                               he

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A  REFORMED   SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





  ;N  MS  ISSUE:


       Meditation: Another Comforter

       Editorial: The Horses Are Running!

       That  Wynderful Gift of Memory


       Dr. Kuitert and Evolution (see All Around Us)




                                   Volume XLIV/ Number  l?/ June 1, 1968


                                                                                                                                        -.
386                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER

                              C O N T E N T S                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
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   Another Comforter m.........................o........... 386                                  Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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   The Horses Are Running! . . . . ..a..o...DD............o 389                                     C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,  Rev. Gise 3. Van Baren,
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                      Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
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                                                 Another Comforter
                                                                              by Rev. J.  Kovtevi?g

                      And I will  pray the  Fathev, and he shall give you  another   Comfovtev,  that he may abide
                 with you  fovevev; even the  Spirit.  of truth;  whom  the  wovld  cannot.receive,  because it
                 seeth him not,  neither knoweth him; but ye know him;  for he dwelleth with you, and  shu.11
                  be in you.                                                                                                         John  14:16,  17
    A Comforter !                                                                                our welfare as pilgrims who are traveling home.
    0, how we need one.                                                                          Jesus spoke to His disciples and counseled them con-
    A Comforter is one who comes to our side to help                                             cerning His Father's house of many mansions. From
us in our needs.                                                                                 this we know that beyond the grave there lies a rest-
    Our needs are many. Principally they pertain to                                              ing place which constitutes the goal of our entire life.


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     387


It's home! In that heavenly home we will behold our          the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of God, He completes
Father in the splendor of His full revelation. We will       the perfect covenant of friendship between the Father
see Jesus, our Bridegroom, face to face and seeing           and the Son. The Father breathes forth His love to the
Him we will enjoy everlasting life in all its fulness. In    Son and the Son receiving that love of the Father re-
that home we will enjoy perfect communion withal1 our        turns it to the Father in the Holy Spirit. From this
brothers and sisters. Our hearts beat withanticipation       point of view the Holy Spirit of God, being very God,
as we think upon the joy of singing perfect praise to        dwells in perfect union with the Father and Son. His
the God of our salvation. The pearly gates will house        breath is Holy for He personally is consecrated along
perfect saints as they walk the streets of gold within       with the Father and Son to perfect fellowship within the
the New Jerusalem.                                           boundary of perfect love. This perfect fellowship is
   So frequently that home seems so far away. In             expressed in divine conversation. This is even re-
faith we gaze to the future, but when we cast our hope-      flected in a small way among men; friendship is ex-
filled eyes upon the present circumstances we cannot         pressed in our speaking with one another. In fact the
help but sigh. We recognize that not all men are head-       more friendly we are, the more we really know one
ing home, not all share with LB the joy of anticipating      another and share our life together, the easier and
the Kingdom of Heaven. On the contrary, most people          more fluent we are with our speech. This is supreme-
of the world do not even know God and consequently           ly true in God. His friendship within the Godhead is
set their eye upon a different goal. We see them tear-       expressed in perfect conversation, the Father speaks
ing down their barns and building larger. Their ambi-        to the Son and the Son to the Father in and through the
tions are founded upon material things on this side of       Holy Spirit. This applies to God's everlastingdecrees.
the grave, for they try fevershly to see how much of         His counsel is really His perfect covenant life in
the world's goods they can hoard for themselves. They        which He speaks to Himself in the Friendship of divine
vainly imagine that there is no life after death, so they    love. The same can be said of His conversation which
reason that if they are going to make the most out of        extends outside of Himself. This conversation is al-
the present, they might as well contribute some little       ways an expression of the truth. He never lies, He
portion to the dream of making this world a better           never contradicts Himself, He always brings the truth
place to live. In doing so they make certain that they       and whatever He says is reality, it comes to pass.
don't take life too seriously, they eat and drink and        The covenant friendship of God with His people is ex-
soon rise up to.play.                                        pressed in the way of conversation, God speaks His
   As pilgrims we recognize that living in this kind of      truth to His people and they return that speech back to
environment, we need help. It is so easy for us to lose      God by thankful praise.
sight of our goal and become so confused that we                The Holy. Spirit is the One Who realizes this cove-
identify the cause of the church with that of the world.     nant friendship. He plants in our hearts the seeds of
Besides this, we by nature would rather be part of the       the new life by the wonder of regeneration. Before
world who know not God, than to be a stranger in the         we even become conscious of God's love, before we
midst of the world. We have our own temptations; we          can even picture in our own minds the home that awaits
crave popularity. It is so easy for us to go along with      us in glory, we must be born again. This re-birth is
the crowd; it even looks good to us to envision our          of the Holy Spirit.        There is however, more than
making this world a better place to live and by so do-       simply the planting of the seed, there is also the bring-
ing establish the kingdom of God here upon earth. If         ing forth of the new man! This the Holy Spirit does
we do not go along with this crowd we soon learn that        through the preaching of the gospel. He directs His
we do not have a place in their midst; they do not           efficacious Word to the regenerated heart, opens it up
simply ignore us, but persecute us, for the world that       so that the seeds of divine love burst forth and become
does not know God will not even tolerate the pilgrim         a controlling power in our lives. The result of this
that seeks God with his whole heart, soul, mind, and         work is that we immediately recognize that God is
strength.                                                    speaking to us.     God draws us into His covenant by
   We need help.                                             speaking His truth in our hearts and filling us with
   We are helpless.                                          love, so that we receive that truth with joy. This
   Mark well, that what the child of God needs is not        brings us to respond to that conversation of God by
simply a little nudge, a little coaxing, or a good ex-       praising His name, by singing, by praying, byusing our
ample. By nature we are dead. Initially, we need to be       tongues to glorify Him, and by directing all our con-
resurrected from the dead so that we are brought to a        versation in thought, word, and deed to acknowledge
living knowledge of God and therefore of our place in        that He is the God of our salvation.
His family. Only then will heaven become our home.              Through the means of grace, the preaching of the
Once lifted out of the dark abyss of unbelief, we need       Word and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit nourishes
encouragement, instruction, warning, and a daily mea-        us in that truth, encourages us when we would be in-
sure of strength to lift our feet on the pathway that        clined to give up, warns us when we wander from the
leads home,                                                  truth, exhorts us to be faithful, and draws us closer
   This kind of help man cannot give.                        to God by speaking to us the truth.
   We need the Comforter!                                       Of this Helper, Christ said, "I will pray the Father
   This Comforter or Helper is none other than God           and He will send you amthev Comforter."


388                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER


   We might ask, who then was the first helper?                      including the purpose and necessity of the death of
   The answer is Christ.              He helped us out of the        Christ. Through His powerful indwelling the bars of
state of guilt by satisfying the righteous judgments of              fear were broken, He kindled within the hearts of
God.       Christ earned the right to draw us into the               each one of His own the fire of holy zeal. As many as
covenant friendship of God through His Holy Spirit.                  were ordained to eternal life believed. They came
The holy God is also righteous. He does not and He                   from countries near and far; each joined in their own
cannot take into His arms of love those who are by                   way to praise the God who revealed to them the truth.
nature liars and continue to speak lies. The righteous-              Altogether they enjoyed the covenant friendship of God
ness of God demands that all liars will have to pay the              as the Spirit of truth spoke to their hearts.
penalty of lying and that penalty is death. From this                   Christ gave His Comforter to the church. It is not
point of view we see that all untruth, all distortion of             so, that Christ will give the Holy Spirit to just anyone,
reality, both as it applies to the Wordof God and as the             He knows those for whom He died and therefore it is
Word of God is applied to our daily lives, is a road-                through the ministry of the church that He draws His
block that separates God and man. When man lies,                     own unto Himself. Christ calls His own by name, and
God removes man from His holy presence. The God of                   that call is a powerful call because He sounds it forth
truth will not compromise His truth with the lie. This               through the Holy Spirit.        By this call the covenant
removal brings man into separation from His love and                 friendship is established and we, too, are brought into
exposes man to the righteous judgments of His holy                   the sphere of the truth to enjoy this conversation with
wrath. This is death.                                                God.
   In order for that kind of man to be taken within the                 This Spirit abides with us forever.
arms of God's friendship, Christ had to, "Go and pre-                   All through our pilgrimage, we may rest assured
pare a place for you." On behalf of the elect whom                   that Christ will not remove the Comforter, He will
the Father willed to save, Christ bore the judgment of               continue to send Him even unto the day of our Lord
their lies by speaking the truth, even while the billows             Jesus Christ. Through the Spirit, Christ will certainly
of God's just wrath poured over Him.                    Always He    gather within the covenant all His own and not one will
shouted forth, Father I love thee! I love those whom                 be excluded.       He will speak His truth  within,our
thou has given me, I will redeem all their iniquities,               hearts, He will warn us when we wander from the truth
let the chastisement of their peace fall upon me!                    whether in doctrine or life, He will exhort us to be
   This work of our first Helper was accomplished                    faithful no matter what the cost, He will encourage us
when He shouted forth from the cross, "It is finished."              when we would be inclined to lose sight of our heavenly
God sealed that work by raising Him from the dead.                   home, He will preserve us in the midst of temptations
As Paul observed, "He was raised for our justifica-                  by giving us the grace of repentance from sin and the
tion."      Having established perfect righteousness for             desire to strive after righteousness.
His own, Christ assured His disciples, "I will pray                     No matter what the circumstances, whether on our
the Father and He shall send you another Comforter."                 sick beds or in the full strength of life, whether in peace
   This He did.                                                      or war, whether in riches or poverty, whether we may
   Having ascended into heaven, Christ did not forget                have spiritual vitality or leanness, this is certain:
His needy children who were yet on earth. He prayed                  the Holy Spirit of Christ abides with us forever. This
the Father that another Comforter might be sent to                   is true for the individual Christian and also for the en-
them. This Comforter was sent on Pentecost. He is                    tire church. He constantly fills us with the truth, that
that Helper sent from the Father.                 The triune God     we may within the sphere of that truth enter into holy
answered the prayer of Christ and gave to Him the                    conversation with God and with one another. He en-
Spirit, so that He in turn could send Him to the earth               ables us to forsake the lie, to banish sin from our
to help the helpless.                                                lives, to seek after righteousness, and thus to live to
   What a Helper!                                                    the glory of God now and forever.
   He is the Spirit of truth. Through His help the                      Through the Holy Spirit God is certain of His glory.
disciples suddenly understood the entire Scriptures,                    To Him be the praise forever.

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                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    389




     EDIT0  RIALS-



                         The Horses Are Running!

                                               by  Pvof. H. Hoeksema


   We live in a day when all too often the concern of the    conflict and rioting, street protests and marches incited
church and of the members of the church is strictly          by rabble-rousers of all kinds, power struggles and
this-worldly.                                                sit-ins and outright revolution at colleges and uni-
   War and rumor of war run rampant through our              versities, arson and destruction of property and blood-
world. In fact, there has never been an era like ours,       shed,  - these are the order of the day. Giants of
in which there has been so much talk of peace, but so        industry and commerce constantly fight to gobble up
little of peace itself among the nations. Your children      still more of their "share" of our booming economy.
and mine are growing up, or have grown up, since the         Giants of labor continually jockey for position and exert
onset of World War II, in years during which there was       coercion in the form of strikes and boycotts and the
at no time even the semblance of peace among the             threats thereof, in order that they also may gain their
nations of the world. The armed forces of the nations        "fair share" of the gains that are to be gotten in the
have `been encamped in Europe ever since the war             on-going struggle of covetousness. A new brand of
supposedly ended. The Korean War has never yet been          giants, giants of the poor, purpose to hold the sword
brought to a conclusion. The Vietnamese Conflict is          of coercion at the throat of government in order to
still raging, and no one can see an end to it. The great     gain a hand-out; but these also aim only at the same
powers of `the world stand opposed to one another in         materialistic gains of covetousness. Everywhere there
so-called "cold war" which can at any time become            is conflict and strife!
very "hot." Nuclear and thermo-nuclear sabres are               And what do we behold in the churches? They join
constantly being rattled bythe world-giants who worship      the fray, the materialistic fray. Some openly foment
Mars. Our young men face the prospect of preparation         revolution in today's world, in the name of social
for war, if not the prospect of thedangers of war itself.    justice, prostituting themselves for the gods of this
Everywhere men cry, "Peace, peace!" But there is             world in devotion to the principles of "Liberty, Equality,
no peace!                                                    and Fraternity." Others would impress upon men the
   And what spectacle do we behold in the church,            necessity of the church and the people of God becoming
among those who are supposed to be the people of             "involved" in the problems of this world, and the
God, and in much of the religious press? Churches            solutions thereto,  - all in the name of Christ. Others
and councils of churches declare themselves either           would bring in the kingdom of Christ into this world
for or against the Vietnam War and our involvement           through the means of so-called Christian social action.
in it. Clerics and religious leaders forget the adage,       Some proclaim a mealy-mouthed repent-and-accept-
"Shoemaker, stick to your last," and fancy themselves        Christ evangelism as a solution to all problems and as
as experts on the question. Others, forgetting alto-         the salvation of a world which they vainly hope to "win
gether the Biblical injunction to be in submissionto the     for Christ." Others more suavely and less bombasti-
powers that be, busy themselves encouraging Christian        cally, more polishedly and less crassly, pretend to
young men to rebel against and even to evade the             preach a gospel of grace, "grace for black and white,"
military draft. Still others, in the name of Christian-      while they do not preach the sovereign grace of God at
ity, seek to incite the patriotic feelings and loyalties     all, but merely seek to become engaged in the same
of Christian people by alluding to the present conflict      struggles and to be relevant; and then they pride them-
as part of a Christian crusade against international         selves about recognition from a national radio network,
communism.       And yet others in the churches would        apparently not realizing that the world's recognition is
have God's people run to the throne of grace with a          hardly a recommendation of Reformed preaching. But
clamorous petition for world peace and for the suc-          few, if any, rise above the fray in the sereneness of
cess-of a godless organization like the United Nations.      an other-worldly f&h and hope.
   But whatever the stance, the underlying viewpoint            What is wrong?
is altogether this-worldly. It is that of a concern, and        Has the church and have God's people no eye for
even an anxiety, about the things of this present time.      the signs of the times?
   The same is true of the domestic scene, where                Are they so engrossed in the things of this present
violence and strife are everywhere evident. Racial           time, so swept along by the swift and mighty tide of


