           The
     STAAIDARD
          BEARER
r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



       Above  alli the AIDS epidemic is a call to
     holiness of life. Being a warning against sinI
     it is a call to holiness of life. To use the lan-
     guage of the Heidelberg Catechism in its ex-
     planation of the seventh commandment,
           teaches                              uncleanness is ac-
     cursed of God: and that therefore, we must
     with all our hearts detest the same, and live
     chastely and temperately, whether in holy
     wedlock, or in single life."
     See "AIDS: A Revelation of the Righteous
                              Wrath of God" -  page.207


.                                          Volume LX, No. 9, February 1, 1984


194                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                                CONTENTS                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                               Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                    SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
  Meditation  -                                                                     Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       He Restoreth My Soul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194         Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                    D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  Editorial -                                                                       Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                    Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
       The Sesquicentennial of the Afscheiding . . . . . . 196                      ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
  Guided Into All Truth -                                                           Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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M E D I T A T I O N

                                           He Restoreth My Soul
                                                                       Rev. H. Veldman


                                                          "`He restoreth my soul. " Psalm 23:3a


  How tremendously comforting is this  twenty-                                         Absalom. This psalm, it is said in support of this
third psalm! It is called, correctly, the shepherd's                                   contention, is rich in experience. Be this as it may,
psalm. Is a gre%er or higher glory conceivable than                                    David is certainly referring to his life as a shepherd,
to have the Lord, Jehovah, the I AM, for one's                                         and he does not hesitate to declare that the Lord is
shepherd?! It is generally accepted that David is the                                  his Shepherd and that he shall not want, even then
writer of this psalm, and that he wrote it, divinely                                   when fleeing before his rebellious and apostate son.
inspired, toward the end of his life when he was                                       I repeat: is a greater or higher glory conceivable
fleeing from before the face of his rebellious son,                                    than to have Jehovah as one's shepherd, to be a


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    195



sheep of Him Who alone is the living God, in Him-         the surface, man as he is adapted in his creation to
self the all-sufficient One, the Rock, the Unchange-      the living God and the fellowship of His covenant.
able One, of Whom and by Whom and through                   He restoreth my soul.
Whom are all things, to Whom be all the glory for-
ever?                                                       The English reads: He restoreth my soul; the
   The heart and core of this beautiful psalm is          Dutch reads: Hij verkwikt mijne ziel, or, He
surely verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord         revives, refreshes, and so restores my soul. Literal-
here is the I AM THAT I AM, the Rock, the Un-             ly the word means "to cause to return, to bring
changeable God, unchangeable in Himself and               back." A soul that is revived, quickened, can be
therefore also in His relation to His people. There-      said "to be brought back. " Before it was restored it
fore it is true that the Lord is my Shepherd. He          languished, became weak, lost its life and vitality,
never changes. Hence, it is not only true that He         appeared to be on the verge of dying. Such a soul is
was my Shepherd, or that He shaZZ  be my Shepherd,        now brought back, restored, quickened, and
but He is my Shepherd. Nothing can possibly               revived. Such is the idea of this word of God.
change that fact. Indeed, do not overlook this small        Indeed, how necessary is this restoration!
but tremendously significant word, this word "is."          The figure here is plain. The shepherd has been
A sheep may turn its back upon its shepherd, but          leading his sheep in a dry and thirsty land. Their
that shepherd remains its shepherd. The Lord is my        strength was weakened; their spirits drooped and
Shepherd. And therefore it is true that we shall not      sagged; their vitality was disappearing, oozing away
want; never shall we lack anything; never shall all       as it were. Now he leads them to green pastures and
our wants and needs not be completely satisfied. It       still waters. Here, at this oasis, they are revived.
may be that we will suffer affliction, experience
trouble; fact is, however, we will never be in want,        Its spiritual application and reality?
we will always receive what we need, also as far as         The soul of man, we must bear in mind, is
our troubles and afflictions are concerned. And of        adapted to the living God, by virtue of its creation.
this wonderful care the inspired psalmist sings in        Then do we live and experience joy and peace and
the verses that follow in this psalm.                     life only when we may taste the love of God, the
   He restoreth my soul. One need not doubt the           sweetness of His fellowship and communion, the
meaning of these words in the light of their context.     joy of His love. That alone revives and restores and
We read in verse 2: "He maketh me to lie down in          quickens my soul. But this also means that outside
green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still            of the love and fellowship of the Lord nothing re-
waters." We interpret these green pastures and still      stores and quickens my soul. 0, the natural  man.
waters as referring to the same truth, from different     may attempt and does attempt to revive and quick-
aspects, a picture of perfect rest. Here we see the       en his soul with the things of this present time, but
shepherd as he leads his flock to that wonderful          all these things of this present time are but empty
spot where his sheep can receive food and drink           husks. They leave him empty and destitute. And
and relax, leading them from hot and barren fields        now we sojourn in a dry and thirsty land where no
to this wonderful oasis of rest and refreshment. In-      waters flow. Everything around me is that dry and
deed, He restoreth my soul. If any man thirst, let        thirsty land which has nothing in it that satisfies.
him come unto Me and drink; if any man hunger;            All the pleasures and treasures of this world, in-
let him eat of My bread, the bread of everlasting         cluding health and strength, can never satisfy, re-
life.                                                     store, and revive my soul. Man was created in
                    * * * * *                             God's image, adapted to His service, and in true
                                                          knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Then, in
   My soul.                                               Adam, my soul rejoiced in the perfect service of the
   The soul here is the seat of our natural life; it      living God. Then, in Adam, my soul was satisfied.
does not refer merely to the body, but to my entire       But man sinned. In wilful and utter folly Adam
life, such as my willing, thinking, desiring, etc.        turned his back upon the living God, sought the
Hence, the restoration whereof the text speaks is         friendship of the devil, life in death, light in dark-
not merely an outward, external restoration, but an       ness, and his soul became utterly destitute, devoid
inner, spiritual refreshing - a refreshing, therefore,    of all life and joy  - indeed, he found himself in a
which is not limited to external things, is not in-       dry and thirsty land where no waters flow.
fluenced by these outward circumstances, but is a           And then, how desperately hungry and thirsty
profound, an inner, spiritual experience. Whatever        we became when the Lord, by His grace and Spirit,
may be our outward circumstances, such as health          regenerated our hearts and minds and understand-
or sickness, plenty or want, joy or sorrow, etc., the     ing! By nature, of course, we know not our misery.
soul is my inner life, the water, shall we say, below     We are blind but imagine that we see, are deaf and


196                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



imagine that we hear, are dumb and lame and               Holy Spirit as He operated in the people of God
imagine that we speak and walk, are bound, hope-          through and in connection with the shadows of that
lessly bound, and imagine ourselves to be free.           day, looking forward to that wondrous day when
Such was also the boast of the wicked Jews when           Jehovah, the faithful God of His covenant, would
confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ. How they re-         visit His people in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.
sisted the word of the Rabbi of Nazareth when told        And this He did. The Bread of Life descended from
by Him that the truth would make them free, ac-           heaven. He came Who gives us living water, of
cording to the Word of God in John 8! How could           Whom we read in John  4:14: "But whosoever
they be made free when they had never been in             drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
bondage to any man?! This is the spiritual folly of       never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
sin, characteristic of all men as they are of them-       be in him a well of water springing up into everlast-
selves. But when the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ      ing life." He became for us the Bread and Water of
opens our hearts and minds and souls; when He re-         Life. He suffered and died atoningly for all those
creates within us the longing for the living God;         given Him of the Father. He paid for all their sins
when He opens our eyes so that we see that all life       and guilt, merited for them everlasting life and
and joy are in God alone and in the blessedness of        glory. Whosoever eats of His broken body and
fellowship with Him; then we become hungry and            drinks of His shed blood, whoever appropriates by
thirsty - we long for the living God. And we can-         a true and living faith His sacrifice of Himself upon
not reach Him! We cannot pay for our sins and             the cross of Calvary, eats and drinks unto everlast-
guilt, or satisfy the justice and righteousness of the    ing life.
Lord. We cannot break these spiritual chains of sin         He restoreth my soul! He does not merely pro-
and darkness and death. The fellowship of God,            vide this living bread and water for me, but He also
which has become more precious than life itself to        gives it to me, makes me a partaker of it. He does
us,. lies completely and hopelessly beyond our            not merely set it before me and then leave it to me
reach.                                                    to "come and get it." He not only makes me hungry
                    * *c  * * *                           and thirsty by His almighty and regenerating Spirit
  He restoreth my soul.                                   within my heart, but He also gives me the power
  How vain are man's efforts to restore and revive        and activity of faith to take hold of these "green
his soul! Indeed, be attempts to do this. How he          pastures and still waters." Indeed, He restores my
loves a social gospel, a gospel that is geared to this    soul. He works also in me by His good and holy
world's society, to making this world a better place      Spirit. And as He enables me to take hold of Him
in which to live! How man strives to remove the re-       Who died that I might live, He restores and quick-
sults of sin without removing sin itself! How he          ens me so that I will be wholly quickened and re-
would remove God's curse upon him and this                vived, even forever. This crucified and glorified
world, while continuing to walk in sin! All such ef-      Christ blots out all my sin, protects me from every
forts are vain. The Lord will not be mocked. He will      enemy, causes all things to work together for my
surely maintain Himself. Whoever forsakes the             good, becomes in me a well of water springing up
living God forsakes the only Fountain of living           into everlasting life. He restores and revives me for-
waters. Such an one will never find relief. Only          evermore.
misery will be his lot, now and forevermore.                The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  He restoreth my soul.                                     He revives and quickens my fainting heart and
  We read in verse  2  of green pastures and still        soul.
waters. In the old dispensation these green pastures        He restores me forevermore.
and still waters surely refer to the operations of the
EDITORIAL

          The Sesquicentennial of the Afscheiding
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema

  This year marks the sesquicentennial, or one            Hervormde Kerk (the so-called State Church) of the
hundred fiftieth anniversary, of the Afscheiding,         Netherlands. Specifically the date of that  anniver-
the Secession of 1834, a secession from the               sary is October 14, 1834.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 197



