                            tmdard
                      .'



                              !          earer

~
  A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE



IN THIS ISSUE


      Meditation:
        Grace Abounding Through Thanksgiving

      Editorial:
        The Heart-Beat of the Reformation

     "Father Groppi" Again
        (Correspondence and Reply)

      Freedom
         _-
        (see: The Strength of Youth):

      Solomon As Judge
        (see: A Cloud of Witnesses)
                                          Volume XL VII/Number 4 /November  15,197O


         74                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



                                             CONTENTS                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                           Semimonthly, except monthly during June, July and August.

          Meditation                                                                                       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
        I-./ Grace Abounding Through Thanksgiving . . . . . . .74 Editor-in-Chief: Prof. f-f.  C. Hoeksema
          Editorials -                                                                               Departmenr  Editors::  Mr.  Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                                                     Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev. Jay
                Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76               Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper. Rev.  Gise J.
                The Heart-Beat of the                                                                Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
                  Reformation (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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         Meditation

                                    Grace Abounding Through Thanksgiving
                                                                                     Rev. M. Schipper

          -                `<For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
                           of many redound to the glory of God. "                                                                         II Corinthians 4: 15

                All things are for your sakes!                                                       and on earth. All creatures, men, angels, and devils.
                That the abundant grace might through the thanks- Also all inanimate things. All things are yours, and for
         giving of many redound to the glory of God!                                                 your sake. The tornado as well as the gentle zephyr,
                All things!                                                                          the humble worm as well as the king of beasts, the
                No need is there to limit this expression merely to devil as well as Gabriel, war as well as peace, adversity
         the immediate context, but we may understand it in as well as prosperity, sickness as well as health, death
         the unlimited sense. All things are the things in heaven as well as life - all are yours. They were intended for


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  75



 your sake, But that is not all.                              rich toward God. Nor does thanksgiving mean that
   Not only all things as they exist are yours, but all since we have received many good things, we are now
 these things in their operation and working are also going to give God a tithe of what He has given to us.
 yours. Gabriel, when he brings his good tidings; the So that as the Pharisee we can prate to others of how
 devil and his angels, when they beset you with tempta- much we have given to God and the things of His
 tions; the world, when it wars and riots; the worm, not kingdom. Nor does thanksgiving mean that we dis-
 only when it turns the soil, but when, after a rainy tinguish the good things from the evil things we re-
 night crawls on the sidewalk, and when it becomes the ceive, and now express our gratitude only for the good,
 instrument whereby you slip and break your leg; while we murmur over the bad to the point of
 cancer, when it lays you low and saps your life - 0, rebellion.
 there is no end'to the things that are yours, and are for      Nay, but it is our calling to praise God in all His
 your sakes.                                                  works!
   For you, church of God!                                      Thanksgiving means that you have been graced in
   For the body of Christ in the world!                       Christ Jesus, and therefore rejoice in the favor of God
   All things are for your sake so long as the church is Who makes all things work together for good; it means
 in the world. All things must serve you, they are in your that while you stand in the midst of all things you
 behalf, in order to work for your good. They are in- know you are the object of God's mercy, and you have
 tended to work together for your final and glorious the assurance in your heart and express it with your
 salvation. Not against you, but for your everlasting lips that the Lord is blessing you; it means that in all
 good all things must work.                                   things you see by faith the glory of God, and with joy
   God willed it so, and therefore it cannot be other- you, give expression to it. In one word, standing in the
 wise!                                                        midst of all things which are yours, you say from the
   Since you were precious in His sight, from ever- heart: Praise the Lord, for He is good! His loving kind-
 lasting He willed to create and govern all things so that ness is from everlasting! He has blessed us in Christ
 they might work to realize His eternal purpose in you. Jesus, and in Him He gives us all things. He blesses us
 In eternal wisdom He has decreed that all things must in health and sickness, in prosperity and adversity, in
 serve to your salvation and glory in the day of Christ. fruitful and barren years, in war and peace, in life and
 And therefore according to the immediate context, the death. We rejoice because He is our God, and we thank
 apostle informs you that also the death and resur- Him for all things and praise Him for His perfect wis-
 rection of Christ were necessary that He with the dom we behold in all the works of His hands.
 church may be presented to God. So all things are              God's goodness is infinitely great!
 yours, and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's.                Not out of one or two, but many mouths He has
   Indeed, because of you and for your sake all things .ordained praise. Though the church is one, yet she is
 are and take place. So minute is this purpose of God many, thousands, yea, millions, a host no man can
 with respect to all things and in relation to you that number. Out of many mouths therefore praise must
 not a hair can fall from your head without His will.         ascend unto God Who is worthy to receive it.
   But take special notice, beloved reader, that the text       That the abundant grace might redound to the glory'
 while it emphatically declares all things are for our of God!
 sakes, also emphatically points up the truth that we are       Not our thanksgiving is it that praises God. Not our
 not an end in ourselves. All things, though they were praise makes Him great. Not our rejoicing in Him is the
 divinely intended to serve us, are nevertheless so in- cause of the glory of His Name.
 tended that we may serve our God. Never was it God's           Nay, we cannot bring anything to Him. Never can we
 intention that the things should end in us, but through give Him anything. that is not already His own. Never
 us they were intended to end in the praise of our God. are `we the fountain out of which anything flows to
In fact, even we, the church, have been formed for God.
 God's praise.                                                  Thanksgiving is never of us, but it is  the. grace of
   This people have I formed for Myself!                      God in us. We are by nature unthankful. By grace we
   They shall show forth My praise!                           received in the midst of all things which are ours also
   Because of this all things are for our sakes in order the grace of' thanksgiving. So that when we give
 that out of the mouths of many thanksgiving should be thanks to God, we must thank Him first of all that we
 lifted up to God. The Church of Christ, which is His can thank Him.
 body, is one, yet composed of many members, and                Indeed, abundant. grace is multiplied in many hearts
 therefore possesses many mouths out of which thanks- and ' through the grace of thanksgiving as it dwells in all
 giving must arise.                                           the  .members  of Christ's body rises over the lips of
   And thanksgiving cannot mean that we simply re- many thanksgivings to God.
 joice in the abundance of things. This the world also is       Not our work, but God's work alone in us can be
 able to do. Also this the rich fool did,. who was not pleasing to Him!


I         -76                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



                 Only so, does He will to be glorified!                Him as all glorious, tell His praises.
                 Indeed, not our thanksgiving, but only God's grace       And here is the wonder of it all, that God, the all
           in us as it is expressed in thanksgiving in our hearts and glorious, has purposed through the church; the body of
           over our lips can serve to His glory!                       Christ with its many members, in whom He has poured
                 To the glory of God!                                  out of His abundant grace, that that church should be
                 9, indeed, He is in Himself the all glorious God! He the mouthpiece through whom praise shall ascend to
           is full of infinite perfections. He is incomparably Him that enumerates His perfections and thus glorifies
           beautiful. The brightness of His glory is so terrible that Him. 0, indeed, also the wicked shall bend the knee
           the very angels must cover their faces with their wings and acknowledge that He is God, but they cannot
           when they stand in His presence. In this sense of the thank Him. But unto us has this grace been given.
           word nothing can be added unto Him that will enhance -         Abundant grace makes the thanksgiving to abound!
           His glory.                                                     The one grace of God is multiplied in myriads of
           - But He has also revealed to  us  His glory. And this reflections in the church chosen in Christ!
           glory is the radiation of all His perfections to us. He        This grace overflows and comes out of many mouths
           manifested this glory in the highest sense in Christ. He through thanksgiving!
           is the brightness of His glory and the express image of        To the praise of God's glory!
           His person. He is also centrally the One Who brings            Thus God glorifies Himself!
           glory to God. "I have glorified thee on the earth;" so-        What an unspeakably precious gift that He will
           He declared in human nature on the earth. "And what- glorify Himself through us, and that He through the
           soever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that the wonder of grace will draw from us His own praise in
           Father may be glorified in the Son." And John tells us, such a way that we consciously extol His praises with
           "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, thanksgiving to Him!
           (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the-only             This is true thanksgiving!             -
           begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." And         May we remember this when on Thanksgiving Day
           the perfections of God we behold also in all the things we enter His courts!
           which are ours; and they are for our sakes, in order           Now, of course, we realize this only with a small
           that in them we might see the love and mercy, grace beginning of new obedience.
           and truth, righteousness and holiness strength and wis-        Presently, however, we shall stand in that vast multi-
           dom, of God.                                                tude of redeemed that shall see Him face to face. Then
                 All things must serve to His glory. Nothing ex- unto all eternity shall ascend as a sweet incense to the
           cluded. Heaven and earth, light and darkness, good and Most High the praise and thanksgiving which is His due
           evil, righteous and wicked, all .must glorify Him. All in heavenly perfection.
           must ascribe honor and glory to Him, and acknowledge


     - Editorials
                                            E d i t o r 's   N o t e s
          We goofed! If I believed in gremlins, I would say there which will be shared this year by Revs. Kortering and
          was a bad gremlin sitting on my typewriter when the Decker) and of Rev. Woudenberg's  A Cloud  of  Wit-
          last issue was prepared, and that- he travelled to the nesses. Some other departments are getting a
          typesetter's office and to the print shop. I refer to the    "b r e a t h e r . "
          obvious mistake on the cover of the last issue. A-t least                               ***
          that mistake and a couple of others in the contents          Yes, and there is also a further exchange between Rev.
          were obvious enough to be recognized  as- mistakes.          Van  Baren and the three Professors about the Father
          -And mistakes like that-have this benefit, that they help    Groppi lect-ure. The reader will notice that in the cur-
          to keep one humble!            * * *                         rent exchange the "nitty-gritty" is being reached. Our
                                                                       readers will be interested in knowing that this matter
          Partly as a fruit of last spring's survey, we are trying to has gotten considerable-attention in other publications.-
     _  - get a little more variety in our magazine.  And- with Rev. Van  Baren's first article was reprinted in  Torch
          good cooperation from staff members and others, we -and Trumpet  and in the ACRL Bulletin.  Them last
          are succeeding, I believe. We call your attention to the exchange between Rev. Van Baren and the three Pro-
          writings of Rev. Harbach on election, and to the re-         fessors was reprinted in Torch and Trumpet. And we
          appearance of  The Strength  of  Youth-  (a department are inviting Torch and Trumpet (and any others inter-


,                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  77


     ested) to reprint the current exchange.                  3-volume set at the special price of $22.50? When this
                                  * * *                       issue appears, you will have only two more weeks to
     The pre-publication sale of The Triple Knowledge will    get your order in! Use the envelope from the Oct. 15
     soon be over! Have you sent in your order for the        issue.



