                                           he.

                            __...  1,    tandard                                    `,

                                                  earer


L'    A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



      IN THIS ISSUE:


              Meditation:  lnstrticting Our Children

              Editorials: An Attempted Reformed Defense of Billy Graham (2

                         The Nature of the Atonement

              liars Deny lnfallibil,ity of Scripture

              The RES Regional Conference



                                                         t
                                               Volume    II/ Number 20  / September 1, 1966
                                                         Y


458                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER





                                                                                                                                           T H E S T A N D A R D B E A R E R
                                             C O N T E N T S
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                                                                                                                                   Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                                                                                                                 Editor-  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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Meditation  -                                                                                                                  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
   Instructing Our Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458                    Rapids,  Mich.      49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
          Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                    words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
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   Editorial Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    461
   An Attempted Reformed Defense of Billy Graham (2). 461                                                                      All church news items should be addressed  toMr. J. M. Faber,
   The Nature of the Atonement: Limited or General? . . 464                                                                          1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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   The Growth of Lawlessness . . . . . . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
          Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                                          Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
Trying the Spirits  -                                                                                                          received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
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          Rev. J. A. Heys
From Holy Writ -
   The Good Shepherd of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
          Rev. G. Lubbers
Examining Ecumenicalism  -                                                                                                                            ANN0  UNCEMENT
   The RES Regional Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
         Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                        The Theological School of the Protestant Reformed
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News From Our Churches  -                                                                                                      cause of our school to the prayers of  the,churches.
         Mr. J. M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          480    Consistories are reminded that requests for student
                                                                                                                               supply for pulpit or catechism classes must be directed
                                                                                                                               to the rector.
                                                                                                                                                             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, Rector


       MEDITATION-

                                                               Instructing Our Children

                                                                                                                 by Rev.  J.  Kovteving

                                                         "We will not hide  them  from  their  childven,  shewing to the  geneva-
                                                tion to come the praises of the  Lovd, and his s  tvength,  and his  wondev-
                                               ful  works that he hath done...."                                                                       Psalm  78:1-8

   The church  rejoices  when a babe is born.                                                                                  glimpse and all the nudging, cuddling, and pulling that
   A  mother clings to her newborn, her moistened                                                                              inevitably follows.
eyes reflect a holy awe. Father lays a calloused hand                                                                             Children are a blessing to the home.
upon its tender flesh and light glows in his eyes as he                                                                           They are no less a blessing to the church.
looks at mother; a depth of love draws two hearts                                                                                 The joy of the church rings heavenward when we
united in one flesh.                                  Even brothers and sisters are                                            celebrate the sacrament of Baptism.                It is especially
caught in the ecstatic excitement, eager for the first                                                                         then that we are made conscious of the place of children


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     459

in our midst. The promise of God is sounded forth,              fact in Ephraim, who, according to verse 10, "kept not
"I will establish my covenant between me and thee and           the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law."
thy seed after thee in their generations for an ever-           The reason is, "they forgat his works and his won-
lasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed         ders that he had  shewed them." In other words, they
after thee." The response of parents to this promise            didn't instruct their children.
is heard, "We acknowledge that although our children               It is obvious, then, that instruction of our children
are conceived and born in sin.. . .yet they are sanctified      is not primarily for the sake of our homes, that is,
in Christ and therefore as members of his church                that our sons will be good fathers, have good jobs and
ought to be baptized." The, whole congregation sings            support a family well, and our daughters will be able
with the Psalmist, "Lo children are a heritage of the           wives, love to cook and sew and be good hostesses.
Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward."                 We do not principally instruct our children in order
    Asaph detected the significant place of children in         that they may be good citizens of our country, that is
the church. His first concern in Psalm 78 was not the           that      they    may be law-abiding citizens, respect
enrichment of the home, but rather the important role           authority, and pay taxes. Neither is the instruction of
children play in the generation of the church. Notice           our children for the sake of society. We do not center
in verse 4, he does not even refer to the children of           our education in such things as community improvement,
his generation as 0%`~ children, but their children., .viz.,    appreciation of the arts and sciences, train them to be
the children of "our fathers". These children are the           good singers and players of instruments and so to
progenitors of the generation to follow who in turn will        cultivate esthetic values.         Rather the principle of
also beget children and must instruct them, "that the           instruction is that our children may know God and
generation to come might know them, even the children           learn to serve God.
which should be born; who should arise and declare                 This is the idea of our- text. What will we teach
them to their children." The generation of believers            our children?        "The praises of the Lord, and his
have their roots in the past, and the branches reach            strength, and his wonderful works that he has done.
into the future.                                                For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed
    This is important for us to`see in order that we may        a law in Israel."
have a proper perspective concerning the instructionof             The hub in the wheel of knowledge is God!
our children.       Children are not only born into the            There are many spokes, many aspects of knowledge,
home, they are born into the generation of the church.          yet they all have their source and center in God. This
    Asaph is dealing here with the all-important ques-          we must tell our children.
tion, why does God command parents to instruct their               When we do this, we provide covenant instruction;
children.                                                          Our children must know God, not simply about God,
    We find a three-fold- answer in these verses.               but know God! This knowledge is given them within
    The first is in verse 5, "For he established a              the sphere of the church. As we take our children to
testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel,              church, God works in their hearts by His Spirit and
which he commanded our fathers, that they should make           Word.       Don't forget, we testify at Baptism that they
them known to their children: That the generation to            are members of the covenant.         At conception God has
come  might know them." This is basic to all instruc-           prepared them for the preaching, for they are regener-
tion.    It is the imparting of knowledge, particularly         ated already then. In the worship service and while
by those who know to those who do not know.                     our children are in catechism, the Holy Spirit applies
    The second reason is given in verse 7, `That they           this milk of the Word to their hearts. The revelation
might set their hope in God, and not forget the works           of God, the law of God, the wonders of God, especially
of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be             that central wonder, the cross, are unfolded before
as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation;         their eyes.       Through this instruction, our children
a generation that set not their heart  aright, and whose        learn to know God as their God in Jesus Christ;
spirit was not stedfast with God." This follows im-             otherwise Jesus could never have said, "Except ye
mediately from the first reason. They must know the             become as little children, ye cannot enter into the
truth not only, but this knowledge of the truth must            kingdom of heaven."
make them free! They must know the will of God not                 With His knowledge they are prepared for further
only, but learn to walk in the will of God. By doing this       instruction.      They must learn the full counsel of God.
their hope is set upon God, and God is glorified by us          This includes the created wonders of God and the
and our children. This is the joy of the covenant.              works of God's hands in history. Even here we under-
    Finally, Asaph points out in verse 5 that our chil-         stand that the wheel of knowledge is one. It is not
dren must have this knowledge in order that they may            divorced from the hub, but has its center in it. The
"declare them to their children." The church is the             knowledge of God revealed in the Bible is central,
gathering of believers and their seed. In order that            and therefore must be carried into every area. Even
this gathering may take place it is important that each         as the Bible is the source of the preaching, so it is the
generation instruct the next generation. In this way            source of all teaching. It must be THE textbook at all
each generation is qualified to continue that instruction       times.
in subsequent generations. If we fail to instruct our              Within the spere of the church our children learn
children, we can never expect the covenant to continue          to love God, a love whereby God demands of us obedi-
in our generation. Asaph mourns this only too obvious           ence to His law, and a love whereby we seek to glorify


460                                           THESTANDARDBEARER

God in all things. Within the sphere of the home our          instructed in the praises of our God.
children learn that all of life is an expression of this         Let's say emphatically: we will not hide them, we
covenant of God.        The home is the most intimate         will show them!
manifestation of God's covenant with His people. We              Let's confirm this resolution with our deeds. It
teach our children that the relationship of a husband         becomes manifest in many ways.
and wife is a picture of Christ and His church. As               Our homes reflect this attitude. We as parents
Christ loves His church, so a husband must love his           realize the one most important thing we must do for
wife; as the church is obedient to Christ, so a wife          our children is instruct them.        Yes, mothers wash
must be obedient to her husband. As a father loves his        dishes and fathers earn, the daily bread. Never may
children, so our Father loves us and dwells with us.          we be so busy that we have no time to show our chil-
Children must obey their parents even as we all who           dren the praises of God in our homes. We must take
are children of God must obey our Father in heaven.           them by the hand and lead them through the Word of
The school is an extension of the home wherein teachers       God and guide them in their thoughts, words, and deeds.
reveal to our children the wonders of God as found in         We must teach them the right from the wrong. In love
creation, in history, in government, in the knowledge         we must insist that our children walk in the right and
and skills of men.                                            resist the wrong. This demands not only words, but
       As this wheel of knowledge turns, it guides our        especially that we will be an example to our children.
children through their daily life.       Only with such          Our schools reflect this attitude. We recognize the
knowledge are they able to be living members of the           need for daily instruction in the wheel of knowledge in
church, faithful husbands  ,and wives, worthy citizens        which God is the hub of all truth. As parents we are
of our country, respected employers or employees,             willing to work long and hard for Protestant Reformed
and good neighbors. Then our children as they come            education.    We desire that our teachers whom we hire
to years, of discretion will be able by the grace of God      in our places will bring these praises of our God to our
to acknowledge God in all their ways.                         children every day. Even then we will not simply pass
   Let's say with Asaph, "We will not hide them from          the task on to teachers, we will take an interest in our
their children, we will shew them to generations'. to         schools and our children as they learn.
came."                                                           Our churches reflect this attitude.         A s   office-
   Our children need this instruction. They need it           bearers we recognize the ministry for the youth; we
because they do not have this knowledge in themselves         need a thorough system of catechetical instruction. We
and they will not seek it for themselves. They are            need to  remember,the youth in our sermons and prayers.
conceived and born in sin.        By nature they are at       We need to labor to the end that the home, church, and
enmity against God. They need the grace of the Holy           school are brought into harmony as spheres in which
Spirit as  He' applies- this knowledge to their hearts.       the knowledge of God as God is taught our children.
Besides  thiSj  -our. children are  called to join  US  as       Yes, this is everyone's work. Our young people
pilgrims in a hostile world. We  have  the calling to         may well consider the calling to the ministry or teach-
serve God in the midst of-the world. That world hates         ing in the Christian school; we have great need. Young
the church, and under the power of the devil seeks to         and old have a wonderful opportunity to contribute
overcome the children of God. They come with their            financially as the collection plate is: passed in the cause
temptations of pleasure, of worldly fame, and riches.         of Christian education.
Our children must be instructed in such a way that they          This showing to our generation involves muchwork.
can discern evil, learn to resist it, and serve God           It is an important work for it is only through instruction
even unto death,                                              that God gathers His church unto Himself. We labor
   This instruction is the concern of all of us as            with weakness, with tears and sorrows. It often
children of God. Our children are born into the cove-         demands more than we can possibly give. Yet we are
nant.     Not the natural bond arouses our interest, not      confident that in laboring to the utmost of our power,
blood ties, rather spiritual ties. As living members of       God will surely realize His covenant in this generation
the covenant, whether young or old, we are interested         and in that which is to come until the day of our Lord
in the babes of the faith that they with us may be            Jesus Christ.




