          The
      STANDARD
P-       BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





         .  .  . the cross  o,f Christ is not a tem-

      porary expedient upon which God falls
      and of which He makes use to deliver His
      people, but the cross is as eternal as His
      mercy. In one word, God ordained all
      things with a view to the `display of His
      e t e r n a l   m e r c y .

         See "God's Unfailing Mercy" page 27.





                                               Vohme  till, No. 2, October 15, 1976    _J
                                                           ISSN  03624692


26                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                   THE STANDARDBEARER
                                                                                           Semi-monthly,   except   monthly   during   June,   July.   and August.
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                                                                                       Editor-in-chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                              CONTENTS:                                                Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert   D.  Decker,   Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma.
                                                                                       Rev.  Cornelius   Hanko.  Prof.   Herman   Hanko.   Rev.   Robert   C.  liarbach.
                                                                                       .?ev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema. Rev.
                                                                                       George   C.  Lubbers,   Rev.  Meindert   Joostens.   Rev.  Marmus   Schipper.
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26               Rev.   Gia  J.  Van   Baren.   Rev.  Herman   Veldman.   Mr.   Kenneth  G.  Vink.
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                                                                 Editor's Notes
                                                                     ProJ: H. C. Hoe ksema


Editorials  you will not  find in this issue. For the first                              Mississippi, who is again favoring us with an inter-
time, I believe, since the editorship fell on my                                         pretive report of the recent General Assembly meet-
shoulders back in Volume 41 you will find nothing                                        ing of the Presbyterian Church in America.
from my editorial pen except these few notes. The                                                                               * * *  * *
explanation? For one of the few times in my memory                                        Translated Treasures.  If you followed my advice and
we have a rather large surplus of articles waiting to be                                 looked for our new department in the October 1
placed. And seeing that each time we have surplus                                        issue, you looked in vain. Although at this writing I
c o p y   a   r e g u l a r   d e p a r t m e n t   e d i t o r   h a s   t o   b e      have not yet seen that issue, I am informed that our
"bumped," I am taking a turn to be "bumped" from                                         printer, contrary to our instructions, omitted that
this issue. I must say, too, that this is a rather relaxing                               department  - yes, due to a surplus of copy. I hardly
experience for the one who has the ultimate respon-                                       dare promise it will appear in this issue, but . . . look
sibility of taking care of filling our magazine's 24                                     for it. We hope you will enjoy it.
pages for 21 issues per year. Brother-writers, keep the                                                                         *  8  *  8 *
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Case of the First Presbyterian Church of  WoodviIle,


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                               27


M E D I T A T I O N




                                God's Unfailing Mercy
                                                       Rev. M. Schipper


          "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of
          the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever; because he delighteth in
          mercy.
            He will turn again, he will have compassion upon. us; he will subdue our iniquities; and
          thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. "
                                                                                              Micah  7:18, 19.


  "I believe in the forgiveness of sins . . .  ."                 mistake of ascribing to man some of the attributes of
  Such is the contents of the tenth article of faith as           God. The idea is not that some of the divine attri-
expressed in Apostle's Creed, which is recited in most            butes man possesses in no sense of the word, namely,
Christian churches each Sabbath Day.                              the incommunicable attributes; while some of the
                                                                  attributes man also possesses, namely, the com-
  Among the many benefits accruing to the church                  municable. Such an idea could not be farther from
which is both holy and catholic, and showered upon                the truth. It should be abundantly clear that God
that church by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the               possesses all of His attributes uniquely alone.
exalted Redeemer, is the grace of forgiveness, without
which none of the other benefits could ever reach us.               This is expressly emphasized in the text, where the
                                                                  prophet asks the question, and mind you, of God:
  And this wonderful  .grace of forgiveness  fimds its            "Who is a God like unto thee . . .  ?" The implication
source and fountainhead in the eternal, matchless,                of this question is: There is none like unto God!
and unfailing mercy of God. Such is the idea and                    God is great, and full of infinite virtues!
main thought of our text, which speaks to us of this,
namely, the unfailing mercy of God.                                 Mercy, though it stands out, and is stressed in the
                                                                  text, and is intended to magnify the incomparable
  To be noticed, first of all, is the compassionate and           nature of God, is nevertheless, not an isolated virtue
incomparable nature of this divine mercy.                         of the divine.
  Mercy is a divine attribute. Commonly it is classed               We must not therefore conclude that God is only
as one of the communicable attributes of God. You                 merciful. Rather, He is full of infinite perfections.
may or may not know that the attributes of God are                And when we are privileged to behold God in the
generally distinguished as incommunicable and com-                radiation of all His perfections, we see Him in what
municable attributes. By this distinction theologians             the Scriptures denote His glory. And this glory He
mean to point out that there are some attributes of               gives not to another, for He is God, and God alone!
God of which you do not  find a creatural likeness in
man. These are called incommunicable, and include                   Moreover, when the child of God looks at His God
attributes of God such as His eternity, infinity, in-             as He objectively reveals Himself in His Word, then
dependency, oneness, simplicity, and immutability.                He must exclaim: all of God's attributes are incom-
On the other hand, so it is pointed out, there are                parable and one in Him. There is no one attribute he
other attributes of which you do find a creatural like-           can single out as outstanding in distinction from
ness in man, such as: His goodness, holiness, right-              others. Each one describes His God in the perfection
eousness, truth, love, grace, mercy, longsuffering, etc.          of His Being, and all together they exalt his God as
To be observed is the fact that mercy finds its place            the Wholly  Other.
in this last distinction. This classification of God's              On the other hand, when the child of God looks at
attributes will stand, provided we do not make the               his God from the subjective point of view, that is,


 28                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



from the viewpoint of his experience, then the out-            but the cross is as eternal as His mercy. In one word,
standing virtue of God is His mercy. Undoubtedly               God ordained all things with a view to the display of
this is also the viewpoint of the text.                        His eternal mercy.
       Who is a God like unto thee. .  .who delighteth in          You will have noticed that we have been speaking
mercy?                                                         of God's mercy to His people. This we have done in
       When Isaiah raised the questions (Isaiah 40: 18)        anticipation of our second thought as suggested in the
"To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness              text: the unworthy recipients of this mercy.
will ye compare unto him?" he no doubt had in mind                Unworthy, that is, in themselves.
the same thing. In the context the prophet is speaking
of the gospel of comfort: "Comfort ye, comfort ye,                This unworthiness the recipients of mercy also
my people, saith your God." And again: "0 Jeru-                acknowledge. In the context we read: "Rejoice not
salem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice           against me, 0 mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;
with strength; lift it up, be not afraid, say unto the         when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be light unto
cities of Judah, Behold your God!" And again: "All             me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I
nations before him are as nothing; and they are                have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause,
counted to him less than nothing, and vanity." In the          and execute judgment for me. .  ." (vss.  8,9). This is
light of this, he asks: "To whom then will ye liken            the judgment which those who are the objects of
God?"                                                          God's mercy made of themselves. They are those in
                                                               the kingdom of Judah who bemoaned the sins of the
       Micah, in our text, asks the same question, only        nation, for which they confessed that they are also
with this difference, that he directs the question not         guilty. They had lately witnessed how the kingdom of
to the people but to God. Who is a God like unto               Israel had been taken into captivity because Israel had
thee? . . . because he delighteth in mercy. But the            refused to repent of their sins. They now also heard
purpose of the question is that the children of  God           the word of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah
may look at their God and discern how great He is              that Israel's sister Judah had also committed
when they consider that the very first of all His              abominations and would also be carried away into
virtues they experience is His compassionate mercy.            captivity. And they constitute the remnant that
When the prophet considered that mercy, and its                bemoan their sins, but in hope look to Jehovah their
compassionate nature, he is overwhelmed by the                 God to deliver them from their sin and misery in His
greatness of his God. No different is it when we also          eternal mercy. Indeed, the objects of God's mercy
consider it.                                                   consider themselves unto all eternity unworthy of the
       It is in His mercy God delights to reveal Himself to    mercy of God.
His people.                                                       But let it become abundantly clear that in God's
                                                               sight they are considered worthy of His everlasting
   Mercy `is the manifestation of God's perfect,               mercy.
eternal, unchangeable will. It is His eternal, unchange-
able purpose to  ,bless His people. From all eternity He          The text speaks of the remnant of His heritage.
delighted to deliver us from the deepest possible              Most probably we are to understand this as the
misery and corruption, and to make us partakers of             remnant which is His heritage. God's heritage is a
the highest possible bliss. That is His mercy!                 remnant which He purposes to deliver from their sin
  Mercy is therefore not a passing emotion in God,             and misery, and to make them partakers of the high-
when in time He discovers their awful state and con-           est bliss.
dition as miserable, lost sinners, whom He desires to             Nor should we consider the "remnant" to be a
save and deliver, if they will but turn to Him and             left-over, something otherwise good for nothing. We
accept His offer to deliver them and make them                 sometimes use the term, of course, in this sense. Our
blessed. Such is not the God of the Holy Scriptures.           housewives go to the dry-goods store to purchase
Such is an idol-god.                                           remnants, that is, that portion of a bolt of cloth
  No! His mercy is the will of His eternal counsel, in         which is left after the major part of the bolt has been
which He eternally delighted in mercy. His mercy is            sold. The merchant, of course, considers the pieces
not an offer to save those who are willing to be de-           left over of little value, and so the housewife may
livered from misery, but the will to deliver all whom          purchase them at little cost, while she may make
He in His mercy had given to Christ in that same               good use of them. However, when the Bible speaks of
counsel to be delivered by Him.                                God's people as a remnant it must never be concluded
                                                               that the remnant which is God's heritage is some kind
  In this light, as we shall see presently, the cross of       of a left-over which God gets after the Devil has suc-
Christ is not a temporary expedient upon which God             ceeded in getting the best pick. Such a conception
falls and of which He makes use to deliver His people,         would be most God-dishonoring. The truth is, the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     29