~                     The Heart-Beat of the Reformation (2)
                                                   Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema

               [Note: In the presious issue attention was called to the symbolism  of  the heart, to the
               identity of the heart - sovereign predestination, + and to the importance of the heart and
               its beat. J

              The Heart-Beat In The Reformation               with God, then it becomes plain, in the first place, that
       Some might be inclined to question the position for Luther faith was not another work of some kind.
     taken and to challenge the claim that the very heart of No, he had desperately tried that way of justification
     the Reformation is to be discovered in the truth of by works; and he had found it utterly wanting! Faith,
     sovereign predestination.                                to Luther, was not his achievement, as is the common
       After all, some might think, the Reformation began presentation today. That very common and superficial
     in 1517 with Luther, not with John Calvin. And as is presentation which forevermore prates about accepting
     well known, there were two principles involved in that Jesus Christ, presents salvation as God's work and faith
     Reformation under Luther. There was the so-called as our work. Then the matter of salvation and peace still
     formal principle of the authority and perspicuity of devolves upon man. And then salvation is still a matter of
     the Scriptures; and there was the material principle of human achievement. If such had been Luther's under-
     justification by faith only. Perhaps in the light of these standing of faith, he would have found himself in the
     principles of Luther, some might be ready to ask:        same hopeless situation. He would have had no peace!
     where, then, in the Reformation under Luther was that       For Luther, faith, in distinction from works, is the
     heart-beat of sovereign predestination?                  power and the act which stands diametrically over
       To find the answer to this question, we must take against works as far as righteousness is concerned. It is
     into consideration, in the first place, certain facts with the' God-given power and the God-wrought activity
     respect to Luther personally and with respect to the which clings to God in Christ, which clings to the
     Reformation as it was brought about through the power of the justifying God; for all its righteousness.
     instrumentality of God's servant, Martin Luther.            In other words, Luther% "by faith only" was at the
       First of all, recall the fact that at the time of the same time the principle of "by grace only." And the
     Reformation Luther did not simply announce bluntly heart-beat of "by grace only" is the heart-beat of
     the dogmatic principle of justification by faith. But he sovereign predestination. It is that predestination
     arrived at his position in the way of a very real and which determines the answer to the question: upon
     poignant personal struggle: he wanted peace with God! whom does God bestow His grace, and upon whom
     That is the background of the Reformation. To put it does God bestow the gift of saving faith whereby in-
     briefly, in that quest after personal peace with God, themselves-lost sinners are justified and have peace
     Luther learned by painful experience that there was no with Him?
     justification to be found by mere natural man, and          We must, therefore, view the Reformation as one. It
     therefore no peace. There was no justification possible was begun through Luther, and it ripened and came to
     in the way of man. Justification  - and he found this fruition through the labors of John Calvin. And
     out by experience  - justification by works was a viewing it in proper historical perspective, we must view
     myth. Try as he might, along that impossible way of it against the background of the tide of  Semi-Pela-
     justification by works, he could find no peace. And the gianism which, after the time of Augustine, had swept
     Lord led Luther personally, by way of the Scriptures, the; church during the Middle Ages and which at the
     to the rediscovery of the precious truth of justification time of the Reformation well-nigh threatened to des-
     by faith only. Then he found peace; not before that.     troy the church. Put in terms of doctrine, put in terms
       Now this is significant.                               of the historical development of doctrine, that entire
       If we understand a little of this personal struggle of idea of work-righteousness which troubled Luther  so
     Martin Luther and of the miracle of his finding peace sorely was nothing but that vicious error of


78                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



Semi-Pelagianism .                                           more famous ninety-five theses, in his ninety-nine
      Semi-Pelagianism was an attempted, but utterly theses Luther sensed and stated that this was the heart
unsuccessful, attempt at a compromise between strict         of the whole truth of salvation: "The excellent, infal-
Pelagianism (which really denies grace altogether) and lible and sole preparation for grace is the eternal elec-
strict Augustinianism (which really maintains grace tion and predestination of God."
altogether). And it is characteristic of compromises be-       It is indeed true that you do not find in Luther the
tween the truth and the lie in the broad movement of degree of doctrinal clarity and full and systematic
the history of the church that the lie always wins out. development which you find in Calvin. It is also true
Men sometimes try to speak in this connection of that with respect to God's predestination Luther de-
S  emi-Augustinianism.  That is a "nothing."  Semi- veloped along different lines than did Calvin; this was
Augustinianism is only a euphemism for  Semi-Pela- connected, again, with his personal life and  develop-
gianism; and Semi-Pelagianism is nothing, at bottom, m ent. Luther speaks of predestination especially
but Pelagianism - with a nice face. Pelagianism held against the background of and in connection with
that man is sound. Semi-Pelagianism held that man is man's total depravity. If you want to discover what
not totally depraved, dead, but that he is spiritually Luther thinks about sovereign predestination, then you
alive, though crippled and sick as to his power of will. must read what he wrote against Erasmus of  Rotter-
Semi-Pelagianism held that grace is a power that can be dam on `The Bondage of the Will. ' But every church
resisted and is, therefore, limited; and yet it is a power historian freely admits that Luther stood in the same
which can be appropriated and used by man and which position as Calvin as far as sovereign predestination is
supplements and helps man's native power of will to concerned. Even non-Calvinist historians must admit
seek after God through Christ and to be saved. That is that the reformers were agreed in this respect. And
the position of Semi-Pelagianism on the doctrine of Luther himself never changed his beliefs on this score
grace. It always reminds me of a favorite Dutch expres- essentially, although Lutheranism, especially under the
sion of a good friend I had in Northwest Iowa.. He influence of Philip Melanchthon, soon compromised
liked to say, "De genade komt achteraan als een and departed. As you might expect, Luther, with his
hinkende paard. (Grace comes on behind like a lame strong emphasis upon the bondage of the will, upon
horse.)" An accurate description!                            total depravity,.  bsists necessarily at the same time
      But the heart of the matter lies in the doctrine of upon the truth of sovereign predestination.
predestination. Semi-Pelagianism had something to say          Here is what Philip Schaff writes on this subject -
about that too. It struck a blow at the very heart, of and Schaff is certainly no Calvinist:
the truth! It taught that predestination takes place               All the Reformers were originally Augustinians,
according to divine foreknowledge of man's faith, a              that is, believers in the total depravity of man's
foreknowledge which is wholly independent of God's               nature, and the absolute sovereignty of God's grade.
determination, and which is rather determinative of              They had, like St. Paul and St. Augustine, passed
that divine determination. Finally, as you might                 through a terrible conflict with sin, and learned to
expect, Semi-Pelagianism taught with respect to Christ           feel in their hearts what ordinary Christians profess
that He died for all men promiscuously.                          with their lips, that they were justly condemned, and
                                                                 saved only by the merits of Christ. They were men of
      If you are at all acquainted with Reformed doctrine        intense experience and conviction of their own sinful-
and its history, you will recognize in those four points         ness and of God's mercifulness; and if they saw others
of the Semi-Pelagian position the heresy of  Arminian-           perish in unbelief, it was not because they were
ism. That is why our fathers of Dordrecht accused the            worse, but because of the inscrutable will of God,
Arminians of bringing up the doctrine of Pelagius again          who gives to some, and withholds from others, the
out of hell - language which some people today can-              gift of saving faith. (History of the Christian Church,
not stomach.                                                     VII, 43 1)
      But to return to our immediate subject, from a           But let us listen to Luther himself. The three follow-
doctrinal point of view it was this Semi-Pelagianism ing brief quotations are all from  his The Bondage  of
which lay at the root of Luther's personal struggle and the Will:
which was the reason for his lack of peace. And the                (1) It is especially necessary and healthful for the
Reformation as a movement was the liberation of the              Christian to be aware that God foreknows nothing
church from this Semi-Pelagianism. It was a return to            contingently, but that, with immutable and eternal
Augustinianism, based upon the Scriptures. It was a              and infallible will, He foresees, and proposes, and
return to the whole body of the truth which has its              does all things. By this thunderbolt the free will is
heart in sovereign predestination.                               thrown down and ground to powder. . . , Immutable
                                                                 and infallible is the will of God which governs our
      Do not make the mistake of thinking that Martin            mutable will. . . . Free will is plainly `a divine name,
Luther did not discern that sovereign predestination is          nor does it befit anything except the Divine Majesty
indeed the heart of the truth of the gospel.                     alone, which is able to do and does all things which it
      Mind you, already in 1.5 15, two years before his          pleases, in heave$and  in earth.

                                                                                ._  :..


I                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    79


           (2) "`Who (you say) will endeavour to amend his             eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not
         life?" - I answer, No man! no man can! For your               see `with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
         self-amenders without the Spirit, God regardeth not,          and be converted, and I should heal them."
         for they are hypocrites. But the Elect, and those that           '           The secret and eternal purpose and counsel of God
         fear God, will be amended by the Holy Spirit; the rest           :must be viewed as the original cause of their blindness
         will perish unamended. . . .                                     :and unbelief. . . . He says: `Therefore, they could not
           (3) "Who will believe (you say) that he is loved of            ibelieve.' Wherefore, let men torture themselves as long
         God?" - I answer, No man will believe it! No man                 `as they will with reasoning, the cause of the differ-
         can! But the Elect shall believe it; the rest shall perish                 ence made  - why God does not reveal His arm
         without believing it, filled with indignation and                lequally  to all  - lies hidden in His own eternal
         blaspheming, as you [Erasmus] here describe them.                ,decree.  . . . Hence, unless we would elude the plain
       Quotations like the above can be multiplied. And it                and confessed meaning of the Evangelist, that few
     is evident that when it comes to clear and sharp lan-                Ireceive  the Gospel, we must fully conclude that the
     guage on this subject Luther is not to be outdone by                 `cause  is the will of God; and that the outward sound
     John Calvin. The clear heart-beat of the Reformation!                          of the Gospel strikes the ear in vain until God is
       Calvin ought to be so well known when it comes to                  ~pleased to touch by it the heart within.
     this subject that he should not even have to be quoted.             In his Institutes,  III, 21-24, he writes the following:
     This doctrine runs as a golden thread through all of                             We shall never be clearly convinced as we ought to
     Calvin's teachings. In his Institutes and in his commen-                       be, that our salvation flows from the fountain of
     taries and in his controversial writings you come upon                         God's free mercy, till we are acquainted with His
     it at almost every turn: not, mind you, as something                           eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by
                                                                          this comparison, that He adopts not all promiscu-
     incidental, but something which constitutes the heart,                         ously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what
     the warp and woof, of Calvin's teachings. For Calvin                           He refuses to others. Ignorance of this principle
     sovereign predestination was the heart of the church                           evidently detracts from the Divine glory, and
     and the heart of the truth. He could not teach without               ,diminishes  real humility. But according to Paul, what
     it. He could not expound Scripture without it. He                              is so necessary to be known, never can be known,
     could not touch upon especially those passages of                         unless God, without any regard to works, chooses
     Scripture which opponents of the truth of sovereign                            those whom Be has decreed. . . .
     predestination love to cite without insisting upon this                   j      Predestination, by which God adopts some to the
     doctrine. Everywhere in Calvin's teachings you can feel                   `hope of life, and adjudges others to eternal death, no
     the strong heart-beat of sovereign predestination.                        zone,  desirous of the credit of peity, dares absolutely
       A word of caution is in order in this regard. It is                          to deny. But it is involved in many cavils, especially
                                                                                    by those who make foreknowledge the cause of it. We
     often presented as though predestination has a very                            maintain, that both belong to God; but it is prepos-
     limited place in Calvin. Sometimes it is claimed that                          terous to represent one as dependent on the other.
     Calvin spoke of predestination only in connection with                    ,When  we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean
     soteriology, the doctrine of the application of the                            that all things have ever been, and perpetually remain
     benefits of salvation to God's people. Besides, there is             , before His eyes, so that to His knowledge nothing is
     in some quarters a studied attempt today, by men who                           future or past, but all things are present; and present
     would give lip-service to Calvinism and who would                              in such a manner, that He does not merely conceive
     claim the name of the great reformer without. ac-                              of them from ideas formed in His mind, as things
     cepting his teachings,  - a studied attempt to  "de-                           remembered by us appear present to our minds, but
     Calvinize" Calvin. By some it is even claimed that our                         really beholds and sees them as if actually placed be-
                                                                                    fore Him. And this foreknowledge extends to the
     Canons of  Hordrecht  represent a different brand of                      `whole world, and to all the creatures. Predestination
     Calvinism, a brand of Calvinism which is contrary to                      :we call the eternal decree of God by which He has
     the true spirit of Calvin himself.                                             `determined in Himself what He would have to be-
       All of this is far from the truth. If you want to find                       come of every individual of mankind. For they are
     out, then read Calvin, not what others say about                               ;not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life
     Calvin.                                                                        is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for
       Moreover, do not forget that two of Calvin's major                           ,others.  Every man, therefore, being created for one or
     treatises were devoted to this subject. They are both                          {the  other of these ends, we say, he is predestinated
     included in the volume called  Calvin's Calvinism:                             `either to life or death. This God has not only testified
     Calvin's  The Eternal Predestination  of  God  and  A                          iin particular persons, but has given a specimen of it in
     Defence of the Secret Providence of God.                                       :the whole posterity of Abraham, which should
       But let us listen to Calvin himself.                                         evidently show the future condition of every nation
                                                                                    :to depend upon His decisions. . . .
       First of all, here is what he writes in  Calvin's                            1 In conformity, therefore, to the clear doctrine of
     Calvinism, pp. 81, 82, concerning that crucial passage                         the Scripture, we assert, that by an eternal and im-
     in John 12:39, 40: "Therefore they could not believe,                          mutable counsel, God has once for all determined,
     because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their                          both whom He would admit to salvation, and whom


