A Reformed        .BcllRER
SemHWonfhly
Maaazine

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                                                ~~~r~~ should be evi-





                                     See: "The Church in the New Year" - p. 148



vol. /u, NO. /
]anuay  1,1994


CONTENTS:                                                                                         January I, 1994


Meditation - Rev. Cornelius Hank0
      God's Indispensable Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..**.*..*. 147     ISSN 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
      The Church in the New Year: Called to Work . ..s.....**...**........*..... 149                                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                              Published bythe Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
Letters ,.........,.,.I,,.,......,.,.,,,,.,.,.............,...,..........................................~..                       151        4640 lvenrest Ave., Qrandvllle, MI 46416. Second Class
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                     Poetage Paid at Grandville, Mlchlgan.
      S l e e p
                  .,.,,..~.,.....,.,............,...,,...~.......................................................                  153        Poetmwtec  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer.
The Day of Shadows - Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                                        P.O. Box 663, Grendville, MI 49466-0603.
      God Is the Creator . . . . . . . . . ..*.............................................................. 154                              EDtTORtAL COYMRTEE
                                                                                                                                              Editor: Prof. David J. Engatsma
Contribution - Rev. Cornelius Hank0                                                                                                           Sacretary: Prof. Robert D. Ceoker
      D e a t h 's   T r i u m p
                                       . . . . . . h
                                               ..s............................ *.........................*....,......... 157                  Managing Editor: Mr. Con Doezema
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                                             DEPARTMENT EDtTORS
                                                                                                                                              Rev. Wilbur Brulnsma,  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
      Be Still and Know That I Am God *................*..........,.....................                                           159        Decker, Rev. Arks denHartog, Rev. Barry Grltters,  Rev. Cart
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                         Haak, Rev. Comeilus Henko, Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. John
                                                                                                                                              Hays, Rev. Steven Kay, Rev. Dale Kuipar, Mr. James Laming,
      When Men Think More of Themselves Than They Ought . . . . . . . . . . . . 161                                                           Rev. George Lubbers, Mm.  MaryBath Lubbers, Rev. Thomas
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                                   Miersma, Rev. Audred Spriensma. Rev. Charles Tarpstra,
      Care of Scattered Groups of Believers                                                                                                   Rev. GiseVanBaren,  Rev. RonaldVanCverloop,  Mr. Benjamin
                                                                                 l 
                                                                                  .~..~................~~~...~~.~~~.......~í       163        Wlgger,  Rev. Bernard Woudenbsrg.
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                  EDtTONtAL OFFtCE               CHURCH NEWS EDtTOR
      The Story of Two Fredericks (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.... 165    The Standard Bearer       r Mr. Ben Wlggsr
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ~,.,.......,.,,.,,,.,,.,,.,...., 167                                                             4040 lvanrest                  6507 4Mh Ave.
                                                                                                                                              Grandville, MI 42416           Hudsonville, MI 46426
                                                                                                                                              BUSINESS OFFICE                NEW ZEALAND OFFtCE
                                                                                                                                              The Standard Bearer            The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                              Don Doezeme                    c/o B. VanHark
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                                                                                                                                              &+ndville, Ml                  Wainulomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                40466-ow3                    NORTHERN IRELAND OFFtCE
                                                                                                                                              PH: (616) 531-1490             o/o Mr. Jonathan McAulw
                                                                                                                                                       (616) 5361776          184 Church Rd., &nwheny
      In'this first issue of the new year, several articles direct the attention                                                              FAX: (616) 531-3'333            Ballymena, Co. Antrim BT42 3EL
                                                                                                                                                                              Northern Iretand
of the readers to the future. In his meditation, Rev. Cornelius Hanko                                                                         BDKORtAL POLtCY
                                                                                                                                                                             onsble'for the contents of his own
reminds us that "we have not traveled this way before" and that "we                                                                           Everv editor Is sofetv reso
dare not venture into this year alone." Needed is the assurance of the                                                                        questions for The Readar Asks depertmant are wekome.
                                                                                                                                              Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
promise, "My presence shall go before thee."                                                                                                  mustbeneattywrktenortypawrNan,andmustbesigned.Copy
      The editorial calls the church to her workin the new year. A.D. 1994                                                                    deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
                                                                                                                                              communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
will be "fraught with peril" and "full of promise" for the working                                                                            edltorlal ofllca
church.                                                                                                                                       REPRINT P0LtC.Y
                                                                                                                                              Permieslcnlrherebygrantedforthereprintingofarticlesinour
      In his consideration of the word, "sleep," in the Bible, Rev. Kuiper                                                                    mag~ebyotherpublications,prwided:a)Matsuchreprinted
notes that Jehovah God never sleeps. From this, he draws the conclusion                                                                       articles are reproduced in full: b) that proper acknowtedgment
                                                                                                                                              Is made; o) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
that "our lives throughout the new year shall be lives of comfort, safety,                                                                    5ppwm  I5 wnt to our editorial office.
and blessing as we put our trust only in God!" See "A Word Fitly                                                                              SUBscRlPTloN POUCY
Spoken."                                                                                                                                      Subscription price:  512.00 per year in the U.S., 515.00
                                                                                                                                              elsewhere. Unless a definite request for diitinuance  is
      The poem attributed to John Calvin also points the Christian and the                                                                    received,  it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
                                                                                                                                              subscdpti~tocontinue,andhewillbtrbilledforr~ewal.  lfyou
church to the future. There is the earthly future: "Meet Thou the rage                                                                        hsveachsngeofaddre~,pleasenotifytheBusinessOffiwas
of Anti-Christ/ Break Thou his nets in two." There is the future of                                                                           early as possible In order to avoid the inconvenience of
                                                                                                                                              Interrupted dektry. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
eternity: "Make us to see God's face in peace/ Through Thee, our                                                                              ADVENTtSINQ POLICY
Advocate."                                                                                                                                    The .%ndardBeamrdoes not accept commercial advertising
                                                                                                                                              of any kind. Announcements of church and schod events,
      The beginning of a new year is the ending of the old. This brings                                                                       anntversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolution6 will be
home the brevity of the life of us alh "Remember, O.man, you must die."                                                                       gaced for a 33.W fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                                              otficesndshwldbeaccompanledbyMe53.Wfee.  Ceadllne
Emeritus minister Cornelius Hanko, now 86 years old, relates the dying                                                                        for announwments  Is at least one month prior to puMlcatlon
                                                                                                                                              date.
of certain of the saints for-our instruction and comfort. Read "Death's
Triumph."                                                                                                                                     BOUND VOLUMES
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      God bless His church and make her work fruitful in the year of our                                                                      copiesofthecurrentvdume. Suchordersarefilledassoonas
                                                                                                                                              posdlble after completion of a vdume year.
Lord 1994, while she prays, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."- DJE 16mm mluoftlm, 35mm mluofkm and 105mm mlcro%he, and
                                                                                                                                              artk&  ooples are  available through  UnNersHy   MIcrofilms
                                                                                                                                              International.
146lStandard  Bearer /January 1,1994


                                                                             .c  ,'


j/J&. God's l~dispensable Presence

    My presence shall go with thee, and     and wonders, the people whom God               tion. But how could they go on with-
I will give thee rest.                      had now taken into His covenant at             out Him?
                          Exodus 33:14.     Sinai+had grievously sinned against                This is the anxious question that
                                            Him. They had broken His covenant              also confronts us as we enter the new
     1994 - We enter a new year in a        only shortly after it was established,         year. Who will go before us into the
world in which iniquity abounds. As         by making a golden calflike one of the         new year? We dare not go alone.
believersin Christ Jesus we havebeen        gods of Egypt and then dancing about                    *  *  *  +  +  *  *
delivered from Egypt, the house of          the idol in their wicked orgies.                   This is a good time for a bit of
bondage of sin and death, and we                -The Lord was very angry with              introspection and self-examination.
wend our way through these desert           them for having added this horrible                We are reminded that we have
wastes to the promisedland, ourheav-        sin to all their previous sins. Moses          transgressed all God's command-
enly Canaan. We have not traveled           therefore called all those who were on         ments, and have kept none of them.
this way before. We cannot, we dare         the Lord's side to separate themselves         Still more, as to the coming year, we
not, venture into this year alone.          and to punish with death those who             know that we will not be able to keep
           *  *  *  * *  *  *               still reveled in their sin. In his zeal for    God's law perfectly, since we have
    Fear of the future burdened the         his God he even offered to have his            but a small beginning of the true obe-
soul of Moses in that dark hour of          name stricken from the Book of life,           dience. Our unfaithfulness is evident
Israel's history at Sinai.                  that this people might be spared and           especially in our lack of zeal, our
    The Lord had said: "Depart, and         God's Name not be brought into dis-            failure to seek the glory of our God
go up hence, thou and the people thou       honor among the nations.                       with thankfulness inall that we think,
hast brought up out of the land of              Now the Lord was sendingMoses              will, and do.
Egypt."                                     and the people on their journey, but               We deserve that God in anger
    To that, Moses responded: "Thou         He had refused to accompany them,              turns His face from us. Yet His favor
hast not let me know whom thou wilt         lest along the way He should con-              is indispensable. With Jacob at the
send with me."                              sume them in His wrath for their               Jabbokwecanonlycryout: "Iwillnot
    Obviously, alone he did not dare,       repeated rebellions. Only Moses, as            let thee go, except thou bless me."
nor was he able to lead this great          the Old Testament mediator, and                With David we must plead: "Hide
multitude of men, women, and chil-          Joshua who had accompanied him on              not thy face from me, lest I be like
dren with all their sheep and cattle        the mount, found favor with God.               them that go down into the pit." And
through the wilderness that still lay       His wrath still rested on the people.          with Moses: "0 teach Thou us to
between them and Canaan. For the                It was as if God had forsaken              count our days and set our hearts on
Lord had given every indication that        them, turned His back on them, and             wisdom's ways; turn, Lord, to us in
He would not accompany them on              now left them on their own. He was             our distress, in mercy now Thy ser-
their way.                                  demanding of Moses the impossible.             vant bless"  (Psalter  number 246).
    The people whom God had                 HowcouldMosespossiblygoonwith-.                        +  *  *  *  +  *  *
brought out of the land of Egypt amid       out Him?                                           The cloud of glory descended on
signs and wonders, the people whom              The tabernacle, in which God               the tent of meeting outside the camp
He had led through the Eed Sea and          dwelled among His people, was not              whenever Moses and `Aaron were
thenbrought along the way with signs        built as yet. There was no visible sign        present there. To that refuge the
                                            of the Lord's presence except in the           repentant sinners fled to confess their
                                            lighted cloud, and that had been re-           sin and to seek forgiveness. It was
                                            moved from them, because of God's              only by way of confession of sin that
                                            displeasure with them. Who would               they found mercy with God. And
Rev. Hanlw is a minister emeritus in the    lead the way? Israel had sinned.               then only in the promised Savior,
Protestant Reformed Churches.               They deserved God's just condemna-             who would atone for those given Him
                                                                                                 January 1,19@4lStandard  Bearerll47