390                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


materialism, so far removed from the gospel of grace,        men. Wherever he runs his course through this world,
so carnally involved in the things of this world, so         violence and conflict and bloodshed come about. When
enamored of the philosophy and the pseudo-gospels of         blood flows on the battlefield, when violence rages in
this world, so concerned to have a place under the sun,      our streets, then remember: the red horse is running
to have status and recognition in this world, to count       his course !
for something in intellectual and social and political          The black horse is running too! His rider holds a
circles, so afraid to be different, to be outcasts, to be    pair of balances in his hand. And as he runs his course,
pilgrims and strangers in the earth, that they have lost     a cry is heard, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and
completely the ability to view things in the light of        three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou
their other-worldly hope, in the light of their anti-        hurt not the oil and the wine." The color of this horse
thetical calling, in the light of their heavenly citizen-    is the color of scarcity, of want and famine. Wherever
ship, in the light of their expectation of their Lord        he rides, this horse brings with him the sharp con-
from heaven?                                                 trast between scarcity and plenty, between luxury and
   Seldom, if ever, do you hear a note concerning the        miserable poverty, and the attendant social contrast
signs of the times, a note cautioning God's people to        and conflict between the haves and the have-nots.
behold the events which literally swirl about us as so       This is the contrast that is at the root of many of the
many increasing manifestations of the signs of the           events in the present day.         This black horse is the
times, signs of the quick coming of our Lord Jesus           cause of the feasting and riotous living, on the one
Christ. Overwhelmingly, the outlook is this-worldly,         hand, and the dissatisfaction and misery and protest
not other-worldly.                                           and rebellion and revolution and bloodshed, on the
   And what of ourselves ?                                   other hand, which are so characteristic of our times.
   Is it not true that only too often our own eyes are       Yes, the black horse of the Apocalypse is running! He
directed horizontally, not vertically, earthward rather      that hath eyes to see, let him behold it!
than heavenward? Is it not true that only too often we          And the pale horse and its rider, Death, is running
also are inclined to view things in the light of human       his course, making his drive through the earth! Hades
wisdom and in terms of human solutions, rather than          follows with him. Death as he riots in our streets, as
in the light of the Word of God and in terms of the          he stalks over the battlefields, as he kills by the
radical, the catastrophic solution of the gospel of          sword and by pestilence, in homicide and suicide, in
grace? Is it not true that only too often, just because      plague and epidemic, in storm and flood and fire, in
we do not assume the right viewpoint, do not see things      hurricane and typhoon and tornado, in earthquake and
in the light of Christ and His coming, we become upset       tidal wave, by the beasts of the earth, - dear-h in all
and fearful because of the events of this present time,      its forms rides through the earth, killing its  one-
or tend to become engrossed in the vain attempt to           fourth and sometimes its one-third, but always its
solve the insoluble problems of a hopeless and perish-       proper quota, just as many as is in harmony with the
ing world, or are tempted to fix our hopes on the            history of the world according to the divine plan. And
solutions which this world `proposes, or are so allured      no one is powerful to stop him!
by the lusts of this world (and all that is in the world        It is not my intention to offer an exposition of the
is lust!) that we are troubled with spiritual myopia,        meaning of these horses and of their relation to one
can see no farther than the limited horizons of this         another. My purpose is rather to call attention to the
world's material prosperity, and have no eye for and         fact that these horses are making their drives through
no inclination to seek the kingdom of God and His            the earth, and that as people of God we should view
righteousness ?                                              current events in the light of the Word of God, which
   But the horses are running! I mean: the horses of         establishes a close connection between the history of
the Apocalypse !                                             this dispensation and the drives of these horses.
   The Lamb is reigning! Clothed with all power in           Rather than allowing ourselves to be bound to a
heaven and on earth, He opens the seals on the book          horizontal, this-worldly, humanistic view of events, we
of God's counsel!                                            should by faith view things in the light of eternity, the
   The things that must shortly come to pass are             light of revelation.
coming to pass indeed! And they are coming to pass              And then I would briefly call attention to a few very
according to God's determinate purpose. They are             comforting and very practical items.
coming to           pass in    order that Christ's Word         In the first place, let us never forget that the seals
of promise          may be fulfilled, "Behold, I come        are opened and the horses are therefore sent forth into
quickly, and my reward is with me, `to render unto           the earth by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb Who is
every man according as his work shall be!" They              worthy to open the book with its seven seals. Not men
are coming to pass in order that Christ may realize          control and direct the history and the destiny of this
His everlasting and heavenly and glorious kingdom in         world, but our Lord Jesus Christ, Who loved us and
the new heavens and the new earth!                           gave Himself for us. He is Lord alone! And He rules
                                                             the universe.    He is indeed the Lord of history. No
   Indeed, the red horse is running! He is the horse of      matter what may betide, He causes all things to work
violence and bloodshed, of war and rumor of war, of          together for good unto them that love Him, the called
conflict and tumult and turmoil among the nations of         according to His purpose, Nothing can be against us


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    391


as the people of God because nothing can in deepest           its manifestations,  - these are all subservient to the
reality be against the cause of God in Christ, and be-        victory of the kingdom of Christ, to the final realization!
cause God in Christ is for us! The vision of the horses       of Christ's purpose, namely, His everlasting kingdom,
and their riders assures us that all the various forces       of glory. All the events of history occur in order to'
and trends in history are not so many uncontrolled            bring in the kingdom of God. If you ask the question,
forces, running fatalistically rampant through the world.     "Why must these horses run their courses in history?"
But they are strong and irresistible forces which are         there is but one answer, and that answer applies to
well directed and controlled, which proceed from the          them all in their relation to the white horse. That
book with its seven seals, the counselof God, and which       answer is: they, the forces symbolized by the four
must serve God's purpose.                                     horses and their riders, must all exist and be active
   In the second place, let us take note of the fact that     for but one purpose, the bringing in of the glorious
the first horse in this vision is the horse which I have      kingdom of Christ, the only possible terminal for all
not heretofore mentioned: the white horse, who goes           history.
forth conquering and to conquer. That horse represents           And the conclusion of the matter?
the victorious progress of the cause of Christ's kingdom         In the first place, be not as the world in your outlook
in this dispensation.      He represents the power of         upon all the disturbing events of this present time. Be
Christ's kingdom as it goes forth into the world and
makes subjects for the kingdom of heaven. He rep-             not dismayed; be not anxious; be not disturbed and
                                                              upset. Look at things in the light of eternity, the light
resents the victorious power of the Spirit and of the         of revelation.
Word which changes men from enemies of God into
subjects of the Lord of lords and King of kings through          In the second place, as surely as the drivers of
the wonder of grace. He represents the cause of Christ        these horses stand inseparably related to the coming
as it shall finally and manifestly triumph in the day of      of Christ's kingdom, so surely should we also behold
our Lord Jesus Christ. And let it be noted that this is       in them signs of the coming of Christ. Be not afraid,
the only. horse of the four who is pictured as victorious,    ye citizens of the kingdom!       All these things must
who goes forth conquering and to conquer. The'cause           needs come to pass. Rather, when they come to pass,
of Christ, no matter what may betide, goes on and is          lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth nigh!
victorious !                                                  And in times of war and turmoil, of famine and pesti-
   In the third place, let us remember that the white         lence and social upheaval, when the red horse drives
horse of the victorious cause of Christ's kingdom is the      through the earth and the black horse appears in your
first  horse, and that the other horses follow him. This      streets, or when the pale horse enters into your homes
means not only that historically the red and the blaclc       and your family circle, let your hearts rest in the
and the pale horses appear wherever the white horse           power of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who holds the book
takes his course through the world and through history.       with the seven seals, and Who controls all things in
But it means, too, that these horses are subservient to       heaven and earth to the ultimate completion of His
the white horse and his victorious progress. Again, I         glorious kingdom !
do not purpose to go into detail, but only to call atten-        The horses are running!
tion to the fact. War and rumor of war, violence and             Do I not hear also the trumpets sounding?
bloodshed, social contrast and conflict, and death in all        Christ is coming!


 FROM HOLY  WRIT-

                            The Book Of Hebrews
                                                 by Rev. G. Lubbers

                                             Hebrews   6:9-12  (continued)

THINGS THAT ACCOMPANY SAL VATION                              life the infallible fruits of election of grace. Just as
(Hebrews 6:9)                                                 our shadow follows us wherever we go, and as good
   There are certain things which ever accompany              fruit is found on a good tree, so these things accom-
salvation.      Such is the plain. teaching of Scripture.     pany salvation. The original Greek term allows for a
Thus there are also certain things which accompany            bit of latitude in translation. Since these are things
men on the road to damnation. They are what may be            which accompany salvation perhaps we can say that
designated as being earmarks of `grace. Fact is that          the term suggests that these things point to and have
the writer is persuaded of the better things concerning       to do with salvation. They are the pursuing of sancti-
the Hebrew Christians. They bear in their walk and            fication, which one must have to inherit eternal life.


