend your money.                     Does the word "preference" soften the blow; is not
   Although such information is closely guarded, the              preference about the same thing as arbitrary choice?
   fact that it is accessible to someone in the bank, or to           To answer this question we have to keep our Bible
   interlopers who may tap into the network, leads to              open. We should ask ourselves whom it is that God
   the fear that it could be used for blackmail or for            prefers. We can best get at this by reading the story of
   unwanted commercial solicitations.                             Jesus Christ, for He stands in our midst as the repre-
  It is also true that the government, according to               sentative of this God who has preferences. Anyone
court decision, has the "right" to examine anyone's               who'has seen Him at work has seen God Himself at.
bank account and transactions. How easily such can                work (John 14:9).
lead to the time when the antichrist will have com-                   For whom does Jesus Christ show preference? Is it
plete  control on buying and  selling  - and business             not clear on every page of the Gospel? He prefers the
will be conducted only by those who have the card                 lost, the publicans and sinners, the sick and rejected.
and the assigned number! This is all coming. One can-             In a word, He prefers all those in need of His saving
not stop "progress." But we are reminded that the                 hand.
one who refuses to bow before the antichrist, will                   This is the golden thread that binds Romans 9
lose his "right" to a number. Even the article reminds            together. Paul is not dealing with the question of the
of what could happen by one who loses his card and                pre-destiny of some individuals; he is revealing God's
number:                                                           preferences.


 116                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


          "Concerned Presbyterians" no more.                   hopeless. First, a split in the churches, when the
                                                               Presbyterian Church in America was founded with
   A small paper published periodically by concerned           over 400 congregations, took many of the con-
 Presbyterians of the Southern Presbyterian Church             servatives from the larger denomination. Secondly,
 has printed its last paper recently. This group has           the last Assembly of the larger denomination showed
 been struggling against the inroads of modernism and          clearly in its voting that it was the liberal who was
 liberalism in the Southern Presbyterian Church and            firmly in control of the church. One can mourn when
 against its proposed merger with the United Pres-             voices are increasingly being silenced and objections
 byterian Church of the north. But the task has proved         to the modernism within denominations cease.

 STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                             A Hack-Horse For Sin
                                                 Rev. Robt. CT Harbach


   "And lambs graze as (in) their pastures and deserts         morality," moral perverts; the fifth against the
 (where the flocks got) fat will sojourners (nomad             bacchanalian ways of government men. There is
 shepherds) consume" (v. 17,  Heb.). 1.  Here the              nothing but woe for the wicked and the apostate
 second woe ends, the longest of them all. The literal         church.
 fulfillment of this we see today where modern Jeru-             The picture here is of a draw-horse, a work-horse, a
 salem, about thirty-five feet above the ancient               hack-horse. It is hitched with the cords of vanity. The
 Jerusalem, is a Mohammedan city, and much of                  traces are lighter than air, yet they are as heavy as a
 Palestine is pasture land for Arab shepherds. Sheep           cart-rope. The hack-horse is thus harnessed and en-
 graze over the ruins of Jerusalem as their pasture.           slaved to sin with froth, fiction and sham with a cob-
 (Once Jehovah's vineyard, now a pasture!) These               web righteousness. It is a picture of the folly of sin,
 sheep are God's people from among the Gentiles. By            the slavery of sin, the exceeding deceitfulness of sin.
 nature these sheep were aliens to the commonwealth            Solomon's vanity and hobby was that he collected
 of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the promise,         women, yet he was not a Don Juan nor a Rudolph
 Christ's other sheep, not of the Israelite fold. These        Valentine. He was a hack-horse to sin! In man's own
 feed on the pastures where Judah's flocks had once            view he sees himself entangled only with a gossamer
 gotten fat but were left desolate by rulers, elders,          thread, but in God's view, he is held in check with a
 scribes and Pharisees, pastors who would not feed the         cart rope heavy harnessed to a wagon-l.oad  of iniquity
 flock. 2. Deliberate enslavement to sin. "Woe to those        and sin. He is a willing slave, drudge, lackey, and
 who draw iniquity with the cords of evil, and the sin         hack-horse for sin.
as cords of the cart" (v. 18, Heb,.). Not so much                The picture is of a thin, scrawny, worn out equine
 drawn away by and to sin as their toilsomely tugging          bag of bones locked in harness to a  .huge wagon
 it along after themselves by tempting temptation,             loaded with granite boulders. It is the picture of a
 soliciting the illicit and dragging it all out by perverse    man under the influence of the gospel who is a
 persistence in the evil ways of bold contempt of God          sermon-taster for the purpose of criticizing the min-
 and His warnings. Sin lashed and drove them as                ister's pronunciation, his  grammatic structure, even
 teamsters did their nags, yet "Ephraim was a young            the theme and divisions of his discourse. He is a spir-
 trained heifer loving to tread the threshing floor"           itual trifler, like the courtier who stands before the
 (Hos. 10: 11, MLB).                                           king playing with a feather. On Pentecost Sunday he
   This is the third woe, pronounced against the               draws pictures of cloven tongues of fire on his thumb
 apostate church. The first woe was against covetous,          nail, which curiosities he shows off to his idle friends.
 insatiable Mammon worshipers; the second against              He is known by his friends: Talkative, Short-wind,
 hedonistic  debauchees, the third, here, against sup-         Sleepy-head, and No-heart, along with his girl-friend,
 posedly strongminded men, free-thinkers, naturalistic         Dull. These have no interest in the gospel, no concern
 rationalists; the fourth against teachers of "new             to' hear the preaching of the word, or to read and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  117