     remnant is God's precious heritage, His special pos-          and one could conclude that there is conflict between
     session, His elect.                                           His mercy and His justice. We should not lose out of
        Chosen in Christ they are from all eternity to be          sight God's simplicity, which signifies that all of
     redeemed by Him!                                              God's attributes are one in Him. And that means that
        His delight in them is not a passing fancy, but they       His mercy is a just mercy, and can come to us only in
     constitute the heart of His eternal counsel. Moses said       the way of the satisfaction of His justice and right-
     it succinctly when he declared: "For the Lord's por-          eousness.
     tion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance."        This is precisely what God in Christ accomplished
     (Deut.  32:9). That means literally that God's people         on the cross for us! God punished Christ for our sins,
     is that portion of all mankind about whom He                  and He suffered in our stead. So in the judgment of
     stretches a cord, and declares, This is my precious           God over our sins He passes us by to get at Christ.
     possession. Isaiah expresses God's delight in His             While He visited Christ on the cross in His wrath over
     people this way: "This people have I formed for               our sins, he passes us by in His mercy. But that is not
     myself, they shall shew forth my praise." (43  :2 1).         all.
       And so it is in our text: the. remnant which is His            We also see His unfailing mercy as He disposes of
     heritage, is the object of His everlasting mercy.             our sins! He will turn again, he will have compassion
                                                                   upon us; He will subdue our iniquities, and He will
       To that people the prophet now comes with the               cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. That He
     gospel message: God retains not His anger for ever,           subdues our iniquities means literally that He
     because He delights in His mercy.                             tramples, on them so that none remains. That He casts
       That mercy, while it is an eternal perfection of            all our sins into the depth of the sea can only mean
     God, is likewise at the same time a redemptive power.         that they are completely gone, never to appear again.
       The power of God's mercy becomes manifested in                 And if this is what happened to our sins before the
     His dealings with our sins, first of all. Notice how the      mind of God, so it must also be in the mind of all
     text expresses this. It says: He pardoneth iniquity!          those forgiven. As we said at the beginning, we be-
       He passeth by our transgressions!                           lieve in the forgiveness of sins. That means that God
       Iniquity is sin from the point of view of its empti-        has dealt with all our sins and will never deal with
     ness, its vanity. This magnifies the fruitlessness of sin;    them again. In His unfailing mercy they are gone for
     and makes the sinner exceedingly foolish, for he gets         ever. Even in the last judgment at the end of the
     nothing for his sin but emptiness. While it may appear        world, we shall not appear to be judged for our sins.
     to him as a pretty bubble, when it is pricked it dis-         That judgment took place on Calvary. It is final. We
     appears into nothing. Transgression, on the other             only appear in judgment to be declared righteous be-
     hand, is the deliberate cutting across the law of God         fore all.
     to perform our own will,  - the will of our flesh.               The positive truth of our text is this: Because our
                                                                   sins are gone, and God in His unfailing mercy in
       That God pardons iniquity means that in His                 Christ has delivered us from them, we have the right
     mercy He takes it away, so that it no longer remains          of eternal life, that is, to taste for ever the blessedness
     on us. That he passeth by our transgressions cannot           of eternal bliss.
     mean that He looks at our sins as it were through His
     fingers, that He ignores them. Were He to do this, He            That is the end of God's unfailing mercy!
     would at that moment cease to be righteous and holy;            Amen, and Amen!

     TRANSLATED TREASURES


                            Acts of,the Synod of Dordrecht

       Historical Foreword Addressed to the Reformed               (Editorial note. At our recent annual Staff meeting it
     Churches of Christ (In which the origin and progress          was decided to add -to our  Standard Bearer  a depart-
     of the differences in the Netherlands, for the removal        ment which will feature translations of worthwhile
     of which this Synod was chiefly convened, are briefly         writings in the Dutch language. Prof. Hanko and I
     and faithfully recounted).                                    were appointed to make arrangements for this depart-



L


30                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


ment. There are many  worthwhite writings in the               Remdnstrants. And seeing that the Remonstrants
Dutch language which are not  availzble to the vast            themselves, in order to hide their stiff-neckedness,
majority of our readers for the  si&5ie reason that            will surely not publish anything trustworthy con-
they do not understand and cannot read the language            cerning these matters, therefore it pleased the States-
of our forefathers. These writings are not only in the         General that the Acts and Proceedings of the Synod,
area of doctrine and exposition of Scripture but also          faithfully reproduced from the public Documents,
in such areas as church history, church government,            should be printed for the benefit of the churches.
and pastoral care. There are writings not only by our          Among these Acts and Proceedings there appear very
own earlier leaders but also by great Dutch theolo-            many items which belong to the history of the affairs
gians of the past.                                             which took place in the Netherlands Churches, things
      The first feature of this department will be a trans-    which cannot very well be understood by readers who
lation of a history of the Arminian controversy prior          are unacquainted with that history. For this reasdn
to the Synod of Dordrecht. This historical account,            the National Synod (as is evident in various sessions)
which appears in the Acts of the Synod of Dordrecht,           appointed the Delegates of the South Holland
is worthwhile for two reasons: 1) It is a very careful         Churches to write a brief account of what was done
and detailed account, written by men who had first-            with the Remonstrants. Hence, it was thought good
hand knowledge of the controversy. 2) It shows to              to place at the beginning of this Foreword an account
what lengths the  Arminians, for a long time aided and         of certain public events, in order that the Churches,
abetted by the government, went in order to maintain           especially the foreign churches, may understand the
themselves in the churches. This history was written           origin and the progress of these differences, and may
by the delegates from the Province of South Holland            understand the occasion and the reasons for the con-
at the behest of the Synod of Dordrecht. Among                 vening of this very excellent Synod by the States-
those delegates was Festus Hommius, one of the                 General at such great expense. This is especially
clerks of the Synod. While this historical account is          necessary because many things were claimed by the
ascribed to no single delegate, it is safe to say that         Remonstrants in their writings which do not very well
Festus Hommius, both because of his ability and                harmonize with the truth of events.
because of his firsthand knowledge of the history,               What great unity there was during  the preceding
must have played a large part in the preparation of            century among the Congregations of the United
this account.                                                  Netherlands Churches in all points of the pure  doc-
      Once in a while the reader will tend to become           tripe, and what good order and decency was always
discouraged by some of the long, involved sentences.           maintained in the government of those churches  -
When this happens, please remember that prior to               these things are so well known in Christendom that it
translation many of the sentences were much more               is hardly necessary to recount them at length. This
involved and were as much as three times as long.              peace and unity, lovely in the sight of God and pleas-
You will simply have to blame the Dutch literary               ing to  .all the godly, some sought to disturb. These
style of that era. If you persevere, you will find this        were men who, having forsaken the papacy, but not
bit of history very interesting.  HCH)                         having been fully purged of the leaven of the papacy,
                                                               had come over to our churches and had been ad-
                                                               mitted to the ministry during the early period when
      Two summers ago there was published the opinion          there was a scarcity of preachers. These men, charac-
of the Honorable Synod of Dordrecht concerning                 terized by unbridled audacity, were: Casper Coolhaas,
some main points of doctrine about which, until the            of Leiden; Hermannus Herbertz, at Dordrecht and at
time of the Synod, there was disagreement among the            Gouda; and Cornelius Wiggers at Hoorn. However,
Netherlands Churches, a disagreement which greatly             they did not meet with great success. For although in
disturbed the churches. This opinion of the Synod              the aforementioned places these men gained some
was contained in certain Canons, or Articles. When             followers who were not too well posted in the Re-
the most illustrious Synod was convened by the                 formed religion, nevertheless their wicked audacity
States-General, the supreme authority of the United            was in due time suppressed by the authority of the
Provinces, mainly for the purpose of removing these            Government as well as by the carefulness of the
religious differences, it was first thought that it would      Ministers and the appropriate censures of the
be sufficient merely  to publish the judgment of the           churches. Coolhaas was dealt with in the National
Synod concerning those doctrinal differences. Later,           Synod of Middelburg; Herbertz in the Synod of
however, it was found that there were many who                 South Holland; and Wiggers in the Synod of North.
refused to learn from the  Synodical Proceedings               Holland.
themselves everything that took place in addition to
the adoption of the Canons, and especially how the               Thereafter  Jacobus Arminius, Preacher in the
Synod dealt with the Ministers who are called                  famous church of Amsterdam, attempted the same


I                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                              31


     thing with bold purpose. He was indeed a man of              schism in the churches; and they pleaded with the
     keen understanding, but a man who never delighted            honorable Curators that they would not thoughtlessly
     in anything except that which recommended itself by          subject the churches to this danger. They would
     an appearance of novelty  - even so, that he appeared        much rather see another capable person, free from
     to be nauseated by the greater portion of the doc-           this suspicion, accepted by the Curators. They also
     trines accepted in the Reformed Churches, and for no         admonished Uitenbogaard to withdraw his recom-
     other reason than that they were accepted by the             mendation. He, despising these admonitions, did not
     churches. This man first prepared the way for his            desist from promoting this call until he finally had
     cause, openly and in secret, by belittling and blacken-      gained his purpose. When the call was issued, the
     ing the name, fame, and authority of the most out-           Consistory of Amsterdam did not approve the dis-
     standing teachers of the Reformed Church  - Calvin,          missal of Arminius. They refused this dismissal
     Zanchius, Beza, Martyr, and others  - aiming to              chiefly for the reason that the most prudent among
     achieve respect for himself at the expense of their          them considered that a mind which was so skittish
     good name. Thereafter he began openly to propose             and so inquisitive would function with great danger in
     and to spread abroad various strange views, views            the Academy, where the youth accepted for the ser-
     which had great fellowship with the errors of the old        vice of the churches are instructed. For in the
     Pelagians, especially in his explanation of the Epistle      Academy there is more freedom of teaching than in
     to the Romans. But through the carefulness and               the local churches, where that freedom, through the
     authority of the Honorable Consistory of the Church          diligent oversight and authority of the Consistory, is
     of Amsterdam his intention was partially frustrated,         suppressed and can be held in check. Nevertheless,
     so that he could not bring about in the church such          the dismissal of Arminius was finally gained through
     upheavals as he apparently intended. Nevertheless he         the repeated and numerous requests of the Curators,
     did not cease promulgating his opinions in every             of Uitenbogaard, and also of Arminius himself, but
     possible manner both among the Preachers in his own          with this condition, that he should first have a con-
     church and among various Preachers of other                  ference with Doctor Franciscus Gomarus concerning
     Churches, namely, Johannes Uitenbogaard,  Adrianus           the chief points of doctrine. He was also required to
     Van den Borre, and others, whose friendship and              clear himself of all suspicion of strange views by a
     favor he enjoyed because of their former studies to-         forthright declaration of his views, and to promise
     gether. He even called into conference with regard to        firmly that he would never spread abroad his views if
     his views the very renowned Professor of Sacred              he possibly had any peculiar view. This conference
     Theology in the college at Leiden, Franciscus  Junius.       was conducted in the presence of the honorable
                                                                  Curators and of the Deputies of the Synod on May 6
       When now, in the second year of this century,              and 7, 1603. In that conference he testified that he
     Doctor Junius was taken away from the Academy of             expressly rejected the chief points of doctrine of the
     Leiden by death, August 22, 1602, to the great sor-          Pelagians: concerning natural grace, concerning the
     row of the Netherlands Churches, then Uitenbogaard,          powers  ,of the free will, concerning original sin, con-
     who already at that time supported the views of              cerning the  cerfection of man in this life, concerning
     Arminius, with great diligence and earnestness recom-        predestination, and others. He testified also that he
     mended him to the honorable Curators of the                  agreed with all that which Augustine and other
     Academy of Leiden, with the purpose that he should           Fathers had written against the Pelagians, yea, that he
     be called to the office of Sacred Theology in the            judged that the Pelagian errors were rightly refuted
     place of Junius. When the Deputies of the churches           and rejected by the fathers. Moreover, he promised at
     understood this, they feared that the calling of a           the same time that he would teach nothing which
     person so strongly suspected of strange doctrines            conflicted with the adopted doctrine of the churches.
     would readily become the cause of confusion and              Thereafter he was admitted to the office of Theology.


               Arise, my soul, earth cannot give,                         The life of faith is life Divine,
               A taste of true delight;                                   `Tis heav'n begun below;
               By faith, in Him who loved thee, live,                     May but this precious life be mine,
               Be strong in Jesus' might.                                 1'11  all things else forego.
               The life of faith will arm the soul,                       `Tis peace in war, in storms `tis calm,
               Against ten thousand foes,                                 `Tis riches to the poor,
               The rage of earth and hell control,                       It brings, for every woe, a balm,
              Whenever they oppose.                                      And points to heavenly store.


