      The
STANDARD
     BEARER
      A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


. ..And when we shall leave presently, there
is nothing we shall carry with us. No doubt
when we make our departure we will be
wearing a suit or a dress to cover our naked-
ness, but that is. all. You will not be carrying
your bank books, or the silver and gold you
have stashed away for the proverbial rainy
day. Your houses and land, all your horded.
gain, you leave behind. Really, you go out of
this world precisely as you came in - stark
naked..
See "Godliness With Contentment"
                                                   -page 194

                                     Volume LVIII, No. 9, February 1, 1982 -


194                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                       CONTENTS                                                                                         ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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       Godliness With Contentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194                                  Department  Editors:  Rev. Wayne  Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                                                     denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
   Editorials-                                                                                       Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando,  Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
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       T h e E . R . C . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      197    Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
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MEDITATION

                                Godliness With Contentment *
                                                                                            Rev. M. Schipper


                      "`But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it
                 is certain we can early nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith-content."
                                                                                                                                                 -I Timothy 6:6-8


  Important  it  2, first of all, to note how it is that                                               tainly true that the blanket statement, "Godliness
the apostle' -was moved to express himself as he                                                       with contentment is great gain," may be considered
does in this portion of holy writ.                                                                     such a truism and guiding principle.
  It was not his intention to set forth an axiom, a                                                        Rather, as the text clearly indicates, what the
mere truism, a guiding principle for Timothy and                                                       apostle says here stands in direct contrast to and is
the  chuich of Christ to follow  - though it is  cer-                                                  accasioned  1py a false conception of some who


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             195



imagined that godliness is a way to get gain. The         father Adam was created in the very image of God,
apostle is militating against those who teach a dif-      and therefore in a creaturely way was capable of
ferent doctrine than he taught. Those, so he says,        reflecting that image; though he was God-like and,
who do not consent to doctrine which is according         in the state of righteousness, was devoted unto his
to godliness, pervert the truth when they teach that      God; he did not remain that way. When he fell,
it pays off in material gain to manifest godliness.       through the temptation of the devil, he lost that
From such a doctrine the church of Christ must            image. He took on the very image of the father of
withdraw itself.                                          lies. His whole being was set in rebellion against
   In sharp contrast to this false conception, the        God instead of being in devotion to Him. And we
apostle sets forth in the text the true doctrine. This    received our nature from him. Consequently the
sharp contrast is not only indicated with that con-       course of our nature is in reverse. We by nature
junctive word "but," but in the original text it is       emulate Satan, and like him stand in opposition to
still more pronounced. There the apostle writes:          the living God.
"But great gain is godliness with contentment." He          By grace, however, all this is radically changed in
means to say: if you really want to know what is          principal. Accordingly godliness is related to the
profitable for you in this present world, then you        mystery of godliness, concerning which the apostle
must understand that what is profitable is not mere       writes in the third. chapter  (3:16).  God became
dollars and cents, nor is it godliness that eventually    incarnate, He came to dwell in the flesh. In the
adds to your material possessions; but this, and this     Person of His Son, Emmanuel, He was born of the
only is profitable: godliness with contentment. And       Spirit from the womb of the virgin. In-that flesh He
that means that you may be as poor as the Lazarus         assumed our sin and guilt, the sinless One became
who desired to eat the crumbs which fell from the         sin for us; and in that nature He bore the curse that
rich man's table, and yet be very rich. Enriched          was due to us, even unto the accursed death of the
you are with the grace of godliness with content-         cross. In His death and resurrection He justified us.
ment.                                                     And having been received up into glory, He re-
   Godliness with contentment!                            ceived the Spirit without measure, and power to
                                                          give that Spirit unto us, whereby we are renewed in
  Two graces set by the Scriptures in their proper        heart, and enabled once more to reflect in principle
order! Related they are as cause and effect. It is the    the image of God. In one word, to be God-like once
order of doctrine and life.                               more, and consequently to be devoted to God. Such
  But what is their significance? And just how are        is, indeed, the source of, and the nature of the grace
they related?                                             of godliness which we now possess.
   Godliness!                                               Godliness!
  No fewer than eight times the apostle uses this           Beautiful concept, indeed! For it implies that the
word in this epistle. The Word of God would have          one who possesses this grace in this world is as
us live a-peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,    close to God and like unto Him as he can be. It
rather than to be in rebellion against those who are      implies that he who partakes of godliness is re-
in authority  (21,  2). In chapter  3:16 the apostle      created in the very image of God, and is able to
presents the heart of the truth as far as godliness is    reflect in a creaturely way that image.
concerned, when he defines the mystery of godli-            With contentment!
ness as consisting in this: God manifested in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,             Like godliness, it also is grace!
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the              And he who possesses this grace is satisfied with
world, received up into glory. In chapter 4:7, 8, he      his lot in life. There is a certain harmony between
exhorts Timothy to exercise himself rather unto           one's lot and the understanding of his heart. Only
godliness, which is profitable unto all things,           he who has the Spirit of Christ within him
having the promise of the life that now is, and of        possesses this grace.
that which is to come. And in our chapter no fewer
than four times he mentions this gracious  cqncept          The natural man cannot boast of this virtue.
(vss. 3, 5, 6, 11).                                       Never is he content with his lot in life. He may put
  The English word is undoubtedly a contraction           on a show, and like the stoic, he may steel his
                                                          nerves when he is in pain, and want you to believe
of God-like-ness, meaning simply, to be like unto         he does not hurt. He may in his poverty lie down
God. While the Greek word implies reverential
piety, and devotion unto God.                             like the pig which appears to be content to wallow
                                                          in his own dirt, and want you to believe he is satis-
  It should be quite apparent that we do not              fied with his lot. But the natural man cannot be
possess this virtue naturally. Though our first           content, because he has no grace. In his need, he


196                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



grumbles and complains. If he is rich and has all         he left it, he carried none of it with him.
that heart could wish of this world's goods, he is          No different is it with us. When we come naked
greedy, and by hook or crook he will seek more of         out of our mother's womb, there was nothing we
these riches. But he can never be happy and satis-        brought with us into this world. We came into a
fied with his lot in life.                                world that was all prepared for us. And when we
  Only he who has received the grace of content-          shall leave presently, there is nothing we shall
ment is perfectly reconciled to the will of God for       carry with us. No doubt when we make our
his life. His sanctified heart and mind move him to       departure we will be wearing a suit or a dress to
say with the apostle: "I have learned in whatsoever       cover our nakedness, but that is all. You will not be
state I am, therewith to be content."                     carrying your bank books, or the silver and gold
  And mark well, these two, godliness and content-        you have stashed away for the proverbial rainy
ment, are so related that the latter is impossible        day. Your houses and land, all your horded gain,
without the former. Only as one stands in a right         you leave behind. Really, you go out of this world
relation to God can he possibly stand in a right rela-    precisely as you came in - stark naked. That is also
tion to the circumstances surrounding his life in         what the apostle is saying, and it is clear that the
this world.                                               great gain of which he speaks cannot refer to
                                                          material wealth. As far as material possessions are
  Though godliness and contentment may be and             concerned, we are no richer when we leave this
should be clearly distinguished, they nevertheless        world than we were when we came into it.
belong together in such a way that the latter is the
fruit of the former. When godliness sets our eyes on        Simple but humiliating truth!
that which is divine and heavenly, it is bound to           Yet, somehow, so difficult for us to learn!
have a heavenly effect on our lives in this world,          For seventy, perhaps eighty years, we may
where we are confronted with the circumstances of         struggle to get gain. Meticulously we guard our
riches and poverty, health and sickness, life and         earthly possessions, and even seek to increase
death. Then no matter in which circumstances we           them. And when they multiply, it is not difficult at
may find ourselves, we will be heavenly minded,           all to act the part of the fool, who imagined he
and perfectly satisfied. In the deep sense of the         would stay here forever. He made plans for bigger
word,       contentment is the manifestation of           facilities wherein to store his horded gain, not real-
godliness as it is applied to our present circum-         izing that at less than a moment's notice his life in
stances.                                                  the world would be taken from him, and nothing of
  These two, godliness with contentment, when             that which he had gathered could be carried with
they are experienced in their proper order, are           him. What we should learn from all this is the fact
profitable indeed!.                                       that there was no godliness and therefore no
  As already pointed out, the apostle stresses in the     contentment to be found in all his thoughts and
text their profitableness. The great gain of which        actions.
the apostle speaks is not to be reckoned in a               But great gain it is to live out of the faith that God
material sense. According to verse five, there were       is our God, and by His grace we have been
evidently some who held to this view. They                recreated like unto Him. Great gain it is to know
believed that godliness was a way to get gain, to         without a doubt that we possess a God Who
obtain material possessions. This the apostle             possesses us. And most profitable it is to believe
denies. Rather he means to say, godliness when it is      that when that great God provides us daily with
applied to earthly circumstances brings content-          food and raiment, there is nothing else that we
ment, and that, indeed, has great spiritual benefit in    really need. Then we experience quite profitably
our lives.                                                also the grace of contentment. And this is precisely
   It is apparent from the rest of the text that he is    the way the Lord Jesus would have us to live in this
not thinking of material prosperity at all. Says he,      present world. Did He not teach us to pray, "Give
"For we brought nothing into this world, and it is        us this day our daily bread"?
certain we can carry nothing out." When he wrote            So the apostle exhorts us: "And having food and
this, he may very well have had in his mind the           raiment let us be therewith content."
saying of Job, "Naked came I from my mother's               Impossible! you say. No one can live in the
womb, and naked shall I return thither" (Job 1:21).       present world with only food and raiment. That
And isn't it striking, that when Adam was                 may be true of someone who is cast on a lonely
brought into the world, all that was in the world         island, and cut off from our sophisticated and
was already prepared for him? He did not help             highly developed world. You may complain that
prepare it, nor did he add anything to it; and when       the world in which you live makes it mandatory


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                          197



that you become involved in worldly things. From          God in our text, that not the man of'the world has
morning to night, and every day the facts are             great gain, even if he has amassed his millions. He
dinned into your ears that when you are sixty years       is exceeding poor and wretched and miserable; and
of age you must retire. So by all means you must          if he has nothing more, he will be miserable unto all
make arrangements for your retirement. And                eternity.
because of inflation it is becoming more and more            Only he has great possession who is graced with
apparent that social security cannot take care of         godliness, and who by grace possesses the virtue of
you when you are old. In fact it is quite possible        contentment. That great gain will tide him over all
that social security may not be able to take care of      the vicissitudes of life, and remove from him all
you at all - the fund may even run dry. You should        earthly care. Such an one can lay himself down in
therefore make provision with other means and             peace and sleep, with a confidence that all is well,
insurances that will take care of you when you are        even when all things appear to be against him. And
old. Besides, when one is old he may have to go into      when he lays his head down on the pillow of death,
a home for the aged. And who does not know how            he will not feel that he has been robbed of all his
soon the expenses there can eat up the little nest        earthly goods, but he will consciously enter the
egg he had salted away? So you can go on and on to        state of heavenly bliss, completely transformed into
prove that it is the point of wisdom even to make         the very image of God. The ungodly millionaire has
preparations to take care of yourself when the time       nothing, while the child of God, though he be a
comes that you need it most.                              pauper, is exceeding rich. He has his God. The
  But look back now over all this argument, and           ungodly, as the Scriptures teach, are like the
ask yourself: Where is the godliness in it? And           troubled sea that cannot rest; but the child of God,
where is the contentment I should have?                   though he be tossed upon the billows, possesses the
  The only answer is: there is none of these. Really      calm of contentedness. He has a peace that sur-
these are the arguments and machinations of an            passes all understanding.
ungodly, worldly man. It certainly is not the               Indeed, great gain is it to possess godliness with
language of faith. And he who talks this way may          contentment!
very well want to scratch out the word of God in            He who possesses these virtues shall never be
our text from Scripture.                                  ashamed!
  We must be reminded, according to the Word of
EDITORIALS
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema


                                        The E.R.C.S.