80                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



       He would condemn to destruction. We affirm that                that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the
       this counsel, as far as concerns the elect, is founded         blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the new
       on His gratuitous mercy, totally irrespective of               covenant, should effectually redeem out of every
       human merit; but that to those whom He devotes to              people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and
       condemnation; the gate of life is closed by a just and         those only, who were from eternity chosen to salva-
       reprehensible, but incomprehensible, judgment. . . .           tion, and given to him by the Father; that he should
                                                                      confer upon them faith, which together with all the
               The Heart Beating in the Canons
      It was this "heart of the Reformation" which found              other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for
                                                                      them by his death; should purge them from all sin,
expression especially in our Canons of Dordrecht, and                 both original and actual, whether committed before
found expression in such a way that the  beat  of that                or after believing; and having faithfully preserved
heart is clear and strong and unmistakable in the whole               them even to the end, should at last bring them free
of the truth of salvation. Do not make the mistake of                 from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of
thinking that the first chapter of the Canons, on sover-              glory in his own presence forever.
eign predestination, stands merely side-by-side with the            Also in the doctrine of the application of the bene-
other four chapters. On the contrary, in it you have fits of salvation, as set forth in Canons III and IV, it is
the heart of all of the Canons. That this is true is plain this "heart" which is the determining and controlling
from the fact that the truth of sovereign predestination factor. How clear this is in Articles 10 and 1 1 !
literally runs through all the rest of the Canons. Thus,                 Article  10. But that others who are called by the
having approached the matter of salvation from the                    gospel, obey the call, and are converted, is not to be
historical point of view of faith and unbelief, Canons I              ascribed to the proper exercise of free will, whereby
proceeds to explain this from sovereign predestination                one distinguishes himself above others,. equally furn-
in Article 6 :                                                        ished with grace sufficient for faith and conversion, as
                                                                      the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains; but it must be
         That some receive the gift of faith from God, and            wholly ascribed to God, who as he has chosen his
       others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal           own from eternity in Christ, so he confers upon them
       decree, "For known unto God are all his works from             faith and repentance, rescues them from the power of
       the beginning of the world," Acts 15 : 18. "Who                darkness, and translates them into the kingdom of his
       worketh all things after the counsel of his will,"             own Son, that  they  may show forth the praises of
       Eph. 1: 11. According to which decree, he graciously           him, who hath called them out of darkness into his
       softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and        marvelous light; and may glory not in themselves, but
       inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect        in the Lord, according to the testimony of the
       in his just judgment to their own wickedness and               apostles in various places.
       obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the pro-            Article 11. But when God accomplishes his good
       found, the merciful, and at the same time the                  pleasure in the elect, or works in them true conver-
       righteous discrimination between men, equally in-              sion (notice the connection: the working of true con-
       volved in ruin; or that decree of election and reproba-        version is the 
       tion, revealed in the Word of God, which though men                               accomplishment  of God's good pleasure
                                                                      in the elect, HCH), he not only causes the gospel to
       of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their          be externally preached to them, and powerfully
       own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords           illuminates their minds by his Holy Spirit, that they
       unspeakable consolation.
      Then, in all the remaining articles of the first                may rightly understand and discern the things of the
                                                                      Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of the same regen-
chapter, the Canons detailedly expound the above                      erating Spirit, pervades the inmost recesses of the
truth of sovereign election and reprobation as no other               man; he opens the closed, and softens the hardened
creed describes this "heart of the truth," Articles 7 to              heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised,
18.                                                                   infuses new qualities into the will, which though here-
      But in the following chapters this "heart" beats                tofore dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedi-
strongly and healthily in the entire truth of salvation.              ent, and refractory, he renders it good, obedient, and
      Plainly, it is this truth of sovereign predestination           pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like a good
which controls the Second Head of Doctrine, the                       tree, it may bring forth the fruits of good actions.
chapter concerning the death of Christ and the atone-               Again, in the doctrine of the preservation of the
ment. This comes to expression in Article 8, that clear saints, Canons V, that "heart" beats. It is that heart
and beautifully stated article which was at stake in the which vitalizes and energizes the entire truth of preser-
recent "Dekker Case." Listen to the heart-beat in this vation. This becomes evident in more than one article;
article :                                                         but let us look only at Article 8:
         For this was the sovereign counsel, and most                   Thus, it is not in consequence of their own merits,
       gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the          or strength, but of God's free mercy, that they do not
       quickening and saving efficacy  ,of the most precious          totally fall from faith and grace, nor continue and
       death of his Son should extend to all the elect, for           perish finally in their  back&dings;  which, with re-
       bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying               spect to themselves, is not only possible, but would
       faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation:          undoubtedly happen; but with respect to God, it is


                                                        THE STANDARD  BEAR&                                                 81


        utterly impossible, since his counsel cannot be             problems. We must be more ecumenical-minded. The
        changed,  nor his promise fail, neither can the call        fact is that these proposed cures remind one of giving a
        according to his purpose be revoked, nor the merit,         cure for a headache or a  bandaid for a cut on one's
        intercession and preservation of Christ be rendered         finger when the real trouble is in the heart. The fact is,
        ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frus-    too, that many of these proposed cures for  the
        trated or obliterated. (emphasis added)                     church's ills are themselves symptoms of serious heart
   The heart-beat of predestination!                                trouble.
        Ecclesiastical Heart Trouble and Reformation                  But the heart of the troubles is that the church
   The church of today has heart trouble!                           today has ecclesiastical heart trouble.
  No stethoscope or cardiograph is needed to discover                 Reformation is needed! And that reformation, from
this. The fact is obvious. All the symptoms are there.              the point of view of its material principle, consists fun-
No doctor of theology need be called in to make the damentally in a return to this heart-truth of the Refor-
diagnosis. How far away is the church of our times mation, in harmony with the Scriptures. That is the
away from the high plane and the healthy state of only cure! The church must repent and return to the
Reformation times!                                                  whole truth of the Scriptures, of which sovereign pre-
   A long list of ills and of obvious symptoms could be destination is the heart, or perish!
mentioned. But who does not know these ills? Who                      This reformation, after all, is a very personal matter.
today, whether liberal or conservative, is not complain- It is a matter of personal repentance.
ing that there is something wrong, radically wrong, in                Where do you personally stand? Were our fathers
the church? Men are not by any means agreed as to right? Yes or No?
what is wrong and as to the cure. But that something is               If we think that the fathers were not right, if we
wrong, on this all agree. In fact, there has never been a think that the Reformers were not right, if we think
time in history when the church has been more that Dordrecht was not right, then let us not call our-
troubled, more unsettled, than our time.                            selves children of the Reformation any longer.
   And all, these symptoms and ills point to one thing:               But if we are at heart children of the Reformation,
the church has heart trouble!                                       if we love the church of Jesus Christ, if we love the
   Either the heart has been cut out of the truth com- truth as it is in Jesus Christ, then we must always be
pletely, or  - what amounts essentially to the same repenting and returning to this heart-truth of sovereign
thing - the sovereignty of predestination is denied. Or predestination and sovereign grace. And we must let
mere lip-service is paid to that heart of the truth: it is the clarion call go forth: the call to purify, the call to
hardly mentioned in the preaching, only occasionally purge the church, the call to return wholeheartedly
touched upon, but never emphasized as the heart. The and completely to Reformational truth!
beat  of that heart is not felt and heard and sensed in               Do not be deterred and frightened and disheartened
the whole body of the church's confession and preach- by the cavils and the slanders of the enemies of this
ing.                                                                heart-truth of the Reformation, especially not by the
   Many false cures are proposed. Often the truth of slander that this doctrine is hard and cold and proud.
sovereign predestination itself is blamed. And the cure Nothing could be farther from the truth!
is sought in another, essentially Pelagian, direction. We             The truth is this, that when you sense the beat of
must relax our confessions. We must drum up more this "heart of the Reformation," you sense the very
mission enthusiasm. We must have crusades and beat of the heart of God! And then you enjoy the
revivals. We must break out of our isolationist shell. We peace and comfort that can come only from the assur-
must show more openness toward society at large. We ance that God's eternal and sovereign love has flooded
must become involved in the world's and society's your soul!


Correspondence and Reply
                                 "Father Groppi" Again
Dear Rev. Van Baren:                                                between us. We must now observe, however, that in
  We are grateful for your kindness in publishing our stating those differences you have perhaps inadvertently
letter concerning your account of "Father Groppi at attributed to us a number of things which we did not
Calvin College." We also appreciated your reply, which say - and these we feel should be publicly clarified as
we feel has done a great deal to clarify the differences. well in the light of the differences between us to which


82                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



you point.                                                   When in our letter we explained that we agreed with
      As perhaps we should have recognized the first time some things that Groppi had said ("concerning in-
we wrote to you, the real difference between us is the justices and exploitations of blacks and the need for
question of common grace. This became clear from justice and an end to such exploitations") yet that we
your reply to our letter. You see the antithesis be- "differed with him concerning many of the tactics and
tween the regenerate and the unregenerate as so moral positions he endorsed," you apparently had
absolute that you preclude giving any hearing to any of similar difficulty in accepting such statements which
their views. Thus you state that "hearing both sides of suggested a mixture of approval and disapproval. In
a question;' is a "very basic error." Consistent with y&r reply to our  leiter you therefore suggested that
your view of absolute antithesis you readily equate we had `now "renounced the `tactics and moral judge-
Groppi, agnostics, and similar speakers with "the devil ments which Father Groppi advocated' " as though
and his followers," and twice you condemn us even for now we almost totally disagreed with everything which
praying for such men and for asking God's blessing on Groppi said, whereas on stage we had "very clearly"
them. Clearly you are judging such men to be beyond totally agreed with him. In fact this interpretation of
the help of God's grace - that is that they are already what we said misrepresents our statements. We did,
irrevocably followers of the devil so that there is no and still do, make a qualified and discriminating judge-
good in them and that we can safely judge them to be ment of Groppi and his statements, assuming that any
beyond hope.                                               man may by God's common grace say some things that
      We, of course, do not share your view that the an- are relatively good. We realize that this is not your
tithesis is so absolute. We believe that God by his grace position; but we hope also that you will realize that
.allows the unregenerate to continue to live and to do this is our position and that we believe it to be the
and say some relatively good things, including works of Christian Reformed and the Biblical position.
"civic righteousness," even though these may be incon-       We hope as well that this exchange may have been
sistent with their ultimate God-denying presupposi- beneficial for creating better understanding among us
tions. Hence we feel that it is proper to converse all who share in the brotherhood of the essentials of
seriously with those who may be unregenerate (as well the Reformed faith and the burdens of maintaining a
as to read and study their works in the light of God's distinctive Christian educational witness in an apostate
Word) and we do not expect that everything they say age. We thank you again for giving us an opportunity
will be absolutely wrong.                                  to discuss with you our mutual concerns.
      Since you do not share our views of common grace,                                          Sincerely yours,
you apparently found it difficult to see that both in         Samuel Greydanus, George Marsden, Richard Mouw
our brief questions to Groppi and in our letter to you
we could be indicating that we could approve of some
but not all of what Groppi had to say. For this reason Dear Professors,
apparently you read into our statements things which         I frankly am surprised and puzzled by this honor of
we did not say. So, for example, you assumed on the receiving a second response from you. I had not ex-
basis of three questions to Groppi, none of which pected your first letter  - and now I have two! You
could have been over thirty seconds in length, that we will pardon me, but I could not help thinking that had
"expressed ourselves very clearly." You assumed for you spent as much time and effort in answering Father
instance that when one of us said that Groppi's tone Groppi when you were on stage with him in the Fine
sounded more like that of the Old Testament prophets Arts Building, the outcome of that meeting might have
than like to tone of Christ (when he stood silent before been different.
his enemies) in that there was much more judgement in        I think your answer this time is extremely clever.
it than compassion, that this meant that the questioner You suggest that "the real difference between us is the
was making a "favorable comparison with the Old question of common grace." You are not, perhaps,
Testament prophets." In fact the force of the question seeking to imitate the Apostle Paul, are you?
was to suggest that Groppi seemed to be ignoring an (Acts  23:6-9) You know, of course, that not only we
important aspect of the Christian message. %z$~.rly a who deny common grace, but also many who maintain
question that pointed out that Groppi was condoning this view, believe it to be wrong that a man such as
some types of violence and condemning other violence Father Groppi should be granted an audience within a
was meant to suggest that there was some inconsist- school maintained by the church. And I gave you
ency in Groppi's message, yet you suggest that the Scriptural reasons why we believe this. To suggest now
questioner was indicating total agreement with Groppi. that the "real difference between us is the question of