 32                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


 TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE                                       :



                                    "Hyper - Calvinism"
                                                      and the
                                       Call of the!Gospel
                                                              (21)a  '

                                                     Rev. David Engelsma




       The question must now be faced, whether the                 The outstanding example of this is the Synod of
Reformed doctrine of the call of the gospel is actually           Dordt.. The Reformed churches were confronted with
threatened by the error of hyper-Calvinism. Does the              the false doctrine of man's salvation of himself by his
denial of the well-meant offer have to exert itself to            free will. Basic to this error was the teaching that the
ward off the danger of restricting the preaching of the           preaching of the gospel is God's gracious effort to
gospel to born-again believers; the danger of silencing           save  every man. The Reformed fathers viewed this
the call to sinners to repent and believe; and the                en-or as a perversion of the gospel, the destruction of
danger of losing zeal for missions?                               the' Reformed churches, and the robbery of the glory
   Hyper-Calvinism is not the predominant evil of our             07 God in His greatest work, the work of salvation.
time. The man who has an eye for the overthrow of
the doctrine of God's sovereign, particular grace in                    The vehemence of their opposition to the  Armin-
the Reformed sphere today is inclined to regard the               ian heresy might have led the fathers to react by
hue-and-cry raised against hyper-Calvinism as a dis-              slighting the importance of the preaching of the
play of ignorance at  b&t, or a subterfuge at worst. As           gospel and by denying the serious call of God to
the Reformed house goes up in flames, the watchers                everyone to whom the gospel comes. But such was
alert us to the peril of flooding, call for lifeboats, and        not at all the case. The presence and power of the
give swimming lessons. The same folly occurs in                   Holy Spirit at that "most holy Synod," leading the
society. As society goes under in lawlessness and                 Church into all the truth, are evident, in no small
immorality, the supposed guardians of society decry               tiay, in its firm emphasis on the unique importance
the evils of a strait-laced, "Puritan" morality. In view          of the preaching of the gospel as  the  means of grace
of the advance of Arminianism in the past fifty years,            and in its unwavering insistence on the serious call by
especially in the area of "evangelism" and the call of            God and His Church to every person to whom God
the gospel, one is tempted to propose fifty years of              sends the gospel.
hyper-Calvinism as a radical measure to check the
wildfire spread of the free-will cancer.                           : The approach of the Canons is that of the necessity
                                                                  of  the preaching for the saving of lost sinners. They
  This temptation, of course, must be decisively                  open by declaring that some men are delivered from
rejected. Error cannot be fought with error, but only             the common misery by the preaching of the joyful
with the truth. The Reformed faith has always been                tidings of the cross of Christ (I, l-4). They make the
characterized by a refusal to become reactionary. It              calling of the elect unto salvation through the preach-
has never allowed heresy to drive it into the opposite            ing  .of the gospel part of the decree of election itself
error. It will not engage in theology, or preach, out of          (1,7). For the assurance of election and salvation,
fear. Steadfastly, it insists on being Biblical.                  they shut up the children of God to the preaching (I,


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  33



     12, 16; V, 10). Even though the Arminians pervert           formed churches in the Netherlands after the
     this truth, deceiving many, the Canons are not at all       Afscheiding  of 1834 reveals a struggle over the doc-
     embarassed by the declaration that the promise of the       trine of the call of the gospel. There has not always
     gospel is that "whosoever believeth" shall be saved,        been perfect clarity concerning this doctrine, any
     nor do they hesitate to charge the Reformed churches        more than there has always been perfect clarity con-
     and preachers to publish this promise to all nations        cerning the truth of the covenant; there is develop-
     and persons, "promiscuously and without distinc-            ment in the understanding and confession of the
     tion," and to command all men to repent and believe         truth. Men struggled with the question, "If God has
     (II, 5). This call is God's serious call to all who hear    elected some and reprobated others; if Christ died
     the preaching, and those who reject it have them-           only for the elect and not for the non-elect; if God's
     selves alone to blame (III, IV, 8, 9). The sovereignty      desire is the saving of the elect only; and if the
     of God's grace in the actual quickening of the dead         Arminian teaching of an offer of salvation to all is
     sinner, confessed by the Canons over against the            false; can the preaching of the gospel be a serious call
     Arminian teaching of a mere persuasion of the co-           to repentance and faith to everyone who hears it?"
     operating sinner, "in no wise," the Canons are quick        "How can a serious call to all men be harmonized
     to add, "excludes, or subverts the use of the gospel,       with election and particular grace?" "And is there not
     which the most wise God has ordained to be the seed         a danger that an insistence on the serious call to
     of regeneration, and food of the soul." God uses            everyone will open up the way once more to the
     means, and, therefore, any separation of sovereign          introduction of the hated Arminian heresy?"
     grace from "the sacred precepts of the gospel" is             It is not difficult to conceive that someone would
     nothing less than fhe sin of tempting God (III, IV,         conclude that the defense of sovereign grace and the
     17). The preaching of the gospel is the necessary           warding off of Arminianism demand a minimizing, a
     means of grace for the elect to the very end: "And as       silencing, or even a denying of the promiscuous
     it hath pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel,        proclamation of the gospel and the serious call of the
     to begin this work of grace in us, so he preserves,         gospel to all hearers. No doubt, this was exactly the
     continues, and perfects it by the hearing and reading       motivation of the English hyper- Calvinists. But error
     of his Word, by meditation thereon, and by the              remains error, no matter how "sincere" the motive;
     exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, as        and the consequences of error are not a whit abated
     well as by the use of the sacraments" (V, 14).              because the motives are "honorable."
       Also of this aspect of the instruction of the               Nor are we ignorant of Satan's devices. The appear-
     Canons, the Reformed believer and the Reformed              ance  Sf the error of hyper-Calvinism in the history of
     church must be good and faithful students.                  the church cannot simply be ascribed to the frailty of
       For the threat of hyper-Calvinism is real. It is the      theologians, but must be traced back to the father of
     lie on the right that must be guarded against as            the lie. Where the truth is and where, under the
     scrupulously as the lie of self-salvation on the left.      guidance of the Holy Spirit, the truth is being
     The reality of the threat is indicated, first, by the       developed, there the Devil will also be found working.
     history of the church. Church history contains a            He is subtle. If he cannot prevent the recovery of the
     Hussey and a Brine, who, in the name of Calvinism           gospel of grace, he will try to turn grace into  licence.
     and the doctrines of grace, denied that the call of the     If he fails  to- destroy the Reformed faith with the
     gospel in its external aspect comes to any save the         doctrine of universal grace, dependent upon the will
     elect and who charged those who called `all men             of man  - the well-meant offer  - he will endeavor to
     indiscriminately to repent of their sins and believe on     pervert this faith by a denial of the serious call of the
     Jesus Christ with Arminianism. These theologians            gospel to all hearers and by a questioning of the
     have disciples today. Granted, these English hyper-         church's duty, and right, to bring this command to all
     Calvinists were not ecclesiastically Reformed. Never-       nations and to all persons promiscuously and without
     theless, since they claimed to be Calvinists and since      distinction. This tactic is especially effective in the
     others regarded them as Calvinists, they have had           heat of controversy. As the church contends against a
     influence in the sphere of Reformed theology. Be-           false doctrine, get her to succumb, in reaction, to the
     sides, evidence  is. not altogether lacking that the        opposite error. As she guards the front door, slither in
     hyper-Calvinistic error has appeared in the Reformed        through the back window.
     churches in the Netherlands. It is at least questionable      It does not surprise us that the Reformed faith has
     whether opposition to the Arminian offer has not            been threatened by the stultifying, deadening error of
     sometime taken the form of a denial of the serious          hyper-Calvinism. Indeed, we would be surprised if
     call of the gospel to any and all to whom the gospel        this were not the case. But we thank God that it has
     comes, reprobate as well as elect.                          repudiated this error, as vigorously as it has repudi-
       Certainly, a reading of the histories of the  Re-         ated the error of free-will.


L


34                                              THE  STANDARD   BEARER


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                     Letter to Time thy


Dear Timothy                           October 15, 1976       the people of God to pray for them. Then you write:
      It has been a long time ago that you wrote me           "1 would like to see you treat the pastoral implica-
concerning a problem of pastoral counseling in cases          tions in cases of abortion and separation from a man
of abortion. Now that we have the time, we can come           who ought to be dead."
back to this matter. From your letter I did not detect         Before I actually enter into the matter, there are a
any urgency in an answer, and so I thought it best to         c'ouple of observations which are worth making. The
complete our discussion on' practical preaching before        f&t one is that one never ceases to be amazed at the
we concentrated on this matter. Since your request to         terrible mess people can make of their lives through
discuss this problem came a number of months ago, it          sin; And the point that needs emphasis is that sin is a
might be well to get the matter clearly before our            dreadful monster which devours  atid destroys. God's
minds before we discuss it.                                   people must always be reminded of this. We can be-
   You wrote that you had a problem in this con-              come so careless towards sin and we can so easily
nection in your own congregation. I think it best to          shrug sin off with a shake of the shoulders as if we
mention the problem because it has bearing on our             need not really fear it. It is a toy to be played with, a
discussion. You wrote concerning a young girl of              fire which cannot bum, a dragon which we can keep
your congregation who was married to an unbeliever.           as a pet. In fact, however, sin is a frightening monster.
Through mistreatment by her husband, this girl lost           It consumes all in its path. It leaves devastation and
her baby. You write that you consider this tant-              broken lives in its  wake: It, when it is permitted to
amount to an induced abortion. At this point you              enter the door of our lives, soon becomes our master
construct something of an argument. The argument, I           and binds us in chains from which there is no escape
think, goes like this. Abortion is, in the opinion of         -  zexcept by the tremendous and marvelous power of
many, murder. But, it is clear from Scripture that            the grace of God.
murder must be punished with death. The law of the
land does not agree with all this; in fact, it diverges at     1 But secondly, it is well also to observe that sin
two points. The law of the land, in the first place,          always carries with it consequences from which there
-does not consider `abortion a murder. In the second          is no escape. Sin, because it is the sin of the human
place, the law of the land does not permit capital            heart, is so extremely complex that our lives become
punishment for murder except under particular                 sb `tangled that it is scarcely possible to sort out the
conditions. (On this latter point, as you know, the           threads. The problems which sin creates are so in-
law differs from state to state, the whole law is rather      volved that there often seems to be no solution. And
complex, and the Supreme Court has recently passed            the consequences of sin are consequences from which
additiofial  decisions on the matter. But we need not         tie cannot be delivered and with which we shall have
go into all this now.) But, because the law of the land       to live the rest of our lives. This is even true when sin
is deficient in this regard, the Church must consider a       is forgiven by God. After `all, David's sin of murder
person who commits murder to be what you call                 and adultery was forgiven. But David had to live the
"legally dead." Now this, in itself, means nothing; but       r&t of his life with the sword in his house. And how
you bring up the question whether this is not grounds         &ievously  that sword wounded and destroyed in
for divorce. Some, you say, hold to this opinion. And         David's family. The repentant drunkard, or dope
the reasoning seems to be that if a person is legally         addict, or fornicator is forgiven. But he carries with
dead, the marriage tie no longer exists.                      him to the grave a broken and ruined body ravaged
                                                              by disease. And who can tell what untold harm is
  You have written of what you have done. You say
that you have sent the girl back to her husband, that         done to the man who gives himself over to the sins of
you have given the girl into the care of an older             pride, or lying, or hatred, or the like?
woman in the congregation, and that you have urged            God's people must understand sin's dread power  -