                  That' sovereign grace must needs be particular grace, and that particular grace pre-
               supposes free and sovereign election, is a truth which by many is looked upon as belong-
               ing in the ecclesiastical or dogmatical antique shop. Much more popular are they in our
              day who openly and boldly deny the doctrine of God's sovereign. predestination, and who
              preach salvation as a possibility, a chance for all. God on His part seriously seeks the.
              salvation of all men; and He offers it to all. And man has the power by an act of his own
              free will either to accept or to reject the proffered salvation. There can be no doubt
              that,, if the truth were to be determined by popular vote, the doctrine of sovereign elec-
              tion would be rejected by an  overwhelming.majority.
                                                         - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 18


I                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        461


                                             Editor's Notes
                                                    by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
         BE SURE TO READ the report on the recent                          The Bible says: "The Lord is not slack concerning
     Regional Conference of the Reformed Ecumenical                  his promise, as some men count slackness;. but is  long-
     Synod which the Rev. Van  Baren  begins in this issue.          suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish,
                              *  *  *  8                             but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9).
         Sometimes our readers wonder whether the witness                  Unfortunately God has no power over the will of
     of the  Standard   Beaver on a matter like the Billy Gra-       man. That is to say: He cannot save a person against
     ham movement receives attention and is worthwhile               his will, but at the same time, HE IS NOT WILLING
     beyond our Protestant Reformed circles  and. our usual          THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH. He has made it possible
     readership.     This witness, of course, is necessary for       for all men to be saved. But the Bible indicates that
     our own instruction and enlightenment. But it is inter-         salvation depends on man's willingness to be saved.
     esting and encouraging to note that it gains attention          It would be a kind of tyranny if God saved people
     elsewhere.     Recently, for example, there came to my          against their will.
     address (though they should have been sent to our Busi-               But His heart embraces all men, and in the word
     ness Manager)  several requests from places like Okla-          "whosoever will may come," is the universal invita-
     homa, Texas, and California for the July issue, which           tion, with no one excluded. Were you predestined to
     contained Rev. Harbach's  ` `Billy Graham's Ministry            be saved? Since it is His will and desire that everyone
     o f   E r r o r . "                                             be saved - in that sense you were of the elect. But this
                              * * * *                                does not imply that if a person is lost, that God ordained
         Speaking of `Billy Graham, a little paperback pub-          it so.     It is because that person was not willing to
     lished in England just prior to the recent c  ru s ade,         place himself within the scope of God's redemption, by
                                                                     yielding his will. The Bible indicates that God will do
     though rather mild in its criticism, is nevertheless            everything short of coercion to redeem people. But
     worth reading, both because of its criticism and because        even He cannot save them against their will.
     of its thorough documentation. The title of this book'by
     E. Hulse is "Billy Graham: A Pastor's Dilemma."                 I do not ask merely: is this Reformed? But I ask:
                              *  * * *                            is this the Gospel of Scripture?
         From the  Baptist  Examinezev,   July 30, 1966, which                               * * * *
     quotes Graham's syndicated column, we quote this bit            A recent article of the Rev. J.  A: Heys received
     of "Graham-ese" in answer to the question, "What is          special attention, by way of reprint, in  Old Faith  Con-
     predestination? Some say a person is predestined to          tendev. The article was "Worshipping the Unknown
     heaven or hell at birth. I know that Jesus Christ is.        God."
     my Savior. In your opinion was I predestined to accept                                  * * * *
     Christ as my Savior?" Here is Graham's answer,
     which ought to be convincing evidence against Reformed
     support of him and in favor or Reformed opposition to
     him:



     EDITORIALS-

             An Attempted Reformed Defense of Billy Graham



                                                   by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

         As I promised, I now return to what I characterized         But Dr. De Jong's presentation of total depravity is
     as  ` `philosophy' ' in Dr. Jerome De Jong's explanation     itself a denial of that doctrine. For consider that his
     of total depravity.                                          presentation is on the very surface of it a contradiction
         I have already shown that De Jong's explanation is       in terms. The doctor holds that total depravity does
     not Billy Graham's.                                          not mean that every sinner is as bad as he can possibly


462                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

be. This in itself presents some insoluble problems.                                         *  *  *  *
For either total means indeed partial, or the totally                But Dr. De Jong has more objections.
depraved man is as bad as he can possibly-be. For                    In connection with what I wrote about Graham's
how can there be a worse or a more complete  ~degree             doctrine of depravity, I wrote the following: "Graham
of badness than total? Moreover, there is the problem            with all his supposed doctrine of total depravity must
of a so-called "natural good" which is,-after all, riot          leave room for what he writes a bit later in his book,
good.      What kind of "goodness" is this? Is it sin?           p. 76: `The need for spiritual rebirth is evident to the
Then it  is not goodness. Is it  eruly goodness? Then            most. casual observer of, human nature.             Man has
man's depravity is not total.        Or  does: Dr. De Jong       fallen. Man is lost.  Manis alienated from God. Man's
mean to suggest that there is a  relatiofi of "man to            recovery must begin at the point of his fall. He chose
man" that does not at the same time involve the "man             self rather than God. If he is to be recovered, he must
to God' ' relationship? Moreover, presupposing now that          choose God over self. Man lives under the sentence of
this "natural  good.:' is indeed  real, how is it possible       death.     This condemnation can be lifted only if man, by
that from a naturally corrupt (totally depraved)  .tree          a  free  act of his own will, makes a complete reversal
there can come forth good fruit?                                 of his original choice.' (emphasis supplied, H.C.H.) I
    In this same connection Dr. De Jong falls  irito the         submit that this italicized statement is worse than
same error as did the Synod of 1924. He quotes only              Arminianism: it is rank modernism!              It is surely
the first part of Canons III, IV, Article 4. If he had           utterly contrary to the truth of the Word of God as it is
only paid attention to what the second part of this              set forth in Canons III, IV,`B, 4..."
article says, he would  never say that the totally                   Concerning this the doctor writes:
depraved  Sinner is not as bad as,  l-& can  pos&bly  be.
For in the  -second  part of the article, we read this:                    This, of course, is  not modernism. I agree it is
"But  so,far.is this light  of.nature  from being sufficient         surely not the way I would state it. It emphasizes
to bring him to a  saying  kpowiedge  of God, and to true           man's responsibility, which we need to emphasize, but
conversion;  ~thut he is incapable  of  using it  avight even       it does seem to place too much on the lost sinner.
                                                                    However I would suggest to  the professor that he
in  things natural and  civil; Nay further, this light, such         should not have stopped reading yet.
as it is, man in various ways  rendevs  whoily polluted,
and  holds it in  umighteous?zesS, by doing which he be-             bver against Dr. De Jong's above position, I would
comes inexcusable before God." (italics mine, H.C.H.)            point out: 1) That Dr. De Jong does not even charac-
   Dr. De Jong also appeals to Calvin's  "Inetitutes" in         terize this as anti-Reformed and Arminian. He makes
this connection'. He makes a very incomplefe qudtation           it a matter of degree of emphasis.            2) That this is
from Book II, Chapter III, 3. If Dr. De Jong had Quoted          indeed modernism. For: a) There is no Christ in it.
Calvin in context and quoted the complete paragraph in           b) It teaches that man simply by an act of his own free
question, it: woulcl  bave become very evident that. while       will,  - an act which is the complete reversal of his
Calvin speaks of  a.certain  common grace  (s>y no  means        original choice, -- can lift his condemnation.          This
the same as that of`1924), he never `attributes any good         makes  salvation  nothing but a  mbdernistic  "operation
to the mere natural man.          It would also have been        -boot-strap." c) It passes by the Scriptural truth that
evident that Calvin never teachesthat "not every sinner          God Himself iifted the condemnation from  all His elect
is as bad as he  cari possibly be." It would also have           at the  cross, and that there is no condemnation for
been evident that Calvin is explaining how and why not           them that are in Christ Jesus.
every man commits all possible sins. The latter, of                                          ****
course, is a patent fact; but it is by no means the same             Next, Dr. De Jong quotes some aphoristic and
as saying  -that~  not every man  is as bad as he possibly       partial statements of Graham which would seem to
can be.     It would also have been plain that Calvin in         prove that I should have read farther. Now  Pet me
no instance detracts from the truth that man is by               assure De Jong that I have read Graham's entire book;
nature "wholly incapable of doing any good and inclined          and I found nothing to change my opinion of Graham's
to all wickedness." It would also have  .been evident            false doctrine. But let me also deal with the statements
that Calvin and Canons III, IV, 4 (including the second          of Graham which he quotes. The first is this: "Salva-
and crucial part which  ,Dr.  De Jong failed  fo quote).         tion is an act of God. It is initiated by God, wrought
are in  ftill agreement. It would also have been evident         by God, and sustained by God." (page 108, "World
that  Ctilvin  is  .exactly dealing with some examples           Aflame")
which "seem to teach us that we should not consider                  Concerning this statement, first of all, Dr. De Jong
human nature to be totally corrupted," but that he               writes: "I submit to you, professor, doesn't that sound
does not accept this suggestion.                                 pretty Reformed? I don't know that I could improve on
   However, I will leave it to Dr. De Jong to correct            these statements very much."
his own  .misquotation  of Calvin. Any of our readers               To  De Jong's question my answer is as follows:
may check up on the above statements in the Allen                    1) Statements such as the above are  not necessarily
translation of the "Institutes," Vol. I, pp. 315,  ff.,          Reformed.
   Besides, of course, it must  b& remembered that                   2) It must always be remembered that Graham
while Calvin is an illustrious authority on Reformed             makes this salvation which is an act of God, initiated,
doctrine, all that Calvin  writes is not authoritative           wrought, and sustained by God, completely dependent
doctrine as are the statements of dur confessions.               upon man.


                                                    THE  STANtiARD  BEARER                                                   463

   3) If De Jong  .had not stopped quoting here, his                can  do these things, but that He surely does them,
Missionary   Monthly  readers would know that in this               accomplishes them, in all His elect.
very connection Graham is thoroughly Arminian, and                      2) But again, Dr. De Jong omits a significant
that he really means that salvation is only a possibility           statement in this quotation and indicates it by  "..."
initiated, wrought, and sustained by God. For on pages              This statement brings out Graham's Arminianism in
108 and 109, in the very next paragraph, Graham>                    this connection  ,ver  y clearly. It is this: "When a man
writes:                                                             calls upon God, he is given true repentance and faith."
                                                                    As always, Graham always gives man the deciding vote
         The second important thing about John 20:31 is  that       in the matter of salvation, you see.
   the effect of faith in Jesus Christ is "life." "And that                                   ****.
  believing ye might have life through his name." The                   Finally, Dr. De Jong quotes a few general state-
   result of a well-placed faith of this specific nature is         ments about Graham's doctrine of Scripture, the
   described as "life." The Bible describes man as                  atonement, the deity of Christ, and the resurrection.
   alive physically, but dead spiritually. A dead man               Concerning these, the following:
   needs life.      The whole human race is described as                1) These statements are very general, not speci-
   being "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:l). This             fically Reformed.
   means they are dead to God. They are incapable of
   producing divine life. This can be done only by God..                2) Graham may teach- the inspiration of Scripture;
   They are capable only of believing and receiving.                but he does not bow before the  authority  of Scripture
   (Mark  tiell: dead men can do this! H.C.H.)  .:..This            in his teachings.  .If he did, he could not teach the false
   life was made available. to all humanity by Christ's             doctrines which he teaches. If he did, he could not
   death on the cross; He said:, "I am come that they               violate the Scriptures as he did recently in the  Soho
   might have life" (John 1O:lO).  This is the life you can         district of London, and say: "I am here to tell you
   have -now, This is "Christ in you, the hope,of  glory"           that God loves every one of you!`.' Scripture gives no
   (Col.                        1:27).  __                          one a mandate to say this.
 Now apart from the fact that Graham is utterly                         3) It is. not specifically Reformed merely to say
reckless here in  quoting-.Scripture  (John  1O:lO refers           that Christ "stood in the guilty sinner's place." It is
only to "the sheep"), it is evident that Graham does                Reformed to say that Christ stood in the place of  elect
not really believe that God initiates, works, and  sus-             sinnevs,  and of them only.
tains salvation, nor that salvation is  an.act of God. On               4) It is indeed possible to point to many aphoristic
the contrary, salvation is only a possibility wrought by            statements of Graham which are in themselves true.
                                                                    Butt the current teaching and "preaching" of Graham
God,       available to the (c o n t r ad i c t o r.i 1 y) dead
sinner who is capable of believing and  .receiving., And            are contrary to  the truth of the gospel.
if Dr. De Jong cannot improve on these statements,                      In the light of De Jong's defense of Graham's doc-
he should learn anew the a-b-c of the  Refqrmed faith.              trine, and in the light of the statements which Dr.
   The, same is true of the following  (mis-),quotation             De Jong calls Reformed, I cannot accept his statement
from p. 149:                                                        that he accepts "unequivocally and without apology the
                                                                    position of the Reformed Confessions."
           The word "conversion" means simply "turning."                And again, if Dr. De Jong accepts, as he says, "as
        From. the beginning of the Bible to the end, God pleads     from God, the work of the evangelist Billy Graham,"
        with man to turn to Him.... However, it is impossible       I can only conclude that Dr. De Jong himself is not
        for man to  turn to God to repent,  OY even to believe      Reformed and that he leads his congregation in the
        without God's help! A@ you can do is call upon God to       direction' of ecclesiastical suicide.
        `;&.&nll you...The  Bible never asks man to justify him-        For as  between  Graham's doctrine and the Re-
        self, f6 regenerate himself, to convert himself, or to      formed faith, it is "either. . .  -or," not, "both. . . .
        save himself. Godatone  can  ds) these things.  (italics
        supplied by Dr. De Jong)                                    and."
   Also the above is supposed to be Reformed, accord-
ing to Dr. De Jong, -- in fact, so Reformed that De
Jong could not improve on it very much. However:                                     RESOL  UTION  OF SYMPATHY
   1) Even the above quotation is far from Reformed.                The Consistory of the Southwest Protestant Reformed
God does not "plead" with men to turn to Him; He                    Church and the Congregation were deeply saddened
commands  them to repent.           God does not merely  help       in the death of elder
men to repent and believe.             This means that man
repents and believes with God's assistance.                 .The                         PETER OFFRINGA
Reformed truth is that God works faith and repentance               Confident that brother Offringa went to be with the
sovereignly  and  efficaciously.  Nor is it true that man           Lord, we are comforted in the hope of the blessed
can call upon God to turn him.               The regenerated,       resurrection, and the reward of grace for the faithful.
converted child of God can indeed pray, "Turn thou                      "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye
me, and I shall be turned." But the natural man is                  shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away".
incapable even of calling upon God to turn him. Nor is              I Peter  5:4.
it particularly Reformed to say, "God alone can do                                                               Rev. G. Lubbers
these things." It is Reformed to say that God not only                                                           Elder H. Kuiper


 464                                             THE STANDARD BEARER





                         The Nature of the Atonement

                                               Limited or General?