of the Father by obedient self-surren-       ing love in Christ Jesus, revealed in        redeemed, justified, and sanctified in
der outside the camp (Heb. 13:12,13).        abundant mercies, that the Lord is           Christ Jesus. He regards us as a
    Only upon confession of their sin        with us as churches and as individu-         chosen generation, a holy people, a
did God assure Moses: "Mypresence            als, and will go before us, leading the      royal priesthood. He who glories
(literally,Myface)shallgowiththee."          way through the coming year. That            must glory in the Lord.
         *  *  +  *  * *  *                  must also be our prayer.                         Glorious things of thee are spo-
    This Presence was none other                        *  *  *  *  *  * *                ken, for there remains a rest for that
than the Angel of Jehovah, the. Old              We have a much richer presence           -people. Jehovah spoke to Israel of the
Testament manifestation of the eter-         of God than'Israe1 ever could have           Christinthemannathatfedthemand
nal Christ. He is the Son of God who         had in the old dispensation. They            through the Rock that supplied them
is eternally ordained of God as Chief        lived under the promise and in the           with water along the way (I Cor. 10:3,
ServantinHisHouse.  Heis the Word,           hope. of the Savior still to come. We        4). The Angel of Jehovah drove out
the revelation of the Father; that is, He    have seen the fulfillment of this prom-      the enemy before them and gave them
reveals the infinite fullness of the God     ise in His birth in Bethlehem. God           Canaan as a land of their inheritance,
of our salvation in all His glorious         came so very much nearer to us when          even as promised to Abraham, Isaac,
perfections. He is Jesus, who saves          the Son of God took on our flesh and         and Jacob. For true, spiritual Israel
His people from their sins.                  blood from thevirginMary. He dwelt           this land of rest was a picture of a
    He had come to Abraham with              among us, as one like unto us in all         better country, the eternal Land that
two angels to dine and commune               things except sin. He suffered and           never ceases to flow with spiritual
with himinintimate covenant fellow-          died to atone for our sins, is risen         milk and honey.
ship. He had wrestled with Jacob and         from the dead, and is gone into glory                   *  *  * *  *  * *
blessed .him. He had appeared to             to reign over us and to bless us out of          We, too, are but pilgrims and
Moses at the burning bush, sending           heaven.                                      strangers on the earth, seeking a bet-
him to Egypt to deliver Israel. He was           We now even have Christ in               ter home, eternal in the heavens. We
the Angel of death who slew all the          heaven and His presence by His Spirit        make our journey through the arid
firstborn of Egypt. In the lighted           in our hearts to comfort, sustain, and       wastes of this world, always con-
cloud He had led Israel through the          bless us. We also have the complete          scious of the fact that we have here no
Red Sea to safety and freedom from           Scriptures, theinfallible Word of God,       abiding city, but we seekone to come.
slavery. And He had brought them to          to lead us in the way that we should         For there remains a rest for the people
Sinai. He had now been temporarily           go. And we have direct access to the         of God.
withdrawn, along with the tent of            throne of grace through our Mediator             We are but passing through. Yet
meeting, yet was still in evidence.          who intercedes for us.                       so readily we cling to the things of this
Even as the Holy Spirit withdraws                Therefore our life and our-hope          world, as if this life were our only
from our consciousness when we sin,          for the future are far richer than Israel    goal. So readily we choose our idols,
leaving us miserable in our guilt, so        of old could ever know.                      forsaking the Lord by our sinfullusts.
also God had withdrawn from Israel                      *  *  +  Y  *  Y  *                   Therefore, as we stand -before
for the moment,. But the fact that He            To them and to us comes the              another year with all its temptations
still spoke with Moses showed that           promise, "and I will give thee rest."        and trials, with all its threats to our
He had not completely cast them off              That meant for Israel the prom-          faith, we dare not, cannot, venture
to perish in the wilderness.                 ised land of Canaan. For forty years         out alone. We can never make it to 0i.u
    Moses and Israel had to learn            God led them through the desert from         journey's end, the eternal rest, alone.
anew from God at Sinai that they who         one resting place to another. For forty          We know not what awaits us. But
confess and forsake their sins find          years He was grieved by that rebel-          this we know, God's presence with
mercy. Only he who comes with a              lious people. All those who were             His favor is more to us than life itself!
broken and contrite heart is accept-         twenty years and older when they left            We need the assurance: "Mypres-
able to God and is assured that he is        Egypt perished in the wilderness.            ence shall go before thee; and I will
justified, as if he never had had any        Moses, who was the meekest of all            give thee rest." That rest, that heav-
sin. Only when Israel confessed their        men, could not bear up under-their           enly Canaan, must always be the goal
sin did God assure them: "My pres-           constant complaint. He was pre-              of our lives.
ence will go with thee."                     vented from entering with them into              May our God bless and keep us,
    That applies also to us. We de-          the promised land.                           both as churches and as individuals.
serve only that God casts us off, gives          Yet, for all that, the Lord's mer-       May He lift His Face (His Presence,
us over to our siris; to perish in the       cies were renewed every morning,             His Christ) upon us and be gracious
arid wastes of this present world. It is     and His faithfulness provided `for           unto us. May His Face shine upon us
of the Lord's mercies that we are not        them all the day long.                       and give us peace. 0
consumed.                                        How is that possible for them and
    It is only because of His unchang-       for us? God sees His elect people as

148/Standard  Bearer/January  1,1994


    The Church in the NeWYear:
                                   I `Called to Work
                             6 `&
    What 1994 will mean for the true           calling from the Lord, and one only:        members who teach or live contrary
church in North America is not our             Repent! It belongs to the work of the       to the rule; and the right judgment on
concern. We may not speculate. This            true church that she bring this calling     all issues coming before them by the
belongs to the secret things of the            from the Lord to the church that is in      broader assemblies.
counsel of God that are exclusively            the process of falling away from the            Discipline is essential. A main
for Him. It is comfort to the Reformed         truth.                                      reason for the apostasy of the depart-
church, as it is to the believer person-           As true churches (though by no          ing and the false churches is the fail-
ally, that the. new year will be the           means perfect ch.urches),  the Protes-      ure of the churches to discipline the
unfolding of the' eternal plan of the          tant Reformed congregations are             heretics. Conservatives are great talk-
sovereign God in the exalted Lord              called.by God to work in 1994. This         ers and writers. But without the dis-
Jesus Christ.                ..      '         work is;first, to hold fast what they       cipline that shuts the mouths of the
    Our concern is the revealed will           have. The importance and difficulty         gainsayers of the faith and that cuts
of God for the church. His will is that        of this task for a church should be         the cancer of the lie or the unholiness
the church work. The reason for the            evident from the widespread aban-           fromthebody of the church, there can
continuation of history in this new            donment of the fundamentals of the          be'no holding fast the truth.
year. is the church. God has a church          Christian faith by so many churches             Christ's mandate to the true
that must be gathered and saved.               in our day.                                 church, secondly, is that she exert
Since the Son of God gathers, de-                  That which we are to hold fast is       herself to grow spiritually. The church
fends, and preserves this church "by           the Christian faith as set forth in the     must "grow up into him in all things"
His Spirit and Word" (Heidelberg               Reformed creeds. It is the Reformed         (Eph. 415). Through the exercise and
Catechism, Q. 54) and since He does            faith, therefore, with its distinctive      use of the means of grace, there must
this through the instrumentality of            doctrines of God's sovereignty both         be growth in knowing Christ, in glo-
the true church, the true church has a         in redemption and providence and of         rifying and enjoying God, and in lov-
calling to work.                               salvationby grace alone. Necessarily        ing the neighbor, especially the other
    It is the true church that has a           impliedis the understanding and con-        members of the congregation. Hold-
sacred, solemn mandate from the                fession of the creedal Reformed faith       ing fast the faith does not imply spiri-
Lord.                 `,                  :    bytheProtestantReformedChurches             tual stagnation.
    The true church is the instituted          as teaching sovereign, particular grace         Thirdly, the true church is called
congregation that is sound in dock             in the preaching of the gospel and an       to preach and confess the truth to
trine, pure in the administration of           unconditional covenant of grace with        those outside the  .church. The  PR
the sacraments, and faithful in the            the elect in Christ, Head and Media-        congregations must engage in mis-
exercise of discipline  (Belgic Confes-        tor of the covenant.                        sions and evangelism at home and
sion, Art. 29).                                    This faith includes a life of thank-    abroad to the utmost of their power.
    There is also a false church, char-        fulness, obedience, and holiness.           A chief reason for another year is the
acterizedbyrejection of the authority              Holdingfastthefaith,willrequire         gathering of the church out of all
of Holy Scripture and corruption of            tremendous effort in the Spirit of          nations and the bringing to repen-
the gospel of grace. She too has a             Christ. It will take sound preaching;       tance of every member. of this elect
work. Herworkis to hate and oppose             faithful instruction of the young in        church (Matt. 28:18-20;  II Pet. 3:9).
the true church. She has her mandate           catechism; vigilant oversight of the            We ought to address the scat-
from the devil.                                preaching and teaching by capable           tered sheep in the Reformed commu-
    The departing church has one               elders; courageous discipline of those      nity, as well as in Protestantism at

                                                                                                  January 1,1WStandard  Beareri


large, as God gives us the opportu-                   her by her Lord. She is not called to          ing that is solidly based on and
nity, for their help.                                 set herself to the task of seeing to it        unashamedlyfaithfultotheReformed
    We ought to confess boldly to a                   that she grows numerically. Numeri;            confessions. But this demands a siz-
hostile world, for its condemnation.                  cal growth is not the business of the          able supporting constituency.
Against its theory of evolution, we                   church. It is rather the business of the           Neither is it the duty of the true
confess biblical creation. Against its                Lord. Just as no one can add an inch           church to Christianize North
feminism, we confess the biblicalfam-                 to his height, so the church cannot            America. Not one text in all of the
ily. Against its adultery, we confess                 add one member to her fellowship.              Bible gives the church this preposter-
the sanctity of biblical marriage.                    Just as each of us leaves his physical         ous mandate.
     Apart from other considerations,                 growthto  thelord, somust  the church              Nor is it our responsibility to be
this work of the true church requires                 leave her numerical growth to the              popular. It is with the church as with
that the faithful congre-                                           Lord. The church that            theindividualChristian,"Woe  to you
gation live and work to-                         I                  does labor to grow nu-           when all men speak well of you."
getherwithlike-minded                      God curses               merically invariably             Confession of the truth and a walk in
congregationsin synodi-                                             adopts carnalmeasures,           holiness will mean hatred and ridi-
cal federation. One con-                  this ambition             e.g., watering down the          cule.
gregation in her solitude                    to grow                preaching and confes-                Let not the PRC with the other
cannot by herself do the             with cancerous                 sion; relaxing the disci-        true churches of God in the world
work. She cannot do the                      growth                 pline; and introducing           underestimate. the difficulty of the
work of missions. She                     that destroys             entertainment  - "con-           work. 1994 will be fraught with peril.
cannot maintain the                                                 temporary music" and             For it is the last hour. The world sinks
seminary that is basic to                  the church               drama. God curses this           away to the depths of lawlessness.
the defense of, the faith                 as a ,spiritual           ambition to grow with            The nominal church is far advanced.
and to the church's own                       Wy                    cancerous growth that.           in the great apostasy. The godof this
spiritual growth. She                       o f   Chtist: destroys the church as a                   .world  seduces  the bride of  Christ
cannot in the long, or not                                         spiritualbody of Christ.          with,a passion.                 `.
so long, run even hold                                                  It is not the calling of.        .But neither may the church de-
fast the faith for herself.                                         the PRC in 1994 to grow.         spair of the possibility of doing the
Holding fast the faith is done in the                 It is their calling to be faithful to the      work or even of great and glorious
unity of the church with the help of                  Word of God. Should this mean their            fruits. 1994 is full of promise. For it
the multitude of counselors.                          loss of members, so be it.                     is, decisively, "anno domini, u M the year
     Accounting for the denomination,                      Not that we are opposed to nu-            of the Lord." The risen Christ is Lord
inthecontext oftheunityofthechurch,                   merical growth. On the contrary, we            in and over 1994. He is also Lord by
Herman Hoeksema wrote:                                rejoice in it, if God wills it and accom-      His Word and Spirit in and over the
                                                      plishes  it: One reason is that this           church. Not only does He give the
  This seeking of fellowship and unity                enables us to do stillmorein the great         mandate, but also He Himself carries
  of the local congregations is moti-                 work that we have as a denomination            out the work by means of the church.
  vated also by the practical need they               of churches and as a covenant com-                 The church's work is not in vain
  have of one another, because in unity
  there is strength. Thus, they need                  munity. There is today a crying need           in the Lord.
  one another to establish a theological              for a Reformed college in the United               And she knows it.
  seminary for the'training .of minis-                States, an institution of higher learn-                                      --JJ!
                                                                                                                         I
  ters of the Word; for ,the .deveIop-`
  ment of `their commen  confession,
  and for the fulfillnient of their man-
  date in `regard to the work of `&is;                      : AndJesti cam andspate  unto them, sayinfl,  3lCCpower'is
  sions (ReformedDo&zatics,  pp. 622,'                    given unto'm  in k&en and in earth.
  623).                                                        Go ye therefore, and teach aCCnations, Gaptizing  them in
                                                           the name of the!Fatherj andof t/izSon, an&of thOC0~ #ost:
     An aspect of the work of the PR
congregations in 1994, therefore, will                         leaching  them to o6serue all things whatsoever I have
be that they carefully nurture and                         cotnman&&you:.  and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
endeavor to keep the unity of the                          end of the. WorCd Amen.
Spirit in the bond of tieace among
themselves in the synodical  union.                                                                           Mat&w 28:18-20
    The church must also know what
does not belong to the work assigned