study Scripture. They despise that which they trifle        custom,, style, the passing fad, of what other people
with. They are butterfly religionists. They react to        think, slaves of the crowd. They pull the rickshaw
the things of God and to life itself with one perpetual     now, but soon will be staggering to haul Juggernaut.
giggle. Yet they easily develop into malicious scoffers.    They think themselves hung about with daisy chains,
They had better break these cords of vanity, these          but will find them iron shackles, and that they love
strings of soap bubbles which characterize their life,      them.
before they become cart-ropes, before these silly             The load of sin always increases, as in the days of
sheer threads become steel cables, before they be-          the h.orse-drawn garbage wagons the weight increased
come wrapped up in a hawser like an over-wound              as the day wore wearily on, while the poor nags
mummy.                                                      struggled to keep on with their toil. So it is with
   How did they become so frivolous? They began by          those who make long pilgrimages on their knees or
questioning the truth. They questioned the doctrine         wash in the Ganges, the world's most horribly pol-
of the infallibility of Scripture, questioned limited       luted river. The National Geographic Magazine once
atonement, efficacious grace, effectual redemption,         showed Hindu holy men with their backs pierced so a
the doctrine of creation, of election and reprobation,      thong could be drawn through the skin, thus to hitch
in fact, they questioned the Reformed Confessions.          them to heavy loads which they pulled, parading their
To those who remain faithful to these things they           pitiful "piety." Self destruction also becomes a game
say, "You amateur theologians! you think all truth is       in the name of Bacchus, god of the bottle, or in the
hammered out on your anvil!" They say, "The truth           name of Aesculapius, god of the syringe. Demons
is too broad and too complicated that we can be sure        gloat over such fools. Slaves to sin drag their dreadful
of its meaning." So they question it. Take a state-         loads as though it were a great sport.
ment like that in Acts  13:48, "As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed." They question that.       Then the road worsens. The load becomes heavier,
If the statement had been the opposite, they would          the way stonier, the ruts deeper, the grades steeper,
have questioned that, too. But they will make it say        the pot-holes boggier. The cup of sin; at first, is like a
the opposite, anyway, as though the Lord had said,          bubble-headed goblet of champagne, but they who
"As many as believed were ordained to eternal life."        drink it `must do so to the very dregs of gall. The old
They think it smart to question or twist Scripture.         nag, after fifty years of hauling the load of sin, looks
They will take either side to refute the other, and         like an old hag chased by fifty howling wolves. Har-
neither side to defend. To their sophisticated mind         nessed and harassed by sin, loaded down with it,
there is no up or down; they like to compromise, and        driven by it, they are finally wrecked by it. Then the
hang somewhere in between. Their "hang-up" is their         cords of sin eternally hold the sinner. The unjust
being "in betweenites." For them, there is no true or       remains unjust still, and the filthy, filthy still (Rev.
false, no concept of black or white, no right or            22: 1 la). Judas enmeshed with threads of Utopia be-
wrong; they prefer subtleties and subterfuges. They         came bound with cables of unavailing remorse.
are like Janus, or Mr. Facing-both-ways. They have no       Samson entangled in the nylon net of a woman's
"yes" or "no" except as they are regulated by the           wiles was soon captive to a Philistine tow-rope to his
clock, the weather, and the pocket book. They will          undoing. He was Delilah's hack-horse before he be-
                                                            came the Philistine's blind mill-horse. A man is a slave
not be catechized, for they would catechize Christ.
Like the skeptic, they are sewed up tight with truth-       to lust before he is a slave to the devil.
denying cords.                                                In the end, the load finally crushes the hack-horse.
   This poor, decrepit hack-horse drags along pulling       The devil drives him onward and downward pell-me11
the fear of man behind him. Someone startles him            along the precipitous slope where it is impossible to
with, "You go with that Reformed bunch in the little        turn back or aside; then the load itself overtakes and
white church!" To which the answer may be, "I'm             crushes him. They who engage in joint worship with
too old to change," or, "my parents make me." When          Romanists and Modernists are hack-horses for the
it is further demanded, "How do you stand a sermon          pope. Adherents to the ecumenical movement are
for a whole hour?" (or for forty-five minutes!), he is      pack-horsing for Antichrist. The devil is not finished
nearly ready to apologize to Satan. The hack-horse          yet, driving such abjects as Belshazzar the drunkard,
will let one pull one ear this way and the other that.      Dives the glutton, Ahasuerus the lecher, Demas the
He is more concerned with the smile of a frivolous          Mammon-lover, and Gehazi and Judas the greedy.
friend or a fool's opinion than seeking first the king-       This old, bony, sway-backed, tottering clod-hopper
dom of God. So a young woman may be bound by                is ready to fall to pieces. But at day's end it cannot be
the cords of vanity to win a vain, empty, brainless         taken from harness, nor removed from the traces for
man; and a young man may deny the faith to be               fear the miserable, ancient carcass could never be
known as a free-thinker or a man of culture. Both the       hitched up to get going again. It stands trembling,
young woman and the young man may be slaves of              dozing, and fitfully dreaming until awakened at dawn