                                                  by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


 A WORD OF RE-INTRODUCTION                                       tee has done. And once such definition is made, it is
    The last time we were able to discuss this subject           important not to conMe  the various elements belonging
 of the nature of the atonement was in the May 1 issue.          to that nature of the atonement.             Moreover, it is
There were various other matters which demanded                  necessary also to remember. constantly that when we
 immediate editorial attention; besides, due to the fact         speak of the atonement, we are speaking of something
 that our magazine appears only once per month during            very definite and concrete, of one particular wonder of
the summer, there was not sufficient space  todeal  with         grace that is very plainly set forth in Scripture, one
everything that required our attention. Now, however,            concrete fact of salvation. The subject is not merely
.we return to this subject.                                      atonement in the abstract. And the subject is not any
    Meanwhile, this discussion and study has not become          human conception or interpretation of atonement or
 out-of-date.                                                    even of the death of Christ.' It is  the  atonement, the
                                                                 atonement of Christ, revealed by the Holy Scriptures.
        For, in the first place, the entire matter of the        In that atonement there are, according to Scripture and
 Dekker Case and the Report of the Doctrinal Committee           the confessions, the following elements: 1) The element
 was postponed (op de lange baangeschotien)$  by the Synod       of 
 of the Christian Reformed Church. And, in the second                   satisfaction.  2) The element of  substitution,  which
                                                                 . we are presently discussing.        3) The element that the
' place, this very subject of the nature of the atonement
`continues to have an important place in the Dekker              atonement is what I would denominate as  definitely
Case. -This is. evident fkom.,`the fact that the Doctrinal       personal. This element we must discuss in the future.
Committee apparently agrees `with Dr.  james Daane               4) The  .element  that the atonement is; qualitatively
o`n the  native  of'the atonement.  .For they write: "For,       speaking,  of infinite  worth  and value.
w.henever  we speak about the                                           To the above elements one might expect, perhaps,
                                   nutwe   of the atonement,
no reformed person would ever maintain that the atone-           in the light of the Dekker Case that the element of
ment is limited." (Agenda,  p. 294) And Dr. Daane                efficacy would be added.          This, however, is not an
 rejoices in this, as follows: "And the study committee          additional element in the nature of the atonement, but
 saw some real daylight when it declared in its Report           is simply implied in the four above-mentioned elements
that no Reformed man would hold that the atonement               and in the very nature of atonement. If atonement is
 is limited in its nature."                                      not efficacious, then it simply is not atonement. To
                                   (Reformed Journal,  July-
 August, 1966, p. 7).                                            speak of an atonement that is not efficacious is a
                               Apart from the fact that the      contradiction in terms: an atonement that does not
Doctrinal Committee also holds, with Daane,' that grace          actually atone is no atonement.
is not an attribute of God, -- a very crucial error, by
the way, -this is about all that Daane can find in the           SCRIPTURE AND SUBSTITUTION
Report that pleases him.         And it  is indeed a question           We have already completed our discussion of the
whether the agreement between Daane and the Com-                 element of substitution according to the confessions;
mittee on this score of the nature of the atonement is           and we have begun our discussion of this element in
more than superficial.         For the Committee refers in       the nature of the atonement in the  .light of Scripture.
this connection to the "infinite worth and value" of                    The latter we now continue.
the atonement.        And in this regard, surely, every                 The reader will recall that there are especially two
Reformed man must agree that the atonement of Christ             prepositions in the Greek which are used to express
was of infinite worth and value. I do also,-- provided           this idea of substitution, both of which are usually
that "infinite worth and value" is S c r.i p t u r a 11 y and    rendered by our English word "for." The first of
confessionally understood. But this does not change the          these words means literally "instead of" (anti);  the
fact whatsoever that the nature of the atonement is              second of these words is more literally rendered by
limited, or particular, not general.                             "in behalf of, for the benefit of" (huper). The first
    However, as I have repeatedly stated; it is necessary        term, to which we already called attention in the May
to define, in the first place, what is meant by the nature       1 issue, occurs in connection with Christ's atonement
of the atonement. This neither Daane nor the Commit-             in Matthew  20:28 and Mark  10:45.


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               There is.  one.`.more~"passage in  cbnnection'with'  &at ~v,~,j~+:a  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`i"a..: !rinl'
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ~ha~)  can  only be
           first term to  whichI.w&ld   call.slGe&al  attention.  "'
                                                                                          It ,,&`:. ; .:~~in~~~.~~~~~~a~~~..~~~~~~ ,L&~:$jg$.e~  ,Ithat  Christ  gave
                                                                                                         _, `Hinises~:~~ij~~~~~~,.inst~~~~~~~~~~~,,:~At  ihis pint
~'         important because both terms occur-in the same text. .                                                                                                                                                                                                   in  our
           I refer to the text in  I, Timothy  25, `6:' "For there is  ..' discu~~~~~   ,~~:~a"aie,`not  .co~~~~li;E~.~~~t  the  "all" in the
           one Cod, and one mediator between God-and men; `the                                            text tb&gb `it'should  be very &id@it;' again, that if this
           man Christ Jesus; Who gave .himself a ransom! (antilu-                                         ` all" :i'S  every individual  human'being,  then the  sub-
                     for all 
           tmn)                   (super  pantoon),'  to be testified in due                             stitutionary-satisfactory-atone&M  `must needs imply
           time." The interesting aspect of this text is that the                                         the justification and salvation  .of::every individual also.
           term "instead  of" (anti)  occurs here in combination                                          We are  $m+sted,  however, in' this connection only in
           with the term "ransom" (h&on),  thereby enforcing it.                                          the idea  .of `substitution as  taught:byScripture's  use of
           The term "ransom" in the  ,English  rendering of the                                           the. terms that  : are commonly. translated "for" in our
           text, therefore,. could very properly be rendered  .by                                        En$ish.l$ble,.:-..;  And  this  i++;,+f substitution is very
           "substitute-ransom."                   This makes it plain that the                           forcibly  ..set forth in the text  just"ted.
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           THE CHURCH AT WORSHIi-                                                                                                                                                                         . . _.  ;
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              The last time we emphasized the necessity of                                                impenitent. `It  al& opens' these  &me doors to those
           Christian discipline. In every institution founded with-                                       who believe. and are penitent.  `Tliis is reality, and in
           in the society of mankind there must not only be laws                                          .the  function..of.`this disciplinary power order is main-
           by which that institution is governed, but there must                                          tained in.the .@ngdom of Cod.                                                                                            `..
           be proper maintenance and enforcement of those laws.                                                  This  `:`must be further. clarified  :.so that an answer
           This enforcement constitutes the indispensable dis-                                            may be : given:, to the objection that :is frequently raised
           cipline upon society through which order is maintained,                                        against  this position. It is arguedthatby the "church"
           transgression is punished and without which society is                                         is meant  .-the consistory, the ruling body, and that the
           destroyed  .by lawlessness. The latter is characteris-                                         consistory is composed of men. These men are sinful
           tic of our age and is a root factor in the massive dis-                                        men who are very capable of erring in their judgment
           ruptions of civil, industrial, social and even ecclesi-                                        and because of the human element involved the very
           astical life.           Discipline is the backbone of a  well-                                 real possibility may not be ruled out that in their using
           ordered society.                                                                               this authority to discipline members of the church,
              We have a few more comments to make yet with                                                injustice is perpetrated. Therefore, it is claimed that
           respect to the discipline of the church before we enter                                        when a member is excommunicated from the fellow-
           into a discussion of the Form for Excommunication.                                             ship of the church, we may not say that he is excluded
           Our next observation deals with the idea or nature of                                          from the kingdom of heaven.
           the censures of the church. It must be remembered                                                            In answering this objection there are several con-
           that Christian discipline is one of the keys of the king-                                      siderations that must be kept in mind. In the first
           dom of heaven, and by this is meant the power to open                                          place, it may be conceded that there is ,a measure of
           and to shut that kingdom to believers and penitent and                                         validity in this argument. Without reference to any
           to unbelievers and impenitent respectively. The church                                         particular instance,  I would say that it is not only
           of Jesus Christ in the midst of this present world has                                         possible that a consistory unjustly excommunicates a
           this power. It is given to her by Christ Himself ac-                                           person from the church  but.that historically this has
           cording to Matthew  18:15-18.                      The importance of this                      also happened more than a few times.. But, in the
           must not be minimized, nor must this power of the                                              second place, let us remember also that it is not our
           church be confused with a certain right to exclude one                                         position that the church in herself possesses. the
           from the fellowship of a particular church or denomina-                                        power to open and shut the kingdom of heaven, but
           tion of churches. .In effect this is what happens when                                         she has this in dependence upon the Word of Christ
           one is excommunicated from the church, but thematter                                           and through the operation of His Spirit. Christ, and
           is far more serious than that. The discipline of the                                           Christ alone, can have this power. He is "the one
           church closes the doors of heaven to unbelievers and                                           that is holy, that is true, that hath the key of David,


466                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

that.  openeth,' and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and       His honor and glory become obscured. Where the
no man openeth." (Revelation  3:7) Thirdly, then, we          latter situation prevails there is a manifestation of
must- conclude that when. the church exercises this           Divine wrath, whereas in the former. circumstance
disciplinary power unjustly, that is, in a manner -that       the blessings of His grace abound, and in these is
is contrary to the Word of Christ, she, in reality, is        manifest the excellency of His glory and honor.
not exercising the key power at all. She is not using             In light of this our next observation should not be
but  misusing  this authority. She is corrupting the holy     difficult to understand. It is this.  .The exercise of ec-
ordinances of God, and through such corruption the            clesiastical censure is inseparably connected with. the
Spirit of Christ does not work. But this does not alter       preaching of the Word. The  ,principle  key-power of
the fact or change the reality in any way that where          the church lies precisely in the preached Word. That
the church maintains Christian discipline according to        Word preached is not the proclamation of a general
the Word of God, Christ, through that function, opens         love of God to all men without distinction. Neither is
and shuts the doors of His Kingdom, so that what is           it a well-meaning offer of salvation to all who hear it.
bound on earth according to the Word of God is also           Rather it is the savor of life unto life and of death unto
bound in heaven, and whatsoever is loosed on earth            death.    It is like a sharp, two-edged  sword,.quick  and
according to that same Word is unalterably loosed in          powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
heaven.     From this two significant admonitions ensue.      and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a dis-
Consistory members are enjoined to exercise extreme           cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews
caution and engage in incessant prayer in these mat-          4:12) Specifically, `in the preaching of the Word, Christ
ters, so that everything done may  be. in harmony with        proclaims the message given through the prophet
the Divine will and carry away His blessing. And              Isaiah: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well
members who are, for whatever cause, made the ob-             with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
ject of discipline, must never attempt to justify their       Woe unto the wicked1 It shall be ill with him, for the
sin or escape the judgment of God under the invalid           reward of `his hands shall be given him." (Isaiah  3:10,
and flimsy excuse that the consistory  has. fault in the      11) Is it not then obvious that through the preaching of
matter too. Even if this is the case, two evils never         His Word Christ opens and shuts the doors of His
make one right.      Let the sinner confess his sin and       Kingdom?      And this is just what He also does through
then if there be sin in the consistory too, labor in          the censures of the church. Christian discipline then
love, that this also may be confessed, for in this way        is a subordinate and assistant form of the preaching of
alone the  purpose  of Christian discipline is attained.      the Word. The former can never be exercised without
This is not reached when the sinner, because of some          the latter. The power of discipline is resident in the
error or wrong by the consistory, refuses to confess          preached Word of God. It is God Himself Who says to
and thus compels the consistory to proceed with ulti-         the impenitent sinner, Woe unto you, for unless you
mate excommunication.                                         repent and forsake your evil way there- is no place for
   `Cur second observation deals with this  purpose of        you in My church or My Kingdom.
Christian discipline. Concerning this there is either            If it is necessary to distinguish these two we may
general misunderstanding or much ignorance. An-               say'that the preaching of the Word is general, addressed
other  .alternative  is  .that the members of the church      to the whole congregation, not to any particular person
know very well what the purpose .of Christian discipline      and appeals to the consciences of men, while Christian
is, but refuse or fail to take cognizance of it when in-      discipline as exercised by the church is a personal
volved in an actual disciplinary situation. The attitude      labor dealing with specific individuals and with certain
frequently prevails that the consistory is picking on         known sins. The preaching of the Word deals with sin
me, has it in for me, wants to get rid of me as a mem-        in general, warns against all sin as displeasing to the
ber of the church, etc. Discipline is then regarded as        Lord, while Christian discipline deals with specific,
a humanly instituted device whereby those who hold            gross sins. In this connection it may also be noted that
office in the church can have things their way and can        not every sin can be regarded as an object of Christian
rid the church of all who would dare to manifest any          discipline, but only those sins which are dishonoring to
dissent.    Needless to say, this conception is both un-      the name of Christ and are a shame to the church. Of
true and wicked. The sole purpose of Christian dis-           course, ultimately it may be said that  all sin  dishonors
cipline in the church is three-fold. It aims first of all     the name of Christ and all sin is a shame to the church
to honor and glorify God in Christ. It purposes, second-      but there are sins which, in their verynature, are such
ly, to purify and to maintain the purity of the church in     that the official function of ecclesiastical discipline
the world.    And, finally, its objective is the salvation    cannot touch them. The sin must first come to mani-
of the sinner. We will not go into detail here, but we        festation.    It must be open or public, and either it is
note that each aspect of this three-fold purpose is in-       that in its very nature, such as sins of adultery, theft,
separably related to the others.       It is when saved       murder, etc., or it may become that in the way of
sinners,' members of the church, walk in the way of           Matthew 18. The sin of one, made known before wit-
their salvation that the church becomes manifest in           nesses, is ultimately reported to the church and, if
the world as the gathering of saints (holy ones), the         guilt is established, the church then must proceed with
assembly of God's elect, and in that sphere of holiness       disciplinary measures. We must remember, too, that
the honor and glory of God are positively manifest.           in the final analysis all  impenitence  is gross sin and
Conversely, when sin and evil are found in the church,        that therefore the only sin for which a member is  ex-