392                                          THESTANDARDBEARER


We are to follow after peace with all men and holiness,      them are .the things accompanying, pointing to salva-
without which no man shall see the Lord!                     tion. This salvation is that which was brQught about
    The writer is persuaded of this. He has weighed          by the author of eternal salvation, the priest after the
the evidence  B     Yes; he did have doubts concerning       order of Melchizedek.         This salvation was realized
them.       They had become dull of hearing the grand        in Christ's death, resurrection, and glorious ascension
truths of the gospel.       Yet, the writer is persuaded     as the Son at God's right hand, higher and more
better things concerning them, than that they are such       glorious than the angels.
as who have been enlightened and then fall away. The            This confidence of the apostle is not based on whim
elect never perish, and they have the evidence of the        and fancy. It is rooted in and based upon the faithful-
infallible fruits of election.    Really, the writer had     ness and justice of God who cannot lie, as this faith-
never believed the worse concerning them. Up till the        fulness is rooted in God's unchangeable promise and
present moment he is persuaded better things con-            oath to the heirs of the promise. The writer is there-
cerning them.                                                fore standing here on safe and solid footing. He does
    Small wonder that the writer at this juncture in his     not simply attempt to say something nice and flatter-
letter calls the readers "beloved." It has been cor-         ing.       This is more than idle praise; it is more than
rectly observed by Bible students that this is the only      trying to be the good fellow who does not desire to hurt
time that the writer calls his readers beloved (aga-         their feelings. On the contrary, the writer refers to
peetoi).     The reason for doing so here is evidently in    the evidence of salvation and the justice of God which
light of the strong warning he had just uttered. What        honors his own work of grace in the saints and to the
was stated there of certain people who had once been         saints. He believes that they will one day stand in the
enlightened was not true of the believers of the             final glory, and now they must stand in the full assur-
Hebrews.        He addresses them very gently by the         ance of hope. Every one having such hope upon God
mercy and the gentleness of Christ. They are beloved         purifies himself as God is pure.
ones.       This latter must not be misunderstood. This              "God is not unjust to forget your love and work, in
term in Scripture does not merely express the attitude       that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister."
and sympathy of the writers to the church in Christ.            All the writer's hope for the readers is anchored
The term occurs more than forty times in the New             in God!
Testament all told. In each case the term expresses             `For when God does not forget our works and love,
that the church is the "beloved" of God. The church ,He does not forget His own work in and through us !
is the beloved people and bride of Christ. This is              For what are these good works to which the writer
very clear in such passages as Philippians 4:l; I John       refers. They are the works of love as the fulfillment
3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11. The beloved are those who are the       of the law. All the law is fulfilled in this one word:
objects of God's eternal love manifested on the Cross        thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Galatians
as rooted in sovereign election of grace.                    5:14) Did not Jesus say: by this shall all men know
    This stands out here in bold relief!                     that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
    These are they who are characterized by better           another?       (John  13:35) This loving the brother and
things, by the things accompanying salvation.                ministering shows that faith is not adeadfaith. (James
    Here we see good pedagogy in the church in its           2:18) For faith without works is dead. All the royal
best form. No, the writer will not nullify what he has       law of liberty is fulfilled in:         thou shalt love thy
said in so stern a language in the preceding verses.         neighbor as thyself. If one say; I love God, and hates
Every word remains standing. The warning must be             his brother, he is a liar and the truth is not in him.
heeded. Were it not so that the writer was persuaded         Not so with these Hebrew Christians. They had minis-
of better things concerning them there would be no           tered to the saints and do minister.          Theirs was a
point in writing to them, nor in admonishing them. One       faith which demonstrated that they were ingrafted into
does not admonish those any more in a positive way of        Christ himself.
which one is persuaded that there is nothing in them            Such works God will not forget!
which evidences the better things of salvation.                 There is a reward of grace for works of grace!
    Besides, it is pedagogically correct to build in the     God has joined cross and crown in Christ himself.
church with what is at hand. Thus the word comes to          And if we suffer with Christ we shall be glorified with
the seven churches to strengthen the things that re-         him. That is the justice of God. And this is written
main, and to repent. (Revelation 2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:3,       for the comfort of the believers. For unless they are
19,, 20) Thus also it must be here. The readers must         comforted they will not have the incentive to press on
press on to perfection, must be borne along to per-          to the full assurance of hope to the end.
fection.
                                                             FOLLOWERSOFTHOSEWHO
THEJUSTICE~OFGODINRELATIONTO  OUR                            INHERIT THEPROMISES
LOVEANDLABOR TO THESAINTS                                    (Hebrews 6:12)
Hebrews 6: 10                                                   The apostle Paul writes in Romans 4:11, 12 con-
                                                             cerning father Abraham, the father of believers: "And
    The apostle believes good things concerning the          he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
readers.       The things which he believes concerning       righteousness of the faith which he had yet being un-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 393


circumcized; that he might be the father of all them         refers to the perseverance of the saints in running the
that believe, though they be not circumcised..  ~ and the    race. It reminds us: he that endures to the end shall
father of circumcision to them who are not of the cir-       be saved. Such enduring is the proof of the genuine-
cumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that       ness of the faith and hope. To this end they must not
faith of our father Abraham; who is the father of us         be dull in hearing the Word. This sense of the phrase
all." It is good to keep this word of God in mind in our     fits admirably in the context.
interpretation of Hebrews  6:12.                                Let it not be forgotten that there is no such thing
   It is the desire of the writer to the Hebrews that        as living in the full assurance of the hope where there
each member among the Hebrews shew diligence unto            is not a progressively pressing forward in the knowl-
the full assurance of hope to the end. The term "full        edge.    The fulness of the hope is connected with the
assurance" is not found in the profane Greek writers.        fulness of all knowledge, and the full assurance of
There is no such a reality amongst unbelievers out-          the Spirit operating with the gospel.
side of Christ. Hence, the very term is a Biblical one.         Thus walked all those who inherited the promise.
It is connected with those who have hope in God; it          Notable in this walk of hope was Abraham., His entire
cannot be the part of those who are without hope in          walk was one of faith and longsuffering. Abraham
the world, and without hope in His promise which is          suffered long. Thus did all who inherited the promises.
faithful.    For only in the things of Christ is there a        The promises (tas epaggelias) are the definite and
full assurance. (Luke 1:l) The writer would have the         well-known promises given by God to the heirs,
Hebrews give diligence to this full assurance of hope.       and which are recorded in the O.T. Scriptures. Per-
For the term "full assurance" see further Hebrews            haps the writer has in mind the promises which were
10:22; I Thessalonians  1:s; Colossians  2:2. It seems       given by God during the life-time and pilgrimage of
that the writer contrasts here two alternatives. Either      Abraham in the land of promise. It is most interesting
become spiritual dullards who do not live in hope, not       and instructive to take notice of these promises to
give all diligence to walk in hope, or to walk in hope !     Abraham during the period of some fifty years of his
And such walking in hope is here stressed. The rea-          life-time in Canaan.
son*-is that only by hope are we saved. Hope is then            Let us look at the series of promises as given to
that activity of the soul whereby we already rejoice in      Abraham in their progressive, historical and chrono-
the future inheritance as if we were already passess-        logical order.
ing it. (Romans 8:24, 25). What we see we do not hope           The first of these promises is no doubt the basic
for, but we hope for that which we do not see. And thus      and all-comprehensive version of the promise of God
we wait for it with patience. The full assurance of          to Abraham. We refer here to what we read in Gene-
hope is the certainty of the hope itself as this is          sis 12:2, 3, where we read": And I will make of thee
wrought in us by the Spirit. (I Thessalonians  1:s)          a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
                                                             name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will
   Now such assurance must be ours  1  to the end.           bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
(achvi telous) This phrase evidently refers to a period      thee:    and in thee shall all families of the earth be
of time. It has reference to our running the race. It        blessed." Compare Galatians 3:8; Acts 3:25.


        IN HIS FEAR-


                    The Worst Deceit of Them All

                                                by Rev. J. A. Heys


   The key word in the ninth commandment is "false."         must be careful, and our tongues must avoid sinning
   We may bear witness against the neighbour. There          against that neighbour against whom we must testify.
are times when we sin when we refuse to witness              That witness must be given to the right parties and in
against him.     But we may never bear false witness         the right way. And the proper parties are those whom
against him.                                                 God has ordained for the punishment and correction of
   There are times when for the good of one neighbour        the evil doers. It may be the authorities in the State,
we are required to witness against another neighbour.        and it may be those in the Church.
We then witness fw the one neighbour and against the            The heart must be right when we make such wit-
other neighbour. To defend the one from being accused        ness against the neighbour.       It must not be hatred
of what the other did, we must bear a true witness           against him that moves us to testify to his evil. It
against the perpetrator of evil. However, here too we        must not be the desire for revenge. It must not be the


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER


     mere advantage of the other neighbour-friend, or             of the God of our salvation and His Christ. It were
     neighbour-relative. It must be an abhorrence of sin,         better for that man that a millstone be hanged about
     a love for justice- and the correction of the evil doer.     his neck and that he be cast into the sea before he
     By all means that must be the case in the Church when        could do such an evil.
     both neighbours are in the church. It is so easy to             This is a serious matter and especially serious in
     defend the one brother because you are closer to him         this day and age in which we live. For in spite of all
     and be ready to condemn the other brother because            the outward show of piety and of belief in God today a
     of some experience you had with him in the past. And         true witness of God and of His Christ is hard to find,
     then one is quite ready and carnally eager to bear this      and will become still harder in the days that lie just
     witness against. Sometimes we hypocritically say that        ahead of us.     The day will soon be here when those
     we are doing this for his good and seeking his salva-        who bear a true witness of God will be branded as the
     tion and to turn him from sure ruin. But we had              false church; and the lie will rule the pulpit and write
     better be sure that God, Who reads our hearts, finds         the church's creed.       Out of one side of the mouth
     that love of the brother, against whom we are going to       churches will say that "All roads lead to Rome" and
     witness, in our hearts.                                      "We are all walking to God's kingdom but on different
        We live in an age when there is a superabundance          roads." And then out of the other side of the mouth
     of false witness in every department of life. Under          they will expel from their midst those who differ with
     oath in the court room by half truths false witness is       them doctrinally. In effect they will say, "You may
     given. But what about our whole field of advertising         not walk on our road with us to heaven, even though
     today?    The witness is false, and it is against the        we believe that your road also leads to heaven." They
     neighbour in that it gets the neigbbour's money for an       will deny your Christ and your God - "0, I could not
     inferior article that is not worth the price required to     believe in a God like that!" - and then still insist
     purchase it. In spite of all the fancy slogans that busi-    that you are going to arrive with them to live with their
     ness establishments - and that holds true for insur-         God (god), when all the mists are rolled away. They
     ance companies as well and for banks and savings and         will advocate church mergers in every direction but in
     loan associations - the natural man simply is not in         your direction. They will say that you are nice people,
     business for the good of those to whom he sells. Any         but they will fail to explain how nice people can have
     advertised improvement or advantage is for the filling       such awful ideas about God. They will claim that the
     of the coffers of the advertiser and not for the cus-        natural man can do some good, but those who differ
     tomer and consumer. And in the field of diplomacy            from them doctrinally can never do any good. They
     and of politics we are at the point where you can            will corrupt the history and thus bear a false witness
     believe practically nothing. Yes means no; and prom-         against you, and then they will strongly advocate an
     ises made in the heat of a campaign are so much              attitude of love towards everyone else.
     nonsense and idle words. At this time of the year as            But can we bear a true witness to men? And can
     well, the man who boasted so of his income now has SO        we bear a true witness of God in the midst of all the
     little income that his tax return almost makes the ex-       conflicting doctrines and creeds and theories and
     aminers weep to see that a man with so little income         writings of men? Can we be sure that we ourselves
     has such big expenses ! !     Indeed, we can also bear       are not misleading and whether we are rendering to
     false witness against a nation and government.               God the glory due to His name? Can we be sure what
        But the worst form of all deceit is practiced in the      is truth in the midst of so many claims and among so
     church. And an out-and-out atheist is to be preferred        many conflicting and contradicting views?
     to the false-witness bearer in the pulpit. We said              Yes we can, even as God's people in the Old Testa-
     above that the key word in the ninth commandment is          ment dispensation could tell. Among Israel all de-
     the word "false." And false doctrine in the church is        partures were characterized by worshipping an idol,
     the vilest form of deceit that can be practiced upon         a graven image, that had the features, the weaknesses
     man. It was Satan's initial tool and it is his favourite     and limitations of the creature.      All those around
     weapon today.     By means of it he had the victory in       Israel had gods that were like the creature. And these
     paradise; and by means of it he is succeeding in             gods were either made by man himself out of gold and
     establishing the kingdom of the Antichrist. And false        silver, wood or stone, or they were self-appointed
     doctrine is a serious business. For it a witness not         gods as the sun, the moon and the stars. They all had
     ,only against the member in the church, misleading           one thing in common, and that is this that they all had
     him, giving him a false. comfort, deceiving him and          their limitations D    They were limited by each other
     taking from him true joy and peace, but it is also           or had a nature that gave limit to their size, location
     false witness against God and His Christ!                    and power. This made it necessary so often for the
        Now to bear false witness against a man is one            heathen to have more than one god.
     thing, and an evil thing forbidden by God's law as an           And in the New' Testament dispensation all this is
     act of hatred against him. But to perform this act of        true of all false doctrines. They all have this in com-
     hatred against God and His Christ is quite another           mon that they whittle down the almighty, eternal and
     thing and will not go unpunished. Woe unto that man          sovereign God to a creaturely size. They are mental
     who falsifies God's Word; and woe unto that man who          rather than graven images. But they all ascribe some
I    offends any of God's children with a false presentation      weakness somewhere to God. And then by virtue of