118                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


with the  sharp  crack of the hard-taskmaster's  Whip.       was scourged and while bearing the cross to Golgotha.
Who can break this slave out of its bondage? Who             He was bound with nails. Our sins riveted Him to the
wants to? Helplessly and hopelessly bound, it perishes       gibbet. There He was our Substitute. He took the
in its slavery.                                              place of condemned bondslaves. Because He was so
                                                             bound we are able to overcome' the devil, bind the
   The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was bound with our          strong man, spoil his house and trample him  van-
sins. At Gethsemane He was bound with chains.                quished under our feet. Then we go on to sing the
Before Pilate and Herod He was bound. So when He             song of the soul set free! Hallelujah!

QUESTIONBOX



                   About Retirement. of Ministers
                                                     (continued)

                                                ProJ: H. C. Hoe ksema




  The final question is: how can we determine when           provide for such men, and also continue to esteem
a minister should retire? The Church Order speaks of         them and appreciate them as long as they are among
being "rendered incapable of performing the duties of        us. And if a minister should fail to see his own in-
their office." Hence, the answer is: a minister should       capability, then his consistory and congregation will
retire when he becomes incapable of performing the           do him and themselves a favor by helping him to see
duties of his office. This is a rather simple matter to      it.
determine, of course, in those instances in which a                 Can any guidelines be suggested according to which
minister is obviously physically incapacitated. In           this question should be answered? I believe there are
other instances, however, that "incapable" is a bit          such objective guidelines, and I will suggest a few
more difficult to interpret. When is a man incapable         obvious ones. They are guidelines for the minister
of performing the duties of his office by reason of          himself, first of all.
age? Does he have to be so feeble that he cannot
mount the platform? Must he be so full of infirmities        1. Is the minister preaching old sermons or reworked
of body and mind that preaching becomes an obvious           old sermons rather frequently? Yes, I know those old
impossibility? I do not believe this. I believe that         sermons may be good; and I know how any minister
especially in our day, with all its pressing problems        goes about justifying the use of those old sermons.
and conflicts and its busy life, our congregations need     The fact is, however, that when any minister - young
alert, vigorous ministers who have understanding of          or old - uses old sermons, he is not developing and
the times, who are capable of intense, vigorous, fresh      growing. And no one stands still: if he does not
preaching, who are capable of the same kind of in-           develop and grow, he goes backward. This will in-
struction in catechism and societies, who are capable       evitably lead to stale preaching, whether in Heidel-
of positive leadership and guidance, and who are            berg Catechism preaching or in so-called "free
capable of alert and vigorous pastoral care. The            material" preaching.
minister himself must, in the first instance, confront      2. Is the preaching intense, vigorous, sharp? Or is it
the question whether he is still capable of such a          rather hum-drum and matter-of-fact? Is the con-
ministry; and if he is not, then he should honestly         gregation swept up and carried along in the preaching,
face the necessity of retirement. There is no shame in      so that it becomes intensely involved and interested?
that  - especially not when a minister has worked           If a minister has lost the physical and mental stamina
hard and long all his life and has been through the mill    and vigor to preach in this intense manner, and  .it
of conflict. And our churches can and will honorably        preaching becomes a chore that has to be gotten out