  The initials E.R.C.S. stand for the Evangelical         well in the future. We wish them the Lord's
Reformed Church of Singapore.                             blessing. For without that blessing they cannot
  By the time these lines are printed in our Febru-       really be and continue as the church. That is always
ary 1 issue that Evangelical Reformed Church in           true, but it is especially and emphatically true for
Singapore will have become a reality, according to        the young E.R.C.S. in their peculiar situation, with
present plans. The Lord willing, the group formerly       their peculiar problems and circumstances. Most of
known as the G.L.T.S. (Gospel Literature andETract        us here in the U.S. cannot even begin to imagine
Society) among whom our missionary, Rev. Arie             the situation in a place like Singapore in the midst
den Hartog, has been laboring will be instituted as       of which this new young congregation exists. For in
the church on January 24. And they will be                many respects they must exist in the midst of what
organized as a  Reformed  church, with the Three          is really a heathen environment, with all that this
Forms of Unity as their confessional basis.               entails. And as far as the church is concerned, the
                                                          new young congregation cannot look to other
  That is great and good news for the saints in           churches in that city for help and support: for there
Singapore and for us. We rejoice with the young           is not another truly Reformed witness in Singapore.
saints in faraway Singapore because they have             Hence, to be the church, and to be specifically a
achieved the desire of their hearts to be established     Reformed  church, will be a constant battle for the
as a Reformed church in that place. We wish them          saints there. And so we say to the E.R.C.S.: may the


198                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



Lord our God prosper and strengthen you, and may                   behalf of our synodical Contact Committee. I recall
He cause you to grow, to grow in spiritual strength,               that in our committee meetings we almost doubted
,to grow in the knowledge and conviction of the                    whether we should spend the extra funds for this
Reformed faith, the faith of the gospel, and to grow               additional trip to Indonesia and to Singapore. When
numerically, so that there may be added to you                     we actually went there and delivered two evening
such as should be saved.                                           messages, it was really more or less "accidental"
  We rejoice, too, with Rev. and Mrs. den Hartog.                  that the group then know as the G.L.T.D., through
We know and are sure that the achievement of this                  the initiative of brother Ong Keng Ho, sponsored
goal of the institution of the church there repre-                 the meetings. There really was no indication at that
sents the achievement of a goal toward which our                   time of any positive response and fruit when we
missionary has long labored diligently and faith-                  spoke those two evenings. Then for some two years
fully. Rev. den Hartog  - and this is the testimony                we heard next to nothing from the young people of
not only of the saints in Singapore but also of those              the G.L.T.D. The only contact we had during that
of us who had the opportunity to observe his work                  time was through our literature. And suddenly, in
there firsthand - has labored with all his heart and               mid-1977 I began to receive letters asking for help
soul in the cause of the gospel there. He was disap-               and instruction with regard to the doctrine of
pointed when the institution of the church was                     baptism, and before long an inquiry whether our
delayed; undoubtedly that very delay has now only                  Protestant Reformed Churches could help them to
served to increase his joy when at last the goal is                become instituted as a church. What happened
achieved. May the Lord continue to bless his labors                after that we all know. When I forwarded to our
in Singapore, and may He in due time expand the                    Foreign Mission Committee the correspondence I
work in that area.                                                 had received, they sent emissaries to Singapore a
  We may rejoice and do rejoice as Protestant Re-                  couple of times, and soon recommended that we
                                                                   call a foreign missionary for the field. The Lord
formed Churches, too, because the Lord our God
has blessed and prospered this foreign mission                     gave us Rev. den Hartog for this purpose. And now
                                                                   the church is instituted there! What hath God
endeavor of our denomination. This was a work
which first seemed so unlikely and impossible. It                  wrought!
had its earliest beginnings when Rev. C. Hanko and                   And how thankful and how encouraged we
I made what might be called an almost incidental                   ought to be as churches!
sidetrip  to Singapore at the time of our 1975 tour in


                                The Hebrew Vowel Points
                                        or the Power Thereof

  In the GKN document "God With Us," the                              vowel marks were added to the text of the Old Testa-
report/decision dealing with the nature of the                        ment in the Middle Ages.
authority of Scripture, there is a paragraph which
rather derisively refers to one of the Reformed con-                 The reference in this paragraph can only be to
fessions without naming it and without quoting its                 the one Reformed creed which makes mention of
statements. The paragraph in the GKN Report                        these Hebrew vowel points, namely, the  Helvetic
reads as follws (It is found on page 47 in the section             Consensus Formula. This was a rather late
we have already considered in our critique.) :                     Reformed creed, composed at Zurich, Switzerland
                                                                   in 1675 by John Heidegger, of Zurich, with assis-
         As is described in Chapter III, in the Reformed           tance from Francis Turretin, of Geneva, and Luke
       tradition the teaching of the infallibility of the Holy     Gernler, of Basle. Its main purpose was to condemn
       Scripture has been defended for a long time in a sense      and exclude from the Swiss churches the errors of
       of an absolute inerrancy. One, then proceeded from          Amyraldianism. But because of a current contro-
       the so-called mechanical inspiration by which one
       understood that the  IJoly Spirit literally dictated the    versy about the doctrine of Scripture, particularly
       Scriptures to the writers of the Bible. Sometimes the       abo.ut the reliability of the Hebrew and Greek
       reasoning was so strict and direct that it was held that    original texts of the Old and of the New Testaments
       even the vowel marks of the Hebrew text were                respectively, it also included three articles about
       inspired. Apparently they did not yet.know that these       Scripture. It is in the second of these articles that


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                            199



reference is made to the Hebrew vowel points, a                 Hebrew "vowel points." The Hebrew language, in
matter which I will explain in due course. But to               which the Old Testament was originally written,
understand and appreciate what this confession                  has an alphabet of only twenty-two consonants; it
says on the matter, it is necessary to have all three           has no vowels. That is, the spoken language had
articles before us. As you read these articles, ask             vowel sounds, of course: for without these there
yourself where the doctrine of  mechanical inspira-             can be no speech. But there are no vowel symbols
tion occurs, as the Dutch Report alleges. I could not           in the Hebrew alphabet, only consonants. And the
find it! The articles do indeed teach verbal inspira-           "vowel points" are a system of symbols added to
tion,  but this is by no means the same as mechan-              the written Hebrew of the Old Testament, and
ical inspiration. Here are the articles:                        written either above or below the words
                                                                themselves. These "vowel points" represent the
      I. God, the Supreme Judge, not only took care to          sounds of a, e, i, o, u. These points as now used date
   have His word, which is the "power of God unto               back to the sixth or seventh century after Christ.
   salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom.  1:16),         When Article II of the Helvetic Consensus Formula
   committed to writing by Moses, the Prophets, and the
   Apostles, but has also watched and cherished it with         speaks of "the power" of these vowel points, it
   paternal care ever since it was written up to the            refers to the fact that as long as Hebrew was a
   present time, so that it could not be corrupted by craft     living, spoken language, the vowel sounds of the
   of Satan or fraud of man. Therefore the Church justly        various words were evident and known to any Jew;
   ascribes it to His singular grace and goodness that she      he would not need the addition of symbols in order
   has, and will have to the end of the world, a  "sure         to understand how a word was to be read and
   word of prophecy" and "Holy Scriptures" (II Tim.             pronounced. This is the "power," or significance,
   3:15), from which, though heaven and earth perish,           of the points. Moreover, this "power" of the points
   "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass" (Matt.         was indicated in written Hebrew by especially
   5:18).                                                       three or four consonants: Aleph, He, Waw, Yodh.
     II. But, in particular, the Hebrew Original of the         This is explained in Davidson-Mauchline,  Hebrew
   Old Testament, which we have received and to this            Grammar,  p. 14, as follows: "So long as Hebrew
   day do retain as handed down by the Jewish Church,           was a living language, the helps to vocalization
   unto whom formerly "were committed the oracles of            described above (referring to the vowel letters,
   God" (Rom. 34, is, not only in its consonants, but in
   its vowels - either the vowel points themselves, or at       HCH), though scanty, might be found sufficient.
   least the power of the points - not only in its matter,      But when the language ceased to be spoken and
   but in its words, inspired of God, thus forming,             became unfamiliar, fuller representation of the
   together with the Original of the New Testament, the         vowels was needful for correct reading." And
   sole and complete rule of our faith and life; and to Iits    again: "During the time when there were no
   standard, as to a Lydian stone, all extant versions,         written vowel signs, a tradition of pronunciation of
   oriental and occidental, ought to be applied, and            the words of the Scripture was handed down. It
   wherever they differ, be conformed.                          was this tradition, named the  Massora,  which
     III. Therefore we can by no means approve the              Jewish scholars, the Massoretes, in the early cen-
   opinion of those who declare that the  text  which the       turies of the Christian era, sought to preserve by
   Hebrew Original exhibits was determined by man's             the introduction of a system of vowel signs which
   will alone, and do not scruple at all to remodel a           received the name of the Massoretic System of
   Hebrew reading which they consider unsuitable, and           Points. Its purpose was to preserve and to transmit
   amend it from the Greek Versions of the LXX and              with accuracy the textual tradition and to remove
   others, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Chaldee                ambiguities, concerning the reading and interpreta-
   Targums,  or even from other sources, yea, sometimes
   from their own reason alone; and furthermore, they           tion of the consonantal text.. . . It probably dates
   do not acknowledge any other reading to be genuine           from the sixth and seventh centuries; the signs are
   except that which can be educed by the critical power        not regarded as integral parts of the words but are
   of the human judgment from the collation of editions         placed above or below so that they are  outside
   with each other and with the various readings of the         them." This last phenomenon is due to the fact that
   Hebrew Original itself  - which, they maintain, has          the Jewish scholars had such respect for the sacred-
   been corrupted in various ways; and finally, they            ness of the Hebrew text that they were very careful
   affirm that besides the Hebrew edition of the present        to preserve it unchanged and would not tamper
   time, there are in the Versions of the ancient inter-        with it by inserting any changes or additions in the
   preters which differ from our Hebrew context other           text itself.
   Hebrew Originals, since these Versions are also indi-
   cative of ancient Hebrew Originals differing from               We have already noted that the articles of the
   each other. Thus they bring the foundation of our            Helvetic Consensus Formula give absolutely no
   faith and its inviolable authority into perilous hazard.     indication of a theory of mechanical inspiration.
  First of all, let me explain what is meant by                 What we, in fact, have in these articles is a beauti-