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   35


not only that they may learn to flee from sin, but           lieveth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let
also that they may see the wonderful power of the            her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is
grace of God which delivers from such horror.                sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
   But, to turn to your questions.                           sanctified by the husband: else were your children
                                                             unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbeliev-
   In the first place, I do not think it proper to argue     ing depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not
in this connection the whole matter of criminal abor-        under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us
tion and capital punishment as a just punishment for         to peace. For what knowest thou, 0 wife, whether
premeditated murder. You know my position well.              thou shalt save thy husband: or how knowest thou, 0
Abortion for any other reason than to save the life of       man, whether thou shalt  saves thy wife? But as God
a mother is indeed murder, for it is the  wilful             hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called
slciughter  of a  person.  God's Word is clear enough on     every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all
the principle that the man who sheds another's blood         churches." If you have  not'&-eady done so, you should
wilfully and deliberately, must himself suffer the           read Rev. Engelsma's  discussidn  of this passage in his
punishment of being put to death. We need not argue          book: "Marriage, The Mystery of Christ and His
long about this. It is a Scriptural injunction. I just       Church.`:
finished reading a rather lengthy series of articles in
the  Reformed Journal  which was devoted to this               I think it an excellent idea that you have put this
latter question. It struck me that in all the writings of    young girl in the care of one of the older women in
the authors (the articles were a kind of symposium),         the Church. It may be, in fact, that Paul suggests
there was not one reference to Scripture. Many               something along these lines in I Timothy 5: 2-14. I do
arguments pro and con were raised; but Scripture was         not think we do nearly enough of this in the Church.
not consulted on the matter.                                 In fact, we very seldom make use of such help as that
                                                             which older mothers are able to supply. I am some-
   There is also no question about it that this surely       times concerned about this matter. There are many
implies that the abortionist ought to be put to death.       young married girls in the Church who soon become
This follows in the nature of the case. Those doctors        mothers. Many times, of course, they have their own
who perform abortions are murderers. Those who               mothers to whom they can go for help and guidance.
operate abortion clinics ought themselves to be put to       But many times this is not possible for various reasons.
death. There can be no question here.                        These young wives and mothers not only face many
   But whether this applies to the case you mention is       and difficult problems of which they cannot speak
another matter. I do not think it does. Although the         very well with their husbands, but they are also
young man who harmed his wife so badly that their            uniquely subject to temptations  - especially in the
baby was aborted surely committed a grievous sin, he         times in which we live. These temptations deal with
did not wilfully and deliberately take a life. In the        such matters as abortion, birth control, bringing up
deeper sense of the sixth commandment which                  children, etc. They are intensely personal problems
prohibits even hatred, he was certainly guilty of            and it is not easy to speak of them, even to their
murder. But he did not, with premeditation, take a           pastor. There are also many mothers in Israel who
life. Scripture speaks of this as murder. The law of         have borne and raised many children, and who have
the land must uphold this outward keeping of God's           done so faithfully and with devotion to their
commandments. The law of the land cannot judge the           covenant calling. They have acquired a deep under-
heart. Only God can do this. It is important in our          standing of God's Word and a practical wisdom which
country (and in any country) that the outward ob-            is from above. They can understand and sympathize,
servance of God's law be enforced by the magistrate.         help  and guide; but in such a way that the Scriptures
But the inward observance of the law which requires          are always followed. I like your idea very much and
love  for God and our neighbor is beyond the reach of        encourage this practice.
him who wields the power of the sword. The young
man was not guilty of murder in this latter sense. He          But, of course, all this leaves you with the problem
did not wilfully kill his child.                             of continual pastoral labor in this situation. And
                                                             pastoral labor is extremely important. The ultimate
  I think too this answers the question concerning           hope is, of course, that God will bring this young man
divorce. You did right in sending her back to her            to repentance. And God may be pleased to use his
husband. There is no grounds here for divorce.               wife for this purpose. Scripture speaks of this both in
Indeed, Paul writes concerning this problem in I Cor.        that passage in I Corinthians 7 and in I Peter 3: 1. This
7: 12-17: "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: if         young wife will need a lot of help, though, to learn
any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be       what it means to be in subjection to her husband.
pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.         This is, no doubt, especially true with respect to the
And the woman which hath an husband that  be-                question of future children.


36                                                  THE STANDARD'BEARER


      If the Lord is not pleased to bring this husband to              Please feel free to write again if I have not touched
repentance, then surely you have other problems.                     upon the exact problems which  yoti wanted me to
Especially if she is forced to leave her husband be-                 discuss. I would like to talk about this matter of
cause life with him becomes impossible. I do not                     pastoral counseling sometime in a general sort of way;
believe that there can be any grounds for a breaking                but we can do that in the future.
of the marriage bond however. And that means that                      May God bless you in your labors.
the young girl will be unable to marry as long as her
husband lives. She must be made to see all this, for                                                      Fraternally in Christ,
this is the clear teaching of Scripture.                                                                  H. Hanko


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS



                                          Our Gracious God
                                                    ProJ: Robert D..Decker



              "We believe that our most gracious God, in his admirable' wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had thus
              thrown himself into temporal and eternal death, and made himself wholly miserable, was pleased to seek
              and comfort him, when he trembling fled from his presence, promising him that he would give his Son, who
              should be made of a woman, to bruise the head of the serpent, and would make him happy."
                                                                                   The Belgic Confession,  Article XVII



      This article marks a transition in the  Confession's           t$ere is no specific statement of doctrine here. What
presentation of the doctrines of Holy Writ. The  Con-                we do find might be called an obvious pastoral
fession  begins with a treatment of the doctrine of                  emphasis and concern. Article XVII speaks of our
Scripture itself (Articles II  - VII) and then continues             most gracious God Who seeks and comforts dead,
with a discussion of the doctrine of God (Theology)                  niiserable, fallen man. It speaks of the promise of
and of the doctrine of man (Anthropology). The next                  God to miserable man, a promise which is contained
main subject covered by our  Confession  is the doc-                 q Genesis 3: 15. Thus in a beautiful way this article
trine of Christ (Christology). This subject is treated in            of our  Confession serves  tb introduce the doctrine of
Articles XVIII through XXII. The article under our                   Christ.
consideration in this issue serves to introduce those                 In general, what we confess in this article is that
articles which speak of the doctrine of Christ.                      God saw that man had thrown himself into temporal
      As such Article XVII is rather strikingly different            and eternal death and had thus made himself "wholly
from those which we have previously discussed. Each                 miserable." When man trembling fled from God's
of the preceding, and for that matter, succeeding,                   presence, God was pleased to seek and comfort him.
articles contain a concise and definite statement of a               This seeking and comfort was a revelation of God's
doctrine of the Scriptures. But Article XVII `contains              grace, admirable wisdom, and goodness. It was grace
no such doctrinal statement. There are some powerful                because it was wholly unmerited on the part of man
doctrinal  implications  for the article speaks of God              who had fallen into sin and death. It was wisdom
and of His grace, wisdom, goodness, good pleasure,                  because this was the way God intended from all
and promise. It also speaks of God's seeking and com-               eternity to reveal His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
forting fallen man and of Christ who is made of a                   And, it was sheer goodness on God's part for He was
woman and bruises the head of the serpent. And, it                  not: obligated to seek and comfort man in his misery.
speaks of man's temporal and eternal death which                    This comfort consisted in the promise of God's Son
constitutes his "wholly miserable" condition. But                   who would be "made of a woman, bruise the head of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  37


the serpent, and make man happy." All this we be-         of heaven and the sand by the seashore innumerable.
lieve with our hearts and confess- with our mouths.       That seed is the twelve tribes of Israel and especially
  It is well that we concentrate on this promise as it    the tribe of Judah and more especially the house of
occurs in the context of Genesis 3. Upon their eating     David, the man after God's heart. Still more, that
of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowlege of     seed is ultimately realized in the Son of David, our
good and evil, Scripture tells us, the eyes of the man    Lord Jesus Christ and all the elect who are in Him by
and woman were opened and they vainly attempted           faith. (Cf. Romans 9-l  1, Galatians 3) The seed of the
to cover their shame and nakedness with fig leaves.       serpent is the whole devil's brood of reprobate who
(verses 1-7) When fallen man heard the voice of the       manifest themselves in all of history, but whose ul-
Lord God, he and his wife "hid themselves from the        timate manifestation comes in the person of the Anti-
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the         christ, the man of sin, the son of perdition.
garden." (Vs.  8) Indeed it is true as our creed ex-        Between these two seeds God puts enmity or
presses it: "man trembling fled from God's presence."     hatred. While that enmity reaches its culmination at
The Lord seeks and comforts fallen man by calling         the cross of Jesus Christ, it is evident all through
Adam from his hiding place and insisting that Adam,       history in the great struggle between the church and
himself, explain what he had done. Adam blames the        the world, the children of God and the children of
woman whom God had given him for his predica-             the devil. It is really enmity against God. And it is
ment. The woman in turn blames the serpent who            manifest in the constant hatred of the world  over-
beguiled her. (vss. 9-13) This already indicates how      against the church. Repeatedly the world attempts
deeply man had fallen. Really by their answers they       the destruction of God's church. Always the church
attempt to cast the blame for their sin upon God          as representative of God and His Christ on earth must
Himself Who had given the woman to the man and            wage spiritual warfare with the whole armor of God,
Who had created the subtle serpent. How true it is        not against flesh and blood but against spiritual
that man by his fall had rendered himself, "wholly        wickedness. (Cf. Ephesians 6) The life of the child of
miserable." After pronouncing the curse upon the          God, and he must never forget it, is a life of fierce
serpent as the instrument of the devil God speaks the     battle against the devil and his hosts. The child of
Word of the promise: "And I will put enmity be-           God must never forget that God has put hatred
tween thee and the woman, and between thy                 between him and the children of the devil. His path,
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and          therefore, is never easy. It's a bloody path on which
thou shalt bruise his heel." (vs. 15)                     the child of God must tread. Overagainst him and in
  Concerning this promise we may note in general          bitter hatred stand the devil and his seed, the rep-
that it was spoken to the serpent, although in the        robate. These are the seed of the serpent exactly
hearing of our first parents. And Adam and Eve, who       because their father is spiritually the devil; they bear
could not know the meaning of this promise in all its     his image and they do his bidding. (Cf. John  8:44, I
riches as we do, nevertheless undoubtedly understood      John 3  :8> This is reality and this explains all of his-
its essentials. Note too that this promise really con-    tory. This is what is going on right now in our world
tains all the truth of the Word of God in seed form.      and in our times.
The whole of Scripture is actually summed in these          In the light of this reality the calling of the child of
powerful words. All subsequent revelation of God up       God is perfectly clear. He must love the Lord his God
to and including the coming of Christ is only a           with all his heart and the neighbor as himself. He must
further development and revelation of this promise.       maintain the truth overagainst the lie. Never may he
For this reason our Dutch forebears were fond of          compromise with the devil and his brood. He must
calling Genesis 3: 15 the  "moeder  belofte,"  the        "love not the world, neither the things that are in the
mother promise. These words constitute  THE  prom-        world . . .  ." (I John 2: 15-17) Taking to himself the
ise out of which the whole of Scripture is born.          whole armor of God, he must tight the good fight of
  According to this promise God puts enmity, sharp        faith withstanding the wiles and fiery darts of the evil
hatred between two seeds: that of the woman and           one. In  sll that battle he must expect to suffer for
that of the serpent. That seed of the woman is one        Jesus' sake.
seed, not many seeds. According to the revelation of        That constant strife results in the bruising of the
the promise in Scripture that seed may be traced          heel of the seed of the woman and the bruising of the
throughout the ages. The seed of the woman is Abel        head of the seed of the serpent. The heel of the seed
and then Seth in his place. It is  Enoch, the prophet,    of the woman is bruised when Christ is falsely
who testified of the Lord's coming in judgment (Cf.       accused by the representatives of the devil and finally
Jude) and who walked with God and was not, for            nailed to the cross of Calvary. This bruising continues
God took him to glory. The seed of the woman is           when the elect of Christ are made to suffer all kinds
realized in the seed of Abraham which is as the stars     of persecution and hatred in this world. The mocking