l!sO/Standard   Bearer/January  1,1994


    n Materia1 on the "Five Points             8. Girod, Gordon, The Deeper            {sm, Defined, Defended, Documented
of Calvinism"                              Faith: An Exposition of the Canons of       (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1963).
    I am a recent subscriber to the        the Synod of Dordt (Grand Rapids:                   22. Warfield, Benjamin B., The
Standurd  Bearer and have been             Baker, repr. 1978).                         Plan of Salvation  ((Boonton, NJ:
blessed by one or more of the articles          -The Way  of  Salvation  (Grand        Simpson Publishing Company, repr.
in every issue I have received.            Rapids: Baker, 1960).                       1989).
    Your October 15,1993  issue was            9. Hanko, Herman, Hoeksema,
the greatest blessing to date. Please      Homer C., andVanBaren, Gise J., The                 Be sure to read carefully the Re-
continue with as many doctrinal ar-        FivePointsof  Calvinism (GrandRap-          formed confession, the Canons of
ticles as you deem wise. I am edified      ids: RFPA, 1976).                           Dordt, itself, in which the five funda-
and share them with others.                    10. Harbach, R. C., "Calvinism . . .    mental truths of the gospel of salva-
    Would you be able to send me a         the Truth (Arminianism the Lie)"            tion by grace alone are explained and
list of the finest 15-25 published (and    (Grand Rapids: Sunday School of the         defended against the Arminian her-
in print) books and booklets dealing       First Protestant Reformed Church,           esy.
with the five-points of Calvinism? I       repr. 1984).                                                                     - Ed.
would deeply appreciate having such             11. Hoeksema, Herman, "Wko-
a list and reading most, if not all, of    soever  WiZZ`! (Grand Rapids: RFPA,
the titles you recommend.                  r e p r .   1 9 8 0 ) .                     H More on the Death Penalty
                        Charles Rosson         l2. Hoeksema, Homer C., .l%e            f o r   H o m o s e x u a l s
                           Rogers, AR' Voice of Our'Fathers  (Grand Rapids:               It is with a' great deal of interest
                                           RFPA, 1980): "                              thatIhavefollowedRev.Cammenga's
Response:                                       13. Kistemaker, Simon J., Calvin-      articles on "The Shameful Sin of Ho-
                                           ism: Its History, Principles and Per-       mosexuality." I can only-express ap-
    Here follows `a list of recom-         spectives(GrandRapids:  Baker, 1966).       preciation of the whole series as pre-
mended works on the subject of the              14. Luther, Martin,  The Bondage       sented  in the Standard Bearer.
"Five Points of Calvinism" in alpha-       of the WiZZ,  tr. J. I. Packer and 0. R.            From the outset I would also like
betical order. Most are still-in print.    Johnston (London: James Clarke  &           to identify myself as one of those who
                                           co., LTD., 1957).                           took exception to Rev. Cammenga's
    1. Boettner, Loraine, "The Re-              15. Ness, Christopher, An Anti-        comment that "the death penalty on
formed Faith" (privately published,        dote against Arminianism  (Ed-              homosexuals in our day ought to be
1 9 8 3 ) .                                monton, AB Canada: Still Waters             enforced." In responding to this I
    2.  Calvin, John,  Calvin's Calvin-    Revival Books, repr. 1988).                 received much encouragement from
ism (Grand Rapids: Reformed Free                16. Owen, John, A Display <of          Rev. Cammenga's own words that
Publishing Association, repr. n. d.).      Arminianism  (Edmonton, AB                  "for now, at least, I would stand by
    3. Cheeseman, John and others,         Canada: Still Waters Revival Books,         my original statement." This indi-
The Grace of God in the Gospel (Lon-       repr. 1989).                                cates to me that in my response I am
don: TheBannerofTruthTrust,  1976).          .17. Palmer, Edwin H., The Five           not dealing with a person having a
    4. Coppes, Leonard J., Are Five        Points of Calvinisq-(Grand  Rapids:         closed mind on the matter.
Points Enough? (Reformation Educa-         B a k e r ;   1 9 7 2 ) .                           I for one find it extremely stress-
tion Foundation, 1980).                         18. Seaton, W. J., "TheFivePoints      ful in having disagreementwith fel-
    5. Dabney, Robert L. and               of Calvinism" (London: The Banner           low believers who believe in the infal-
Dickinson, Jonathan, The  Five Poin ts     of Truth Trust, n. d.).                     libility of Scripture, and belonging
of  Calvinism  (Harrisonburg, Virginia:         19. Spencer, Duane E., Tulip: The      together in the one Lord and Savior.
Sprinkle, 1992).                           Five Points of Calvinism in the Light       The purpose of God in placing us in
  6. Engelsma, David J., "A De-            of Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker,          the world is that we must bear wit-
fense of Calvinism as the Gospel"          1979).                                      ness to the truth, and this truth can
(South Holland, IL:. The Evangelism             20. Spurgeon, Charles H.,              come only from the Word of God. It
Committee, repr. 1991).                    Spurgeon  on the Five Points (MacDill       is not Scripture that divides us, but
    7. Girardeau, John L., CaZvinism       AFB, Florida: Tyndale Bible Society,        the interpretation of Scripture. I find
and Evangelical Arminianism                n. d.).                                     it a lifelong-struggle that, instead of
(Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle,              21. Steele, David N. and Thomas,       Scripture controlling the mind, the
1984).                                     Curtis C., "The Five Poin ts of Calvin-     mind always tries to control the Scrip-

                                                                                                 January 1,1994/Standard  Bearer/l51


tures, with the result that we con-         "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by              thisincludestheprisonsystemwhere
taminate it instead of receiving light      man shall his bloodbe shed: for in the       thewrathofthemagistrateisrevealed.
and perspicuity fromit. It is with this     image of God made he man." Indeed            A clear text on this is found in I Peter
in mind that I freely admit that my         serious words and undeniably a com-          4:15, "But let none of you suffer as a
interpretation of the Scriptures on         mand of God which was given for the          murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-
this point is different from that of        good of mankind, and more impor-             doer, or as a busybody in other men's
Rev. Cammenga. I also believe that          tantly, for the preservation of God's        matters." Scripture does not make
according to Hebrews 910 we cannot          church on earth. The question re-            separation between the types of pun-
maintain the rigid interpretation of        mains: Did God always require the            ishment meted out here; the mur-
the law of the O.T. dispensation. The       blood of the murderer? Subsequent            dereris given a place among the other
rending of the temple veil and the          history tells us that He did not. Both       evildoers.
dispersion of the Jews after the de-        Moses and David were murderers,                  In response to other letter writers
struction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70           but God did not require their blood. I       I also feel that with Rev. Cammenga's
plainly indicate that these laws are no     am often amazed, in pointing this out        view we will be driven into the camp
longer binding upon us. I further-          to fellow Christians, how they resort        of the postmillennialist. In their per-
more believe that the commandment           to subterfuges and explain that with         nicious doctrine they have no room
of God in Genesis 9:6, and given to the     David we are dealing with a unique           for murderers dwelling amongst
whole world, carried with it more           case. Being king and having despotic         them. Their dream has always been
restrictions than many commentators         powers, he was invincible and could          to empty the cells on "death row" so
lead us to believe. If we follow the        not be touched by a higher authority.        that they are prepared for a future
maxim that Scripture explains Scrip-        The Scriptures, however, speak oth-          millennium. They like to quote Num-
ture, then we must start from the           erwise. In II Samuel 12 David is             bers 3533 in their support: "And the
beginning. We often pride ourselves         confronted with a higher Authority,          land cannot be cleansed of the blood
by saying that we must follow Scrip-        and no escape from this is possible.         that is shed therein, but by the blood
ture if clear examples are given, some-     This higher Authority is also passing        of him that shed it." I feel, however,
times called creation ordinances, like      sentence. In reading "thou shalt not         that as long as there are two persons
Godcreatingonewifefor Adam. This            die" in verse 13 we instantly recog-         left on earth'there will be bloodshed.
served as a pattern for all time to         nize the same sentence as that which         To display a Jehu-like zealousness for
come, and hereby condemned po-              Cain received in the beginning. We           the Lord will do nothing to improve
lygamy. My question is: Why does            do well to discern here that neither         this world. James and John tried this
this not apply to the first murder          David nor Cain were let off the hook.        in Luke 9:55 and received rebuke for
which happened in the world, as the         They both received for their crimes a        it. As Christians we always must be
words spoken here are so clear and          life sentence, of which the magistrates      prepared to live among all the other
decisive?                                   of our day should take careful note.         inhabitants God has placed in our
     The text in question is as follows:        This does not ,mean that in our          way, including the murderers and
fl And the Lord said unto him, There-       prison system we must cater to the           the homosexuals. They have no place
fore whosoever slayeth Cain, ven-           senile and the geriatric, but it does        in the'church, but we recognize them
geance shall be taken on him seven-         mean that the magistrate is respon-          as the tares in the field placed there by
fold. And the Lord set-a mark upon          sible that the murderer cannot repeat        the hand of God.
Cain, lest any finding him should kill      his crime as Lamech did in the first             My final appeal is to the Heidel-
him" (Gen. 415).                            world.                                       berg Catechism, Lord's Day 40, Q. &
     Many commentators explain here             Coming to Romans 13:4 I again            A. 105 dealing with the sixth com-
that God no longer provides for such        feel that Rev. Cammenga is too re-           mandment. The last sentence reads:
marks on murderers, but they fail to        strictive in his interpretation of this      Wherefore also the magistrate is
produce any scriptural evidence. We         text. We both agree, no doubt, that          armed with the sword, to prevent
read in Ecclesiastes 3:14,15,  "I know      this "sword of the magistrate" is au-        murder." I find that this statement
that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall        thorizedandalsocommandedby God               goes to the very heart of Scriptural
be for ever: nothing can be put to it,      to be used, and that this can entail the     truth. The voice of the church, "Thou
nor any thing taken from it: and God        taking of human life. As Christians          shalt not kill," needs to be heardin the
doeth it, that men should fear before       we are not divided on this issue when        world more than ever. As long as we
him. That which hath been is now;           the sword of the magistrate is used          are divided on this issue it will, sadly,
and that which is to be hath already        against hijackers or armed bandits           lose some of its effect. 0
been; and Godrequireth that whichis         caught in bank holdups.                                                  B. van Herk
past." In the light of those words the          My contention is that this sword                 Wainuiomata, New Zealand
opinion of commentators becomes             is not limited only to the taking of lie,
meaningless. With this in mind we           but also comprises all the other means                                               --Y
must also understand Genesis 96,            at the disposal of the magistrate; and

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                                               S l e e p

    Sleep is a wonderful blessing from God; it is          watchmen of Israel (officebearers) were blind,-
one of the good things that He gives us as He lifts        ignorant, as dumb dogs that cannot bark; sleep-
up His countenance upon us. He gives His be-               ing, lying down, loving to slumber (Is. 56:lO). It is
loved sleep after they have risen early and labored        the case that when God wants to punish a.people,
late (Ps. 127~2). Indeed, the workman needs sleep          He gives them bad leaders and officebearers.
after the rigors of the day, so that he is refreshed in    With the passing of another year, we are reminded
body and mind for the new day. We can both lie             of the nearness of the end, of the fact that Jesus
down and sleep when we know that God watches               comes as a thief in the night, so that always we are
over us, when we have confessed our sins, when             to watch for the Master lest we be found sleeping
our consciences are at rest (Ps.  32:4, 5). The            (Mark  13:35,  36). Paul writes in an extended
righteous meditate upon God's law day and night            metaphor that it is high time to awake out of sleep,
(Ps. 1:2); they fall asleep counting God's precious        for the night is far spent. We are to put off our
thoughts regarding them, and when they awake               night clothes (works of darkness) and put on our
they are still with God (Ps. 139:18). All this makes       work clothes (the armor of light). We are to walk
sleep sweet for the laborer, but the abundance of          honestly as in the day, not stumbling about in
the rich will not allow him to sleep (Eccl. 5:12).         rioting, drunkenness, chambering,  or wanton-
    As with vacations, recreation, and leisure,            ness. For now is our salvation nearer than when
sleep serves the purpose of preparing for labor; it        we first believed (Ram. 13:11-14).  As children of
is not to be loved. Those that love sleep are called       light we are called to watch and be sober, for they
sluggards (Prov. 6:9); a sleep-loving son causes           that are otherwise are of darkness (I Thess. 5:6,7).
shame (Prov. 10:5) and will soon wear rags (Prov.              As we ponder the above uses of the word
23:21); the slothful farmer, always folding his            "sleep" in the Bible, a truth of sublime beauty and
hands in sleep, will find his fields overgrown with        significance comes to mind and steals over our
thorns and his fences broken down (Prov. 24:30-            souls: the LORD (Jehovah) never sleeps! "He that
34). Poverty comes upon lovers of sleep!                   keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that
    Scripture uses sleep as a symbol of death:             keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep"
Moses slept with his fathers (Deut.  31:16); Job will      (Ps.  121:4).  Though God rests (Gen.  2:2), and
sleep in the dust (Job 221); and Lazarus slept (John       though He rouses Himself as one awakened out of
11:ll). This usage does not teach "soul sleep" (the        sleep (a figure in Psalm 78:65 that sets forth God's
notion that between physical death and the resur-          forbearance regarding the wicked and His
rection of the body the soul is in limbo of idle           longsuffering regarding His people), our God's
repose) but rather indicates that the death of             eyes are always open, full of mercy over His
believers is not the final end, nor is it hopeless.        people. The worshipers of other gods must pray
Those that believe in Jesus and fall asleep in Jesus       often and loudly, for their gods may be on a
(I Thess. 4:14) shall be roused from the dead by the       journey or asleep (I Kings  18:27), but God is
sound of the trumpet (I Cor. 15:51).  Nor will those       always awake to our cries and alert to every
who are alive at the end of the world precede into         danger that threatens us. The elect are graven
glory those that sleep.                                    upon the palms of His hands, they are ever before
    The Holy Spirit sounds the gravest possible            Him. Our lives throughout the new year shall be
warnings against spiritual drowsiness, slothful-           lives of comfort, safety, and blessing as we put our
ness, indifference, unawareness, and sleep. The            trust only in God! Q



                                      Rev. Kuiper is, pastor  of  Southeast Protestant
                                      Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.