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        467

  communicated from the Christian church is the sin of               larly when we come to the table of the Lord. Also
  impenitence.                  ":                                   here there is but one sin that bars us from the com-
        This is  ,an interesting and significant point. If a         munion and fellowship of Christ. It too is the  sinof
 member of the church falls into the sin of stealing or              impenitence.     The consistory may not know about it
 murder, is labored with by the consistory and after                 and  we. may not perhaps be told by the elders, of the
 much prayer and many admonitions must finally be                    church that we may not come to the table of the Lord
  excommunicated from the church, that member is not                 but if there is sin remaining in us which we have not
 .excommunicated  because he is, a thief or murderer.                confessed, concerning which we have found no repent-
  If. this would be the case, not only he, but all of us             ance and with respect to which we have no desire to
 would have to be excommunicated. But the fact of the                flee, we are in our own consciousness barred from the
 matter is that the excommunication takes place because              table of the Lord. In our experience there can be no
  of impenitence. If you ask the question: "For what                 reception of the blessings of Christ as long as im-
  sin was this person excommunicated from the church?."              penitence remains in our hearts. From a subjective
the answer must be and can only be, "For the sin of                  point of view, impenitence obstructs spiritual com-
  impenitence".                                                      munion, and although this may not be objectively  dis-
        Yet this is not all' that is to be said here. Let us         cernable it is nevertheless just as real as with him
 for a moment leave out of consideration the  official               who has been excommunicated from the fellowship of
 ecclesiastical censure -and consider the censure that.              Christ. through the Divinely appointed ecclesiastical
  each of us is obliged to place upon ourselves,  particu-           censure.


       ALL- &?OUND US-



                                 T-he Growth of Lawlessness

  .                                                      by  Pyof. H. Hanko


        One of the most alarming trends to be found in our           The courts seem little concerned with the agony and
degenerate age is the growth of lawlessness.  We.are                 suffering, the rights of the victims of crime, but over-
  rapidly becoming a country which totters  on.the brink             whelmingly concerned with the rights of the criminal.
 of anarchy..                                                            This growth of- lawlessness has become especially
        There are many evidences. of this.                           evident in the whole field of the civil rights struggle.
       The streets of our,  cities~ are. filled with crime. We       Demonstrations, freedom marches, sit-ins are so
  are told by law-enforcing agencies `that a murder is               common that they scarcely warrant space in-the news-
 committed in our country at least every five  .minutes.             papers any longer.      But demonstrations have become
~ Within the past two months two mass murders --`one                 riots; and our cities this summer are being torn by
-. in Chicago where eight. nurses were systematically                looting, burning, strife, murder, and bitter  racial.war.
 butchered and one in Austin,  .Texas where fifteen people           This is not limited to the South; indeed the cities of
 were killed and thirty-one wounded by a rifleman who                the North  are. the scenes of racial upheaval. Chicago,
 was himself killed--have shocked the nation.  .But all              Cleveland, New York, Detroit, Lansing -- these  -are but
.kinds of crime- increase yearly  at:. an alarming rate.             a. few of the cities which have had to contend with riots
.So much is- this --true that it has attract.ed,the  attention       this past summer.          Looting and arson have been
 of `our. national legislators.       And all this ,is abetted by    carried on before the eyes of watching police who do
the recent  -Supreme  Court decisions which weight the               nothing to prevent these crimes from taking place,
 law in favor of the criminal and make it increasingly               either out of helplessness or fear.
 difficult  .for iaw-enforcement agencies to maintain                    Encouraging  .this sad state  -.of affairs has been, on
order within our, society. It has become all but `im-                the one side, the government, which does not consider,
 possible to convict a murderer with the full force of               .evidently,  this rioting to  ,b,e criminal and a violation of
 the. courts on his side.       Gangs fight in the  .streets.        law and order,. but which rather excuses it all on the
 Mobs of hoods, riding high-powered motorcycles create               grounds that. these underprivileged masses have been
 mayhem; and the law seems helpless.to  stop them. The               so badly treated that they cannot help what they do.
 .result  is that one- is `no longer safe walking at night on        Social studies and psychological analyses take the
 many streets within-our larger cities. And one wonders              place. of law-enforcement.          Increased government
 how long he will be safe behind the door.s of his house.            grants to build new homes and businesses are poured


                       ,,.         `.     `.                                           .  .  .
                        :  I  :                              --.,   ,  `.  .  .._..                                                                                        I
                                                         ;..           :.              .I           .,





into the areas when&e @rticipants' ought;  to;& ,pros-                                                    eight Roman Catholic bishops, including Francis
ecuted.  Even  ou,r..  vice;president  was  ..:re'cer&  quoted'                                           Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles and Archbishop
as saying that he  too
                      ., '; would riot  `if`:  he  was?forced  to                                         Joseph  McGucken  of San Francisco. Bishop James A.
live in a ghetto.      '                  -;i.           ,,`,  ..,`:  -  ;:;$,.`                          Pike also urged his congregation to join the march.
    On the other `side `of the picture, encouraging this                                                  The National Council of Churches formally endorsed
massive resistance  {to `the law stands  tl$chukbh. The                                                   the strike.          This  was. done because these leaders
National Council, of. Churches has loug..knco,uraged  law-                                                believe that they are called to join the fight to attain
lessness in the  .mad~.~.pursuit  of,  civil:.~"righi$`"  Many                                            justice and equality; but they throw justice and law to
church assemblies  -have' gone  on:  record  as: favoring'                                                the .winds.
"civil disobedience?"- something  which  .`th&Reformed                                                        All this has spread rapidly to the whole field of
Church of America accomplished yet, at .this~summer's                                                     Christian morals. Not only the law of the land is being
synodical meeting.. By. civil disobedience  `is`ineant  the                                               violated on every side, but the law, of God is trampled.
right of every  individualto  obey those  ,laws.o$y  which                                                It is not surprising that this should be so, for obedience
he chooses to  obey-,while  being  given::&  fi$l'right to                                                to the authorities in the state is obedience to God who
disobey the laws  which:  he does not  care:to:  ob&y.  And                                               has given them their authority. When the laws of the
while all this is supposed.: to be  limitedi.:td;:t~~~fieId  of
                                                           ::.;,  :                                       land are despised, this is only because the law of God
civil rights and racial equality!  theselimitations were                                                  i s   h a t e d .
not expressed in syriodical  decisions;.:and'cantherefore                                                     There are  .increasing evidences also of man's total
be applied to all.- re&io.n,to .,-tho,it,l.]s;cr..;~~~~~~~~. man                                          unconcern for the moral law of God.
at any time has,, - the:; right;:, to. disobey a~ny++v  :which  he
                                                                                              .I              It was only about eight years ago that advocates of





                                                                                                              And from euthanasia it is but another short jump to
                                                                                                          eugenics; In this field also there is increased progress
                                                                                                          and agitation, Scientists are promoting the idea that
incident in California which'strikingly  illust.rates  this.                                              the most basic processes of life can and ought to be
Unions in this country are  founded.on'the  principle of                                                  tampered. with to -produce children of pre-determined
lawlessness and have the right of existeke.incoercion                                                     physical characteristics and of unheard of intellectual
and defiance of constituted-.authority.  But the. churches                                                capacities.          They advocate artificial insemination of
have taken a role in thisviolence of unionism as well.                                                    barren mothers or the birth of children through  un-
Grape-pickers in  .California  recently finished a month-                                                 known donors for barren fathers.
long,  300, mile march from Delano. to Sacramento  as.                                                        We have commented before on the increasing  in-
part of  the@ bitter fight with grape-growers and to be                                                   fluence of the ` `new morality".           Bishop John T. A.
recognized as a union.                            With them marched Roman                                 Robinson was recently quoted as saying: "I recognize
Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers.                                                       to the full that all of us, especially young people, have
Their right to organize was endorsed by California's                                                      to have working rules. My point is that when these are


                                                          THESTANDARDBEARER                                                            469

            questioned as they are being questioned, the Christian             tance of obedience to God's law. They must emphasize
            is driven back to base them not on law (fornication is             anew that the law of God has, through the power of the
            always wrong) but on love, on what deep concern for                cross, been  engraven  on the hearts of the people of
            persons as whole persons, in their entire social context           God; that this is the perfect law which alone can give
            really requires."                                                  liberty-the liberty of obedience and love to God.
               Following this lead, Rev. R. N. Waugh, a Presby-                They must show the solemn obligation of fulfilling the
            terian clergyman wrote: "When maturing people are                  perfect law of gratitude.
           given their heads and are capable of weighing their                     There is another point that needs to be made. It is
            responsibilities in the light of pre-marital or extra              sometimes argued that civil disobedience is condoned
            marital sexual experience, then, given their situation             by Scriptures' principle of "obeying God rather than
            their decision may be moral.  ; .yes, even the Christian           man." It is ironic that those who rail at Scripture's
           thing to do."                                                       authority nevertheless find it convenient to quote
               The next step is quickly taken. A certain Margaret              Scripture at times.      But be that as it may, this de-
          Mead (quoted in  Our  Sunday  Visitor)   proposes destruc-           serves an answer. The fact of the matter is that the
           tion of marriage as it now exists. She proposes that                Christian must be a law-abiding citizen. But his  ob-
           people who decide they would like to live together be               ligation is also to obey God rather than men. Yet this
            given permission to do this. This will give them op-               implies:
            portunity  .to learn whether they wish to be married.                  1) That he obeys man for God's sake, recognizing
            They would not be permitted to have children, however,             that he is duty bound to subject himself to all in
            during this trial period. If they later decided it would           authority over him.
            be best to be married they could apply for a "parental                 2) That if those in authority over him in the state
           marriage," which is a more. permanent form and in                   demand of him something that is contrary to the will
           which they would be allowed to have children. But                   of God, he must indeed disobey for God's sake.
            before they could enter this state, they wouldfirst have               3) That this disobedience is a far cry from the
            to show that they are economically and psychologically             civil disobedience so openly advocated. He has not the
           prepared to have children--perhaps to some govern-                  right in himself to determine what laws he shall obey
           ment agency; ,If they could not show this, they would               and what laws he shall not obey; he has only the
            have to abandon thoughts of marriage at least for the              Scriptures before which he must bow. And only when
            time being.                                                        he cannot bow to the authority of men without doing
               And you may be sure that presently the church,                  violence to his. supreme commitment to Scripturedoes
            tickled by any new doctrine, will soon be pressing for             he have the right to refuse obedience.
           this too..                                                              4) But even then this is different from the "civil
               And so. it goes. How many more instances could not              disobedience" of which men speak. The disobedience
            be  cited'in  our lawless society.                                 of which men speak is rebellion and revolution; it is
              What'must  we say to all this?                                   defiance and contempt of law. The disobedience which
               It ought. to be evident, in the first place,  that. Scrip- -
     -                                                                         is- the Christian's sacred trust is a passive disobedi-
           ture itself'. points' us to lawlessness  as. a sign of the          ence which permits him  `to continue to recognize the
            return  of,,Christ. Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew           authority of those over him. He bows before a heavenly
1           24:12:  "<And because  iniquity'(literally,  "lawlessness")        K i n g :   `_
     :I ' shall abound, the love of -many shall wax cold;" Paul                 The child of God must not sink into the moral
          _' `writes, in II  The&.  2:7,  8:. "For the mystery of              cesspool of our modern age. He must not be persuaded
            iniquity  ,(RV   .has "lawlessness':) doth already work:           t,o  .drift   jnto the devious paths of evil while straying:
            only he who now letteth will let, until`he be taken-out            from the road. -of,  righte,ousness  and truth. He must be
. .        of the way; And' then shall' that Wicked be revealed -.             obedient. to God and to man for God's sake.
           ,.(RV has "And then shall be revealed thelawless-one"),
            whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
           mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
            coming."
               All this surely means that what is now so terrible                                  ANNOUNCEMENT
           will get much worse until it reaches its climax in the                  The song "Perfect Peace," written by the late
           days of Antichrist, just before the return of the Lord.             James Jonker (from First Church) has at last come
               And the basic evil is that men despise God's law.               from- the press. If you are interested in obtaining a
            They toss it aside in contempt and set up laws of their            copy of this sheet music, published by the Rodeheaver
            own fashioning which will give them the liberty to live            Company, please contact Mrs. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842
            in moral degradation. Despising God's law they despise             Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand Rapids,  Mich. 49506.
            all law and become a law unto themselves. It has to be             For mail orders send  6%  (SOC plus  1SC for mailing).
            admitted that there is no hope now or in the future for            Be sure to enclose your own address ! Proceeds from
            such a world as this.                                              the sale of this music will go to the Protestant Re-
               But the people of God have a solemn obligation in               formed Scholarship Fund.
            the light of all this.     They have an obligation both
            towards themselves and their children. They must
            impress upon their children the overwhelming  impor-