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     395


that fact they bear false witness against Him! You may       all its receptivity or the college student with his
test your church's doctrines by this to determine            critical approach, the instructor must answer to this
whether they speak the truth of the living God or not.       living God for the observations made and lessons
If they ascribe any power to the creature apart from         taught. Better to teach the child that five and five are
God, whether that be in the realm of creation or in the      eleven than that God is not sovereign in ALL His
sphere of salvation, it is a false witness and false         works D       Better teach him that water freezes at 100
doctrine. If that doctrine takes any of God's glory and      degrees farenheit than that God is changeable. Better
ascribes it to the creature, it is a witness against Him     to teach him Lincoln was the first president of the
and a false witness.      For all that witness which is      United States of America than to teach him that God
against God is false witness. You cannot say anything        can be frustrated by man, that Christ is not risen from
evil about God to anyone without lying about Him. He         the dead, was not conceived by the Holy Spirit and born
is the overflowing fountain of all good, the Giver of        of a virgin. Far worse' is the deception that causes
every good and perfect gift, The Light in Whom is no         him to put his trust in a god of man's making, for that
darkness at all. Say anything else about Him, and you        god is not even as big and strong and wise as the man
are witnessing against Him and guilty of speaking false      who made it.
doctrine.    Question that He is sovereign in anything           When the Catechism says that the ninth command-
and you question that He is God.         Deny that He is     ment requires of me that I love the truth, it means
almighty and that absolutely everything is constantly        also that I love the truth concerning God. In fact
under His control and that all things were determined        unless I love that truth, my correct statements in
by Him from eternity, and you deny that He is God.           arithmetic, geography, science and history are worth-
Attribute to Him any limitations of any kind imposed         less.      The fear of the Lord is the principle of all
upon Him by the creature, and you have destroyed Him         wisdom; and unless I love the truth concerning God
in your mind as God.       Make Him, in your thinking,       and teach it, I cannot and will not do anything else than
wait for the creature at any time in any sphere or           to deceive in regard to the more important matters of
circumstance of life, and you lower him beneath the          God's glory and man's salvation. And what shall it
creature and present Him as no God.                          profit a man, if he gain the whole world AND LOSE
   This is a serious matter, and it is time for us to        HIS SOUL?
return to the truth that God is GOD. Let us confess          (Note: Next time, the Lord willing, we will continue
this in all our doctrine, or we confess the lie. And if      our meditations upon the law of God which we began
we deny Him to be God, we will find out that He is in a      Volume XLII, Number 14, April 1.5, 1966, and treat
most. dreadful way. The atheist will go to school for-       the matter of the tenth commandment. J.A.H.)
ever in hell and learn anew in all his agonies that
there is a God. The God-is-dead people will at the           CALL TOASPIRANTS TO THEMINISTRY
moment of their own death find that He is very much
alive and truly the living God. The false prophet who           All young men desiring to study for the ministry
deceived the people with a perversion of the truth           of the Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches,
concerning God will see Him some day as He really            and who have not already been pre-enrolled, are asked
is and cease his foolish spoutings about the god of          to appear before the Theological School Committee
his own imagination. And the child of God who knows          on its next meeting which will be held D.V. on Wednes-
Jehovah to be God, who bows in the dust before Him,          day, July 10, 1968 at 8~00 p.m. at the First Protestant
confessing his own unworthiness, will know this God          Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
in all His almighty power to glorify, in all the infinite       The qualifications requisite to enrollment are the
grace that saves and in the sovereign love that              following:
blesses in a realm of joy and unending glory.                   1. You must present a letter from your local con-
   But dare we deceive His people? And do we think           sistory certifying that you are upright in walk and
that He will take this lightly? Rob a man of his gold,       pure in doctrine.
take from him all his earthly possessions and you               2. You must present a certificate of health, signed
have shown hatred towards him. But rob him of his            by a reputable physician.
faith in God, warp his thinking about the Almighty,             3. You must be a graduate from High School, being
change his opinion about the God of his salvation, and       able to show that you have completed a one-year course
you have done him infinitely greater harm. Let the           in History General and Church History, and that you
instructor be sure of his instruction. Let him speak         have completed the following College courses: Latin
only in the fear of God's name. Let him be sure that         - two years, Greek - two years, German - two years,
"Thus saith the Lord" of all that which he declares          Dutch - two years, Philosophy - one year, Psychology
unto God's church., And let all beware, parents and          - one year, Logic - one semester.
school teachers. as well, what they feed to the children        All correspondence relative to the above announce-
of God's covenant for truth. We~,cannot  be too careful      ment should be sent to the undersigned:
about what we say. .of- God and how we present Him to           Secretary of the Theological School Committee
these.                                                          Rev. J. Kortering
   He who teaches stands in a. tremendously respon-             1551 Wilson Ave., S.W.
sible position. Whether. he teach the little child with         Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504


396                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-

                  David Made King Over All Israel
                                                by Rev. B.  Woudenbevg

                  Then came all the tribes  of Israel  to David unto Hebvon, and spake, saying, Behold, we
               aye thy bone and thy flesh.
                  Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and
               bvoughtest in  Israel:  and the  Lord  said to thee, Thou shalt feed  my people  Israel, and
               thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
                  So all the  elders  of  Israel   came  to the king to Hebvon; and king David made a league
               with them in Hebvon before the Lord: and they anointed David king oveY Israel.
                                                                                            II  Samuel  5:1-3
   For many it was simply impossible to understand             not enough. So that there might be left no-bit of doubt
the motivation that was underlying the life of one such        but that they were the ones who had performed this
as David. In spite of the fact that he had punished the        deed, they cut off the head of Ishbosheth and carried
Amalekite who claimed for himself the slaying of King          it away with them.
Saul with immediate death, and although he had publicly           No sooner was the deed done than the two brotbers
castigated Joab for his slaying of Abner, there were           set out immediately for the palace of David at Hebron
still those who could not imagine that he was motivated        carrying their grisly trophy with them. All through
by anything other than a carnal lust for power and            the night they traveled, anxious to be the first ones to
accordingly that he would not be pleased with anyone           come to David with the news of Ishosheth's death and
who assisted him in gaining that end. So was it also          thinking, perhaps, that by being present at the moment
with Baanah and Rechab, two of the servants of Ish-           when David heard of this new turn of events, they would
bosheth.                                                       be most likely to benefit from a spontaneous outflow of
   The fact was that after the death of Abner the              his gratitude. Little indeed did those men understand
kingdom of Ishbosheth began to crumble inescapably.            the nature of David.
Ishbosheth had never really been any more than a                  It was some time the next day that these two men
figurehead through whom Abner had tried to rule in             came into Hebron and, insisting that they had some-
the place of Saul. It had never proved to be a very           thing that they could reveal to no one but King David
practical set-up, for Ishbosheth, while emotionally and        himself, they were brought into the presence of the
intellectually completely dependent upon Abner, had           king.    So completely confident were these men of a
tried to act as if sufficient in himself. And besides,        favorable reaction that they put into their presentation
of course, this arrangement had not the blessing of           every dramatic flourish that their perverted minds
Israel's God,. and without that any ruler in Israel was        could imagine.      Without saying a word, they merely
completely helpless.        Thus it was that, as soon as       reached into their sack and brought forth the ghastly
Abner was reported slain, Ishbosheth collapsed mentally       head of Ishbosheth, now coated with dried blood and
and in effect physically too. He retired to his bed and       badly battered from the miles of hasty travel upon the
remained there troubled and afraid while his kingdom          way.     Only then did they speak and with exaggerated
merely drifted without leadership.                            subservience said, "Behold the head of Ishboseth the
                                                              son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the
   For those in positions of authority under Isbbosheth       Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul,
the whole matter was becoming very critical. Going            and of his seed."
as they were, things could only lead to a final take              To be sure, it was not the first time that David had
over by David and his forces with the result that they         seen a sight as ghastly as this. He was a man of war
would lose their positions. It is not surprising, there-      who had often walked across fields scattered with the
fore, that at that point there should be some who would        remains of mutilated bodies. In fact, he had himself
try to manipulate things in such a way that they might         ended his first great battle with the decapitation of
appear to be the responsible parties for the advance-          Seliath. But that had been different, it had been upon
ment of David, so earning for themselves his gratitude        the field of battle where violence and death were
and perhaps even better positions in David's kingdom          honestly met. This, however, was an outright act of
than they had had with Ishbosheth. In this instance the       treachery, cowardice and cold-blooded murder. That
two men were brothers, Raanah and Rechab. Not men             these men should now bring the grisly testimony of
of the greatest importance by any means, captains of          their crime into the very court of the king and with a
two army bands, they were nonetheless highenoughthat           boastful flourish display it for all to see was bad
they could obtain ready access into the presence of            enough; but when they on top of this added an appeal
their king.      Their plan was that of two unprincipled       to the justice of God as though all were done in His
and cowardly men. They simply went in one noon and            fear and with His approval, it was more than the
murdered their king in his own bed. But even that was          righteous heart of David could endure. There was a


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    397


note of suppressed rage in his voice as he echoed           hand, it spread out into the lands of the heathen, only
back, "As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my             here with an opposite effect. The heathen nations had
soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying,        long felt a strange awareness of the supernatural
Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good         power that overshadowed the works of David, and now
tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag,        this power was there throughout his tribe and the
who thought that I would have given him a reward for        small, independent nation it formed. But even more
his tidings: how much more, when wicked men have            effectively, it spread up into the rest of the tribes of
slain a righteous person in his own house upon his          Israel.    Already before the death of Ishbosheth and
bed?shall I not therefore now require his blood of your     even of Abner, the other tribes had begun to observe
hand, and take you away from the earth?"                    the new surge of strength that was permeating the life
   We can only imagine the utter astonishment of            of Judah. The result was that these people too were
Baanah and Rechab at these words of David. They             beginning to Ye-examine the laws of their Godand their
were not the kind that could understand anything in         relationship to Him. It was, as a result, almost with a
life that was not rooted in self-service and  self-         sense of relief that these tribes heard in quick suc-
advancement.    Even what resemblance of religion they      cession that both Abner and Ishbosheth were dead.
maintained, and outwardly they may well have been              The response was quick and verymuchspontaneous.
normal Israelites in their religious observances, was       From each of the tribes there came representatives
somehow made to fit into this same pattern. But they        and they together went immediately down to Hebron.
did not have long to contemplate the nature of their        The proposition which they laid before David was this,
error.    Immediately David commanded that the two          "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time
be slain; and even beyond that, he commanded that           past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that
their hands and feet be cut off and their bodies be         leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD
hanged over the pool at Hebron. It was a testimony          said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and r
to the nature of the crime they had committed and to        thou shalt be a captain over Israel." Here at last was
the curse that they deserved for that crime, for all        that point which God had intended for Israel from the
knew what Moses had said, "He that is hanged is             days of Moses on. Already in the wilderness He had
accursed of God."                                           made plain that He had intended to make of Israel a
   The reaction of David in connection with three           great typical theocracy with a king ruling according to
different incidents, the slaying of Saul, Abner, and now    His law and in His name. For its coming the people
of Ishbosheth, had been based upon his own strong           were to wait;`but wait they would not. Thus it was that
feelings of moral indignation: but at the same time         in their impatience, they had turned to Samuel and de-
they proved to be moves of immense practical impor-         manded a king, not the king that God was preparing
tance.    Gradually as one by one these incidents took      them, but a king that would be like those of the heathen.
place the people began- -to- understand that here was       And, as God so often does to those who come to Him in
indeed a man who was motivated by much more than            folly, He gave to them exactly what they wanted, a king
personal ambitions or the desire for vengeance. In          like those of the heathen. It had been a bitter lesson
fact, it was truly quite amazing. Never before had          as for thirty and more years they had struggled under
there been seen a king who acted like this. He was          exactly that kind of a rule. But now they had glimpsed
much more strongly dedicated to the principles of           something different, and their hearts had come to seek
righteousness and justice, and especially to the will of    after it with a much higher and purer motive. It had
God than he was to his ownpersonalfortune or advance-       not come easy. It had taken long years of struggle,
ment. He could grieve bitterly over a personal enemy        not just with the carnal element in the nation, but with
who had been slain and punish one of his closest friends    the carnal nature within each one of them. Neverthe-
most severely for having committed an injustice. To         less, here at last was a simplicity and directness of
him unjust and wicked men, even though they worked          statement which reflected that at last the men of
to give him ; his greatest personal opportunity, he was     Israel had begun to grasp some of the purpose of God.
ready to render accursed for all of the people to see.      In one short statement they gave acknowledgment to
It did something to the people just to see this kind of     their common descent from Abraham, to the  mani- i
thinking in one so high and elevated in position with so    festation of the power of God which had been with
much power at his disposal. Just tosee David the King       David from the first of his efforts in behalf of Israel,
living as one who was subject and accountable to a          and, above all, that the purpose of a king in Israel
much higher power made them aware of the reality of         was not merely to make them equal with the heathen
their God as they had not been for many years.              but rather to be as a shepherd to them leading them in
   It had be'gun first, of course, in the tribe of Judah    the way-of the Lord.
soon after David was first established as their king in        For a second time now, David was anointed king in
the city of Hebron. From David there radiated out an        Israel.    The first time over the tribe of Judah, but
awareness of God and the blessedness which was to be        now over the whole nation. It was the beginning of the
found in obedience to Him. In a most surprising way         great Old Testament typical form of the kingdom of
it brought a new strength and unity to the people that      God which would come into its final fulfillment only
filled their small nation with a vitality of new life.      when the Son of David would be exalted to the throne
Neither did it stop at the borders of Judah, On the one     of God in heaven.