38                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



and scorn, the imprisonment and killing of God's              imagined -he had succeeded in destroying the seed of
faithful, that is the bruising of the heel of the seed of     :the woman he himself was crushed forever. This
the woman. The head of the seed of the serpent is             means as well that when the devil and his host perse-
bruised also at the cross of Jesus Christ. For through        cute the seed of the woman, when they hate and kill
that cross Christ was not defeated but victorious. The        ,the elect, they are really defeated. They cannot harm
cross of Christ is His final victory over "him that had       ,the church and people of God. Through death, that
the power of death, even the devil" (Hebrews 2). At           ,last enemy, the saints are transported to glory in the
the cross Christ accomplished the salvation of His            presence of God. And, ultimately Christ returns to
elect and gained the victory over sin, death, and all         ,make all things new and cast His and our enemies into
the powers of hell. Thus the seed of the woman re-            everlasting hell. Thus, while the struggle rages, the
ceives a relatively minor bruise on the heel while the        child of God need never fear, the victory is his! For
power of the seed of the serpent is crushed, for its          `Christ has gained the victory and the children of God
head is bruised.                                              are in Him by faith and faith is the victory that over-
      That too is the paradox and at the same time the        comes the world.
glory of this struggle between the two seeds. The heel
of the seed of the woman is bruised but this bruising           This is the admirable wisdom and goodness of our
itself constitutes the victory for the seed of the            most gracious God Who sought and comforted
woman. That's the cross! It constitutes the judgment          "wholly miserable" man and made him happy
of this world! At the very moment when the devil              through the promise of His Son.


IN HIS FEAR



                                  Communion of Saints
                                                    Rev. M. Joostens



      At times one sees disharmony, bickering, and even          To the end that we, as congregations and churches,
hatred at evidence in the church of Jesus Christ as it        may better be equipped for this high calling, we de-
is manifest here below. There is, perhaps, nothing            sire to furnish a few practical remarks and observa-
that grieves the soul of a pastor more than to see such       tions.
lack of love and mutual concern in the flock which he            In order to be sufficiently impressed by the seri-
shepherdizes.                                                 ousness of the matter under consideration it would
  Certainly, these things do not reflect the image            not be superfluous for us to touch upon the Scrip-
that the Scriptures give to us of the church. She is the      tural basis of the idea of the communion of the
body of Christ and each of us are members in particu-         saints. The fellowship that must be present in the
lar of that glorious body. We are Christ's body! That         church is implicit in the definition of the church
means that as His members we are partakers of His             which the Bible gives us. We read,  ". .  and gave him
l o v e ,   m e r c y , lovingkindness, tenderheartedness,    (i.e. Christ) to be the head over all things to the
gentleness, and the root of all these, His Spirit. How        church, which is his body. . .  ." (Eph  1:22  & 23) Here
sad, how unbecoming, when we as Christ's members              and in other places the Scriptures use the figure of a
let sin obscure the wonderful gifts which He has given        body to reveal to us the idea of the church. We may
to us. Oh, true, this side of the grave we are plagued        therefore assume that there is a certain identity
and subverted by the flesh. But this must never be-           between the church and a body. And the character-
come an excuse! We must at all times, with great              istic which is of chief interest to us here, is that a
spiritual reign, manifest our true essence as Christ's        body is a whole or unity that functions through vari-
body amongst ourselves and so be manifest as such             ous diversified members. To illustrate this we may
before the world.                                             consider ourselves for a moment. If I set out to


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    39


accomplish a certain task, many members of my body             congregation is rooted in a common, spiritual bond
must properly function in order to accomplish it. I            with Christ. An emphasis upon social functions,
must direct my hands and feet with my head. Yet the            parties, corps, and what have you can never be the
head without the dexterity of my fingers is useless.           root of a true unity. Rather, these are the outgrowth
Or, if my feet refuse to function, I am immobile.              of a deeper unity that is a bond with Christ, the Head
Every member must work together in its own differ-             of His Church. It is for this very reason that they
ing capacity, and only then will I be able to accom-           attempt to bolster congregational unity, lagging
plish my end purpose. It is no different with the              church  .attendance, and waning membership roles by
church. This physical figure illustrates to us a spiritual     scheduling all manner of social interaction instead of
reality. The church is Christ's body spiritually. That         preaching the Gospel that commands, "be ye holy as
which binds every member, each of us, into one                 I am holy." They can never be successful.
whole is the tie of faith which we have to Christ. We            At any rate, true saints experience fellowship in
are spiritually one because we all possess His Spirit.         the bond of Christ. The word communion, which in
  But, lest we miss a vital point, let us add immedi-          our confession designates this fellowship, is a very
ately, that in the application of this spiritual truth it      expressive word. Communion is an act of sharing,
is an impossibility to sever the spiritual from the            participation, and mutual intimate intercourse. An
physical. Let us make this plain. Someone may say to           inherent characteristic of this word is that it pre-
us, but your tie is spiritual, that has nothing to do          supposes interaction. Communion is never one-sided.
with your physical day to day dealings. Exactly here           This is an impossibility. It always designates friend-
you have the key point regarding our subject. This we          ship, mutual sharing, and concern. It requires more
must clearly understand. Our spiritual unity must              than one party. Communion of saints, therefore,
override and encompass our physical relationship.              designates that "holy ones" have mutual intercourse,
Does not our spiritual rebirth drastically affect our          sharing and concern, between and among themselves.
daily physical life in every activity? So also, the spirit-      We must move on to consider together how such a
ual unity which we have in Christ manifests itself in          communion of the saints works itself out in an ex-
our natural relationships.                                     tremely practical way in the church. A certain impli-
                                                               cation is that there is one common, unifying principle
   Having these things ingrained in our consciousness          that is spiritual in the church. But we have dwelt
we can proceed to the idea of the communion of the             upon this at great length. Let us move on to the
saints itself. We must take note that the communion            practicalities. This unifying principle dictates that
of which we are speaking is enjoyed exclusively by
"saints."                                                      there be one common life style amongst us. We do
             There is one erroneous conception which           not mean by this that from a physical viewpoint we
must be eradicated regarding the word saint, namely,           all live exactly the same. This is not so. We all have
the lingering Roman Catholic notion that a saint is a          our natural likes and dislikes. Our tastes vary. Our
canonized, Christian hero of sorts. Often times our            fellowship is not in and around natural, physical
children hold this misconception. We must not think            things or interests. This is the manner of the world.
of a saint as a  "super-christian" who has earned his          But, all those who are saints have a certain underlying
title by his pious life and deeds. Rather, a saint is a        spiritual principle that guides them in the whole of
christian. We who profess to belong to the church of           their life. And that principle is the dictator of the
Christ  are saints! We need simply to follow biblical          Spirit of Christ. According to this principle we strive
usage here. The Psalmist speaks of the "congregation           after a godly life, struggle against the desires and lusts
of the saints." Paul in his epistles addresses the             of the flesh, and walk as pilgrims and strangers here
churches as "saints." Literally the Scriptural word is         below.
"holy ones." This does not mean that we are called
saints because of our own holiness and perfection.               Implied in the communion of the saints is yet
But rather, we are called saints because we belong to          something else. Not only is there a principle that
the church of Christ and are made holy and perfect in          unifies the saints but there is also a necessity of
the blood of Christ Who redeemed us unto Himself as            diversity. That is, in order to have fellowship as saints
God's Church. Our holiness, or sainthood, if you pre-          in Christ, we must have a common ground, namely
fer, is grounded in the fact that we are members of            the indwelling of His Spirit. But at the same time,
His body! We reiterate that the communion of which             there must be differentiation among us. The latter is
we will presently speak, is the exclusive experience of        easily understood. For example, if you had two in-
such saints. We might mention here as an aside, that           dividuals that were identical, communion would be
the modern church world does not understand this.              impossible. If they were one in thought, activity,
Though some speak of a certain bond of brotherhood             personality, and ability, then there could be no inter-
from a material viewpoint, the truth is that the               action of any kind. An exchange of various ideas or a
fellowship and communion necessary and vital to a              helping each other with regard to differing abilities


40                                               THE STANDARD `BEARER



would be out of the question. So it is with the church         : our specific gifts is to benefit the church as a body!
of Jesus Christ. We are all members in particular! Just        `We must never serve ourselves but each other and in
as our bodies are not all thumbs or feet, but diversi-         ! this way the communion of the saints is advanced and
fied and specialized members that make up the                  `strengthened. Does God give us a strong faith? Let us
whole, so God endows His saints with widely varying            .use it to strengthen the weak and so to build the
gifts. To some within the congregation God gives the           church. Don't hide the gift of wisdom, but share it
ability to teach, to others the ability to pray, and to        ,dutifully to the enlightenment of the church.
yet others ability to comfort. These spiritual and
physical gifts and abilities are in order that the whole         Our calling is inescapable. We are members of the
might plausibly function.                                      ,body of Christ. No member of Christ's body is  dis-
      This very fact carries with it an injunction. We         ipensable! When a member does not function, the
must employ and exercise ourselves as particular and           body is hindered. If we do not function in our place
unique members in the church of Christ as a whole.             ,and specific calling in our congregation, the body of
This is not some nice theory but a serious calling. As         SChrist becomes spiritually hindered. Let us determine
members of the church, God does not give unto us               our gifts and talents and use them to further the body
varied abilities for our own advancement and welfare.          of Christ. Then God is more fully glorified. Then we
Though this may go with it, the primary purpose of             walk in His fear!




SIGNS OF THE TIMES



              "And there shall be earthquakes in divers places. . . ."