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       83


common grace, " is meant, I suppose, to divide the op-             will be, "This has been around for a long time. How
position. Those who would take your answer at face                 does one, how does one change?"
value, would then be forced either to support or deny                                      ****
my contention depending on their views on common                     I know, because of the views about. black separa-
                                                                   tism, and maybe this question will bring out some
grace. Do you believe this to be a fair way of silencing           things that  .might be of interest to your listeners, we
the opposition? Besides, is it proper to reduce this all           here know what a sense of cultural identity and active
to a question of one's stand on common grace  - but                separation is `all about (much laughter by  - G.V.B.
ignore completely the Scriptural passages to which I               audience). And I know that as Christians we have to
referred?                                                          look forward to a society in which man will live to-
                                                                   gether and respect each other,  and-  respect each
  I want to assure you that I do not wish to attribute             other's dignity, without making a great deal of sim-
to you anything you did not say to Groppi. It seems to             pler considerations a matter of concern. And I know
me, however, that you now elaborate upon and give a                you don't want to  be paternalistic and rationalistic;
different connotation to the remarks and questions                 you don't want to dictate and decide what is good for
you presented to Father Groppi. Perhaps this is what               black people today. But, do you think that we ought
you did mean  - and I can not judge your heart nor                 to have as our goal of mankind this . . . American
                                                                   culture as a sort of a cult which demands a color T.V.
your intent. However, after you asked God's blessing               set in every home, and all that sort of thing? And that
upon Groppi in prayer, after you commented that his                perhaps the best (and we've talked a lot about tactics)
speech was one of the best sermons you ever heard (a               tactic right now to break down that monolithic cul-
remark you retracted in your last letter), it would be             ture might be to create a sense of active cultural soli-
rather difficult to understand subsequent remarks to               darity and to resist being incorporated into the cul-
imply that Groppi was indeed "ignoring an important                tural monolith?         ****
aspect of the Christian message", and that "there was                Somebody who heard your speech tonight and
some inconsistency in Groppi's message." But lest I                your comments about the woman who goes out, of
should inadvertently attribute to you wrong state-                 her home and committed adultery (interruption by
ments, I managed to track down a recording made that               Groppi:  "1 didn't say she committed adultery."), and
evening of your remarks. I am sorry that there were                the incident of the boy who confessed stealing and
                                                                   your advice to him  - that you are advocating situa-
some points on the-recording which were obscured by                tion ethics. Do I hear you finally stating . . . what we
applause or other interference. These resulting omis-              find in the Old Testament prophets: people have
sions I have indicated below with a series of dots. After          absolute rights; cannot be denied; God-given rights;
re-reading your remarks and questions, I do believe I              there are things that are just plain wrong; people
ought to apologize for stating that you "expressed                 ought not to be treated that way. . . . At what point
                                                                   do you appeal to the tactics of Jesus, the way He
yourselves.very  clearly." What I ought to have stated was         behaved at the time He cleansed the temple (and I
that all which I heard indicated to my mind only                   must say this seems to be not the main tactic) you
sympathy with and approval of Groppi. But I am willing             can't  find Him doing that sort of thing very often.
to have the reader to judge. Herewith follows the tran-            Matter of fact, if we look at the general tone of His
scription of your remarks:                                         message, the general pattern of His ministry, it has a
      That is about the best sermon I've heard in years            lot to do with things like reconciliation, passion,
    (much applause) . . . except to say: repent.. But I do         silent  befor,e His accusers, love  - and I  find your
    have something that I think anyone who is sensitive            tactics to be more like those of the Old Testament
    to black history and is aware that what you said to-           prophets. I don't find (interrupted and answered by
    night has been said for 350 years by black leaders in          Groppi).
    one form or another: either by petition, they bom-                                     * * * *
    bard the constitutional conventions about the injus-             I have a question about the same kind of concern
    tices. It's a long history present to the present day.         . . . a fear that you may be misunderstood, and as a
    AU we quote almost to the present day . . . in Biblical        matter of fact, you are often misunderstood. You see
    terms: injustices against the law of God and the like.         people going away and saying, "Father Groppi says it
    But my question is this: How do you change prior-,             fine, but he advocates violence and I don't under-
    ities? In other words, how do you change men's                 stand how a Christian can do that!" Now, on the
    hearts. . . .? The statistics we know; and this is what        other  hand,  I did sense you were not advocating all
    my students, of course, ask me too. I don't seem to            violence. That for one thing, that the only kinds of
    have the answer. How do you change a nation's com-             violence that  you advocated were ones that involved
    mitment? There are people out there, whites and                destruction of property or stealing of property  - not
    blacks,  - they have their fears. I think . . . who said,      destruction of persons. And also are clearly opposed
    "The most difficult thing is for a middle class, upper         to the violence of war  - so that there are some con-
    middle class, to understand the problems of the lower          ditions under which you are saying you do advocate
    class." And so this explains resistance. My question           violence and there are  sorpe  conditions under which


84                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


       you certainly don't, and that . . . (interrupted and    tion that bringing men as Father Groppi to Calvin is a
       answered by Groppi).                                    logical and consistent fruit of common grace - I would
      Now I would also like to correct several erroneous appear to deny the stand we have taken as Protestant
statements and conclusions you present in yotir letter.        Reformed Churches. On the other hand, were I to sup-
First,  I would never say that one could not pray for port your contention, I would likely antagonize those
the repentance of Groppi, agnostics, or other such who hold to the view of common grace. Yet you force
men.  I certainly would not judge such men to be me to say something about this - as was clearly your
beyond the help of God's grace. I would never be will- intent.
ing to say that "they are already irrevocably followers          First, I would say:  if  your contention is  wrolzg;  if
of the devil'" or that I would "judge them to be be- the Father Groppi incident is  not  a logical fruit of
yond hope." I can not imagine how you can attribute common grace - then by all means -let us have some
such to my article. Did not Jesus save the thief on the conservative Christian Reformed man stand forth and
cross? Surely that thief was in the same category as show this. Let him show that you are not correctly
Groppi, agnostics  - and of  mySelf by nature. If God applying the view of common grace. Let him show that
can save one, He can save the other too. I would not           your view of common grace is distorted. Let him prove
object, therefore, if you prayed for the man Groppi - this soundly and conclusively from Scripture. I will be
asking for his conversion and repentance from an evil eagerly awaiting such explanation.
way. But that was not done. A blessing was asked upon            Secondly, if your contention is correct; if the Father
the man - a man whose work is contrary to the clear Groppi incident is a logical fruit of common grace -
teachings of Scripture. To that I objected. Does not then it is high time that members of your denomina-
David declare, ". . . The wicked and him that loveth tion demanded a re-evaluation and reconsideration of
violence his soul hateth?" (Ps. 11:5). Or again, "I will the view itself. It has struck my attention, and now
set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work you forcefully remind me of this again, that the view
of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." of common grace has often been used as a ground for
(Ps.  101:3). Or, "Do not I hate them, 0 Lord, that allowing much of that which I believe the faithful
hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up Christian must condemn. Now you do this in the
against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count Father Groppi incident; your churches did this in 1966
them mine enemies." (Ps.  139:21-22). I ask you, do when it adopted at Synod a statement on "The Church
you believe that David would or could ask God's bless- and the Film Arts" which approved attendance of the
ing upon Father Groppi?                                        "good" movies produced by the world. Common grace
      Secondly, I remind you that I did not write that was used to support that decision: "This world has not
" `hearing both sides of a question' is a `very basic returned to absolute chaos, however, for God restrains
error.' " What I did write was that your policy of the power of sin and bestows many good gifts and
allowing virtually any sort of speaker on your platform talents upon man in general. These gifts are common
was a very basic error. To hear both sides of a ques- to both the regenerate and unregenerate man. God
tion, of course, is not necessarily wrong. I gave you `giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.'
Scriptural reasons for my contention - reasons which (Acts  17:25) In Acts  14:17 we are told that He fills
you have not bothered to refute.                               our hearts with gladness. This is `a kind of favor or
      Thirdly, you imply that I must believe that Groppi grace of God which He manifests toward His creatures
and others like him will be absolutely wrong. You refer in general.' (Acts of Synod 1924, Article 132) It would
to the Protestant Reformed (and Calvinistic) view of be highly ungrateful to God to despise or reject these
an absolute antithesis. But what you write seems to gifts and their results in human society. Sinful man, in
indicate a lack of understanding concerning our view. I his effort to be autonomous, may boast of his accom-
would only remind you of what I wrote in my original plishments and idolize his culture; but the Christian
article, "Obviously, Father Groppi was deeply aware of will accept whatever God has made possible with
the frustrations, irritations, injustices of the ghetto in gratitude and will dedicate it to God's glory."1 Now, I
Milwaukee. He spoke of the gyp merchants; of rotting presume that on this same ground of common grace,
tenement buildings infested by rats; of slum landlords The  Reformed Journal  presents favorable reviews of
who ignored building codes with impunity; of children such godless trash as  "M*A*S*H,"2 "Bob  & Carol  &.
who received little or fro medical and dental care. And Ted  &  Alice,"3 and similar movies. I would suppose
no doubt but that most of his descriptions were that on the same ground of common grace, Calvin Col-
accurate. "                                                    lege schedules the showing of movie films designed to
      But now I would like to  .come back to the main "satisfy many people's prejudices," including the films,
thrust of your letter: that the "real difference between "Bonnie and Clyde," "Passion of Joan of Arc," "All
us is the question of common grace." You place me, as Quiet on the Western Front," "Shame" and others.4 I
I suppose you intended to do, on the horns of a suspect that on this same ground of common grace,
dilemma. On the one hand, should I deny your conten- Calvin College presents its concerts for the youth: the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    85


Byrds with Zarathustra, John Sebastian with the Don            1. Christian Reformed Acts of Synod, 1966, page 332
Ellis jazz band, Richie Havens, and similar "folk-rock" 2. The Reformed Journal, May-June 1970, p. 18
groups.5
   1 can not help but recall that many years ago the 3. The Reformed Journal, Mar. 1970, p. 21
late Rev. H. Hoeksema warned exactly that all this 4. Grand Rapids Press, Saturday, Oct. 3, 1970, p. 1 OA
would take place as a result of the adoption of com-
mon grace. He said, "The above mentioned ministers 5. Grand Rapids Press, Saturday, September 26, 1970,
(H. Hoeksema and H. Danhof), who were later to find              p. %A
themselves deposed, turned their attention to this             6. Pamphlet: "Why Protestant Reformed?", p. 6
theory (common grace) and made a very careful study
of it. Thereto they were compelled by the undeniable           7. For those who are truly interested and concerned
facts that the application of the doctrine  of common            about this point which the professors introduced:
grace in practical life led to an alliance of friendship         common grace, I would recommend several pieces of
and to conformity of the church with the world.  "6              literature which will help in giving a good under-
But at that time many scoffed and even vehemently                standing of the subject. This literature, written from
denied that such would happen.                                   a Protestant Reformed viewpoint, of course, studies
   Yet now you insist that on this Father Groppi issue,          common grace in light of Scripture. There is first the
the difference is indeed common grace. Again, I say: if          book, "The History of the Protestant Reformed
this is true, it surely calls for a careful reconsideration      Churches" by Rev. H. Hoeksema ($2.00). There is
of that basic issue of common grace. Evil fruit surely           secondly the booklet, "The Triple Breach" by Rev.
does not come from a good tree.7                                 H. Hoeksema (free). I have had, incidentally, a
   I want to thank you again sincerely for the past              number of requests that the "Father Groppi" article
exchange. As you suggest, it is a means of clarifying            and subsequent exchanges be printed in pamphlet
differences between us. May it be an incentive for               form for easy study and distribution. If there are
many to consider and study the issues involved - that            sufficient requests to justify such printing, and if
the essentials of the Reformed faith may indeed be               there is some promised financial backing, perhaps
taught and maintained in the church of Christ.                   this can be done.
                           Very sincerely, G. Van Baren                                  * * *