398                                               THE  ~STANDARD BEARER



 CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-

                                    The Doctrine of Sin
                                    The Second Period  - 250-730 AD

                                          The Pelagian Controversy

                                          The Augustinian System

                                                       by Rev.  H.  Veldman


    In our preceding article we. were calling attention              than the biblical sarks (flesh), but has its seat in the
to  Schaff's presentation of Augustine's conception of               soul, without which no lust arises. We must, there-
the consequences of sin. In that church father's view,               fore, suppose a conflict in the soul itself, a lower,
the consequences of sin, both for Adam and his                       earthly, self-seeking instinct, and a higher, god-like
posterity, are comprehensive and terrible in propor-                 impulse.
                                                                       This is the generic sense of concupiscentia: the
tion to the-heinousness of the sin itself. Augustine partic-         struggle of the collective sensual and psychical (of the
ularizes the consequences of sin under seven heads.                  soul - H.V.) desires against the god-like spirit. But
The first four are negative. We quoted them in our                   Augustine frequently employs the word, as other cor-
preceding article, and they are: loss of the freedom of              responding terms are used, in the narrower sense of
choice, obstruction of knowledge, loss of the grace of.              unlawful sexual desire. This appeared immediately
God and the loss of paradise. We now continue with                   after the fall, in the shame of our first parents, which
this quotation of Schaff, Vol. III, 826 ff.:                         was not for their nakedness itself, since this was noth-
                                                                     ing new to them, but for the lusting of the body; for
                                                                     something, therefore, in and of itself good (the body's
       5.  Concupiscentiu,   i.e., not sensuousness in itself,       own enjoyment, as it were), but now unlawfully rising,
    but .the preponderance of the sensuous, the lusting of           through the discord between body and soul. But would
    the flesh against the spirit. Thus God punishes sin              there then have been propagation without the fall? Un-
    with sin - a proposition which Julian considered                 questionably; but it would have  lgft the dominion of
    blasphemy. Originally the body was as joyfully obe-              reason over the sensual undisturbed.        Propagation
    dient to the spirit, as man to God. There was but one            would have been the act of a pure will and chaste love,
    will in exercise. By the fall this beautiful harmony             and would have had no more shame about it than the
    has been broken, and that antagonism has arisen which            scattering of seed upon the maternal bosom of the
    Paul describes in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to          earth. But now lust rules the spirit; and Augustine in
    the Romans. (Augustine referred this passage to the              his earlier years had had bitter experience of its
   `regenerate state. And, incidentally, this is the only            tyranny. (these are interesting observations concem-
    possible interpretation of this passage, namely to               ing this conception of Augustine; and how true that
    refer this as experienced by the regenerated child of            this church father had suffered bitter experiences of
 G o d - H.V.) The rebellion of the spirit against God               this tyranny during the early years of his life - H.V.)
    involved, as its natural punishment, the rebellion of            To this element of sin in the act of procreation he
    the flesh against the spirit. Concupiscentia, therefore,         ascribes the pains of child-birth, which in fact appear
    is substantially the same as what Paul calls in the bad          in Genesis as a consequence of the fall, and as a curse
    sense "flesh." It is not the sensual constitution in             from God.     Had man remained pure, "the ripe fruit
    itself, but its predominance over the higher, rational           would have descended from the maternal womb without
    nature of man. It is true, however, that Augustine, in           labor or pain of the woman, as the fruit descends from
    his longing after an unimpeded life in the spirit, was           the tree."
    inclined to treat even lawful appetites, such as hunger             6. Physical death,  with its retinue of diseases and
    and thirst, so far as they assume the form of craving            bodily pains. Adam was indeed created mortal, that
    desire, as at least. remotely connected with the fall.           is, capable of death, but not subject to death. By a
    Julian attributed the strength of animal desire to the           natural development the possibility of dying would have
    animal element in the original nature of man. Augus-             been overcome by the power of immortality; the body
    tine answered, that the superiority of man to the brute          would have been gradually spiritualized and clothed
    consists in the complete dominion of reason over the             with glory, without a violent transition or even the
    sensual nature, and that therefore his approach to the 3         weakness of old age. But now man is fallen under ,the
` , brute, in this respect is a punishment from God. Con-            bitter necessity of death. Because the spirit forsook
    cupiscence then is no more a merely corporeal thing.             God willingly, it must now forsake the body unwillingly.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  399


      With profound discernment Augustine shows that not                These three theories are known as the Traducian,
      only the actual severance of soul and body, but the            Creation and Pre-existence theories. Whereas sin is
      whole life of  sinful- man  is_,.a..continual  dying. Even
_       _ _  ._-_  .__  _. .                                         not merely a thing of the body, but primarily of the
      with the oains  of birth and the first cry of the child        spirit, this question of the origin of the human soul
      does death begin. The threatening of the Lord, there-          very naturally asserts itself.
      fore: "In, the day ye eat thereof, ye shall die," began
      at once to be fulfilled. For though our first parents             We need not busy ourselves too long with the theory
      lived many` years afterwards, they immediately began           of Pre-existentianism.      It never found much support
      to grow old and to die. Life is an unceasing march             among theologians.        Schaff writes concerning this
      towards death, and "to no one is it granted, even for a        theory that it supposes that the soul, even before the
      little, to stand still, or to go more slowly, but all are      origin of the body, existed and sinned in another world,
      constrained to go with equal pace, and no one is im-           and has been banished in the body as `in a prison, to
      pelled differently from others. For he whose life has          expiate that personal Adamic guilt. Rev. Hoeksema
      been shorter, saw therefore no shorter day than he
      whose life was longer. And he who uses more time to            writes in his explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism,
      reach death, does not therefore go slower, but only            Vol. I, 154, that this theory taught that all the souls
      makes a longer journey."                                       were actually created in Adam, and that therefore all
         7. The most important consequence of the fall of            human individuals really sinned in our first father and
      Adam is original sin and heveditavy  guilt in his whole        in him became corrupt. Be this as it may, it appears
      posterity; and as this was also one of the chief points        that Augustine (to which we will call attention later)
      of controversy, it must be exhibited at length.                held to the view that all human souls were actually in
      With this last statement of Schaff one must be in              Adam, and he based this upon the last part of Romans
complete agreement. The doctrines of original sin and                5:12, translating it as we also read it in the Dutch:
hereditary guilt are certainly Augustinian. To under-                "in whom all have sinned." However, this theory,
stand the Augustinian system one must certainly place                originated by Plato, and more fully developed by
emphasis .upon these fundamental truths.                             Origin, never found much support among theologians.
                                                                     It has no support in the Scriptures.
0RIi;IhAL SIN, AND THE                                                  A second theory is known as Traducianism. This
ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL                                             theory of the origin of the human soul taught that the
                                                                     whole man, body and soul, is born from the parents in
      Concerning this, Schaff has the following, pages               each individual instance. It proceeded from the idea
829 f.f.:                                                            that soul and body constitute the whole man. The main
         Original sin, according to Augustine, is the native         objection that can be lodged against this theory con-
      bent of the soul towards evil, with which all the              cerns our conception of the incarnation of the Son of
      posterity of Adam  - excepting Christ, who was con-            God.       If the whole man, person and nature, soul and
      ceived by' the Holy Ghost and born of a pure Virgin -          body, is conceived and born from the parents, then one
      come into the world, and out of which all actual sins          finds himself in a dilemma as far as the Christ is
      of necessity proceed. It appears principally in con-           concerned.      Then one of two possibilities must ap-
      cupiscence, or the war of the flesh against the spirit.
      Sin is not merely an individual act, but also a con-           parentlybe true: either Christ was not a complete man,
      dition, a status and habitus,  which continues, by pro-        or He was two persons, a human as well as a Divine
      creation, from generation to generation. Original sin          person.      He certainly did not get His person from
      results necessarily, as has been already remarked,             Adam.
      from the generic and representative character of                 The third and final view is known as Creationism.
      Adam, in whom human nature itself, and SO, poten-              This conception theorizes that the body comes from
      tially, all who should inherit that nature, fell. The          the parents, while the soul is created by God in each
      corruption of the root communicates itself to the trunk        individual instance. It is not difficult to lodge objec-
      and the branches. But where sin is, there is always            tions against this conception. If it be true that only
      guilt and ill-desert in the eyes of a righteous God. The       the human body comes from the parents, how can one
      whole race, through the fall of its progenitor, has be-
      come a  massa pevditionis. This, of course, still ad-          account for the striking similarities between a child
      mits different degrees both of sinfulness and of guilt.        and its parent, not only as far as the body is con-
         Original sin and guilt are propagated by natural            cerned, but also as far as the soul is concerned?
      generation.      The generic character planted in Adam         Children resemble their parents, not only physically,
      unfolds itself in a succession of individuals, who             but also with respect to traits of character. Besides,
      organically grow one out of another. As sin, however,          how must we explain the teaching of our Heidelberg
      is not m,erely  a.thing of the body, but primarily and         Catechism, that a corrupt offspring comes  `from a
      essentially of the spirit, the question arises on which        corrupt stock? If God creates each individual soul,
      of the current theories as to the  origin  and  propagation    how does that soul become defiled and polluted with
      of souls  Augustine based his view.
         This metaphysical problem enters theology in con-           sin?     And, as far as Christ is concerned, did not He
      nection with the doctrine of original sin; this, there-        assume the entire -human nature from the virgin,
      fore, is the place to say what is needful upon it. The         Mary? `It is interesting to note that Pelagius and his
      Gnostic and pantheistic emanation- theory had long             followers were creationists.        Pelagius, we know,
      since been universally rejected as heretical.          But     denied the organic unity between Adam and the human
      three other views had  fourid advocates in the church.         r a c e .


 400                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 ALL AROUND  US-

               Merger Within  .a Merger
                                The Blasphemy of Christ's Shroud
                                                        Dr. Kuitert and Evolution
                                                       by  Pyof. H. Hank0
MERGER WITHIN A MERGER                                            organizations overseas have expressed their desire to
    Although merger talks are proceeding rapidly within           be autonomous or join with other churches. These
the COCU (Consultation On Church Union) organization,             organizations number about a half-million members.
evidently some participating churches feel that  unionis             The new denomination is interested in further
not proceeding swiftly enough. The Methodist Church              mergers. The president of the new church's council of
and the Evangelical United Brethren Church  - both                Bishops, Bishop Frank, publicly affirmed the desire
participants in the  COCU  talks  - recently made a               of the denomination to seek union with  other groups
merger of their wto denominations a reality.  Newsweek            and hoped aloud for "new levels of understanding and
writes:                                                           co-operation" with the Roman Catholic Church.
        In scarlet stoles and black robes, Bishop Lloyd C.           What effect this has upon the whole COCU move-
    Wicks of the Methodist Church and Bishop Reuben H.            ment cannot be known. Evidently it is the prerogative
    Mueller of the Evangelical United Brethren stood facing       of each  participating church to seek mergers among
    each other on the stage of Dallas's Memorial Auditor-         others while joining in the larger merger of COCU.
    ium.    Then, before 10,000 spectators, they clasped
    hands across a small table symbolically bearing such          The Southern Presbyterians, now almost full partici-
    documents as hymnals, prayer books and a joint plan of        pants in the COCU talks, are doing the same in their
    union for the two churches. "Lord of the church,"             conversations with the Reformed Church of America.,
    they declared in unison, "we are united inThee,  in Thy          That the ecumenical movement is heading in the
    church and now in the United Methodist Church."               direction of a one world church is no longer a doubtful
        By making that vow, repeated by 1,200 delegates,          matter. But the question that remains unanswered is:
    the two leaders last week formally merged their de-           What will all those who refuse to go along with modern
    nominations, creating a union of more than 10 million         and liberal ecumenism do?
    Methodists and nearly 750,000 Brethren.          Now the
    second largest denomination in North America, the new         THE BLASPHEMY OF CHRIST'S SHROUD
    United Methodist Church is a powerful amalgam of 78              The Roman Catholic Church has claimed to be in
    hospitals, 141 educational institutions,  32,924ministers     possession of the shroud in which Jesus was buried.
    and some $5 billion worth of property.                        This, of course, involves a miracle - the miracle of
    The origin and similarity of the churches is ex-              preservation of the garment. This is not an isolated
plained by  Newsweek:                                             instance in the Romish Church. This church claims
        The merger is not surprising. The two churches            to have in its possession thousands of "sacred relics"
    share the Wesleyan heritage, including similar doc-           which are supposed to have miraculous powers and
    trines and episcopal organizations, and have been             which are worshipped in the Romish Church.
    divided historically only by `language. In-the 1760's,           An Italian scholar recently spent a great deal of
    Methodism grew up mainly among English-speaking               time studying this shroud and has come up with some
    colonials. Soon afterward, the United Brethren move-          interesting conclusions concerning the appearance and
    ment  - led by German Reformed minister Philip                suffering of Jesus.
    William Otterbein - attracted many Maryland and                  Reporting on his findings, Newsweek writes:
    Pennsylvania farmers whose tongue was German, as
    did lay preacher Jacob Albright's Evangelical Associa-              How big was Jesus? Pious pictures of Jesus as a
    tion, which was formed in the early nineteenth century.          tall man are not accurate. Or so claims an Italian
    The United Brethren joined the Evangelicals in 1946.             scholar who estimated that he was a shade under 5 feet
                                                                     4 inches and probably weighed about 155 pounds - a
    There were indications of trouble, however. Not all              normal stature for a Palestinian of Christ's era.
were in agreement with the new merger. More than                        Msgr. Giulio Ricci, a respected archivist at the
half of the Evangelical United Brethren congregations                Vatican, has reached these conclusions after eighteen
 of the Northwest part of the country have made plans                years of study of the Holy Shroud of Turin, a linen
to withdraw from their denomination because of the                   winding sheet discovered by crusaders in the fourteenth
merger.      Forty-seven congregations out of eighty                 century and venerated ever since as Christ's burial
 informed the denomination that they were leaving and                cloth. While some scholars disagree about the authenti-
                                                                     city of the shroud, the Vatican weekly L'Osservatore
 asked for a way to gain title to their church properties            Della Domenica  was sufficiently impressedwithRicci's
 when they withdraw.        These are more conservative              detective work to publish this month a long article on
 churches who object to the liberalism and modernism                 his findings.
 in the Methodist Church. But the same problems face                    According to Ricci, who has written two books on
 the Methodists.       Twenty-seven regional Methodist               the subject, the shroud is clearly legitimate; it bears