                                                  Rev. Mark Hoeksema





      According to the Scriptures there are many signs of      ithe child of God the Scriptures are the only infallible
the times. To those who are acquainted with the                rule of faith and life. The Scriptures set forth the
language of the Bible, the reference of these signs is         doctrines of God's salvation in Jesus Christ, telling us
to the end of the ages, the present world and order of         all that we need to know to enjoy eternal life. But
things as we now know and experience them. And, as             there is much more. The Bible is not merely a collec-
the title of this department suggests, with those signs        tion of general truths which may provide some sup-
we are concerned. We are concerned with all of them            port and comfort for those who believe them, but the
in general, to be sure; but it should be our intention         Bible is also the rule of  life  for the children of Christ.
to point out very specific signs of the times in the           That,  presupposes that the Scriptures speak to the
light of God's Word and to apply them to the people            people of God; there is a connection, a concrete tie
of God through careful explanation and analysis. And           between what Scripture says and what we experience
this I will attempt to do in this rubric, which I am           as we walk our pilgrim way here below on the way to
scheduled to share with the Rev. H. Veldman during             that eternal and heavenly city. Though the word is
the present volume year. But before we examine the             often misused and misapplied, in the true sense of the
specific sign which is the title of this article, it is        word the Bible is relevant to 20th century believers.
proper that we pause for a moment to understand the            And for Reformed Christians that means that all
necessity and importance of this approach a bit more.          things must be viewed from a Scriptural perspective.
      It is necessary to evaluate various current events in    And that in turn implies that all things must be
the light of Scripture for the simple reason that for          viewed in the light of the establishment and  realiza-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                41


tion of the kingdom and covenant of God in Jesus             the epicenter. In addition to all of this, more earth-
Christ. In this age of indifference, therefore, the          quakes are predicted in various parts of the world,
people of God are called to see and understand that          including California in the United States, where
this is true and how it is true. It is thus incumbent        quakes occur with the greatest frequency.
upon us to point out this relevancy.                           Now all of these events are signs. In general, they
  And, I believe, it is most important to be specific        are signs of the coming of the Son of God to perfect
in this endeavor. We live in a world in which things         His saints and establish His kingdom in the new
happen at a dizzying pace. So much is going on so            heavens and the new earth. But more specifically,
fast that it is almost impossible to keep up on the          they are signs of the judgment of God in a two-fold
news today. We hear news of wars and strife all over         sense. In the first place, earthquakes generally are a
the globe, of natural disasters, of economic and             sign off judgment. In Isaiah 29 woe is pronounced
political change and conflict, of false Christs, and         upon Ariel in the words of verse 6: "Thou shalt be
much more. And perhaps we are inclined simply to             visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with
ignore many of these events, to tune out. There is just      earthquake, and with great noise, with storm and
too much taking place for us to stay abreast, for from       tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." According
every side we are assaulted by the various media with        to Revelation 6: 12 one of the manifestations of the
all the news, the scope of which ranges from the local       sixth seal is a great  earth.quake.  In Revelation  8:5 an
to the international and even the interplanetary. But        earthquake is among the signs of the judgments to
if we ignore these events, we make a big mistake,            come through the sounding of the seven trumpets.
because virtually all that takes place is, whether           And in Revelation 11: 19 the earthquake is a sign of
directly or indirectly, a sign of the end times, a           judgment closely associated with the presence of
portent of the realization and perfection of the king-       Almighty God. When we consider the nature of an
dom of God in Christ. Thus, while it is impossible to        earthquake this is not difficult to understand. God
write of all that transpires, it is my intention to treat    places many signs in His creation, although many of
major and significant manifestations of the signs of         them are not destructive. But the earthquake is
the times as they take place all  a`round us.                among those signs which must be considered most
                                                             terrible of all. An earthquake is the trembling of the
   One of those signs is that of "earthquakes in divers      solid ground, an upheaval of all that seems to be solid
places," in the words of our Lord in Mark 13: 8, as          and stable and permanent. The ground rolls and
well as in the parallel passages of Matthew  24:7 and        buckles, great crevasses appear in it, and the face of
Ltike 21: 11. The fact that earthquakes take place           the ground is altered. Not only is such a thing most
cannot be disputed. But what is so striking in our           terrifying for those who experience it, but it is also
time is the frequency and severity with which they           extremely destructive, as the recent earthquakes
take place. According to a recent NBC news report,           make abundantly plain. Thus, the earthquake must be
since the beginning of 1976 there have been 37 major         viewed in the light of Scripture as a manifestation of
quakes. The emphasis belongs on the "major," that is,        the wrath of God against sinful man, a manifestation
those which do damage or cause loss of life and              which comes through the means of the creation
injury. The vast numbers of lesser quakes are not even       which he has subjected to himself in the service of
reckoned in this total. At the time of this writing,         sin. Wicked man likes to think that he is master of the
that number averages out to approximately one major          earth and that he can use it for his own purposes. But
earthquake  every  week.  Of these 37 major tremors,         God in the earthquake witnesses very clearly that the
three have been called disastrous: the one in Guate-         earth is His and  that He does with it as He pleases.
mala in February, and those in Red China and the             Therefore, the earthquake is a sign that in the good
Philippine Islands in August. The destruction and            pleasure of God He will destroy the present order of
devastation in these was well-nigh unbelievable.             things in order to make way for the perfected crea-
Thousands were killed in Guatemala, whole towns              tion to come. The earthquake is then in general a sign
were wiped out of existence, many lost their homes           of the almighty and powerful judgment of God upon
or were injured, damage ran into the millions of             the wicked world throughout all of history.
dollars, and the effects will be felt for years. In the
Philippines quake the figures, as given by  TIME  maga-        Further, the earthquake is in the second place a
zine in its August 30 issue, include 3,100 dead, 3,700       sign of the final judgment of God at the end of time.
missing, 1000 injured, and 90,000 homeless. And,             According to Revelation 16: 18 "a great earthquake,
while it is  difticult  to obtain any information from       such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
the Communists in China, an American recently                mighty an earthquake, and so great" takes place at
returned from the vicinity of the tremendous up-             the very end of time in connection with the battle of
heaval there conservatively estimated the number of          Armageddon. When rightly understood in the light of
dead at 100,000, a mere 5% of the population near            Scripture, this earthquake is the primary means


42                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


whereby the present earth is destroyed in order that               As far as the wicked are concerned, the earthquake
the new heavens and earth may come into existence.              is a sign of the judgment unto condemnation. And
The earthquake of Revelation 16: 18 will then be the            Fcked man can read those signs. Do not forget, he
final, catastrophic upheaval, resulting in the total            has what the Canons of Dordt call the glimmerings of
destruction of the world as we know it. Of this final           natural light, whereby he retains some knowledge of
destruction all the other earthquakes are signs, also           God. That in itself is sufficient to condemn him. But
those of our day. When we understand the pattern of             even the wicked in our day have the Scriptures, both
the book of Revelation, so that we  see the progres-            in, written form and through the preaching of the
sion of the seals to the trumpets to the vials to the           gospel, for the white horse of Revelation has run
final destruction, then it is clear that the earthquakes        throughout almost the entire world. Certainly wicked
of the sixth seal and that preceding the seven                  man does not believe the Scriptures and will not be
trumpets are omens of that final tremor. God, as it             receptive to the message of judgment through natural
were, gives warnings of that final catastrophe all              hhenomena as interpreted in those Scriptures. He
through history, and with increasing clarity and fre-           devises all sorts of means to avoid the truth. Man has
quency as the end approaches.                                   his Richter scale for measuring the severity of earth-
      It is precisely that increasing clarity and  frequence    quakes, his seismometers for detecting them, and his
that the people of God see today if they are attentive          communications for informing the entire world about
to the signs of the times. Again in harmony with the            them. Man attempts to alleviate `the effects of earth-
pattern of the book of Revelation, we learn that                quakes by sending relief to their victims and by re-
progressively greater severity and intensity and fre-           pairing the damage done. Man today even attempts to
quency characterize the signs of the times as the end           predict when and `where earthquakes will occur,
approaches. The data cited above make it very clear             though he must admit that up to this time he has had
that we are witnessing this now, not only from the              very little success. No doubt man will someday even
viewpoint of the frequency of major quakes, but also            try to prevent or control earthquakes, since he al-
from the standpoint of their effect. These tremors,             ready understands their cause as being movements of
because of the development of communications and                the various plates which comprise the crust of the
inter-dependence in the world of today, have a                  earth. But in all of this the testimony of God is in-
world-wide effect, especially from the economic                 escapable: He is coming in Christ to establish His
viewpoint.                                                      kingdom, and that coming shall be in the way of
                                                                judgment. Therefore, wicked man is left totally with-
  What then is the significance of these upheavals in           out excuse for his obstinate rebellion, in order that he
nature? In the words of a Philippine official on the            may be righteously condemned unto the exaltation of
island of Mindanao, "God in all his glory did not let           the glory of the sovereign God.
this happen without a reason."  (TIME,  August 30,              But also for us who are God's people these ear&h-
1976). I have no way of knowing whether or not this             quakes have significance. Basically they testify to us
man understood what he said, but truer words could              as well as to the wicked that the coming of God in
hardly have been spoken. The significance is exactly            Christ is imminent. To us who see the signs of the
the glory of God. That is Es purpose in all things, the         times in nature, and read them properly in the light
highest goal of all that He is and does. God wishes             of God's Word, the message is that our Lord is com-
and wills the glory of His own name. And therefore,             ing. But for us the message is not one of doom and
all that He does has the manifestation and magnifica-           judgment, but of comfort and hope. Perhaps we may
tion of that glory as its reason. That is the reason for        be afraid in a human sense of these signs, especially if
His salvation of His people in Jesus Christ. That is the        we are affected by a terrible earthquake. But by faith
central reason behind all that transpires in the history        we know and believe that these signs mean our swift
of heaven and earth. And that is also the deepest               and sure salvation. Listen, then, people of God, to
reason behind the sign of the earthquake. For, you              these signs and their testimony. If you do listen, then
understand, God glorifies Himself in and through the            you will hear the footsteps of Christ as He comes for
establishment and perfection of the kingdom of                  salvatiqn and judgment. You will hear those footsteps
Christ. And the earthquake is one means whereby He              in the earth, so that the very ground trembles at His
realizes that kingdom. Make no mistake: God  will  be           coming. And when you hear those heavy steps re-
glorified. He will be glorified willingly and joyfully by       sounding throughout the world, then your faith will
His people, and in spite of themselves by the wicked.           be strengthened in the knowledge and conviction that
He will get that glory in the final and  telic sense at         your Lord is coming to execute judgment upon all
the consummation; but He is even now getting it                 the workers of iniquity, and to redeem you and all
through the precursory signs, which testify to wicked           His elect Zion in the way of judgment, unto eternal
and righteous alike that the final day of His glory is          perfection in the new heavens and the new earth.
coming very fast.                                               Watch, therefore, unto His coming.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                43


NEWS FEATURE



                      Fourth General Assembly:

