      The
STANDARD
     BEARER ~
r-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                            T





     A  --Bible  .that is placed. on some obscure
 shelf, left to gather the dust  is like a flashlight
 without batteries, a lantern without oil. It
 sheds absolutely no light  I on your path. A
 Bible must be used; it must be read; it must.
 be studied diligently. The Bible that serves as
 a lamp unto our feet and a light  up.on our
 path is the Bible that has  ibecome worn and
 tattered and frayed through; constant use;

                        See "God's Word:
                    A Lamp and a iLight" - Page 451



                                      Volume ,Llll, No. 19, August I,1977    ,I
                                                 ISSN 0362-4692


434                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



                        CONTENTS:                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  July, and August.
Meditation  -                                                                 Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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  My Present Misery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .434      Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                        Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                        Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
Editorials -                                                            Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema,. Rev.
                                                                        George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert Joostens, Rev. Marinus  Schrpper,
  "Our Song of Hope" A Critique (2) . . . . . . . . .437                Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
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MEDITATION


                                         My Present Misery
                                                              Rev.' C. Hanko

            Whence knowest thou thy misery?
                Out of the law of God.
            What doth the law require of us?
                Christ teaches us that briefly, Matthew 22: 3740, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
                with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This
                is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
                thy neighbor as thyself On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. "
            Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?
                In no wise; for I am prone by nature to hate God and the neighbor. Heid. Catechism,
                Lord's Day 2.

   Misery. . . .                                                          both for body and soul. With hearts indebted to our
  We plunge, as it were, from the ecstatic heights of                     God we confessed that we possess that only comfort,
an only, all inclusive comfort into the depths of                         since we are not "our own, but belong to our faithful
abject misery. Our Book of Instruction spoke in                           Savior Jesus Christ." He is the Savior of our souls, the
Lord's Day I of an only comfort in life and death,                        Savior of our bodies, our Savior now, in the hour of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               435



death, and even into all eternity. The very thought          question: `Whence knowest thou thy misery?" Where
floods our souls with joy unspeakable and full of            did you obtain your information? What is the
glory. Now we speak not of the misery of a sin-cursed        constant source of your knowledge?
world which we see round about us, but OUY misery.              The Word of God. . . .
Not our past misery, as some would like to think who            I may be anticipating a bit, but one can hardly
speak of conversion as a complete deliverance from           refrain :from expressing a pleasant surprise, that here
the power of sin. They say the converted sinner is           already our fathers call our attention to the Word of
now a saint to whom the very thought of sin is               God, the Holy Scriptures. It is one of the outstanding
foreign, so that with a bit of effort he need never sin      features of our Catechism, that it refers so repeatedly
any more. But our fathers speak of our present               to the Scriptures as the means whereby God bestows
misery, the misery we experience as believers in             His grace upon us. In this Lord's Day our Catechism
Christ Jesus who are still surrounded by an evil world,      points out that we draw the knowledge of our misery
with sin still warring in their members. It is the           from the Word of God. In Lord's Day 6 we are given
misery which only the child of God can know and              to confess that weknow  the only Mediator, in Whom
can confess. We are confronted with OUY misery; my           is the fulness of our salvation, from the holy gospel.
misery, your misery, which created a daily tension in        Lord's Day 7 speaks of the contents of our faith as
this body of sin and death.                                  including "all things promised to us in the gospel."
                                                             Lord's Day 21 teaches us that it is by His Spirit and
  The plunge from the blessedness of an only                 Word that the Son of God gathers, defends, and
comfort into the depths of conscious misery, of              preserves His church. Lord's Day 25 speaks of the
which I spoke a moment ago, is actually not as great         preaching of the gospel as the chief means of grace.
as one might imagine. In fact, we are still fully aware      Lord's Day 31 refers to the preaching of the holy
of that only, all-sufficient comfort, but we are             gospel as the chief key of the kingdom of heaven.
focusing our attention on one aspect of it. Comfort          And Lord's Day 33 speaks of the law of God as the
implies misery, for even a child who has hurt himself        rule of thankfulness, while Lord's Day 45 implies that
will flee to mother for a comforting word or kiss. In        we are taught to pray by the Spirit through the means
the previous Lord's Day we confessed just that when          of the Scriptures.
we said that our comfort consists in knowing how
great our sins and miseries are, as well as knowing             Pardon this slight diversion. I realize that Lord's
how we are delivered from our sins and miseries, and         Day 2 does not speak of the Word, but rather of the
how we shall show true gratitude to God for such             law of God. But it must become evident to us almost
deliverance.                                                 at once,' that the mere ten commandments as given on
                                                             tables of stone at Mount Sinai is not meant here. Our
  Our Catechism makes itself very bold here. It does         fathers  ,give us a summary of those ten command-
not ask whether we are miserable, but rather assumes         ments, taken from the mouth of Jesus Himself, Who
that we are. It does not ask whether we have learned         also tells us that "on these two commandments hang
to understand our misery, but again assumes that we          all the law and the prophets." This can only mean all
do. It does not speak of the groaning of all humanity        the Scriptures proclaim the law of God, which is
in that broad sense of the word, but speaks specifical-      rooted in the principle of love to God. By the law,
ly of your and my experience of misery. We could             that is, by the Holy Scriptures is the knowledge of
readily lose ourselves in a discussion of all the world's    sin.
ills, considering the massive destruction of warfare
with all its accompanying grief as experienced in the           "The woman Thou gavest me. . . ."
many war torn countries of the world. We could                  We are all aware that when Adam spoke these
linger over the race problem, the woeful poverty in          words immediately after the fall, he did this as a
many lands, the crowded hospitals, the cries of              subterfuge. Although he had to admit that he was
anguish that arise in prisons and mental institutions,       guilty of eating of the forbidden tree, he nevertheless
or the moanings of the dying in rest homes. We share         could not refrain from looking askance. at Eve as the
that misery with the rest of humanity. But our misery        one who tempted him. It was "the woman Thou
reaches much deeper into our souls than the mere             gavest to me that did tempt me, and I did eat." Let it
outward sufferings which are the result of sin in the        be, that' Adam revealed his depraved nature by hiding
world. We are concerned about the problem of sin             behind this flimsy excuse, there is nevertheless truth
itself, with its accompanying guilt and depravity. We        in what he said. It was, after all, the woman that God
cry out to God, "Against Thee have I sinned, and             gave him who presented him with the forbidden fruit
done this evil in Thy sight. Yea, I am conceived in sin,     and lured him to eat. This does tell us something
and born in iniquity." Our Catechism is well aware of        about sin and the law.
that anxious cry `that arises from the soul of every            Adam had received a most cherished gift from the
true believer, and therefore it confronts us with the        Lord. Almost immediately after he stepped forth


436                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



from the hand of the Creator into conscious life he          God, Who controls the seasons, also controls the seed
realized that, although he was `perfect, there was still     that is planted in the earth, and thus carries out His
a definite lack in his life. He became the more aware        own law by bringing forth a harvest. Keeping God's
of this as he walked about the garden, gasping in            law is a matter of life; breaking it brings death. The
wonder at its amazing splendor, taking special note of       fish swims at liberty in the water, but deprived of
the animals who were all created in pairs, male and          that liberty it soon dies. Also in regard to God's
female. The animals had their mates, but Adam had            moral law, the man who keeps it lives and walks at
none. Yet he had been created with a definite need           liberty, the soul that sins must die. God's law for
for a mate, physically, psychologically, but also            man, who is created in the image of God, is that he
spiritually. Not another man would do; not another           shall love the Lord his God with all his heart, and
king over the earthly creation. He needed a wife, one        mind, and soul, and strength. We must love God as
who was in every way sufficiently like him to share          husband and wife, as parents and children, as boy
his life with him, yet also sufficiently different, that     friend and girlfriend, even in every relationship of
she could be subject to him and a helper to him. He          life. The husband and father who provides for all the
needed one whose very nature would cause her to              needs of his family out of the selfish motive of their
lose herself in her husband, even as Adam found all.         temporal welfare not only makes himself guilty of
the fulness of his life in God. This is true still today,    sin, but becomes a bad influence for his family. The
women's lib notwithstanding. God gave him Eve,               mother who fails to perform her household task in
taken from his rib, under his heart. She could share         love to God, no matter how faithfully she serves her
his life in intimate communion of nature and of love.        family, is still guilty of sin and influencing others to
In her Adam's life was complete. Together they               sin, even as "the woman thou gavest me." There is
walked, and talked, and enjoyed each other's fellow-         not a phase of our lives that God's law does not
ship of love, so that they needed each other, as a           touch, always with the calling to be friend-servants of
reflection of man's need for covenant fellowship with        God.
God. And then, a short time after, the blow fell. Eve           Canst thou . . . ?
had gone her own way, to consort with the devil,                The very thought causes me to hang my head in
with the result that the lust of the eyes, the lust of       shame. Do I keep all these things, applying God's law
the flesh, and the pride of life so completely,              of love to every phase of my life? The answer is
overpowered her that her hand went out to the                obvious: my desires, my thoughts, my ambitions, my
luscious fruit of the forbidden tree. She ate and            words, acts and deeds, even at their best, are sinful. In
suddenly realized that the spiritual bond as the basis       fact, I find this rebel in me, that when I see a "Wet
for her marriage was broken by her own sinful act. A         Paint" sign I have an urge to touch it. God's law
breach was fallen between her and her sinless hus-           arouses the lion of sin in me.
band, making it impossible for them to live in                 But that is not even the question: Do I? The
intimate fellowship together any longer. The helper          question is: Can I keep God's law? Can I keep it
became the temptress, a tool of Satan to draw her            perfectly? That perfectly bothers me. I might venture
husband away from  God..into the fellowship of sin           the excuse: I try. The law of God shakes its head, as
and darkness. The woman God gave,him became his              it were, in disapproval. My conscience argues with
downfall. The great joy in his life aided to bring him       me, because `of the wrong I do, and God's law frowns
into abject misery.                                          on me. Canst thou keep God's law perfectly? It is
                                                             perfectly, or not at all, for one single transgression
  The lesson to be learned is that God's law is not a        against any one of the commandments reveals my lack
mere code of ethics which can be changed from time           of love to God, like the unfaithful thought of a wife
to time to suit our desires, or which can be broken          against her husband. I am evil, born in sin. God
with impunity. Traffic laws are often changed, and if        requires truth within.
not changed are still often broken without serious             When  I' place myself before the mirror of God's
consequences, because the traffic officer did not            law, I see myself as I really am, and am forced to cry
happen to see it. God is the unchangeable God of heav-       out: "0 wretched man! Who shall deliver me from
en and earth. He is the living God, Whose holiness           the body of this death?" I am prone, that is, I am
requires that He be loved, obeyed, and served. God's         lying flat on my face, prone to evil, so that I only do
law is the will of God concerning every one of His           evil continuously.
creatures. For example, God laid down certain laws             There is only one redeeming feature. That is, that
that a farmer must recognize and keep. The farmer            this applies to me according to my sinful nature. By
must sow his seed in the springtime if he expects to         nature I am prone to all evil. The new man in Christ
gather a crop in the autumn. The soil must be                flees to the cross, to cling to the cross. God forbid
prepared to receive the seed; rain and sunshine must         that I should ever glory apart from that cross, in
come at the proper time and in the right amount..            which is all my salvation.