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                                                     Chapter 1
              iii3 God Is the Creator
              I
    Whence is the world?                    losophy of so-called theistic evolu-        dignity of a Christian to enter into
    This is an important question, a        tionism in its various forms. Crass         such debate. The reason for this is that
question really determining our en-         evolutionism itself can hardly be an        there is no common ground between
tire view of Old Testament History.         option for a Christian. It is blatantly     faith and unbelief. The Christian
    To this question there are, funda-      unbelieving and in flat contradiction       stands on the basis of the Word of
mentally, but two possible kinds of         of the Word of God. It is a brazen          God; the evolutionist (of whatever
answers: the answer of faith and the        attempt to get God somehow out of           brand) stands on the basis of human
answer of unbelief, the answer of rev-      the beginning, on the assumption that       reason, not subject to that Word of
elation and the answer of human phi-        if God is out of the beginning, He is       God. And because there is no com-
losophy, the answer of the Creator          entirely out. But theistic evolution-       mon ground, there can be no proper
Himself and the answer of the mere          ismis somewhat different. It claims to      debate.
creature standing in rebellion against      be theism - faith in God. And it                The Christian, proceeding from
the Creator.                                claims, at the same time, to be evolu-      faith and standing on the basis of the
    We need not be surprised,               tionism, which is an unbelieving de-        Word of God as his sole authority,
therefore,thatunbeliefinventsitsown         nial of God the Creator, the God of the     simply says: "I believe in God the
theories of the beginning of the world,     Scriptures. It claims, therefore, to        Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven
and that today the philosophy of evo-       reconcile the irreconcilable. It claims     and earth." His positionis: "Give me
lutionism, the philosophy of a begin-       to be a mixture of the immiscible, a        God and His revelation, and I can
ning without God, is more widely            synthesis of the antithetical. It claims    explain the world." And the church
held and taught than ever before.           to harmonize faith and unbelief, the        proclaims, without debate: "In the
True, this theory may have under-           truth of God and the denial of the          beginning God created the heaven
gone various refinements through the        Creator-God, the Word of the Cre-           and the earth."
years, and it may enjoy an apparently       ator and the lie of the creature. No                   *  *  *  *  *  *  *
more scientific window-dressing than        morethanfireandwatercanbemixed,                 God is the Creator.
formerly. But it is a philosophy, not a     no more than light and darkness can             With the revelation of this truth
science. It is a false religion, not the    be reconciled, can theism (faith in         the Scriptures open. The very first
product of laboratory investigation.        God) and evolutionism (unbelief) be         verse of the Bible contains the amaz-
And as a philosophy which concerns          harmonized. But it is precisely in this     ing statement: "In the beginning God
not only the origin of things as such,      pseudo-Christian, antichristian form,       created the heavenand the earth." By
but also the destiny of things, and also    according to which the lie of unbelief      this declaration we are at once carried
the way that lies between that origin       is dressed up apparently in the gar-        far beyond all that eye can see, or ear
and that destiny, evolutionism is a         ments of the truth, that evolutionism       can hear, or that can arise in the heart
very current and very dangerous and         has obtained a foothold in the church,      of man. It transcends all merely hu-
wholly false philosophy, a prize lie of     has, in the minds of some, become a         man comprehension. It is not a child
the devil.                                  debatable question, and has in vari-        of time, nor a finite human intellect,
    But not less dangerous and more         ous forms found its way into inter-         but the eternal and infinite God who
mild, but more dangerous because it         pretations of sacred history.               speaks here. We are carried in this
is more deceitful and cunning, more             We hold that one makes a funda-         very first verse of Scripture to the
insidiously antichristian, is the phi-      mental mistake if he attempts to enter      very edge of time, the beginning, and
                                            into a scientific debate with an evolu-     there called to lift up our eyes to the
                                            tionist, tomeethimonhisownground,           Eternal One, and say, "In the begin-
The late Homer Hoeksema was piofessor       and to employ human logic and inge-         ning God . . . . II Faith  - and emphati-
of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the       nuity to gainsay him. The issue is          cally faith alone - faith which is an
Protestant Reformed Seminary.               undebatable; and it is below the true       evidence of things unseen and the

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substance of things hoped for, re-           deliverance to the God that made the           measured the waters in the hollow of
sponds: "Byfaith we understand that          heavens and the earth. For creation            his hand,and meted out heaven with
the worlds were framed by the word           and redemption are inseparably con-            a span, and comprehended the dust
of God, so that things which are seen        nected. You cannot deny the one and            of the earthina measure, and weighed
were not made of things which do             hold to the other. The philosophy of           the mountains in scales, and the hiUs
appear" (Heb. 11:3).                         evolution is not only a denial of God          in a balance? Who hath directed the
    This truth, that God is the Cre-         the Creator; it has no sal-                                   Spirit of the Lord, or
ator, is no isolated and insignificant       vation. It is the philoso-                                    being his  counsellor
item of truth, disconnected from the         phy of despair. But the           It is not true              hath taught him?" (w.
revelation of the gospel of our salva-       church looks unto God                                         12, 13). And again, in
tion and disconnected from the his-          the Creator for redemp-                     that              verse 26: "Lift up your
tory of the realization of the wonder        tion and deliverance.              the doctrine               eyes on high, and be-
of grace. It is not a matter of indiffer-    And thus, in Psalm 74:16,          of creation                hold who hath created
ence whether or not the church con-          17 the church appeals to          is concerned                these' things, that
fesses that God is the Creator. It is not    Him: "The day is thine,             only with                 bringeth out their host
true that the doctrine of creation is        the night also is thine: as                                   by number: he calleth
concerned only with the origin of            for the world and the full-         the origin                them all by names by
things as such, and that for the rest it     ness thereof, thou hast              of things                the greatness of his
has no bearing upon the truth of our         founded them" (Ps.                   as such,                 might, for that he is
salvation and no significance for sa-        89:ll). Psalm95 declares             and that                 strong in power; not one
cred history.                                of the rock of our salva-          for the rest               faileth." And again, in
    On the contrary, Holy Scripture          tion that He is a great                                       verse 28: "Hast thou
emphasizes throughout the truth that         God and a great King                   it has                 not known? hast thou
God is the Creator, and that, too, in        above all gods: "In his         no bearing upon               not heard, that the ever-
such a way that this confession forms        hand are the deep places             the truth                lasting God, the Lord,
an integral part of the faith of the         of the earth: the strength            of our                  the Creator of the ends
redeemed church. The church, in-             of the hills is his also.         salvation....               of the earth, faintethnot,
spired by the Spirit of Christ, the          The sea is his, and he                                        neither is weary? there
church as it is still in the midst of        made it: and his hands L                                      is no searching of his
death and looking for full redemp-           formed the dry land. 0                                        understanding." The
tion, loves to sing of God the Creator.      come, let us worship and bow down:             Holy One of Israel, who called His
Thus in the eighth Psalm: "0 Lord            1etuskneelbeforetheLordourMaker"               servant Cyrus to liberate His people,
our Lord, how excellent is thy name          (Ps.  95:3-6). And Psalm  102:25  in-          is the same who "made the earth,and
in all the earth! who hast set thy glory     structs us that of old He has "laid the        created man upon it: I, even my
above the heavens.... When I con-            foundation of the earth: and the heav-         hands, have stretched out the heav-
sider thy heavens, the work of thy           ens are the work of thy hand." The             ens, and aII their host have I com-
fingers, the moon and the stars which        poet in Psalm 121 declares: "My help           manded" (Isa. 45:12).
thou hast ordained; What is man, that        cometh from the Lord, which made                    He is the God who "quickeneth
thou art mindful of Him? and the son         heaven and earth." And in Psalm 124            the dead, and calleth those things
of man, that thou visitest him?" (Ps.        God's people celebrate their deliver-          which be not as though they were"
8:1,3,4). In Psalm 24:1,2:  "The earth       ance from their enemies, concluding            (Rom. 4:17). He is the God who cre-
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof;     with the well-known words: "Our                ated  aII things by and unto Jesus
the world, and they that dwell therein.      help is in the name of the Lord, who           Christ, "the firstborn of every crea-
For he hath founded it upon the seas,        made heaven and earth." And once               ture and the first begotten of the dead"
and established it upon the floods."         more, in Psalm  146:5, 6 we read:              (Col. 1:15). He is the Father of our
And in Psalm 33 the righteous are            "Happy is he that hath the God of              Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole
called upon to rejoice in the Lord and       Jacob for his help, whose hope is in           family in heaven and earth is named
to praise Him. For "by the word of the       the Lord his God: Which made                   (Eph. 3:14,15). And when the four
Lord were the heavens made; and all          heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that       and twenty elders in the vision of
the host of them by the breath of his        therein is: which keepeth truth for            Revelation 4 fall down and worship
mouth." And again: "For he spake,            ever."                                         Him that sitteth upon the throne, this
and it was done; he commanded, and               In Isaiah 40, when Zion is called          is their adoration: "Thou art worthy,
it stood fast" (Ps. 33:6,9).                 to lift up her voice and to say unto the       0 Lord, to receive glory and honor
    Especially in times of great stress,     cities of Judah, "Behold your God,"            and power: for thou hast created all
when the cause of God's Son and of           the Lord Himself calls the attention of        things, and for thy pleasure they are
His covenant seem to suffer defeat in        Zion to the greatness of His power as          and were created."
the world, the church appeals for            the Creator as follows: "Who hatb                   Concluding this aspect of our dis-

                                                                                                   January 1,1994lStandard  Bearetil 55


cussion, therefore, we may state that          this testimony of revelation for the        and the earth. For He, the Christ, in
it is evident from the emphasis which          language of the wisdom of man.              whom we have redemption through
the Scriptures place upon this truth,                In the second place, it should be     His blood, even the forgiveness of
in the first place, that it is paramount       evident that according to Scripture         sins, is the image of the invisible God,
for the church of Christ in the midst of       there exists a close relation between       the firstborn of every creature, and
the world-a matter of life and death           creation and redemption. God the            the first begotten of the dead. By Him
for her - to maintain the truth that           Creator is also the God and Father of       and for Him were all things created,
God is the Creator. To this truth-the          our Lord Jesus Christ, not only as the      that are in heaven and that are on
church must bear witness. She must             eternal Son, but also as the incarnated     earth, visible and invisible. And He is
preach it. She must teach it to her            Christ,the Lord, whom He hath ap-           beforeallthings,andbyHimallthings
generations. She may not tolerate              pointed to be the Head over all things      consist (Col. 1:14-V).  The Creator is
that her children, her sons and her            in the world to come. What is more, it      also the Redeemer; and He made all
daughters, be taught anything else in          is as the Father of our Lord Jesus          things with a view to redemption. Of
schoolsandcollegesanduniversities.             Christ (and our Father for His sake)        God, and through God, and to God
The church herself must not exchange           that He is the Creator of the heavens       are all things. To Him be the glory
                                                                                           forever!  0                        Y




                                 Death's Triumph

     During my ministry I had approxi-         he began to mumble, evidently talk-         do it better than we ever are able.
mately two hundred funerals. Many              ing to himself. Shortly thereafter he           She asked me whether I would do
times I stood at the open grave with the       made motions with his hands, as if he       all in my power to keep an eye on
bereaved family. There were also a num-        were brushing, something aside.             them, and I assured her I would.
ber of times that 1 stood at a deathbed,       Thereupon he folded his hands and           What more could I say?
watching as a soul prepared to leave this      audiblyprayed: "Forgiveusourmany                That same day she peacefully
earthlyhouseandslipawayintoeternity.           transgressions in Jesus' blood."            entered into the Rest.
Ihavealsohad theopportunityofwalking                 Then his soul seemed to have              "I had fainted, unless I had seen
down the valley, as it were, with persons      come to rest, and soon it departed to       the goodness of the Lord in the land of
who had but a short time to live, until the    join the heavenly throng.                   the living. Wait on the Lord: be of
moment when they drew away into eter-                "0 death, where is thy sting? 0       good courage, and he shall strengthen
nity. lwas left behind, at timesnota little    grave, where is thy victory? The sting      thine. heart; wait, I say on the Lord"
envious.                                       of death is sin; and the strength of sin    (Ps. 27:13,14).
    As I share some of these experiences       is the law. But thanks be to God,
with you, let me assure you that there is      which giveth us the victory in our                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *
nothing morbid about this. All Ican say        Lord Jesus Christ" (II Cor. 15:55-57).               This aged couple had seen many
is that death is victory for thesaints. The                                                winters,hadweatheredmanystorms,
hour of death is their Coronation Day.                   *  *  *  *  *  *  *               experienced many trials and afflic-
                                                     It was shortly after noon that I      tions of all sorts. They had suffered
            +  *  $ * *  *  *                  visited a young mother who knew             many heartaches and griefs together,
    I recall an occasion when the time         that the time of her departure was          but had also experienced that the Al-
of departure was plainly drawing               rapidly drawing near.                       mighty was their Refuge. They knew
near. This man lay in a coma, seem-                  She was very concerned as she         what it was to be poor, but they also
ingly-no longer conscious of the af-           complained, "I cannot leave my fam-         knew that the Lord provided in every
fairs of this life.                            ily, these young children. What will        need.
    Yet there came a moment when               happen to them?"                                The time had come that they
                                                     I tried to assure her that God had    would experience the meaning of the
                                               always taken care of them even until        words, I'... until death us do part."
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the       n `w, and would surely continue to              She stood at his bed and saw him
Protestant Reformed Churches.                   ?
                                               do so in the future. In fact, He could      gradually going deeper into the  val-