                                          Presbyterian Church in America

                                                   E.C. Case, Pastor


  The Memorial Auditorium in Greenville,, South               Reformed Church were recognized and heard from in
Carolina, provided the setting as the General As-             a later session. All of the fraternal delegates, except
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in America was              the one from the ARP church, were from denomina-
gavelled to order by Retiring Moderator, Judge Leon           tions involved, with the PCA, in the North American
F. Hendrick, on Tuesday evening, September 14. This           Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC), the
was the fourth meeting of the court to be held in the         establishment of which was formally recognized by
nearly three years' existence of the PCA, and the first       this Assembly.
to be held some other place than in one of the denom-           Another item of business disposed of the first
ination's churches. There are now some 400 churches           evening. was a recommendation from the Committee
in the PCA, all of which are entitled to send at least one    on Administration that the PCA make a bid to pur-
commissioner to General Assembly. And, there are              chase Sullins College in Bristol, Va., with a view to
431 ministers, each of whom may also sit in this              housing Assembly offices there as well as establishing
court. Since there are few churches in the Assembly           a college and seminary and having a place for various
capable of handling so many commissioners, plus               conferences. There is little doubt that this was a good
alternates and visitors, it is likely the court will be       deal, a real bargain, if you will. But, the prevailing
meeting in such auditoriums many times in the                 mood was that this was simply too much of an invest-
future, at least until the number of congregations ex-        ment, frought with too many uncertainties, to be
ceeds 500, at which time the current practice of              undertaken at this time. Also brought up in the dis-
"grass roots" representation will be reviewed.                cussion was the matter of whether a church, as such,
  The first major order of business to come before            ought to be in the education business, at least apart
the Assembly was the election of a new moderator.             from seminary training. It was felt more study was
Two men were nominated: Ruling Elder Kenneth                  needed in this area. Finally, as one commissioner
Keyes, a Miami, Fla. businessman who was quite                pointed out, at the rate colleges are going under these
active in the establishment of the PCA, and Dr. Wil-          days, should the PCA ever decide she wants a college,
liam A. McIlwane of Pensacola, Fla., a retired mis-           there  will probably be several around from which to
sionary with over 40 years service in Japan who also          choose.
was active in the beginning stages of the PCA. Mr.              On  the question of seminaries, the Assembly did
Keyes, pleading ignorance of parliamentary proce-             approve a study of the matter which hopefully will
dure, asked that his name be withdrawn. Dr.                   result in the establishment, soon, of a denominational
McIlwane was elected without opposition.                      seminary. This course has received more support of
  The remainder  o.f the first session was taken up           late due to the deterioration of the situation at
mostly with worship, including the observance of the          Reformed Seminary in Jackson, Ms., where a woman
Lord's Supper. There was some business tended to,             has been admitted to the Ministerial Degree program
however. Fraternal delegates from other churches              and grave concerns have been raised over the teach-
were recognized and allowed to bring greetings from           ings of some professors.
their respective denominations. The Assembly heard              One of the main areas of conflict at previous
from representatives of the  Orthodojc  Presbyterian          assemblies has been the foreign missions policy of the
Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North             church, centering basically around the cooperative
America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evan-              agreements which the PCA has with some independ-
gelical Synod, and the Associate Reformed Presby-             ent evangelical mission boards. The Third Assembly
terian Church. Fraternal delegates from the Christian         sent to the churches, for study and suggestions, a


44                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



policy manual for missionary activity. On the basis of      get into as many fields as possible as quickly as pos-
that study, revisions were made and presented to this       sible, not turning away any requests for principle's
assembly, which approved the manual for a two-year          `sake. This reflects the attitude of many in the PCA
trial run. Though much has been done to overcome            ,who refuse, it would seem, to acknowledge that the
the objections of those who want a thoroughly               Lbrd closes some doors. If this attitude had been
Presbyterian and Reformed program, there are still          `assumed by Paul when he was forbidden by the Spirit
some problems. The provision for cooperation with           to preach the Word in Asia (acts  16:6),  that apostle
independent boards, which are not the church, re-           likely would have told God that He lacked vision.
mains, though the terms of the agreement which must         General Assembly apparently approves such  insubordi-
be signed by these boards has been toughened up a           ;nation and does so by an appeal to the Great Com-
bit, requiring that those sent under such arrangements      mission. But Paul also served under that Commission,
must be free to preach and teach the Reformed faith         so surely that can not be introduced as a reason for
and  practise Presbyterian polity as comprehended in        :attempting to bridge, with the shaky timbers of
the Westminster Standards. Even so, cooperation with        compromise, chasms which God has established.
independent boards is a basic denial of the sufficiency        What little press attention was given the Assembly
of the courts of the Church as established by the           :focused upon the issue of abortion which came  be-
Word of God. This sufficiency is recognized by the          `fore the court in an overture from Calvary Presbytery
founding documents of the PCA, such as the "Mes-            asking that the PCA, "protest, decry and abhor this
sage to all Churches of Jesus Christ" adopted by the        mass slaughter of unborn babies who are persons by
First Assembly, which expresses the traditional             Ievery right of the just laws of God and man,`" and
Southern high view of Presbyterianism. Also, the            that the Assembly call upon every responsible citizen
Confession of Faith, Chapter 25, Section 3, states          td support the enactment of moral legislation that
that Christ has given, "unto this catholic visible          will protect the life of the unborn. This overture was
church. . .the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of         answered in the affirmative, but not without some
God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in     misgivings on the part of many. Does this involve the
this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by His        PCA in the area of social pronouncements in a
own presence and Spirit, according to His promise           `manner unlawful insofar as a court of the Church is
make them effectual  thereun to.  " (Emphasis  mine-        `concerned? Or is this a legitimate condemnation of
ECC). And, even the missions manual states that             murder on an unprecedented scale? Perhaps the study
Presbyterian polity is Biblical and that the believer is    committee appointed to deal with the issue will be
to discharge his missionary responsibility through the      able to give  us some guidance on this matter. Most of
church. Cooperation with boards, which are not the          us have had quite enough of the type of social and
church, contradicts this. It may indeed be granted          political intermeddling engaged in by the church of
that movement in this matter has been, generally, in        our former connection and cling strongly to the idea
the right direction. However, there is the fear that        of the spirituality of the church. We do not, as one
progress may stop and even be reversed due to a             commissioner pointed out, want to see our agenda
prolonged usage of erroneous methodology. Corrup-           crowded with social and political matters.
tion, in a respect, needs but a little beginning to           One final thing which should be of interest to
become widespread.                                          readers of this periodical is the fact that an attempt
      The biggest disappointment in the area of foreign     was made to get the Assembly to express fraternal
missions came with regard to the  possibility  of  cb-      concern to the Christian Reformed Church in  con-
operation with national churches which are members          cection with the issues raised by the Dutton appeal at
of the World Council of Churches. At present, there is      the recent CRC Synod. This the Assembly refused to
no such cooperation. However, in some nations,              do', mainly (one hopes) because of the lack of in-
especially those of the so-called Third World,              formation on the matter. But, would not such an
churches are required to join the WCC in order to           expression of concern be a means of getting more
organize. If the PCA is to work in these nations with       information? Some of us question whether, in the
these churches, she would have to accept this fact, so      light of this, the whole concept of  NAPARC and
we are told. Rather than surrender a field, it is felt      fraternal relationships is nothing more than a mutual
that we should be willing to work with a church even        association of back-slapping "good ole boys" from
if it is a WCC member. This, of course, involves a          the various churches. The only matter of substance
most loathesome kind of compromise  - compromise            anyone in  NAPARC seems much interested in now is
by working with a church which will not take a stand        the union of the various bodies. One of the fraternal
for the exclusive kingship of Jesus Christ over His         delegates was noted to have said,  `.I do not wish
Church. For this principle, many of our covenanting         fo die an Orthodox Presbyterian." To which this
forefathers in Scotland gave their lives. But now,          writer would reply, "Neither do I." It will be interest-
many are willing to abandon that heritage in order to       ing to see how things develop in this area.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            45


  There were, of course,  many other issues, chiefly            ity perspective, at least in the PCA. On balance, one
of denominational interest, to come before the                  can only say that things are not as good in the PCA as
Assembly. This report has intended to touch only                might be hoped for or expected. But neither are they
upon those of broader interest. It makes no claim to            as bad as might be feared. The PCA is still very much
objectivity. This writer views the work of this                 in the toddler stage. Our prayer is that her formative
assembly from a very definite theological and  ecclesias-       years  m&y be God-directed years.
tical perspective, which, it might be noted, is a  minor-



ALL AROUND US



                                          W.C.C. Meets in Nairobi
                                        C.R.C. Synod and Dr. Verhey

                                                     Rev. G. Van Baren




                 W.C.C. Meets in Nairobi                            gelical Christians attended. However, the meeting had
   During the past summer, various of the councils of               very iittie spiritual expression. I don't remember any
churches held their meetings  - this time in the con-               time when the sessions were either opened or closed
tinent of Africa. Both the World Council of Churches                with prayer. Prayer was offered only in the form of a
and the International Council of Christian Churches                 written document. Although worship should have
                                                                    been ,an integral part of the whole Assembly, it was _
(of which Dr. Carl  McIntire is head) met in Nairobi,               unnoticeable. Even the sessions set aside for "wor-
Kenya, in Africa. The Reformed Ecumenical Synod                     ship" were of such dubious quality that it was hard to
also met in Africa  - but in Cape Town, South Africa.               see the lesson being conveyed.
These meetings are scheduled in such locations be-                        For example, the United Bible Societies took the
cause of the growing political power of the "third                  first session of morning worship, presenting in music
world" nations.                                                     and drama the parable of the prodigal son who later
  Perhaps at some future date we can present sum-                   found his way home. This parable, meant to teach the
maries of what was decided at these various meetings.               lostness of man in regard to salvation, implied instead
For now, I would call your attention to the reaction                that those outside the ecumenical movement were the
of one man to what he saw and heard at one of these                 lost son. Perhaps it was my failure, but I do not be-
meetings: that of the W.C.C.  .in Nairobi.                          lieve our Lord's simple picture story was intended to
                                                                    be so difficult that only a genius could under-
  In the  Presbyterian Journal  of Aug. 18, 1976, and               stand. . . .
Evangelical Action  from Australia, a certain Dr.
Byang H. Kato, General Secretary of the Association                       . . . At one place in the confirence center where a
of  Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar (who                      long display board was mounted, people were allowed
drowned shortly after this report was given) reports                to write whatever they wished. Somebody wrote: "I
                                                                    have heard women's liberation and liberation from
his impressions as an observer. He writes:                          oppression. What about liberation from sin? I haven't
       The Fifth WCC Assembly at Nairobi was more like              heard it yet!" . . . .
    a meeting of the Organization of African Unity                        . . . The Assembly had an admirable theme, "Jesus
    (OAU)  or some other economic or political meeting              Christ Frees and Unites." Spiritually concerned
    than a Christian meeting . . . .                                Africans exercised the caution of wait and see. Other
       This is not to say it had no Christian touch to if,          African participants had on their agenda the primary
    no mention of the name of Jesus Christ, or that there           goal of drawing the Assembly's attention to the ques-
    were no Christians there. Many outstanding evan-                tion of the liberation on the continent.