                                                                                                                   -.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              437


EDITORIAL
Pr0.f H.C. Hoeksema





                          "Our Song of Hope" ---A Critique
                                                                (2)


  In the June 1 issue we published  in  toto  the                          walls of the churches to participate in the process and
provisionally adopted new confession of the Re-                            make their suggestions.
formed Church in America called "Our Song of
Hope." We suggested at that time that any Reformed                        This is a telling paragraph.
person with some knowledge of our Three Forms of                          First of all, the question arises as to the meaning of
Unity would detect at once that the language of this                   this provisional acceptance. Does this mean that the
proposed new confession differs sharply from that of                   RCA in this document confesses its faith, but is not
the old creeds, and that there is an altogether                        certain as to the precise contents of that faith? Does
different tone in "Our Song of Hope." Personally, we                   it mean that it is  - at least in the abstract  - entirely
feel that this difference is so obvious and that the                   possible that in 1978 the RCA General Synod will
tone and the language of this document is so                           declare that Our Song of Hope is after all not the
completely foreign to a Reformed man that critique                     expression of their faith? Does it mean that possibly
is hardly necessary. In fact, the language is so foreign               the document may undergo radical revision in  1978?
and the ideas are so "far out" that one hardly knows                   It  would seem that these are fair inferences. For the
where to begin criticizing. But perhaps this is only an                avowed'purpose of this method is "that at the time of
indication of how far apart churches of the Reformed                   final action Our Song of Hope will not only reflect
family, who officially adhere to the Reformed con-                     the faith of the Church and reverberate in the life of
fessions, have grown, By the same token the appear-                    this world, but also magnify the name of our Lord."
ance and even the provisional adoption of such a                       And this can only mean that Our  Song of Hope  does
document as this in the RCA should cause any who                       not yet reflect the faith of the church. But this can
still love the Reformed faith in that denomination to                  only mean that this document is a contrived confession
ask themselves seriously, "What are we doing here?"                    which is being foisted upon the denomination. And
  In the present article we propose to present some                    by  means of this provisional acceptance the camel
general criticisms.                                                    already has his nose in the tent of the RCA; and the
  Our first point of criticism concerns the fact that                  danger is, of course, that in 1978 the entire camel will
the General Synod of the RCA gave this document                        make his way inside the tent, crowd out whatever of
"provisional acceptance" in 1974, with final action                    .a Reformed confession may be left in it, and
scheduled for 1978. Writes Dr. Eugene Heideman on                      confessionally upset the tent.
page 2 of Our Song of  Hope:                                             Worst of all, of course, is the fact that such
       "Our Song of Hope" was given provisional                        contriving of a confession is contrary to the manner
    acceptance at the meeting of the Reformed Church's                 in which confessions come into being. Confessions are
    broadest  jud$atory,  the General Synod, in June,                  not made; they are born. They arise out of the bosom
    1974,  with  fmal action scheduled for June, 1978.                 of the church. They are not artificially contrived, but
    Prior to the 1974 action, several thousand persons                 are born usually out of conflict and frequently have
    participated in discussions during the period                      even been written in the blood of the martyrs. They
    1958-1974. During the four years in  which the                     are  not written so that  th_ey will  eventually  reflect the
    document will have provisional status, the Reformed                faith of the church; they express that faith when they
    Church hopes that it will be widely used, studied and
    criticized, so that at the time of final action Our Song           are written. Go back in history to the time when the
    of Hope will not only reflect the faith of the Church              great confessional statements of Reformation times
    and reverberate in  the life of this world, but also               were written, and you will discover this to be true.
    magnify the name of our Lord. This book has been                   Was the Belgic Confession written the way Our Song
    produced  iu order to encourage many in all the                    of Hope was composed? Were the Canons of
    churches of Christendom as well as those beyond the                Dordrecht provisionally accepted with a view to


438                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


possible final acceptance four years later? Were any                capable of standing on its own feet. It needs
of the great ecumenical creeds prepared in this                     interpretation in order to be understood. But a creed
fashion? True, very little information is furnished us              is already supposed to be an interpretation and
as to the precise manner in which Our Song Of Hope                  setting forth in systematic form of the truth of
was prepared. We are only informed that from 1958                   Scripture. Here, however, we have a creed which itself
to 1974 "several thousand persons participated in                   needs interpretation. This is a violation of one of the
discussions." But I dare make an educated guess that                fundamental requisites of a creed: it must be charac-
this document is the work of some professional                      terized by clarity. Instead, we have here an interpreta-
ecclesiastics, and that there was neither an expressed              tion which needs interpretation.
nor implied call out of the bosom of the churches for
this creed. Its very language leaves this impression,                 If this were not bad enough, we also have a creed
too.                                                                here which is capable of more than one interpreta-
                                                                    tion! That offered in the "Study Guide" will help,
       And what kind of ecclesiastical nonsense is pro-             "but does not represent the only possible interpreta-
posed when it is stated that "This book has been                    tion." Still worse: this credal statement is going to
produced in order to encourage many in all the                      grow in meaning as it is used! Who knows where this
churches of Christendom as well as those beyond the                 may end? It is obvious that this creed purposes to be
walls of the churches to participate in the process and             all things to all men. The difficulty is that no truly
make their suggestions"? Can Roman Catholics,                       Reformed man can be anything but totally dis-
Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Greek               satisfied with Our Song of Hope. For he will not be
Orthodox, and even non-church members participate                   able to find the expression of his faith in it.
in the process of preparing a confessional statement
of a Reformed church? Obviously the intention of                      Later we expect to make specific criticisms by way
this document is to make the RCA offensive to none,                 of. comparisons between Our Song of Hope and the
pleasing to as many as possible. The aim is  broad-                 Three Forms of Unity. But we wish to point out one
minded, colorless ecumenism. The result can only be                 example of the ambiguity - it could better be called
that the RCA will become officially Laodicean,                      gobbledegook  - of this document. Throughout Our
nauseating to the Lord Who walks in the midst of the                Song of Hope you will find the term "world" used
seven golden candlesticks.                                          many times. In a footnote on page 1 we are informed
                                                                    that Our Song of Hope uses the term "world" to
       Our second general criticism of Our Song of Hope             mean "that matrix of relationships, natural and
concerns the language of this document. It is vague,                historical events, and institutional structures within
ambiguous, lacking in precise and specific formula-                 which the human race lives," - whatever that may
tions, totally without anything which would identify                mean. I suggest that the reader take this definition
this document as a confessional statement of a                      and go back to the document as it appeared in our
Reformed  denomination. What is worse, this docu-                   June 1 issue and substitute this definition wherever
ment is admittedly vague and ambiguous; and one can                 the word "world" appears. If the whole matter were
only come to the conclusion that it is intentionally                not connected with the confession of the church and
so.                                                                 were not so dreadfully serious, it would be laughable.
       It is admittedly vague and ambiguous. For Dr.
Heideman states in his Introduction, page 2, that even                More could be said along general lines. One might
his commentary - and he served as secretary of the                  point out that the deliberate purpose of this new
committee during 1971-74 - does not represent the                   creed is not to separate the Reformed Church in
only possible interpretation. He writes;                            America from other denominations; but it is exactly
                                                                    one of the purposes of creeds to distinguish and
        2. The official document is the twenty-one                  separate. One might point out that while the Three
       stanzas together with the prologue and prayer.               Forms of Unity are not being officially discarded and
          3. The other material  iu this book has been              replaced by this new creed, yet that will be the effect,
       prepared to assist those who study the document in           and soon the Three Forms of Unity will be totally
        detail. The  `Study  Guide" has been prepared by the        unknown in the RCA. For "Without repeating all that
       person who served as secretary of the committee              has previously been set forth in credal formulae, this
        during 1971-1974.  It will help many to understand
        the issues involved in the lines and stanzas of Our         new confessional statement will be used in public
       Song  of  Hope, but does not  represetlt the only            worship, in religious education, and in re-affirming
       possible interpretation.  On the contrary, credal state-     the traditional faith in the contemporary situation."
       ments usually grow in meaning as they are used.              (page 1) You see, the only result of the adoption of
       Therefore, the interpretation of the secretary must be       this creed will be the final and official death of the
       regarded as a launching pad rather than the last word.       RCA as an identifiable Reformed denomination.
  Notice that Our Song of Hope, first of all, is not                  Next time we will turn to some specifics.


                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER                                             439


EDITORIAL
Pro5 H.C. Hoeksema



                                 Who Were the  Marrowmen?

  Every now and then, both here and abroad,                 the first part of a book called "The Marrow of
adherents of the doctrine of a general, well-meant          Modern Divinity" and its second part, which appears
offer of salvation will appeal for support of their         to be an attempt to correct the antinomianism of the
views to the Marrowmen, as though they should be            first in 1649. Though it bore the imprimatur of
respected and considered authoritative for a Re-            Puritan licence,  little more is known of the origin of
formed view of the preaching of the gospel. Nothing         the book, other than (that) it carried the recom-
could be farther from the truth, however; and to lean       mendatory letters of Caryl, Burroughes and Strong
on the Men of the Marrow is to lean on a broken             who were members of the Westminster Assembly
reed. They were some of the earliest proponents in          (1643/49), and was also supported by Arrowsmith,
Scottish church history of views which were actually        Sprigge, Prittie and others, all of whom were of the
a departure from the Reformed faith, and they were          Davenant School persuasion. The terms of the book
officially condemned as such.                               are in every respect consistent with the theology of
  For the sake of the record we wish to review this         that school. The following sentences are a sample of
history and to show what the teachings of the               its contents: -
"Marrow" and of the Marrowmen were. In this                 1. "Christ hath taken upon Him the sins of all men."
connection we can do no better than to quote from a         2. Of Christ, "the Father hath made a deed of gift
brochure entitled  Universalism  And The Reformed           and grant unto all mankind."
Churches, published by the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church of Australia. This brochure refers  -to the          3. "Whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of
"Calvinism" which holds to a free offer as "Modified        mankind, He did it for you."
Calvinism." And in the first part of this brochure, pp.     4. "Go and tell every man without exception, that
3 ff., there is a concise "History of Modified              here is good news for him, Christ is dead for him."
Calvinism. " From this section we shall quote the
story of the Marrowmen, as follows.                           In the Westminster  .Assembly   (1643/49) the  par-
                                                            ticularistic divines, led by the Scottish Commis-
  Every modification of Calvin's system of theology         sioners, Rutherford and Gillespie, debated the ques-
has taken place under the notion that God desires the       tion of limited atonement on the 22nd October 1645
salvation of all men. This notion lay at the root of the    with a strong body of Davenant divines, nine of
system of Arminius who was Professor of Theology at         whom are recorded by name in the minutes which
Leyden in Holland in 1603. His  five points of              record the debate in the Assembly. Both parties were
doctrine in opposition to Calvinism were condemned          agreed that the atonement contains an absolute
by the Synod of Dort in 1618/19.                            intention for the elect only, but were not agreed that
  In England the notion of a universal desire in God        the atonement contained a conditional intention for
for the salvation of all men was also the root principle    the reprobate. The minutes reveal that the debate was
of the Davenant School at the beginning of the              entirely amicable. This attitude of the Assembly to
seventeenth century. (Note: John Davenant was one           the Davenant School was confirmed later in the same
of the British delegates to the Synod of Dordrecht.         year on 4th December, when the Assembly defended
The British delegate was one of the weakest, doc-           the reputation of Moses Amyraut against the com-
trinally speaking, at the Synod. One of the delegates       plaints of one Andrew Rivett.
later became an avowed Arminian. HCH) This school             While the Assembly did not include in its formu-
taught that there i's in the redemption purchased by        laries any statement which entered the opinions of
Christ, an absolute intention for the elect and a           the Davenant School, it did not include any which
conditional intention for the reprobate in case they        specifically excluded them. It is clear that the
do believe. It was the forerunner of the system of          Davenant School divines accepted the final formu-
Moses Amyraut on the Continent, who better  sys-            laries of the Assembly without protest, believing that
temised the same principles under a doctrine of             their doctrines, while not included, were not ex-
hypothetical redemption.                                    cluded, and expecting that they would pass into the
  In 1645 an obscure writer, Edward Fisher, wrote           law of the Church by Act of Parliament.