200                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



ful confession of the truth of verbal inspiration and               lessness of copyists, or the malice of Jews and
a beautiful confession of faith that the Lord our                   heretics. This is recognized on both sides, and the
God caused the Scriptures to be preserved for His                   variant readings, which Beza and Robert Stephanus
church down through the centuries. And the Dutch                    have noted in Greek, and the Jews in Hebrew, witness
theologians who composed the Report/Decision                        sufficiently to this. But the question is whether the
concerning the authority of Scripture may babble                    original text, in Hebrew or in Greek, has been so cor-
                                                                    rupted, either by the carelessness of copyists or by the
about mechanical inspiration and may meanwhile                      malice of Jews and heretics, that it can no longer be
so tamper with the whole doctrine of the inspira-                   held as the judge of controversies and the norm by             `
tion and authority of Scripture that virtually                      which all versions without exception are to be judged.
nothing is left of it, and they may meanwhile prate                 The Roman Catholics affirm this; we deny it.
about the alleged ignorance of seventeenth century                 Turretin then goes on to explain and to produce
Reformed theologians; but give me the Helvetic                   many strong arguments for this position. In the
Consensus Formula and its sound faith any day in                 course of these arguments he even makes mention
preference to the unbelief of the report, "God With              of the Massoretes and their work, as follows, using
Us."                                                             their work as one of the arguments in favor of a
  But let us examine that charge of ignorance.                   reliable Hebrew text: "The care with which the
  Is it really true that the men of the seventeenth              Massoretes not only counted, but recorded in
century "apparently...did  not know that these                   writing, all variations in pointing and writing, not
vowel marks were added to the text of the Old Test-              only with regard to verses and words, but to in-
ament in the Middle Ages?" Were these men                        dividual letters, so that there could be neither place
indeed ignorant?                                                 for, nor suspicion of, forgers, an argument used by
                                                                 Arias Montanus in his biblical preface." (pp. 113-
  The opposite is true. The reader may judge                     115)
whether the Dutch theologians, with all their
vaunted learning, are indeed ignorant of the facts or              2. There was indeed a debate in those years as to
whether they are deliberately twisting the truth.                the question of the origin of the vowel points. For a
                                                                 long time it had been held that the so-called
  But here are the facts. And they may all be con-               Massoretic Text had come either from Moses or
firmed by consulting Francis Turretin's  Institutes,             from Ezra and the Great Synagogue; and many
Locus 2, "The Doctrine of Scripture."                            Reformed theologians still held in the seventeenth
  1. When the Helvetic Consensus Formula                         century that this was the case. But there were
speaks of the "original," it is not referring to the             others  - and a certain Louis Cappel was a leader
autographs, i.e., the books of Scripture as they                 among them  - who held that the vowel points
came from the hands of Moses, Isaiah, Paul, etc.                 were a later help invented by the Massoretes in
But they mean Hebrew and Greek copies of these                   order to help with the preservation and reading of
autographs; and they are dealing with the question               the traditional text. But to speak of ignorance in this
of the purity and reliability of these copies.                   connection is foolish. Reformed scholars like
Turretin treats this matter under Question 10: "Has              Turretin were well aware of the two possibilities.
the original text of the Old and New Testament                   They were also well aware that not only Roman
come to us pure and uncorrupted? (Affirmative,                   Catholics but also some Reformed men used the
against the Roman Catholics)." Turretin deals with               late date of the Massoretic points as an argument
this question, in part, as follows:                              against the reliability of the Hebrew original. I
                                                                 could quote at length from the same work of
         I. This question is forced upon. us by the Roman        Turretin already mentioned, but two paragraphs
       Catholics, who raise doubts concerning the purity of      will suffice in this regard:
       the sources in order more readily to establish the
       authority of their Vulgate (Latin version, HCH) and               XII. (3) Even if the points were added at a late date,
       lead us to the tribunal of the church.                       as these who date their origin from the Massoretes of
                                                                    Tiberias claim, it does not follow that they are merely
         II. By "original texts" we do not mean the very             a human device, depending only on human judgment,
       autographs from the hands of Moses, the prophets,             which indeed, if it be assumed, considerably weakens
       and the apostles, which are known to be nonexistent.          the authority of the Hebrew manuscript. For the
       We mean copies  (apographa),  which have come  in.           pointing, in the opinion of those who hold this
       their name, because they record for us that word of           hypothesis, is not supposed to have been done accord-
       God in the same words into which the sacred writers           ing to the judgment of the rabbis, but according to the
       committed it under the immediate inspiration of the           analogy of Scripture, the nature (genius) of the sacred
       Holy Spirit.                                                  language, and the meaning that had long been ac-
         III. There is no question of the sources being pure         cepted by the Jews, so that even if the points were not,
       in the sense that no error has crept into many sacred         as on this hypothesis, part of the original with regard
       codices, either from the ravages'of time, or the care-        to their shape, it cannot be denied that they always


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                201



    were part of it with regard to sound and value, or                   requires proof, that points are a modern and human
    power. (Here you have the same position as that of the               addition, a conclusion with which a great many Jews,
    Consensus Formula; and note the sound and scholarly                  notably Eli Levi, who lived a century ago, disagreed,
    argumentation. HCH) Otherwise, since vowels are the                  in which they were followed by many highly regarded
    souls of consonants, the text would always have been                 philologists  (grammatici)   and theologians, both
    ambiguous; indeed no clear meaning of the word                       Protestant and Catholic  - Junius, Illyricus, Reuchlin,
    would be possible unless [the vowels] were as old as                 Munster, Cevalerius, Pagninus, M. Marinus, Polanus,
    the consonants, as Prideaux in his twelfth lecture on                Deodatus, Broughton, Muisius, Taylor, Booth,  Light-
    the antiquity of the points soundly observes: "That the              foot, and most theologians since them. The whole case
    points and accents were part of the original in respect              seems to have been settled by the Buxtorfs, father and
    to sound and value no one denies: [the question] only                son, the first in his  Tiberias,   the second in that most
    concerns the marks and characters." And again, "the                  thorough work with which he refuted  Arcanum
    vowels were as old as the consonants with regard to                  punctationis  revelatum.   It would not be difficult to
    underlying quality (uis) and sound, although the dots                support this position by a number of considerations, if
    and marks which are now employed had not then                        we should now turn our attention to it, but since the
    appeared." Indeed it is hardly possible to doubt that                question is one of philology rather than of theology we
    the vowels, if not with the same marks that are now                  do not care to make it our battle. It is enough to have it
    written were nevertheless indicated by some marks in                 understood that to us the teaching that regards the
    place of the points, in order that the sure and un-                  points as of divine origin has always seemed truer and
    changing message  (sensus)  of the Holy Spirit, which                safer, for the support of the authenticity of the original
    otherwise, depending merely on human learning and                    textwhole  and complete against heretics, and the
    memory, could easily have been forgotten, or cor-                    establishing of a sure and changeless principle of
    rupted, might be retained. [This could have been                     faith, whether [the points] come from Moses or from
    done,] as some suppose, by the letters  aleph, waw,  and             Ezra, the leader of the Great Synagogue, and so it is
    yodh, which are therefore called "the mothers of                     useless for our adversaries to seek to question the
    speech." Such is the opinion of the learned [Brian]                  authority of the Hebrew manuscripts on the ground of
    Walton, who says, "By usage and the tradition of the                 the newness of the points. (pp. 131-133)
    elders, the true reading and pronunciation had been
    preserved by means of the three letters,  aZeph,  waw,              It ought to be clear, therefore, that the authors of
    and  yodh  which are called mothers of speech and                the  GKN's  Report/Decision do the  Helvetic
    which served in place of the vowels before the intro-            Consensus Formula and the theologians of that day
    duction of the points"  (Prolegomena  to the [London]            gross injustice by their statement. And while the
    Polyglot 7).                                                     Report/Decision leaves the impression, or tries to,
   Here, therefore,-Turretin argues that regardless                  of great learning and thorough investigation, it
of the alleged late date of the Massoretic points,                   would appear that its authors cannot stand in the
those points  - and the Hebrew Original  - are                       shadow of the great men of God of the seventeenth
reliable. But he also makes it plain that the whole                  century who are criticized by the Report.
theory about the lateness of the points was at that                  [Note: all the quotations of Turretin are taken from
time not firm, at the same time asserting that this is               the recent Baker publication, The Doctrine of Scrip-
not the decisive factor:                                             ture, Locus 2 of Institutio Theologiae Elencticae,
                                                                     Edited and Translated by John W. Beardslee III.]
      XIII. (4) Our adversaries arbitrarily assume what

TRANSLATED TREASURES

                         A Pamphlet Concerning the
                           Reformation of the Church
                                                           Dr. A. Kuyper


(In the last article Kuyper began a discussion of the reformation    churches. But if the local consistory opposes such reformation
of the church by way of separation from the denomination. He         which begins in the congregation it becomes the means where-
talked briefly about the fact that such reformation always           by the federation also opposes the reformation which has
begins in the local congregation. But as that reformation begins     begun. Both of these Kuyper now intends to discuss.]
in the local congregation, it can be either opposed or supported
by the local consistory. If the local consistory supports such         An individual who comes into conflict with the
reformation then it comes into conflict with the federation of       church federation can be either a common member


202                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



of the church or a person who is in a certain office      grace for himself, his own, and those who stand
or in a certain ministry connected to the church.         with him.
  Common members can come into conflict with                The second imaginary case is that he comes into
the church federation in two ways: because they           conflict with the church federation by the decision
act contrary to a certain rule laid down for the          of a broader gathering: either that he himself
churches by the church federation, or because they        appeals against a decision of his consistory, or that
are wronged by the church federation in an appeal         his consistory agrees with him but then another
to a broader gathering.                                   appeals against this decision of the consistory.
  If you take the first instance and if such a            Actually, however, it comes down to the same
member is branded as an opposer of ecclesiastical         thing, and the progress of the conflict shall be the
ordinances, then the church federation can either         same as the progress of reformation of which we
look through its fingers and let the irregularity take    spoke above. Either such a one shall then submit
its course, or it can demand that the opponent cease      himself to the sentence of the ecclesiastical
from his unlawful action. If the  opponent"gives  in,     gathering, and then there is no more conflict, or, if
then the matter is ended. But if he, out of obedience     he cannot submit, then the church federation might
to the Word of God, considers it impossible to give       drop the case; or if it comes at last to excommunica-
in and carries on his case, then the church federa-       tion, then from that excommunication the same
tion will discipline him and will try to make him         obligation as above leads to independent action.
submit. The means which the church federation               Actually, conflict between common members
will use to do this are: 1) denial of eligibility of      and the church federation brings up the question of
ecclesiastical offices and positions; 2) denial of the    a break with the church as such, a reason why we
use of the sacraments; 3) suspension from member-         postpone further discussion of this sort of conflict
ship; 4) and finally, excommunication.                    to the next paragraph.
  The one who "resists," convinced that he cannot           In the meantime, before we come to the question
concede anything, continues to press his case even        of the conflict of the consistory and the church
though discipline after discipline comes upon him.        federation, we must discuss the unusual conflict
Even when the sacraments are denied him, e.g., he         which arises, not from the common members, but
continues to go to the sacraments.l                       from persons in ecclesiastical offices.
  This places the consistory before the question
whether it will help to punish the one who resists,         This kind of conflict is of a more serious kind.
or, shrinking back from this, will refuse to execute      Discipline of a common member is less damaging,
the punishment laid upon him. If the last happens,        and common members are subject to less disci-
then the conflict passes from the individual person       pline. Excommunication of common members
to the consistory, and thus will be discussed later.      almost never occurs. A certain shame, joined with
But if it does the first and lends itself to that in      an awareness of helplessness, usually prevents
order to punish the resister of ecclesiastical regula-    churchmen in power from persecuting with spiri-
tions by withholding the means of grace, then the         tual punishments anyone to whom nothing else is
conflict comes to its climax against the one who is       to be charged than that he is zealous for the honor
unrighteously condemned and the ecclesiastical            of God. But it is a different matter if the opponent is
federation which desires to force him.                    an officebearer or an ecclesiastical person. Then
                                                          there is much more of his influence to fear and the
  In such a case it would be irresponsible for such       church federation has in its power much more
a person to submit. This would be a departure from        powerful means to punish him. He who is in office
his former faithfulness. And nothing would remain         can be suspended from that office or set out of that
for him but to come to the sacraments, and if these       office. The same holds for non-official positions in
are denied him by force, to institute, with  like-        the church. A supervisor who does not desire to be
minded people, their own administration of the            in league with ungodliness can cause much trouble
means of grace; or, if there are no likeminded            to the church federation, but the church federation
people, to seek in another church what his own            can also take away from that supervisor his mem-
church withholds from him.                                bership. A janitor, a  precentor, an organist, who
  If this leads to his excommunication, then he           will not slavishly go along, can be punished with
need not consider himself as excommunicated from          respect to his daily bread. This can also be done to
the church. But there does rest on him the obliga-        religious' teachers who are considered trouble-
tion to proceed with a new organization in his            makers. And with respect to offices, what is easier
church, and, without show or desire for scandal, in       than to remove on high authority a deacon or an
the,fear of God, to labor for reformation because he      elder who dares to test the ecclesiastical ordinances
longs for the pure administration of the means of         with God's Word? But what ought to stand on the