4 7 0                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 TlhlNG THE SPIRITS -


                  Liars Deny Infallibility of Scripture  '

                                                  by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


   "Verbal inspiration of Scripture is only a theory            men  like Billy Graham, verbal inspiration is regarded
and not a matter of great importance for the Christian          as an untenable hypothesis that is repulsive to the
faith." That statement  was not made by Karl Barth,             majority of people.             So called mass, co-operative
Martin: Luther King, James A. Pike or some other                evangelism is concerned with avoiding repulsion in
modernist:liberalist  freethinker of the day. It was            order to provide an open field for inoffensive dialogue
uttered by none other than Billy Graham, ostensible             and- discourse. Nevertheless, we care nothing for an
champion         of the cause of orthodox, evangelical          inspiration that is not verbal, for that is the only
Christianity.      But those same modernists are telling        biblical inspiration there is. This principal of verbal
us that- there-' is much in the Bible that is unacceptable      inspiration is the blue thread of truth interwoven and
histofically,  that therefore it must be interpreted            intertwined with the scarlet thread of vicarious atone-
mythologically in order to distil any relevant-meaning          ment and the golden thread of  .unconditional  election,
from it.      Th& those  same  -modernists  also have the       all  running  through the warp and woof of Holy Writ-.
courage to tell  -us that the question of the inspiration       The meaning of this principle is that Scripture is the
pf Scripture -is. of no importance. -This has-always            infallible revelation of God.            For verbal, plenary
been the  liberalistic view of the Bible. Now in  such a        inspiration renders the holy Scriptures infallible. It is
statement  & the above, neither Billy Graham-nor his            evident that this is the doctrine of inspiration taught
liberalistic friends want to be understood as denying           in the Reformed Confessions. For the Belgic Confes-
the' .inspiration  of Scripture.. That is not what fhey do:     sion states that the Word of God was uttered not by the
.T,hey  deny the  verbal  inspiration of  Scripture. The        will of man,  .but that holy men of God spoke  ai they
moderhist.  speaks of  the- Scripture being inspired`the        were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Then God by a
.way-  a  poeti  02 a-bright idea strikes us with a moment      special providence commanded His servants, thti proph-
of  &pi&ion. .Th& inspired Word of God, then, is not            ets and apostles, to commit His revealed Word to
to be  .ftiund only in the Bible. It  may  also be  found.in    writing. Therefore we .are bound to call such writings
Shakespeare, Goethe;  Tennyson,- Longfellow, Whittier,          holy and divine Scriptures  .(Art. 3). These writings
Milt&,' Darwin,  Eme,rsoG  and `-Thoreau. How dare say          are so truly the Word of God that against them nothing
we,.that,  the Spirit-dwells in  -us, then to teach that the    can be alleged. This is the fact, not so much because
can$  @f Scripture has been closed  Isince   the Apostle        the church receives and  .approves  them as  .sutih, but .
Jb;hn? Are we  not interested in what the Spirit has to         because the Spirit witnesses in our hearts that they
say  in..the  twentieth  centuky?  Then  why should not the     are  ,from   Fad, which is exactly their  otin testimony.
above -classics-  Ije  inkluded-.in  the canon of Scripture?    The doctrine of  this Word of God is in all respects
.The~   .Pybtestant and  RefoTmed  doctrine` liolds that the    most perfect and complete, Nor do we consider any
canbn of Sdripture closed with.thk writings of the .Apostle     writing of men, however holy  ol;  .capable, to be on  a
John. `The -1iber8is  hold that the cation of Scripture is      par with these divine Scriptures..  Nor  do we  regard
contintious  w.ith the physical  an< spiritual evolution  cf    tradition,          custom,    antiquity (cf. the "Bible". of
mankind. -       The  source  of. inspiration, then, is not     Humanity), or any school or succession of persons,
exclusively the Bible, but is to bedrawnfrom the world          ectimenical councils, encyclicals, decrees or statutes
in' which we live. The Bible- of the Christian has had          of equal value and inspiration with the Scripture of truth.
its day, says the modern rationalist;. now a richer.            For. the truth is above all, while menof themselves are
Bible  has' come  .into existence, the Bible of humanity.       but liars and their production& more vain  th& vanity
This is. a Bible in which  we  dill  -may be an inspired.       itself. Therefore, we reject with all our hearts what-
writer. : But the Bible of the Christian claims our             soever doth  not. agree with this infallible rule! (See
undivided attention.      "To the law and to  ,the testimony    A r t s .   5 ,   7 ) ;
(of .holy Scripture - RCH), if. they speak not accordifig            To this uhe Westminster Confession agrees,recogni?-
to this Word, it `is because there is no light  ifi  them!"     ing Scripture to be of divine inspiration and of divine.
I s a .   .8:20.                                                authority, which it received  not  tip& the  t&ti&tiny of
   Now the doctrine of verbal inspiration of Scripture          any man or church, but upon the testimony of God who
is no misty theory, but is taught in the Bible, and is
the only inspiration the Bible knows. But with modern                *See  BeZ& Confession,  Art. VII.
                                                       .   .


                                                      THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      471

cannot lie but is truth Himself. This Word of God is'                semi-truth. That will afford us no more than a  semi-
the      infallible      truth,      the whole counsel of God,       faith.    That in turn will leave us  at,~every  page of the
immediately inspired of God, which by His special                    Book benighted with doubts. Then it can never be what
providence was kept pure in all ages. (Chap. 1).                     it claims to be, "a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
       Today's modern theologians and evangelists try to             my path!"
obscure this  .plain doctrine of Scripture by shifting the              If the very words of Scripture are not inspired as
emphasis from an infallible Word of God to an infallible             well as the ideas, then we cannot be certain that in the
Christ. They would have us believe that we would still               divine canon we have the mind of the Spirit. Divine
have an infallible Christ, even if the Scripture could be            ideas could find their way into Scripture only accident-
proved untrue.           But how would we know there is an           ally and very corrupted, if men's words expressing
infallible Christ if the record we have of Him were                  them were left to the guidance of their own minds.
fallible? How could the Bible come to us with the truth              Furthermore, ideas cannot be conveyed as truth to the
that God is God, that He shall save His people from                  mind, except in words. No one can think .a distinct and
their sins, and infallibly lead them to glory, and then              reasonable thought except in the form of a word. In-
leave us with an errant account of it all - an unreliable            spiration of Scripture then means that, the record God
record such as the religious socialists. of the hour                 has given of His revelation is  inerrant and infallible
believe the` `Scriptures to be?              Liberal theologians,    `as to both the thoughts and `the words. The Scripture
seeing the folly of an infallible Christ in a fallible               itself teaches this.      ` `Search the Scriptures, for in
Scripture, have gone. on to claim that the ultimate                  them ye think (and rightly-- RCH) ye have eternal
authority is neither Scripture, nor Christ, but the                  life.". Rebuking the liberals  of. His day, Christ said,
knowledge of God. They want not creeds, nor dogmas,                  `  `Ye'do err, not knowing the Scriptures," which implies
nor the Bible, nor' the Master and His teachings; they               that the Scriptures are an -inerring rule. Referring to
want God;              It. always happens: rejection of a            the infallible' authority of the Old Testament Christ
verbally inspired, inerrant  Scripture leads to the                  said, "The Scriptures cannot be broken.`.' The apostles
rejection of Christ.               The rejection of Christ is the    believed the Scriptures to be an infallible standard of
rejection of God.           Read John  5:23;  14:6. Besides,         truth.    John did: ` For these things were done that the
when men say they want. not dogma, but God, what do                  Scripture should be fulfilled, `A bone of Him shall not
they mean by God?                  They themselves hardly know.      be broken.' And again, another Scripture saith, `They
Small wonder now that they go along with the "God-is-                shall look on Him whom `they have pierced.`." "The
dead" fad! The god described in their vague platitudes               holy Scriptures" alone are' "`able to make..  ,wise unto
is not the God revealed in Scripture.                Nor can we      salvation. ..A11  Scripture is given by inspiration of God."
perceive how the only true Almighty God can be seen                  What is comprehended under the classification "all
to be the highest good if we do. not have an infallible              Scripture"? Certainly all the books of the Old Testa-
divine Scripture so revealing Him.                                   ment, -which Timothy knew from his childhood, for at
       Not to appear to deny inspiration of Scripture in             that time no others had been written. But the Gospels
every sense of the word, modern churchmen employ                     are also Scripture, as Paul teaches in I Timothy  5:18,
the sleight that inspiration has to do with the thought of           "For the Scripture saith... `The laborer is worthy of his
Scripture, not with its words.                The writers of the     reward' " .Where  does Scripture say that? In the
various books of the Bible set down the thoughts God                 Gospel According to Luke, chapter 10, verse 7. "The
gave them, but were under no special guidance from                   Scripture saith,. `Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that
God as to the exact formulation of their thoughts. The               treadeth out the corn."' Where does Scripture say
religious freethinker does not wish to appear disloyal               that?     Not only in Deuteronomy  25:4; but also in I
to the Scriptures, hence he professes loyalty to  them,.             Cornithians  9:7, 11.     Peter also calls -Paul's epistles
but explains that by this he does not mean loyalty to a              Scripture (II Peter  3:16), regards  the.major  and minor
theory about the Scriptures. (Recall Billy Graham's                  prophets as Scripture, as well as the writings of the
statement that  vevba2 inspiration is "only a  theory.")             other apostles as Scripture (cf. II Peter  $2 with
What these churchly liberals object to is any definite               3:15, 16).
teaching of the divine character of Scripture. In                        The battle for truth lies along the line of the true,
reality, they do not hold any doctrine which regards                 real and verbal inspiration of Scripture.           If this
the Bible as inspired. But to hypocritically pose their              doctrine may now be proved to be no more than a
ostensible loyalty to Holy Writ, they state that inspira-            theory, a dream, then the church's ship of state has
tion' has to do not with the very words of Scripture, but            lost its rudder, compass and mainmast; a fundamental
only with the thoughts, that is, in their opinion, with              loss, a tragical loss of the worst kind!
some  of the thoughts found in Scripture.              But unless
the inspired penmen were so led of the Holy Spirit as
to make such a choice of words as to write inerrantly,                                  SEMINARY STUDENTS
then what we have in the Bible is not an infallible                  Pre-seminary and seminary students in need of finan-
revelation of God, but a mere human production                       cial assistance in attending our Protestant Reformed
necessarily imperfect in character.               The thought in     Seminary should contact the following:       `J. M. Faber
Scripture cannot be firm, while  the words whichconvey               1123 Cooper Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids, Mich., 49507
the thought are wavering. If the script is vague the
sense will be vague. This view of Scripture sees it as


       472                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



         IN HIS FEAR-


                                     Holiday or  Holy Day?