  I do not know whether among our churches                in the Secession of 1834 as far as the truth and as far
there will be any formal observance of this anniver-      as our confession is concerned. I am well aware of
sary; thus far I have heard of no plans for such a        the fact that there have been other influences; and I
celebration. But whether there shall be such a            refer to the peculiar emphasis and contribution of
formal celebration or not, this is something which        the Doleantie and of Abraham Kuyper and others. I
should not pass by unnoticed. The Standard Bearer,        am also aware of the fact that in the movement of
therefore, will make a contribution to the end that       the Secession of 1834 there was from time to time
we may remember with thankfulness and rededica-           considerable "strange fire on the altar." In many
tion this momentous event.                                respects, indeed, the formation and the survival of
  What was so momentous about this event? Why             what came eventually to be the Gereformeerde
should we remember it?                                    Kerken was a wonder. Nevertheless, as far as the
                                                          mainstream of the Secession of 1834 is concerned,
  The answer lies in the fact that we as Protestant       it was a  reformation! It constituted a return to the
Reformed people and churches have our roots in            Reformed faith as it was enunciated by the Great
the Secession of 1834. If it had not been for that        Synod of Dordrecht in  1618-`19; and at the same
Secession, we would not be here and would not be          time it constituted an advance and development in
what we are, a communion of Reformed churches             the line of Dordt. And since we have our roots in
and Reformed people in the United States and              1834, it follows that we would not be here as Re-
Canada.                                                   formed people and churches and would not be
  This is true, first of all, from a purely historical    what we are as far as the confession of the truth is
point of view. We as Protestant Reformed churches         concerned, were it not for that Secession and the
and people have our origin in the Christian Re-           reformation involved in it.
formed Church. In turn, the Christian Reformed                   From this point of view, therefore, the sesqui-
Church had its origin in the churches of the Seces-       centennial of the Afscheiding is even more im-
sion of 1834. The colonists who came with Van             portant, that is, provided that our observance of it
Raalte to what is now Holland, Michigan in 1847           is more than the empty observance of a "history
were people of the Afscheiding; and the Rev. Van          buff" and provided it does not constitute a building
Raalte himself was one of the leaders of the              of the graves of the prophets.
Afscheiding movement in the Netherlands prior to
his coming to this country. For a time, perhaps you              What happened on October 14,1834?
will remember, the colonists were connected with                 I cannot now review all the history that preceded
the Reformed Church in America; but in 1857               that momentous occasion. The actual event of the
many of them defected from the RCA to begin what          Secession was, of course, not an isolated event; but
is now the Christian Reformed Church. And there           it was the climax of a long process of degeneration
can be no question but that the Christian Reformed        and decline and of a warfare for the preservation of
Church constituted the true continuation of the           the truth which really began not long after the
churches of the Secession in this country.                Synod of Dordrecht in  1618-`19. Nevertheless, the
  Later, of course, there was a further separation in     actual break, the actual secession, the actual begin-
the Netherlands which is called the Doleantie. This       ning or reformation took place on the date referred
took place in 1886, especially under the leadership       to.
of Dr. Abraham Kuyper. And in 1892 the two                       The site is the little village of Ulrum, in the prov-
groups (that of the Secession of `34 and that of the      ince of Groningen. On the evening of October 14
Doleantie of `86) came together to form the  Gere-        there is a gathering at the home of Widow Hulshoff,
formeerde Kerken (GKN). And as the immigration            a gathering of 67 members of the Hervormde Kerk
from the Netherlands continued into the early             of Ulrum, together with the members of the  con-
19OOs, there were many of our ancestors who came          sistory and their pastor, the Rev. Hendrik De Cock.
from the GKN and who could trace their roots to           With few exceptions, the entire congregation is
either the Secession of 1834 or the Doleantie of          represented at this gathering.
1886. And there are also those who can trace their               They have reached a decisive moment. They
origin to the segment of the 1834 churches which          stand at the crossroads.
did not go along with the union of 1892 and who
are still today known as the Christian Reformed                  This gathering is, in the eyes of the duly consti-
Churches of the Netherlands.                              tuted authorities of the church of that day  - and
                                                          various "boards" had replaced the assemblies
  Nevertheless, our historical roots are primarily in     stipulated by the Church Order of Dordt  - a
the Secession of 1834. Hence, from that point of          gathering of rebels. Days of tension and battle had
view this sesquicentennial is significant.                preceded the evening's gathering. Struggle and up-
  But even more, in the second place, our roots are       heaval and unrest and much prayer had been  in-


198                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



volved in the preparation of this meeting. For the          document. For the present we call attention to the
congregation had lived along with their pastor in           following:
the battle which he fought for the Reformed truth             lj This document states that this small and
over against the ungodly ecclesiastical boards. They        despised group of Reformed believers at Ulrum
had lived along with him, too, in the persecution           were separating with finality from the Nederlandse
which he had to endure and in the reproach which            Hervormde Kerk.
was his portion for the sake of truth and justice.            2) It speaks in clear and decisive language of the
One can read on the faces of those gathered that            motive of the Secession. The cause lay in the cor-
this is a decisive moment, a turning point. They ex-        ruption of the State Church, in the degeneration of
pect on this evening to take a decisive step. Not           doctrine, in the profaning of the sacraments, and in
lightly will they take this step; the seriousness of        the horrible neglect of discipline.
the moment can be read on all their faces.                    3) It rejects all that the ecclesiastical boards had
  Repeatedly their pastor had been suspended. For           done to their pastor, Hendrik De Cock, and calls his
a considerable time already he had not been per-            suspension and deposition from office highly un-
mitted to minister the Word from his own pulpit.            just and ungodly.
Finally he had been put out of office. To the very            4) It declares that recent history has made it
end he had walked the way of appeal. Patiently -            more than plain that the State Church is not the
too patiently in the opinion of many - he had been          true, but the false church.
subject to the sentences of the ecclesiastical boards.        5) It declares that therefore, by virtue of the of-
But he had  neither desired nor sought separation;          fice of all believers, Article 28, they separate them-
on the contrary, he had done all in his power to pre-       selves from those who are not the Church, and
vent it. Now, however, both pastor and consistory           therefore no longer desire fellowship with the
had reached a decision. They were determined.               Netherlands Reformed Church until such a time
Those who were gathered in Widow Hulshoff's                 that the latter returns to the true service of the
home were glad that the moment of decision had              Lord. At the same time it declares a willingness to
arrived, and they eagerly awaited word of it and            exercise communion with all true Reformed mem-
were prepared to participate in it.                         bers and to unite with every gathering that is based
                                                            on God's infallible Word, wherever God has united
  Pastor De Cock briefly addresses the gathering,           such a gathering. And it declares that they in all
pointing them to the seriousness of the moment              things hold to God's holy Word and to the
and of the step they were contemplating. Then they          Formulas of Unity, in all things based on that
all kneel in prayer to commit their cause to the Lord       Word, namely, the Confession of Faith, the Heidel-
and to beseech Him for grace that they may make             berg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordrecht.
their decision in the consciousness of His favor. For
their help is in the name of the God of Jacob.                In this "Act of Secession or Return," therefore, is
                                                            expressed the true character of the Secession of
  It was only a little band!                                1834.
  They did not belong to the noble and the wise               And when we study that true character of the
and the rich of this world. They did not belong to          Secession, we discover that it had the marks of
those who counted for something in this world. But          genuine reformation. The Secession was not sectar-
"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to          ian. It was true reformation!
confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty; and base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and                   The Standard Bearer
things which are not, to bring to nought things that
are."                                                                makes a thoughtful
  It was by this little flock of small and despised
folk that a step was taken and a decision reached
which would prove to be of tremendous historical                     gift for the sick and
significance for the Reformed Churches  - in fact,
for Zion of all ages, for eternity.                                   shut-in. Give the
  For at this meeting this little band adopted and
signed the "Act of Secession or Return  (Acte van
Afscheiding of Wederkeering)  ."                                      Standard Bearer
  Later we shall reproduce this "Act of Secession
or Return" in full in translation. For it is an historic


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              199



GUIDED INTOALL  TRUTH


                         Montanism and the Word
                                                Rev. T. Miersma


  By A.D. 150 the early new dispensational church         earth in a new Jerusalem, which according to Mon-
was a well-established and growing church. En-            tanus was to make its appearance somewhere in
during the trials of persecution and the attacks of       Asia Minor. In connection with these views con-
various Gnostic heresies, the church continued to         cerning the last things he announced the coming of
grow in its understanding of the Word and to be led       a new dispensation of the Spirit, proclaiming him-
by the Spirit to discern God's Word of Truth. By          self a prophet and passive instrument of the Holy
A.D. 180 a solid consensus was already forming in         Spirit, the Paraclete and Comforter. He, and two
the church as to what constituted the New Testa-          prophetesses with him, went forth to preach this
ment Scriptures, though this process cannot be said       special dispensation of the Spirit. In character Mon-
to be fully finished until around A.D. 350. The at-       tanism was therefore an early form of the Pente-
tacks of various Gnostic sects and heresies stimu-        costal heresy prevalent in our own day. Like its
lated the church to take hold of the Word of God          modern counterpart it was characterized by emo-
and to defend her heritage. According to God's            tional excesses, a violation of and ignoring of the
sovereign purpose, the effect of these heresies upon      Scripture's teaching concerning the role and place
the church strengthened rather than weakened it,          of women in the church, strange doctrines concern-
and bound the churches more closely together.             ing the last things, and an attitude of world flight.
  In this battle the Apologists, who labored from         Like Pentecostalism it emphasized the exotic gifts
about A.D. 150 to 200, rendered valuable service to       of the Spirit such as tongue-speaking and miracles
the church. The earliest of them, Justin Martyr, had      of healing, and made a distinction in the church
defended Christianity against paganism, sealing his       between spiritual and carnal members. Unlike
confession with his own martyrdom in Rome in ap-          modern Pentecostalism which emphasizes particu-
proximately A.D. 165. Irenaeus who had been               larly speaking in tongues, Montanism emphasized
taught at the feet of Polycarp, fought a similar          the gift of prophecy.
battle against the Gnostic heretics until his death in      Montanism was a serious threat to the church,
about A.D. 200. It is Irenaeus who perhaps de-            for its error quickly spread throughout the church-
serves the distinction of being the earliest theo-        es. The church did not have a specific doctrine of
logian of the church.                                     the gifts of the Spirit at this time, although it did
  Following the Apologists, other leaders arose in        recognize their connection with the apostles. The
the church to continue the struggle: Tertullian in        church also made a distinction between the higher
North Africa who labored until about A.D. 220 and         influence of the Spirit in connection with the labors
Cyprian, his pupil, who suffered a martyr's death         and writings of the apostles and His influence in
in A.D. 258. Under the leadership of such men God         the post-apostolic era. This was the position which
enabled the church to resist strongly the attacks of      Polycarp took, as was pointed out in an earlier
the various Gnostic sects. In spite of and in fact        article. The church also taught that the Spirit still
through the very means of persecution and trial,          resided in the church and led the church, as she
the church grew, began to develop the truths of the       was founded upon the doctrine of the apostles. But
Word of God, and in particular to set forth the first     the Montanist excesses and prophetic ravings the
formulations of the doctrine of the Trinity.              church ascribed to demonic influences and the
  It is in this context that a new movement made          power of Satan.
its appearance within the church in A.D. 156. Its           The seriousness of the error of Montanism lies
leader, Montanus, arose during a time of severe           particularly in its attack upon the doctrine of Scrip-
persecution in Asia Minor, the aged Polycarp being        ture. While the Montanists, like the modern-day
one of the victims of this persecution. In the midst      Pentecostals, made the claim that they fully recog-
of this severe tribulation Montanus saw the end of        nized Scripture as the Word of God and claimed
all things approaching and began to teach the im-         orthodoxy regarding it, yet in fact they undermined
minent return of Christ and His millennial reign on       Scripture, for they denied its sufficiency as the rule