440                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


  The record shows that English Presbyterianism                     of the eighteenth century in Scotland, the Scottish
from its inception was broad in its doctrine of                     Church maintained a fully particularistic doctrinal
redemption. Not only were the doctrines of  Arrow-                  position. This, however, was disturbed during the
smith and  Calamy allowed, but those of Richard                     second decade of that century when certain of her
Baxter went unchallenged. It may be said that the                   ministers, Hog, Boston, Erskine and others brought
School of Davenant in England was a basic reason                    into their pulpits the doctrine of the Marrow of
why Calvinism did not take permanent root in                        Modem Divinity, which, about seventy years before,
England, in the same way that the School of Amyraut                 had received wide support among the Davenant
contributed to the decline in the theology of the                   School divines.
Huguenot Church in France.                                             The Calvinism of the Church was preserved, when
  History provides ample evidence, that when a                      the General Assembly, in its Acts of 1720 and 1722,
Church modifies her Calvinism, she loses her con-                   condemned the book of the Marrow on several
viction and hold of the truth.                                      grounds, one of which was that its terms advocated a
  In spite of the 28 years of the persecuting and                   universality of redemption as to purchase. The Acts
killing times which began with the restoration of                   were a declaration of the doctrine of the Church as it
Charles II to the English throne, and in spite of the               was held at the time.
weaknesses imposed on the Scottish Church by the                      We will interrupt this interesting account at this
Revolution Settlement in 1689/90, and the disturbed                 point and reserve the rest of the story for the next
political situation which ensued during the first part              issue.

TRANSLATED TREASURES




                    Acts of. the Synod of Dordrecht

(Connection: In the previous section we saw that the                themselves and to place it upon the Ministers who
Remonstrant party continued its underhanded maneuverings            had remained firm in the adopted doctrine of these
to gain "toleration" for itself. However, in several cities the     Churches. Over against this the other Ministers
Contra-Remonstrants had the support of the civil authorities        presented an extensive and pertinent reply, which
in continuing to insist that the differences in the churches had
to be resolved by synod&l decision. Among these were                they also delivered to the same States.
Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Enkhuizen,  Edam, and Purmerend.)                Since these long standing differences, both in the
                                                                    Churches and in the Republic, had brought about
  About this time the Ministers of the Church of                    such a large number of evils, difficulties, disturbances,
Kampen, in the Province of Overijsel, who had                       and confusion that every one who had at heart the
accepted the  vie,ws of the Remonstrants, with the                  welfare of the United Provinces and of the Reformed
help of the Magistrates cast out of the Ministry their              Churches in those Provinces understood clearly that
fellow Minister Wilhelmus Stephani, Doctor of Sacred                the remedy of these miseries might no longer be
Theology, a very learned man who adhered to the                     postponed without noticeable damage to both the
truth, because he opposed their purposes. And by                    State and the Churches, but since the States were
means of printed pamphlets and public sermons, full                 unable thus far to agree as to how to alleviate the
of slanders, they sought to make the Reformed                       situation, therefore his Royal Majesty, James I of  '
Religion hated among the people.                                    Great Britain, according to his singular and upright
  Because of these changes and the consequent                       devotion to these Lands and Churches, deemed it
disruptions of the Churches, the Remonstrants, seeing               good to admonish the States-General no longer to
that they were more and more hated, presented to                    allow this cancer to eat at the body of the Republic,
the States a second Remonstrance, in March, 16 17. In               but immediately to oppose those unsalutary disputes,
it they sought, with unbelievable shamelessness, to                 divisions, schisms, and partisanship which openly
remove the blame for all the innovations from                       threatened the State. At the same time he also very


                                            THE STANDARD BEAR`ER                                               441



earnestly prayed them that they would restore in its      of understanding noted of what kind of persons this
former purity the old and true Reformed doctrine          gathering would be composed and what was to be
which they had always confessed and which was             expected of it, and  ,besides,  that such a course was
established by the common consent of all Reformed         unusual in the churches and was not appropriate for
Churches, and which had always been the chief             the removal of ecclesiastical differences of doctrine),
foundation and bond of the very close friendship and      then they considered that rather than to be driven to
alliance of long standing between his Kingdoms and        this necessity they had to attempt extreme measures;
these Provinces, and that they would root out the         and on this account they took desperate measures.
errors. This, he believed, could take place most            For some Regents took the position that the
properly through a National Synod, seeing that this       convening of the National Synod which was then
was the ordinary, lawful, and most efficient remedy,      under `discussion was contrary to the dignity and
which from of old had been used by Christians in          freedom of the Provinces, since every Province had
such difficulties. Also the Illustrious Prince of         complete power to decide in the matter of Religion as
Orange, Maurits, Stadhouder of the United Nether-         it thought good. They took the position that it was
lands, did not cease to admonish the States-General,      unseemly and improper to subject this their freedom
as well as the States of Holland and West-Friesland       to the judgment of the other Provinces; and they
very earnestly and gravely - even as often previously,    took the position that they ought to defend this right
so now also daily - that as dear to them as was the       of supremacy in every way, yea, even if it be with
preservation of the Republic and of the Church, so        weapons. Through these and similar reasons the
diligently also they should labor that these very sore    feelings of those who were less cautious were so
evils might be remedied immediately. To this end, he      inflamed that the Regents of some Cities, plotting
also recommended above all the convening of a             together, decided to engage city militia men who
National Synod as an ordinary and most certain            were bound by an oath of allegiance neither to the
remedy; and  he.,persisted in this, May 10. Also the      States-General, nor to his Excellency the Prince of
States of Zeeland, through the honorable lords            Orange, the commander-in-chief, but only to them-
Maldere, Brouwer, Pottej, and Bonifacious de Jonge,       selves; they did this in order to protect the cause of
admonished and begged the States of Holland and           the Remonstrants and their own authority, which
West-Friesland in their gathering, May 19, that since     they had endangered for the sake of the Remon-
the disputes and disunity were becoming daily             strants.! This happened at Utrecht, in which city the
greater, to the very great danger of the Republic, and    States-General had a garrison, strong enough to
since many remedies had been tried until now in vain,     protect; against every uprising and mutiny; at  Haar-
they should give consent for the convening of a           lem; at Leiden; and also at Gouda, Schoonhoven,
National Synod as an ordinary remedy for such evils,      Hoorn, and various other places. The Remonstrants
as something set forth by the Holy Ghost and always       incited the Magistrates of the Cities to do this, as can
used by Christians. The States of Gelderland,  Fries-     be clearly proved from various of their letters which
land, Groningen and Ommelanden in  `a friendly            were later captured. And thus the disunities of the
manner request the same through their Deputies.           Remonstrants would have brought these most flour-
  But when the Remonstrants saw that the autho-           ishing Provinces in danger of an internal and civil war,
rizing of a National Synod was so urgently recom-         unless  ithe States-General, through their singular
mended by the neighboring Kings, Princes, Republics,      carefulness, and his Excellency, the Prince of Orange,
and Allies, yea, also by the chiefest and mightiest       through his never sufficiently praised watchfulness
Cities of Holland and West-Friesland, and when they       and bravery, had in a timely manner stamped out and
feared that the States of Holland and West-Friesland,     suppressed this delirious madness. The States-General,
of whom many were inclined to this and industri-          seeing that the Provinces and the Churches were being
ously promoted it, might at last be moved to consent      brought into the greatest danger, deemed it good that
to this, and that thus they would have to give account    the National Synod should no longer be postponed,
before an ecclesiastical tribunal concerning their        but should be promoted at the earliest moment - the
doctrine and their actions, in order to escape that,      more so, seeing that the illustrious Lord Dudley
they first proposed a new means to iron out the           Carleton, Ambassador of the royal court of Great
differences. They proposed that certain men, both         Britain,, had alerted them by a very excellent and
political and ecclesiastical, of a fixed and equal        careful :address, October 6, which address the Remon-
number, should be chosen by the States of Holland         strants did not respect, but publicly slandered with a
and West-Friesland, and that these men should take        completely and shamelessly slanderous pamphlet
counsel with one another and devise certain means of      under the title of  Weegschaal.  No  one, whatever his
peace and unity which would be approved by the            position, even the States-General, the Prince of
States and would thereafter be imposed upon the           Orange,; yea, even the Royal Majesty of Great Britain,
Churches. But when this did not succeed (since men        was excluded from the slander and ridicule of their


442                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


slanderous tongue. This pamphlet the States-General                 Netherlands Churches, and had always attempted to
condemned in a public edict as dishonorable and                     convince the people that they had no other views
seditious; and they posted a liberal reward for anyone              than did the Reformed Churches, therefore the
who would identify the author. Later Johannes                       States-General also saw fit to invite from all Re-
Casimirus Junius, son of the very renowned Francis-                 formed Churches from neighboring Lands, Princi-
cus Junius, thoroughly refuted this pamphlet. At long               palities, and Republics certain theologians outstanding
last, December 11, the States-General ordered the                   in Godliness, learning, and wisdom, in order that they
convening of the National Synod, to be held, in the                 should support the delegates of the Netherlands
name of the Lord, on May 1 of the following year. At                Churches by their judgments and counsel, and that
the same time they proposed some rules according to                 thus these differences, having been investigated and
which they wanted the National Synod to be autho-                   judged as by a common judgment of all Reformed
rized and held. And since the -Remonstrants did not                 Churches, might be laid to rest more certainly,
appear to think much of the judgment of the                         expeditiously, firmly, and with greater joy.

FROM HOLY WRIT



             Exposition  of the  Book of  Galatians
                                                             (9)
                                                  By Rev. G. Lubbers

THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL IN PAUL'S LIFE -                            much loss and dung for the sake of the excellency of
continued (Gal. 2: 19-2 1)                                          the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. (Phil. 3:7, 8)
   Now Paul lives an altogether different kind of life.             Now he serves the Lord His God with a free and good
He lives the life of one who has been crucified with                conscience. Now more dead works are his. (Heb.
Christ, and who was raised up from the dead with                    9: 14) He did serve sin but now he serves God, lives
him. (Rom. 6:6-10) Paul's old man has been crucified                unto God. Yet, this life is not of Paul but of Christ.
with Christ.. Yes, he still lives but not as heretofore.            For Christ died. He died unto sin, the sin of all His,
Really the subjective spiritual impulse of Paul's life is           people as Head of the covenant. Now.he arose from
no more Paul. He is not the center of it any more.                  the dead. He lives now as the Prophet, Priest, and
Christ lives in me. That is the difference. Paul is in-             King unto God. And we, Paul and all the saints, live
dwelt by the Spirit of Christ. His mind is really                   in this life of Christ unto God through the power of
Christ's mind in him, and his will is Christ's desire in            the Holy Spirit. God's law is written in our hearts; we
him, in such a way that Paul and Christ are united as               are not under law but under grace!
Vine and branch, Head and member of the body.                         Yes, Paul lives in the flesh. This is not the same as
Without me you can do nothing. (John 15: 1-5) Here                  living  according  to the flesh. In the latter sense
is the mystic, spiritual union of a living faith. Here is           "flesh" denotes the principle and the operation of sin
that mystery of which Christ speaks when he says, "If               and death. But living in the flesh means that Paul is
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my                       still flesh and blood in this world until he dies. He
love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments,                 must live the remainder of his earthly sojourn and
and abide in his love." (John 15: 10) Paul as the                   pilgrimage in this flesh, this entire human nature, soul
crucified one with Christ lives a resurrection-life, a              and body. He speaks of what he "now" lives in the
newness of life. That is the positive side of Christ's              flesh in distinction from what he will live when he
life.                                                               will no longer live in this flesh in the ages to corn-e.
                                                                    Flesh and blood and all human ties of the flesh shall
   This he expresses as "living unto God." Here the                 then be no more. (I Cor.  15:50-52; Matt.  22:23-33)
old Paul no more lives, the one who would be jus-                   But what Paul now lives in the flesh, in every relation-
tified by the works of the law, to perform works of                 ship in this flesh, under both tables of the Decalogue,
merit. That Paul is dead forever! He can never again                he "lives in the faith of the Son of God." This is the
return to those things which he now counts as so                    faith by which he is justified in Christ. That he here