Qu es tion Box

        A Question About "Believek And Their Seed"
                                                Prof H. C. Hoeksema

  From a reader in Wyoming, Mich. comes the follow-            he can be baptized in a Christian church, by godly
ing question:                                                  parents, and yet never be born again. That is surely
  "I am confused by the article "Believers And Their           true; and I hope you will not think I am writing this in
Seed" by Rev. Herman Hoeksema in the Aug. 1, 1970              a critical attitude; but this was puzzling to me, and I
article of the Standard Bearer.                                would like to have this explained."
  "First  he writes, `God's covenant is the living and         Reply
eternal relation of friendship  betwee.n  Him and His            My questioner not only reads The Standard Bearer,
elect people in Christ Jesus.' Wonderful: - that is the        but reads with careful discernment. I recall that when I
best definition of God's covenant I have ever heard.           was preparing the translation of this section of
Then he goes on and makes the statement, `If only the          "Believers And Their Seed," I thought that the particu-
elect are saved, why are those reprobate temporarily in        lar statement to which this letter refers might give rise
God's covenant on earth?' I didn't think that B repro-         to some misunderstanding because of that word "in."
bate was ever in God's covenant. If the elect of God             However, my questioner is also on the right track as
was predestined before the foundation of the world,            far as the solution of this little problem is concerned.
isn't the same true of the  repi-obate? Doesn't God            The point of Chapter X of "Believers And Their Seed"
always finish what He starts in every life?                    is that the reprobate are  not essentially  in  God's
  "The editor does say that a person can come into             covenant, but that some of them are "in the sphere of"
the `sphere' of the covenant. I think by this he means         or are "under" the covenant. In other words, the


86                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



expression in question refers to the historical position       and who temporarily, or even all their lifetime, live
and relation to the covenant of those reprobate. As            under that covenant?" The emphasis, therefore, lies on
you read in the same paragraph, "They are not to be            the fact that historically, as far as the manifestation of
placed on a par with the heathen, with those who               that covenant oyz earth is concerned, they are under, or
never come into contact with God's covenant." And              in the sphere of, that covenant.
this chapter deals with the question, "What is the               As becomes plain in the rest of the chapter, such
significance of God's covenant for the ungodly and             reprobate have all things in common with the elect in
reprobate who historically are born in that covenant           that sphere of the covenant, except grace.



                    Questions About I Corinthians 3:12-15

      From a Grand Rapids reader comes a whole series of work of building, except by the grace of God in Christ
questions in the following letter:                             Jesus.
"Dear Prof. Hoeksema,                                            In the second place, in this context and setting the
      Could you please explain I Cor. 3 : 12-l 6? We have a apostle emphasizes the high and holy calling and task
problem with the apparent undue emphasis on the of the labourers, "But let every man take heed how he
work of man apart from Christ; the meaning of the              buildeth thereupon" (that is: upon the foundation), vs.
building materials; and, what the fire stands for. Also        10. It ought to be noticed, too, that the emphasis is
what specific reward does the man who builds with the          upon the manner, the how, of that labor of the minis-
gold, silver, or precious stones receive, and what loss ters of the Word. They must in their labors - preach-
does the other man suffer?"                                    ing and expounding of the Scriptures, instruction and
                                                               admonition  - always take care not only that they
Reply                                                          build upon the only foundation, Jesus Christ, (vs. 11);
      First of all, rather than to quote the passage in its    but they must always labor in such a manner that their
context, I will ask the reader to refer to his Bible. The      labor is in harmony with the precious character of that
apostle in the context is dealing with the problem of foundation (Jesus Christ is the elect, precious corner-
the divisions in the church of Corinth, according to           stone!). They must not be slovenly in their labor. They
which one said, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of must not do half-work. The workman must, as much as
Apollos," etc. And in this connection he writes about in him lies, expound the riches of the truth as it is in
the workmen who labor in the building of the church,           Jesus.
and about their labors and the manner and quality of             It is from this point of view, in the third place, that
their labors.                                                  the apostle compares a man's building upon that
      This brings me to the first part of my corre-            foundation with the building of gold, silver, precious
spondent's problem, "the apparent undue emphasis on stones, on the one hand, or wood, hay, stubble, on the
the work of man apart from Christ." In the first place,        other hand. These building materials are not figures of
I would point out that there is no such emphasis; but,         the  members  which are built upon the foundation.
on the contrary, the context emphasizes the very They are rather figures of the quality of the labors of
opposite. Thus, in vss. 5-7: "Who then is Paul, and who the workmen. Let us say his preaching, his sermons, his
is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as catechism lessons, to be concrete. You will notice that
the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos in the main there are two classes of building materials
watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is         mentioned: the precious, or valuable, and the less
he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; .valuable, or even worthless.
but God that giveth the increase." (emphasis added)              In the fourth place, there is in this passage the idea
You find the same emphasis in vs. 9, especially when it        that the workman and his works shall appear in judg-
is correctly translated, "For we are labourers together ment in the day of the Lord's final appearance and
of (not: with) God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are             coming. And while the reward is altogether of grace,
God's building. " And again, in vs. 10 the apostle             that reward shall be given according to each man's
emphasizes that his labor is by grace: "According to           work, vs. 8: "and every man shall receive his own re-
the  grace of God which is given unto me,  as a wise           ward according to his own labour." The "day" in vs.
masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation (specifically        13 is the "day of the Lord," in which Christ shall
referring to the building of the church of Corinth,            appear as judge and in which every'man's work shall be
HCH), and another buildeth thereon." (emphasis                 made manifest in its true worth. The "fire" is not the
added) Hence, the emphasis is exactly on the fact that         fire of hell (much less, of purgatory). It is rather the
no one can be a builder and no one can work at the             fire of the burning holiness of Christ. This is an idea


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which occurs more often in Scripture. In IL Thess. 1:8, grace and according to works. Those whose building is
Christ is said to be revealed in "flaming fire." And in        comparable to the building of wood, hay, stubble, will
Rev. 1, in the vision of the glorified Christ in the midst of experience that their works cannot survive that test of
the candlesticks, He has eyes "as a flame of fire; arid his    the burning holiness of Christ. They suffer loss, i.e.,
feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur-         the loss of those works. Yet they themselves shall be
nace." Every man's work, therefore, shall be exposed           saved, which evidently points to the fact that they
in the light of His burning holiness as to its true worth.     personally were children of God, while their works are
It shall be put to the fire-test; and only that which          burned. Hence, they are saved "as through fire." Notice
measures up to the preciousness of that foundation             it does not say they are saved "by fire," but "as through
shall survive the test and shall abide, vss. 13, 14. Those     fire." There is the figure here, as it were, of a man in.a
whose building is comparable to the building of gold,          burning house. All around him that house is burned
silver, precious stones (which can survive the purging         down, but he escapes and is saved right through the fire.
effect of the fire-test) will experience that their works        Along these lines I believe this passage must be
follow them into the everlasting kingdom of Christ;            explained.
and they receive their reward accordingly, a reward of


The Strength of Youth
                                                Freedom
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering

   Freedom is a big word among the youth.                      with eloquent oratory, "Give me liberty or give me
  It has become the shibboleth to the NOW genera-              death." Freedom has made America distinct among the
tion.                                                          nations of the world.
  Within the scope of our society we have the Free-              Yet, it is apparent that this freedom is being tested
dom Movement, The Freedom Foundation, Women's in our land. How tolerant does a government become
Liberation, Civil Liberties Union, The Black Liberation in the preservation of individual freedom? Does free-
and many others. One hears school children singing,            dom of speech allow the S.D.S. to agitate and excite to
"My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty . . . from      riot? Does freedom of assembly guarantee the Black
every mountain side let freedom ring." We also observe Panthers the right to plot an attack upon the police?
the teeming throng swaying arm in arm while they sing Does freedom of religion condone nude-ins under the
the third stanza of We Shall Overcome, "We shall all be        guise of sensitivity? Does freedom of the press assure a
free . . . oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall all    fat pocket book to the pornographers?
be free some day."                                               We have purposely set forth the subject of freedom
  Even more significant however, is youth's expression in the perspective of politics, because it is in this arena
of freedom in their rock festivals. This can hardly be         that we deal with it in our daily lives. We are involved
called the typical American scene, yet it is within            in politics whether we like it or not. Even if we sit on
America that one finds such a scene. In the name of our hands and do nothing, we thereby express approval
freedom, one can buy a ticket to a "paradise" of with the trend of  otir times and go along with the
licentious living. Drugs flow freely and no "fuzz" majoiity. If we critically evaluate the American scene,
crashes the gate. Skinny dipping has become the status we may recognize that our greatest heritage may well
symbol of freedom. Free love and sex take place                be our "achilles  heel." If political freedom means that
openly and the flower children smile in reflection upon        the government will grant a license to all the citizens to
such freedom. No one tries to outdo the other in dis-          do as they please, we have lost our freedom to the
playing his material gain, they share in "brotherhood." forces of anarchy.
The more mottled the hair, ripped up the pants, dirty            Even then the nub of the question is, where do we
the toes, the more they display their  freeddm from            draw the line? What should be considered going too
greedy, materialistic, capitalism.                             far? How do we avoid the police state? Will the reac-
  The term freedom drips with savory American tradi- tionary forces against abused freedom swing us into a
tion. It was in the name of freedom that our country           government of law and order to the extent of taking
was born. We have encounterkd bloody opposition to             away all freedom and making us the stooges of
this freedom, but we have manfully -defended it at Nazism?
home and abroad. Our history books are set ablaze                It's good to ponder some of these questions.