200                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



of faith and life. Montanism's prophecy was an ad-         and inerrantly by the apostles and prophets, yet He
ditional revelation above and beyond that taught in        did so, not apart from, but in and through the
the Scriptures. Even the church father Tertullian          human instruments, as conscious instruments, so
was carried away by this new error in the latter part      guiding and directing all their talents and gifts that
of his life. While he and other Montanists taught          that which they wrote was word for word, God's
that prophecy had to be in harmony with the teach-         inerrant Word. Due to the Montanist error, the
ing of Scripture and the historic doctrine of the          church drifted away from this toward the mechan-
church, it was particularly in the practical life and      ical theory, and it was left to the later church
walk of the church that Montanism made its                 fathers, such as Jerome, Augustine and  Chrysos-
presence felt. It taught a rigorous asceticism - celi-     tom, to return to a more organic view (though they
bacy, fastings, abstinence from meats and drinks -         too often echo the mechanical idea as well), and ul-
which found ready acceptance in the church.                timately a clear doctrine of inspiration was not
  The church vigorously fought this new error and          developed until the days of the Reformation.
it was largely condemned by the churches, bishops,           This mechanical conception of inspiration has
and various synods of the church. Yet the influence        certain consequences for how one interprets Scrip-
of Montanism continued in the church for a long            ture and is therefore a serious error. It severs the
time.                                                      Scriptures from history in such a way that they
  The Montanist error, in its denial of the suf-           really have no historical context at all, and it allows
ficiency of Scripture, weakened the church and the         for all kinds of fanciful interpretations of the Word
authority of the Word, but it also served to promote       of God in complete disregard of the time and place
an erroneous doctrine of inspiration in the church.        in which they were given. The organic view, while
The church maintained that Scripture was the               avoiding the idea that Scripture is culturally condi-
Word of God given by the Spirit through the                tioned and time-bound as it is God's Word and not
apostles and prophets. The question with which the         man's word, yet at the same time maintains the
church struggled was in understanding and ex-              literal sense of Scripture as spoken by the Lord to
plaining that work of the Spirit in its relation to the    His people in the real world.
men by whom God gave His Word. The church                    As a result the Montanist error served to further
taught that "holy men of God spake as they were            a growing tendency in the church to allegorize the
moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter  1:21).  The            Scripture and to give to historical passages of the
question was, how was this work of the Spirit to be        Word of God a variety of mystical and symbolic
understood?                                                interpretations which were not proper expositions
  While the church had formed no clear concep-             of the meaning of Scripture. (We will have more to
tion of inspiration, it had tended to vacillate            say about this in a future article, D.V.) Montanism,
between a more organic view of inspiration and a           exactly because of its mystical and Pentecostal
mechanical description of it. The common and               character, furthered the idea of a deeper level in the
simple explanation was a mechanical one in which           Scriptures than the plain meaning of the Word of
the human instruments of Scripture were simply             God and the Spirit. This deeper level was open only
overpowered by the Spirit, their personalities, gifts,     to those who were "spiritual" in the church, i.e.,
and even their consciousness suppressed. The re-           the Montanist. With such an approach the neces-
sulting explanation described them as being like a         sity of comparing Scripture with Scripture is also
musical instrument upon which the Spirit played a          eliminated since the inward revelation of the Spirit
tune. This mechanical theory of inspiration was            becomes a sufficient guide to exposition. Thus
greatly advanced by the Montanist heresy, for they         some of the sound principles of exegesis and Bible
claimed that same kind of inspiration for them-            study, such as comparing Scripture with Scripture
selves in their utterances. The prophet was sup-           and explaining more obscure passages by clearer
posedly lifted up out of himself so that he became a       ones, were endangered. These principles, while not
merely unconscious instrument in the hands of the          clearly understood by the church had begun to
Holy Spirit.                                               develop, and Montanism served to retard that de-
                                                           velopment and misdirect its course.
  This mechanical theory of inspiration and pro-
phetic ecstasy of Montanism, which also finds its
counterpart in modern-day Pentecostalism, grad-                      The Standard Bearer
ually supplanted the more organic conception of
the apostolic fathers who regarded the Spirit as                   makes a thoughtful gift
speaking in and through the apostles as conscious                   for the sick or shut-in.
instruments of revelation. Organic inspiration
recognizes that though the Spirit spoke infallibly


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                201



MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                               Our Order of Worship
                                                   Prof: H. Hanko



  In our discussion of the elements of worship                 At any rate, it is the firm belief of those who
which make up our congregational worship of God,             practice purity of worship that musical accompani-
we were discussing the activities which actually             ment in the worship service is not commanded in
precede the worship service. In the- last article we         the Scriptures and, therefore, ought not to be used.
talked about the Consistory meeting before the               If it is argued that musical instruments were used
service and about the prayers which the individual           in the temple worship according to the Psalms, the
members of the congregation make prior to the                answer to this is that this was the Old Testament
worship service itself and after their entrance into         and not regulative for the New, since the Old Testa-
the sanctuary. There is one more element which we            ment worship of God was in typical form, which
must briefly mention: the organ playing before the           typical form passed away with the coming of
actual worship service.                                      Christ. Usually, in these churches, a  precentor
  There are two remarks which ought to be made               leads the congregational worship.
before we discuss this matter. The first is that this          It is not our purpose to enter into the argument in
practice is not common to all churches who use               these articles. It seems to us that here too no legisla-
musical accompaniment for the singing. Those of              tion may be laid down. Scripture gives us freedom
our ministers who, prior to 1953, preached among             in these matters. If a congregation chooses not to
the immigrants in Canada mentioned that this was             use musical instruments in the singing, they do not
not commonly done among them. There was no                   violate any command of Scripture. But if a congre-
music played prior to the worship service itself,            gation does choose to make use of the organ, this
and the organ was used only to accompany the                 cannot be sinful either, and such a congregation
singing. The second matter is that some churches             must be given the biblical freedom to do this.
do not have instrumental music at all in the wor-              In the Reformed tradition, musical instruments,
ship services. This is common among some                     usually an organ, have been used. And it is com-
branches of Presbyterianism, especially those Pres-          mon, also among our churches, that ten minutes or
byterian Churches which have their roots in the              so before the service the organist begins to play the
Covenanting Churches of Scotland.                            organ. The purpose of this is to establish by music a
  The latter refuse to allow musical accompani-              spiritual atmosphere for worship, to put the congre-
ment in the worship services as a matter of                  gation into the mood for worship, to assist the
principle. They believe in what is sometimes called          people of God in meditating upon their presence in
"purity of worship," and then again called, "the             the house of God.
regulative principles of worship." It is not neces-            The question has often been asked and debated:
sary to getinto  this matter in detail in these articles,    What music ought to be played before the worship
although the whole question is an interesting one.           service? Congregations and Consistories have de-
In brief, the regulative principle of worship means          bated this question and have come to various con-
that we may include in the worship services only             clusions. Usually, the arguments center in the
such activities which are specifically commanded             question of whether only the Psalms ought to be
by Scripture. The Calvin Reformation differed from           played or whether other music is also appropriate.
the Lutheran Reformation on this point. The Luther-
an Churches took the position that the traditional             It ought to be understood at the outset that there
activities of worship as practiced in the Romish             is a great deal of music which is inappropriate for
Church could be retained as long as they were not            this organ. (or piano) prelude. I have been in wor-
expressly forbidden by Scripture.  This is why the           ship services where music was played during this
Lutheran Churches have been far more liturgically            prelude which was altogether out of keeping with
minded than the churches of the Calvin Reforma-              the nature of the worship service. I have heard
tion.                                                        hymns played which are far from being Reformed


I    202                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



     and are sometimes downright Arminian. I have               discretion of the organists in all cases, as history has
     heard spirituals played, the words of which are not        proved. 2) It is impossible for some Consistorial
     expressive of biblical truths. I have heard patriotic      music committee to approve beforehand all the
     music played which is secular. I have heard classi-        music to be played during the prelude and the Of-
     cal music played which, while good enough in it-           fertory. This impossibility is partly due to the fact
     self, is not fitting for a worship service. It is clear    that Consistorial committees are not always musi-
     that such music has no place in the congregational         cians of such skill that they can tell by written
     gathering for worship and detracts from, rather            music whether the music is appropriate or not.
     than adds to, the worship of God. (We might add            Better it is, therefore, to limit the organists to music
     that the same thing is true of the music played dur-       we know is good. 3) We are Psalm-singing congre-
     ing Offertory.)                                            gations, and, while it is true that the music played
       There is, of course, a problem of sorts here. One        before the service is not actually a part of the wor-
     need only page through our own  Psalter  to discover       ship service, nevertheless, we ought to be con-
     that one could play from the Psalter itself and play       sistent in this matter of Psalms. 4) The music
     secular, patriotic, and classical music. The second        played before the worship service is intended to put
     tune of  Psalter  No.  212  is the old English ballad,     the people in a spiritual frame of mind to worship.
     "Auld Lang Syne." Psalter  No. 126 is the tune of          What can do this better than our own familiar
     "America." PsaZter  No. 261 is taken from symphon-         Psalter,  the music and lyrics of which are so familiar
     ic music and was also the tune of the German Na-           to us?
     tional Anthem. Furthermore, there are other                  It ought to be evident from all that we have said
     Psalters in existence besides our  Psdter.   These         that no definite rules can and ought to be laid down
     Psalters, while based on the Psalms, and in some in-       in this matter. It is certainly true, in general, that all
     stances closer to the AV translation of the Psalms         the music which is played, even in connection with
     than our own PsaZter, nevertheless use music quite         the worship service though not a part of it, ought to
     different. Some of this music is, to us, quite differ-     be solemn, majestic, and edifying. It ought also to
     ent from the familiar tunes we use in church. One          be clear that if the music is going to accomplish its
     faces all these problems.                                  purpose, it must be expected that the people are
       We ought, at this point, briefly to mention the          listening to it. If, therefore, familiar numbers are
     arguments pro and con for limiting the music               played, it ought to be expected that the lyrics of the
     before the service to Psalter numbers. Against this        music will be running through the minds of the
     practice are the following arguments, so far as I          saints as they listen. It is for this reason that one
     have been able to discover them: 1) It does grave in-      ought to be careful in what is played. Even if the
     justice to a long and rich heritage of beautiful           music is acceptable and proper, if secular and
     church music which has been developed by the               heretical words are associated with the music, it
     church over the centuries and which is part of our         ought to be avoided, for it will be an offense to the
     heritage as churches of the Reformation. By limit-         people of God and will fail in the purpose it is in-
     ing ourselves to the Psalms, we simply ignore this         tended to accomplish.
     rich heritage which the Lord has given to us. 2) It is       In general, we conclude'this article with the ob-
            impossible position to enforce without              servation that insufficient care is often taken in the
     gcoming  legalistic and piling law upon law and            choice of music used within the church during and
     precept upon precept. This is true because of the          in connection with the worship of God. Music is a
     problems which I mentioned a couple of para-               great and wonderful gift of God. But just because it
     graphs back. What if an organist would play "Auld          is such a great and wonderful gift, it can also be
     Lang Syne" in church and justify this on the               badly misused. The general rule certainly is: the
     grounds that it appears in our Psalter?  Would the         greater the gift, the greater its misuse. Part of the
     purpose be served of limiting church music to the          reason why music is such a great gift is the power-
     Psalms? 3) The prelude is not a part of the worship        ful effect it has upon those who hear it and sing
     service at all. Even though a congregation may limit       along with it. This effect is very often greatly
     her singing to the Psalms, the music that is played        underestimated  - especially in the altogether
     before the worship service need not be from the            worldly and sinful music so common in the world
     Psalter at all since the worship service has not been      today, and which our young people so often listen
     officially begun. [This does not, of course, hold true     to. We all must learn to appreciate good music and
     for the Offertory, which is part of the worship            cultivate a taste for it. Those who are responsible
     service.)                                                  for playing the organ (or piano) in the worship
       In favor of limiting this musical prelude to the         services ought to be very conscious of this. Good
     Psalms are the following arguments: 1) The judg-           music, well-played will enhance the worship
     ment of what is proper music cannot be left to the         service and will serve the edification of the people