I                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           203



     foreground is the seriousness of a conflict between         tion of false reasoning with which they justify
     a church federation and the minister. All other con-        themselves; and thus to give to the churches of
     flicts reach their apex in this. This is true on the one    Christ those natural leaders for the work of re-
     hand, because of the powerful influence which a             formation without whose leadership and coopera-
     minister exercises and because of the public nature         tion the reformation of a church rarely succeeds.
     of his actions; but also, on the other hand, because        And if the prayer is heard, then also the extra-
     the church federation can attack him directly and           ordinary measure of moral courage and power of
     set him outside his office and work, yes, out of his        faith which develops in the ministers shall give to
     house and goods and money.                                  their words such a fervor and to their appearance
       Almost all thoroughgoing reformations are born            such power that the opposition in the church feder-
     out of this kind of conflict, and the reason is clear       ation succumbs of itself.
     why right here the highest moral power becomes                 Only through the spiritual awakening of the
     manifested.                                                 ministers of the Word can a church be saved; but
       A common member of the congregation can                   also only by the passivity of ministers a hostile
     allow himself to be cut off almost without having           church federation remains strong.
     wrestled with his God, in a somewhat insolent way              The consequence of a conflict between ministers
     perhaps. Also, having been cut off, he remains              and a church federation is always very serious.
     what he always was. Especially today the suffering             It is serious in a tragic sense when the minister of
     which accompanies being cut off amounts to al-              the Word, after a moment of zeal, again lays his
     most nothing.                                               head in his bosom, gives in, so that the work of God
       For a supervisor or janitor, for an elder or              which he undertook is abandoned.
     deacon, to be deposed is most disagreeable. But in             It is serious in its direct consequences. This is
     the end he is not ruined. A supervisor loses a              true because a minister who is suspended must in
     certain monetary influence. A janitor loses a very          such a case continue to preach in the church; or, if
     small part of his earnings. An elder or deacon              this cannot be, then outside the church. And if he is
     returns to ordinary life without having lost what           excommunicated, then he gathers forthwith the
     the world considers desirable.                              faithful to himself and preaches the Word if neces-
       But this is entirely different for the preacher. For      sary in a stable or a barn, from a shipdeck or in an
     a minister of the Word, excommunication is                  open field.,
     nothing less than being cut off from his life's                Having come to this point, this conflict can also
     position, a taking away of his sphere of work, a            very easily lead to a break with the church itself
     deprivation of the whole of his existence. Behind all       even as the consequence of the conflict between
     this is the goad either to be unfaithfully silent, or to    common members in the church federation spoken
     continue to teach and then continue the conflict in         of in the following paragraph.
     a new kind of suffering. Think of Kohlbrugge, what
     that way of suffering cost him.                             1 It is highly doubtful whether this is proper for a child of God.
                                                                 It would seem that both Scripture and our Church Order rather
       For this reason we say that a much higher grace           require of such a one that he submit to the decision of his con-
     is demanded of the minister of the Word to remain           sistory, but under protest, and that he carry his protest through
     faithful in such a conflict than is demanded of a           to the broader ecclesiastical assemblies. It seems as if Kuyper
     common member or elder. The moral triumph over              here is advocating rebelling within the local congregation.
     flesh and sin must be so much stronger in the
     minister, his readiness to serve his Lord so much                           Take time to read
     more invincible, his desire for obedience so much
     stronger, his willingness to make sacrifices must                    The Standard Bearer
     shine so much more brightly.
       Common members and also elders who are so
     ready to complain about the unfaithfulness of our
     ministers must ask themselves once if they would
     be found as faithful if their whole life's position,
     yes, the bread of their wives and children was at
     stake.
       But, on the other hand, one must then also be
     zealous in prayers that God will be pleased to pour
     out His overflowing grace in the heart of many
     ministers of the Word, to break in them the tempta-


204                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



FROM HOLY WRIT

                          The So-called Proof-texts
                               of Postmillennialism
                                                Rev. G. Lubbers


                     Chapter XII                          cucumber patch, a beseiged city. It will be a city
       THE LAW GOING FORTH FROM ZION                      where the gates are never closed; there shall be no
                                                          night there. Thus it shall be in the "last days" in the
  In most beautiful poetic strains of prophecy and        dispensation of the fulness of time, times which are
with the richest metaphors the Holy Spirit shows us       really the beginning of heaven on earth, where the
the distant, future glory of the church of the New        church is raised with Christ from the dead and set
Testament era, as well as the church in glory in the      with Him in heavenly places, from which all her
ages to come, in Isaiah  23-5 and Micah  42-5.  No        blessings flow (Eph. 2:4-6;  1:3 ff). She is the "one
distinction or separation is made here between the        new man" in Christ, as we showed from Scripture
Messianic Kingdom, conceived of as belonging to           in our former chapter. In that kingdom there will
the time before the final return of Christ, and the       be perfect peace, and there shall not enter therein
so-called Kingdom in the ages to come. There is not       "any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever
a bit of this Postmillennialism in these texts. Both      worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they
the Post- and the Pre-Millennials appeal to these         which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev.
passages as teaching their Millennium views. But          21:27). Here in this Kingdom will be the perfect
the prophetic  perspective  sees both comings of          peace which has been made by the great Prince of
Christ in one revelation. The prophets see both the       peace in the blood of the Cross, the blood of recon-
New Testament Dispensation, as the time when all          ciliation and of propitiation (Rom. 5: 1; Col. 1:20).
things are being united under one Head, and the                  But let us study the texts in Isaiah 2:3-5 and in
final great and glorious perfection of this uniting of
heaven and earth, in the new heaven and the new           Micah 4:2-5.
earth, when the tabernacle of God shall be with                  We are confident that good, solid exegesis of
men. That will be the one, grand, holy, temple in         these texts will indicate that the Kingdom of peace
the Lord (Eph. 2:22).                                     here is not an earthly "Messianic Kingdom" but is
                                                          the Messianic Kingdom which is truly heavenly,
  Hence, the future spoken of in Isaiah 2 and             even now in this present Dispensation. And
Micah 4 is not the Postmillennial kingdom, when           principally it is also comprised of citizens who are,
the whole world shall be "christianized" before the       according to the calling of grace, a holy people,
glorious return of Christ upon the clouds of heaven.      who, as far as the life of regeneration is concerned,
It is true that Postmillennial writers point to many      cannot sin. It is a kingdom composed of elect saints,
passages of Scripture which speak of the vastness of      born again unto a lively hope through the resurrec-
the redeemed multitude; they point to evidence            tion of Christ from the dead (I John 3:9; I Peter 1:2-
which in their mind indicates that the world is           5).
growing steadily and slowly and constantly better;               The texts speak of the "law going forth from
they rather exultantly point to what they consider        Zion." And they both add "and the word of the
the material prosperity of the Postmillennial             LORD from Jerusalem" (Is.  2:3b and Micah  4:2b).
kingdom on the horizon like a man's hand; yet,            It is quite evident that the Scripture here gives the
even so, they admit that in this "golden state" the       efficacious reason why multitudes will flow to Zion
men who join the kingdom will not be sinless. This        to serve the LORD in spirit and in truth, when that
kingdom will not reach the perfection of heaven           "hour cometh" (John 4:21), when men shall neither
ever in this age!                                         worship on the hill of  Samaria,  nor in the earthly
  We must surely notice that Isaiah 2 and Micah 4         mountain of Jerusalem. Then it shall be seen that
speak of a perfect kingdom, be it then in Old Testa-      the Father seeketh in sovereign grace such that
ment terminology. All the imperfections of the Old        they may worship Him in heavenly Zion above.
Testament Zion and Jerusalem shall be no more.            And now in the New Testament Dispensation such
Jerusalem shall never again be a mere lodge in a          are born in Zion and sing: all my fountains are in