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      Every great statesman of the American republic This is using liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, I
recognized that freedom without law is no freedom; it Peter 2 : 16.
is bondage. There can be no political freedom, even if          Freedom is the right and the ability to do the will of
it is guaranteed by a constitution, unless there is the God.
moral strength to recognize that freedom is not to do           Political freedom has its roots in moral freedom.
as one pleases, rather it is to do what is right! There The two cannot be separated, nor can they be reversed.
must be a standard of right and wrong. Freedom is to            Only the Christian enjoys this freedom. Rom. 8:21
avoid doing the wrong and exercising the moral and speaks of the "glorious liberty of the children of God."
physical strength in doing the right.                         And what is that freedom? "But now being made free
      This banner of right the Christian is called upon to    from  sin,  and become servants to God, ye have your
carry into the political arena today. There is only one fruit unto  holiness,  and the end everlasting  Ilife,"
such standard of right and wrong and that is the Word Rom. 6:22. The will of the natural man is in the bond-
of God. This Word of God is the unique property of age of sin and death. Freedom is in Christ Jesus, "if the
the Christian. Here too, the question is not whether Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,"
America wants this standard; obviously she does not.          John 8  :36. This Christ did by freeing us from the
Neither is the question whether the Christian will be, burden of guilt and meriting for us righteousness with
able to influence society and bring about a change.           God. The benefits of this death become ours as the
Here, too, in all likelihood things will get worse.           Spirit of Christ enters into our hearts. We then recog-
Rather, the question for the Christian today is, what nize our sins and being pricked by the Sword of the
does our Lord call us to do! What is the Christian Spirit, we humble ourselves in repentance and cry unto
witness and how must this be expressed today? The God for mercy to forgive. This same Spirit directs us to
child of God must be able to warn the neighbor that in the Word of God and illuminates our minds to know
breaking the law of God, he will bring God's judgments His will. He gives us the grace to hate sin and seek after
upon our land. The Christian citizen must exercise his righteousness. We desire to do His will and recognize
calling to point out to those who govern what the that in the doing of His will there is the greatest joy in
mandate of the Word of God is for him. The Christian life. Hence Paul says, "where the Spirit of the Lord is
never loses this calling; it becomes more urgent as the there is liberty," II Cor. 3: 17. To this liberty we are
times become more critical.                                   exhorted, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty where-
      The finger must be pointed at a corrupt government, with Christ has set us free," Gal. 5 : 1.
but more so at a corrupt church. At one time, the               The Word of God bridges the paradoxical gap be-
church had a strong influence upon the American tween law and liberty. It would seem that liberty
scene; she did this not by compromise, but by main- excludes law. This is the histaken notion of the flower
taining the mandate of the Scriptures. Think of the generation. Some of this rubs off on covenant youth as
influence of Puritanism. Even though it may be well. Yet the Christian recognizes that freedom is the
derided today, nevertheless public morals were more ability and right to keep the law of God perfectly.
closely directed to the Scriptures then, than at any Hence David sang for the Old Testament Church,
other period in our American history. The apostate "Teach me, 0 Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I
church has become the leader in turning away from the shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and
guide line of the Scriptures. The "new morality" is the I shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my
illegimate-off-spring of the apostate church. The words whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy com-
of II Peter 2: 19, 20 apply to them, "while they mandments, for therein do I delight," Ps.  119:33-35.
promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants James serves as the spokesman for the New Testament
of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the Church, "But  whoso  looketh into the perfect law of
same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forget-
escaped the pollution of the world through the knowl- ful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
edge of the Lord  and Savior Jesus Christ, they are blessed in his deed."
again entangled therein, and overcom'e, the latter end is       The Christian recognizes that this freedom will never
worse with them than the beginning." The apostate lead him into licentiousness. This freedom makes one
church must hear the warning of Gal. 5 : 13, "For the slave of Jesus Christ. Paul explains this in his
brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use          epistle to the Romans, "But now being made free from
not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love sin, and become the servants to God, ye have your
serve one another." This is what they have done: under        fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the
the pretence of Christian liberty, they give occasion to wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
the flesh to sin. This is evident in their Sunday School      through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. 6 :22,23. Hence
material, in the Sunday messages, in the personal lives Paul delighted in calling himself, "servant of Jesus
of many church leaders. The apostate church has led Christ." Literally the word he uses is slave. The child
our nation down the road of moral decay and anarchy.          of God is brought into the bondage of Christ. This is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    89



freedom, because it is not against his will; but accord-      Christian nation. America will not be brought back to
ing to his will made free by the grace of God. He             God.. God's Word makes plain that once a people
delights according to the inward man to do this will of       departs from the way; it is impossible for them to
God.                                                          return, Heb. 6:4-6. History shows that things will be-
  Having this freedom, the Christian recognizes that          come progressively worse as anti-Christ arises upon the
he alone is called to carry this banner into the political    throne. The faithful witness must expect to be slain,
arena. The Lordship of Christ applies to his whole life.      Rev. 11:3ff.
Christ is Lord of his body, soul, and spirit. Christ is          But the witness must go forth.
lord of his talents, his possessions, his place in the           It is through the faithful preaching of the gospel and
world. Christ is lord of every sphere of his life: home,      by the effect this Word has in the dynamic Christian
church, school, as well as the political and economic         life of the believer, that God gathers unto Himself His
sphere.                                                       people. It is through the still small voice that the King-
  As children of God, we must warn the citizens of dom of Christ is established in the hearts of believers
our land that freedom is in Christ Jesus alone. We must       and their seed and will come to perfect expression in
warn that licentiousness, freedom without the law of the new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness
God, leads to anarchy and destruction. We inust show          will dwell.
them that the law of God directs our whole life and              Freedom of the heart must express itself in freedom
only in that way is one brought into peace with God           of life.
and his fellow man.                                              Covenant youth are the only youth that are truly
  This Christian witness, whether brought forth by the        free.
individual Christian of through combined efforts on              Stand therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
the part of many Christians, will not produce a               has set you free!


Studies in Election

                             Introductory Remarks (cont.)
                                                Rev. Robt. C Harbach

   In the first installment of this series it was shown fallible Word of God teaches that all things come to
that all spiritual blessings go to the elect, and only to pass by the sovereign good pleasure of God. The
the elect, and that all blessings flow from the one foun- natural man will not have it because it extols God, puts
tain of election. Now hear Calvin on this point. "We Him where He belongs, on the throne of all, and abases
shall never be clearly convinced as we ought to be, that proud man, puts him where he belongs, in the dust.
our salvation flows from the fountain of God's free Men of the world,, enemies of the church, bitterly hate
mercy, till we are acquainted with His eternal election, the doctrine of eternal punishment. But what is a
which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison, grieving reality is that professing Christians within the
that He adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of church, more than enemies without, loathe, despise,
salvation, but gives to some what He refuses to others. vilify, misrepresent and revile God's sovereign election.
Ignorance of this principle evidently detracts from the How they detest the truth that the salvation of the
divine glory and diminishes real humility . . . If we righteous is not of the will of man, but of the will of
need to be recalled to the origin of election to prove God (John 1: 13: Rom. 9: 16)! How they rage when it
that we obtain salvation from no other source than the is taught that the sinner is so dead in sins that the elect
mere goodness of God, they who desire to extinguish themselves must be made alive and made willing in the
this principle do all they can to obscure what ought to day of God's power (Ps. 110:3)! They will corrupt our
be magnificently and loudly celebrated. . . ." (Inst., III, young people with humanism before they will allow
XXI, 1).                                                      them a drop of the essence of election. They will ruin
   Despite the fact that blessing comes to us in no an entire church before they will tolerate the preaching
other way than through the stream of election, it is, to of this truth in its pulpit. They will wreck a whole
many, the most distasteful doctrine. Even when it is denomination before they will leave the truth of pre-
clearly and scripturally presented, still they will not destination in peace.
have it. Such frequent biblical terms as "predestina-           Where election is the most vehemently denied, the
tion, " "elect, " "chosen, " "foreordained," occurring in free will of fallen man is the most loudly proclaimed.
Scripture ought to lead them to conclude that the in- The Roman Catholic Church denounces predestination


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       in these words: "No one ought to presume that he is said, `This is an hard saying! ' . . . From that time they
     assuredly in the number of the -predestinate. For went back and walked no more with him" (6:60,66).
       except by special revelation, it can not be known When He had preached that "many lepers were in
       whom God  bath. chosen unto Himself." (Condensed Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet . . . none of
       from decrees of the Council of Trent, XII). Nor has them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian," His
       Rome ever retracted its curses upon Protestants, one of hearers were filled with wrath at such preaching, and
       which bearing on this issue is: "If any one says that          attempted to murder Him by forcing Him over a
       after Adam's sin, the free will of man is lost and extin- precipice. The point we make here is that although not
       guished . . . let him be anathema" (ibid., Justification, all who profess to be "Calvinists" or "Reformed" in
       V). The agents of the pope are responsible for the theology can be said to manifest the life of regenera-
       martyrdom of such great Calvinists  bf England as tion, yet it is also true they who continue to oppose or
       Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Philpot and Bradford. The refuse the truth of predestination are not entitled to
       latter, persecuted by the papists in and out of prison,        the name of Christian.
       incarcerated with Arminians (then called "free will              This is also one of the most neglected doctrines, not
       men"), debated Calvinism with them, and therefore because it has obscure, or no prominent, place in Scrip-
       knew firsthand that "more hurt will come by. them              ture; the opposite is the fact. But there are "evangeli-
I      than ever came by the papists. In free-will they are cal?' and "Bible believers," as they like to be known,
       plain papists, yea, Pelagians."                                who give this truth a wide berth, regard it with suspi-
             The doctrine of election is a distinguishing truth.      cion, and suppose it to be utterly inconsistent with, or
       The preaching of the sovereignty of God in foreordain-         deadening to, "missionary zeal." This may be due to
       ing the eternal destiny of angels, men and the whole their inadequate training. The majority of seminaries
       realm of nature, has the effect of winnowing and sepa-         do not teach it, the "Bible schools" never did, and few
       rating the chaff from the wheat. The effect of such            have ever appreciated its fundamental import. Others,
       preaching will then either be "He that is of God               of the liberal camp, and their brain-washed following,
       heareth God's words" or "ye hear them not because ye detest the teaching which advances the glory of God
       are not of God'" (John 8:47). Many in Fundamentalist           the most and most abases the pride of man. Many
       circles believe not this truth, some out of ignorance,         more, however, drop this truth, not in the interest of
       never having been exposed to nor instructed in the             the right, certainly, but the popular. Intellectually,
       doctrine. Others disbelieve it, oppose it, not in igno-        they may assent to it, or shrug it off with, `tWhy, that's
       rance, but by choice and determined purpose. The just a rehashing of the Canons of Dordt!" Believe this
       former, more than the latter,. are more apt to receive a truth, use it, expound it, propagate it, they do not.
       truth once they see that it is plainly taught in Scrip- They always have one ear to the ground and one finger
       ture, even though it is not what they have been used           in the air. They know current opinion, better than
       to, nor in keeping with what they have always regarded         they know Scripture, and, accordingly, prefer to give
       the "commonly accepted." They will believe it, even if         the people what they think they want. Still, neither
       not another soul in the, world will believe it. The unre-      ignorance, prejudice, nor enmity shall ever prevail
       generate, natural mind will never receive the truth of against this or any other truth, nor diminish its influ-
       predestination. In that connection, the following fairly       ence or effect.
       applies to the natural man. "They are of the world:            1. Its Origin
       therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth         Broadly speaking, the truth before us is the doctrine
       them. ,We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us.          of predestination, a more comprehensive term than
       He that is not of God heareth us not. Hereby know we           election, for the former is in two parts, its positive
       the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error" (I John           branch being election itself, and its negative branch
       4:5,6).                                                        being reprobation. There is no election without repro-
             The modern evangelist, with his inclusivist approach,    bation, notwithstanding certain Primitive Baptists and
       his compromising message, and sensational delivery             Plymouth Brethren to the contrary. They may say,
       calculated to flatter the majority of his auditors, may        "An election of some to life does not imply an election
       gain followers for the liberal Protestant churches, or         of some to death." (The Bible Doctrine of Election, T.
       for the liberal Roman Catholic churches. For his and           P. Simmons, Bapt. Bible & Bk. Hse., Ashland, Ky., p.
       their Pelagianism are practically identical. But let a         54). For one thing, this is a little misleading. For elec-
       true minister of the gospel, an advocate of election tion is unto  salvation,  never to death. But election
       preaching, faithfully expound this doctrine, and he will       implies reprobation, as a choice implies a refusal. In
       discover that this is the preaching which separates the        the eternal counsel of God, the Lord ordains some to
       sheep from the goats. It had this effect when Jesus            eternal life (AC.  13:48), and others He ordains to
       proclaimed this truth. For when He preached that "no           eternal condemnation (Jude 4). Further proof of this
       man can come unto Me, except the Father `. . . draw            we have in Psalm 78, "He refused the tabernacle of
       him" (Jn. 6:44), "many . . . when they had heard this,         Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but c/zose


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   91



 the tribe of Judah" (w. 66,67).                                This decree of God will be found to reveal especially
   According to this doctrine, well expressed in the          two of the divine:attributes.  The decree itself, as seen
 Westminster Confession, "By the decree of God, for           above, is two-fold: it is unto life and unto death. It
 the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels          also has a two-fold effect: that of salvation and that of
 are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others fore-    condemnation. So the decree of God manifests His
 ordained to everlasting death." (Chap. III, 3). Then the     grace to some, and His justice to others. God decrees
 following proof-texts the Westminster quotes in full: I      the salvation of the elect to the praise of the glory of
 Tim.  5:21; Mt.  25:41; Rom.  9:22f; Eph.  1:5f; Prov.       His grace. God ordains the condemnation of the repro-
 16:4. This decree of God originated in His own sover-        bate for the glory of His justice. The latter is God's
 eign will. There is no principle or power outside of         severity, which must never perversely, be considered
 God to rule Him. There is no law or cause to which He        cruelty. God is gracious; but that is not all He is. He is
 is subject, save His own will. There is no determining       also just. God is characterized not by goodness alone,
 or moving power outside the will of God. In keeping          nor by severity alone, but by both. His attributes are
 with this truth, the elect have been "predestinated          inseparable. Abstract them and God is made to look
 according to the (eternal) purpose of Him who                monstrous. See all the facets of His being and it will be
 worketh all things after the counsel of His. own will" impossible to see in Him anything of injustice.
 (Eph. 1: 11).                                                                (To be continued, D. V.)