156IStandard  Bearer/January  1,1994


ley of death, where she could no longer                *     +*           $     .`
                                                                                      *     *    form a miracle, would you like to be
f o l l o w .                                    I was called to the hospital one                made better?"
     As he breathed his last breath she      Sunday night. The nurse asked                           Her answer was: "Oh no; I am so
said: "It is hard to part. But God is        whether I would come to quiet a                     far now; Iwant to go all the way." The
good."                                       woman who was greatly disturbed.                    Lord granted the desire of her heart
     "And now, Lord, what wait I for?            That day the doctor had told her                and also cared for those who were left
my hope is in thee" (Ps. 39:7).              that she had only six months to live.               behind. In fact, within a year they
                                             This came as a shock to her, because                followed her into their everlasting
           *  *  $  * *  *  *                neverbefore hadshebeensickorseen                    abode.
    Aman75yearsoldbeganthrough               a doctor, not even when she had her-                     "And1 heard a voice from heaven
a chain of circumstances to attend our       children. Now she really was not so                 saying unto me, Write, Blessed are
services. When he was a young man            sick, and yet the doctor gave her these             the dead which die in the Lord from
he had come to America, but had not          tidings. She simply did not believe it.             henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that
bothered to take his church member-              From then on she had the prob-                  they may rest from their labors; and
ship papers with him. In fact, he and        lem of submitting to the inevitable.                their works do follow them" (Rev.
his family had not attended church all           It is true, that it took a struggle.            14:13).
those years until the Lord brought           Yet the amazing fact is that the Lord
him into our midst.                          is mighty and merciful to His chil-                      :  *`*  *  * *  *  *
    Before long he desired to make           dren.                                                   This had been a God-fearing
confession of faith. He said that he             At times she still tried to maintain            woman, whose walk was always ex-
was deeply aware that he was a sin-          that she was gettingbetter, but it was              emplary for her family and for all
ner and could not die without seeking        obvious that this was not the case.                 acquaintances.
peace with God.                                  Gradually the wonder of grace                      ..Now that her husband was re-
    A few years later I stood at his         became more and more evident in her                 tired she looked forward to a few
deathbed. I asked him: "Is all well?"        life. She became more submissive,                   years of quiet life with him.
To which he answered: "I am going            more complacent.                                        But it was not to be. Soon it
home."                                           Would you believe that the last                 became evident that her strengthwas
     "... as a firebrand plucked out of      time I visited with her she insisted on             failing. She seemed to suffer from no
the burning" (Amos 4%).                      talking about nothing but heaven?                   particular ailment, but she was, nev-
                                             The reason: "I'll soon be there." And               ertheless, fading away, so that before
           *  $  *  *  *  *  *               she was. The next Sunday it hap-                    long she was completely bedridden.
    It was a few weeks before she            pened.                                                  The time came when she and her
died. She told us that she felt she was          "Let not your heart be troubled:                family realized that the Lord would
dying. It was, she said, like a gradual      ye believe in God, believe also in me.              soon take her home.
falling. It seemed as if, as she-fell, a     In my Father's house are many man-                      She remained conscious, her mind
light shone, growing brighter and            sions: I go to prepare a place for you.             was clear, and she continued to speak
brighter. The light she saw was not an       And if I go and prepare a place for                 of the blessed hope, even as her voice
ordinary light, like daylight or like a      you, I will come again, and receive                 weakened. Then she closed her eyes,
bright neon light, but far whiter,           you unto myself; that where I am, ye                to open them in glory.
brighter.                                    may be also". (John 14:1-3).                            "Precious in the sight of the Lord
    Then, she said, she heard some                                                               is the death of his saints" (P.s. 116:15).
one calling her, urging her to come                    Y     rc     *     *     *     *     *
back. She was reluctant to do so; but            She was a comparatively young                              `
                                                                                                             *     *     *     *     *     t     *

yet, the light faded, and when she           girl who had the responsibility of                      Cancer is a dread disease that
opened her eyes the doctor stood over        supporting her aged parents, with                   takes many to their grave. It attacks
her. He apparently was the one who           whom she lived. Suddenly she was                    the old, but it also attacks the young.
had called to her.                           stricken with bone cancer, which was                It is no discerner of persons. It takes
    A week or two later she did pass         extremely painful.                                  also those who fill an active, even
on into eternity. One wonders                    For some time her one concern                   important place in the church and in
whether she again saw the light that         was ,her parents. How will they get                 God's kingdom, as was the case with
grew brighter, and this time did not         along? Who will care for them? She                  a young woman who called me aside
fade away.                                   wanted somehow tobe spared for the                  one day to inform me that the doctors
    "And the city hath no need of the        sake of her parents.                                had'discovered cancer`and had told                   ,.
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it;        Soon the excruciating pain de-                  her that she had a half year to live.
for the glory of God did lighten it, and     manded all her attention.                               Although this had come as quite
the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev.             A few weeks before she died I                   a shock to her, she was able to surren-
21:23).                                      asked her: "If the Lord were to per-                der herself to the way God was lead-

                                                                                                            January 1,1994/Standard  Beam/l 57


     ing her. She spoke freely of God's            faith: henceforth there is laid up for    glimpse of glory as their soul departs
     promises that can never fail.. She            me a crown of righteousness, which        to be :with the Lord? We can only
     patiently bore the suffering that was         the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall      surmise.
     part of the breaking down of this             give me in that day" (II Tim. 4:7,8a).           "For I reckon that the sufferings
     earthly house of our tabernacle as she                                                  of this present time are not worthy to
     looked forward to a house not made                    *  *  *  *  *  *  *               be compared with the glory which
     with hands, eternal in the heavens.               A young girl had suffered all her     shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 838).
     She cherished the hope that never             life. The drawn lines of pain and
     dies.                                                                                               *.  *  *  *  at  *  *
                                                   suffering were evident on her face
         By the power of a living faith the        even as she approached death.                    What shall I add to this?
     desire to live became an ever stronger            Yet when the Lord sent His angel             "Wherefore  God is not ashamed to be
     desire to be with the Lord, whichis far       to take her home, that shadow of pain     `called their God: for he hath prepared for
better.                                            was lifted away. A smile came to her      them a city" (Heb. 22:26).
i        Our God, who has begun a good             lips as her whole face seemed to light           "Wherefore comfort yourselves to-
     work, will surely finish it.                  up with heavenly peace and joy. Is it     gether, and edify one another, as also ye
         "I have fought a good fight, I have       true that the dying sometimes get a       do" (I Thess. 49 1). 0
     finished my course, I have kept the
        ~-w~~~~~~~~~a
        ~-w~~~~~~~~~a
     33
                                          I Greet  27iee,  My !?&edeemr  Sure
     ssssss I greet Thee, my Redeemer sure, Our hope is in none else but Thee,
                      I trust in none but Thee,                             Faith holds Thy promise fast;
                 Thou who hast borne such toil and shame               Be pleased, Lord, to strengthen us,
     ss And suffering for me:                                               Whom Thou redeemed hast,
                  Our hearts from cares and cravings vain              To bear all troubles patiently,
                      And foolish fears set free.                           And overcome at last.
     ss Thou art the king compassionate,                               Children of Eve and heirs of ill,
     ss Thou reignest everywhere,                                           To Thee Thy banished cry;
                  Almighty Lord, reign Thou in us,                     To Thee in sorrow's vale we bring
                      Rule all we have and are:                             Our sighs and misery; '
     ss Enlighten us and raise to heaven,                              We take the sinners' place and plead;
                      Amid Thy glories there.                               Lord, save us, or we die.
     ss Thou art the life by which we live;                            Look Thou, our Daysman  and High Priest,
                      Our stay and strength's in Thee;                      Upon our low estate;
     ss Uphold us so in face of death,                                 Make us to see God's face in peace
                      What time soe're it be,                               Through Thee, our Advocate;
     ss That we may meet it with strong heart, With Thee, our Saviour, may our feet
                      And may die peacefully.                               Enter at heaven's gate.
     ss The true and perfect gentleness                                Lord Jesus Christ of holy SOUIS,
                      We find in Thee ,alone;                               The Bridegroom sweet and true,
     ss Make us to know Thy loveliness,                                Meet Thou the rage of Anti-Christ,
                      Teach us to love Thee known;                          Break Thou his nets in two;
                 Grant us sweet fellowship with Thee,                  Grant us Thy Spirit's help, Thy will
     TikTik And all who are Thine own.                                      In every deed to do.
                                                                                                       John Calvin, 1560
     ssew~~~c~@eae4--w~b
        ew~~~c~@eae4--w~b
156lStandard
156lStandard  Bearer /January
                 Bearer         
                       /January 1,1994
                                1,1994


                           Be Still. kwJ .Kn6w
                                     that I Am God

     Be still, and know that I am God: I     stroyed. In another part of our coun-         rapes and all kinds of other awful
will be exalted among the heathen, I will    try millions of dollars of devastation        things.
be yalted in the earth.                      was caused by hurricanes. As I am                 We read of all the misery and
                            Psalm 46:lO      writing this article in the state of Cali-    wretchedness in personal lives and in
                                             fornia we are watching the power and          the homes of our nation. Divorces
  "  "BestillandknowthatIamGod!"             destruction of fire storms. In a matter       tear husbands and wives apart. Bro-
The mighty Word of God Himself!              of minutes one million-dollar home            ken homes cause untold misery for
This is the Word He declares through-        after another is beingreduced to ashes.       children and create a cycle of misery
out all the earth. This is the Word that     Reporters often use the descriptive           from one generation to the next. The
from beginning to end is found in the        word "inferno." I looked this word            people of our nation continue to mur-
Bible. This is also the Word that He         up in a dictionary and found that it          der their unborn children by the thou-
speaks as He executes His sovereign          means, " a place or state that resembles      sands, a horrible thing sanctioned by
counsel and purpose in time and his-         or suggests hell."                            the law of our land and more and
tory. This is the Word that the Al-              Besides these so-called natural           more condoned by rulers in high
mighty speaks in His fearful works of        calamities there have been in recent          places. Newspapers are filled with an
providence. "Come, behold the works          times the great political upheavals in        ever-growing number of reports of
of the LORD, what desolations He hath        other nations. Who could have                 child abuse and horrible domestic
made in the earth." This is the Word         guessed that the Berlin Wall would            violence of all types. Dreadful dis-
of God which He speaks as He rules           fall as it did in recent years? Who           eases such as cancer, heart disease,
sovereignly among the ungodly na-            would have imagined that the mighty           and AIDS cause fearful and often
tions of the world. This is the Word         communist empire of the USSR could            prolonged sufferingandfinallybring
that God speaks to us in our indi-           have collapsed so suddenly? Day               thousands to their grave. More and
vidual and personal lives.                   after day we read of the destruction          more people in our society are so
     We are especially reminded of           and misery and upheaval of war in             pessimistic about life that they resort
this Word of God in connection with          country after country. Again, in our          to taking their own life by suicide.
all the recent reports of the natural        own state here in California we have              It is in the midst of this world that
disasters in the world. We have heard        just recently gone through the terrible       God speaks: "Be still and know that
of devastating earthquakes which             riots of downtown Los Angeles, II the         IamGod!" ThatHeisGodmeansthat
have killed thousands and thousands          city of angels."                              He is the sovereign One. He is the
ofpeopleinamatterofminutes. What                 As the end of time approaches,            only true and living God. He is God
misery and sorrow' this caused re-           wickedness and lawlessness abound             and God alone; there is none else,
cently in India. Earlier this year there     in our society. Already in their youth        there is no God beside Him. He is the ,
were in our own land the awful floods        the children of our world today are so        almighty God who created heaven
that ravaged the Midwest. Thou-              hardened in wickedness that they              and earth and still upholds them by
sands of acres of land were inun-            commit acts of monstrous and grue-            His Word and power. He is the fear-
dated. Farms were ruined, crops  de-.        some violence and murder.' High               fully righteous and holy God. He is
                                             schools and even grade schools in             the God who causes His sovereign
                                             many of our big cities are facing shock-      counsel to stand. Concerning this
Rev. denHartog  is pastor ojHope  Protes-    ing problems of gang violence, mur-           God we read that there is none like
tant Reformed Church in Redlands, Cali-      ders of teachers and students, appall-        Him: "Declaring the end from the
fornia.                                      ing incidents of assault and gang             beginning, and from ancient times
                                                                                                 January 1,1994/StandardSearer/l59