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205



Thee (Psalm 87).                                              Christ, so that in this power they can go forth from
  What is this "law" which shall go forth from                earthly Jerusalem to  Judea, to  Samaria,  even unto
Zion?                                                         the uttermost parts of the world. When earthly
                                                              Zion is really still a lodge in a cucumber patch, a
  According to the Hebrew parallelism this "law"              beseiged city to be destroyed (Matt.  24:15 ff; Luke
is the "word of Jehovah" which goes forth from                21:20,  21),  then the Gospel shall go forth from
Jerusalem. Now this is very instructive. Negatively           heavenly Zion, the law shall go forth, the Word of
this means that it does not go forth from Mount               the Lord from Jerusalem.
Sinai. Really, in all the Old Testament the law went
forth from Sinai, where the law was given to Moses              How does this Word of the Lord go forth?
by the angels whom God did send (Gal.  3:20, 21).               It goes forth as the "law" from Zion, that is, it
This is a structural Gospel-truth which is not                goes forth as the law which shall be written upon
always understood. And, yet, shall we really lay              the tables of the hearts of all the elect of God, out of
low the claims of the  Postmillennialists, we shall           every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. That the
need to notice this fine point in the text. It is really a    law goes forth to be truly and really and indelibly
teaching which is blazoned across the pages of                written upon the hearts of the elect in distinction
Scripture. And we must wield the sword of the                 from the reprobate is a truth which is silenced by
Spirit here and rightly divide the Word of truth, lest        every writer of Postmillennial persuasion. Such
we be a workman that falls on the sword of the                cannot understand that there can be a preaching of
erroneous interpreter of the Scripture. For only the          power if the entire world is not laid before Christ in
word of truth can lay low and "bring in captivity             true obedience. It is really not teaching that the
every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor.            "elect have obtained it and the rest were
10:5).  For if "law" goes out from Sinai, then the            hardened" as this is also true in the New Testament
world must be made a better place by adhering to              Dispensation (Rom.  11:7).  Postmillennialsim takes
certain laws. That is what all modernism wants to             the position, at least some of its most outspoken
maintain, to achieve the goal of making this world a          representatives, that such a distinction was true in
better place to live in. And a Christianized world            the Old Testament times, especially in the times of
does not fall under the preaching of the law from             Jesus, but that really toward the end of time, in the
Zion, as the  keypower of the Kingdom of heaven.              "golden age," this shall no longer be true. But the
Hence, it is vain to think that a world will be chris-        truth is that, even in the New Testament, only as
tianized in every sphere by the preaching of the              many as were ordained believed, even among the
Gospel. The true preaching of the Gospel goes forth           Gentiles. The Spirit is given to the New Testament
from Zion, and is a savor of life unto life and a savor       church also as the fulfillment of the promise only to
of death unto death! (II Cor. 2:16, 17).                      those who are called. We are blessed with all
  How could the law in Isaiah go forth from Mount             spiritual blessings in heavenly places, even as we
Sinai in the  "last  daysI'? Have we not come to              were elected in Christ from before the foundations
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heaven-           of the earth (Eph. 1:3,4).
ly Jerusalem, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New             When the law goes forth from Zion, as the Word
Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that                 of the Lord from Jerusalem which is above, it is
speaketh better things than Abel? (Heb. 12: 18-21).           ever with the upward calling; it is ever a high
  It is from this heavenly Mount Zion that the "law           calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil.  3:14), and is
goes forth" into all the world; it proceeds from the          indeed such that it makes those called partakers of
throne of grace. It is the Gospel which Christ came           the heavenly calling. This could never be the case if
to preach to those who are far and near. Yes, this is         the law went forth from Sinai once more. That
the word which "first began to be spoken by our               would be the death-knell of all coming of the
Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that                  nations to Zion. The people come with joy and glad-
heard Him, God also bearing them witness with                 ness in their soul to Jerusalem because the Word of
signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and              the Lord, the Gospel of reconciliation, comes to
gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will"           them in the blessed ministry of grace. The waters of
(Heb. 2:3, 4). It is the preaching of faith and repen-        grace flow from the temple and from the throne of
tance in the blood of Christ, beginning from Jeru-            God for the healing of the nations (Ezek.  47:1-12;
salem. Howbeit, the starting point of this  gospel-           Zach.  13:l; Rev.  22:1-2). These are the waters of
preaching, its power and glory do not proceed from            grace which the glorifed Christ gives, and unto
earthly Jerusalem. When earthly Jerusalem is a                which He calls the nations, and assures them that
"house left desolate," after the rending of the vail,         rivers of waters shall flow from their bowels (John
the preaching has its historical starting point here.         7:38). This is for everyone that believes in Jesus
But the disciples receive the "empowering by the              with a true faith, which is the gift of God.
Spirit" from on high, from the risen and glorified              Small wonder that these called say to one


206                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



another, "come ye, let us g6 up to the mountain of         the heathen who rage against the LORD and
the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He         against His anointed Son. For then we shall see the
will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His            Kingdom of glory established in His church  glori-
paths," as our text teaches.                               fied. And Zion shall indeed be exalted above the
  No more then shall Jerusalem be in desolation            mountains, and God shall be all in all, when the
again, nor surrounded by the armies and hordes of          tabernacle of God is with man (Rev. 2 1: l-4).

GUESTARTICLE

              Examining Church Membership (2)
                                               Rev. James Slopsema


  In a previous article under this title the impor-        ing of the truth to work His salvation.
tance of church membership was established. The               The same principle applies equally to the sacra-
church as an organization is the mother of God's           ments. The sacraments are subordinate to and
people. This is true from the viewpoint that               directly connected with the preaching. The salva-
through her ministry God brings His people to              tion of God proclaimed in the preaching is visibly
salvation in Jesus Christ and sustains them in that        represented in the sacraments. Consequently,
salvation. The ministries that God has given to the        when false doctrine finds its way into the preach-
church are essentially three: the preaching of the         ing, this usually results in a corruption of the sacra-
Word, the administration of the sacraments, and            ments. And again, to the degree that th.e sacraments
the exercise of Christian discipline. These three          are corrupted, to that degree they are ineffective to
labors of the church are indispensible for our faith       strength& the faith of God's people. If the church
and salvation. Hence,. there is the necessity of           teaches a wrong conception of the sacraments, if
church membership.                                         the sacraments are administered indiscriminately
  If this is clear to us, then we will also understand     or in some other way than the way God intended,
the importance of  belonging  to a church which is         they are then rendered ineffectual as a means of
faithful to her ministry. The principle here is that to    grace. The sacraments are powerful to strengthen
the degree that a church fails in her calling to           the faith of God's people only when properly ad-
preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, and          ministered.
exercise Christian discipline, to that degree she fails      Finally, the same principle holds true for the
to be a useful tool in the hand of God to bring salva-     exercise of Christian discipline. God uses the exer-
tion to her members.                                       cise of Christian discipline by the elders or rulers of
  This is easily demonstrated for example with             the church to keep His people faithful to His Word
the preaching, which is the chief means of grace to        with respect to both their confession and walk of
the salvation of God's people. In Galatians  1  the        life. But should the church be lax in Christian dis-
Apostle Paul speaks of those who were preaching a          cipline, allowing her members to confess and live
gospel which was no gospel. This was a gospel              in a way contrary to God's Word, then the people
which was a perversion of the gospel of Christ             of God suffer. God's people need that faithful
brought to the Galatian churches by the Apostle. It        discipline of the rulers of the church. And when
was a gospel filled with false doctrine, which mis-        that discipline is wanting, the sheep of God are
represented God and His work of salvation in Jestis        prone to wander and stray to their own hurt.
Christ. It was therefore a gospel which set forth not
the truth but a lie. There is that kind of preaching.        Hence, it is of utmost importance that we belong
That kind of preaching was to be found not only in         to a church which is faithful to  .her calling before
the Apostle's day but also today. To the degree that       God as church. The spiritual wellbeing of us and
this characterizes the preaching, to that degree it is     our children depend on membership in a church
not used by God to work faith and salvation in the         which preaches the gospel of salvation in purity,
hearts of His people. This only stands to reason. Do       which administers the sacraments properly, and
you expect the living God to work salvation                which excercises  Christian discipline faithfully.
through a gospel that misrepresents Him, that                Many churches today are not faithful to the
speaks a lie about Him? God uses only the preach-          calling God has given them. We must not be blind


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              207



to this. The tendency today among Christians is to        departure from the truth be too noticeable, it would
accept without criticism and scrutiny anything that       be cast out by the faithful. Hence,  the fake teacher
goes under the name "Christian" or "church." To           starts small with a view to greater things to come.
do this is to fail to reckon with reality and the Word    And these great departures do come. For the truth is
of God.                                                   one; and an "insignificant" departure soon works
  The Word of God tells us to expect unfaithful-          as a leaven so that soon the whole truth of God's
ness in the church of the New Dispensation. Thus,         Word is corrupted and overthrown. As a result of
for example, in Matthew  24:5 and 6 where Christ          these false teachers therefore, a church once having
tells His disciples of the signs of His coming and        departed will drift further and further away from
what they may expect in the future we read, "Take         the truth of God's Word until finally it has absolute-
heed that no man deceive you. For many shall              ly no gospel left and becomes a false and apostate
come in My name, saying I am Christ; and shall            church.
deceive many." And again in verse 24 we read,               And, according to the Scriptures, this apostasy
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false           will characterize the vast majority of the church
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;         world in the last days before the coming of Christ.
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall            This is evident for example from II Thessalonians
deceive the very elect." Thus, according to the           2. Here Paul speaks of the man of sin, the son of
word of Christ, we must expect to find today false        perdition that will be revealed in the last days (vs.
Christs and false prophets who proclaim not the           3). This man of sin is the Antichrist, the false Christ
gospel of God but the false gospel of these false         of which our Lord spoke in Matthew 24. For ac-
Christs. They will also be deceptive in their work.       cording to II Thessalonians 2 his "coming is after
They will try to mask their false gospel to make it       the working of Satan with all power and signs and
appear as the gospel of truth. We must not ignore         lying wonders" (vs. 9). He furthermore "opposeth
this prophecy of Christ. We must not hide our             and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
heads in the sand and pretend that all that goes by       that is worshipped" (vs. 4). And where will this
the name "Christian" today is good and acceptable.        Antichrist be found? He will be found, according to
According to Christ's prophecy there are many             verse 4, in the temple of God, in the church. He
false prophets today preaching the doctrine of            will set himself up as God in the church, which
Satan and hell, masking it as the gospel of light.        certainly indicates that he will dominate and
  And where do we find these false prophets? We           control the church. This is God's Word. This is
find them in the church. This is made plain for us        what we may expect in the last days. Before Christ
in II Peter 2: 1 and 2, "But there were false prophets    comes again the church as a whole will fall away
also among the people, even as there shall be false       and become false and apostate.
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in              We see this sort of thing happening right before
damnable heresies...and many shall follow their           our eyes, if we have our eyes open. There are many
pernicious ways." Notice, even as there were false        churches today which have completely apostatized.
prophets among the people of Israel in the Old Dis-       These are churches which historically stood four-
pensation (cf. the preceding chapter), so also shall      square upon the Word of God. But now the Word
there be false teachers among "you." That "you"           of God is gone. In these churches the Bible is
refers to the church of the New Dispensation which        viewed as being merely a human book, no more
is addressed in this epistle. Hence, you will find        reliable than any other historical writing. The
these false prophets in the church. Into the church       theology propounded is the theology of the social
they will bring their damnable heresies. From the         gospel. Jesus Christ is not the Son of God come in
pulpits they will proclaim these heresies. And            the flesh. He was merely a man, a good and worthy
many shall follow their pernicious ways. To ignore        example for us to follow. The reconciliation He ac-
this prophecy and blindly follow the teachings of         complished at the cross is not the  reconcilation
anyone who appears on the pulpit proclaiming              between God and man, but between man and man.
"Lord, Lord," is to invite disaster.*                     The goal of these churches is to make this world a
  In harmony with the appearance of -false                better place in which to live, a heaven on earth. In
prophets in the church of the New Dispensation is         effect, they have taken the Christ of the gospel and
what may be called the rise of the false church. As a     excommunicated Him.
result of these false prophets who bring their              Other churches there are that are at various
damnable heresies into the church, many churches          stages of apostasy. They have not completely lost
will drift further and further away from the truth.'      the gospel of Christ but are drifting. further and
At first these departures may not seem so signifi-        further away. The preaching is to one degree or
cant. This is in harmony with the deceitful way in        another adulterated with false doctrine. Neither is
which the false prophet operates. Should the first        Christian discipline faithfully exercised. These


208                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



churches are on the way down. If they do not and                 apostatizing church is injurious to our spiritual
will not turn from their apostatizing ways it is only            health. We will suffer spiritually as we are fed
a matter of time before they too will become com-                stones for bread. And our children, and future gen-
pletely false. Such is the ecclesiastical situation              erations, should we stay with such a church, will
today.                                                           die with that church. Leave your children on a
  What then is our calling as God's people? Should               sinking ship and they will sink with it.
we find ourselves in an apostate or apostatizing                   Should we however find ourselves in a church
church (and there are many who recognize their                   faithful to her calling, our calling as God's people is
church as such) our calling is to call our church to            to stay with that church. Certainly we may not
repentance in the proper ecclesiastical way. And,               leave her to join ourselves to a church which is
this failing, it is our calling to separate from that           departing. Our calling is to continue in such a
institution and join ourselves to a church where the            church and as members seek to keep her faithful to
Word of God is honored and preached and  main-                  God's Word that we and our children may continue
tained in Christian discipline. This is not easy; yet it        to enjoy the riches of God's blessing and salvation.
is necessary and important. To continue with an
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                                            As Others See Us