A Cloud of Witnesses

                                    Solomon As Judge
                                                  Rev. B. Woudenberg

                  The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is
            privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wicked-
            ness upon thine own head;
                  And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before
            the LORD for ever.
                                                                                            I Kings 2:44,45


    David had been a great king and a man after God's Absalom, his heart faltered and he could not render
 own heart. No one can doubt the spiritual depths that the judgment which his mind knew was quite proper.
 ran through his soul, for the Psalms which he wrote And that was not the only thing. After the killing of
 have lifted up the people of God on wings of worship Uriah the Hittite;  it was even worse. It always seemed
 for all the centuries which have followed. Here was a to him that he was himself the greatest sinner in the
 man who knew and felt in his own experience all of kingdom, who deserved to die as much as any.
 the sorrow and all of the longings, all of the grace and       But the results of this were not good. That had be-
 all of the gratitudes common to the lives of all true        come evident. Absalom, having been excused, only
 believers; and he knew how to express them in ways went-out to lead a rebellion against him. In fact, even
 which to this day stir response in the hearts of God's       Joab, who had sinned so often so severely but whom
 people.                                                      David had spared for reasons of friendship had finally
    It did not mean, however, that David in his rule turned to join the forces of rebellion. At last even
 attained unto any kind of perfection. In fact, as is so David himself had to recognize that all of his leniency
 often the case, his very virtues at times became his had not been true kindness; rather, it left the nation
 greatest weakness. Just because David could under- exposed to all kinds of evil dangers. Thus, one of the
 stand his fellowman so well and because he loved them last things that the old king did was to call his son
 so thoroughly, David often found it difficult to render Solomon to him and leave with him the following com-
 them judgment. It was not that he did not understand mandment, "Thou knowest also what Joab the son of
 what judgment required. This he had made quite clear Zemiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains
 with those men who slew King Saul and later of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and
 Ishbosheth. But when it came to men that were close to unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed
 him and whom he loved in this closeness, like Joab and the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war


92                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his          might be able to gain the throne, than Solomon's judg-
shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according to        ment was swift and final.
thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the            More difficult was the case of Joab. Here was a man
grave in peace. But show kindness unto the sons of            who for many years had filled one of the most impor-
Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that        tant positions in the nation, captain of David's army.
eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled          He had been a close friend of David from the very first;
because of Absalom thy brother. And, behold, thou             and he often had served David faithfully and well even
hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of         at the risk ofihis own well-being. But Joab deserved to
Bahurim which cursed me with a grievous curse in the          die. Too  ofte,n he had used his courage and strength
day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to              and position  /to destroy in cold blood anyone who
meet me at Jordan, and I swtie to him.by the LORD,            interfered with his own intentions. For friendship's
saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.          sake, David had failed to punish him as he' deserved;
Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a          but the king's ,bonscience  had always smote hini severely
wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto           for allowing  :such evident injustice to go on unre-
him: but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave           strained within the kingdom. And now Joab had gone
with blood."                                                  too far. He had joined the treachery of Adonijah; and
      To us it sounds strange as the request of a dying       this could not be allowed to go unpunished. It was for
king to his successor, and particularly of David. Could       Solomon to see that it should be so.
he who wrote the 23rd psalm be as bitter and vindic-            But Joab was no easy man to handle. He had been
tive as that? And indeed there are those who at this          wily in his life and he remained that way until the end.
point go on at length about the primitive ethics of that      No sooner  had Solomon determined to move against
day which could draw even such a man as David into            him, then Joab knew it, and began to maneuver to save
so unchristian an attitude. But they miss the point           himself. It was a difficult situation, almost impossible;
completely. If there is one thing that the life of David      and yet Joab ,was left with at least one thing he could
brings out it is that he was not a man of bitter spirit       try in order to save his life. Adonijah, when his life had
given to jealousy and revenge. In fact, that was exactly      been in greate,st danger, had gone to the tabernacle and
the point. Because of his personal tendency toward            had taken hold upon the horns of the altar until
kindness in any situation in which he was personally          Solomon had promised to show him mercy. It was not
involved he had often failed to work justice where it         exactly Joab's kind of thing, but it had worked for
was demanded of him as a king and a magistrate in             Adonijah, and it presented the only real possibility.
Israel. It had been a fault on his part and it had had sad    Thus Joab, too, made his way to the tabernacle and
consequences for the nation. Now in his dying day he          stood there with determination beside the sacred altar.
recognized that fact and he would do what he could to           The reasoning behind this move, of course, was that
correct it.                                                   the tabernacle was holy ground, a place where human
      For Solomon, however, the whole matter presented        blood should not be shed and where not even violence.
a problem. Certainly, he had to honor the request of should take place. As long as he stood here, Joab
his father, and it was better, too, that the nation           figured, he would be safe; and eventually Solomon
should understand from the beginning his intention to         would have to promise him clemency just as he had
establish his kingdom in justice and with judgment.           done with Adonijah.
This was particularly important exactly because his             Joab underestimated Solomon, however. Solomon
father had not been strong in this regard. Nevertheless,      had all regard for the sanctity of the tabernacle but he
he had to be careful. His judgments should not be             was not about to have it become a handy means of
excessive lest they should come to the conclusion that        escaping justice. He called to him Benaiah, the son of
he only wished to put on a display of power and so            Jehoiada and told him, "Go, fall upon him."
instill fear within his subjects. His judgment was to be        Benaiah came to the tabernacle immediately and
based solely upon the righteousness of God, and not           said to Joab, "Thus saith the king, Come forth." So
upon any personal vindictiveness. This he wanted to be        confident was Joab of  his, position, however, that he
clearly apparent.                                             felt no need even of being penitent. Boldly he chal-
      The first problem was that of Adonijah, and this        lenged Benaiah, "Nay; but I will die here." And with
matter he had handled wisely. Demonstrating the fact          Benaiah it worked. He was afraid to slay Joab in the
that he held no personal desire for revenge and that he       tabernacle and returned to Solomon.
was not particularly afraid of Adonijah, Solomon had            But Solomon was firm. He said to Benaiah, "Do as
listened to his plea and granted him his life, although       he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that
under some very careful restrictions. No sooner, how-         thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which
ever, had Adonijah betrayed Solomon's confidence and          Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.
had begun to maneuver again to try to establish for           And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own
himself a base of power, hoping no doubt yet that he          head, who fell upon two men more righteous and bet-


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    93



     ter than he, and slew them with the sword, my father         shall be upon fhine own-"head."
     David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of             Shimei was relieved. He had thought that once again
     Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son        he was in danger; but this restriction of Solomon wa!
     of  Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Their blood        not as bad as that. Quickly he answered, "The saying is
     shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon       good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant
     the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and           do." He felt quite sure that in a few years all would be
     upon `his seed, and upon his house, and upon his             forgotten and he would be as free as he had ever been.
     throne,:shall  there be peace for ever from the LORD."         And so it was, when about three years later one of
     So it was -that Joab -died within the tabernacle and         Shimei's servants ran away to Gath, he simply saddled
     Benaiah was made captain of the .armies of Israel in his     his ass and pursued him. It was a sad mistake on his
     -place.                                                      part. Hardly had he returned before he was called be-
     Moreover, Solomon also went on to honor the re-              fore Solomon and told, "Did I not make thee to swear
     mainder of David's instructions by calling to him            by the LORD, and protested uqto thee, saying, Know
     Sh&ei, the man from the house of Saul who had met            for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest
him when he was fleeing from Absalom and had cursed               abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and
     him. At the time David had refused to have him               thou saidst unto me, The  w.ord. that I have heard is
_ punished, and in fact, when returning to the city, had          good. Why then hast -thou not kept the oath of the
     forgiven him when he had appeared repentent. But the         LORD, and the commandment that I have charged
     leniency had not been wise; and Shimei still  repre-         thee with? . . . Thou knowest all the wickedness which
1 sented an element that would be happy at any time to            thine heart is privy to, that thou  d@st `to David my
     overthrow the house of David. So Solomon laid before         father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wicked-
     hini these restrictions, "Build thee an house in Jerusa-     ness upon thine own head; and king Solomon shall be
     lem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any            blessed, and the throne of David shall be established
     whither. For it shall be, that on the day thou goest         before the LORD for ever."
     out, and passest over the brook  Kidron, thou shall            There was left no room for any to doubt. Solomon's
     know for certain that thou shall surely die: thy blood       kingdom was to be established in justice. _


     In His Fear

                        The Standard Bearer In His Fear (1)
                                                     Rev. John A. Heys

     [Editor's Note: This is the text of an address delivered. nor edifying at a meeting such as this, even though the
     at the annual meeting of-the Reformed Free Publishing        rubric does have its own history. What  iS more, the
Association on Sept. 24,  1970 at the Southwest Prot-             actions of rational-moral beings can be characterized as
     estant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. This address         being in His fear or as being without that feai-. And the
     will appear in two installments.].                           Standard Bearer  is not an action but a magazine,
-       Since, for the last sixteen, seventeen years, I have      printed words upon pages -of paper. How can it be in
     filled all the pages of the rubric,  In His Fear,  in the    His fear? I asked myself.          -
     Staudard  Beare!,  I will not take  -it ill of you if you       However, before declining the position of being
     Icame here tonight with the thought in your minds that       your speaker tdnight I-gave the matter more thought,
     .I chose this-subject of tonight's speech. You would be      and soon became aware of the fact that the actions
_ wrong, however, if you- took that position. The Board           that bring-forth the Standaid Bearer and that are con-       .
     asked me to speak on this-subject, an< I can reveal to       netted with it can surely -be characterized as being in
     you that _this very subject almost caused me to decline His fear or as not being in it. And so I decided to speak
     the honoui and privilege ijf being jrour speaker @night.     to you tonight. on this subject and to call your atten-
When  I- &ad their letter  -and noticed that they were            tion to the fact that the Standard Beater is published
     requesting me to speak on the:subject,  "The Standard in His fear; it is written in His fear; and it is read in His
     Bearer and in His Fear," ~1 was iather sure in my mind       fear.                                   _-
     that you were not interested in a sorr of book review                        I. Published in His Fear
     of all that which appeared  in-this rubric for-the last        -To  -understands   a& to appreciate the fact  that the
     tw.enty some years. That would neither- be interesting Standard Bearer ispublished in His fear we ought first.                 _