the things that are not yet done, say-               judgment the evil of man's sin and             res of the day and society in which he
ing, My counsel shall stand, and I will              wickedness in his personal life and in         lives. The misery and wretchedness
do all my pleasure" (Isa. 4690).                     the society in which he lives. God             of our society is merely something
        This God sends health and pros-              visits the iniquity of the fathers upon        inherent in the nature of our world.
perity. He gives life and breath and                 the children of those that hate Him            There is no God of judgment. Some
all things to all. He sends peace in our             unto the third and fourth generation.          day by political and social progress
land. He is the giver of every good                  In His sovereignty God gives repro-            and scientific advancement man will
and perfect gift. He is the source of all            bate ungodly men over unto their               conquer all the world's problems, and
good things, the overflowing foun-                   own sin. He casts them into the vile           men will all live together in peace and
tain of good. He is the                                             abomination and cess-           harmony, brotherhood and equality,
gloriousandblessedand                           I                   pool of the filth of their      in the earth. Man is the lord and
almighty God of salva-                                              own sin. God is so sov-         master of his own destiny. He will
tion in Jesus Christ His           The fearful                      ereign over sin that He         preserve his own life, prosper and be
Son. He causes the gos-                   calamities                visits sin with sin. Fur-       strong in the earth, glorify himself,
pel to be preached in all                that happen                thermore, He causes             and even direct the course of history
nations of the earth. He                 i@ the world               wicked men to reap the          according to his own pleasure.
gathers His elect people                     are a                  bitter and dreadful con-            Again and again God sends His
from every tribe and                                                sequences of their own          judgments upon all of this ungodly
tongue and people. He               foreshadowing                   sin. In this He also says,      philosophy and says: "Be still and
preserves His beloved                    of His coming              "Be still and know that I       know that I am God." But wicked
church so that the gates                  and of His                am God."                        menwillbe finally silenced only in the
of hell cannot prevail                   final terrible                 Ungodly men will            day of judgment. Then all will be
against her. He keeps                     ,:judgment                never listen. They will         forced to acknowledge that God is
every one of His saints                                             notbestillandknowthat           God and that He is righteous and holy
so that neither death nor                   on this                 God is God. They will           in all of His judgments. In that day
life, nor angelsnor  prin-         ungodly world.                   do everything they can          every mouth shall be stopped and the
cipalities, nor powers,                                             to deny Him, they will          whole world shall be silent before
nor things present, nor                        I                    rebel against Him, they         God. The ungodly reprobate will
things to come, height nor depth, nor                will seek to obliterate even from their        acknowledge in the eternal misery of
any other creature can separate them                 minds every remembrance of Him,                hell that God is God and that His
from His love.                                       though this is impossible. The igno-           judgments are right and true alto-
        But this God is also the terrible            rant man on the street will do this by         gether.
righteous and holy judge of all men.                 his ungodly and barbaric life-style.               But what about us who are called
He judges among the nations of the                   He fills his life with violence, immo-         the people of God? Do we listen to the
ungodly who refuse to acknowledge                    rality, and rebellion. The learned             voice of God? Are we so caught up in
Him and who continue to grow in                      men in the colleges and universities           this world that we do little listening.
wickedness and rebellion. He judges                  of our land, and those in positions of         What about some of our young
whole nations in righteousness. He                   influence and power, do this through           people? Do they imagine that they
raises up one nation in great power                  their boasted learning, their scientific       can enjoy the pleasures of sin, join
and casts down another proud and                     theories and worldly philosophies.             themselves with the ungodly, and
glorious nation according to His sov-                By these they will deny that there is a        follow their ungodly life-style? Are
ereign purpose. He has determined                    creator and a God over the earth. The          they blind to the very clear and con-
in His sovereign counsel that the day                origin of the world, they say, is from         stantrevelationsof therighteousjudg-
will come when He will send His Son                  eternal existent matter that has               ment of God upon the way of the
Jesus Christ to judge all the nations of             evolved over millions of years. Man            wicked that abounds in our modem-
the earth. Hewillbreaktheminpieces                   is nothing more than a highly devel-           day world? Do they imagine that
in His dreadful anger and consume                    oped animal that has evolved from a            they can perhaps live and walk as the
theminH.is holy wrath. It is especially              lower species. There is no such thing          world but escape the judgment and
this truth that the world hates and                  as absolute morality. There is no              misery and destruction of the world?
seeks to deny. The fearful calamities                absolutedifferencebetweenrightand              The God who says, "Be still and know
that happen in the world are a fore-                 wrong, good and evil. Morality is              thatIamGod,"  wamsusinHis  Word
shadowing of His coming and of His                   nothing more than the prevailingopin-          to come out from among the ungodly
final terrible judgment on this un-                  ion of society; it is relative to the times    world and be separate, lest we be-
godly world. Let there be no mistake                 we live in and is ever changing. Every         come partakers of the judgment of the
about it. "Be still and know that I am               man really has the freedom to do               world. Godisnotmockedbywicked-
God n                                                what is right in his own eyes, as long         ness. How long will we be dull of
       /This fearful God also visits with            as he agrees with the prevailing mo-           hearing and imagine that a man can
`$4
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prosper in the way of sin? Let us hear        of God's righteous and holy judg-           Him is our strength and comfort. He
the Word of God and be still.                 ments have fallen on Christ Jesus and       will realize His counsel and cause all
    The true people of God will hear,         He has carried them all away. We            things to glorify His name. From His
for God's Word is a mighty andpow-            have peace with God through our             Word we know that He will be ex-
erful Word to them. That God is God           Lord Jesus Christ. We need not fear         alted in the earth-through the righ-
is the gospel of our salvation. We            the wickedness of the world nor the         teous judgments of the ungodly, and
need not be afraid. For God will fully        terrible judgments of God that we see       through the salvation of His people.
accomplish our salvation through the          in the world. For God is our God, the       His name shall be glorious forever
triumph of His Son Jesus Christ. All          God of our salvation. In quiet trust in     andever.   0                     s-




                              When Men Think
                         More of Themselves
                             Than They Ought

    ,Fo,r I say, through the grace given      titularly considering the Liberated 1 coming the chief concern and author-
untome,toeveymanthatisamongyou,               view of the church, a defacto recogni-      ity for those who dominated the Re-
not to think of himself more highly than      tion of the fact that they no longer        formed Church.
he ought to think; but to think soberly,      recognized the Protestant Reformed              (I can remember well, in my days
accordingas God hath dealt to every man       Churches to be the "true church."           as a student at Calvin college, how
the measure of faith.                         And to this day the Liberated Church        one could identify someone who was
                           Romans 12:3        hasneverdrawnbackfromthat. Very             just returning from study at the Free
                                              clearly, the real cause of this break-      University in Amsterdam by the size
    As we have noted in the past, the         down predated and went deeper than          of his words. Never was a small word
cause for the breakdown in relation-          the adoption of the Declaration. There      used when alarger  one couldbe  found
ships between the Protestant Re-              were in fact basic differences between      -no matter how incomprehensible it
formed Churches in America and the            us which made the possibility of our ~ might make what was being said. To
Liberated Church in the Netherlands           working together at best a problem-         sound learned was the important
was not the adoption of the  Declara-         atic thing.                                 thing.)
tion of Principles, as hasbeen  frequently        This is not to say that we did not          In a large part, this flowed rather
claimed. In a sense the Declaration did       have things which drew us together.         naturally from Dr. Abraham Kuyper
give an occasion for the breakdown to         Already in the thirties Dr. Schilder        himself. UnquestionablyKuyperhad
be publicly recognized; but the fact is       and Rev. Hoeksema, the father fig-          filled a foundational place in the de-
that, before the  Declaration  was ever       ures to the two denominations, had          velopment of the Reformed faith.
written,aLiberatedministerfromthe             found distinct common ground be-            Having returned to the creedal truths
Netherlandswasalreadygoingabout               tween them. Each, working within            of the Reformed faith from modem
Canada gathering together immi-               his own environment, had come to            liberalism by means of a sincere con-
grants, including those belonging to          the conclusion that things were not         version,. he had succeeded in calling
our congregations, with the purpose           going well within the Dutch Reformed        large numbers to follow him. Spiritu-
oforganizingthemintoLiberatedcon-             tradition either in the Netherlands or      ally sensitive, and working closely
gregations. This was, in effect, par-         the States. A kind of intellectual snob-    with the Word of God, he had been
                                              bery, an arrogance of the educated          able to use his extraordinary intellect
                                              elite,oftentermedbytheLiberated-            to. expound the Reformed faith and
                                              perhaps rather unfortunately  -             apply it to life in a way that ordinary
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protes-      "Scholasticism," had set in. What it        people understood. The result had
tant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,            amounted to was that education,             been the development of a class of
Michigan.                                     scholarship, and learning were be-          common folk, often with little formal

                                                                                                     January 1,1994kStandanj  B8arerh61


education, who so mastered the fine          erlands. Prepared to be a blacksmith,          secondly, that in doing so he was able
points of theological distinction as to      a worker in wrought iron, his educa-           to gain a strong following among the
put to shame many a highly educated          tion was simple but basic, providing           members of the church. He could
man. There was, for a brief time in          him with the basic principles of good          hold the attention and loyalty of the
Dutch history, a period in which the         learning upon which he later built.            masses, particularly when he chal-
whole land was taken up with some            But he was never ashamed of this               lenged those who claimed authority
of the most profound truths of Scrip-        working-class origin. He kept a forge          based on their own learning. And
ture, both in learning them and in           in the basement of his home all of his         that to them was a threat. As one of
applying them. Kuyper was the                days. Neither did he ever despise any          them said to me rather candidly many
leader; andhis scholarshipinfluenced         ordinary working man. In fact, they            years later, "We had to get rid of
the whole land. It was his strength,         were his concern. His first effort as a        Hoeksema, else he would have gotten
and in the end, perhaps, the undoing         preacher was always to explain the             rid of us." They saw where he was
of his cause.                                gospel in terms simple enough for              going; and they moved against him
     But great men tend to produce           everyone to understand. It was his             while they still could.
imitators; and Kuyper had plenty of          strength. No one ever had to listen to             So in reality it was with Schilder.
them. One of his first great efforts         Hoeksema and wonder what he                    The circumstances were different; and
was the establishment of the Free            meant. His words were eloquent in              it occurred later in his career. His
University; and from there his influ-        their simplicity, and throughout his           base was-already established - the
ence spread. He edited a newspaper           ministrytheymaintainedaclosebond               Reformatie  having become the most
and journals, wrote books, and estab-        of rapport between him and his large,          widely read church-paper in the land.
lished organizations to apply his            working-class congregation.           The      But those who coveted his influence
teachings in every area of life, finally     members of his church followed his             found their opportunity under the
himself becoming prime minister of           every word, grew in the knowledge              cover of the Second World War.
the land. And all was done with a            of Scripture, and lived together in the        Schilder, having spoken out against
scholarly flourish that left its impress     fellowship of the Word. Throughout             the Nazis, was driven into hiding. As
on everything he did. His followers          his life Hoeksema may have taught a            cynical and cowardly as `it was,
sought to do the same. Many were,            full curriculum to his theological stu-        Schilder's enemies used that oppor-
beyond question, sincere men who             dents, wrote books and edited the              tunity to strike out against him and
learned from him, sought to grasp his        StundardBeauer  (a large part of which         depose him when he was unable to
principles and to build on them - a          he wrote himself); but closest to his          speak or act in his own defense. His
group among which both Schilder              heart was the pastoral relationship he         popularity with the people had be-
andHoeksema  could be counted. But           had with his congregation as he spoke          come a threat to them as well; and
there were others who sought noth-           to them of God's Word. He loved to             they had to get rid of him when they
ing more than to imitate his style, and      preach; and they loved to hear.                could.
gain to themselves his power. For                Apparently it was much the same                This drew Hoeksema and
them the appearance of scholarship           withDr.  Schilder. Although we know            Schilder together. Two men of akind,
was what counted, as though, as in           little of his personal life (even K. C.        bothweredespisedbytheircolleagues
ancient Socratic tradition, their intel-     VanSpronson  in his biography of               for doingwhat they were called to do,
lectual attainments included also the        Schilder, written from the viewpoint           feed the sheep of God; both were
right to rule.                               of a close personal friend, tells little of    rejected by men who thought of them-
     Neither Rev; Hoeksema nor Dr.           Schilder's family life, either as a child      selves and their learning more highly
Schilder, however, was this kind of          or as a man), he apparently as a               than they ought. In many ways these
imitator. They were followers of             preacher ,and writer spoke to com-             two men were different, and their
Kuyper, but of the earlier Kuyper, the       mon people more than to anyone else.           theologies differed as well; but un-
expositor and reformer, rather than          They filled the churches where he              derneath they felt themseives caught
the later scholar and politician vying       preached; and they made his paper,             up in the same spiritual war. They
for influence in the land. Not as            theReformatie,  the most widely read           were convinced that, with their com-
though they were not scholars; it was        in the land. Schilder had no interest in       mon respect for each other, and their
just that, for them, their studies were      displaying his learning; he, like              common commitment to the Word of
in the Word of God, andinministry to         Hoeksema, spoke to the people in               God, given an opportunity, they
His little people. That was the impor-       words they could comprehend.                   would be able to work out the differ-
tant thing.                                      And that was what got both of              ences they had. But it was never to
     Rev. Hoeksema was a child of            them in trouble.                               come.
poverty. Raised, first on the streets of-        Very early in Hoeksema's career                On the one hand, providence in-
Groningen, and later amid Chicago's          it became apparent: first, that his in-        tervened. Aftermeetingin 1939, they
factory lanes, he received his educa-        terest was in using his abilities in           had undoubtedly expected to con-
tion first in a trade school in the Neth-    expounding the Word of God; and,               tinue working together, only to find

162lStandard   Bearer/January  1,1994


meaningful contact cut off by the war.          Nor, for that matter, can it be            to excuse his involvement with the
And then, when at last the war was          assumed that even under the best of            learning and ways of the world. It
over, and Dr. Schilder made plans to        circumstances it could have worked.            had caught on with his imitators, and
makeanothervisitinwhichtheymight            The fact is that there were fundamen-          hadcarriedthemfarawayfromGod's
take up where they had left off, Rev.       taldifferences between these men and           Word. Common grace was what lay
Hoeksema was laid low with a mas-           their theologies; and, given the               at the root of it all.
sive stroke. The visit was made; but        strength of their character and the                    But for Schilder it was different.
little of substance could be done. In       convictions of these two men, the              It was not that he questioned what
fact, as we have seen, by the. time         likelihood that a meaningful agree-            Hoeksema said on common grace; he
Hoeksema recovered, the relation-           ment between them could ever have              had no love for it either. But that was
ship between their two denornina-           been gained is probably rather small.          not where his battle was fought. His
tions had fallen into the hands of          They may have shared a mutual dis-             opponents had engaged him on the
lesser men, leaving it so confused and      gust for the shallow intellectualism           subject of the covenant, and for him
troubled that further real dialogue         which had come to dominate the Re-             that was the crucial thing. But on that
could no longer take place. It was          formed church world, but as to what            subject he differed as much with
apparently not the Lord's will that         constituteditscause,theywerehardly             Hoeksema as he did with those that
meaningful consultations between            agreed.                                        expelled him, though in a different
these two inen, who had meant so                With Hoeksema the answer was               way.
much to each other for so long, should      clear and simple. It was common                        To this we must turn next time.
ever come to pass.                          grace, the theory Kuyper had devised                                                      cl