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                              443



speaks of the "faith of the Son of God" does not              necessary. Calvary would not be necessary. The
refer to the faith whereby Jesus lived, but refers to         travelers to Emmaus would indeed have been on the
Paul's faith of which God is the object of all his            right track when they muse that if Christ now lives,
reverence, worship, and holy expectation. His faith is        why did He have to die. Then the Cross would be in
in Jesus as the Son of God. That is the quintessence          vain; Christ would have "died in vain." We did not
of Paul's faith. God sent His Son to die for us in our        really need a Savior; we could save ourselves by the
flesh. Immanuel, God-with-us, is the very essence of          keeping of the law, as asserts the proud heresy of
the covenant life. All God's promises are fulfilled in        Pelagius and all who hate the Cross of Christ. Then
His beloved Son, in whom He is well-pleased. (Matt.           the "grace of God" would have to be set aside for
3: 17) That is the essence of God's decree. Thou art          works ,of law. But that is what Paul will not do! He
my Son, this day have I begotten thee. (Psalm 2: 17;          will glory in the Cross of Christ.
Acts 13:33) This is all fulfilled in Christ's death and         Well may Peter and all those in Antioch take this
resurrection. By this faith Paul lives. It is the faith in    to heart. And the Galatian churches must not change
the Son of God, Who is powerfully revealed to be              this Gospel for another gospel, which is not another,
God's Son in the resurrection out of the dead. (Rom.          but is mere disturbance of the faith, a great and
1:4)                                                          troublesome plague under the sun. Upon those who
  What a rock-bottom assurance this faith in the Son          would ,rob the church of her liberty the wrath of God
is. He is the one Who loved Paul, loved all His own to        comes,. yea, abides.
the end. (John 13: 1) And this love is such that it gave
the sacrifice of love. It fulfilled the law of God. It was                            Chapter 3
the "coin" which was necessary for payment and ful-           THE THREEFOLD QUESTIONS OF GALATIANS
filment of God's justice, His just command. What the
law could not do in that it was weak through sin, that        3:1-5  :
is what God did in sending His own Son in the like-             We do well to write verbatim what these questions
ness of sinful flesh, that sin might be condemned in          are. 1. : 0 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?
the flesh, that the just demand of God might be ful-          2. Did: you receive the Spirit out of works of law or
filled in Paul (in us) who walk not after the flesh but       by the hearing of faith; having begun in the spirit are
after the Spirit, in the flesh. (Rom. 8:3,4)                  ye made perfect by the flesh? 3. Is the supply of the
                                                              Spirit and the Worker of miracles in you such, that it
  Yes, the Son of God was "delivered" unto death              is out of the works of law, or by the hearing of faith?
for us. Paul says, he was "delivered for me." And this
"me" is very emphatic in the text, being placed in the          Paul now will develop on the background of these
emphatic position in the sentence. Besides, the form          questions, questions which to ask are to give the
of the pronoun me (emou) is very emphatic. Here is            correct answer, the great relationship between Old
the key-note of the Gospel as it is picked up in the          and New Testament, the promise. and the fulfilment.
Heidelberg Catechism in Question and Answer 1.                And he brings in the example of the faith of
And, once more, here is an argument which comes               Abraham, the father of all believers, both of the Old
straight from Paul's believing heart. Had Paul given          Testament and the New Testament saints, to show
beautiful dialectic apology of faith in the verses            that justification cannot be anything else but out of
15-18, here he gives the final and most basic apology         the faith of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Seed.
in confessing what was written upon the very table of         This chapter then ends in the grand conclusion "For
his heart. Here are the rivers of water which flow            ye  are1 all the children of God by faith in Jesus
from his bowels in Christ Jesus. He has a full and            Christ'? (Gal. 3:26), and again in verse 29, "and if ye
blessed heart and his lips overflow with praise.              be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs
                                                              according to the promise."
CHRIST DID NOT DIE IN VAIN (Gal. 2:2 1)                         Now let us try to analyze these questions here set
  There are here two alternatives given by Paul.              forth bk Paul to the Galatian churches.
Righteousness is either by works of the law, or they            The: first question by implication accuses the
are by grace in Christ's death. There is no in-between;       Galatians of "being bewitched." They must have been
it is either-or, not both-and. Works are works and            brought under the "spell" of some charmer, even as
grace is grace! (Rom. 11: 6)                                  snakes  ;are charmed by men. They surely are not in
  Now if salvation were possible even for one                 their right mind to set aside the Cross of Christ for a-
moment by law, and the law had power to save us               teaching of salvation by "works of  law?. which- -we- ---
and to make the -sinfully weak man strong to keep it          must perform. Did Paul have some individual man or
(Rom. 8:3), then we would not need the Son of God             woman in mind when he asks "who?"  (tis) in  Gal.
to love us, and give Himself for our sins on the cross.       5 : 7? He asks "Who did hinder you that ye should not
The cross would be purposeless and useless and un-            obey the truth?" At any rate, when Paul sees the


444                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


glory of the Cross of Christ, and the preaching of this      When Paul was finished preaching in the midst of the
Cross in all its vividness and clarity, he has reasons to    Galatians it was so vivid, that the congregation had
doubt the spiritual sanity of these fickle Galatians.        stood near the Cross of Christ itself, and had grasped
  Yes, these Galatians show themselves as those who          the meaning for their lives that they are sinners, who
are without understanding of the Gospel and spiritual        were in need of this salvation, as "sinners" out of the
truths of the Gospel. Paul calls them  "anoeetoi,"           Gentiles. But now they are "so soon" fallen away
without understanding, without a mind which                  from Him Who `called them to faith and hope and
perceives reality. They are not called "fools" in the        salvation to another "gospel" which denied the Cross
sense of those who say: there is no God. It is the           and all of its implications. Truly they must be be-
same term which Jesus uses to arrest the attention of        witched!
the two travelers to Emmaus. There the term "fools"            The second question is really the crucial question
(without understanding) is connected with their being        in the mind of Paul to which the correct answer
"slow of heart to believe" all the Scriptures con-           determines the matter in the mind and experience of
cerning the truth that the Christ "must" suffer all          the Galatians. It is a matter of the subjective "receiv-
these things to enter into his glory. (Luke  24:25)          ing" of the Spirit of Christ in their lives to give them
They were such who needed their mind enlightened,            faith in the Son of God. What was their  spiritual-
and they needed basic opening of all the Scriptures,         psychological experience in this regard? Did they
beginning with Moses, the Psalms and all the                 forsooth have to perform a lot of works of the
Prophets. Thus it is also here with these Galatians.         Levitical law to become Christians? Did they need to
They need instruction in the basics once more, even          pass through the door of Jewry and keep the law of
though Christ had been so very clearly and power-            the Old Testament shadows first? Did they first need
fully preached in their midst.                               to be circumcised according to the law? Is that how
   Paul employs a very graphic description here in this      they experienced the operation of the Spirit in their
connection, "before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath             lives and in their midst? Or, did they hear the Gospel
been  evidently set forth,  crucified among you."            of the Cross, and did they believe it, and was this
Christ is "portrayed" in the midst of the Galatians.         faith the evidence of the working of the Spirit in their
The term in the Greek is "proegraphee," to write             mind and heart? That is the crucial question which
before, to set forth in the most "graphic" manner.           should bring them to their senses.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

August 1,1977

Dear Timothy,
  I want to interrupt our discussion of I Timothy 4          make head or tail out of what DeKoster was saying.
in this letter. Another matter has come up which I              Recently, however, I listened to a tape of a public
consider to be quite urgent, and which has some              debate between Lindsell and DeKoster in Kalamazoo,
practical implications, too, for your work in the            Michigan. The debate was concerning the book which
ministry. I refer to the debate which is going on            Lindsell had written, and DeKoster repeated many of
concerning the book of Harold Lindsell, editor of            the things which he had written in his editorials. The
Christianity Today,  and entitled: "The Battle For           result was that DeKoster's position became much
The Bible."                                                  clearer. In attacking Lindsell's book he stated what
  I hope by this time you have read this book, for           his own position is on this question of infallible
Lindsell takes a strong stand for the infallible             inspiration. It is a very wrong view and filled with
inspiration of Scripture. I do not intend to write you       danger. I thought it well to discuss this matter with
in detail concerning this book, however. In this letter I    you in this letter.
am more interested in the debate which is going on             The debate itself was rather interesting. I do not
about it. And, more particularly yet, I am interested        want to  .get into the question in this letter of who
in the remarks which Lester DeKoster made about              won the debate. This is always a difficult `matter to
this book in a series of editorials in The Banner.           decide, especially because DeKoster is something of a
  You are aware of the fact that these editorials were       professional debater, and one received the impression
written a couple of months ago already. I had                that he was more interested in scoring points than in
intended to write you about them earlier, but I put          defending and developing the truth. Nor did Lindsell
off writing because it seemed impossible to me to            always answer DeKoster's arguments in an adequate


                                              THE STANDARD BEAR'ER                                                445


manner. I am not sure why he did not do this. It may        also true that scribes who copied the Scriptures made
have been that he was flabbergasted at DeKoster's           many errors in copying them. It is also true that the
technique and arguments and was, on the spur of the         science; of Textual Criticism (in distinction from
moment, at a loss how to answer them.                       Historical-Literary, or Higher, Criticism) seeks to
   At any rate, DeKoster brought up points which are        discover what the Autographa really contained. It is
worth discussing. Hence, this letter.                       also true that translations are never completely
                                                            accurate. Everyone knows this.
   The major point which DeKoster made, both in his
editorials and in his speech, was this. The child of          But does all this mean that we need a priesthood of
God, when he holds a Bible in his hand, may be sure         scholars to tell us what the Word of God is? This is
that he holds the Word of God in his hand. It does          far from the truth. Lindsell should have made this
not matter whether he holds the King James Version,         clear. What is the truth of the matter? In the first
the Dutch  Stutenvertaaling,  Luther's German transla-      place, although it is true that there are many copying
tion, the Revised Standard Version, or presumably           errors in the copies of the Autographa which we
any other translation; whatever Bible he may have, he       possess, there are a couple of other truths which
may be assured that he has the Word of God.                 should! be kept in mind. In the first place, there is
                                                            almost  j no question at all about the Hebrew text of
   Now this, in itself, and with some reservations          the Old Testament.  This is so true that there is not
concerning more modern translations or paraphrases,         really `any Textual criticism which is involved in
is correct. But DeKoster's position on this is quite        studying the Old Testament. In the second place,
different from what ours ought to be.                       although there are many errors in the copies, it must
   Lindsell answered this point of DeKoster by saying       be remembered that all these errors are relatively
that this was not entirely true. We may, Lindsell said,     insignificant. Why is that? That is because no less
believe we have the Bible as the Word of God in our         than  $/8ths of the New Testament is without any
hands only insofar as the translation is accurate and       error whatsoever. In all of this we are absolutely sure
only insofar as we have assurance that the Greek and        we have the Autographa. Of the remaining  1/8th,
Hebrew text is the Autographa (the original manu-           there is therefore a question. But even here, the
scripts which Paul, Peter, Moses, David, etc. wrote).       problem is not very great. Of this 1/8th, there is only
Lindsell was referring, of course, to two things in this    1/60thl  concerning which there is any real doubt. In
statement. One is that we do not have the  Autho-           almost1 all the other cases we may also be sure what
grapha any more, and the copies which we have               the Autographa read. But what about this 1/60th? Of
possess many scribal errors in them. The second is that     that remaining fraction there is only a small part
a translation cannot ever render with complete              which substantially alters the meaning of the text.
accuracy the original Greek and Hebrew in which the         Oftentimes, e.g., there is some question whether the
Bible was written.                                          Autographa reads "our" or "your." Obviously, a
                                                            difference such as this cannot alter the meaning of
   DeKoster made hay out of this position of  Lind-         the text. But even then, the difference in the meaning
sell. He reminded Lindsell that we do not have the          almostInever touches upon any question of doctrine.
Autographa any more, and therefore cannot really            There  ,is about  l/lOOOth of the whole text of the
have anything to do with it. He furthermore insisted        New Testament where there is some question of
that if Lindsell's position is correct, then we need a      meaning, and in these places, with a few exceptions,
"priesthood of scholars" to tell us what the Word of        there is no doctrinal,question involved. And, finally,
God is. Only these scholars are able to tell us, through    where  ithere  is a doctrinal question involved, (in a
the study of Textual Criticism, what the Autographa         few places at best), the particular doctrine involved
contained; and only these scholars can tell us what         does not rest for its proof upon these passages alone,
the correct translation of the Greek and Hebrew             but is taught in many other passages in Scripture.
really is.                                                    We might well marvel at the amazing preservation
   Lindsell did not, in my judgment, answer this            of  the' text of the Bible. God, in a marvelous and
argument very forcibly. It would appear as if               astonishing way, preserved an accurate text over
DeKoster has a point here; and if there is anything         many thousands of years.
which a child of God hates and fears, it is to have a         It is: also true that translations, in the nature of the
priesthood of scholars come between him and the             case, can never be wholly accurate. Nevertheless, once
Word of God. The Reformation delivered us from              again,  : the King James Version of the Bible is
this. We pray God we will never return to that              remarkably accurate  - so accurate in fact that a
slavery.                                                    minister preaching from it need almost never question
   But what must we say about this?                         the translation in his sermons.
   It is true that the Autographa are long gone. It is        How is it then that we can be sure that we hold the