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  203



of God.                                                    concerts given outside the worship services and for
  This is the reason why the prelude to the worship        the enjoyment of those who like good music. The
service and the Offertory is not a "concert" by the        worship service is not the place. I am thrilled by the
organist (or pianist) to demonstrate the virtuosity of     concert music of classical composers when  well-
the musician  - as sometimes it becomes. The               played; but it is not what I want before the worship
proper place for this is (if there is any place at all)    service. There is a time and place for everything.
THEDAYOFSHADOWS

                     A Tragically Worthless Success
                                                Rev. John A. Heys


  Even though the Scriptures never credit Esther           their God. They do seek to please Him and witness
with using God's name in public even once, never           of His greatness and grace. Esther was not - and is
reveal one work of her that definitely shows love          not presented either as  - seeking the city which
toward God, or present her as fighting for truth and       hath foundations, Whose designer and builder is
righteousness, and instead relate her wicked               God. She sought a kingdom of this world with its
strategy in a careful striving to succeed in an at-        lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of
tempt to compete with unbelievers to be more               life: And of such God Himself declares in I John
carnally pleasing to a godless, immoral king, and so       2: 15, 16, "the love of the Father is not in them." Let
to attain to questionable honour and fame as queen         us listen to Him and not to commentators who can-
of an unbelieving nation, there are those who fight        not show one deed that reveals a love toward God
vigorously to elevate her as a heroine of faith, a         in anything recorded of Esther. There is not one
woman whose ways and deeds the church of today             prayer to Him. There is not one suggestion of trust
ought to imitate.                                          in Him. And there is not one acknowledgment of
  One such attempt finds conflict between the              His goodness and of gratitude - as we hope to see
teachings of the Old and of the New Testament.             - for deliverance. Instead we find violations of
Whereas the New Testament teaches that a bishop            God's law. A seeking of the things below, and a
should be the husband of one wife (I Timothy 3:2),         denial of Jehovah.
the Old Testament, according to them, approved of             What we read of her in this book you could ex-
leaders in God's church, such as Abraham, David,           pect to read of any unbeliever in the world. Were it
and Solomon, having many wives. And because of             not included in the canon of Scripture one could
this fact Mordecai and Esther could, without break-        call this book a love story of the world with worldly
ing God's law, seek the position of queen of the           characters. It reads like a worldly success story, a
land for Esther. However, that these men had more          story of one who succeeded in this world. But I
than one wife does not make it a deed of righteous-        would have you understand, as the rest of Scripture
ness any more than Abraham's lying, David's                casts its light upon this book, that it was a tragically
murder, and Solomon's building of temples for the          worthless success that was achieved. And God's
idols of his heathen wives make these sins good            blessing was not in it.
works in the sight of God. Besides, long before the           Esther sought that which moth and rust corrupt
New Testament was written, and already on the              and thieves break through to steal. And she suc-
first pages of Holy Writ, God in Genesis  2:24             ceeded in getting these things. But she does not
clearly states that "they two shall be one flesh."         have them today. Were she a believer, is she now in
   Granted now that many of the Old Testament              the glory of heaven, she does not have one bit of all
saints tried to make three, and even hundreds one          that for which she fought and sought in a sinful
flesh, and also broke other commandments of God,           way. "You cannot take it with you" even the world
these saints are presented as confessing God, of           concedes. Success in this life, as far as the things of
putting their trust in Him, of sorrow over sin and         this world are concerned, does not follow one into
thankfulness before Him for salvation. You look in         the next world. No one has succeeded, though
vain for these in Esther or Mordecai, as I hope to         ways have been found to prevent rust, to kill
point out when we treat the remaining chapters in          moths, and to lock treasures in so that thieves can-
the Book of Esther. Saints, believers, will stumble        not take them, I say, no one has succeeded in
and fall into gross sins. But they do speak of God as      getting these things transferred from this earth into


204                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



the life to come, whether in the new Jerusalem or          into poverty and woe far worse than any of them
in hell.                                                   ever tried to escape on this earth. And, though they
  Indeed, there is benefit in this success story `of       were used for the good of the church, they will not
Esther for the church of God. For the church it was        be rewarded with the smallest part of the minutest
not a tragically worthless success. It was all             blessing  - if indeed there is such a thing on this
planned by the God of our salvation and served the         earth or in the new creation  - for their works
cause of the Saviour's birth. And amazing are His          which served the church of God. Many heroes of
works. One who did not seek the city which hath            the world who gave their lives for their nation and
foundations, whose building and maker is God,              fellowmen are extolled to the sky and presented as
was given success for the good of those who do             surely having their reward in heaven, though they
seek that city. The carnal ambitions of an unbe-           were unbelievers here below. But soberly we had
liever were crowned with success so that the be-           better listen to Jesus Who in Matthew  7:21-23 de-
lievers might have success in their search for the         clares something quite different. And He knows
spiritual things of God's kingdom. Satan never suc-        and speaks the truth. There we read, "Not every
ceeds in destroying God's church.                          one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
                                                           the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
  He did not spoil things for God in paradise, even        of My Father Which is in heaven. Many will say
though he thought that he had succeeded in his             unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not proph-
devilish undertaking. He did not force God to per-         esied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out
form a work which He had not intended to per-              devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful
form. Paul was led to write this so beautifully in         works? And then will I say unto them, I never
Colossians  1:15 when he wrote that Christ is the          knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
firstborn of every creature. Being first He was in         If that is true, and it is, concerning those who do
God's counsel before Adam. And Adam therefore              speak of Him, use His name, in their own minds
had to fall. Satan had to be successful in his devilish    even seek to furt.her  His cause, as they see it, how
plot in order that we in Christ might be lifted to a       much more is it true of those who never went to
higher glory and closer relationship to God than the       church, never use His name but to curse and swear,
one in which Adam was created.                             seek the world and their own flesh?
  Satan did not succeed at the cross, even though           Esther and Mordecai, though they unintention-
he succeeded in getting Christ on that cross. And          ally served the church of God, are not rewarded
you may believe that today, after Christ's resurrec-       with the blessings that the church will know in the
tion and ascension, he regrets his folly of leading        new creation. They are the chaff which serves the
men to hang Him on the accursed tree. But the suc-         wheat. But Scripture teaches us that the chaff is
cess of the wicked so wondrously in God's grace            burned, even though it served such a good and im-
serves the successful deliverance of the righteous         portant purpose. Though without the peeling the
from the guilt, power, and love of sin. For there is       orange and banana could not have become good
an almighty God Who has an eternal counsel ac-             food for us, we throw them away and in no way try
cording to which all that takes place was designed         to reward them. And these served unconsciously
to occur to serve the church He unchangeably and           and unwillingly, while the wicked consciously and
eternally loved. Romans 8:28 must be remembered            willingly seek to destroy the church in their worth-
throughout this Book of Esther. All things today,          less efforts to succeed in gaining this world and the
and all that which happened so far in the past,            things it contains. 0, yes they do. If you will not
work together for good to those that love God. That        work on Sunday for them, you lose your job. If you
does include the temporary success of the wicked           do not take their mark of the beast, you cannot buy
in their worldly pursuits. It will be so very true         or sell. Refuse to teach evolution in your Christian
when Satan in his last desperate attempt gets the          School, and they will strive to close the doors by
world to succeed in uniting all men, with the heal-        making the requirements for your teachers so
ing of Babel's mortal wound, to be in a position to        stringent that you cannot find men and women
starve the believers to death with the mark of the         with your religious convictions who meet those
beast which will keep food from them. They, the            standards. Or they will seek to tax your school, or
believers, will lose all that Esther lost the day she      make the building codes so severe that it will cost
died, but they will reach joys and blessedness             you more than you can raise to change over to con-
which no earthly creature has ever known. They             form with the codes. And all this they will do under
will know the life and joy that Christ succeeded by        the guise of looking out for your physical, material
His accursed death to realize for all His people.          well-being. Or to "maintain the freedoms we ought
  But the unbelievers, in spite of all that they suc-      to enjoy, and to do away with discriminations."
ceeded in getting hold of in this life, will be plunged      And though Esther and Mordecai did not deliber-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205



ately set out to destroy the church and to trouble          away for that vacation and trip that we plan to take.
the believers, they were not consciously and will-          But after we have paid them all up in full, and they
ingly seeking the well-being of the believing Jews of       are ours, after we have had that enjoyable trip
that day. Where in the whole book do you find               around the world, or to some unique spot of earthly
them saying so? Where do you find that they even            beauty, we have not really succeeded in anything
had the believers in mind as they struggled to suc-         of lasting value. Yea, besides the fact that we failed
ceed in a purely fleshly beauty contest for material,       to support God's cause, these treasures have turned
earthly gain? No, the whole struggle for them was           our hearts and minds away from the living God.
carnal, and the success tragically worthless.               They could not bring us closer to Him by such ac-
  And there is a sobering lesson in all this for us         tions. And then rather than being worthless these
who do believe, and do show in our speech and               things are damaging to us and our spiritual life.
conduct that we trust in Jehovah, and walk as fol-            Rather let us first seek the kingdom of God, and
lowers of His Son. We in so many ways emulate               its righteousness, with the assurance that the earth-
Esther, though not to the same degree. We strive to         ly things we need to seek it will be added to us. We
get as much of this world as we can, and kingdom            will succeed in finding it, and in God's grace re-
causes go begging because we  .have such big pay-           ceive rewards that have everlasting worth.
ments to make on the house and the car, and to lay

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE

              Preservation and Perseverance (1)
                                                  Rev. H. Veldman


  Preservation and Perseverance  - what a truly             merely mean that we return to what we once had,
wonderful subject! It is wonderful from a threefold         as in Adam, but that we receive a salvation higher
point of view. It is wonderful, first of all, because of    and greater than Adam ever had, a glory in heaven-
that whereunto' we are preserved and persevere.             ly immortality, a glory that can never perish, can
This is nothing less than a glory so great that "Eye        never fade away. Hence, how wonderful is this
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered          glory, is this subject, in the first place, because of
into the heart of man, the things which God hath            the unbelievably tremendous heights to which it
prepared for them that love Him" (I Cor. 2,:9). And         directs our attention,
the greatness of this glory is well expressed by the          Wonderful, in the second place, is this subject
word "salvation," which means to be delivered out           because of us who are preserved and persevere. To
of the greatest evil and become a partaker of the           this we have already alluded in our preceding para-
highest good. This highest good does not, of course,        graph. We are sinners; we are, by nature, hope-
refer to the highest good to which we could pos-            lessly lost sinners. We are sinners who cannot pos-
sibly attain, but the highest, the greatest good            sibly save ourselves. We are burdened down with a
which God can give us and which could enter into            guilt, a debt of sin which we can never pay, and we
the heart of God. Into all eternity the Lord will           are in a bondage of sin from which we can never
never be sorry that He did not prepare something            deliver ourselves; we are bound with chains of sin
greater for us. And that this is true is because this       and darkness which we can never break. Besides,
greatest good is God Himself, fellowship with Him           we are sinners that are holy only in principle. We
in everlasting and heavenly glory and immortality.          are holy and regenerated sinners who cry out that
To be saved is wonderful, but to be saved out of the        the evil we hate we do and the good we love and will
greatest evil is more wonderful; to see and hear and        we practice not. Besides, we are such in principle
walk and speak is truly wonderful, but to see and           redeemed and saved sinners who are constantly
hear and walk and speak when once we were blind             confronted by overwhelming odds, by an enemy
and deaf and lame and dumb is surely more won-              within us and all around us, with whom we cannot
derful still. And to see and hear and walk and              possibly cope or contend. And now this wonderful
speak, having been blind and deaf and lame and              subject holds before us that we are preserved and
dumb, when once we could see and hear and walk              persevere even unto the end, and the odds, shall we
and speak, as in Adam, presents to us a still greater       say, are billions to one that we will never attain
glory. And even this is not all. To be saved does not       unto the glory which eye hath not seen, ear hath