      Care  of.Scattered Groups
                                           of Believers

    "Places where as yet no consistoy       persecution. Consistories should do            DutchReformedchurchesin1905and
can be constituted shall be placed under    everything in their power to assist            the Christian Reformed Church in
the care of a neighboring consisto y. "     these dispersed in the establishment           1914. The explanation for this revi-
            Church Order, Article 39.       of congregations in their new places           sion is that there were those who felt
                                            of residence. Ministers and elders             that a classis didnot have the jurisdic-
HISTORY OF THIS ARTICLE                     should visit these cities and make             tion to do what properly belongs to
    This article datesbackto the early      contact with these dispersed breth-            the work of a consistory, particularly
history of the Reformed churches in         ren, as well as others who might be            the administration of the means of
the Netherlands. Already the Synod          interested.                                    grace. By giving the classis the right
of  Emden, 1571, concerneditselfwith        The Synod of `s Gravenhage,                    t o   I'... do what otherwise the
the gathering of scattered groups of        1586, decided: "In places where as             consistory..." was supposed to do,
Reformedbelievers. TheSynodurged            yet there is no consistory, the classis        the old Church Orders had gone too
classes and consistories to labor in        shall in the meantime do what other-           far.
nearby cities and villages where con-       wise the consistory according to the                   There is, therefore, a very sound
gregations had not yet been estab-          provision of this  Ckurck Order  is            church political principle that stands
lished. Special attention was to be         charged to do." The Synod of Dordt,            behind our present Article 39. By
paid to dispersedbelievers, thosewho        161%`19,  adopted the provision of's           placing scattered groups of believers
had fled to other localities because of     Graver&age.                                    under the care of neighboring
                                                Our present article, however, calls        consistories, the article safeguards the
                                            for these unorganized groups of be-            truth that the means of grace have
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest        lievers to U . . . be placed under the care    been committed to the local congre-
Protestant Reformed Church in               of a neighboring consistoy. N This re-         gation, not to the classis or synod.
Grandville, Michigan                        flects the revision of Article 39 by the               Fromthishistoryitbecomesplain

                                                                                                     January 1,1994lStandard  Beareill63


that our fathers were deeply inter-           field? How near to organization is the          tration of the sacraments. However,
ested in church extension work and            group? It maybe better to implement             if the conditions are not ripe for the
the establishment of new congrega-            the provision of Article 39 than to call        organization of a congregation, such
tions. When it was not feasible for a         a missionary in the case of a group             members are to be enrolled in an
group to be immediately organized             that is near organization and has ad-           adjoining congregation, and thus the
                                                                                              sacraments can be administered un-
into a congregation, there was con-           equate officebearer material. The               der the supervision of that consistory.
cern that they be cared for. Even a           question of cost may enter in to some           However, this shall not be without
small group of believers was not to be        extent. Which alternative is the best           the accompanying preaching of the
neglected.                                    stewardship of the resources avail-             Word, nor without sufficient repre-
                                              able to the denomination? And is                sentation of the consistory to have
IMPLEMENTATION                                there a "neighboring" consistory, that          supervision of the administration.
OF ARTICLE 39                                 is, a consistory in close enough prox-
     There are several reasons why it         imity that it can implement the re-               This decision provides for the
may not be wise to organize a group           quirements of Article  39?                    possibility of the members of an unor-
into a local congregation. The group                 Groups of believers "shall be          ganized group becoming members of
may be too small to be able to exist as       placed" under the care of a neighbor-         the congregation under whose care
a viable congregation. Usually this is        ing consistory. Shall be placed by            they have been placed. In fact, if the
the case with a group of less than 10         whom? The answer is: by the classis.          provisions of Article 39 are imple-
families. Organization may not be             The classis must make the determina-          mented, these believers and families
possible because there is not suffi-          tion as to whether or not Article 39          would have this right. This would
cient officebearer material in the            ought to be implemented in a given            then make possible the administra-
group. Or it may be the case that the         situation. And the classis must deter-        tion of the sacraments among the
group is not sufficiently grounded in         mine to what consistory the care of a         members of the group. This adminis-
the Reformed faith or informed in the         group of believers shall be entrusted.        tration would, of course, be under the
Christian life.                               Under most circumstances a group              supervision of the consistory under
    The question is: "What is to be           would itself petition the classis for         whose care they have been placed.
done in the meantime?" There are              consideration under Article 39.                   The decision of our churches at
basically two possibilities. It is pos-              The "care" of a neighboring            the Synod of 1981 with regard to the
sible that the locale where the group         consistory implies seeing to it that the      administration of baptism on the mis-
is meeting be declared a denomina-            group has regular preaching,  cate-           sion field would have application to
tional mission field. In this case, a         chetical instruction, and administra-         this situation. Here follows that deci-
neighboring congregation would be             tion of the sacraments. This "care"           sion.
designated the calling church.          In    requires supervision by the elders
conjunction with the denominational           and the presence of the elders at the           Synod is presented with the new
Mission Committee, a missionary               worship services and administration             advice of Preadirice  Committee I re-
would be called.         By obtaining a       of the sacraments. Family visitation            gardingBaptismontheMissionField.
                                                                                                A .   I n t r o d u c t i o n :
missionary, the group would have              would also be appropriate.                             Oui committee felt that after
the benefit of the sustained presence                By a "neighboring" consistory is         many years or discussion and debate
of a man working among them.                  meant a consistory that is geographi-           that the Synod of 1981 has come to a
    The other possibility is that the         cally near the group. This is some-             significant state of agreement. We-
provision of Article 39 be imple-             what relative in our day of modern              therefore present our advice based
mented. In this case, the group would         transportation and communication.               on this agreement as a succinct state-
be placed under the care of a neigh-          It is much easier to be a "neighboring"         ment on Baptism on the Mission
boring consistory. This neighboring           consistory today than it would have             Field.
consistory would make provision for           been a couple of generations ago. But             B: Advice:
                                                                                                        1. We advise Synod to declare
the administration of the means of            if there is no consistory that is near the      that Scripture and our Confessions
grace among them and take spiritual           group, the provisions of Article 39             (major and minor) charge the II&-
supervision over them.                        ought not to be implemented.                    sionary  with the task of preaching
    What factors would determine                                                              and baptizing.
which of the two possibilities would          THE DECISION APPENDED                                     Grounds: Matthew 28:19,20;
be most advantageous? Certainly the           TO ARTICLE 39                                   Mark X15, 16; Apostolic practice: '
desire of the group itself would enter               The following decision has been          Acts 238, 41; 8~12, 13, 16, 38; 9:18;
in. The availability of manpower may          appended by our churches to Article             l&47,48;  l&14,15,33;  18:8; 19:5.
be a factor. Realistically, is it a good      39.                                                                          -Adopted
possibility that a missionary will be                                                                   2. We advise Synod to decIare
                                                                                              that the command of the Lord to
secured to work the area if it is de-           If possible the organization of a con-       baptize is clearly expressed in the
clared a denominational mission                 gregation shall precede the adminis-

164lStandard  Bearer /January 1,1994


  second duty of the Form for the Or-                          2)This must be deter-                                               3. Svnoddeclaresthatitisclear
  dination of Missionaries, I`... thou art      mined by the calling church upon                                          from the &riptures  cited above and
  holden  if it pleases God to make thy         solid evidence furnished by the mis-                                      from the second duty of the mission-
  work fruitful unto the gathering of a         sionary in conjunction with the Mis-                                      ary that this baptism must be done
  church, ("gemeente") to administer            sion Committee (Foreign or Domes-                                         unto the gathering of a church
  the Sacrament of Holy Baptism ac-             tic).                                                                     (" gemeente"). Therefore it is crucial
  cording to the institution of the Lord                     Amend to add the word                                        that a church be instituted as soon as
  and the requirement of the covenant."         "sufficient" between the words "are"                                      feasible.
            a. The question remains,            and "proper."                                                                          a. With respect to a specific
  what is the meaning of this limiting                                        -Defeated                                   field this can only be determined by
  "if" clause, viz., when may the mis-                       Amend to place parenthe-                                     the calling consistory upon the ad-
  sionary baptize?                              ses around "s" of candidates in 2a.                                       vice of the missionary in conjunction
            b. Regarding this question                                        -Defeated                                   with the mission committee.
  we advise Synod to declare that this                       Amend to add after "candi-,                                               b.The precise moment of
  means:                                        dates" the words, "and their house-                                       readiness for institution cannot be
            l)When the preaching                holds" in parentheses.                                                    legislated by Synod.
  and teaching of the missionary is                                           -Adopted                                                               -Adopted 0
  fruitful and there are proper candi-                   Motion as once amended.
  dates who are Reformed in doctrine                                         -Adopted
  and walk, Acts 16:14,15,30-34.




     The Story of Two Fredericks
                                                                0
Introduction                                  To the story of that stirring event we                                the cause of Roman Catholicism, but
    FredericklII, better known as The         now turn.                                                             was prevented from exterminating
Pious, has gone downinhistory as the                                                                                either Lutheranism or Calvinism by
father of the Heidelberg Catechism.           The Diet of Augsburg                                                  events which continued to crowd in
This alone is sufficient to secure for            A few brief statements about the                                  on his life and distract his attention.
him a cherished place in the memory           background will help to put this im-                                  Notably, the Turks were knocking on
of God's people.                              portant meeting in perspective.                                       the Eastern door of Europe and were
    But from a certain point of view              The attacks made against the                                      threatening to overrun the continent,
this was not the spiritually high point       Heidelbergcatechismweremanyand                                        to engulf Europe in a tidal wave of
of Frederick's life. After all, although      fierce. They came from almost all                                     Mohammedan&m. He was, there-
he ordered the Catechism to be writ-          quarters. The Roman Catholics hated                                   fore, content to abide by the provi-
ten, he did not compose it himself.           it for its sharp condemnation of their                                sions of the Peace of Augsburg (1555)
Probably the clearest touch of his fin-       many sins. The Lutherans were no                                      in which Lutherans and Roman
ger on the Catechism is Question &            Iess affronted by it, both because it                                 Catholics had come to a tenuous agree-
Answer 80, dealing with the popish            constituted a threat to their domina-                                 ment that the ruler of each province
mass, which Frederick ordered in-             tion in Germany and because the at-                                   would decide the religion of that prov-
serted into the original edition. But         tacks made against their position on                                  ince. The difficulty was that the Peace
the high-water mark of Frederick's            the sacrament of the Lord's Supper                                    of Augsburg made no provision for
own commitment to the Reformation             were no less sharp than those made                                    Calvinism - it was an agreement
came at the Diet of Augsburgin 1566.          against Rome. But, clearly, the more                                  betweenLutherans  andRomanCatho-
                                              popularitbecameandthemorewidely                                       lies. Frederick III was a Calvinist.
                                              it was hailed for its quiet beauty and                                           Maximilian summoned a Diet to
                                              deep comfort, the more vicious be-                                    decide onvarious problems confront-
Pr?J Hanko is professor of Church His-        came the attacks.                                                     ing Germany, including the problem
toy and New Testament in the Protes-              Maximilian II was emperor of                                      of the Turkish threat. But on the
tant Reformed Semina y.                       Germany. He was deeply devoted to                                     agenda was also an item ominous for

                                                                                                                                 January 1,1994/Standard  Seam0  65



                                                                                _,     .     _-     .-     2S.C     _     .