     46                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                 At youth congresses in Arusha, Tanzania, and                 Matthew  28:2  should be understood  as an  eschato-
              Limuru, Kenya, several proposals were drawn up for              logical symbol and not necessarily as a fact." Never-
              the Assembly, but none of the proposals showed con-             theless,  Classis approved the examination and the
              cern for evangelism. The WCC spent lengthy hours                synodical deputies representing neighboring classes
              every day dealing with every conceivable problem of
            man anywhere  - with hardly a reference to sin as                 also approved  - though with advice that Verhey be
              man's fundamental dilemma . . . .                               `dealt with pastorally by his consistory (Neland Ave.
                                                                              C.R.C.).
                The "mission" of the WCC is clearly secular and
            seems to be highly political. The political emphasis at           The Synod, in effect, rejected the appeal of
            the Assembly was leftist. After sitting through the               ,Dutton.  It refused to judge the errors presented but
            Assembly, I came out feeling it would take a miracle              .insisted that Dutton did not follow proper procedure
            to save most African countries from Communism.                    in dealing with this case. Rather the Synod advised
            The stage is all set.                                             Dutton:  ". . . if they remain convinced that the posi-
                Things mentioned in the book of Revelation may                tion of Dr. Verhey brings him into conflict with the
            be near at hand, though I realize we cannot be dog-               confessions they must follow the procedures outlined
            matic about this. The marriage between the political              `in the Form of Subscription and the Church Order."
            and ecclesiastical systems seems very likely in our
            own age . . . .                                                        Without considering the merit. or error of the de-
                . . . The effort for unity was not only for the unity         cision, I would quote just a few of the reactions
            of Christians. The documents that were prepared in                within the C.R.C. to the entire incident. Dr. Leonard
            advance for Nairobi indicated that there was a search             IGreenway, one of the Synodical deputies which
            for a common humanity, a search for human unity.                  approved the final examination, writes in the Sep-
            And it was evident at this Assembly, because when                 tember 1976  Outlook:
            the leaders gathered there, it was not only church                         It is regrettable that in all the discussion that has
            leaders  - not only Protestants, Orthodox, and                          ensued following the action of  Classis  last September
            Roman Catholics, but beyond Christendom as well.                        relatively little recognition has been given to the
            One day, in the discussion on "Seeking Community,"                      many important elements in the doctrinal examina-
            there were seated on the platform not only Christian                    tion of Dr. Verhey where his answers were very
            leaders, but there was a Sikh, a Muslim, a Hindu, a                     acceptable . . . .
            Buddhist, and this Jewish Rabbi. They were all in-
            volved in the discussion. There was a big applause,                        The area where Dr. Verhey's answers provoked
            because we were at last successful in bringing these                    lengthy discussion was in Hermeneutics and specifi-
            non-Christians to sit with us and share in the effort        _          cally his interpretation of the speaking serpent in
            for unity.                                                              Genesis 3 and the earthquake reported in Matthew
                                                                                    28. Here Dr. Verhey adopted a less thanliteral inter-
           The report contains much more which indicates                            pretation and confused us by suggesting that we were
     the  trend of the W.C.C.  to be in the direction of an                         asking the wrong questions. . . .
     antichristian world religion and world power. That                                The synodical deputies were led to conclude that
     this is the case is not surprising. What is disturbing is                      brother Verhey in his application of hermeneutical
     that so-called  evangelicals can continue to tell them-                       principles was involving himself in ambiguities . . . .
     selves that they can function in and with the W.C.C.                           The synodical deputies felt that here was a restricted
     and make their "good" influence felt. At best, this is                         and localized matter that could be taken care of by
     nothing else than an attempt to unite light and dark-                          Dr. Verhey's consistory without delaying the plans
     ness.                                                                          for his ordination . . . .
                                                                              One wonders to how many "ambiguities" of this
                      C.R.C. Synod and Dr. Verhey                             nature a candidate is entitled before he would be
           The Christian  Reformed Synod of this  past  June                  refused the privilege of being ordained into the
     was confronted with an appeal from  Dutton  (Mich.)                      ministry.
     Christian Reformed Church against a decision of                               Editor  DeKoster in the  Banner (Sept. 10, 1976)
     Classis Grand Rapids East in approving Dr. Allen                         writes:
     Verhey for ordination at its meeting of Sept. 18,                                 The Candidate said, apparently, that Moses and St.
     1975. It seems that Dr. Verhey (who has now been                               Matthew need not be taken literally. For that he was
     ordained and is presently teaching at Hope College)                            long detained in his candidate's examination, and the
     made two statements in his examination which met                               subject of a protest carried all the way to Synod . . . .
     with strong disapproval of some at the  Classis. Ac-                              But what did the Candidate say that had not al-
     cording to the Dutton appeal, Dr. Verhey "plainly                              ready been paralleled by a Synodical study com-
     stated in his examination that he did not believe that                         mittee (indeed said, in effect, by two Synodical study
     the serpent spoke to Eve as reported in Genesis 3 and                          committees  - the other reporting in  1973),  namely,
     that he believed that the earthquake reported in                         :     that what the Bible says very plainly, and quite  liter-



L


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                47


     ally, in the `Epistles to Corinth and to Timothy, need                   cable" decisions of their Synod. They write:
     not be taken literally? A committee's "meat" is a                                  Synod "baits" Dutton by reminding them that  IF
     Candidate's "poison"? . . .                                                   they remain convinced that the position of Dr.
        So that there may be no mistake about it, I prob-                          Verhey brings him in conflict with the confessions,
     ably should recall that I argued here that both of                            then they must follow the procedures outlined in the
     those study committees were mistaken, and I think                             Form of Subscription and the Church Order. As one
     that the views attributed to the Candidate are like-                          of our retired ministers recently said, "The way of
     wise in error.                                                                appeal is now the road to oblivion." How true it is.
        Nonetheless, it seems to me that either the Church                         Decisions of this kind are by the nature of the case
     hereafter owes such study committees a Motherly                               irrevocable.  Synod has committed treason to the
     admonition, or its newly ordained Minister an apol-                           Lord Who has given His life for us. We hope and pray
     ogy. There cannot be one standard for the "scholar",                          that all local  consistories, which by way of Scripture
     and another for the pulpit!                                                   and the Church Order are the center of all authority
                                                                                   in the C.R.C., consider the action of synod as not
   The Association of Christian Reformed Laymen in                                 settled and binding for them and take united action
their  Bulletin  of Aug. 1976 present a far more serious                           to rescind this decision and in the meantime deny Dr.
charge, one, it seems  to me, they cannot maintain                                 Verhey access to their pulpits. We know this is speak-
while remaining  within the denomination. One can                                  ing plainly, and it saddens us that it must be so, but
understand some of their frustrations, but their con-                              the C.R.C. is espousing two entirely different re-
clusions are too serious to allow them to remain with-                             ligions. If one decides for one, he decides against the
in the fold, for they accuse of "treason" and  "irrevo-                            other.



                  `- NOTICE OF LECTURE `-                                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On October 29, 1976 at 8:00 P.M. in First Church, our annual                  On September 28, 1976, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS.
Reformation Day Lecture will be given. Rev. M. Joostens will speak on         GEORGE KAMPS, JR. celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
"The Priesthood Of All Believers". Plan to attend and urge others also           We, their grateful children and grandchild, are thankful to our faith-
to hear this interesting lecture.                                            ful covenant God for the many years of love and Christian instruction
                                                                             they have given us. Our sincere prayer is for God's continued blessing
                                                                              on them in the years which lie ahead of them.
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                          Rienetta Mihlheim
                                                                                               Peter
   The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church  (Jeni-                           Jacelyn
son  Mich.), wishes to extend their sympathy to Mrs. Charles Westra and                        Henry Benjamin
family in the loss of husband and father, CHARLES WESTRA.                                      Linda Corrine
   We pray that our Heavenly Father's love will sustain and comfort                            Christine Grace
you through every coming day.                                                                 Calvin George
   "Blessed be God . . . the Father of mercies, and the God of all                             Leon Marvin
comfort." (II Cor.  1:3).                                                                      Gretchen Jean
                                                                                               Benntte Martin
                                     Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.                                  Timothy Steven Kamps
                                     Frank Block, Sec'y.-Treas.                               and Christine Elaine (grandchild).





                                                         REPORT OF CLASSIS  WEST
                                                                September 1  & 2, I976

   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches                          been drawn up under the direction of its Classical
met for two days, September 1 and 2, in Loveland,                            Committee.
Colorado. After Rev. M. Hoeksema opened with                                    An overture from the Council of South Holland to
devotions, addressing  Classis from Jude 3, and pre-                         use money recently bequeathed to  Classis in the
sided over the approving of the credentials, Rev. M.                         establishing of a retirement fund for Protestant
Kamps took over the chair.                                                   Reformed ministers was rejected.
   Classis heard reports from various committees and                            In executive session,  Classis advised a consistory to
instructed its Taped Sermon Committee to investigate                         proceed with the second step of censure with two
the possibility of some revision of the taped sermon                         members, after the  Classis had been informed con-
program.                                                                     cerning the cases by the delegates of the church in-
   Classis  ratified Articles of Incorporation that had                      volved.


     THE STANDARD BEARER             .-                  -            ~--___          ~- -    -
               P.O. Box 6064                                                                            SECOND CLASS
     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49596                                                                      POSTAGE PAID AT
t                                                                                                   GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





     48                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

           Redlands  asked and received classical appointments    part of your denomination. Words are insufficient to
     during her vacancy.                                          express the beauty of the unity in faith and purpose
           Much of  Classis' time was devoted to two appeals      we now may experience ! To experience this' full
                                                                  assurance, without a doubt, that God's Word is the
     that lodged objections against the preaching in a con-       truth, with you our fellow brothers and sisters in the
     gregation.  Classis rejected both appeals on the ground      Lord, is a gift of God's grace. May we be found ever
     that the accusations were not substantiated.                 faithful to that Word of truth, guided by the true
           The consistory of the Edmonton, Canada congre-         confessions of our fathers which we hold so dear!"
     gation addressed a letter to  Classis in which they            Classis will meet next in Hull, Iowa on March 3,
     expressed their thankfulness "to the Lord Who has so         1977, the Lord willing.
     abundantly blessed us in this past year, since we, as
     the Edmonton congregation, have joined your fellow-            The cost of the  Classis was  $3,020.58.
     ship." It added that they "count it a great privilege                                         Rev. David Engelsma,
     that our church is now a member of your  classis and                                          Stated Clerk
                                                                                                   Classis West


                                     News From Our Churches
           Recently Rev. Marvin Kamps was installed as the        Reformed Faith for the first time, but are Reformed
     new pastor of our church in  Doon, Iowa. Rev.                people, and desirous of organizing soon into a Protes-
     Kamps' former charge was in Redlands, California.            tant Reformed Church. We thank the Lord for the
     The  Redlands congregation extended a call to Rev.           increase of these fellow saints. One of these families
     Jason Kortering who has been serving the congre-             was recently blessed with a son, Jonathan Edwards.
     gation at Hull, Iowa, just a few miles from  Doon.           We soon (D.  V.) begin catechism classes with the
     Rev. Kortering has accepted the call to Redlands.            addition of five new pupils! Now, too, there is also
     Hull has made the following trio: Revs. Dale Kuiper,         prospect of beginning a young people's society.
     Mark Hoeksema, and Ronald Van Overloop.                      `Brethren, pray for us,' that we may have spiritual
           The following report from our missionary, Rev.         strength and wisdom in our labors and upon them the
     Harbach, was printed in our Hope Church (Walker,             continued  blessing,of our covenant God."
     Michigan) bulletin: "The Protestant Reformed                 : The construction of a new church building for our
     worship services here in the Houston area, as to any-        Hudsonville, Michigan congregation seems to be a co-
     thing soundly Presbyterian/Reformed in church                operative undertaking. The following notice appeared
     government, doctrine and church and home life, are           in their September 5th bulletin: "The consistory
     like an oasis in a desert. We are accumulating a repu-       would like to have as many men as possible to come
     tation here, as people are beginning to discover, that       out Wednesday and help nail furring strips on the
     as to the theological liberal versus conservative issue,     inside wall of our church building. Please take your
     we are definitely on the conservative side. Happy we         own hammer." The following week this appeared:
     are to see that there are some looking for a place           "Repeat: Furring strip mechanics: Brethren, continue
     where the infallible Word of God and the Reformed            your good labors on Monday evening and help nail
     truth are prized and conserved. As a result, four            down our future church." It sounds as if the  Hudson-
     families have recently come our way and now wor-             ville brethren are literally pounding their way into a
     ship with us. These newcomers, as with our old               new building!
     stand-bys, are of Westminster Standards stock. Hence,                                                           K . G . V .
     they are not being exposed to Calvinism and the