206                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



not heard, which never entered into the heart of             present time must serve the light of the eternal day;
man. Indeed, also here the Scriptures proclaim a             diamonds are beautiful, but they shine all the more
truth to us which is; humanly speaking, impossible           gloriously upon the background of a coalpile. All
of attainment. This is characteristic of the Word of         the suffering and affliction of this present time
God throughout. Always it speaks, humanly speak-             serve to reveal the wonderful faithfulness of our
ing, of impossible situations. Do we not read in the         God and the glory and power of His grace in Christ
Word of God that the Lord's way is in the sea, ab-           Jesus, our Lord. All our weaknesses merely serve to
solutely trackless as far as we are concerned? Are           reveal the power of His grace, His wonderful faith-
the ways of the Lord not always humanly impos-               fulness to preserve us even unto the end.
sible ways? This is also true of this subject.                 So, what a wonderful subject this is: Preservation
  Wonderful, therefore, in the third place, is this          and Perseverance! The Arminians, we know, have
subject because of this preservation and persever-           corrupted also this wonderful truth. It is because of
ance. Indeed, wonderful is this preservation be-             what they taught in their fifth article of their
cause of how we are preserved! Imagine: God's                Remonstrance that our fathers set forth the truth in
people are preserved and they persevere unto the             their fifth article of the Canons of Dordt. Let us
very end. They are all preserved and they all per-           now look at this truth in detail.
severe, so that none is lost but all are raised up at          Indeed, how timely and pertinent is this subject!
the last day. This in itself is a wonderful truth. Of        It addresses itself to the position of the people of
all the millions of elect, spoken of in Scripture as an      God in the midst of the world. That the people of
innumerable multitude, innumerable as the stars in           the Lord are preserved and persevere surely im-
the sky and as the sand along the seashore and as            plies a struggle. They must be preserved. And this
the dust upon the ground, not one is lost. To this           implies that there are many, many forces at work
must be added, however, that they are all pre-               that would prevent their preservation. And they
served in such a way that not a hair of their heads          shall persevere. The goal of their perseverance is
was singed, neither were their coats changed, nor            the glory of heavenly immortality. Indeed, their
has the smell of fire passed upon them. These ex-            kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. Today we
pressions simply mean to emphasize that no danger            hear more and more of a social gospel. A social
befalls them in the absolute sense of the word.              gospel is a gospel that is geared to this world's
These expressions are not exaggerations. It is exact-        society, to its improvement by removing all social
ly this truth that is emphasized in that wonderful           ills and earthly imperfections, such as drunken-
account in Daniel 3 where we read of the three               ness, debauchery, immorality, etc., without the
friends of Daniel that they were cast into the fiery         cross of Calvary and the blood of the Man of Sor-
furnance made seven times hotter because they                rows; a social gospel would deliver this world from
had refused to bow down before the image of gold             the results of sin without removing sin itself. This is
which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had                 surely being heard more and more today. Of
made. And in this chapter we read in verse 27:               course, the world is always interested in the
"And the princes, governors, and captains, and the           removal of the results of sin without removing sin
king's counsellors, being gathered, saw these men,           itself; it always seeks to remove the results of sin
upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was             while continuing in sin itself. But what is character-
an hair of their head singed, neither were their             istic of our present day and age is that the church is
coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on           becoming increasingly involved in this social
them." Indeed, they are not only conquerors, but             gospel. And then I do not refer to what is called
they are more than conquerors! No harm ever be-              "church" as in the modernistic sense of the word.
falls them. 0, to be sure, they are as sheep that are        After all, an exclusively modernistic church is not a
led to the slaughter. It is true that they are burned        church. There the Word of God is never pro-
at the stake, suffer terrible agony and tortures at the      claimed. And where the Scriptures are not pro-
hands of their enemies. Yet, they are more than              claimed the sheep of Christ do not hear His voice
conquerors. They suffer affliction in the earthly            and are not gathered; and therefore there is no
houses of their tabernacles. But, as far as their new        church there. But I refer specifically to the Re-
man in Christ Jesus is concerned, they suffer no             formed church world, which is becoming more and
harm. That principle of their new life, their new            more involved in a social gospel. How characteris-
man in Christ Jesus, no enemy can touch. In fact,            tic this is of recent synodical gatherings! How often
everything works together for their good. All the            it happens that such gatherings address themselves
suffering of this present time simply serves to              to social and earthly problems. And when they
realize the glory God has laid away for them. He             address themselves to the Scriptures, they discuss
works for them a far more exceeding and eternal              the question, for example, whether women may
weight of glory (2 Cor.  4:17). The darkness of this         and should serve in ecclesiastical offices. And, of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                207



course, if a woman may be a deacon in the church             would all be striving to make this world a better
of God and of Christ, she may also serve in the of-          place in which to live. Then we would not be pil-
fice of the ministry. After all, all the three offices of    grims and strangers in the earth. Then we can stand
minister, elder, and deacon have one thing in com-           shoulder to shoulder with the children of this
mon and that is that they are all officebearers of           world, fighting all social diseases and human and
Christ through Whom Christ Himself speaks His                earthly inequalities and imperfections. Then we
own word. And if He speaks through a woman in                will strive to rid this world of sicknesses, of
the office of a deacon, she may also serve in the            poverty, of wars and  rumours  of wars, striving to
office of the ministry of the gospel. However, the           realize the kingdom of God and of His Christ in the
kingdom of God and of Christ and of heaven is not            earthly sense of the word. Doing this, however, we
earthly but heavenly. It is exactly because of the           would be engaged in a dream struggle, a mere fig-
heavenly character of this kingdom that the people           ment of our imagination. "My kingdom," Christ
of God must be preserved and that they persevere.            testified before Pontius Pilate," is not a kingdom of
This is exactly why their position in the midst of the       this world." We must walk, not synthetically, but
world is always an antithetical position. This ex-           antithetically. There are two kingdoms in this
plains why we must strive to enter in, why we must           world: the kingdom of God and of His Christ, and
fight our way into the kingdom of heaven as it ulti-         the kingdom of this world and of the devil. The
mately will be revealed and perfected in the day of          former is heavenly, the latter is earthly. And as citi-
our Lord Jesus Christ. This explains why we must             zens of the kingdom of heaven we must be pilgrims
fight, put on the whole armour  of God, and oppose           and strangers in the earth, ever seeking to promote
the powers of wickedness within us and all around            the cause of the living God and of His Christ. Doing
us. This is surely the position of Scripture.                so, we will experience the trials and afflictions of
  Hence, how pertinent and timely is this subject!           this present time. And this means that we must
If it be our calling to preach a social gospel, to seek      fight, witnessing of the Christ and His Cause and
the improvement of this world, there would be no             opposing all the unfruitful works of sin and dark-
need of battling and fighting our way into the king-         ness. How crucial, then, becomes our survival in
dom of heaven. Then we would not encounter any               the midst of the world. The Lord willing, we will
opposition. Then we would have many things in                continue with this subject of our preservation and
common with the forces of sin and darkness. Then             perseverance in our following article.
a common goal would characterize us. Then we
THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH

            AIDS: A Revelation of the Righteous
                                          Wrath of God
                                                 Rev. Ron Cammenga


  The past year has witnessed growing public                 against infection and certain cancers. So far, 76% of
alarm over the spread of a new major epidemic.               the victims in the U.S. have been active homo-
The disease is known as AIDS, which stands for Ac-           sexual men. This group represents by far the high-
quired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. First identi-             est risk group affected by the disease. Of the rest of
fied as a disease in the U.S. about  2% years ago,           the reported cases of AIDS, 16% are intravenous
AIDS has been given its greatest public exposure in          drug abusers, 5% are immigrants from Haiti, and
1983. Several in-depth articles were published in            1% are hemophiliacs. Only 2% of the victims are
such popular magazines as  Time, Newsweek,  and              not known to be members of one of these high risk
Reader's Digest. Also the daily newspapers, radio,           groups.
and television broadcasts frequently reported on               AIDS has struck 2,868 people in the U.S. and
the AIDS epidemic and those who have been af-                killed 1,197 of them, according to end of the year
fected by this new disease.                                  statistics. The largest concentration of cases is in
  AIDS attacks its victims by crippling the body's           New York City, followed by San Francisco and Los
immune system, thus leaving the body defenseless             Angeles. Secretary of Health and Human Services,