  94                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  of all to have clearly before our minds what it means cording to James) but will call for the hills and moun-
  to be in His fear. And to set forth the general princi- tains to cover them from before His sight. They do this
  ples of this' fear of the Lord (There will not be time for hating the God Whose majesty they see and in this way
  a detailed treatment) let me state first of all that to know as a consuming fire! But the child of God loves
  fear the Lord is to know Him in His sovereign majesty. God in that majesty, rejoices that He is so majestic,
  This is evident from the very expression, for it presents thinks that He is wonderful and wants no change at all
  Him to us as Lord and teaches us that we are servants in Him. This child of God also dreads nothing more,
  who must bow before Him, serve Him and worship and considers nothing more awful, than to lose that
  Him. But it is also evident from the variations of this covenant fellowship with this God.
  expression which appear, in the Old Testament, mole           Yes, the fear of the Lord is also to be afraid of
  often than the phrase we use so consistently. Thus sinning against Him. Anyone who knows God, truly
  when `we come across the expression for the first time knows Him, as the almighty, sovereign Holy One will
  in Genesis 20: 11, Abraham says, in the original, be filled with the fear of being afraid to sin against
  "Surely the fear of Jehovah is not in this place." A such a God. That is also the testimony of Holy Writ. It
  variation that also appears frequently is, "The fear of certainly is true that the word fear in the expression is
  the Almighty." Thus, this Lord Whom we fear is the usually and correctly translated as reverence and awe;
  almighty, sovereign, unchangeable, self-sufficient Lord but it is also true that in some instances the word does
  of heaven and earth. All that majesty is declared in mean to be afraid. Ezekiel  30:13 and Deuter-
  these names. But especially is this fact clearly made onomy 2:25 are examples of this. And sometimes the
  evident in what Solomon writes in Proverbs 9: 10, "The phrase uses a word for fear that is often correctly
  fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the translated as terror. Thus I Samuel 11:7. Besides, does
  knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."                not Paul tell us in Philippians 2: 12 to work out our
        There are three elements in this verse which we own salvation with fear and trembling? And when you
  ought to note carefully. In this Hebrew parallelism couple trembling with fear, it means fear in the sense
  Solomon equates the fear of the Lord with the knowl- of being afraid. When one knows God as the con-
  edge of Him. They are one and the same. Then, too, suming fire of which Hebrews 12:29 speaks (and that
  this Lord he presents as the Holy One; and therein we in connection with reverence and godly fear) you will
  have expressed most strongly the infinite majesty of be afraid to sin against such a God.
  God. For His holiness is not. simply that He is com-          And does not ail the sin from Adam's downward
  pletely- cut off from all sin. That is our holiness exactly reveal a lack of that fear? Indeed, all sin stems
  through Christ. But God's holiness is first of all His. forth from hatred against the living God. But it is also
  transcendent glory over all other beings whereby He is performed because man has lost his fear of God. When
  able to say alone and in truth, "I am God." Thus, to Satan's lie deceived Adam into thinking that God was a
  sum up the matter as far as we have treated it, to fear different God than what He is, and that He need not
  the Lord is to be able to say in sincerity, "0, God, how    be feared, Adam became bold to disobey Him. Pharaoh
  great Thou art!" In the measure that we can say that,       mouths this lack of fear when in Exodus 5:2 he says to
  we are in-His fear. For the third element in this verse Moses, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice
  to which we would call your attention is the fact that and let Israel go?" And when we sin, is it not exactly
- this knowledge is the knowledge of faith. To know the because we are not living according to that knowledge
  Holy One -is to believe that He is the Holy One. And of the Holy One that the new man possesses-by virtue
  thus we say that to fear the Lord is to know Him in of the new birth? We dare to sin against this majestic
  His majesty, that is, to believe that He is the majestic God when. we push aside that knowledge and faith
  God which Scripture declares Him to be.                     which we have by virtue of the new life.
        However we hasten to add that the fear of the Lord      There is, however, one more general principle of
  is to know Him in love. This also we learn from the that fear of God that must not remain unmentioned. It
  pen of Solomon. For he .writes in Proverbs 8: 13, "The is to know God in His majesty. But it is also to know
  fe'ar of  the Lord is to hate evil." And that simply Him in His love, mercy and grace in  ,Christ. It is to
  means that the fear of the Lord is to love God. Com- know Him in the forgiveness of our sins. It is tb know
  pare this once with Psalm 111: 10, "The fear of the Him in all the blessings of salvation. For this truth also
  Lord is the beg&&g of wisdom: a good understanding we are indebted to Solomon, who writes in  IProv-
  have they that do His commandments." And what is erbs 14:26, "In the fear of the Lord is strong con-
  doing God's commandments but walking in love to fidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge."
  Him? .For the inner principle of the law is love to God. This is exactly so because the fear of the Lord means
  And this is an important distinction to make and to that we know Him  fzdly,  and then know Him as the
  maintain.  At.  times the ungodly are physically  con- Sovereign One, but also as the Saviour in Christ. And
  frpnted with the evidence of that majesty of God; and therefore to fear the Lord is also to be able sincerely to
  they not only tremble (Which Satan also does  ac- say, "0, God, how good Thou art!" And once again, in


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         95



 the measure that we can say that, we have the fear of                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 the Lord.                               (to be continued)        The Board of the Northwest Iowa Protestant Re-
                                                                formed Christian School wishes to express its heartfelt
                                                                sympathy to our administrator, Mr. John Kalsbeek and
                                                                family in the recent loss of his mother
                                                                                  MRS. JOHN KALSBEEK.
                                                                   "For we know that if our earthly house of this
                                                                tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
                                                                house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
                                                                (II Cor. 5: 1)

                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Mission Committee of The Protestant Reformed                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 Churches herewith expresses its sincere sympathy to              The Men's Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed
 one of its members, Mr. John Kalsbeek, in the sudden Church expresses its sincere sympathy to our President
 death of his wife. It is our prayer that he may receive        and faithful member, Mr. John Kalsbeek and his family -
 abundantly of the grace of God to bear this great sor-         in the loss of their wife and mother
 row in the consciousness of the promise of God to us                             MRS. JOHN KALSBEEK.
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. May he, with Sacred                "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
Scripture, confess and experience that this light afflic- saints." Psalm 116 : 15                          J. King, Vice Pres.
 tion, which is but for a moment, works for him too a far                                                  J. De Vries, Sec'y.
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (II
 Cor. 4: 17).                                                               RESOLUTION OFSYMPATHY
                            for the Mission Committee,            The Board of the Reformed Free Publishing Associa-
                              Rev. M. Schipper,  President      tion hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to a brother
                              Rev. G. Van Baren, Secretary      member, John Kalsbeek, in the loss of his dear wife.
                                                                  May he, his family and the relatives be comforted by
                                                                the Word of our God found .in Psalm 27 - "The Lord
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPA THY                        is my Light and my Salvation; who shall I fear? the
    The Ladies Society of the, Hope Protestant Re-              Lord is the Strength of my life; of whom shall I be
 formed Church mourns the loss of a faithful member             afraid?"
                   MRS. JOHN KALSBEEK,                                                                    J. Buiter, Chairman
 whom the Lord called home very suddenly on Oct. 2 1,                                                       G. Bol, Secretary
  1970 and we express our sincere sympathy to her hus-
 band and family.
    "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in                                IN MEMORIAM
 all His works."                                                   On Sunday, June 28, 1970, our beloved husband,
                                          Mr. A. Rau, Pres.     father, grandfather
                                     Mrs. J. DeVries, Sec'y.                      JOHN TRIEZENBERG, SR.
                                                                was called to his Eternal Sabbath. Our comfort is
                                                                found in the words of Job  19:25  - "For I know that
                        IN MEMORIAM                             my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at that
    The Men's Society, Ladies Society and The Young             latter day upon the earth."
 People's Society of The Protestant Reformed Church                                Wife
 of Doon expresses heartfelt sympathy to its members                                 Hattie                        _.
 and president, Mr. and Mrs. John Kalsbeek in their                                Children
 sorrow occasioned by the sudden removal from this                                   Mr. and Mrs. John Kloosterman
 life of their mother                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Joseph De Koekkoek
                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gunnink
                 MRS. JOHN KALSBEEK, SR.                                             Mr. and Mrs. John Triezenberg, Jr.
    May God's grace comfort them with His Holy                                       Mr. and Mrs. Harold Triezenberg
 Spirit.                                                                             Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Triezenberg
            Men's Society - Jim Hoogedooen, Sec'y.                                   Elaine
            Ladies Society - Mrs. John Van Den Top, Sec'y.                           Patricia
            Young Peoples' Society - Laura Klein, Sec'y.                                   and his loving grandchildren

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


*    96                                            THE  STANdARD  BEARER


                                       News From' Our Churches
           It seems that the big item in the news in many of one who sets himself over it, and to anyone who tries
      our churches a couple of weeks ago was that of piblic        to impose his own ideas on Scripture. When an unbe-
      lectures. -In the  Lovelancl  Community: Building, on        liever comes to Scripture, he wrests it to his  owti
      October 29, Rev. Engelsma spoke on "B theme related          destruction. But to those who bow in humility before
     to the great Reformation of the Church, which is com- Scripture, to those in whose heart  is the Spirit of
      memorated on Reformation Day."-And, in connection Christ, it becomes the very Word of God unto
      with that  lecture, we read further that, "as advertise- saliation.                  *-  *  *  *
      ment of the Reformation Day speech, we will soon               Concerning calls, we can pass on the following in-
     $end out about 2000 copies of a pamphlet by the               formation: the consistory of our church  in  Doon has'
      pastor entitled, `What is a Protestant?' This is the         made a trio consisting of Rev. R.  Harbach, Rev. J.
      Reformation- Day speech which the pastor gave last Heys, and Rev. R. Moore. Rev. G. Van Baren has de-
      year. Copies are available today, in the bulletin rack, clined the call to Hope Church of Grand Rapids. Rev.
      for all members of the congregation. Take as many            D. Engelsma declined a call from our Southwest
      extra as you can use for- your own perspnal distribu- Church. And Rev. R. C. Harbach declined a call from
      tion."                                                       our Randolph, Wisconsin congregation. Rev. R; Decker
           In the Pella Christian Grade School gymnasium, on preached the sermon at the Installation Service of Rev.
      Nov. 5, Prof. Hanko spoke on the subject, "The               J. Kortering in Hull, Iowa, on Oct. 2. That  Congrega:
      Reformation and the Urichaining  of the Scriptures."         tion rejoices in the fact that "the Lord has made it.
           That was the topic, also, of Prof. Hanko's speech at .possible  to welcome our own Pastor, Rev. Kortering,
      the Reformation Rally held in First Church of Grand to our pulpit." That statement from their Sunday
      Rapids. Since we have very little news this time, per- bulletin is a pretty clear indication of their gratitude.
      haps we could try to give a few main points of that Other notices on those bulletins indicate, alsp, that the
      speech, for the benefit of those of you who were not gratitude was translated into action. Before the arrival
      privileged to attend. Prof. Hanko called attention, in       of the Korterings, members of  the congregation
      his speech, to the fact that the Reformation was, above      attacked the parsonage with "brooms, paint brushes,
      all else, a return to the Scriptures. He mentioned that      and rollers." And the- two youngest classes of the Sun-
      it was many other things, as, for example, a return to day School were practicing, well in advance of Oct. 9,
      the truth  ancl a restoration of the principles of  tfie for the reception to be held on that date: That  the-
      church polity. But it could have  been none of those         signs of appreciation were appreciated is evident from
      things if it had not been a return to the Word of God.       the  foliowing  note from "The.Korterings": "We wish
      That. was the heartbeat of the Reformation. Before the       to pu)licly thank all in the congregation who contrib-
      "liberation of the Bible" in the early sixteenth             uted in making our return such a hearty welcome. The
      century,.  the Scriptures were  effectiv.ely. bound  .by house was beautifully redecorated throughout, the
      cizains made -"in the forges of the institution of the       freezer is full to over-flowing, and our hearts were
      Roman Catholic Church." Roman Catholic Tradition,            edified by the welcoming  program. We seek the
      which had an authority independent of, and even              blessing of God upon our future, since it has pleased
      superior to, that of the Bible, constituted. the main        Him to join us as Pastor and congregation once again.
      chain by which the Scriptures were bound. Two lesser May we be a means of edification to one another and -
      chains were the denial of the perspicuity of the Scrip- God's name glorified in all our way."
      tures and, in close connection with that, the claim that                             ****
      laymen lack .the ability to interpret Scripture. The           We have a little item of information, yet  - the
      Bible was, therefore, taken out of the hands of the          change of address of a church. The Loveland congrega-
      people, and .the matter of interpretation was left solely    tion has the same building. And, to the best of our
      to the church. -The position of the reformers, on the        knowledge, the building is in exactly the same spot.
      other hand, was that the exegesis of Scripture must not      But it's no longer 809 East 57th St., as reported in the
      be bound by anyone or anything other than the Scrip-         1970 "Acts of Synod and Yearbook." According to
      tures themselves. They believed that, though the Scrip- that church's bulletin, "The State has changed the
      tures are so profound that the greatest theologian           address of our church building. It is now 705 East 57thi
      cannot penetrate its depths, they are, nevertlneless,, so    St." The smartest thing to do, we suspect, is to simply1
      clear that even a child can understand. They main-           make the change in the yearbook - don't try to figure,
      tained that Scripture is, indeed, a closed book to any- it out.                                                 D.D.