  The Protestant Reformed Churches have been                        The Reformed Free Publishing Association, which
presented recently in a little magazine entitled, The               lists in its present catalogue eleven hard-cover books
Covenanter Witness,  Sept. 1981. The magazine is                    and ten paper-backs with a total of 7,929 pages, not to
produced by churches of Scotland and Ireland: the                   mention 32 pamphlets available free; (6) Foreign
Reformed Presbyterian Churches  - two sister                        missions work in Singapore, and relief work in
denominations in these two countries. These                         Jamaica. Here is an active Church!
churches are commonly known as "Covenanters."                      The Rev. T. Reid says other nice things as well.
A sister denomination is also found in this country.            When stated as above, this does make a rather
The Contact Committee of our Synod has had                      impressive list of labors! Our concern is, however,
contact, howbeit somewhat informally, with this                 not to boast, but to pray the grace of God to be able
church in Ireland. One of their ministers, Rev. Tom             to labor faithfully in the future with the means and
Reid, wrote the report, part of which states:                   opportunities given us that God's Name may be
                                                                glorified and His people gathered and streng-
       Besides the six home mission fields, this small          thened.
   denomination supports the following activities: (1) A
   Theological School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which            We had the opportunity of meeting Rev. Reid
   includes a four year "pre-seminary" department as            recently when he with his wife and young daughter
   well as the three year ministerial course. Fourteen          passed through the Grand Rapids area. He stayed a
   students were trained last year by the three full-time       few days at the home of Prof. and Mrs. H. Hanko.
   professors in the School's own purpose-build facility,       Rev. T. Reid is a citizen of the U.S., was born and
   supported by two part-time administrators; (2) Ten           raised near Chicago, came from a liberal United
   parent-controlled Christian primary and one                  Presbyterian Church,            attended Westminster
   secondary school [with two more primary and one              Seminary, studied for an advanced degree in
   more secondary in the planning stages), with about           France, and recently became a pastor in the
   1,000 students and sixty teachers; (3) Four periodicals:
   The Standard Bearer,  which prints over 500 pages in 21      Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. His wife
   issues each year;  The Protestant Reformed Theological       is French; Tom met and married her while. attend-
  Journal,  distributed free to pastors and others twice per    ing school in France. Their daughter was born in
   year;  Beacon `Lights,  a monthly for young people; and      Northern Ireland and can claim citizenship in any
   Perspectives in Covenant Education,  which appears           of the three countries. We hope to hear more of
   twice yearly for the advancement of Christian                Rev. Reid, perhaps if he writes about his churches
   schools; (4) Sabbath School materials for all ages; (5)      in our  Standard Bearer.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          209



                       Robert Schuller on "Success"

  Christian News,  Dec. 7, 1981, presents a quote                   central mark of the emotionally healthy person. That
from Omni, a secular magazine which often attacks                   is why I talk against failure so much. Failure is an ego
historic Christianity.  Omni  conducted an interview                blowout in heavy traffic in the public eye."
with Dr. Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal                       Health, not sin, is the standard to gauge the upright
Cathedral of the Reformed Church in America.                        life.... He agrees with William Sloane Coffin that the
Christian  News writes:                                             church should be involved in the dissolution, as well
                                                                    as in the making, of marriage. He has even conducted
     While Dr. Robert Schuller has always frankly                   a church divorce....
   disavowed the Christian doctrine of original sin,
   refused to clearly affirm the deity of Christ, said on             High over Orange County, Schuller knows he's
   the Phil Donahue show last year that the way to get to           effective. He is excited about "what I have going
   heaven is "Turn to God and He will tell you how to               here." After 30 years of preaching, he says, "I have
   get to heaven," and admittedly tells his audiences               my act together."
   only what they want to hear, his ministry is supported             "If there's one thing I hear over and over in the
   by many American  evangelicals,  including Billy                 United States and Australia, it is, `Dr. Schuller, you
   Graham and Harold Lindsell. Dr. Schuller is on the               saved my life.' It's always the same words. We're
   advisory board of  Christianity Today Leadership  maga-          trying to give hurting people a look, a word, a touch, a
   zine and heads the Robert H. Schuller Institute for              healing touch that makes them think, `Maybe I'm
   Successful Church Leadership.                                    lovable after all.' So that's why I use my little phrase,
      . ..Reston writes of Dr. Schuller:                            `God loves you. So do I.' `I
     Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove,                "It must be hard to be humble," I say.
   California, and creator of the television program Hour             "Oh no," he replies. "It's the easiest thing in the
   ofPower,  which is seen by three million viewers in the          world."
   United States and Australia, Dr. Robert Schuller                What a difference between this man and the
   claims that he is the most widely known churchman             apostle Paul! Said Paul, "For I determined not to
   in America.                                                   know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and
      . ..Religion at present, particularly evangelical          Him crucified" (I Cor.  22). I would dare say that
   Protestantism, he believes, rests upon embarrassing           Dr. Schuller would neither have his Crystal
   the sinner by fostering shame and fear as the lash of         Cathedral nor his "Hour of Power" long if he pre-
   redemption. He means to accent the positive.                  sented only that same message.
      "Self-esteem is the central verity, the north star, the



      United Schools for Government Support

  Calvinist Contact,  December 18, 1981, writes of                    On November 23 and 24 about 80 representatives
the attempt of various schools in Canada to gain                    from Christian, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Seventh Day
support from the government:                                        Adventist, Montessori and Waldorf schools locked
                                                                    horns, determined to agree. They came up with "Prin-
     What do Jews, Christians and Catholics have in                 ciples of public rights and public responsibilities."
   common? Very little, we would think. Yet when 80
   men and women from this range of religious beliefs              The article continues by explaining how this
   came together for a two-day meeting, they were able           group intends to try to gain funds for the  chiZd
   to agree on an impressive set of educational prin-            rather than for the schools. It seems strange, how-
   ciples.                                                       ever, that a group like this can have a common
                                                                 cause. One would be inclined to think that a Jew,
     You see, they were united in a common cause:                Catholic, and Christian would have nothing in
   government funding for alternative and independent
   schools. The Ontario government wanted some con-              common. Surely II Corinthians 6: 14 applies: "Be ye
   crete proposals about government funding and the              not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
   Ontario Association of Alternative and Independent            what fellowship hath righteousness with unright-
   Schools (OAAIS) was determined to give the govern-            eousness? And what communion hath light with
   ment something concrete.                                      darkness?"


210                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



  And though one sympathizes with the argument                      distinctive Christian education. In what enterprise
that all pay taxes for the education of children, but               has the government ever become engaged that it
parents who send their children to Christian                        has not also sought control? If these schools gain
schools must pay a second time, yet to gain govern-                 their objective, they may soon rue the day that this
mental assistance seems likely to mark the end of                   occurred.


                                    The Horrors of Abortion

   Many writers have pointed out the terrible sin of                       . ..In the old heathen days, people offered their
murdering the unborn. The  Banner of  Tmth,                             children (to idols) with tears and lamentations. Today,
December,  1981,  quotes from an article which                          the baby's life is sacrificed, sometimes with emotional
points out some of this:                                                trauma to its mother, but without any idea of making
                                                                        a valuable offering to a god. In the old days, the baby's
         Basil the Great (c. 330-379 A.D.) was an influential           life was regarded as a sacrifice of ultimate worth.
       "Church Father," which is to say, a leading scholar of           Today, the baby has absolutely NO value and NO
       the Post-apostolic Period. Ecclesiastes  1:9 tells us            rights  - until it reaches that magic state of develop-
       "there is no new thing under the sun." The problem               ment when a "product of conception" MUST be
       of abortion has been a matter of deep concern at                 recognized as a little human being  - a BABY.
       various times in Christian history. Hear Basil on the
       subject: "A woman who deliberately destroys a fetus             The above serves again as a reminder of the
       is answerable for murder. And any fine distinction as        terrible sin committed in the land. Let it be heard
       to its being completely formed or unformed is not            loudly and clearly: we condemn this act of murder
       admissible." Simply put, but unmistakable: A baby at         and could well consider it, as the above article did,
       any stage of its development is a baby.. . .                 as worse than idol sacrifice.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                               Letter to Timothy


                                                February 1, 1982    saved me, a very miserable sinner in myself, by His
Dear Timothy,                                                       own free grace; and has washed me in Christ's
  I am including in this letter a letter which was                  blood and clothed me with His righteousness, even
written by an old minister to his fellow ministers                  as Christ was given to me as my Surety and
just before the Lord took him to heaven. The minis-                 Mediator.
ter who wrote this letter was Rev.  J. H. A. Ploos                    In Him my soul found rest. He drew me to Him-
Van Amstel. He was a highly esteemed and dearly                     self and kept me in His care in spite of my constant
loved minister during the Reformation of 1886                       wanderings and doubts with which I had to
under the leadership of Dr. A. Kuyper. Many of our                  contend all my life.
forefathers knew him or knew of him. He served in
the ministry from 1863 until his death in 1895. This                  By grace alone I am what I am.
letter is meant as a farewell to his colleagues.                      My soul waits upon the Lord and, especially at
Thanks to Rev. C. Hanko for translating it.                         times, longs to be delivered out of this present
  The letter follows. I thought it as pertinent now                 Meshech (This was a very common expression
as the time when Rev. Amstel wrote it, and that you                 among the Dutch. The reference is to Ps.  1205, 6
too could benefit by it.                                            and describes the life of the child of God in this
                                                                    world as suffering among his enemies. H.H.) of my
Beloved Brethren in the ministry of the Word:                       pilgrimage to be taken up to Him, Who is the only
  When you receive this letter I will no longer be                  sufficiency for my heart, the only fountain of all
among you, but above with the Lord, Who has                         true joy.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              211