208                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



Margaret Heckler, has said: "AIDS is our No. 1              But AIDS is not only the wrath of God visited
health concern and the epidemic is our No. 1 pri-        upon the homosexual sinner personally, it is also
ority."                                                  the wrath of God visited against a nation which
   Up to this point both the cause and the cure for      tolerates and legalizes the practice of this sin. Our
the disease remain unknown. To date, AIDS kills          nation stands exposed to the righteous wrath of
more than 75% of those who contract the disease in       God. In recent years our country has acceded to the
less than two years. Although the underlying cause       gay rights movement and stricken from the crimi-
of AIDS remains unknown, it is virtually certain         nal code laws which prohibited the practice of homo-
that AIDS is transmitted sexually. Transmission re-      sexuality. More and more this sin is practiced open-
quires intimate sexual contact, or contact with con-     ly and unashamedly. Homosexuality is justified as
taminated blood, which accounts for the occur-           an alternative life-style, with equal validity to tradi-
rence of AIDS among hemophiliacs. Our govern-            tional heterosexuality. The advances of the homo-
ment has allocated significant funds for research        sexual movement are in no small measure due to
into the cause and cure of this new mystery              the increasing support given the movement by the
disease. The director of the National Centers For        churches. Large denominations of churches, as
Disease Control, Dr. James 0. Mason, states that         well as influential church leaders have done much
I, . . . of the pressing problems that we need an im-    to advance the homosexual cause. Churches, even
mediate solution to, that (AIDS) is a number one         Reformed churches, not only have begun to receive
problem."                                                practicing homosexuals as members in good stand-
  Public concern over AIDS has run high. Much            ing, but have even gone so far as to ordain them
fear and misunderstanding of the disease exist.          into the special offices in the church.
AIDS is seen as a significant setback to the gay           As a nation, the U.S. has given its approval to
rights movement in the U.S. Fear of AIDS is even         homosexuality. The wrath of God is therefore over
causing some homosexuals to make changes in              us as a nation. AIDS is one manifestation of this
their life-style.                                        wrath of God against our nation.
  There are obviously some judgments which we               One other thing which the furor over AIDS ought
as Christians are called to make in connection with      to impress Christians with is the urgent calling that
this latest aspect of the homosexual movement.           believing parents have to instruct and warn their
There are also some lessons which we ourselves           children. If believing parents have been negligent
ought to learn.                                          in carrying out their calling, a thing like AIDS ought
  How are we to view the AIDS epidemic? Is there,        to warn them against their neglect. We must not be
besides a physiological explanation of the cause of      spiritual ostriches and hide our heads in the sand.
this disease, a biblical explanation?                    Too often, this is the attitude taken by believing
  In the light of the Word of God, I believe that the    parents. Because of the obviously sensitive nature
Christian must view AIDS as the revelation from          of these subjects, parents have too often failed to
heaven of the righteous wrath of God against those       discuss openly and frankly with their young people
who have rejected Him and His laws. AIDS is, in          the subject of sex. Too often, they have allowed
the language of Romans  B:27, the  "recompence  of       their children to find out about sex from their
their error" which those who practice the sin of         friends, or worse yet, from the books and maga-
homosexuality receive in themselves. It is, as           zines produced by the world. An embarrassing sub-
Romans  1:18 states, the "wrath of God" which is         ject like homosexuality is never discussed.
"revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and          As believing parents, we must not take this ap-
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in un-        proach. This is not the approach of Scripture. In
righteousness."                          I               clear, frank language the Scriptures speak on the
  One of the lessons which AIDS teaches us is the        subject of sex, and describe and warn against
truth that already in this life God punishes the sin-    sexual sins. One has only to read the various laws
ner. The wrath of God IS revealed, right now, in         in the Old Testament given by God, the Book of
this life. The sinner cannot sin and get away with       Proverbs, or the first chapter of the Epistle to the
his sin, not even in this life. Sin has bitter con-      Romans to discover the truth of this. This must be
sequences, bitter consequences in the body, mind,        our approach to our young people. We must discuss
and soul of the impenitent sinner. When he goes on       these things with them. And we must warn them
in his sin, God visits those consequences upon him.      against these sins which they too, on account of
In a life of sin, there is not, there cannot be, and     their sinful and depraved nature, are prone to fall
God will not let there be, peace and happiness.          into.
Apart from God and thankful obedience to God's             One thing that the AIDS epidemic impresses us
law, there is only misery and death.                     with is the wrong of considering homosexuality an


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              209



alternative life-style. More and more this is the         nature and his sin. God is the One Who metes out
position that is taken. Homosexuality is only an          "that  recompence of their error which was meet"
equal option, on a par with heterosexuality. Along        (Rom.  1:27). And this is without doubt the testi-
with this goes the position that the homosexual can-      mony of their own conscience: they stand exposed
not be blamed for his inclination to this sin. Homo-      by their sins to the righteous wrath of a holy God.
sexuality is considered to be not a matter of deliber-    The God Who would not allow Sodom of old to go
ate choice, but a matter of one's make up, his genes      unpunished, will not allow them to go unpunished
and chromosomes, and therefore something he               either.
cannot help and for which he cannot be blamed.              Above all, the AIDS epidemic is a call to holiness
This is the position of certain churches which, al-       of life. Being a warning against sin, it is a call to
though they condemn overt homosexuality, do not           holiness of life. To use the language of the Heidel-
condemn the homosexual nature, the bent towards           berg Catechism in its explanation of the seventh
homosexuality.                                            commandment, AIDS teaches us "That all unclean-
  The AIDS epidemic ought to impress people with          ness is accursed of God: and that therefore, we
the wrong of this position. Obviously, AIDS as a          must with all our hearts detest the same, and live
disease is different than the common cold or the          chastely and temperately, whether in holy wed-
flu. As a disease AIDS is to be categorized with such     lock, or in single life." It reminds us that "since
diseases as syphilis and gonorrhea, veneral               both our body and soul are temples of the Holy
diseases. The disease is to be connected with the         Ghost, He commands us to preserve them pure and
practice of the homosexual sin itself. If homosexu-       holy."
ality is a normal life-style, why AIDS? The disease         We are not our own to do with ourselves and
itself indicates the wrong of thus regarding homo-        with our lives as we please. The governing
sexuality.                                                principle of the life of the Christian young person is
  This certainly is the teaching of the Bible. The        not what feels good, what gives the most pleasure
Bible neither presents homosexuality as an alterna-       at the moment. But the Christian young person un-
tive life-style, nor the homosexual as unaccount-         derstands that he belongs to another, to the Lord
able for the bent of his nature, the passive victim of    Jesus Christ. Having been redeemed by His
his physical and psychological makeup.                    precious blood, he understands his calling to live to
  Romans  1  teaches that the homosexual actively         the praise of the glory of his Redeemer. Having
and deliberately perverts his nature in the practice      been bought with a price, the price of the life and
of his homosexuality. According to verse 26 they          blood of the Son of God Himself, we must glorify
"change the natural use"; according to verse 27           God in our body and soul which are God's. Exert-
men are active in "leaving the natural use of the         ing himself by the grace of God to be free of the sin
woman" and in "working that which is unseemly."           of homosexuality, the child of God is also assured
                                                          of being spared the terrible consequences which
  The plain proof of the homosexual's responsibil-        God visits upon this sin already in this life.
ity, both for the bent of his nature and for his
homosexual sins, is that God judges him for his
IN HIS FEAR

                                       God is a Spirit
                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko


  It is not difficult to understand that the Second       worship Him.
Commandment is distinct from the First. The First           This distinction is, of necessity, denied by the
Commandment forbids the sin of having or  wor-            Church of Rome. She joins the First and Second
shipping any gods beside Jehovah, the sin of idol-        Commandments as one and divides the Tenth into
atry, while the Second Commandment forbids the            two parts, thus keeping ten commandments while
use of images in the worship of Jehovah. The First        at the same time covering up her widespread viola-
Commandment, then, tells us  Who  we must wor-            tions of the Second Commandment.
ship, and the Second in turn tells us how we are to         We see this distinction clearly in Israel's history.


210                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



There were times when Israel worshipped the gods           worshipper of graven images.
of the heathen,  Baa1 and Ashtaroth, Milcom,                 This truth that God is transcendent has many dif-
Chemosh, and Molech and violated the First Com-            ferent aspects. When we say that God is eternal we
mandment. But when Israel worshipped the golden            are saying that He transcends and is above time. He
calf at Mount Sinai, it was the Second Command-            is also transcendent in relation to space and move-
ment which was broken and violated first of all and        ment, as we confess when we say that He is every-
not the First. This is clear from Aaron's words            where present. That He is incomprehensible means
when he presented the calf to the people: "These           that He transcends even our thoughts. He is the
be thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the    Only Immortal Who dwells in a glory which no
Zand of Egypt" (Ex. 32:4). He did not claim that the       man can approach unto (I Tim. 6:16).
calf was another god `beside Jehovah, Who had                The aspect of God's transcendence which stands
brought them out of bondage, but he gave them the          on the foreground in the Second Commandment,
calf as a representation of Jehovah Himself, and as        however, is the truth that God is a Spirit. The
a means to worship Him. Jeroboam later said the            angels are also called spirits in Scripture, but not in
same thing when, at the beginning of his kingdom,
he set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan (I Kings         the same sense as God. The angels are creatures,
12:25-33).                                                 limited by time and space as we are. That they are
                                                           spirits means only that they have a different form
  In spite of the fact that these first two command-       of creaturely existence than we do, for they have a
ments forbid two different sins, they are, neverthe-       heavenly life and existence, while ours is of the
less, very closely related. The evidence for this is       earth earthy. When we say that God is a Spirit, then
found in the warning that is attached to the Second        we mean that He is not a creature, that He has no
Commandment, that God is a jealous God Who                 body or parts, and that He is without any of the
visits in continuing judgment those who do not fear        limitations of the creature. Especially it means that
and love Him as they ought. It does not require            He is the invisible God. He is not just beyond our
much effort to see that God is jealous over against        present earthly sight, but absolutely and forever be-
all evil practices in His own worship and over             yond the sight of our eyes as He is in Himself and
against all worship of other gods. The inclusion of        with Himself. He is the One Whom no man hath
this warning at the end of the Second Command-             seen  nor can  see (Jn.  1:18; I Tim. 6: 16). Our sight
ment binds it to the First.                                reaches the farthest of all our senses, scanning and
  These two commandments are related because               searching the heavens themselves, and yet God is
their principles are related. The great principle of       still beyond our sight. Only in the face, that is, in
the First Commandment, that is, that which God             the human nature of Christ, do we see even a re-
reveals of Himself in the First Commandment, is            flection of His spiritual glory, and then only by the
the truth that He is One Lord, the Only True God.          great miracle of revelation.
From this principle, as we have already seen, flows          This is beautifully illustrated in the history of
forth the demand that we have and hold Him as our          Moses. After Israel had sinned in the worship of the
God with none beside Him, that we trust in Him             golden calf, Moses went up into the Mount to inter-
alone, love, fear, and serve Him always and every-         cede with God for the people and obtained from
where, and devote our whole life to His praise and         Him the promise that God's presence would con-
worship. But just as the truth that God is One             tinue with them. Moses then asked that, as a sign to
means that He is the Only True God in the First            confirm this promise, God would show His glory to
Commandment, so, in the Second Commandment                 Moses. God graciously condescended to do as
it means that He is One in glory - that His glory is       Moses requested, but He told Moses that he would.
infinite, unexcelled, and matchless. That, then, is        see only His "back parts" and explained, "Thou
the revelation that God gives of Himself in the            canst not see My face: for there shall no man see
Second Commandment and the foundation for all              Me and live" (Ex.  33:12-23). In chapter 34 we find
that the Second Commandment requires of us'.               that Moses, even in seeing God's "back parts," did
  Even more specifically, the principle of the             not actually behold God Himself. He saw the cloud
Second Commandment is the truth that God is                and heard the voice of the Lord as the Lord passed
transcendent. This truth is found in such passages         by "and proclaimed the Name of the Lord" (verses
as Psalm 145:3, Job 36:26, and Isaiah 40:12-31.  The       5, 6). That is as close as anyone can ever come to
last of these passages is also one of the places where     seeing God. Even Moses, therefore, who knew God
the Word of God makes the connection between               face to face (Deut. 34:lO)  knew Him only in the re-'
this truth and the Second Commandment. In verse            flection of His glory in the holy cloud and through
18 the Lord says, `"To whom then will ye liken             His Word, and that alone was sufficient to make
God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?"           the face of Moses shine with such a glory that the
and goes on to condemn both the maker and the              children of Israel were afraid and refused to look at