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              119



of the way twice a week, it is time to quit.
3. Does the preaching break new ground as far as its
subject material is concerned, or does it cover ground                   Come, my soul, cast off despair
familiar to all and which has probably been covered                      To Gethsemane repair;
umpteen times before? Is the subject material such                       Hear the suff'ring Surety cry,
that the sermon is just about predictable to anyone                       "Father, let this cup pass by."
reasonably familiar with Protestant Reformed preach-                     wrath Divine upon Him lay, -
ing? If the answer is Yes, this is an indication of lack                 All His followers fled away, -
of exegetical initiative and development.                                Hear Him utter, with a groan,
4. Does the preaching address itself to current needs,                    "Father, let thy will be done."
current dangers, current theological and doctrinal                       This was love beyond degree,
developments and trends, and does it do so per-                          Jesus agonized for me,
tinently? If it does not, this is an indication that the                 Bore my guilt - tremendous load!
minister is not keeping up in his reading and studying.                  Saved me with His precious blood.
5. Does the minister continue to prepare well and                        Yes, my Saviour suffered thus,
thoroughly for the catechism classes and for Bible                       To redeem me from the curse;
discussion in the societies? Or does he give this prep-                  He has vanquished death and hell:
aration a lick and a promise, expecting to bank on                       I shall ever with Him dwell.
his experience and his backlog of knowledge?
6. Does the minister have good contact with the
young people of the congregation?. Does he know                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
them, know their peculiar problems and needs? Does
he work with them and give them counsel and leader-            The congregation of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church of
                                                            -_..
                                                            Wyckoff, New Jersey was deeply saddened by the death of one of its
ship? Or is he out of touch with them?                      members, MR. CHARLES DE GROOT.
7. Does the minister continue to be active in pastoral         Our prayer is that our gracious and merciful God and Father may
labors faithfully? Or does he have no time for the          continue to comfort the bereaved widow and families with the blessed
                                                            comfort that He alone is able to give. We encourage all by the truth that
sheep? Does he labor pastorally only by reaction, that      while this is indeed a great loss for the family and congregation, it is a
is, only when confronted by some specific need or           great gain for him, as he has entered into the house of many mansions
problem? Or does he know the flock intimately and           of the Father that the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for all His saints.
labor positively and preventively?                                                      On behalf of the Congregation,
                                                                                        Rev. Arie den Hartog
8. Does the minister furnish good, positive leadership
in the consistory? Or does he seek to avoid or to                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
postpone dealing with problems, trying, perhaps, to            The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hull  (Iowa)  Protestant Reformed
get meetings finished as soon as possible?                  Church wishes to extend their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Duane
9. Does the minister continue to do all the tasks in        Brummel in the loss of her father, MR. JOHN COLENBRANDER.
the congregation which he formerly did, or does he             We pray that the Lord will sustain them in their sorrow.
complain that he has too much work and try to                  "  - the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not
escape work which would ordinarily and routinely be         fail thee, nor forsake thee." (Deuteronomy  31:6).
expected of him?                                                                        Egbert Gritters, Pres.
                                                                                        Mrs. Don Hoksbergen, Sec'y.
10. Is the minister willing to do his part in denomina-
tional activities,. such as classical and  synodical
committees, etc.? Or does he decline these duties in                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
behalf of the churches in common?                              On December 14, 1976, the Lord willing our beloved parents, MR.
                                                            AND MRS. JOHN C. FLIKKEMA, SR. commemorate their 25th wed-
  These are just a few suggestions. Undoubtedly             ding anniversary. We, their children, are thankful to God for them, and
more such questions can be raised. They are questions       express to them our gratitude for the good instruction we have re-
                                                            ceived. It is our prayer that our God will continue to be with them and
which are not necessarily limited in their value to         with us. May we together seek to serve and praise Him who has so
ministers faced by the question of possible retirement      richly blessed us.
because of age. Some careful, objective introspection          "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is
and self-evaluation is good for any minister. But in        in the Lord his God." (Psalm  146:5).
this connection, I only wanted to point out that a                                      Their children,
minister should approach the entire question of                                            John and  Ruthanne  Flikkema
                                                                                             and John Michael
whether he is or is not ripe for retirement as objec-                                      Steve and Karen Ophoff
tively as possible, and that there are indeed some                                         Thomas
                                                                                           Gail
test-questions which can be confronted.                                                    Steven