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


   the marks of a man who was scourged, crowned with                Dogmatics in Amsterdam; he is one of the future
   thorns, crucified and pierced in the side with a sharp           advisors of the Dutch Reformed Synod.
   instrument. The general imprint on the shroud,  ex-                   In his 1966 speech Dr. Kuiter!t offered his view of
  plains Ricci, was--the result of the- chemical action of          the first chapters of the Genesis account.
   myrrh and aloe powder - used in ancient burials -                     His point of departure was the (in his opinion)
   mixed with the urea in the body's sweat.                         unshakable fact of evolution; in no uncertain terms he
      Together with Dr. Nicolo Miani, a professor of                rejected the idea that evolution might be called a
   anatomy at Rome's Sacred Heart Medical School, Ricci             hypothesis, it should be accepted as a fact. The story
   spent  ,months  wrapping corpses in winding sheets to            of creation in Genesis is Israel's version of all kinds
   check his calculations. Linking his scientific research          of creation tales from the cultural unit of the ancient
   with historical study, he has added details to the               Middle East. Israel has conquered and baptized all
   account of Jesus's whipping, walk to Calvary and                 that material, it has shaped it into a confession of
   Crucifixion.      For example, Ricci believes that Jesus         the God of the covenant, the God of Abraham, Isaac
   was beaten while bent over a low pillar by two soldiers          and Jacob, who had brought it out of the house of
   using three-pronged whips tipped with lambs' or dogs'            bondage.      Dr. Kuitert continues to say that "con-
   bones which left gaping wounds in his flesh. In all, the         tents and form of the Biblical creation-account cannot
   marks from the shroud indicate Jesus was scourged at             be possibly understood by us as references to his-
   least 98 times - more than twice the usual number of             torical situations which once were there and now are
   lashes - and possibly 120 times. "I would say," he               no longer. This is unquestionably true as far as Gen.
   says, "that the soldiers didn't even count when they             1 and 2 are concerned, and consequently also as far
   administered the lashes."                                        as Gen. 3 is concerned. These Biblical stories don't
      Marks from wounds on the. right shoulder and left             present scientific or non-scientific historical data,
   shoulder blade have convinced Ricci that Jesus carried           and they should not be used for it, neither directly
   only the horizontal bar of the cross on the way to               neither indirectly. They cannot serve as a record of a
   Calvary.  :He estimates that the bar weighed between             creation-event and fall in sin."
   66. and 83 pounds, and was tied with a rope to the                    When questions are raised concerning Rom. 5 and
   shoulders, arms and left ankle. "The walk to Calvary             original sin, Dr. Kuitert gives a.very bold answer. He
   must have been horrible," said Ricci last week. "AS              denies not only the historical element in that chapter's
   the *&print  of the left knee shows, he probably fell many       reference to Adam, he also denies the theological
   times. Because his arms were tied and extended, he               `construction' of original guilt and he declares that
   couldn't ward off his fall, so he fell squarely on his           "this construction cannot be true for this reason that
   forehead or nose. The image on the shroud shows a                it has simply been based on the historical existence of
   cut forehead and a broken nose."                                 a special man called Adam, while we conveniently
      On the ,basis of Ricci's elaborate deductions about           forget (in that old construction) that Eve was the one
   the Crucifixion, Jesus was nailed through the wrists             who did it and only then Adam. But we took always
   and the center of his feet with the left foot folded over        conveniently Adam into the bargain, that means the
   the right.       In a crucifixion, the weight of the body        whole patriarchally-structured society; for actually
   hanging fully from the arms quickly hampers breathing.           Eve should have been mentioned first, and after her
   "One can see from the imprint of the wounds in the feet          Adam; but it is of course a typical O.T. feature,
   that he tried to rest his weight there to avoid asphyxia-        totally fitting in the patriarchal world of that time that
   tion," Ricci surmises. "If his feet hadn't been nailed,          Adam was considered to be responsible and not Eve.
   he would have died in ten minutes."                              Adam in Rom. 5 is therefore not history, for in that
   Such a concoction of surmises, guesses, speculations             case the name of Eve should have been mentioned."
and known facts of the crucifixion based on a spurious              Quite naturally  this involves also the whole idea
shroud can only detract from the wonder of the atone-            of sin and redemption through Christ.              Praamsma
ment and the salvation God wrought for His people in             goes on to explain Dr. Kuitert's views on these
Christ.                                                          questions.
                                                                         He criticizes the traditional order of creation-fall-
DR. KVITERT AND EVOLUTION                                           redemption. As far as creation is concerned, Gen. l-3
                                                                    is no history but only a teaching model (cf. Barth's
   In an interesting and informative series of articles             idea of Adam as our representative in the sense of a
in  Church and  Natiolz,  Dr. L. Praamsma has been                  model of man); and creation is not something of the
examining the theological situation in the Netherlands,             past, it is also something of the presence (present?)
                                                                    and of the future, it can be told in terms of evolution-
particularly in the  Gevefovmeevde   Kerken.  In a recent           history. And as far as sin is concerned, the best term
article he comments on the views of the bistoricity of              to be used for it is  regression  (cf. the traditional
the Genesis account of creation as maintained by Dr.                transgression);  and as far as redemption is concerned:
Kuitert. He writes:                                                 Christ is the One who annihilates this regression.
      In our former article we raised the question whether          Kuitert has  seen the implications and is not reluc-
   the elasticity of the word `history' expressed at the         tant to insist on them. Destroy the creation account
   Dutch Synod of Lunteren (1967) allows for a Barthian
   exegesis of the stories of Gen. l-3 in these churches.        and the fall is gone. Lose the fall and there is no more
      As matters presently stand the answer must be a            sin.     Deny the reality of sin  and the atonement of
   definite yes.                                                 Christ is. gone.       This is the inevitable outcome of
      In 1966? a year before the Synod of Lunteren, dr.          evolutionism.      The Gerefovmeerde  Kekken tolerate it
   H. M. Kuitert delivered a speech on Creation and              all not only in their churches but in their universities
   Evolution and in 1967 he was appointed professor in           and seminaries.


 402                                         THE STANDARD-BEARER




        PAGES FROM THE PAST-

                           Believers and Their Seed

                                              by Rev. Herman Hoeksema


(Note: The following is a continuation of Chapter I of         for the covenant-member, and yet it is not the same.
"Believers And Their Seed." Through a serious                  It is the same, for even as in the covenant the forgive--
printer's error in the last issue, and contrary to your        ness of sins and everlasting righteousness and salvation
editor's instructions, the last installment was broken         are bestowed upon him by God, that is, the right to these
off not only in the middle of a paragraph, but in the          is given, thus also there is given to him the right to
middle of a sentence. We hope our readers will un-             the subjective application by the Holy Spirit (Catechism,
derstand it is not the Standard Beaver's policy to hold        Question 74). And yet the situation is also not the same;
you in suspense for a half month.           For your con-      for to give the right to forgiveness of sins and ever-
venience, the present installment begins at the begin-         lasting righteousness and salvation is equivalent to
ning of the paragraph which was mutilated in the               bestowing those benefits of salvation themselves. It is
previous issue. HCH)                                           to put us in possession of them. But to give the right
    `"With regard to the question what this participation      to the subjective application by the Holy Spirit is not
in the essence of the covenant means, what benefit is          yet to give us that subjective application itself. ~This is
the portion of the covenant-member (bond&?@, it must           well put in the Baptism Form when it tells us that in
be noted that we must distinguish a two-fold application       baptism the Father witnesses and seals unto us that `he
of  salvation.    Both are mentioned in the prayer of          doth make an eternal covenant of grace with us, and
thanksgiving in the Form for the Administration of the         adopts us for his children and heirs,' and the Son seals
Lord's Supper, as follows:  `...that  Thou hast of thy         unto us that `he doth wash us in his blood from all our
infinite mercy, given us thine only begotten Son, for a        sins,' but the Holy Spirit assures us that he `will sanctify'
Mediator and a sacrifice for our sins, and to be our           (not: sanctifies) us to be members of Christ, `appiymg
meat and drink unto life eternal, and that Thou givest         unto us that which we have in Christ.' To have a part
us lively faith, whereby we are made pavtakevs of such         in the essence of the covenant, therefore, implies for
great benefits.' Hence, the `becoming partakers' (or,          the covenant-member the being put in possessionof the
`being made partakers') takes place through faith and          benefits of salvation, even as the application thereof
is something different than the being `given.' (Trans-         takes place in and through the covenant, and to have
lator's note: In the Dutch version of the above quota-         received a right to the subjective being made a par-
tion from the Form for the Lord's Supper, the verbs            taker of salvation as this occurs through the Holy
are respectively  geschonken hebben  and  deelachtig           Spirit D
wovden.) Similarly in Question 74 (of the Heidelberg               "In such a conception of the essence ofthe covenant
Catechism) the two elements of the promise mentioned           there is no need whatsoever of the distinction between
are `the redemption from sins by the blood of Christ'          a conditional or external covenant, to which the seed
and `the Holy Spirit, the Author of faith.' The applica-       of believers in general would belong, and an absolute
tion of salvation must first of all be that of an objective    or internal covenant, in which only the elect would
gift  (Dutch:  eene  objectieve   schenking),  wherebythere    have a part. This distinction is the consequence of a
is given Us a divine right to salvation; and this takes        bilateral covenant conception, which finds the essence
place in and through the covenant. And, secondly,              of the covenant to consist in the saving possession of
there must be a subjective being made pavtakev (Dutch:         the benefits of salvation. But neither the Word of God
een subjectieve  deelachtigmaking),  and this takes place      nor our confessions justify this distinction. There is
through faith, or rather through the Holy Spirit, Who          a difference among covenant-members, but this dif-
works faith.      The first every covenant-member re-          ference is not to be dragged into the covenant itself.
ceives, as covenant-member in the full sense. Baptism          Some receive the saving application by the Holy Spirit;
is a divine seal, `an undoubted testimony,' of this to         others do not. The former are in the vine as fruitful
all who are. baptized. What this includes is so pointedly      branches, the latter as unfruitful branches. But though
set forth in the Baptism Form when it explains what            there be a difference among the branches, the vine is
it means to be `baptized in the name of ,the Father and        one ; and though there be a difference among the
in the name of the Son.    As to the second element, the       covenant-members, the covenant is one."
application of salvation by the Holy Spirit, or the sub-           Such is the conception of Professor W. Heyns. We
jective being made partaker, the situation is the same         intentionally quoted him at length, in order, on the one