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                          211     _,



him (Ex. 34:29-35, II Cor. 3:7, 13).                      and films replace the traditional service with its
  This truth that God is Spirit, infinite and invis-      emphasis on the preaching of the Gospel. The parts
ible, is the glorious cornerstone of the Second Com-      of the worship service are juggled around from
mandment. He must always be worshipped in such            week to week until one needs a special program
a way that He is remembered and praised as the            even to follow the order of worship in his own con-
transcendently glorious God, and that means first         gregation. The old liturgical forms are replaced at
of all a worship without images and representations       regular intervals. And so on and on and on, and
of Him, and in the second place and positively it         always the cry goes up for more changes.
means a worship according to His Word. The                  Without discussing any one of these changes and
heathen use images to worship their gods because          innovations in detail, we ought to remember that
their gods are no greater than themselves. But our        the standard for these changes is usually the flesh.
God is "above all glory raised" and must be so            What does it do for me? Does it make me feel good?
worshipped.                                               Is it uplifting? And because the standard for these
  It is for this reason that the truth that God is in-    changes is the flesh, many of these practices, newly
visible and unseen is found twice in the First            introduced, stand over against the truth concerning
Epistle to Timothy (1:17, 6:16). That book speaks of      God that is revealed in the Second Commandment.
the worship of God, that is, "how thou oughtest to          There are, of course, those who will accuse us of
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the          sticking at technicalities, and of being stubborn and
Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of        old-fashioned, and unwilling to move with the
the truth" (3: 15), and therefore of necessity empha-     times. Over against such charges let us remember
sizes this truth. Whatever our behaviour in the           some of the examples that Scripture gives to show
church ought to be, it must always be in harmony          that these things are not mere nit-picking. Cain's
with God's revelation of Himself as the "King             sin was not that he refused to worship God. He
eternal, immortal, invisible" (1: 17).                    brought his sacrifice and offered it to God, and cer-
  In Deuteronomy 4:15, 16 God teaches Israel also         tainly he must have provided the very best of his
Who He is as the invisible God, and then applies          fields. Nevertheless, because the standard for his
that to their worship:                                    worship was not the Word of God, but his own
      Take ye therefore good heed unto your-              pleasure, he was branded and driven out. Thus it
    selves; for ye saw no manner of similitude            was when David brought the ark to Jerusalem.
    on the day that the Lord spake to you in              What a great day that was! Surely God could only
    Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye           be pleased with- the zeal and consecration of David
    corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven             and the people. Of course, they had the ark upon a
    image, the similitude of any figure . . . .           cart instead of having it carried by the Levites, but
The point is, once again, that God not only deter-        that was just a "technicality" and, after all, every-
mines that He alone shall be worshipped, but also         one could better see and gather around the ark that
how He shall be worshipped, and He determines             way. But that act of worship was not in harmony
that in harmony with His own glory. He will not           with God's Word, and God was angry, and Uzzah
ever give His glory to another.                           died. So it was when the inhabitants of Bethshem-
  The temptation for Israel was to ask how the na-        esh opened and looked into the ark out of curiosity
                                                          when it returned from Philistia. Over 50,000 died
tions worshipped their gods (Deut.  12:30-32), and
to make that the standard for the worship of Je-          because curiosity and the desires of the flesh are
hovah. That worship of the nations was always a           not the standard for approaching God. May we give
worship that pleased the flesh, and it is as much a       heed and remember that "God is a Spirit, and they
temptation for us as it was for Israel to seek such a     that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and
worship when we come into the presence of God.            in truth" - that is, according to His Word and reve-
                                                          lation of Himself.
Nevertheless, we may not worship as we please
and according to what pleases us, but as He com-
mands.                                                      Remember your friends
  Because of this temptation, the Second Com-
mandment is more and more neglected today. The                    and famiZjl with a
churches, and that includes Reformed churches,
have gone crazy for liturgical change. The preach-               subscription to the
ing is neglected. Choirs and special performances
are introduced into the services. Psalm-books are
replaced with hymn-books and the hymn-books are                    Standard Bearer
replaced every few years or so. Dramas, dialogues,


212                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


                    James, Evidence of a Living Faith
                                                      (concluded)
                                                              Rev. J. Kortering


  As we take up the task of outlining the letter of                       the author, "a servant of God and the Lord Jesus
James, we notice the difficulty that confronts us. It                     Christ" (1: 1). Also he states to whom he is writing,
appears at first reading that James is dealing with so                    "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad"
many subjects that it lacks cohesion. To put it                           (1:l).
bluntly, it seems as if he is rambling. The words of                        2. Encouragement given to endure in the midst
Hendriksen in his BiZ?Ze Survey are worth quoting.                        of trials  (1:2-18).  The value of the trial is stated: it
         Now, this type of discourse, superficially viewed,               works patience (durability), and that in turn makes
       reminds one of a person who in conversation changes                one reach the goal God has set, perfect and entire
       his subject constantly. We call him a rambler. If that is          (1:2-4).  This requires wisdom which one may re-
       what James does, it would be just as impossible to out-            ceive through prayer. This prayer must not be of a
       line his epistle as it would be to outline a dictionary.           double-minded man, but the prayer of faith (1:5-8).
       Closer study however, reveals that this is not at all the          God is the One Who sends riches and poverty of
       case. In the entire section l:l-18 he rivets our atten-            which the real benefit is being right toward God
       tion upon one central thought: he is admonishing the
       sorely oppressed and afflicted readers of his epistle to           (1:9-l 1). One who is tried and endures will receive
       exercise endurance in the midst of trials and tempta-              the crown of life (1: 12). The source of temptation is
       tions. If they lack this grace, they should, with confi-           not God but one's own lust which produces death
       dence, ask God to supply it. Instead of losing all cqur-           (1:13-15). In contrast, every good gift comes from
       age, they should reflect on their high estate. That the            God, especially salvation which makes us the first-
       necessity of exercising endurance in the midst of trials           fruits of redemption (1: 16-18).
       and temptations is, indeed, uppermost in the mind of
       the author is evident also from the fact that in the                  3. James now specifically mentions the main
       papagraph beginning at verse 12 the blessedness and                subjects which he will treat in this letter  (1:19-27).
       the reward of such endurance is indicated. More-                   The first of them is the importance of deeds of kind-
       over, the fact that it - as well as every grace - is the           ness. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. It
       gift of God, is again emphasized; see verse 17. All this           is important that we do not look into the glass of the
       is beautiful unity. James has not wandered away from               law and forget what we see; rather we should look
       his subject at all. Moreover, he ends his epistle as he            into the law and continue to practice it. Pure reli-
       begins it; namely, with an exhortation unto endur-                 gion is to visit the fatherless and widows and keep
       ance.  Cp.  1:3,4,  12 with 511.                                   oneself unspotted from the world (1:22-25, 27). The
         James is, as it were, preaching a sermon  - and what             second theme is that we must use words of restraint
       he presents in his epistle bears so many resemblances              and wisdom. Let every man be swift to hear and
       to a well-organized sermon that some interpreters                  slow to speak, Religion is vain if a man cannot
       have regarded it to be just that  - and before he dwells           bridle his tongue  (1:19, 26). The final theme is the
       at length on certain "points", he first states them. He            importance of thoughts of purity and meekness.
       is going to enlarge on the fact that genuine faith,
       which far excels mere intellectual belief, is demon-               Lay aside all evil and receive with meekness the en-
       strated by deeds of kindness and impartiality, chapter             grafted word  (1:21).
       2; by words of restraint (the bridled tongue), and wis-               4. Genuine faith is demonstrated by deeds of
       dom, chapter 3; and by thoughts or inner attitudes of              kindness and a working faith (2: l-26). We are not to
       purity and meekness, chapter 4. These three points                 show respect of persons when rich or poor come to
       are first mentioned or introduced in the paragraph                 our assembly. If we do that, we are judges of evil
       1:19-27,  as already indicated. Then in chapters 2, 3,             thoughts  (2:1-4).  We may not despise the poor, for
       and 4 they are dwelt on at length.                                 God has chosen them. The royal law requires of us
BRIEF OUTLINE                                                             love for the neighbor (2:6-g). The law of God is one
  1. The introduction. James identifies himself as                        whole; if we break one commandment we are


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 213



guilty of all. Hence, if we do not commit adultery           that of the farmer who waits for harvest through
but kill our neighbor, we are breaking the whole             sunshine and rain (5:7, 8). The prophets are cited as
law. We are to speak and act as those who will be            examples of endurance, persistence in faith even if
judged. If we judge without mercy, then the same             abused (59, 10). Job is mentioned as an example of
will happen to us (2:10-13).  Faith without works is         patience (5: 11). Rather than swearing oaths, we had
dead. It profits nothing if a brother or sister has          better pray personally and for each other, and, if
need and we say, "Go eat," but we don't fill that            need be, call the elders to pray and anoint the sick
need. So with faith - if we say we have faith, but           that they may be healed (5:12-16).  Elijah is the final
are not active in that faith, it is dead (2:14-18).  Mere    example of endurance (5: 17, 18). True care for one
belief in God is not proof of faith. The devils have         another can save a soul from death and realize
that kind of faith. Only a working faith is real.            reconciliation by mutual forgiveness of sin  (5:19,
Abraham is an example. He offered up Isaac and               20).
was justified through that working faith  (2:19-24).
Rahab is another example (2:25-26).                          QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
  5. Another proof of real faith is one's ability to            1. What biblical proof do we have that the
restrain his tongue and express wisdom (3: 1-18). A          author of this letter was James, the half-brother of
warning is given that we should be careful not to            our Lord?
try to be teachers when we are not (3: 1). The tongue          2. What was the need for writing this letter to
must be controlled, even as the bridle controls              the dispersed Jewish Christians? Why does it deal
horses and the rudder controls the ships  (3:2-4).           almost exclusively with practical Christian life?
The tongue is a small member of the body, but can              3. What proof is there in this letter that the read-
enflame a world of iniquity (3:5, 6). Man has tamed
many birds and animals, but no one can tame the              ers were suffering tribulation. What was the occa-
tongue. The same tongue is used in blessing and              sion for this?
cursing (3:7-10).  We should be consistent in our use          4. The spiritual problem that James deals with in
of the tongue. As a fountain gushes with either              this letter is the need for living faith, not historical
sweet or bitter water and fig trees do not produce           faith. Explain the difference.
olives, so our tongues should speak the truth in love          5. What is the difference between temptation
(3: 11, 12). As children of God who possess true             and trials? (see James 1:2-8, 12-16).
faith, we are able to overcome evil speech by love
and wisdom which are from above and are charac-                6. How could we be guilty today of the sin or
terized by gentleness, mercy, being sown in peace            showing the favoritism mentioned in 2: l-7?
(3:13-18).                                                     7. How can a person be a hearer of the Word and
  6. The evidence of a living faith can be seen in           not a doer (1:22)?
pure and humble thoughts and attitudes  (4:1-17).              8. What different emphasis does James place
Strife in the church arises from lust, greed, and            upon justification by works  (2:14-24)   - different
murder (4:1,2). When one is in that spiritual condi-         from Paul's emphasis on justification by faith
tion his prayers will not be answered because such           (Romans 4 and 5)? Are they in conflict?
prayers are motivated by lust  (4:3). Spiritual adul-          9. Why is the law called "royal" in 2:8?
tery brings one into friendship with the world and
makes one an enemy of God, a result of lusting to               10. List ways in which we can sin with our
envy  (4:4, 5). The only cure for this is the grace of       tongues. Do you agree that if a person can control
God which enables us to resist the devil and draws           his tongue he is able to control his whole body
us near to God. The expression of such a change is           (3:2)? Why is this so?
repentance from sin and a sincere desire to do                  11. Notice with me that there are three refer-
God's will (4:6-10).  If we do this, we will avoid evil      ences to using prayer wrongfully  (1:7;  3:9;  4:3).
speaking and harsh judgment  (4:11, 12). We will             Why would a person pray at all if he would pray
realize how frail our life is and say, "If the Lord          wrongfully?
will" (4:13-16).  If we neglect to do good, which we            12. Is all strife in the church forbidden (4:1-6)?  Is
know we must do, we sin (4: 17).                             there good and necessary strife in the church at
  7. By faith we are encouraged to overcome all              times?
sin and endure unto the end (5:1-20).  A warning is             13. Refer to the examples of "endurance" given
given to the rich that gold and silver cannot abide.         in chapter 5 and illustrate from the events of their
If they take advantage of God's people, God will             lives recorded in the Bible that this was true.
call them to account and punish (5: l-6). The be-
lievers are encouraged to be patient for the coming             14. Explain the prayer and anointing of the
of the Lord. Some examples are given. The first is           elders mentioned in 5:14-16.