446                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



Word of God in our hands when we hold the King                        The second point makes this clear. The second
James Version of the Bible? This is an important                    point which DeKoster made which is of significance is
question. God's people have to know that they                       that we know we have the Word of God when we
possess the Word of God when they read their Bibles                 hold our Bibles in our hands because of the testimony
with their families, in their devotions, in society, in             of the Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit testifies that our
Church, etc. And they may be sure of this, too. They                Bibles are the Word of God.
need never doubt that their Bible is indeed the Word
of God. And when they read and study that Bible,                      Lindsell answered this remark of DeKoster by
God will indeed speak to them through and by means                  saying that he did indeed believe this, but that the
of that Word. You must, as I have written you before,               objective testimony of the Bible itself was also
assure God's people of this.                                        important. Admittedly Lindsell was not too clear on
                                                                    this point either in his book or in the debate. But he
   Does that mean that our King James Version is                    made, e.g., the remark that if all we have is the
without any flaw? Of course not. The following                      subjective testimony of the Spirit then the Spirit
illustration will make this clear. Supposing that I visit           speaks out of two sides of His mouth because He tells
our First Church and worship in that beautiful                      Dr. Daane one thing about the teaching of the Bible
auditorium. I may, if I arrive early enough, have an                and John Calvin another.
opportunity to take a tour of the building. It may
also be that, as I tour the building, I discover a few                And this is a point which has to be emphasized.
flaws. Perhaps there are a few light bulbs burned out               Repeatedly in his editorials and in his speeches during
in the chandeliers. Perhaps there may even be a                     the debate DeKoster referred to Article V of the
broken window in one of the basement rooms. I may                   Confession of Faith which states that we believe the
even find the mortar coming loose and a little paint                Bible is the Word of God "because the Holy Ghost
peeling in one dark corner. Does all this mean that                 witnesseth in our hearts, that they (the books of the
now I come to the conclusion that this is no longer                 Bible) are from God."
First Church? I may argue that, because the Church is
no longer such as it originally was, it is not First                  The strange and deceitful part of this argument is
Church. But this is patently absurd. So it is with the              that not once did DeKoster read the rest of that
Bible. There may be a few flaws of a very minor                     article which adds: "Whereof they carry the evidence
nature in our King James Version so that it differs                 in themselves." Does DeKoster think that nobody
slightly from the original. But this does not mean that             reads the Confession of Faith any more? Does he
we do not have God's Word any more. Any one who                     think that nobody knows what Article V teaches?
takes this position does not know what he is talking                  What is the point?
a b o u t .                                                           Before I talk about this, I had better recognize the
   That is one point which I wanted to make.                        fact that this letter has become long enough and that,
   It would seem that, up to this point, DeKoster has               therefore, I had better close for this time.
the better of the argument. But such is far from the                                                 Fraternally,
case.                                                                                                H. Hanko

THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH


                             Our Appeal to Scripture
                                                             (2)
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


  The Bible has many writers, but one Divine                          The Bible has withstood throughout the years
Author.                                                             ever-v conceivable attack from unbelievers.
  The message of the Bible is directly from God:
salvation from sin through the blood of Jesus unto                    The Bible claims for itself Divine Authorship and
the glory of God.                                                   its pages prove that it is the Word of God.
   The Bible contains no errors; it is truth.                         These statements express the faith of the believers


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               447


concerning the Bible. Our appeal to Scripture is a             This: is a matter of faith, not only in His Word, but
matter of faith.                                            in God, Himself.
NEED FOR FAITH                                                 It follows from this that our response to His Word
  Since the Bible is God's Word, it stands to reason        is more than intellectual capitulation, more than a
that our attitude toward that Word will be the same         surrender of the will. It is a matter of loving
as our attitude toward the God who revealed it. If we       obedience. Faith joins us to Jesus Christ Who is the
have a wrong view of God, we will have a wrong view         way, truth, and the life. He is our living Lord! Out of
of His Word; if we have a right view of God, we will        Christ flows forth the love God has for us and enters
have a right view of His Word.                              into our hearts. That love takes control of our hearts.
                                                            Did not the inspired Apostle John express it beauti-
  This is crucial in the discussion that is taking place    fully? "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
in Reformed circles concerning the Word of God.             that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
You may be somewhat familiar with this, especially          propitiation for our sins," I John 4: 10. This explains
the repeated reference to a battle for the Bible. In the    why we gladly receive His instruction, gladly believe
deepest sense, such a battle is not simply for the          all that God tells us about Himself, ourselves, and our
Bible, rather it concerns the God of the Bible. If we       need for salvation, as well as the way that God has
really believe in Him, why should we question His           brought it to pass, our life of gratitude, and our
Word? If we love God, should not this love manifest         future .glory. God loves us, and out of that love, we
itself in our attitude toward His Word?                     love Him. Hence by faith, a faith that is activated by
  We can illustrate this from the home situation.           that love from our heart, we respond to God and love
Your parents often speak with you. They encourage           His Word.
you, warn you, comfort you, depending upon the
need. Do their words mean anything to you? When                Moved by love for us, He gives us His Word for our
they admonish you and sometimes threaten you with           good. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
punishment if you should do wrong, do you know              and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
that they mean it and that therefore you had better         correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the
obey? Similarly, if you are in trouble and are really       man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
mixed up and need direction and encouragement, and          unto all good works," II Tim. 3: 16, 17. Hence our
they talk with you, do you take their advice to heart,      response to that Word is that we trust that Word,
or is it simply their opinion and you will decide for       follow it, obey it, and rejoice in its truth.
yourself whether it is good or not? What I'm saying is         We have faith in the God Who gave it to us.
this, your response to their words depends upon your
respect for them as persons. If you really love them        SOURtiE OF THAT FAITH
and know that they love you, you will gladly receive           How then is such faith obtained?
their advice and be thankful that they care enough to          Perhaps you have already wrestled with the
encourage you. If you  .question  their motives and         profundity of this question. You may have discussed
think that they are only seeking themselves, you will       your faith with someone else that doesn't believe the
be skeptical of anything they say.                          way you do. Maybe you even had the opportunity to
  Isn't this same thing true  ,about our relationship       talk with someone that follows strange gods, false
with God? If we are going to take His Word and              leaders! and therefore is spiritually lost in sin. Then
believe it and follow it, we have to have faith in Him.     again  {ou may have had contact with a person that
The Bible says the same thing. "But without faith it is     was once within the sphere of the Christian church
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God         but fell away and no longer cares about spiritual
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of       things. !No matter what the circumstances, there is the
them that diligently seek him," Heb. 11:6. Such faith       same p'ain that a person feels within His heart. What
is described in the preceding verses: "Now faith is the     can be idone to change such a person? How can he be
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things       led to /believe in the true God and forsake his evil
not seen," Heb. 11: 1. By such faith it is given unto us    way?  1
to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, Mark
4: 11. Do you get the point? Faith in God means that          We know the answer of course. God must give faith
we know that God has more knowledge than we do,             to that person. Faith is God's gift. "By grace are ye
hence we can certainly rely upon His Word. God              saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is
knows far better than we do as to what is best for us,      the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should
hence His instruction concerning life is worth follow-      boast,"' Eph. 2 : 8, 9.
ing. God is the only source of truth. His Word is             A related point comes to mind, however: how does
certainly trustworthy in this world of change and           God give faith? Certainly faith doesn't just drop
decay.                                                      down out of heaven and suddenly a person begins to


448                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


love God whereas before he didn't. No, God uses               selves throughout the ages of the history of the Chris-
means, tools if you will, by which He puts faith in the       tian church.
hearts of all those for whom Christ died. On the basis              Did not the Psalmist declare, "Thy Word is a lamp
of His own elective love, grounded in the perfect             unto my feet and a light unto my pathway"? Psalm
obedience of Christ on the cross, God bestows the             119:105.
gift of faith upon each one of His children. This He
does by the preaching of the gospel. The well-known                 You recall the heroic words of Martin Luther:
words of Paul apply here, "So then faith  cometh by           "Since then your majesty and your lordship desire a
hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Rom.                simple reply, I will answer without horns and without
10: 17. The preceding context shows to us that this           teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain
"word of God" is the preaching of that word: "How             reason  - I do not accept the authority of popes and
shall they preach except they be sent?" This preach-          councils for they have contradicted each other, my
ing is necessary for anyone to call upon$the name of          conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot
the Lord and be saved, verse 13. The example of the           and will not recant anything, for to go against
Samaritan woman confirms this as well. After she had          conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I
called the men of the city to hear Jesus, they                cannot do otherwise, God help me." And don't forget
responded, "Now we believe, not because of thy                that because of this position he literally endangered
saying, for we have heard him ourselves, for we know          his own life. He appealed to Scripture.
that this is indeed the Christ the Savior of the world,"            Listen to the words of our Reformed forefathers.
John 4:42.                                                          "We receive all these books, and these only, as holy
   In order for one to have faith in God, he must             and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and
come under the preaching of the Word whereby God              confirmation of our faith; believing without doubt,
works faith by the Holy Spirit.
   We  add to this one more point. One does not               all things contained in them, not so much because the
                                                              church receives and approves them as such, but more
simply wander into a church by chance, he is divinely
guided. We may not respond to the fact that God               especially because the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our
                                                              hearts, that they are from God, whereof they carry
gives faith by the preaching by saying that it is simply
up to God to get them to church or to hear the                the evidence in themselves. For the very blind are
                                                              able to perceive that the things foretold in them are
preaching. God works in hearts before they come               fulfilling," Netherlands Confession of Faith, Article
under the preaching. He works in them by making them          7.
seek, ask questions, wrestle with life's problems. Here is
our calling as believers. As they begin to search, we               May you covenant young people be part of that
must show them the Bible, God's Word. It contains             great people of God who boldly confess that the
direction, truth, hope, and salvation. As we witness to       Bible is the Word of God.
them about these things and pray with them, God                          We live in times of spiritual testing.
works in them; and if they are truly children of God,                    There are many winds of doctrine.
they will also desire to learn more, especially through                  There are prophets of doom.
the preaching of the Word. It is not enough to hear                      There are blind leaders of the blind.
believers speak about Christ; one must also hear                    God has given us light in the midst of such
Christ. Hence we must encourage them to come to               darkness. That light is in His Holy Word.
church with us, learn more of God's Word. By these
means God works according to His good-pleasure.                     Make it a large part of your life. Read it, pray over
   From this we must conclude that at every oppor-            it, reflect upon it, believe all that is contained in it,
tunity, we have to show to others the Word of God             and conform your life according to its direction.
and its truth. And we must do so in obedience to                    Of such is our appeal to Scripture.
Christ. Then they too will ask us a reason of the hope              And the God of peace shall abide with you.
that is within us.
EVIDENCEOFTHATFMTH
  Every true believer reverences the Word of God. In                Know the standard
fact, we can go so far as to say, it is a sure proof of
faith. That doesn't mean that children of God do not                  and follow it.
wrestle with questions, sometimes even doubts. But
through all these struggles, they learn anew that
God's Word is their direction, a sure foundation for
their faith.                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER.
  Thus the children of God have expressed  them-                                                                        I