  Receive this word as a farewell from your                 has confronted me many years ago. We find this in
beloved brother, who feels so strongly the bond             Philippians 2:1-11, something which the Lord also
that unites him to all the brothers and sisters in the      declares elsewhere when He says, "I am not come
Lord. Yes, the entire church in heaven and on earth         to be served, but to serve." Read again carefully,
is one in our precious Mediator and exalted Head            "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus Christ, Who has purchased us with His                 Jesus, Who, being in the form of God, etc." What
precious blood to be His private possession, in             did the Lord do? He made Himself of no reputation
order that the entire church may soon be complete-          (emptied Himself), became like unto us in the form
ly united with Him in perfection, to know, to love,         of a servant.
to praise and to glorify Him.                                 Behold here the glorious mystery of the gospel.
  I write this word from the necessity of my heart,           The Lord came down to earth, descended in the
spurred on by love; a word, the truth and power of          deepest depths of our hearts, thereupon doing all
which I have somewhat learned to understand                 that was and is necessary for our salvation. He is a
even though I am very weak and miserable in                 God of our complete salvation.
myself.                                                       Too readily we exalt man to a position he does
  0 beloved brethren especially let us have a deep          not hold, and fail to descend down to the real needs
impression of the MAJESTY of the Lord and our               of the human soul.: We want someone to read well,
own unworthiness. We are servants of the Lord,              while he does not even know the' alphabet. The
who must stand before His holy face, before Whom            result is that we readily become disgusted when
the whole world must bow even though only the               others do not understand us. That is not right.
church of the Lord has learned this by His grace. In        Christ became like unto us, only sin excepted, and
the exaltation of His majesty lies the power of our         we must present this Mediator Who humbled Him-
ministry.                                                   self and became like unto us as He is, keeping
  The Lord speaks to us and we are ambassadors of           before us the needs of the congregation. The little
Christ. Let us by all means be attentive and care-          lambs He will gently lead, not harshly, not as if
fully take note of that which the Lord declares to          they were full-grown sheep.
us.                                                           Do we have patience with the weaknesses of the
  Let us faithfully and accurately proclaim the             little ones, and do we carry them in love, looking to
Word of the Lord, without any admixture of our-             the Lord, considering  ,how much patience He has,
selves, never falsifying the Word to appeal to              also with our weaknesses? For had He dealt with us
people, but always presenting exactly  ,what the            according to our sins and wanderings, we would no
Lord says.                                                  longer exist. The deeper we can enter into the cir-
                                                            cumstances of others and may proclaim to them the
  Let us spend much time before the face of the             Christ in all the fulness of His mediatorial grace,
Lord, and in the earnest searching of the Lord's            the more hearts will be humbled under the
Word, and in constant fellowship with the Lord,             influence of the Holy Spirit. Only grace can melt
our glorious Head in heaven, in order that Christ           our hard hearts. May we give a glorious impression
may dwell in our hearts through faith and we may            of the Lord, proclaim Him in the fulness of His love
be rooted and grounded in love. May we surrender            and in the glory of His righteousness.
ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord, and in the midst
of the passing things, which frequently are so un-            Our ever-blessed Triune covenant God cannot be
pleasant for us, ask always and ever what the Lord          presented too emphatically in the splendor of His
is saying to our souls, and how we must deal with           glory. We must be like Joshua and Caleb, who were
every problem and situation in a manner that may            not evil but good reporters of that which was good,
be pleasing to the Lord. Our sinful self, our old man       and who thereby honored and glorified God. God
must die even as this has already died in Christ.           was angry with the evil spies, or reporters. And
The influence of the old man in our lives can make          they were the occasion that the people did not dare
life so bitter and our ministry so far from attractive      to enter the land of Canaan. The Lord is good and
and glorious. May that which is reality in Christ be        most merciful. He has no pleasure in our death, but
also reality in us. Let us walk in the light of the Lord    in our life.
and in the joy of the liberty of the children of God.         I would point you to one more thing, my dear
In order that we may preach with joy and with               brethren. It is sometimes so natural for us to make
complete conviction of heart, and we may be able            this  `or that complaint about the congregation. Let
to say somewhat as the apostle declared, "I have            us not do that, but have patience with the weak-
believed, therefore have I spoken."                         nesses of others. Maybe it is the result of our fool-
       In the ministry of the Word we must take             ishness or lack that those weaknesses are there. In
particular notice of one matter with which the Lord         any case, let us not complain except on account of


212                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



our sins. And let us not clamor for change. If the          expect no happiness except that which proceeds
Lord wants to transfer us to another place in His           from the Lord.
vineyard, good and well. But in that other place               And now, beloved brethren, I commit you to
there are also miserable people whose faults we see         God and to the Word of His grace, to Him Who is
more clearly as we learn to known them better. We           mighty to keep you from stumbling and to give you
have soon seen enough of the attraction of people           an inheritance among all the saints.
and places. Nothing is actually beautiful except the
Lord. And what is most blessed is to have a satisfied          The Lord bless you and may He make you a
conscience, made satisfied by the blood and righ-           blessing.
teousness of Christ in the way of truth, uprightness,          Solely by grace, until by and by.
and complete self-surrender.                                   Farewell, dear brethren, receive the farewell
  Nothing must stand between God and our soul.              greetings in remembrance of your brother in Christ
  That is often the case, yet that may not be. The          who loves you.              J.H.A. Ploos Van Amstel
Lord says, Walk before My countenance and be                                            Fraternally in Christ,
upright. May the Lord be our only joy. And may we                                       H. Hanko

Z-`HEDAYOFSHADOWS


                                  A Rift in the Clouds
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys


  Joseph had his reason for putting and keeping                And, of course, it was God Who put all this in
Simeon in prison and demanding that the other               Joseph's mind and Who intends through this trial to
nine brothers bring Benjamin along when they                show Joseph whether a radical and complete
would return for food. He knew that they would              change has come over his brothers. Joseph was
return in the near future since the famine had been         amazingly wise and showed tremendous skill in
in the land only two of the seven years that God            conducting this whole trial. But all this he has only
revealed to him the famine would prevail. And he            because God gave it to him for the purpose of
is insistent that when they return they give undeni-        restoring these brothers from their erring ways.
able evidence of a radical and complete change as           When considering the events in The Day of Shadows
far as their spiritual lives are concerned.                 we must be sure to see the Almighty and All-wise
  They had sold him into .Egypt as a slave because          God behind all that which takes place in history.
of their envy and hatred towards him. But they had          We have here no mere historical event. These inci-
also robbed their father of the fellowship of this his      dents are not written to entertain us. Always the
most beloved son and brought him untold grief.              hand of God must be seen and His purpose in that
Now that deep affection their father had trans-             which takes place must be discovered. Always we
ferred to Benjamin, who was the other of the two            must see how these events relate to and serve our
sons, and the younger one, of Jacob's most beloved          salvation. God's purpose and work in Christ must
wife. What Joseph is determined to find out now is          become plain to us, or we do not understand the
whether these brothers would again subject their            incident and the purpose for its inclusion in the
father to the grief of losing a most beloved son, or        Scriptures.
whether they would do all in their power to spare              Even the unbeliever has to reckon with the fact
him more grief and sorrow. They must show                   that central in history is Christ and His cross. God
whether they are envious of this youngest and most          does not leave Himself without a witness, and so
beloved son, and hate him because his father treats         the whole world must and does reckon time by
him with such tender love and favour. Will they,            B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (In the year of our
and do they, not bow before his choice - whether            Lord). All history leads up to that birth and cross of
he is right in it or not - and walk in love with this       Christ, and all that follows His resurrection and
favoured son, and with their father? This is the            ascension takes place because He is Lord, and all
question in Joseph's mind. And behind it all is that        power is given Him in heaven and on earth to
basic question: Do these brothers love God?                 prepare the way for His glorious return. All


r THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                           213
 happens in order that He may be born and die for            that possibility that bringing him could save their
  our sins, rise the third day, and become Lord of all       lives?
  lords and King of all kings. And all that happens            The stage is all set for Joseph to find out just what
  after His coronation is in order that He may return        their attitude is towards this younger brother, and
 with full salvation for all His people. In this hour of     toward their father who is showing to him the same
 the day of shadows we are dealing with the salva-           partiality that he, Joseph, had enjoyed and had
 tion of covenant children, the seed of Abraham              made the brothers envious. The brothers are com-
 who had erred so greatly. Seeing the hand of God in         pletely unaware of the test to which they are being
 their salvation we are led to see His hand in our           subjected. In their minds it is only a case of proving
  own salvation.                                             that they are not spies, but true men who are not
    Now thus far, in what he observed of his                 worthy of death.
  brothers, Joseph learned two facts. He had heard             Even then it was with heavy steps that they
  his brothers confess that they were guilty of selling      approached Joseph this second time. That money
 him into Egypt and were being punished by God               which they found in their sacks was on their
 now for that deed. This was a revelation that was in        minds, and at the earliest moment they try to
 their favour and did show the beginning of a radical        explain it to the steward of Joseph's house. Yet
  and spiritual change in them. The joy of finding this      before they can explain, and to their consternation,
  out caused Joseph to weep after leaving the room.          they are brought to Joseph's house! And we read
  But there was another fact revealed that did not           that this made them afraid and that they consider
 positively give evidence of a change toward their           the inclusion of their money in their sacks as seek-
 father, or a lack of envy for their youngest brother.       ing an occasion to fall on them and make them
  It is true, as Judah revealed, when they stood             bondmen.
 before Joseph on their second visit, that they had
  said to Joseph, "The lad cannot leave his father; for        A bit of respite comes their way. The steward
  if he should leave his father, his father would die"       assures them that he has their money and that they
  (Genesis  44:22). It is also true that they spoke of a     have no reason to fear about that matter. He speaks
 distress that came upon them because of their guilt         words of peace and performs a deed of peace. For
 in selling him as a slave. Yet these are not definite,      he brings Simeon to them from out of the prison.
  conclusive evidences of love for Benjamin or for           They were given water to drink, and water to wash
 their father Jacob. Their own lives were in danger.         their feet. There is even provender given to their
 They were in a desperate situation, accused of              asses. Things are looking up once again. However
  being spies, and thus of deserving death, and told         the apprehension returns and, already uncomfort-
 that the only thing that will save them from death is       able in Joseph's house, they get a very eerie feeiing
 that Simeon be held as hostage, and that they bring         when they are all seated according to their ages.
  Benjamin along next time. In such a situation men          Now Joseph had promised them that if they brought
 will resort to whatever strategem for survival              their youngest brother, he would restore Simeon to
  comes to their minds. Instead of showing true love         them  - a promise already kept  - and that they
  for their younger brother and father, it could, as far     would be free to traffic in the land. But to be guests
  as Joseph could detect, be nothing more than love          in his house, to enjoy a meal with this most power-
  for life and a play upon his emotions, as a father, to     ful man in Egypt, whom the brothers in Genesis
 get themselves free.                                        44:18 say is "even as Pharaoh," is wholly unex-
                                                             pected and perplexing. The kind, friendly attitude
    In fact their quickness to agree  - after saying         and look on the face of this "man" who had spoken
  that it would kill their father to have Benjamin           so roughly to them on their first trip likewise makes
  come along next time - to do as Joseph suggested           them uneasy. But since the clouds have parted and
  did not speak well for them. They admitted guilt,          the sun has broken through, they find it possible to
  but not to him - only in his hearing, thinking that        relax. In fact we even read that "they drank, and
  he did not understand their language. They did not         were merry with him" (Genesis 43:34). Ill prepared
  admit any guilt over against their father. And they        are these brothers for the events of the following
  did promise to bring Benjamin along. Joseph had            day. Apparently they got away with their evil deed
  said, "This do" and "they did so," that is, they           of selling Joseph as a slave into Egypt. They could
  agreed (Genesis 42: 18 and 20). It all could mean          go home with Simeon, and, more important, with
  that they were willing to risk his life in order to        Benjamin. They had given proof that they were not
  save their own. Their father shows favoritism. This        spies, and their distress has come to an end. Simeon
  is not their full brother. And is he any better than       is with them. Benjamin they may take home with
  they? If their lives are in danger, should they die at     them to their anxious father. They have food to
  the hand of him who-accused them of being spies            bring home; and they have the money that they
  just to spare the life of a step-brother, when there is    brought back and found in their sacks.