214                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                                             Book Reviews


THE CHILD'S STORY BIBLE, by Catherine Vos,                field. It treats 53 different subjects, in each case
revised by Marianne Catherine Vos Radius; Wm. B.          gives quotes from Sojourners which show the posi-
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983; 382 pp., $14.95            tion of the magazine on this subject, offers com-
(cloth) (Reviewed by Gertrude Hoeksema)                   ment and references, to prove both the communist
                                                          line of  Sojourners  and the bias of the magazine in
  This is the fifth edition of The ChiZd's Story Bible    consistently altering, ignoring or denying the facts
and also the Golden Anniversary Edition. Through          in a given situation.
the years, the author's daughter, Marianne Vos
Radius, has revised and rewritten portions of her           The book is not always as careful as it ought to be
mother's book, while being careful to retain her          in documenting its position and the book is spoiled
mother's style and gift of story-telling.                 by many typographical errors.
  This Golden Anniversary Edition is attractively
bound in a leather-like binding and uses the tradi-
tional style of illustrations that appeared in the
original edition. The format and art work is an im-
provement over the most recent paper back                 CHRISTIAN ENGLAND, Its Story to the Reforma-
edition.                                                  tion; David L. Edwards, Eerdmans, 1983; 351 pp.,
                                                          $8.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko).
  Also included at the end of this edition is a useful
explanation of some of the Biblical terms used in           The history of the English Nation and the history
the stories.                                              of the Church in England are some of the most in-
                                                          teresting in the whole field of  .historical studies.
  Apart from some of the interpretive statements          This is probably why so many books have been
in the stories and some of the artist's interpreta-       written in this field. I would guess that it would
tions of Jesus (e.g. the one of Christ on the cross) I    take a rather large library just to hold these books.
recommend it for the covenant home.                       This addition to this vast library is intended to give
                                                          readers who are Christians a greater appreciation
                                                          for the English element in their heritage. The blurb
                                                          sent along with the book says that Edwards has
THE SOJOURNER'S FILE,  by Joan Harris; New                "paid more attention to people, to literature, archi-
Century Foundation, 1983; Available from National         tecture, art and prayer, and to the Church's setting
Christian Action Coalition, P.O. Box 1745, Wash-          in the social and political life of the age than to
ington, D.C.; 170 pp., $5.95 [paper). [Reviewed by        ecclesiastical administration or theological contro-
Prof. H. Hanko).                                          versy." This characterization of the book is correct
                                                          and is both the strength and the weakness of the
  Sojourners is a Christian magazine, which accord-       book.
ing to the blurb sent along with the book, has an
"awesome" impact on Christianity in this country.           It is the book's strength because it gives a great
It is, however, a "`left-wing" publication which con-     deal of information not readily available in other
sistently parrots the communist line in all interna-      books. There is a mass of detail, both interesting
tional and national issues. According to the book,        and instructive. But it is the weakness of the book
the magazine is a part of the Institute for Policy        because the book gives these data without much
Studies, which is leftist and could conceivably be a      analysis and evaluation, the book almost requires a
Communist front organization. Senator Mark                knowledge of English secular history to be under-
Hatfield of Oregon is claimed to be closely con-          standable, and it does not give a proper place to the
nected with the magazine, and the book is intended        importance of the church. For example, the book
to blunt his campaign for r-e-election.                   considers Chaucer to be more important in the his-
                                                          tory of the church than John Wycliff.
  The book was written to expose the communistic
leanings of the magazine, the IPS and Senator Hat-          It is recommended especially to those who are


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 215



students of or are interested in the history of the
English nation or the development of the church
there. It is the first in a series.
                                                               The Standard Bearer
GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT,  by Ronald E. Baxter;                        makes an excellent
Kregel Publications, 1983; 266 pp., $8.95 (paper).
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko).                                  gift for any occasion.
  Although the number of books on  Neo-Pente-
costalism continues to grow, this addition to the lit-                 As a thoughtful
erature is a worthwhile one, which anyone inter-
ested in the movement ought to have. The author
was born in Northern Ireland, educated in various                  expression of your
schools in Canada and this country, and is now
serving a Baptist Church in Ontario.                                 concern, give the
  While the purpose of this book is in part to
expose the error of "gift theology" as it is main-                  Standard Bearer.
tained by Pentecostalism, the chief aim of the book
is to develop a positive concept of the Scriptural
teachings concerning gifts of the church. Hence the
book is both negative and positive  - and this is
partially its value.                                                                   NOTICE!!!
  The author proceeds from the basic premise that           The Hope Christian School of Redlands, California, is in need of a
Pentecostalism is subjective in its theology and thus     Kindergarten thru the 4th grade teacher beginning in September of
divorces the Christian's life from Scripture. It is       1984. Teachers interested in applying for this position please write
                                                          to Bill Feenstra, 831 Sylvan Blvd., Redlands, CA 92373 or phone him
from this perspective that he attacks the doctrine of     at (714) 793-3597.
gifts maintained in Pentecostal circles. Both his dis-
cussions of the gifts of miracles and tongue-speak-
ing are excellent and one can find in these discus-                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
sions material which is rarely considered. The              The Adult Bible Society of Faith Protestant Reformed Church ex-
strength of the discussion is, however, its analysis      tends its sincere sympathy to our fellow members, Mr. and Mrs. lrvan
of Scripture and the pertinent Scriptural passages.       Velthouse, in the recent death of her mother, MRS. EDWARD  MAAT.
                                                          May our Lord comfort the family through His Word.

   Perhaps the author is not quite as strong in the          "0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy  en-
                                                          dureth forever." (Psalm  118:l)
positive part of the book where he discusses what                                            Rev. W. Bruinsma, Pres.
Scripture actually does teach about various gifts in                                         Mrs. June Van Den Top, Sec'y.
the church. A Reformed man would have some
trouble with some of his ideas. Nevertheless, this
positive approach is important and needed. It is not                                   NOTICE!!!
sufficient to show where Pentecostalism has gone            Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
astray; it is equally important to make clear all that    Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday, March 7, 1984 at  8:30 A.M.,
Scripture has to say about gifts in the church as         the Lord willing. Material for the Agenda must be in my hands 30
                                                          days before  Classis convenes.
they are worked by the Spirit. The book attempts to
do this, and can well serve as a starting point for                                            Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
further discussion andinstruction on this matter.
   We recommend this book to our readers.                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                            The Council of the Faith Protestant Reformed Church expresses its
                                                          sincere Christian sympathy to our brother officer-bearer, Deacon
            Read and study                                lrvan Velthouse, and his family in the death of his mother-in-law,
                                                          MRS. EDWARD  MAAT.

                                                             "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
       the Standard Bearer                                a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. . .  "
                                                                                                              (II Corinthians 4: 17)

                                                                                             Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma, Pres.
                                                                                             David M. Ondersma, Vice Clerk

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





216                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



                          News From Our Churches
                                                 January  13,1984

  In regards to our ministers,  the, December 25,          in this country, and semi-monthly to 90 addresses
1983 bulletin of Hull Protestant Reformed Church           in countries such as Korea, Australia, Ireland, Sing-
had a handwritten message at the bottom: "Baby             apore, New Zealand, and many countries in West
girl, Leanne Joy, born Christmas morning to Rev.           and South Africa . . . . To date, this year we have
and Mrs. Cammenga." And the December 25, 1983              sent out at least 1200 copies of Sunday School
bulletin of First Protestant Reformed Church in            papers, 1800 copies of The Sfandard Bearer, and 400
Holland stated, "The new phone number of Rev.              copies of catechism books . . . . When a person from
and Mrs. Heys is 001-64-4-672-200. They send               Africa sends a letter for our material he spends as
greetings to the congregation. May we remember             much as $7.35 for postage. . . . "
them in our prayers and by a call or letter."                 Volume III, No. 9, January, 1984 issue of  Across
  First Protestant Reformed Church's bulletin of           the Aisle had in it a letter from Rev. Arie and Sherry
January 15, 1984 had this information:  "Classis           den Hartog. Here are some highlights from the let-
East of our churches met last Wednesday in our             ter. "The evening meeting at  Toa  Payoh Mission
church . . . . Classis  gave permission for the formu-     was also a Gospel Meeting. The attendance was
lation of a Grandville church . . . . A spirit of          very good. The meeting place was filled to capacity
brotherly love prevailed at Classis."                      with a number of new friends brought by various
                                                           members of our church. Besides the above, both
  In the December 4, 1983 bulletin of the Mission          Pastors have been busy writing for the church
in Birmingham, Alabama was this announcement:              magazine and also for our anniversary booklet for
"On the book table is a cassette tape you all will         next month's anniversary celebration . . . . One of
want to hear. It is of the lecture by the Rev. Steven      the biggest things going on presently is the matter
Houck on the subject of `The History of the King           of purchasing the house on Blair Road to be used as
James Bible.' In a very interesting way, Pastor            a church premise. The purchase is now almost
Houck tells us of what gave rise to this version and       finalized . . . . We have two more weeks of  pre-
of the talents and piety of the men who translated         baptism classes left to go. Already, seven people are
it. The speech is well documented and well de-             committed to either baptism or membership in the
livered."                                                  church . . . . We now have six weekly Bible Study
                                                           groups at various places and led by different people
   Southeast Protestant Reformed Church carried            in the church . . . . Malaysia has had serious flood-
this January 1, 1984 bulletin notice: "The Evange-         ing problems because of all the rain including the
lism Society is pleased to announce the publication        church in Kuala Trengganu."
of a new pamphlet, `Our Only Comfort,' written by
Rev. Haak, with the cover design by Karen VanDer              I will conclude with two excerpts from a news-
Schaaf. This pamphlet is ideal for the sick, the aged,     letter of The Board of the Society for Protestant Re-
and those new to the Reformed faith. Also, avail-          formed Special Education. "Initially, it appears that
able once again is Rev. H. Hoeksema's pamphlet             we will serve a student body of three to six chil-
`God is Our Refuge.' "                                     dren . . . . ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old . . . .
                                                           We have found that there are Protestant Reformed
  The Reformed Witness Committee of Hope                   people who are willing and able to serve as special
Protestant Reformed Church sent out this informa-          education teachers or aides. The board hopes to ex-
tion in their Janury 5, 1984 newsletter. "Our work         tend contracts to both teachers and aides early in
in this area has consisted of coordinating programs        1984. . . . Also, we are heartened by the number of
at the Christian Rest Home. These programs have            Protestant Reformed young people in college who
been given by the societies of our church; and we          hope to make special education their careers . . . .
thank them for their part in this work. Another part       Here, as in all other areas, we see that Jehovah fills
of our work is sending tapes monthly to 18 people          every need."                                       D H