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





                                      . .
120                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

                           News From Our Churches
  Our church in Hull, Iowa has extended a call to                 little farther to the west we find that the consistory
Rev. Mark Hoeksema from a trio which included                     of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Isabel,
Rev. Dale Kuiper and Rev. Gise Van Baren:                         South Dakota sponsored a public lecture on October
                                                                  29 also. Their pastor, Rev. Miersma, was to speak on
  The following appeared under the heading of                     "The Reformation and the Holy Scriptures." Our
`Church News' in the October 10 Edmonton bulletin:                church in Loveland, Colorado commemorated the
"Rev. B. Woudenberg of Lynden, Washington has                     Reformation with a public program in the Lesher Jr.
accepted the call extended to him by our church in                High School in Fort Collins. Rev. G. Lanting's lecture
Kalamazoo, Michigan. He will leave for his new                    topic was "The Reformation, A Liberation of the
`station' in the Lord's service this month. Our min-              Bible." At least some of the lectures mentioned above
ister, Rev. Moore, is the first one to fill a classical           and many from past years are available to you on
appointment in the Lynden church. It is an honor                  tape recordings. Write to the Standard Bearer Bus-
and a joy for us to do this for our sister church in              iness Office for information. The address is inside the
Lynden, as we have received so much from them!                    front cover of this magazine.
God has used their prayers and labours and especially
the  labours of their minister for our strengthening                 The Reformed Witness Hour radio program is now
and comfort in the most holy faith. Rev. Moore is                 heard at a new time in the Randolph, Wisconsin area.
scheduled to to to Lynden for the Sundays of                      The new schedule is Sunday morning at  8:30 on
November 7, 14, and 21." Rev. Woudenberg made                     WLKE, 1170.
many trips over the mountains between Lynden and                   The opening of the new Christian School in Hull,
Edmonton to meet with the group in Edmonton both                  Iowa was celebrated with a dedication program on
                                                                  October 8. Open house was held from  5:30 to 8:00
before and after they organized as a Protestant Re-
formed Church.                                                    PM. The dedication program was scheduled to begin
                                                                  at 8:00 and included special numbers by the school
  Those of us in the United States look forward to                children and an address by Rev. Kortering on the
celebrating our National Day of Thanksgiving toward               subject, "The Educated Pilgrim." Refreshments fol-
the end of November, but did' you know that our                   lowed the program.
congregation in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada cele-                      On August 21 and 22, 1976, our church in South
brated the Canadian National Day of Thanksgiving on               Holland, Illinois celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of
October 1  l?                                                     that congregation. In honor of that joyful occasion,
  Many of our churches across the land sponsored                  the church published a rather attractive booklet. The
public programs in recognition of Reformation Day,                booklet contains a number of interesting items in-
October 31. In the Grand Rapids area Rev. M.                      cluding a photostatic copy of the records of the
Joostens spoke in First Church on October 29. His                 official organization meeting of the church on August
topic was "The Priesthood `of All Believers." Rev.                24, 1926. This record is written in the Dutch  lan
`Van  Baren, who was chairman for the evening,                    guage. For those of us who are not too well acquainted
brought greetings from our congregation in Prospect               with Dutch, a translation is included. Also included is
Park, New Jersey, where he had spoken for a                       a message from their present pastor, a brief history of
Reformation Day observance meeting the previous                   the congregation, pictures of some of the `sons' of the
evening. The Men's Society of our South Holland,                   congregation, including Rev. George Lanting and
Illinois church sponsored a lecture on October 27 in               Rev. Gise Van Baren, and 4 young men now attend-
their church. Rev. Herman Veldman of our South-                   ing our seminary and two who are entering  pre-
west Church in Wyoming, Michigan spoke on                         seminary training. Two pages are devoted to a brief
"Evangelism in the Light of the Reformation."                     history of the Christian School opened by members
Coffee and doughnuts were to be served afterwards in              of the congregation in 196 1. A booklet very well
the church basement. The Men's Society in Ran-                    done! Our Hudsonville congregation also celebrated
dolph, Wisconsin planned to sponsor a public lecture              their 50th anniversary this past. summer. A note in
on November 11 in their church. They invited Rev.                 the Randolph bulletin commented on Hudsonville's
George Lubbers of Pella, Iowa to speak on the subject             anniversary booklet - which I have not seen . . . yet.
                                                                              A'
"The Decalogue and the Reformation." Moving a                                                                  K. G. V.