                                              THE STANDARD  BEAR:ER                                               449


SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                                       The Red Hdrse
                                                  Rev. H Veldman'

  In the Lord's Prayer, that perfect and model              this world? Do we cultivate and enjoy the friendships
prayer, we are also taught to pray: Thy Kingdom             and associations of this world? Are we pilgrims and
come. How important is this second petition of our          strangers in the earth and treated as such? Do we hate
Lord's perfect prayer when we consider our Lord's           them that hate God? Are they our enemies who are
coming and the signs of that coming! We understand,         God's enemies? Do not the souls of the martyred
of course, that this coming of our Lord Jesus Christ        saints under the altar cry for vengeance? Indeed,
does not depend upon our praying of this petition.          when these judgments of the holy and righteous God
This coming will not come to a halt as soon as we           are visited upon the wicked, this is not so terrible
stop praying for it. This kingdom will come and is          after all. Indeed, everything depends upon our posi-
coming. To pray, however, for the coming of the             tion in j the midst of the world, upon our longing for
kingdom surely means, in the first place, that our          the manifestation of God's righteousness and His
prayers must never be in conflict with it. We must          vengeance upon the wicked and ungodly.
never pray for things which deny the signs of His
coming. We must never pray for earthly peace, for an          In this article we would call your attention to the
earthly peace that is supposed to be righteous and          second horseman of the Apocalypse, to him who
enduring, that wars and  rumours of wars may never          rides the red horse. In our preceding article we called
come, etc. However terrible these wars and rumours          attention to the black horse. We did this because this
of wars may be, far more terrible would be a world at       horseman surely describes very vividly the charac-
peace and without war! This would mean that Jesus           teristics of our present day and age. The same reason
would never come upon the clouds of heaven.                 motivates us in this article. How true it is that also
                                                            this horseman is riding his red horse in our present
Secondly, to pray for the coming of this kingdom,           day! We read in Rev.  6:3, 4: "And when he had
besides meaning that it may ever come in our hearts         opened: the second seal, I heard the second beast say,
and minds, also means that we instruct our children         Come and see. And there went out another horse that
in regard to the signs of our Lord's coming. How
terrible it is when the Lord comes as a thief in the        was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon
                                                            to take peace from the earth, and that they should
night, or when the Bridegroom comes and we are              kill one another: and there was given unto him a great
wholly unprepared for it as the five foolish virgins of     sword."
Matt.  25! Indeed, we must instruct our children in
this truth. And, thirdly, we must also pray that the          The  ,identity of  this horseman and his horse is
Lord may come as His coming is set forth in the             plain. The colour of this horse is red. Unto this
divine scriptures. We are familiar with the precursory      horseman was given a great sword; power was given
signs. These have been set forth in a previous article.     unto him to take peace from the earth and that men
This, of course, does not mean that we pray for and         should kill one another. Red is the colour of passion
delight in these signs as such. How would this be           and anger, of wrath and bloodshed. This is plainly
possible? Wars and  rumours of wars, persecutions,          indicated in Is. 63: l-2 and Heb. 12:29. The man that
famines and earthquakes, the antichristian kingdom          cometh from Edom is red in his apparel, like unto
with its unprecedented persecution for the faithful         him that treadeth in the winepress. The sword given
followers of the Lamb are not things in which as such       this horseman is the sword of the magistrate,. of
we can delight. They must, of course, be viewed as          government; it is the government that wages war. And
the signs of Christ's coming. As these signs materialize    with this sword this horseman takes peace from the
and develop, we shall hear in them the footstep of the      earth, causes men to kill one another. So, this second
approaching crucified Man of Sorrows, now the King          horse with its rider represents war. How characteristic
of kings and the Lord of glory. Besides, the people of      this is of our present day and age!
God certainly can rejoice in them, if only we                 Let us look at this horse, particularly in the light of
understand that they are signs of judgment. After all,      history, Also this horseman is, of course, controlled
our praying for these signs is strictly dependent upon      and directed by our Lord Jesus Christ. That this horse
our position in the midst of the world. Do we love          has a rider means, we understand, that it does not run


450                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


around aimlessly, at random, but that it is controlled      this, we understand, is controlled and directed by the
and directed. And this second horse is directed by the      Crucified and Glorified Lamb; directed by Him, this
Christ. Red, we repeat, is the colour of passion, anger,    red horse, controlling the evil passions and jealousies
and wrath. This certainly means that this passion and       of men, goes forth with his sword, slaying men by the
wrath, slumbering within the hearts and souls of men,       thousands and millions.
are aroused and called into action. It is the Lamb who        How true this is today! Do we see this sign of our
operates through these evil passions, so that peace is      Lord's coming in our present day? Does it speak to
taken from the earth and men kill one another.              us? And what is our answer to it? The mighty nations
  This horse is the horse of war. Nations have their        of the world today are constantly watching one
beginning at the tower of Babel. The Lord had               another. The United States and Russia are ceaselessly
commanded the people to scatter upon the face of            attempting to survey each other. Of. course, there is
the earth. But man rebelled, and, led by the mighty         no trust between them. Whatever social injustices are
Nimrod, would concentrate in `one place, in the valley      committed by the U.S.S.R. are condemned by our
of Shinar, build a city there and in its center erect a     country; yet, although condemning them, we must be.
tower that would reach unto heaven. Man would               careful that we do not offend this mighty power.
unite into one universal kingdom against the Lord.          Each country is aware of the other's potential. The
But the Lord confused their speech and caused the           leaders of the earth speak of disarmament, of
people to scatter; and here, at Babel, we have the          controlling and decreasing the nuclear weapons, of
origin of nations. And now wars have raged through-         preventing another world war. And yet, at the same
out the history of the world. Thus it was throughout        time, the rulers of our government declare very
the Old Dispensation. The first mighty kingdom is           plainly that we must retain our military forces, and
that of Egypt. Egypt is followed by the empires of          that, to insure peace, we must continue to be the
Assyria, Babylon, of the Medes and Persians, the            strongest nation in the world.
Greek-Macedonian, and finally Rome. Far more                  How unutterably sad it is, on the one hand, but
pronounced and world-wide are these wars in the             also how perfectly in harmony with the scriptures,
New Dispensation, when Christ comes, ascends into           that the church today, nominally speaking, joins in
heaven, takes the Book of God's decree, and causes          this search for worldly, earthly peace! That the world
these four horsemen to dash forth out of God's              clamors for peace we can understand. We can
decree, including the red horse. What wars have been        understand that they speak of curbing these destruc-
fought throughout the ages of the New Dispensation!         tive forces. And yet they also realize that their
Rome is conquered by heathen hordes that swept              preservation lies in their remaining strong and power-
down upon the imperial city from the north and east,        ful. Fact is, the mighty powers of the earth cannot
after Rome had conquered Greece. Throughout the             trust one another. Of course not! Are not all men
history of Europe, the various nations of that              haters of God and of His Christ? And this also means
continent have been at war with one another. The            that they are haters of one another. Indeed, we can
undersigned heard a radio sermon several years ago in       surely understand the world's quest for peace.
which the number of these wars was stated, and it
was an appalling figure. Later it is Spain against            What concerns us, however, is that the church of
England and the Netherlands, France against England,        today is joining in this search for peace. Yet this need
and in this struggle between France and England             not surprise us. In Rev. 13 we have Scripture's setting
these countries also struggle for supremacy in the          forth of the kingdom of the antichrist. The first
New World, America, and the French and Indian wars          beast, rising out of the sea, with its seven heads and
are only a part of this struggle. Then it is France with    ten horns, represents this power from its political
England against Germany, in 19 14 and again in the          aspect. However, this chapter also speaks of another
second world war. Our own country, ever since its           beast. This second beast, rising up out of the earth,
beginning, has had a war in every generation: the           has two horns like a lamb and he speaks as a dragon.
Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican             This beast represents the antichrist from his scientific,
War, the Civil War, and the Spanish War in 1898.            philosophic, and religious aspect. Here we have the
                                                            picture of the false church. And this second beast
  Indeed, these wars, instead of disappearing, are          serves the first; in fact, together they present to us
increasing, not only in number but also in ferocity. It     the two aspects of the antichrist. More and more
is surely true that this Red Horse is dyeing the earth      today the church is engaged in a social gospel. More
red. The First World War was world-wide; the Second         and more it seeks and strives to make this world a
was fiercer. Since 1945 the world has been at war           better place in which to live. It would improve the
constantly, as in Korea, and in Vietnam. We have had        world by attempting to curb and destroy all sickness
hot wars and cold wars; and today the world is              and diseases. It would rectify all social injustices and
witnessing a mad race for nuclear supremacy. And all        inequities. It would also terminate all wars and


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 451


rumours of wars. Already many years ago the                   war. This horse is controlled and directed by the
undersigned heard a prayer that was uttered re-               Christ of God, the Lamb of God and of Calvary. He
peatedly: a prayer for a righteous, lasting, and              sends forth this horse out of God's decree. These wars
enduring peace. How wonderful it would be if only             must be. The wicked, saith my God, shall have no
the peoples of the earth would learn and understand           peace.  ! It is only when the antichrist shall have
the utter folly of war, if only the nations would beat        established his kingdom that the world will be
their swords into plowshares and their spears into            characterized by universal peace. However, this will
pruninghooks! How often we hear today the petition            not be !of long duration. At the end of the ages God
that we and our children may be spared the horrors            and Magog will rise up and attack this antichrist. That
and devastations of war!                                      will be, the last battle of the ages. At the conclusion
                                                              of  this; terrible struggle Jesus will return upon the
  Let us not be deceived. A wicked world at peace             clouds of heaven. He will then make all things new.
would be far worse than that wicked world charac-             May the people of God, therefore, view this red horse
terized by wars and rumours of wars. Jesus is coming!         as sent: forth by the Christ, and may it comfort us
He is coming throughout the ages. And one of the              with the blessed assurance that Jesus' final appear-
signs of His coming is the Red Horse, the horse of            ance upon the clouds of heaven-is drawing nigh.