                                                            by Rev.  J. A. Heys

                                   `IThe  sabbath was made  for  man, and not man  for  the sabbath."
                                                D  -                                         Mark  2:27

              But the sabbath was not made so that man could               How sincerely can we say with the psalmist, "I was
       have an holiday.         It was made for man as he came          glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house
       forth from God's hands in righteousness and holiness.            of the. Lord"? If we had to write a Psalm and express
       It was not made for sinful man to use in the  way~`of            our true disposition of mind, would we not write? "I
       his flesh. Yet the words of Jesus in the text quoted             was glad when it was all over, that I might return
       above are often used as an excusefor all kinds' of deeds         home ?' ' Are we not like the little boy who was asked
       of the flesh. The sabbath was made for the believer,             how he liked. church, when he returned from his first
       the regenerated child of God, that he might have an              church service, and replied,  "The singing was good,
       holy day.                                                        but the commercial was too long?" And then when
              An holiday and an holy day have this in common that       the service is over, the whole long afternoon and
       they are both days set aside and made to be distinct             evening is made for man to use for the earthly pursuits
       from the other days of the week. The holiday is a day            and lusts of man?
       set aside by the proclamation of man and for man's                  Here is one commandment which, by deeds, if we
       earthly and fleshly satisfaction. It is a day when he            dare not say it with the lips, we consider outdated, not
       gets off from his regular work and sweat of  .his brow(?)        relevant to our times, old-fashioned and meant for
       whereby he earns his daily bread. It is a day given to           another generation gone by. Although God with His
       him by man so that he canpursue the satisfaction of the          finger cut the words also of this commandment into the
       lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of        granite to signify that which time would not wear away,
       life. It is a day of rejoicing in carnal, material, earthly      man has succeeded, at least in his mind, to wear the
       matters.      It is a day wherein he can show to himself         granite smooth so that the fourth commandment is gone !
       and to the world how much he belongs to the group of             It is not there for you and me to read anymore. The
       those that are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers             other nine are left, but they also are badly worn and in
       of God. A holiday has no spiritual content except that           places hard to read.
       which we put into it.                                               Could it be that our eyes are going bad instead?
              An holy day is one set aside by God wherein we               Could it be that the pleasures and treasures of this
       may perform spiritual  work  unhindered by the labor             world shine so brightly that our eyes are dazzled and
       and toil of our natural lives. It is a day, and that is          cannot adjust themselves to focus upon God's law? Is
       particularly true of the sabbath as an holy day, given           it that we are so busy with the things of the flesh
       him that he may enter into and enjoy the things of               during the days from Monday through Saturday, and
       God's kingdom. It is a dayfor intense and concentrated           even late Saturday night until the wee hours of Sunday
       activity rather than idleness and sleep. In fact, let us         morning, that we cannot read the fine print not only of
       not fail to take note of the fact that it is a DAY!  And it      that law but that the words of God in the fourth com-
       is an holy day. We may not make full use of the day.             mandment particularly seem to disappear--though
       We may' be satisfied to use the very smallest fraction           they actually stand there in bold relief? Well, before
       of it and complain if we are required to make longer             we begin to defend our eyesight and find fault with the
      use of it. But that does not change the fact that IT IS           law, let it be stated that God does not change. He is
-`-an holy, day. It is by God's decree and by God's  com-               the same yesterday, today and forever according to
-     mand unto us. And it is  holy.  Nothing in all the world          Hebrews  13:8; Hebrews  1:12; Malachi  3:6, among many
       can change that.         AI1 of our unholy practices on the      other passages.       And it is so often because we have
       day do not change it at all.          All the bold and open      our eyes on the world and the .things  of the world, which
       desecration of it by the world does not take away from           in I John  2:15-17 we are warned not to love, that we
       its holiness in the life of the regenerated child of God,        have(?) to travel and perform deeds on the Sabbath,
     but only serves to accentuate it in his life and mind.             lest these material things and our pursuit of  them
          Where do you stand as far as  the. Sabbath is con-            suffer.
       cerned?                                                             No, during the week we do not have the time. Dur-
          Or better still, where are you found standing on the          ing the week it would cost us something of this earth's
       Sabbath?                                                         goods.     And so the Sabbath becomes the holiday that


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   473

our flesh would not let us take during the week. The         And so their holiday crowds more and more into our
holy day becomes a few  moments  of hurried worship          holy day in our hearts and lives.
cut short for the sake of the flesh, and the hay becomes        All this, of course, belongs to the development of
for the greater part -- if indeed our minds even during      sin.       But it also belongs therefore to the evils that
the short service were not already on what we intend         make it necessary for the days to be shortened, lest
to do for the flesh -- an holiday! Meanwhile God has         even the elect of God would be deceived. James tells
not changed, Who declares, "Love ME! And show this           us, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
on the Sabbath!"                                             offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that
   We are not interested in becoming legalistic. Do          said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
not bring up that accusation.       But we are emphatic      Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou
when we say that our Sabbath conduct reveals the             art become a transgressor of the law." Apply that
measure of our love of God. We are stressing the             here! The same God Who said, "Thou shalt not kill,"
point that a child of God is pictured in Psalm  27:4 --      said also, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
and then a New Testament child as well as an Old             If now thou dost not kill but makest the Sabbath an
Testament child of God--when the psalmist says,              holiday, thou art become a treansgressor of the law."
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek      If in murder you show no love toward God, in Sabbath
after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the     desecration you surely also show no love to Him. And
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and       if we love Him, the day is not long enough to fill it
to enquire in His temple." How strange even those            with service and praise to Him.            Therefore, once
words sound.        We sing it, 0 yes, in our services of    again, we said that we can test the measure of our
divine worship we sing:                                      love to Him by observing ourselves on the Sabbath.
            My one request has been                          Holiday or holy day, what is it in our lives? Well, in
            And still this prayer I raise,                   that measure you do not or do love God. In all those
            That I may dwell within                          moments when it becomes an holiday  for. us, God is
            God's house through all my days,                 not in that day for us; and we are not performing a
            Jehovah's beauty to admire,                      work of love.
            And in His temple to inquire.                            Who is sufficient for all these things? How that law
   But do we mean it and do we live that way? Does           shows us that we can never, no never be saved by our
our action and attitude on the Sabbath as well as during     works and that none of us is ready to enter into the
the week show this? Without treating the text itself         kingdom.        It shows also why we enter the kingdom
but using it to bring out the point expressed  inour         through death, when God takes away all that flesh with
theme above, there are elements here that needstress-        its lusts and sin. The old man of sin does not enter
ing.    The psalmist speaks of ONE request; and that         the kingdom; and death brings an awful and sudden end
means that all the desires which he has are controlled       to his holiday.      But the new man of Christ enters, for
by that desire. He SEEKS after it, or as the Psalter         he is the one who has this one desire and seeks after it.
versification, he still  prays  this.    He comes to the             It is only because God has prepared the rest that
living God with this prayer. That is how sincere he          remaineth for the children of God that we will enter
is and how much he means it. You can tell people             into that rest. It is not of our manufacture. It is not
that. 0, yes, we are glad that we can go to church. We       that we deserve it, and the whole idea of the law is not
are thankful for the preaching of the Word. We are           to show us how we can become worthy of entering
ready to defend our doctrine -- and clamor perhaps for       into that rest. No law ever shows the sinner how to
practical preaching, provided it does not find fault with    make himself righteous. The law God gave to Adam in
our Sabbath conduct. But the test is whether we tell         paradise taught him how to retain his righteousness.
God these things in prayer and sincerely thank Him           That purpose the law still serves today. Because God
and ask Him for these. We support it financially and         made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin and made
are liberal givers.      But are we moral supporters of      us to be righteous in Him, the law shows us how to walk
that preaching and of activities on the Sabbath that         to be righteous.         But the law will never show the
show that it is not an holiday for us but an holy day?       sinner how to get rid of his guilt and to make himself
If you love God, the keeping of the fourth commandment       righteous before God. The cross does that. The  gospez
is not difficult at all.    For that reason we said that     points to the Restgiver and the rest whichHe  prepared.
our Sabbath conduct - what we allow and what we dis-         But the law serves to show us how sinful we are and in
allow, where we go and from what we will stay away --        need of that Saviour. The law shows us that it is not of
reveals the measure of our love to God.                      him that willeth, --nor of him that runneth, but of God
   Are we a peculiar people, or are we more and              Who showeth mercy.
more becoming a worldly people?            Are we a royal       And as the vine bears fruit on the branches and
priesthood of God, or are we in the service of the           living branches will always bear fruit from the root,
kingdom of darkness on the Sabbath? Is our rest a            so the regenerated and engrafted child of God will
peculiar rest of a peculiar people? Or does this word        keep the law and have an holy day while the world
even have an unpleasant sound in our ears? We do not         celebrates its weekly holiday.         It is the fear of the
want to be a different and distinct people. We do not        Lord that makes the difference between his Sabbath
want the world to see that we are different from them        and the Sabbath of the world. Examine your life, then,
and that we are pilgrims and strangers here below.           and examine your Sabbath. And listen to the psalmist


474                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

whose heart was renewed to love God:                                  means, it is dwelling in God's house or in the tents of
        A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand                 wickedness.       In the tents of wickedness you can have a
   (elsewhere).        I had rather be a doorkeeper in                holiday for a little while until the judgment day. In
        house of my God, than to, dwell in the tents of               His fear you have an holy day of joy that grows in its
       wickedness. Psalm  8.4:10                                      blessedness even when you are but a doorkeeper in
       That is the alternative.      On the Sabbath, by all           this life.


 ,FROM HOLY WRIT-


                             The Good Shepherd of Israel

                                                            John 1 O.-l -39


                                                     by Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                      --

THE  SHEPHERD CONTRADICTED OF SINNERS                                 the question which ever is a burning one:. what say ye
(John 10:22-24).                                                      of the Christ, whose Son is He?           Thus it was with
   It seems rather obvious that some time had elapsed                 these "Jews". They are called a class, "the Jews,"
between Christ's expressed declaration that he is the                 in the Greek text. They are the leaders of the people,
good Shepherd,. as recorded in verses 1-21, and the                   the ruling class, and not simply the common Israelite
discussion in  the. temple in Solomon's, porch as record-             in "whom there is no guile". These Jews do not' belong
ed in the verses. 22-39.      John states expressly that it           to Christ's, sheep and flock. But they are occupied
was the occasion of the dedication of the temple. This                with the question: is Jesus  the  Christ? Should this
feast was not one of the three feasts prescribed by                   one be the. Christ, then all their plans for the earthly
Moses in the Law. Those feasts were the feast .of the                 kingdom are never to be realized,  andall their trickery
Passover, of Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles.                 and politics with the nations shall come to nought.
This feast dated from the time of the Maccabees at                    They are concerned not about the kingdom of heaven,
the time of Judas' deliverance of the temple from the                 but about "our place and nation" !
hand of Antiochus Epiphanus. In I  Mace.  459 we read                     `They feign to have an interest in the Christ which
the following,                                                        is genuine. They surround Jesus as a Jewish rabble.
                                                                      They are saying  (elegon) in vehement tones, ` :How long
         "and Judas and his brethren and the whole congre-            do you hold our soul in suspense?" They pretend that
   gation of Israel ordained, that the.days  of the dedica-           they are like those who are watchmen and who say,
   tion of the altar should be kept in their seasons from             "We wait for thy salvation, o God!" They accuse Jesus
   year. to year by the `space of eight days, from the five
 and twentieth day of the month Chislev, with joy and                 of not having spoken clearly and plainly that He is the
   gladness".                                                         Christ.       They say, "Tell us plainly." Now surely,
                                                                      Jesus had been going up and down the land performing
   It was on this day and occasion that Jesus was at                  his wonders, of whom Peter says on the day of Pente-
the temple, where the congregation and the multitudes                 cost, "a man approved among you by miracles, signs
of Israel were gathered.           Was not this day a day to          and wonders, which God did by him in the midst of you,
remember the heroic battles of two centuries before?                  as ye yourselves also know." Christ did not plainly
Was this not an occasion once more wherein the hope                   state Who He was? Unbelief seeks the excuse, and
of Israel is expressed, the hope to be delivered com-                 Christ must be blamed for his defective ministry and
pletely from the bondage of Babylon and the nations?                  self-manifestation.
Was this hope not altogether connected with the ex-
pectation of the Messiah, the Christ to come? How-                    THE PLAIN SPEECH OF CHRIST'S APOLOGY
ever, the popular and fleshly expectation of the national             (John 10:25-29)
Israel, and that which is portrayed concerning the
Shepherd of Israel in the prophecies, differ rather                       Jesus is surrounded by a Jewish rabble in the
radically.       It is the question of either returning to            temple in Solomon's porch. He is forced  (?) to reply
the Old Testament typical kingdom or pressing on to                   to the charge concerning the lack of clarity of his
the heavenly kingdom in Christ, through His death and                 teaching.      Of course, his reply is not to those who are
resurrection!                                                         willing to learn, nor does Jesus address them as such.
   The question therefore of whether Christ is the                    It is a reply to the hostile and unbelieving Jews. ` Jesus
Messiah, the One to come, is a persistent one. It is                  answered  them!" He answers them most pointedly and