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    403


hand, not to make the professor say things which he did          covenant of grace with respect to believers and their
not actually say, and, on the other hand, because we             seed. We did that because his presentation is indeed
are, -here. .dealing -with. a- covenant. conception which has    representative of a certain tendency in this respecti.
found widespread acceptance and which, in our opinion,           he does not stand alone. We did it, too, because Prof.
should be rooted out completely., We hope to give our            Heyns's presentation has for years been imbibed by
reasons for `this in the following chapter. At present,          many who now serve as ministers in the Christian
let it be cle:ar what the professor's view is. He views          Reformed denomination. If we keep this in mind, it
God's covenant purely soteriologically. That is, for             is no longer surprising that the doctrine of a general
him the salvation of the covenant-members is the one             offer of grace on God's part in the preaching of the
and only thing in God's covenant.          The covenant is       gospel to all who hear that gospel not only could find
really a promise of salvation.          The essence of the       a reception but also could be so readily officially
covenant is, however, not salvation itself, but the              adopted by the Synod of 1924 as the only pure Reformed
promise of God that He will bestow that salvation. In            presentation. We also wrote, after having quoted Prof.
this manner, the professor tries to stee r clear of the          Heyns at length, that it is our conviction that this view
distinction between being outwardly and inwardly in              must be completely rooted out; and we promised to
God's covenant as it becomes manifest historically in            adduce our reasons for this conviction.
the world. The promise is the essence. Moreover,                    And then we can immediately state that our chief
that promise, according to Professor Heyns, is be-               reason is that the presentation of Prof. Heyns is
stowed upon all without distinction who are born as              nothing else than the old Pelagian error applied to the
seed of the covenant, born of believing parents. God             doctrine of the covenant.
very really `declares in His covenant that He will save             We shall make this clear.
all the children of the covenant, that is, all the seed of          The professor asserts that the essence of the
the covenant in the natural sense. No, still more. Not           covenant is the promise that God will be our God and
only does, the Professor distinguish, but he also                the God of our seed. Now in itself this would not be
sepavptes' between the work of the Father, Who estab-            objectionable . At least there could be no serious ob-
lishes His everlasting covenant, and the work of the             jection to this, provided the professor understood this
Son, Who washes us in His blood, on the one hand, and            in a good sense and did not very definitely sail in the
the work of the Holy Spirit, who must make us partakers          direction of Arminianism with his entire presentation.
of salvation,, on the other hand. The covenant can be            It would, of course, be possible with such a definition
established with us by the Father; we can be incorpor-           of God's covenant to maintain the pure and Scriptural
ated into Christ and washed by His blood; but that does          presentation of the promise of God;' and then one might
not yet mean that we also actually become partakers              still remain pure in his further reasoning. For indeed
of the benefits of the covenant. This last depends,              God's promises are Yea and Amen. He is the un-
according to Prof. Heyns, on something else; and that            changeable One, the faithful God, Jehovah, the I AM
something else is that the covenant-member is obligated          THAT I AM. When God promises something, then it is
also to accept in faith those benefits which were prom-          absolutely certain that He will bestow that which He
ised to him by oath in the covenant.                             promised. There is no difference in certainty between
   How the professor can teach all this as a Reformed            the promise and the fulfillment, between the objective
man is indeed a riddle to us. But by way of explana-             bequest and the subjective application. All that God
tion it should be added that the professor also ascribes         promises He also most certainly performs, and to
to all covenant-members a certain subjective grace.              whomsoever He promises anything He will also cer-
They are not to be compared to the children of the               tainly give it. Taken in that sense, there would be no
world. They are not stone deaf and totally blind. No,            danger in the presentation that the essence of the
they all, head for head, and soul for soul, whether              covenant consists of the promise, "I am your God and
they be elect and saved or whether they be non-elect             the God of your seed." But understood thus, there
and not saved, nevertheless receive something. They              could also be no question about it that this promise is
receive a certain life, a life which is not indeed the           not for all who are born in the sphere of the historical
life of regeneration, but nevertheless life. Through             manifestation of God's covenant. God does not prom-
this life they are put in a position to take possession          ise to everyone, head for head, everyone who be-
of and to accept the offered promise, the essence of             longs to the seed of the covenant in the historical,
the covenant, or to reject it. Thus, they have a divine          visible, external sense of the word, that God will be
right to salvation. They also have a divine promise,             his God and will save him. He does not in the objective
which is sure and steadfast, that God will make them             sense of the word bequeath (to use Prof. Heyns's
partakers of the salvation in Christ. And they also              language) upon all, head for head, His salvation and
receive in the subjective sense of the word a certain            the benefits of the covenant. And taken thus, the ex-
grace, a certain power, whereby they are able, too, to           pression by which Prof. Heyns describes the covenant
accept those benefits and to beseech the Holy Spirit             means, then, nothing else than that in the covenant God
for His grace, (cf. pp. 70-75, "Essays on the Covenant           is the God of His people, and that they are His people.
of Grace").                                                      This is a thoroughly Scriptural idea.
   In the previous chapter we allowed Prof. W. Heyns                Professor Heyns, however, does not want this. For
to speak at length concerning his presentation of the            in this way a distinction is made between seed and


 404                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


seed, and the essence of the covenant does not after all       covenant.    After all, it is the doctrine of Pelagius and
concern all the children who are born in the sphere of         Arminius that every man possesses the light of nature,
the covenant. Following this line, one would be com-           and that therein he has received from God a certain
pelled to speak again of an external and an internal           grace; that, moreover, God on His part comes with a
covenant, of its visible-historical side and its spiritual-    well-meant offer of grace in the gospel and offers
invisible side.    This is exactly what Prof. Heyns            Christ to all; and that it finally depends on this light
wants to avoid. He wishes to describe the essence of           of nature and on the use which the sinner makes of
the covenant in such a way that it includes all the            this light whether or not he will also become a par-
children of believers, that this essence of the covenant       taker of this offered grace. Everything revolves about
indeed concerns all who are born in the sphere of the          the free will of man.       What God says and what God
covenant in the historical sense. Hence, he also does          does is conditional; and it depends completely upon
not conceive of the promise of God as absolute and un-         man whether that which is conditional shall also be-
conditional, but as relative and conditional.         The      come reality and certainty, Now Pelagianism simply
essence of the covenant is the promise in the sense of         applies this to all men.       But the doctrine of Prof.
a conditional offer. On His part, God promises, that           Heyns is precisely the same, except that he applies
is, He offers, to all who are born in the covenant, that       it to the narrower sphere of the covenant in its
He will be their God, on condition that they also now          historical sense.
accept that promise of God and consent to the covenant.           When the professor then also ventures an attempt
That conditional relationship in which God places Him-         to support this view from the confessions and from the
self to the seed of the covenant, the realization of           various liturgical forms, this attempt, as might be
which depends on the consent and acceptance of the             expected, is a total failure. The professor cites the
covenant-member,  - that is for Prof. Heyns the es-            Form for the Administration of the Lord's Supper and
sence of the covenant. Thus what we really have is a           finds these words in the Prayer of Thanksgiving:
general offer, in the form of a pact, within the con-          "...that  Thou hast of thy infinite mercy, given us thine
fines of the covenant in the historical sense. This,           only begotten Son, for a Mediator and a sacrifice for
then, is also the so-called general covenant-grace.            our sins, and to be our meat and drink unto life
   In addition to the preceding, Prof. Heyns also              eternal, and that thou givest us lively faith, whereby
makes a subjective distinction between the seed of the         we are made partakers of such great benefits." Prof.
covenant and the children of the world. The seed of            Heyns makes the following remark in this connection:
the covenant all receive a certain life from God. This         "Thus the being made a partaker takes place through
life is not indeed the life of regeneration; nevertheless      faith and is something else than the bestowal of the
by virtue of this life they are not stone deaf nor com-        gift (of the Mediator)." (Note: In the Dutch version of
pletely blind. By this life they are all in a position to      the Form for the Lord's Supper there are two different
determine their own relation to the covenant promise           verbs used  (geschonken hebt  and  geeft);  our English
of God which is bestowed upon them all. On their part,         version renders both by the verb give. Prof. Heyns
they can either consent to and accept that promise, or         in the above quotation is making a distinction between
they can decline it and reject it. And whether now the         the objective sending, or gift, of the Mediator and the
covenant of God will also be subjectively fulfilled,           subjective being made a partaker of the benefits of
and whether anyone will actually receive the benefits          salvation. HCH) But we would remark: this is not the
of God's covenant, this depends upon this consent and          issue. There is certainly no one who would deny that
acceptance by the covenant member. For this reason             we must distinguish between the objective bestowal of
the professor makes his distinction between the so-            Christ and the subjective application of salvation in
called objective bequest of the benefits of the covenant,      Him.    That is not the question. But the professor
which comes to all the covenant members, and the               teaches that we may and must so distinguish between
subjective application of these benefits, which is only        this objective bequest and subjective application that
the portion of those who accept the covenant of God.           they can also be separated.        Someone can have the
Therefore also the professor makes that strange                right to the possession of the benefits because God has
distinction between the bequest of the covenant by             bequeathed them to him, and nevertheless it is possible
the Father and the Son and the application of it by the        that he never actually receives those benefits. Such
Holy Spirit. For the essence of the covenant, in Heyns's       is the presentation of Prof. Heyns. But that is exactly
view, lies in God's binding engagement, sworn with an          not the presentation of the Prayer of Thanksgiving in
oath and sealed by the seals of the sacraments, that           the Form for the Lord's Supper.           Plainly, in the
God on His part will bestow the grace of the covenant.         Prayer of Thanksgiving the church speaks of both the
But whether or not anyone will also actually receive           bequest, or bestowal, of the gift of the Mediator and of
this grace, depends upon the use which the covenant            the application of salvation. God bestows the gift, and
member makes of that first life, that first subjective         He applies it. The objective and the subjective are in
grace, which God bestows upon every member of the              the Form not separated, though they are distinguished.
-covenant, but which is nevertheless not the life of           Those upon whom God has bestowed the gift of Christ
regeneration.                                                  also become actual partakers of Christ through the
   It will be evident to the reader that this is nothing       grace of God. In the Prayer-of Thanksgiving, there-
but Pelagianism applied to the historical sphere of the        fore, the professor finds no support for his view.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  405


FEATURE-

            `That  Wa~nderful Gift of Memory
                                                   by  J. A. Heys

                             (Speech delivered at the Spring meeting of the Ladies'
                             League at Holland, Michigan, April 2.5, 1968, by Rev.
                             John A. Heys)
   The sin of the Israelites in the days of the Judges      and then also in small steps. He learns to combine
is summed up in the words that they `forget the Lord        letters into words of one syllable and to add and sub-
their God"; and covenant faithfulness before God is         tract before he can multiply and divide the numbers.
presented in Psalm 103:17  as vemem  beving  His com-       He does not learn all the "time tables" even in the
mandments to do them. The blessedness of the re-            same grade in school. But little by little, as the mind
deemed is expressed very often in Scripture as being        receives facts, it stores them away for future use.
due to the fact that God  t-emembevs  their sins no             The mind then becomes a filing cabinet wherein
more; and the certainty of Zion's salvation and glory       facts are stored. We do not understand how it does
is presented in Isaiah 49 as being due to the fact that     that.     We do know that when a part of the brain is
God yemem.bevs  His Zion which He has engraven  in          damaged in one way or another, the memory in regard
the palms of His hand.                                     to some matters is gone. We speak figuratively of
   It ought to be evident,. then, that the matter of        writing it more indelibly in the mind; but we do not
memory is an important one and one worth our con-           know how that amazing organ, the brain, that God gave
sideration at this time.     The section of Psalm 119       us can store away these facts. In one the power is
which was read to you a moment ago shows how worth-         stronger than in another. Some hearing but once will
while it is.    The psalmist finds comfort when he          retain for a long period of time. Others must have it
remembers God's judgments of old. `And he. pleads           repeated and repeated and retain it for only a short
with God to remember the word upon which He has             while. But all have been created with a mind that will
caused? His servant to hope. And although our memory        receive and retain a certain amount of the facts that
fades as we get older, and many of the facts we re-         they experience either by sight, smell, sound, touch or
member today will be gone, we do well to consider           taste.
this subject now while we can yet appreciate what a             Considering now the normal individual it is simply
wonderful gift God has given us in this power of            amazing what a mass of fact and detail of fact can be
memory.                                                     and is stored away in the humanmind. How many faces
                                                            we recognize, as for example one who has spent some
   Asking ourselves what we are to understand by            twenty years as a school teacher! Consider how many
this wonderful gift, we answer that is that power of        names likewise we remember, how many places, ex-
the mind whereby we are able to receive and store          periences, birds, and flowers and animals, dates and
away in the mind thousands upon thousands of facts         books we have read. An average person remembers
about hundreds upon hundreds of objects. As you know,      many hundreds of words which constitute his vocabu-
we were created with the five senses of sight, smell,      lary.      Consider then those who know more than one
hearing, taste and touch. We do not from birth onward       language. Learn a language like Latin or Greek and
use them equally. Sight in the newborn babe is very         consider all the case endings and verb forms that are
limited for :the first few months, but hearing is quite     to be used, and the right ones singled out for use.
keen and the child learns to remember sounds long          Memory surely is a wonderful gift of our covenant
before he can recognize faces and remember his im-          God unto us.
mediate family by sight. Smell and taste are limited           But memory is much more than the mental power
to a very small world of tasting just a few matters        to receive and retain in the mind various facts. It is
like water and milk - and perhaps his thumb. Touch         likewise the power of mind to recall. (And by the way,
as well is limited to a few experiences, with neither      here is one of the little helps toward memorization:
extremities of hot nor cold nor of neither smooth nor      Note the fact that we have three words beginning with
rough experienced yet. Therefore there is, for a time,     the letter  "r," namely, receive, retain and recall.
that which the mind is not able to receive, and these      Taking note of such items makes it easier to retain
facts are like water running off the back of a duck.       and recall. Another help is to make some association
   When he does begin to learn, the child learns by        of the sound of the word to be remembered, or even to
little steps, and you cannot make him memorize very        construct words with the letters. I remember in high
much. Only what enters the mind and makes an im-           school that we were taught to remember the seven
pression upon it because of comprehension will the         colors of the rainbow by remembering the name of a
mind retain. He learns the alphabet and then only a        fictitious boy called Roy G. Biv. Taking the letters in
few letters at a time. He learns to count the numbers,     that order as the first letter of each color, we get red,