Frederick: "How to check the destruc-          scattered quotes of the speech, which            only one among the princes to sup-
tive and corrupting sects." By virtue          could not have lasted more than five             port Frederick, tapped him on the
of his sponsorship of the Heidelberg           minutes, will have to suffice.                   shoulder in full view of the entire
Catechism, Frederick had been spe-                                                              assembly and said, "Fritz, you are
cifically charged with violating the               . . . I promise myself . . . that his Im-    more pious than all of us."
Peace of Augsburg.                               perial Majesty . . . will graciously hear          Although the minds of few if any
     Considered a heretic by Roman               and weigh the defence  I shall make;           were changed, the godliness of
Catholics and Lutherans, Frederick               which, ifit were required, I would be          Frederick was so obvious that no one
was in danger of losing everything at            ready to make undaunted in the cen-            dared to press the accusation brought
theDiet,  includinghislife. Because of           ter of the market place in this town.
                                                 Sofarasmattersof areligiousnature              against him. He was able to leave the
the danger, his closest friends urged            are involved, I confess freely that in         Diet  in peace and continue his work.
him not to go. But, as with Luther               those things which concern the con-
before theDiet  of Worms, soFrederick            science, I acknowledge as Master,              The Last Years
was convinced that a faithful testi-             only Him, who is Lord of lords and                 The victory at Augsburg was sig-
mony to the truth required his pres-             King of kings. For the question here           nificant, for it saved Calvinism in
ence. He responded to one friend:                is not in regard to a cap of flesh, but        Germany from Lutheran and Roman
                                                 it pertains to the soul and its salva-         Catholic domination.
     I find consolation in the hope that         tion, for which I am indebted alone                But Frederick really never knew
  the Almighty power of my dear and              to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,            any peace, even within his beloved
  faithful Heavenly Father will use me           and which, as his gift, I will sacredly'       Palatinate. Although  the controversy
  as an instrument for the confession            preserve. Therefore I cannot grant
  of His name in these days in the holy          your Imperial Majesty the right of             over the question of the presence of
                                                                                                Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's
  empire of the German nation, not               standing in the place of my God and
  only by word of mouth, but also by             Savior....                                     Supper was settled by the adoption of
  act.... I know . . . that the same God           That my Catechism, word for                  the Heidelberg Catechism, other con-
  who kept [Duke John Frederick] in              word, is drawn, not from human,                troversies plagued the province. One
  the true knowledge of the holy Gos-           but from divine sources the refer-              of the most serious was a controversy
  pel is still living, and is well able to       ences that stand in the margin will            over discipline, particularly whether
  preserve me, a poor, simple man,               show. For this reason also certain             the church or the State would exercise
  and, by the power of the Holy Ghost,           theologians have in vain wearied               discipline in the Palatinate. Calvin
  will certainly do it, even if it should        themselvesinattackingit, since it has          had settled the problem in Geneva
  come to this that blood must be spilt.        been shown them by the open Scrip-
  And should it please my God and                tures how baseless is their opposi-            after a long struggle with the authori-
  Father in heaven thus to honor me, I           tion. What I have elsewhere publicly           ties in that city; but Lutheranism,
  should never be able to thank Him              declared to your Majesty in a full             with Luther's encouragement, had
  sufficiently for it, either in time or in      assembly of princes; namely, that if           always tended towards giving eccle-
  eternity.                                      any one of whatever age, station or            siastical discipline to the civil magis-
                                                 class he may be, even the humblest,            trate. The struggle between Calvin-
His own family bade him farewell                 can teach me something better from
                                                 the Holy Scriptures, I will thankhim           ism andLutheranismin the Palatinate
with tears, certain that they would              from the bottom of my heart and be             brought about this controversy over
never again see him on earth.                    readilyobedienttothedivinetruth....            discipline. Unfortunately, Frederick,
     At the Diet, almost all were                Should it please your Imperial Maj-            a civil ruler himself, favored the posi-
against him, including the emperor.              esty to undertake this task, I would           tion that the State exercisedkey power
When the business of "destructive               regardit  as the greatest favor.... With        in the church as well as sword power
and corrupting sects" came up,                  this, my explanation, I hope your               in the State.
Frederick was summoned before the               Imperial Majesty will be satisfied....              Shortly after the triumph of
emperor, by whom he was given the                Should contrary to my expectations,            Augsburg, Maria, Frederick's de-
choice: Either retract your position or         my defense . . . not be regarded of any
                                                account, I shall comfort myself in              voted wife of 30 years, died. After
suffer deposition. Lutherans and                this that my Lord and Savior Jesus              two years of deep mourning, Frederick
Roman Catholics alike eagerly nod-              Christ has promised to me and to all            married Amelia, a countess of
ded agreement. Only the small                   who believe that whatsoever we lose             Neuenahr and a widow from the
huddled group of Calvinists won-                on earth for His name's sake, we                Netherlands. She was related to vari-
dered what would happen and even                shall receive an hundred fold in the            ous French Huguenots and, as a re-
half-seriously wished Frederick                 life to come.                                   sult of this marriage, Frederick's at-
would capitulate.                                                                               tention was more and more drawn to
    We cannot quote here the speech                It was a courageous defense.                 the sad plight of the suff eringHugue-
Frederick made in his own defense,             Everything hung in the balance -                 nots in France.
although it has come down through              even the future of Calvinism in Ger-                 Frederick began, in these years,
the ages presented  for us. Only a few         many. Elector August of Saxony, the              to send his armies to the aid of French

166lStandard   Bearer/January  1,1994


and Dutch Protestants. The French               called to a better life. I have done for      voice that all heard averv brief prayer
Protestants were being butchered by             the church the best I possibly could,         and quietly departed this life to-be
the Roman Catholic king under the               but have not accomplished a great             with Christ in glory. It was Novem-
prodding of his Roman Catholic ad-              deal. God who can do all things and           ber, 1576.
visers; the Dutch Protestants were              who caredforhis servantsbeforemy
                                                day, still lives and reigns in heaven.            Calvin thought so highly of
being slaughtered by the cruel and              He will not leave you orphan, nor             Frederick that he dedicated his com-
merciless Margaret of Parma and the             willheleavewithoutfruittheprayers             mentary on Jeremiah to him. In the
Duke of Alva. Unable to bear the                and tears which I have brought to             concluding paragraph of the Dedica-
suffering of his fellow saints, and out         himonmykneesinthisroomformy                   tion Calvin says:
of sympathy for his agonizing wife,             successors and for the church.
he ordered his troops into France and                                                             Though I can add nothing to the
the Netherlands. Ursinus was op-                  A bit later he was speaking to                character of your Highness, either by
posed to this decision andurgedupon           Olevianus:                                        my praise or by the dedication of this
Frederick the biblical truth that the                                                           Work, yet I could not restrain myself
cause of Christ in the world was not              The Lord may call me whenever it              from doing what I thought to be my
advancedbytheswordandthat"they                  pleases him. I have a clear con-                duty. Farewell, Most Illustrious
                                                                                                Prince. May God enrich you more
that fight with the sword shall perish          science in Christ Jesus my Lord,                and more with His spiritual gifts,
with the sword."                                whom I have served with all my
                                                heart, and                                      keep you long in safety, and render
        The University of Heidelberg                           I have lived to see that in
                                                my churches and schools the people              your dignified station prosperous to
gainedanintemationalreputationfor               are directed away from men to him               youandyours(Geneva, July23,1563).
learning, piety, and strong doctrinal           alone.
commitment. It had an international                                                               No one who loves and cherishes
faculty and about half of the student             Just before he died he murmured             the Heidelberg Catechism ought to
body were foreigners. From it went            to those about him:                             forget to breathe a quiet prayer of
out men to preach and teach in all                                                            thanksgiving to God for the gift of
Europe the great truths of Calvinism.             I have been detained long enough            Frederick, tihom God used to give
        But Frederick's days were swiftly       by the prayers of pious Christians. It        this blessed creed to us. And no one
drawing to a close. His piety in his            is time that my earthly life should           can read of his courage before kings
death was as great as in his life.              close, and that I should go to my             and rulers without resolving in his
        Just a few days before he died, he      Savior into heavenly rest.                    own heart, by God's grace, to stand
said to his chaplain:                                                                         for truth and right with equal depen-
                                                  After asking that Psalm 31 and              dence upon Christ, in whom we have
        I have lived long enough, both for    John 17 be read for him, and after              the victory through faith. 0
  you and the church. Now I shall be          hearing them read, he prayed in a




           Ministerial Activities             tomy. After suffering some post-                Rapids, Ml on November 4 and 5. A
        After Rev. Bruinsma declined          operative problems, he was able to              special invitation was extended to the
their call, the Loveland, CO PRC              return home again onDecember  4. By             area churches to anyone interested to
formed a new trio of the Revs. R.             God's grace he is making good recov-            attend the Mass Meeting and Inspira-
Dykstra, B. Gritters, and C. Haak.            ery, and will soon again take up his            tional Address on the morning of the
From those three they extended a call         labors on behalf of all our churches.           4th. Rev. R. Cammenga, a 1972 gradu-
to Rev. B. Gritters to serve as their             As a footnote to the above: Prof.           ate of Covenant, spoke on "Dealing
next undershepherd.                           Decker, as well as all our present              with Discouragement: Encouraging
        In late November, Prof. Decker,       professors, ministers, and emeritus             our Teachers to Teach."
of our PR Seminary, entered the hos-          ministers, covet the prayers of God's               In early November, the reorga-
pital in Grand Rapids, MI, and sub-           saints, not only in their difficult times,      n.izedLacombe PRSchool  Society met
mitted to an emergency  appendec-             but their good times as well. Have              at the Immanuel PRC in Lacombe,
                                              you prayed for your pastor today?               AB, Canada, and a new Board was
                                                                                              elected. This newly elected Board
                                                            School News                       desires and requests the prayers of all
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant          The PR Teachers' Institute held             of our churches as it meets to re-
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-        their 39th annual convention at Cov-            evaluate the need for Christian edu-
gan.                                          enant Christian High School in Grand            cation in the Lacombe area.

                                                                                                    January 1,1664/Standard  Beared 67


                                         .,!
  BMER                                   1;                                                                      SECOND CUSS
                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                 Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603                         -i
  Grandville, MI 49468-0603


    The students of Hope PR Chris-                          Mission Activities
tian School in Grand Rapids, MI pre-                Revs. M. Joostens and B. Gritters
sented a program entitled, "The                 were scheduled to leave for Jamaica
Knowledge of God," basedon  Article             on December 7 to fulfill the mandate
2 of the Confession of Faith, on the            of our last Synod, to close the mission           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
evening of November 19 at the First             field there.                                      On December 28,1993,
Jenison CRC.                                                                                MR. and MRS. WILLIAM CIASON
    The students of the South Hol-                         Evangelism Activities            celebrated their 50th wedding anni-
land PR Christian School in South                   The Council of the Lynden, WA           versary. We are thankful for the many
Holland, Il were scheduled to give              PRC granted the request of their            years our heavenly Father has given
their All-School Christmas Program              ChurchExtension  Committee to spon-         them together and pray for His con-
on December 16. The students in-                sor a congregational evening of "Per-       tinuing blessing to rest upon them.
tended to develop the theme "Rich               sonal Evangelism" or N Congrega-                  "The Lord is my strength and my
Through His Poverty," based on II               tionalInvolvementinMissions."  This         shield; and my heart trusted in him,
Corinthians  8:9.                               was scheduled to be held on Novem-          and I am helped: therefore my heart
                                                ber 18.                                     greatly rejoiceth; and with my song
                                                    The Evangelism Committee of the         will I praise him" (Psalm 28:7).
 Congregational Activities                      Hope PRC in Redlands, CA recently           ris Bill and Anita Lenting
    The Building Committee of the               received two nice letters from Soledad              Michelle (RandyVanDerNoord),
Peace PRC in Lynwood, IL continues,             Prison, thanking them for the 200                   Rachel, Greg, Brian, Melissa,
weather permitting, with site work              copies of the "Three Forms of Unity,"              Allyson
on their property, including parking            a booklet which they recently sent to       #S Bill and Julie Clason
lot, storm-sewers, trenching for foot-          them. These letters informed them of                Nathan, Monte, Esther, Miriam,
ings and foundation, and the pouring            how these booklets are being used.                  Billy, Martin, Adam
of footings and laying of block foun-           One of the letters was from an inmate             3 great-grandchildren
dations.                                        who is serving a life term. He came to                                      w-, MI
    The Covenant Ladies' Circle, of             know the Lord while in prison. Since
the First PRC of Edmonton, AB,                  that time he has been led from
Canada, recently sponsored a combi-             Arminianism to great appreciation of              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
nation car rally and soup supper for            the Reformed faith.                               On January 6,1994,  our parents
their congregation, as well as the con-             The Evangelism Committee of the         and grandparents,
gregation of Immanuel PRC in                    First PRC in Holland, MI has recently            MR. and MRS. JAKE JABAAY,
Lacombe.                                        placed a cassette tape library in their     will celebrate their 35th wedding anni-
    The Adult Bible Societies of the            fellowship room, next to their book         versary. We are thankful to God for
Grandville, MIPRC sponsored a non-              library. Sermon tapes from the last         their Christian guidance and loving
perishable food drive. Plans called             few months have been placed there           home, and pray that God may always
for donations to be accepted through            for use by the congregation.                continue to be with them and bless
Thanksgiving morning, with distri-                                                          them. "One generation shall praise
bution to be made the next day by                            ~ooff~or Ifiayyfit             thy works to another, and shall de-
Grandville's deacons.                               "Little more can be said concern-       clare thy mighty acts" (Psalm 145:4).
    On Thanksgiving morning, No-                ing the generality of men, than that        @     Berend and Janine Meelker
vember 25, the congregation of the              they lived, and sinned and died. But                Chad, Brent, Deanna, Andrew
TrinityPRCinHouston,TX,gathered                 concerning all God's people, it may         @ Jim and Laurie Jabaay
in  ,God's house for their annual               be said that they lived, were con-                  David, Michael, Matthew, Katie
Thanksgiving Day service. The con-              verted, preserved to the end, and           S$ Rick and Jill Elzinga
gregation,followingannualtradition,             went to heaven."                                    Megan, Kristen
met in the fellowship hall for Thanks-                                       A. Toplady,    &  JasonJabaay
giving dinner.                                                         Works, p. 545 0                                  Redlands, calnomia


168lStandard   Bearer/January  1,1994