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        475
I
          completely so that there is no doubt about the fact that      I should heal, them. .These  things said Esaias, when
          he is the Christ of God.                                      he saw his glory and spake of him." Although the
             Jesus turns the charge about. He does not merely           efficient cause for not understanding that Christ is the
          deny their affirmations and allegations, but He makes a       Son of God is unbelief, yet the deeper reason is: ye
          counter-assertion, stating that the fault lies with them,     are not of my sheep. And here  `one must not resort
          with their not  believing  his words.    "I have told you,    to the Pelagian error of the Arminians, who would
          and you do not believe." They do not believe at this          make the matter of faith or unbelief the sum total of
          very moment! The great Physician accurately  diag-            the counsel of God to be preached, without regard to
     I    noses these unbelievers. Did He not know what was             the deeper question of God's eternal decree of election
          in man?        While He was speaking, their hearing was       and reprobation.
          not mingled with faith. From such is taken what they
          think to have. (Matt.  13:12) To  them,it is not given to      THE FIVE POINTS  OF.CHRIST'S  PLAIN SPEECH TO
          know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is             THE JEWS  (John 10:26-30)
          more the charge of the unbelief of the Jews that is              These five points, of Christ plain speech are briefly:
          underscored than the Savior's denial of not having            1. Efficacious grace.      "My sheep hear my voice."
          spoken clearly.                                               2. Total depravity, "Ye believe not because ye are not
             Our Lord does not merely claim that He told them.          of my sheep."       3. Sovereign election: "Which the
          His words were fully and wonderfully confirmed by the         Father hath given me."         4. Particular atonement:
          works which He did in their midst. First of all, it is        "and I give to them eternal life."       5. Perseverance
          asserted by Jesus that they are the works which               of the saints. "And no one can pluck them out of the
          emphatically He does. They are the works which "I             hand of my Father."
          do." He does these works, and no one else. The blind              Behold then the five points of Jesus Christ. They
          received their sight, the lame walked, the lepers are         are the points in which Christ tells the unbelievers
          cleansed, and dead are raised to life.      And these are     "plainly" that He is the Christ, and how one can
          not some isolated cases.       They are legion which He       believe and what His abiding relationship is to the
          performs.      Even the very waves of the sea obey Him.       sheep.    Strictly speaking, therefore, these points are
          Secondly, it is asserted that Jesus does these works,         not the five points of Calvinism, but they are the
          is still doing them. In a never-ending, constant labor        "five points'! of Jesus Christ.         This is the only
          Christ is doing these works before the very eyes of           effective polemic against all unbelief. Small wonder
          these Jews.       He had recently opened the eyes of the      that these points are hated. They are the object of the
          man who was born blind.                                       hatred of unbelief against the very Christ of God!
             These works bear testimony. They are not simply                Do you desire to understand believingly the faith of
          physical effects, but added to the words  of, Christ.         the believers in Christ, your own faith in Him? Then
          They abundantly testify concerning the Christ, who He         begin with the confession that by nature you and I are
          is, and that He is the Son of God. For no man can do          not sheep, but that we are as the wild and ferocious
          these works which He  .doeth except God be. with him.         beasts. But. God makes us a sheep by His efficacious
             If these works testify so clearly, why do  ,these          grace alone.     He enlightens  the. mind and bends our
          Jews not believe Him while others  do. believe?  ~,The        wills, and makes us docile as sheep toward the Shepherd
          answer of Christ is: ye are not out of my sheep. They         of Israel to hear and heed  His. voice. It is for this
          are reprobate! Here we must remember. what  John              reason that Christ can state so dogmatically: my
          writes in Chapter  12:37-41: "But though he had done          sheep hear my voice! There is not one sheep which
          so many miracles before them, yet they believed not           does not hear the Shepherd's voice. It is all because
          on him: that. the  -saying  of Esaias might be fulfilled,     of the efficacious calling, the calling from  darkness,into
          which he spake, Lord who hath believed our .report ?          God's marvelous light. Thus we are partakers of the
          and to  `whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?         heavenly `calling, the upward calling in Christ Jesus.
          Therefore they, could not believe, because that Esaias        (Hebrews  3:l; Philippians  3:14) He who truly holds to
          said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened          this reality of the efficacious calling has the assurance
          their heart; that they should not see with their eyes,        of faith in that He is faithful who has called us.       Leave
          nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and        `it up to man's alleged free-will, and all certainty of
                                                                        faith is forever gone.
                                                                            Secondly, we must hold to  ,the truth that those who
                         REiXX UTION OF SYMPATHY                        do not receive this gift of faith, nor are called with the
          The Consistory of the Southwest Protestant Reformed           upward calling in Christ, are not called because they
          Church expresses its heartfelt sympathy with the Peter        were none of Christ's sheep, which were given Him
          Offringa family in the death of their husband, father and     from the Father. Such is the full import of: ye believe
          grandfather                                                   not because ye are not of my sheep. This may not be
                              PETER OFFRINGA                            reversed into: ye are not my sheep because ye do not
                                                                        believe.  Our.faith  is the gift of God to the sheep!
          ` Mark the perfect man and behold the upright: for-the            Thirdly, we should notice that there is God's sover-
          end of that man is peace". Psalm  37:37.                      eign election. God gave a "certain number" of people
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers      to Christ out of the entire human race before the
                                                    Elder H. Kuiper     foundation of the world. (Ephesians  1:3,4) He elected


           476                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

           us not because we were holy  and. without blame, but                    chain is: Election -- atonement -- efficacious calling  -
           He elected us so that we should be holy and without                     preservation of the sheep. This is done by the Father
           blame before Him. Wherefore Jesus says, "whom the                       through the Son, and They are one. The works of God
           Father hath given me."                                                  are manifested. Yet, this is not a dogmatically for-
                  Fourthly, we should notice that Christ speaks of                 mulated doctrine, but it is apology of the hearing of the
           "giving eternal life." This does not simply mean that                   sheep and the unbelief of those who  arenot sheep. It is
           Christ gives the opportunity for people to be saved,                    plain speech. Standing in the midst of the sheep, the
           making salvation possible! No, this means that He has                   sheep are portrayed in their listening and hearing
           merited eternal life on the Cross for as many as the                    activity.    This is explained by contrast: those not my
           Father has given Him, and that to these and these only                  sheep do not hear, and I do not know them. I lay down
           He gives this merited life.                                             my life for the sheep, and I give them life more
                  Fifthly, this means that no one can pluck the sheep              abundantly.     And I shall never allow anyone to pluck
           out of the Father's hand. None can frustrate his pur-                   them out of my hand.
           pose.      The saints will persevere. It is the power and                  Paul picks up this polemic and makes it a confes-
           strength of God in which the saints are kept. The                       sion: those whom He has predestinated He has also
           "hand" of the Shepherd and the hand of the Father are                   called, and whom He has called He has also justified,
           the same hand. For the Son and the Father are one!                      and whom He has justified He has also glorified. The
                  Such is the "golden chain" of the five points of                 golden chain not of human logic (who could conceive
           Christ's polemic against the unbelieving Jews. The                      of it), but of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.


                                                                              .
           EXAMINING ECUMENICALISM-



                                    The RES Regional Conference

                                                                 by Rev.  G. Van Baren


           This past July 26-28 there was held a regional                             Our last Synod decided to send the members of our
           conference of churches of reformed persuasion, called                   "Committee for Foreign Correspondence" to this
           by the three North -American members of the R.E.S.                      conference.     In addition to them (Rev. M. Schipper  and
           (Reformed Ecumenical Synod), which met in the                           Prof. H. C. Hoeksema), the undersigned together with
           beautiful Calvin Seminary building at their Knollcrest                  Prof. H. Hanko and Rev. G. Lubbers were present at
           Campus.                                                                 some of' these meetings.       Besides, there were men
              This conference was held in harmony withdecisions                    from the following thirteen denominations present:
           taken at the last R.E.S. meeting in Grand Rapids in                     Associate Presbyterian Church; Associate Reformed
           1963. The following decisions were taken:                               Presbyterian Church; Christian Reformed; Free
                                                                                   Christian Reformed; Orthodox Presbyterian; Presby-
                                                                                   terian Church of Canada; Presbyterian Church of
                     1. That Synod encourage the constituent members of            Korea (Hapdong); Presbyterian Church in the' U.S.
                  the R.E.S. in particular areas to hold regional confer-
                  ences for the purpose of cultivating fellowship, of              (Southern); Reformed in America; Reformed Church in
                  bearing a more united and effective witness to our               U.S.. (Eureka Classis); Reformed Episcopal; Reformed
                  common faith, of deliberating on questions of peculiar           Presbyterian -- Evangelical Synod; Reformed  ,Presby-
..-  --           concern to the churches within those areas,. and to         terian Church of North America (Covenanters). Of
                  devise ways and means of putting into effect decisions      these, the Christian Reformed, Orthodox Presbyterian
                  of the R.E.S.                                                    and Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
                                                                                   are members of the R.E.S. and sponsored the confer-
                     2. That Synod encourage member churches within                ence.
                  particular areas to invite those churches that have sent
                  observers to the R.E.S. as well as congregations which           GENERAL  REMARKS
                  are in agreement with the basis and objectives of the
                  R.E.S. but whose denominations do not belong to the                 One almost hesitates making remarks about a con-
                  R.E.S., to participate in these regional conferences        ference as that recently held. First, such remarks
                  provided this is deemed practicabl'e and proper by the      might be construed as that which merely attempts to
                  member churches within the area concerned. (Art.                 ` `throw cold water" on a different sort of venture.
                  106).                                                            Secondly, it is probably easy (maybe too easy) to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  477

criticise any first attempt,  `for usually first attempts      cross can not be world peace or utopia -- but only chaos
are marked also by certain failures which might not            as a result of rebellion against the Word of God.' That
be so evident in subsequent meetings.                          chaos is measured not by the standards and "success"
   The recent regional conference was the first of its         of men, but by the standard of the Word of God. But
kind and scope in this country (of which I am aware).          this last idea received very little (if any) emphasis.
It was a gathering of men from denominations which             The approach was rather, "We `as Reformed com-
hold to the major creeds of the Reformed faith. Such           munities hold to the Christ of the Scripture. How, now,
a united meeting could in many ways prove advanta-             can we make use of this fact in order to prevent the
geous.     As was also stated at the meeting, this is an       development of chaos about us?"
opportunity for those of other denominations to become
acquainted with, and hear discourses by, men who are           THE CONFERENCE
highly esteemed in their own denominations  - but are            The conference itself consisted of four major
hardly known outside their own group of churches.              speeches and one panel discussion. Opportunity was
Besides, churches of Reformed persuasion face many             given for those attending to discuss these speeches in
similar problems. There are the gross errors of our            smaller groups, and later the individual groups would
day which must be exposed and condemned. Then too,             present their questions to the speakers in a plenary or
there' are the old heresies which constantly arise in          !`full" session of the conference. The speeches (I can
slightly different garb. Conferences such as  `was held        not judge the last one, since I was unable to be present)
can serve the purpose of discussing and encouraging            were quite scholarly, ranging in length from one hour
one another to combat these errors. A third advantage          to an hour and a half. The panel discussion was very
of such conferences of those who claim to adhere to            disappointing.     Its subject was "Christ the Critic of
the Reformed faith is that face-to-face discussions can        His Church: testing our differences by His Word." We
be held respecting differences between denominations.          had probably expected too much of this panel - at least
Why not discuss such differences on the basis of               a `comparison of differences between the various groups
Scripture and the Confessions?                                 represented, and a study of these differences in the
THE TiEME: CHRIST OR CHAOS                                     light of Scripture.     But very little of this was done,
                                                               Four speakers addressed themselves to four areas in
   The theme of the conference mentioned above was,            which differences arise: doctrinal, political, involve-
"Christ or Chaos." There is good reason to be very             ment in society, and concern with education. One re-
unhappy with such a theme.        Where it came from or        ceived the impression that the, speakers sought not to
what suggested it, I would not know. I can not find any        emphasize and point out differences (these were some-
Scriptural passage which might have suggested it.              what jokingly dismissed),' they sought not to "test our
Scripture speaks much of "chaos", it is'true; especially       differences by His  Word",- but rather blandly presented
is such chaos evident in thest last days.          And, of     very general statements concerning each area of
course,       Christ is the heart of the revelation of         , `difference."    Probably one difficulty for the panel
Scripture.       But the alternative, Christ  OY chaos,        was that far too much area was supposed to be covered.
hardly- seems Scriptural.       To my mind this theme          Better it would have been if one question in one of the
seems to imitate some of those used by the W.C.C..             four divisions had been discussed (for instance, one
(for instance: "Christ the Hope of the World" was the          doctrinal `point could have been presented for dis-
theme of the W.C.C. meeting of 1954). The theme is             cussion and "testing" by Scripture).
striking, but very vague. One could detect this  clearl,y         The first speaker on the conference program was
at the meetings too.       Both speakers and listeners         Dr. J. Nederhood, Christian Reformed minister and
appeared confused concerning the intent of "chaos" in          speaker of the `.`Back to God Hour." This man has a
the theme.       Were we to be warned concerning the           tremendous command of the English  1,anguage.  He had
danger of chaos in the world about us? Some seemed             a delivery which was "spellbinding." And he had a
to think so. Or was the danger of chaos  in'the   church-      masterful way of evading the giving of direct answers
world of our day?        Or was `this threat' of chaos that    to the questions submitted at the close of his speech.
which confronted the Reformed community of our day?            His speech was entitled: "Christ the Power of the
   The difficulty is that from an objective viewpoint          Gospel: The Bible's Message to a Lost World." It had
there is not such an alternative as Christ  OY chaos.          three parts. First he spoke on Christ as the "material
Scripture emphasizes repeatedly the "chaos" of the             power of the gospel." He pointed out that Christ is the
last times: a chaos in which the antichrist arises, in         heart of Scripture and the sole weapon for the church.
which apostasy abounds, etc. But such "chaos" is not           Secondly, he emphasized that Christ is the "legal
an  aitemative   to Christ; it does not push Christ from       power of the gospel." The presentation of Scripture,
the "picture"  - though admittedly such is the intent.         said  -he, is not that man delivers himself. Salvation
Rather, it is Christ  -Who.  gathers His people and            does not occur when men accept  `the Savior, but when
realizes His kingdom in and  through  this chaos. All          the power of Christ explodes in them and His will
these things also work together for good to them that          becomes their will. He condemned modern-day evan-
love God.       To a large extent, I fear, that truth was      gelism as being Arminianism.         Thirdly, Nederhood
ignored at the recent conference. It is true that from         pointed out that Christ is.  ,the "efficient power of the
a subjective viewpoint, whether this be of an individual       gospel. ' ' Rather nicely, I think, he emphasized that
or of a denomination, the alternative for Christ and His       Christ always accomplishes His purpose. He, surely