GUEST ARTICLE



                  God's Word: A Lamp and a Light
                                                   Rev.  J. Slopsema


  When traveling in your car at night, it is a good           alter the fact that to attain the salvation of heaven we
idea to turn on the headlights or you will end up in          must follow the way of salvation. God does not bring
the ditch.                                                    us to heaven apart from the way we live and walk. He
  When walking down a deserted trail in the dead of           does not save someone in Christ and then allow that
night, it is a good idea to have a flashlight or you will     person to live in sin and wickedness. He rather causes
become hopelessly lost.                                       that individual to love Him, to serve Him, and to walk
                                                              in good works. And that is the path that leads to
  And when following the path that leads to sal-              heaven; - the way of serving God, the way of good
vation, it is a good idea to take along your Bible or         works. I
you will lose the way. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my
feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119: 105)               There are, however, other paths down which one
  Our earthly sojourn is a passing through the                can go, depending on what he really wants and
darkness of a terrible spiritual night. At the fall           desires.: There are those, for example, whose one aim
darkness descended upon the earth - the darkness of           and goal in life is to attain earthly riches and wealth.
sin and death, the darkness of God's wrath against            Life for them consists in the abundance of things
sin. Ever since the fall man has had to make his way          which a man possesses. Consequently, they set their
through the night.                                            feet on, the path that leads to earthly treasures. Their
                                                              whole life is aimed in this direction. They will do
  But there is a path that leads out of this darkness,        anything and everything for earthly wealth.
that leads to the light of a new day, to the glory and
salvation of heaven. Take that path, follow it                  Others are interested in having fun and a good
throughout your life and it will bring you to heaven.         time. Their heart is set on the pleasures of this world.
It is the way of salvation.                                   Their motto is "Let us eat, drink, and be merry."
  That does not mean, of course, that we are saved            Consequently, they follow the path that leads to
by what we do, by our own good works. It is not of            earthly pleasure. Their whole lifeis centered around
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God         the entertainments of the world.
that sheweth mercy. All our salvation is in Christ. We          Others are more concerned with friends, popular-
are saved only because of His cross. But that does not        ity, and social standing. Consequently, you will find



                                      -


452                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



them on the path that leads to the attainment of their           But it can be your guide only if you use it. When
heart's desire.                                               you are taking a long trip and do not know the way,
   And so there are many paths in life down which             then you take along a good road map. A map will
one can go, all depending on what one seeks most in           show you which roads to take, which turns to make.
life.                                                         A  maps will guide you to your destination. But that
                                                              map will not do you much good if you simply leave it
   But principally there are only two possible paths.         in the glove-compartment and never so much as look
It is either the path that leads to salvation, or the         at it. To serve as a guide it must be used and studied.
path that leads to earthly treasures and pleasures, to        So is it also with the Bible. It will not show you the
popularity and social standing and to whatever else it        way of salvation unless you use it. A closed Bible that
is that the sinful heart might aspire. And these two          is seldom read simply can not serve you as a guide. A
paths are mutually exclusive. One can not walk them           Bible that is placed on some obscure shelf, left to
both at the same time. It is a matter of either. . . or.      gather dust is like a flashlight without batteries,
No man can serve two masters.                                 a lantern without oil. It sheds absolutely no light on
   On which path are you?                                     your path. A Bible must be used; it must be read; it
   If your heart has been touched by God's grace, if          must be studied diligently. The Bible that serves as a
the grace of God controls your life, then your heart          lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path is the
and affections will be set on the things which are            Bible that has become worn and tattered and frayed
above. Your chief desire and one purpose will be to           through constant use.
attain the salvation of Christ. And your feet will be            Trouble is that this is no longer being done. It
on the path that leads to eternal glory.                      seems as though faithful, diligent Bible study is a
   But we must be guided along that path. The way             thing of the past. The people of God are no longer
must be shown to us. Remember, it is spiritual night          studying the Bible as they ought. For the most part
now. And that is what God's Word does. God's Word,            our Bible "study" is limited to a chapter a day, often
the Bible, is a lamp unto our feet, a light upon our          hastily read at the supper table. There is very little
path that shows us the way of salvation. Follow the           meditating on God's law day and night any more.
way of the Bible and you will be on the path that             (Psalm 1:2) This becomes evident from a few pointed
leads to salvation. Of this you can be sure. It will never    questions that can be asked on family visitation. This
lead you off the path. It will never give you wrong           is evident from the generally poor turnout for
directions. You can trust the Bible. You can depend           societies and from the quite evident lack of any
on it to show you the way. It is, remember, God's             sound preparation. Evident it is also from the
Word.                                                         appalling lack of the knowledge of Scripture that
                                                              characterizes the church today. Far too many people
   And this Word of God is the only guide that you            of God simply do not know the basic ABC's of God's
can depend on. There are many guides other than the           Word. The reason is, no study of God's Word. The
Bible that one could follow, and which many do.               Scriptures commend the Jews of Berea in that they
There are those, for example, who are guided by their         "searched the Scriptures daily." (Acts 17: 11) Hardly
feelings. They do what they feel like. They do what           could that commendation be given to many of us.
feels good to them. They do what they feel is right.          There is today a sad lack of any diligent searching of
Others are guided by reason. What they do and how             the Scriptures.
they live are determined by what sounds reasonable               Why is that?
and plausible, by what they think is best. Others are            We are too busy, we say. We have too many
guided by their friends. What their friends do, what          things to do during the day. We have our jobs. And to
their friends like, what their friends suggest is the         keep up the payments on our house, our car, our
determining factor in their life. Others are guided by        furniture, our boat, and just generally to get ahead
the majority. Others are guided by astrology and              requires that we put in long, tedious hours. Besides,
superstition. Others are guided by the general consen-        there is our recreation. We have to have our recrea-
sus of the intellectual community.                            tion. What would life be without baseball, football,
   Take these, however, as your guide through life            and basketball, without hunting and fishing, without
and sooner or later they will lead you off the way of         boating, without picnics, without television, without
salvation. Take these as your guide, apart from the           socializing? Life is just too busy nowadays. The pace
Bible, and you will lose your way. You will become            is just too hectic. Our intentions are good. We mean
hopelessly lost in the darkness of our present spiritual      to take out time for the Bible. But generally when the
night. Only one true and faithful guide there is that         day is done we find that we simply could not squeeze
will show you the way of salvation. That is God's             it in.
Word, the Bible.                                                 I believe it!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   453


  But then let us also give this its proper interpreta-        But the Bible does not do this. There are other
tion. Think about it once. What we are really saying is        materials that serve this purpose. The Bible serves as a
that we have set our feet on the path that leads to            guide only to show us the way to salvation. It only
earthly treasures and pleasures rather than the way of         stands to reason then, that, if our heart is set on the
salvation and, therefore, do not feel any real need for        things of this earth rather than on the things above,
the Bible.                                                     we will find very little time for the study of God's
  Of course!                                                   Word.  j
                                                                  Bible study is the trademark only of those whose
  If your feet are on the path that leads to the               hearts are steadfastly fixed on the things above and
treasures and pleasures of this world, then it is only         whose  ;feet are on the path that leads heavenward.
natural that you will find little if any time for diligent     They alone see the genuine need for the Bible. They
Bible study. For the Bible simply does not serve as a          alone will find interest in it. They alone will find time
guide in these matters. The Bible is not a handbook            to study it.
on how to get ahead financially. The Bible is not                 Let us, therefore, leave the paths of this world.
filled with helpful hints on how to win friends and            And, setting our feet on the path that leads to
influence people. The Bible is no guide to earthly             salvation, let us diligently study the Scriptures,
pleasure. If it were, perhaps it would be studied more.        following its divine light as it leads us heavenward.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                                  Implicit Trust in God
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys ~

  His long-awaited son, Isaac, had been born; and in           by God to bring Abraham to a greater strength of
Genesis 22:5 Abraham called him a lad, which means             faith, to work endurance in him. God does not tempt
that he had arrived at that age which includes what            into sin, but He does use sin to purify and strengthen
we now call teenagers. Ishmael had been sent away              the fait,h of His people by calling them to exercise it,
many years before this. The pain in Abraham's soul,            at the same time giving them the strength to stand
that the sending away of Ishmael had caused, was not           firm while the fire, which bums away the dross, rages.
so intense any more. And peace reigned again in the               Abraham is told to take his son, his only son, and
home of Abraham and Sarah with their son Issac.                to offer him up to God as a burnt sacrifice. For the
  But peace and quietness are not always the best for          flesh of Abraham this was a tremendously difficult
us. We like to think that this is ideal, yet James             thing to do. He had been commanded to send Ishmael
shakes us up a bit when he writes that we are to               away; and now must Isaac be offered up on an altar?
count it all joy when we fall into a situation in which        From that point of view Isaac was his only son.
our peace is disturbed and we are surrounded by                Ishmael was gone. But Isaac was his only son also in
temptations on every side. He tells us in James 1:,2 to        that  he: was the only son of Sarah, Abraham's wife,
count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations,         and the only son in whom God had stated that He
because the trying of our faith worketh patience.              would call Abraham's seed, the only son in whom
Patience here is endurance. For you see, that spiritual        God would continue the covenant.
muscle, which we call faith, must be exercised to                 That, child Abraham must slay! 0, it is a tragedy, a
remain in good tone and to retain its strength. And            heart-rending experience when a child is taken from
the time has come for Abraham to be shaken up a bit            its parents by death. How dreadful the news when
and to be called to exercise his faith in God.                 parents1  are informed that their child was killed in an
  In that light we must understand Genesis  22:l               accident, by drowning, or on the battlefield. How
when we read that, "After these things . . . God did           awful when a parent unintentionally and unavoidably
tempt Abraham." God tempted him in the sense that              kills  his own child who darted into the path of his
He tried his faith as silver is tried in the fire. God led     automobile as he entered the yard. But how much
Abraham into a situation wherein he would be called            more demanding is this command of God when He
upon to exercise that faith, and a situation designed          orders Abraham to kill his own son by a deliberate


454                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


act, and offer him up for a burnt offering! Try to put      Not so with Abraham. He had to believe in a miracle
yourself in Abraham's place!                                the like of which he had never yet heard anything. He
  And God does not tell him to go ahead and get it          had to and did implicitly trust in the Almighty, ever
over with at once. He must go to a mountain which           faithful God. To use the words of Hebrews 11: 19,
God will point out, a mountain which is a three-day's       "accounting that God was able to raise him up, even
journey away. That means that after three days of the       from the dead."
most intimate fellowship with his son that he ever            What an amazing faith in God this man showed!
enjoyed, Abraham must end it all. And all that time         God spoke to him, and at once he went to obey. He
he must carry this thing with him in his soul. He had       rose up early, we read, and started out to this
three days to think about it, three days in which           mountain. He did not stall for time, hem and haw and
Satan could work on him to make him turn around             drag his feet to prolong the joy of Isaac's fellowship.
and go back home and live with joy with his child.          He did not have to do so, because he was thoroughly
Three days in which strenuously to exercise his faith       convinced that he would come back with Isaac to live
in God. How the aged man must have loved this               with him and look for the fulfillment of God's
stalwart young lad with whom he walked and talked           covenant promises in him.
and ate and slept those three days and nights! How            Take a good hard look at Genesis  22:5 : "And
much harder it must have been every morning to              Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
wake up and say, "Let us go on to do our duty."             with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
  And then came what cut so deeply into his soul:           worship, and come again to you." I and the lad, we
that son asks, "`Where is the lamb for a burnt              will go yonder and worship and WE "will come again
sacrifice?" They are arriving at the moment when the        to you." He had no doubt in his soul. They are going
sacrifice must be made. The moment is very near that        to worship God, and their very going in that implicit
Isaac must be informed. But Abraham cannot do it            faith in God is worship of Him as God. And why
just yet. A&l so he tells the lad, "My son, God will        should Abraham say to the young men, "Abide ye
provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." He did        here with the ass"? Is it not that his very implicit
not himself understand fully what he was saying, but        trust in God moves him to an obedience that will
that is exactly the thing God is intent on working in       allow nothing to interfere with his walk of faith
Abraham. He will strengthen and purify his faith so         before God? Surely the reason for leaving behind
that he does with implicit trust in God look for Him        those whom he took along all that distance is not that
to provide the Lamb of God which taketh away the            the event was so sacred and touching that no other
sin of the world.                                           eyes might see it. Rather is it that Abraham realizes
  However, the hardest part of all for Abraham was          that these young men might not understand what he
not this physical aspect. 0, his flesh cried out. It was    was doing, might judge him to be disobeying God
a sore trial for his flesh. But what God demanded in        Who gave him all these promises in Isaac rather than
Abraham  - and also in this way was pleased to              actually walking in obedience before Him, and might
sup.ply unto him  - was an implicit trust in God in         interfere and not allow the sacrifice which he was
which he was absolutely, thoroughly convinced that          intent on performing because he was so thoroughly
God would raise Isaac up again from the dead.               convinced that God would raise up Isaac from the
  This was the promised seed. All the covenant              dead. Implicit trust leads to wholehearted obedience.
promises revolved around and centered in Isaac. That        And wholehearted obedience will not allow for any
is underscored in God's words "thine only son."             interference that it can prevent. It may even be
Hebrews 11: 17 emphasizes this when it speaks of            questioned as to whether Sarah knew one item of the
Abraham as the one who had "received the                    purpose of Abraham's journey with Isaac. We read
promises." These were promises that could not and           that he "rose up early in the morning and saddled his
would not be fulfilled in Abraham personally but in         ass." There is no delay. God has spoken, and it must
his seed after him. And he believed God and still           be done. There is no loophole left for him to escape
believed Him after this command to offer up his son.        the difficult work he is called to do. Faith in God
Implicit trust he had in God to raise up his son after      does not seek protection outside of God, and surely
he had offered him up as a burnt sacrifice. Hebrews         not in a way contrary to God's Word. Faith in God
11: 17 therefore states that he did offer up Isaac.         goes forward without looking backward. Faith in God
  And what makes this so amazing is the fact that           has its eye entirely upon God and looks neither to the
Abraham had never heard of or been told of a                right nor to the left. Faith in God looks up to the
resurrection from the dead. For us this would not be        everlasting hills from whence cometh our help, and
near the trial it was for Abraham. We have the              from whence alone cometh our help. Faith in God is
accounts of so many resurrections both in Old and           faith in God alone. Faith in God, when there is that
New Testament Scriptures. And we' have the resurrec-        which is at the moment lacking and is needed, says,
tion of Christ Himself after three days in the grave.       "The Lord will provide."