214                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



   Little do they realize that tomorrow the distress       to Joseph and to their father! What a God of love He
that they had on that first visit was as nothing com-      is!
pared to what they will experience before the day is              This is a mistake that men often make. When all
more than a few hours old. The thought that the            goes well, when they have success, and prosperity
drinking cup of this ruler in Egypt would be found         is their lot, men will call it all a blessing from God
in Benjamin's sack is far from their thoughts. They        Himself. How often do we not hear men speak of
had told Joseph that they were true men, and not           how greatly God is blessing us here in America?
only did they think that they had proved this point
to him, but they convinced themselves that they                   But we do well to wait until God's work is fin-
were true men. Indeed, they had admitted guilt in          ished. Genesis 44 does follow Genesis 42 and 43.
regard to their brother Joseph. But that sin was ten       The whole story has not yet been told. And the lull
to fifteen years ago; and since that day they had          in the storm, the breaking through of a little sun-
walked uprightly. Had they not obeyed their father         shine, this apparent success which the ten brothers
when he sent them to Egypt for food? `And now              have had does not mean that fiercer storms cannot
they had not under cover of dark and with stealth          come tomorrow.
taken Benjamin to Egypt so that they would have                   Let us today realize and live in the consciousness
food and would prove to this "man" that they were          that there is a judgment day coming; and the
not spies.                                                 apparent limited removal of the curse from off the
   That one evil deed performed so long ago must           earth by all our labour - saving devices, advances
not be held against them anymore, must it? Did             in medicine, inventions of men, and high standard
                                                           of living  - in our land the highest that man has
they not suffer enough? And did not Joseph's               ever known  - is to be followed by a day of ac-
steward tell them, "Your God, and the God of your
father, hath given you treasure in your sacks"?            counting for what  we did  with what God gave us.
Maybe God had visited them with that distress; but         Let us wait until then to see whether these were
He was now blessing them, was He not? And to tell          really blessings or whether America had been
their father what had happened to Joseph would             better off without them, and without the added
not take away his grief now. They could not restore        woe in the lake of fire because America misused
him. Better leave the secret a secret. All things are      them.
working together now for their good. With what                    Better for these brothers is what happens next
light feet and happy hearts they leave Egypt to            than the relief they now are enjoying. In God's next
show their father that they have both Simeon and           work they will be brought to repentance, which is a
Benjamin with them! All eleven sons will appear            blessing and a treasure that goes along into the new
before their father. How greatly God is blessing           Jerusalem. The psalmist said it, and we wisely
them! Surely He is a merciful God to prosper their         repeat and confess his words in Psalm 119:71, "It is
way so wonderfully and to forgive the evil they did        good for me that I have been afflicted: that I might
                                                           learn Thy statutes."


                                         Book Reviews

THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE  (Locus 2 of                     all matters is neither possible nor necessary. But
Institutio Theologiae Elencticae); Francis Turretin;       that many students and theologians can profit from
Edited  & Translated by John W. Beardslee III;             his instruction far more than from many a modern
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 234              theologian cannot be debated.
pp., $7.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.C.  Hoek-
sema)                                                             This book arrived in my mail just when I was
                                                           making a study of the matter treated in my editor-
  This is a most welcome little volume. Francis            ial. It was therefore doubly welcome. In fact, I
Turretin was a giant among Reformed theologians,           found it so fascinating that I could not put it down.
For many years the use of Turretin's dogmatics, his        The style is typically that of Reformed scholastic-
Institutes, was standard in Presbyterian seminaries,       ism, but this is no hindrance. Beardslee's transla-
in spite of the fact that students had to struggle with    tion is smooth-flowing and easy to read.
his seventeenth century Latin. When knowledge of
the Latin language became a thing of the past,                    Every minister and student, plus a good many
Turretin was lost to most students and theologians.        others, should add this volume to their libraries.
This was indeed a loss! Agreement with Turretin on                Highly recommended.


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   215



J. GRESHAM  MACHEN, A SILHOUETTE,  by                                       slanted toward young people" (from-the Preface).
Henry W. Coray; Kregel Publications, 1981; 128                              Coray has succeeded in his purpose admirably. The
pages,     $4.95 (paper); (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.                           book is full of both amusing and serious anecdotes
Decker)                                                                     and quotations from Machen's preaching, teaching,
   Dr. Machen'was a valiant fighter for the truth                           and writings. The book is a delight to read. Coray is
over against unbelief and liberalism in the Presby-                         a good writer. He has "a way with words."
terian Church U.S.A. in the 1920s. This cost him                               The memory of such giants in the church ought
his position as Professor of New Testament at                               not be forgotten by us and our children. The battles
Princeton Seminary. Subsequently Machen became                              which  Machen and his contemporaries fought are
one of the founders of Westminster Theological                              still being fought today. We must learn from the
Seminary in Philadelphia and one of the early                               past and follow the example of men such as
leaders of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.                                Machen who were indeed "valiant for truth."
   Henry Coray, a former student of Dr.  Machen,                            Interestingly enough the foreword is written by
attempts to bring "forward certain features of Dr.                          David Otis Fuller, D.D., recently retired pastor of
Machen's life and character perhaps not known to                            Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids.
many of the present generation. It is particularly                          .Fuller was also a student of Machen at Princeton.



                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                   NOTICE!!!
   On January 18, 1982, our parents, MR. & MRS. THYS FEENSTRA                  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.                                  Randolph,  Wisconsin.on  Wednesday, March 3, 1982, at  8:30 A.M.,
                                                                            the Lord willing. Material for the Agenda must be in the hands of the
  We, their children are deeply grateful to our heavenly Father that        Stated Clerk thirty days before  Classis convenes. Delegates in need
He has seen fit to bless us with these God-fearing parents, who have        of -lodging or of transportation from the airport should inform the
instructed us in His ways. We pray that God will always be near them        Clerk of the Randolph Consistory of their need.
and bless them in the years to come.
                                                                                                           Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
   "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth
endureth to all generations." (Ps.  100:5)
                            Bill and Shirley Feenstra                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                            Everett and Audrey Van Voorthuysen
                            Wacy and Margie Armstrong                          The members of the Men's Society of Hope Protestant Reformed
                            John and Beverly Feenstra                       Church, Walker, Michigan were saddened in the loss of their  fellow-
                            Gerald and Celia Feenstra                       member, MR. HENRY VELTHOUSE. We express our sympathy to his
                            Donald and Janice Feenstra                      family.
                            Marvin Feenstra                                    "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him
                               25 grandchildren                             that loved us." (Romans  8:37)
                               18 great grandchildren                                                         Hope Men's Society
                                                                                                               Mr. D. Engelsma, President
                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                     Mr. John J. Dykstra, Secretary
   The Council of the Faith Protestant Reformed Church expresses its
sincere sympathy to Deacon lrvan Velthouse in the passing of his                                           NOTICE!!
father, MR. HENRY VELTHOUSE, whom the Lord took unto Himself                   Covenant Christian High School will be in need of a teacher for the
on December  25,198l.                                                       1982-l 983 school year. Certification in one or more of the following
   "For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and      areas is desirable: English, Social Studies, Business Education,
glory: no good thing will He withhold from them  ttiat  walk uprightly."    Physical Education. Apply by writing to:
(Psalm  84:l  I)                                                            Mr.. David Ondersma
                                        Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Pres.         O-6761 Brockwodd Drive
                                        Mr. Gerald Kuiper, Clerk            Grandville,  Michigan 49418
                                                                                                                  -. .



                                News From Our Churches T.-N-

   By the time you read this column 1982 will
already be one  .month old. Nevertheless, I don't                                Now we turn our attention to the greeting of a new
                                                                                 year. With the passage of time we are aware of change
think it's too late to reflect on the new year as did                            in our lives. It will be good for `each one to reflect
the people of our-Loveland, Colorado, congregation                               upon the changes we have experienced in this
when they read the message from their pastor, Rev.                               past  year. This will help us to be spiritually minded,
Kortering, on their December 27 bulletin. Follow-                                we are -pilgrims and strangers here below, we'have
ing is a part of that exhortation:                                               no abiding place. We  must, needs go forward by

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





216,                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


        faith. What the future holds we do not know. Will we     Australia, and South Holland, Illinois, and our
        know sickness, heartache, death of loved ones,           Hope congregation of Walker, Michigan.
        economic difficulty, war and unrest among the
        nations, struggles in the church? Or does the Lord          There is continued progress on the new church
        have a way of health, prosperity, peace, and pleasant    building of our congregation of Redlands, Cali-
        experiences? We need not know, for whatever the          fornia. You may recall from earlier news columns
        Lord has for us, He will supply the grace to endure      that the members of Redlands are taking part in the
        unto the end. Let us begin the new year in trust, for    actual construction of their new church edifice
        He said, "Lo I am with you alway,  even unto the end"    under the direction of Mr. George Joostens. An
        (Matt.  28:20).                                          announcement in December from their Building
                           **********                            Committee indicates that at that time they were
  Though our churches are one in doctrine, there is              near to setting the auditorium roof beams. In that
considerable diversity when it comes to Christmas                same report the Building Committee wrote: "1982
programs rendered-by the children of the congrega-               is our 50th year of existence in Redlands. Wouldn't
tions. From the bulletins it appears that most of our            you be thrilled to combine the anniversary and the
churches have Christmas programs; it's just the                  building dedication into one grand occasion?"
when  they have them that is diverse. This year                     At their annual congregational meetings South
throughout our churches there were programs                      Holland, Illinois approved the installation of ceiling
presented on the Sunday before Christmas (Decem-                 fans for their church auditorium; First's (Grand
ber 20) after the morning worship service, the                    Rapids) "...proposal to install a chairlift for
Sunday before Christmas after the evening worship                handicapped persons was approved"; and Hull,
service, on Monday evening (December  21), and                   Iowa voted to purchase a new public address
after the worship service on Christmas morning.                  system for their church.
                           * * * * * * * * * *                      Bulletins from two of our churches,  Redlands
                                                                 and Hope, Michigan reveal a change in custodial
  We have a considerable amount of news con-                     personnel. In this connection Hope's (Michigan)
cerning new building projects and building main-                 December 27 bulletin read: "Upon his request, Mr.
tenance activities in which our churches have been               Jacob Kuiper, Sr. is now retiring after twenty-six
and/or still are involved.                                       years as janitor. In the name of the congregation we
  Back in August of 1981 there was reference to                  express our thanks and appreciation for his faithful
the installation of a gas furnace in the Randolph,               service for so many years." Though I have never
Wisconsin parsonage.                                             been a church custodian, I've had contact with
                                                                 enough of them to know the kinds of headaches
  In September Kalamazoo, Michigan bulletins                     they face. One would be hardpressed, I think, to
solicited members, "To work on the yard of the                   find a more difficult job: How does one go about
church and plant grass seed."                                    keeping everyone happy? The floors are either in
  The latest we have from Wyckoff, New Jersey,                   need of waxing or they are too slippery. The audi-
concerning the building of their new church, is                  torium is either too hot or too cold (sometime both
"...the carpenters have now finished their part of               at the same time depending on the individual).
the work by putting up the partitions in the base-               Then there's the constant war on graffiti on the
ment (July 12,  19Sl)." Also,  "...the underground               tables in the catechism rooms, the constant damage
electrical and telephone lines are finally installed to          to Bibles and Psalters, the need for tables to be set
the building (November 15, 19Sl)." The main thing                up, just so, for this and that occasion, and on, and
that is slowing down the progress on this building                    and on! Too bad it's impossible for the mem-
project is the lack of funds, thus we notice in their            i%s*  of  aZZ  our churches to take turns with the
November, December, and January bulletins                        church cleaning the way they do it in our Kalama-
special notes of appreciation for gifts they have                zoo Church. Maybe then we would understand and
recentiy received from brothers in Victoria,                     even appreciate the work of our church custodians.