478                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

saves His people. Nederhood emphasized the fact of           into one minute than any man I ever heard - and he used
election, quoting the traditional texts, and pointed out     a full 90 minutes. He went into great detail concerning
that it was these elect, chosen from before the              two points: the  Headship of Christ over the church and
foundations of the world, that are surely saved. It did      the Church as the body of Christ. Very thoroughly he
one's heart good to hear such emphasis upon the power        considered the various points under each division.
of Christ unto the salvation of His own.                     Finally, he pointed out how this  headship of Christ
       But the speech suffered from three serious flaws.     unites the Church. He ignored (and this was very good
First, (and this was pointed out during the question         in my estimation) the general theme of the conference:
period) there was no mention of the work of the Holy         Christ  OY Chaos. He emphasized rather the positive
Spirit through Whom the power of Christ is realized          position of Christ within His Church. One basic criti-
in the hearts of His elect.       Secondly, there was no     cism I have is that the speech presented far, far too
mention whatever of the power of Christ in its negative      much material for assimilation and discussion. The
aspect: that His Word is a two-edged sword which also        speaker could more profitably have concentrated on a
works to the `condemnation and damnation of the              few points which merit discussion within reformed
reprobate.      In fact the word "reprobate" (as far as I    circles.
recall) and proof-texts for the same were not men-              The third speaker, Dr. J. Sanderson (Reformed
tioned at all. This "negative" aspect of the power of        Presbyterian, Evangelical Synod) addressed himself
Christ must never be ignored or denied. Thirdly,             to the subject: "Christ the Key to our Unity." He
the speech suffered from a "practical"  post-millen-         pointed out first on the basis of John 17, 11, 21-23,
ialism. Doctrinally Nederhood professes the truth of         what true unity is.       Secondly, on the basis of Eph.
a-millenialism. In its practical walk, such seemed to        1:22-23 he showed that the Church is the  fulness   of
be the contention of Nederhood, the church must be           Christ.     Finally, he showed the fruit of that fulness on
post-millenial -- that is, the church must live and work     the basis of Eph.  4:lOff.    His conclusion was that the
as thoughwe will make of this earth finally the Kingdom      only basis for division in the Church is geographical.
of Christ. The church must labor with all its might to       He emphasized that the church must unite not on the
prevent the chaos of this present age. In this,  Neder-      basis of ignoring differences but on the basis of
hood accurately reflected the present idea within his        resolved differences through discussion and study in
own denomination.                                            the light of Scripture. He repeatedly stated that the
       The second speaker was Dr. E. Clowney, Orthodox       , `gifted men" which God gives to various denominations
Presbyterian,      and acting president of Westminster       could more profitably be used interdenominationally.
Theological Seminary. His speech is rather difficult to      His was a strong plea for a unity based upon the truths
report in a  few' sentences. He crowded more words           of Scripture. I hope to continue next time.




                                                                                    IN MEMORLAM
                                                             After a lingering illness of several months, it pleased
                                                             the Lord to call home unto Himself into the church
                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY.                     triumphant our Beloved Husband, Father and Grand-
                                                             father,                                           .'
The Consistory of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed                               MR. PETER IPEMA
Church expresses sympathy to Mrs. P. Ipema and
family in the loss of their husband and father, whose        at the age of 68 years. We are comforted in the as-
earthly, pilgrimage the Lord brought to an end on            surance that he has departed from this present life
August 10, 1966. This loss is shared by the  Consis-         which is nothing but a continual death and is  nowre-
tory in that                                                 joicing in the things which the ear hath not heard, the
                                                             eye hath not seen, and hath never entered into the
                       MR. P. IPEMA                          heart of man, for he also confessed with the Apostle
was a charter member of the Oak Lawn congregation            Paul, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
and was serving. at the time of his death as one of its      Mrs. Peter Ipema (Jennie Bosma)
elders.                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Poortenga
       "In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of     Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Ipema
my strength, and my refuge, is in God". Psalm  62:7          Theresa Ipema (deceased)
                              Consistory of the Oak Lawn     Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wieringa
                             Protestant Reformed Church      Mr. and Mrs. James Triezenberg
                                   L. R. Regnerus, Clerk     Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ipema
                                                             Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoving
                                                             Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Medema
                                                             Mr. and Mrs. Donald Haak
                                                             40 Grandchildren
                                                             7 Great-grandchildren


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     479


             Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois
   The exterior view shown is from the west, and very
admirably highlights the main element of the building,
-- the one hundred tons of Wisconsin stone which
comprises the entire front of the church. This wall is
built in five staggered tiers; and between them are
vertical windows of stained glass, through which the
afternoon sun glows in many colors upon the inside
wall.    These are the only windows in the auditorium
and are not visible from the pews, but are only ap-
preciated by the reflected colors which set forth the
uneven surface of the front wall in bas relief. The
platform descends to the floor in a series of carpeted
steps which run the entire width. As the interior view
shows, the baptismal font and the communion table
are situated on the platform in  fullview  of the congre-
gation, symbolizing the truth that the sacraments are
a supplement to the preaching of the Word, which
occupies the center of the worship of God in Reformed
churches. The auditorium is furnished with a new type
of spring-cushion pews. The indirect lighting is sup-
plemented by colored glass chandeliers. The basement
features various rooms well suited for catechism and
society activities, as well as a large assembly room
and  a.modern-equipped kitchen. The entire building is
air-conditioned.
   The congregation was organized in 1926 with seven
families, and for two years worshipped in Lansing,




                                                             Illinois in Bock's Hall, a second story room over a
                                                             hardware store.      In 1928 a new church was built,
                                                             without basement or plumbing, in the village of South
                                                             Holland.     Five years later, the congregation having
                                                             grown to forty families, the church was enlarged and
                                                             a basement added.      The congregation now numbers
                                                             some sixty families, with three of the charter members
                                                             left to celebrate their fortieth anniversary: the brethren
                                                             Steven Poortinga, Wm. T. Terpstra, and John Haak, Sr.
                                                                In  1961 South Holland and her sister church in Oak
                                                             Lawn, having o r g an i z e d a Protestant Reformed
                                                             Christian School Society, began construction of a school
                                                             building.    This school has faithfully instructed their
                                                             children in grades one to nine in harmony with  the'  \,
                                                             training of home and church. (If you look closely, you
                                                             can see a bit of the school building in the exterior view     `\
                                                             of the church; the school is situated on four acres of
                                                             land directly behind the church.)
                                                                Two sons of the congregation became ministers in
                                                             our denomination: Rev. G. Lanting, who at present is
                                                             serving the church at Holland,  Mich.,  and Rev. G. Van
                                                             Baren,  pastor of First Church in Grand Rapids.
                                                                The new church was dedicated the evenings. of July
                                                             19 and 20 in conjunction with the celebration of the
                                                             fortieth anniversary of their existence, an account of
                                                             which may be found in the Church News of this issue.
                                                                                                                J.M.F.


                                             -  .-  .~~~  ~--~.. ~.~~___  -...  -  ~~-  .~  ~-~~~~      -
480                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-
                                         August 15, 1966              were unable to attend. They were the Rev. G. Lanting,
    The Rev. H. Veldman, of Hope Church in Grand                      pastor of our Holland Church,  and. Rev. G. Van  Baren,
Rapids, has received (and declined) a call from our                   of First Church in Grand Rapids. Rev. H. Veldman, a
Randolph congregation, and is considering a call from                 baptized member at the time of their organization, was
our Hudsonville Church, his nearest neighbor.                         present to voice his greetings, as also Rev. R. Decker,
    Edgerton,  Minn: has extended a call to Rev. G.                   of  Doon,  Iowa, who appeared on the platform to give
Lubbers, of Southwest Church in Grand Rapids.                         his greetings.                  This program included the choir, a
                         * * * *                                      trumpet solo by William Lenting, a poem by Miss Beth
    South Holland's congregation planned two evenings,                Van  Baren, and Mrs. Ernest Medema at the console of
July 19 and 20, for a double celebration: their 40th                  the organ. This meeting was opened by their pastor,
anniversary and the dedication of their new church.                   Rev. Heys, and closed by Rev. H. Veldman.
The first program centered around the dedicatory                                                             * * * *
message by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema. Organ music was                            Rev. C. Hanko was in his familiar pulpit again
furnished by Mrs. George Vroom; and the choral                        for one -service on July 17, and hoped to fill it twice
society sang three numbers.         Rev. M. Schipper, of              the next week.                  He writes, "I am making a very good
Grand Rapids, gave the "charge to the congregation."                   recovery, for which we are all very grateful."
This charge he found in Hebrews.  12:23, "Let us hold                                                        * * * *
fast the profession of faith without wavering." Rev.                        A notice appeared in the July 24th bulletin of South
Schipper reminded the flock that they profess their                   Holland that the clothing (1400 lbs.) and shoes (400
hope  at,every  service; that objectively it is impossible            pairs) were so gratefully received by the Jamaican
that the Church, the Elect of God, can ever lose that                 congregations of Rev. Elliott and  Rev.>  Frame. One
hope; but,. subjectively, it is possible, and therefore                of the recipients w-rote, "Let me first give thanks to
the Word of God comes with the exhortation to hold it                 our Covenant God, for it is He Who has provided all
fast.    The speaker closed- with the comforting word,                things through you and the Spirit which He puts in
"Our hope is in the heavens, from whence the Lord                     your hearts and love towards us as brothers and
shall come to take-us unto Himself."                                   sisters, to send us these material things which we
    The main speaker, who gave the "dedicatory mes-                   need."          The notice also gave credit to the churches
sage," based his message on Psalm  52:9, under the                    of Pella, Randolph, and Hudsonville for helping in the
theme, "Undying Praise of God For His Work." This                     expenses of shipping and of duty.
was divided under three headings: what God has done;
that God has done it; and the proper acknowledgement                                                         * *  * *
thereof. The speaker summed up what God has done in                         The following important notice was found in First
the physical and in the spiritual realm for the con-                  Church's July 31st bulletin: "Rev. and Mrs. Van  Baren
gregation these past forty years. That God has done                   are the grateful recipients of a son, Daniel Glenn,
it: --that the house of God, the church, was in God's                 born to them last Thursday evening at Blodgett Hospital.
counsel before the world, was established in the blood                We extend to them and to their family the indispen-
of Immanuel, realized by the Spirit of Christ, pre-                   sable blessing of our God, and commit them now and in
served in His providence, and to be perfected in the                  the future to His care and keeping."
day of Christ, -that this is all the work of God by                                                          * * * *
sovereign grace only. The professor found the proper                        Redlands' congregation experienced a mild exodus.
acknowledgement in the text: undying praise, before our               this month. Five of their young people left for Michigan
children, among ourselves, and in the world. The                      to attend the Young People's Convention; and six
speaker comforted the congregation with the promise                   families took car and trailer on a trip through the
that in the midst of our unfaithfulness we still have a               Northwest, converging on our Lynden Church for two
hopeful expectation  because  God has done it and  will               Sundays, making new and renewing old acquaintances
perfect it at His coming.  i                                          amongst our own people while on a vacation.
    At the July 19 meeting the keys of the new church                                                        * * * *
were accepted for the congregation by Elder B. Wories,                      News  FZash:   The newly acquired church in Forbes,
vice-president of the consistory, from the hands  ofMr.               N. Dak. suffered extensive damage from a tornado
Gise Van  Baren,  of the Building Committee. Rev. Heys                Sunday evening, July 31. The steeple was blown down,
led in prayer and in the reading of Psalm 84, which had               and the entire building was set askew on its founda-
been  chosen as the Dedication Psalm. After the pro-                  tion, wrecking much of the interior. It is estimated
gram opportunity was given to tour the building and                   that repairs would cost more than the original invest-
enjoy refreshments in the basement.                                   ment.
   The second evening of celebration brought some                                                            ****
disappointments to the congregation.         Two of the                     . . . .see you in church.
"sons of the congregation" scheduled to give greetings                                                                            J.M.F.