406                                          THESTANDARDBEARER


orange, green, blue, indigo and violet.) But to return      be confused. There are those who can retain and re-
to our subject of the gift of memory, the most wonder-      call and hold before their consciousness a few matters
ful part of memory is that we can bring back before         at a time. We can drive a car and remember to stay
our consciousness the things which we have stored           on the right side of the road, and at the same time re-
away in the mind.                                           call to a passenger some past event of our mutual
   We do not have before our consciousness at any           experiences. You can sing a hymn, remembering all
moment ALL that which is filed away for future refer-       the words, while you stir up a cake, remembering all
ence.    We are not God!       He, indeed, has perfect      the ingredients and the method and oven temperature.
memory; and what He has given us is such a faint            But ALL which you know you cannot have before your
reflection of what He has for memory. I do not mean         mind at any given moment.
to minimize what we have; and I call it that wondevfil         It does come back in the way of suggestion, or what
gift of memory; but the fact remains that when we           is even more wonderful, by an act of your will. There
compare it with God's memory, ours is such a faint          are even times when it comes back without suggestion,
reflection of what is perfect in Him. God's memory-never    that is, without immediate suggestion, or by a con-
consists in recalling to His mind's eye the facts that      scious act of the will. I am thinking, for example, of
He knows. It is not even receiving fact into His mind.      our dreams, when past events will in some weird or
He never receives anything from outside His own in-         even frightening way come before our consciousness,
finite being. God never learns to know something. In        or should I say? our semi-consciousness. Dreams
fact God never learns. His knowledge is infinite, no        are another one of these phenomena that we can
greater today than before creation and no less either.      philosophize about but really do not understand. But
He knows ALL THINGS because within Himself He               otherwise, we remember usually in the way of sug-
determines all things. His foreknowledge is not learn-      gestion. Someone speaks a certain word, mentions a
ing that something is going to happen before it does.       name, we hear a sound, and then a face, a name, an
His foreknowledge is knowing that something is going        event comes before our minds thathappenedin the past.
to happen because in Himself He determined eternally        You hear a hymn played over the radio, and the words
that it would happen. And He knows His whole counsel        are suggested to you.
as that which has taken place, shall take place and is         But the most wonderful part of memory is that we
taking place with all of it at every moment consciously     can bring back from out of the recesses of the mind
before His mind. He does not push aside the one fact        these facts at will. We can commit a speech or a poem
to recall the other before His consciousness. But He        to memory, and at the right time recall each word in
knows all things about all things at every moment of        its `proper order. We can reminisce and review the
time, and we may add, throughout all eternity before        events of the day or of our life. You can, after re-
there was time and after time is no more.                   turning home, relive your whole trip. This can be done
   We cannot do that, but instead we store away facts       as far as happy events are concerned; it can also be
to bring them before our consciousness when we need         done with respect to griefs and sorrows of the past.
to use them.     Let me make that very plain to you.        We can remember our own works, and we can remem-
There are facts stored away in your mind of which you       ber the works of others by reaching back by an act
are not at the moment thinking. I am sure of that.. It      of the will into that store-house of information. Thus
is there in your mind on the "shelf" to take down and       also the Psalimst says in Psalm  77:11, "I will re-
use, but it may be the very last thing concerning which     member the works of the Lord; surely I will remem-
you are thinking at the moment. You may not have            ber Thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of Thy
thought of it all day. But as soon as I have finished       works, and talk of Thy doings." We sing this also
the next sentence after this one, which will be a ques-     from our Psalter:
tion, that fact will come before your consciousness.                   I thought upon the days of old
The question is this, What is your birthday? Now you                   The years departed lsng,
have it before your consciousness; but let me ask an-                  I held communion with my heart,
other question so that you will push aside and replace                 By night recalled my song.
on the shelf the date of your birthday and take down                   I will commemorate, 0 Lord,
another, What is your telephone number? Or let me                      Thy wondrous deeds of old
dig back a little further into those "shelves" and make                And meditate upon Thy works
you go back a little further; how far did you go in                    Of power and grace untold.
school? Eight grades? Through college? And, from               All this is possible by recalling the truth as it was
what school did you graduate, or what school did you        stored away in the past. And in moments of distress
last attend?    0, you forgot, you say, all about those     and trouble the mind reaches back and brings before
things. No you did not really forget. You had it there      our consciousness these truths for our comfort. To
in your mind but not before your consciousness, and         return to that passage that was read to you from Psalm
by my questions,, these stored-away facts were brought      119, the psalmist says exactly that, "I remembered
back before your mind's eye. You retained and had           Thy judgments of old, 0 Lord; and have comforted my-
received. Now you recalled.                                 self." We can reach back and for our comfort bring
   You and I simply could not  - being finite creatures     before the mind's eye the truths we'learned  and were
- have all our knowledge before us at once. We would        taught years ago.


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   407


              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On June 6th, our beloved parents,                          On June 8, 1968, our beloved parents
       MR. AND MRS. HENRY MEULENBERG                             REV. AND MRS. MARINUS SCHIPPER
hope to celebrate their 45th anniversary.                  hope to commemorate their 35th wedding anniversary.
   We, the children, are glad for this occasion to         We, their children, are thankful to our Covenant God
express our deepest gratitude to them for the covenant     that He has spared them for each other and for us,
training they strove to teach us, and pray, by God's       and our sincere prayer is that He may sustain them
grace, that they may have the joy of seeing their chil-    through the coming years.
dren and grandchildren walk in that way, as they                     Mr. and Mrs. James M. Schipper
together continue their pilgrim journey.                             Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Schipper
           Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Bol                                   Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Schipper
           Mr. and Mrs. David Meulenberg                             Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Langerak
           Mr. and Mrs. RonaldMeulenberg                                     and 8 grandchildren
           Mr. and Mrs. John Bos
           Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Meulenberg
           Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Meulenberg                                      ANNIVERSARY
           Judie Meulenberg
                         and 22 grandchildren                 On June 5, 1968 our beloved parents
                                                                    MR:AND MRS. GERRITT H. STADT
                                                           hope to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. We
                                                           give thanks to our Covenant God for sparing them for
   The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School is        each other and us these many years. We pray that God
in need of a .principal for the 1968-69 School Year.       may continue to bless them.
Also needed. is one Junior High Teacher and a 6th                                           Mr. and Mrs. R. Stadt
Grade teacher.      If you can consider one of these                                        Dr. and Mrs. R.-Leppink
positions, please contact:                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. J. Gardner
             Mr. Clare Kuiper
             ,245O Boulevard Drive, S.W.
             Wyoming, Michigan 49509
             Phone: LE 4-0098
                                                                              ANNOUNCEMENT

                                                              Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                         NOTICE                            will meet, D.V., on Wednesday, July 3, 1968, at 9 A.M.,
                                                           in the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
   Following our normal publication schedule, the          Rapids, Michigan. Consistories will please take note
Standard Bearer. will appear only once per month           of this in the appointment of their delegates.
during June, July, and August.                                                                      M. Schipper, S.C.




        Order Your Copy Of The  Booklef


                   "The Five Points  of Calvinism"

                  -$-                              Enclose $1, and send your order to:

                                                                        Rev. M. Schipper
                                                                        1543 Cambridge, SE.
                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


408                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                          NEWS FROM OUR  CHURCHES-
                                              May 10, 1968    FM. May 5 carried the sermon of Prof. H. Hanko on
   Hope's congregation held a 50th Anniversary cele-          "Submission to Government," the answer to the spirit
bration, recently, and the celebrants included the one        of lawlessness prevailing in the world today. This
remaining charter member,. Mr. Richard Newhouse.              station is also being used by Lynden's small congrega-
The main speaker on the program was Rev. D. Engels-           tion as a witness by broadcasting a taped service of
ma, a son of the church. - Greetings were given by            the previous week. The musical portion of the pro-
former pastors, Revs. H. Hanko, H.Veldman, and J. A.          gram is by the Radio Choir of Grand Rapids, and has
Heys. Rev. Kortering conducted the opening devotions.         been spliced into the hour-long tape which carries the
Mr.; John Moelker rendered the organ prelude and              sermon of Rev. Woudenberg of the past Sunday. This
postlude; a piano-organ duet by Lois Engelsma and             service is on the air at 2 P.M. and the Reformed Wit-
Bonnie Meulenberg, and singing by a mass choir com-           ness Hour is at 4 P.M. each Sunday. Congratulations,
posed of the Hope Heralds and the Choral Society com-         Lynden !
pleted the program. The children of the late Rev. G.                                    *  * *
M. Ophoff, Hope's first pastor, were also invited to             The above paragraph naturally calls our attention
share this occasion with the happy congregation. Rev.         to the great amount of work that is accomplished by a
Heys made some closing remarks and led in prayer.             small number of people on the Radio Committee. This
The Anniversary Booklet included a brief history of           dedicated group of workers tirelessly perform the
the church, pictures of the lone charter member, their        duties related to the taping of sermons, mailing of
present and the former pastors, the old - the re-built        tapes, securing the speakers, the purcha.se of prime
- and the new churches. The message from their time on your local station, paying the bills, and making
pastor ,found  in the booklet concluded with this para-       decisions which result in flawless radio programming.
graph:       "We do not know what lies ahead. We learn        Have you ever sat down to write the Radio Committee
from the past that even though there were moments             a letter of appreciation? Our program is one of the
when our shout of `Ebenezer' had to be mingled with           few which does not beg for responses  - so our re-
tears, Jehovah never forsook us. Our calling today is         sponses must be voluntary. Will you be such a volun-
not to `try and carry the load of the future by antici-       teer this week? The address is: The Reformed Wit-
pating iwhat trials may be our portion, no, we must           ness Hour, P.O. Box 1230, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.
walk by faith and say, `Hithevto  hath the Lord helped                                  * *  *
us.' Having reviewed the past, let us rejoice in the             Redland's May 5 bulletin carried a reminder for
present and be renewed in courage to press on,                the young people of the Young People's Convention to
placing our trust in Jehovah's promises. Ebenezer!            be held in far-off Grand Rapids,  Mich., in August.
This is our shout of victory for time and unto all            That is quite an event for their delegates, to which
eternity!"                                                    they can look forward!
                         *     *     *                                                  *     0 *
   While Rev. Decker was on a classical appointment
in Pella,  Iowa for two Sundays, Doon scheduled evening         The Leage of Mr. and Mrs. Societies met Friday
services.      Rev. Lanting was a guest speaker April 21      evening, May 10, in Southwest Church. Prof. H. C.
and Rev. Van Baren (on classical appointment in Hull)         Hoeksema was the speaker, who `was asked to speak
served them April 28.                                         on, "Our Calling as Reformed Christians with respect
                         *     0 *                            to Social and Political Involvement." Special music
   Five young people made public confession of faith          was provided by a male quartet, and refreshments
in  Doon's afternoon service, May 5.          Their pastor    were served in the renovated church parlors.
chose I Peter 5:8, 9 as his text, preaching on, `fEx-                                   *     *     *
horted to Vigilance," suitable for young and old; but          Hudsonville's congregation shared in celebrating
specially directed to those who would be celebrants at        the 95th birthday anniversary of one of their members,
the Lord's Table for the first time the following Sun-        Mr. Cornelius Woudwijk, with an "open house" in the
day.                                                          church basement from 3 P.M. to 9 P.M.`May 1.
                         *     8 *                                                      *     *     *
   Lynden's pastor, Rev. Woudenberg, has inaugurated             Joanna Schwarz,  5th grade reporter of Loveland's
a group discussion series with "Understanding Our-            school  Ledger,  writes, "The boys are digging a tunnel
selves in Relation to Others" as the subject to be dis-       in the ground," but neglects to divulge the aim of the
cussed. Two groups have been formed, one meeting              other end of it.     Could it be a secret return to the
on Tuesday evenings and the other on the following            school-room? From the same Le&er we learn that
evening. This is quite a challenging undertaking and          their school has existed seven years, with four grades
will, no doubt, be very beneficial to all the members,        for the first few years, and now including six grades,,
especially because this psychology study will be under        The last increase necessitated the moving of a wall of
the direction of a minister of the Gospel who uses the        the schoolroom in August of 1967. The  Ledger  re-
Bible as his text-book.                                       veals an ever-increasing awareness of the desirability
                         Q *  *                               of additional grades as soon as it becomes economi-
   The Reformed Witness Hour has secured another              cally possible.
outlet - this one in Lynden, Wash., on station KLYN-             . . . see you in church.                     J.M.F.