                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                              455


       And provide God always does for those who put                                                        curse will touch us for our salvation. We, who deserve
their trust in Him. He provided His own Son as the                                                          to be burned up, and to bum everlastingly in hell, and
propitiation for our sins, and gave a shadow and                                                            are bound and tied with the unbreakable cords of sin,
symbol of this in that ram caught by its horns in the                                                       may be let loose and go down the mountain with
thicket. He provided the pardon on whose basis we                                                           Abraham to enjoy the blessings of God's covenant of
may receive all the blessings of salvation, the pardon                                                      friendship and fellowship.
because of which we may receive faith as God's gift                                                              Let us lay hold of this precious truth that Jehovah
to us, the pardon in whose light alone we can explain
that God's covenant is with us and our children after                                                       provides a burnt offering for His people. His own Son
us.                                                                                                         was caught in Gethsemane and nailed to the tree of
       Isaac could not be a burnt offering for Abraham's                                                    the cross. Let us lay hold of this truth that lets us, as
sins. He could not be our Saviour, but the Lamb of                                                          Barabbas, go free. Do not say, But Barabbas did not.
God can, and the Lamb of God is. And, after all this                                                        deserve, to go free. That is right. But it is also so very
trial is over, Abraham goes down that mountain far                                                          true that you and I have as much guilt as Barabbas, at
stronger in his faith than he was when he climbed                                                           least we have no more righteousness in ourselves than
that mountain. He told Isaac that God would provide                                                         he did. We do not deserve to go free any more than
a lamb, and he believed every word of it. That is why                                                       he did. But Jehovah provided the way for such to go
he kept steadily climbing higher and higher till he                                                         free.  :
reached the proper place. But now when he comes                                                                 Let no man boast of deserving salvation, but let all
down he understands in a far richer way that Jehovah                                                        men confess that our salvation is provided by God
will provide and does provide in a way that it costs us                                                     from beginning to end. Implicit trust in God says
nothing; and his own son, whom he loved, need not                                                           exactly'that. It sings,
receive one scratch. It costs us nothing, absolutely                                                                                All that I am I owe to Thee;
nothing. Jehovah provides, and provides it all. We go                                                                          : Thy wisdom, Lord, has fashioned me.
free. Not one little - if indeed there is such a thing -                                                                       : I give my maker thankful praise,
pain of hell will touch us. No smallest fraction of the                                                                             Whose wondrous works my soul amaze.

                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                 NOTICE!!!
       On July 28, 1977, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS. VERNON                                               The  aonual  meeting of the R.F.P.A. will be held on Thursday
DE VRIES, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. We, their                                              evening, September 15, 1977, at 8 P.M. at the South West Protestant
children, are thankful to our covenant God for His care of them during                                      Reformed~Church.   Rev. B. Woudenberg will speak to us on'the topic:
these years and for giving us a home where we may know the fear of                                          TO BEAR, OUR STANDARD HIGHER," a consideration of how THE
the Lord.                                                                                                   STANDARD BEARER can be used more effectively in church
       It is our prayer that in the years ahead they may continue to                                        extension work.
experience the blessed peace and tender mercies of the Lord.                                                    Mark your calendar now and plan to attend.
       "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon                                                                       The Board of the R.F.P.A.
them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."                                                                               Wm. De Kraker, Sec'y.
Psalm 103:17.                                                                                                    Classis' West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in  Pella;
                               Their children                                                               Iowa, on September  7,1977, at  8:30 AM, the Lord willing. Material for
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Michael De Vries                                           the agenda should be in the hands of the stated clerk thirty days prior
                                    David De Vries                                                          to  Classis.  Delegates in need of lodging should inform the clerk of the
                                    Carla De Vries                                                          Pella cons~story.
                                    Ruth De Vries                                                                              /                        Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
                                    Tom De Vries                                                                                                        Classis West
                                         and 2 grandchildren
                                            Jeffrey De Vries                                                     The cbnsistory of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
                                             Connie De Vries                                                hereby expresses its heart-felt sympathy to elder Harry Zwak in the  loss
                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                of his brother, MR. JOHN ZWAK who passed away a short time ago in
                                                                                                            F l o r i d a .
       O n   J u n e   1 8 ,   1 9 7 7 ,   o u r   p a r e n t s ,   M R .   A N D   M R S .   J A C O B         May he say with the Psalmist: "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills,
REGNERUS celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary.                                                    from whence  cometh my help . . . The Lord shall preserve thy going out
       We, their children, are thankful for the years of love and Christian                                 and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. Ps.
instruction they have given us. We pray that they may continue to                                           121:1,8.~
receive God's blessing in the years which lie ahead of them.                                                                                     The consistory of the Hudsonville
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Jake Soodsma                                                        I                      Prot. Ref. Church,
                                            Becky, Heidi, and Ben                                                                                   Rev. C. Hanko,  pres.
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Jack Regnerus                                                                                  Elder P.  Schut,  Vice-all.
                                            Matthew and Sarah
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Steve Oosterhouse                                          The Ladies society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
                                            Mary Beth                                                       herewith expressed its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Simon Ondersma in the
                                         Joan Regnerus                                                      loss of her father, MR. MARTIN SWART.
                                         Rich Regnerus                                                           May the bereaved family be comforted in the hope: `"As for me, I
                                         Sandee  Regnerus                                                   will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake
                                                                                                            with thy ii keness." Psalm 17:15.
       URGENT NEED!!! The Hull Protestant Reformed Christian School,
Hull, Iowa, is still in need of a teacher for grades  3,4,5 for the 1977-78                                                                 The Ladies Society of the
school year. Application can be made by writing to or calling Mr. Alvin                                                              Hudsonville, Protestant Reformed Church,
                                                                                                                          /
Kooiker, R.R.,  Boyden,  Iowa 51234  - Phone 1-712-725-2491.                                                                                   Mrs. B. Bruining, sec.


 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                         SECOND CLASS
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                        POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506    ./                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





456                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                News From  Oui Churches
  The July 3rd bulletin of our Hope Church (Walker,         building; It seems that the evening sun comes through
Michigan) reported on the return of our Home                a window in the rear of the building, shining brightly
Missionary as follows, "Rev. and Mrs. Harbach               in: the face of the minister - almost to the point of
returned from the investigative trip which they made        blinding the pastor at times, according to some
to the area of Canada just north of Lynden, Washing-        reports. The Hope congregation also decided to add
ton. He expects to make a report of this trip to the        about 20 parking spaces to the church parking lot. It
next council meeting and to a Mission Committee             seems that the lot has not, for some time, been large
meeting on July 12. We thank God for their safe trip        enough to accommodate all the autos.
and pray He might have used these efforts to further          `Both the men and women of our congregation in
the cause of His kingdom."                                  Randolph have been busy of late. The ladies were
  In other mission activity, the Mission Committee          asked to come to the church on Saturday, May 14, to
of our churches asked Professor H. Hanko to go to           help with a spring cleaning of the church. On the
Birmingham, Alabama, to inquire into the interests          same  day' and for some subsequent Saturdays, the
of some four families there.                                men were asked to help with scraping and painting
  The consistory of our church in Randolph, Wiscon-         the parsonage. Sounds like quite a work bee.
sin, has organized a Church Extension Committee "to           In the Isabel, South Dakota area, the Reformed
help us better share the glorious truth with those in       Witness Hour Radio program is now heard over
our area." The committee will function under a              KBHB at 12: 15 PM on Sundays.
constitution adopted by the consistory.                       ,The ladies' society of Hudsonville Church provided
  At a special congregational meeting held on June          a  :picnic luncheon for the senior citizens* of the
13 in Hudsonville, it was decided to build a new            congregation in Hager Park on June 14. The young
parsonage on the southeast corner of the property on        people of 1st Church sponsored a similar activity this
which the new Hudsonville Church is already located.        spring. The "senior citizens" were given invitations to
Plans for the new parsonage were presented and              a luncheon and program held in the "church parlors."
adopted. The cost of this project will be approximate-      It is well that we do remember those in our
ly $55,000. This will allow Hudsonville's pastor,. Rev.     congregations who are advanced in years.
C. Hanko, to move out of the old parsonage which is           Rev. Slopsema, of our church in Edgerton, Min-
adjacent to the old Hudsonville Church, now used by         nesota, led the chapel service at Edgebrook  .Rest
another congregation from another denomination.             Center on Sunday  .afternoon May 22. A special
  Apparently our church in Holland, Michigan, is one        number was provided by a group of preschoolers
of the churches in the denomination which schedule          from the Edgerton congregation.
their Sunday School classes during the summer                 During the past two months, most of our congrega-
months. As of the middle of June, however, Sunday           tions have scheduled their annual congregational
School classes were canceled until further notice. Due      picnics. Many of our western churches schedule these
to the fact that the Holland Church building is in a        picnics on the 4th of July.
state of construction and destruction all at the same         The various ladies' groups in our schools and
time, there is no place to hold classes. Walls are being    churches come up with all kinds of clever activities
knocked out and an addition being put on the                which not only provide good Christian fellowship,
building to give the church a larger meeting place and      but also raise funds for church and school. During the
more classroom area.                                        past year, novel activities have included "bakeless bake
  Hope Church in Walker scheduled a special con-            sales" and a number of "tasting bees." The Ladies'
gregational meeting on June 15. The congregation            Guild in Hull, Iowa, has scheduled another event
approved purchase of a drapery to cover the rear            which needs some explanation for those of us outside
windows of the sanctuary. This will take care of a          the area. They are having "Bean Walks" to raise
problem which ministers on the pulpit at Hope have          funds. What do you suppose a "Bean Walk" is?
been complaining about since the construction of the                                                        K.G.V.


