           The
   STANDARiI
      ' BEARER .
f- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       -





             Reformed theologians generally have felt
          that it is absurd to speak of the covenant as an
          agreement, a mutual alliance, between the in-
          finite God and the speck of dust that is man;
          and therefore they usually admit that it is
          unilateral in its establishment. But if this be
        ; true, it depends throughout on God alone. It is
          no, longer a pact; it has no conditions; and God
        J sovereignly performs all that belongs to the
          establishment and realization of the covenant.
          He alone, and sovereignly, determines who are
          to be received into the covenant relation with
          Him; and on His -faithfulness alone it is based.
         God is faithful: that is the reason why the
          covenant is eternal. He maintains  it:- that is why
         it cannot be broken. It is an everlasting cove-
         nant.
            -H, Hoeksema, The Triple Knowledge, II, 516





                                      Volume LI,  NumberJ6, May  15,1975  1
                                                                     L


362                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



MEDITATION
                         The  Hope That Endures
                                                  Rev. C. Hanko
            And hope rnaketh not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
            Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Rom. 5:5.

  It was Pentecost, the feast of  ftity, the harvest        suddenly their minds were enlightened; the mystery
feast.                                                      was solved; a new joy flooded their hearts as they
   The risen Lord had allowed the seven weeks of            were .united  anew with their Lord by a bond of living
seven days to pass  by. since the morning of His            faith. By faith they saw Jesus, now crowned with
resurrection. Christ had come forth from the realm of       glory in the highest heavens. He was their Lord and
the dead as the Firstfruits of those that sleep. Joy had    their `God, preparing for them a place in His heavenly
thrilled His soul as He experienced an entirely new,        kingdom, even as He made them citizens of that
heavenly life that now was His forever. Eagerly He          kingd'om  by His Spirit in their hearts. He had been
prepared for the opportunity to share this joy with         delivered over unto death on account of their trans-
His disciples, as He filled their souls with wonder at      gressions, He was raised unto life and glory because
His amazing, glorious change. He had another mis-           He had merited their justification before God. (Rom.
sion, for the angels and the saints in heaven awaited       4:25). The Spirit of adoption was also the Spirit that
                                                            assured them of ever blessed covenant fellowship with
His arrival. When His work was finished here, having
appeared to his disciples in various forms, always          God in Christ Jesus. He is the Spirit Who is given also
alerting them to some new phase of His glorious             to us by that same glorified Lord!
resurrection, He went through the heavens to take His         Thle question often arises in our hearts: Who shall
place at the Father's right hand. Who can fathom the        ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His
infinite depths of joy and blessedness when the Lord        presence? Who is worthy? Who is fit? Shamefacedly
of all united all heaven under His control? While the       we answer: "No one: especially not I." Yet the Holy
song of triumph echoed through the vast expanses of         Spirit points us to Christ as the One, the only One
the heavens, Christ turned His attention to His             found worthy. The wonder of grace that we experi-
Church on earth, the harvest that must be brought in        ence iis, that we are included with Him, so that we can
before heaven and earth can be perfectly one.               confess from the heart: "We, then;:being justified by
                                                            faith, have peace with God in our Lord Jesus Christ."
   In the upper room in Jerusalem were gathered one         (Rom. 5 : 1).
hundred and twenty saints. It was but a small handful
of people, and yet they were the most blessed people          Peace with God! That includes such blessings as the
in all the world. They were filled with mixed feelings.     forgiveness of sins, the adoption to sons,' the right of
On the one hand, they were almost bursting with joy,        being heirs to our own mansion in Father's house, up
because their Lord, Who had been crucified, was             there in the cloud shrouded, yet dazzlingly glorious
risen, was seen of them, and had been taken into            heights of Sion's holy hill.
glory. On the other hand, there was still so much that        We not only have the right to that home above, but
they failed to understand. It had all happened in such      we also rejoice in the confidence that we shall share
a short time; each event, one upon another, in'such         in Father's glory: home at last, when all the weary
rapid succession that they could not keep up with           night is spent. We have access, that is, we have the
them. There was still in their minds the question of        right,. along with the desire to ascend those lofty
the kingdom. How and when would Christ establish            heighds with a song in our hearts. "Let those refuse to
His kingdom? What did the cross, His resurrection,          sing, who never knew our God; but children of the
His ascension into heaven have to do with His               heavenly King may speak His praise abroad."
kingdom? One comfort they had: Christ had in-                 The way grows long, and often wearisome'. As we
structed them to wait in Jerusalem for the out-             travel over rugged terrain, through deep, dark gorges,
pouring of the Holy Spirit, Who, He assured them,           along taxing miles of canyon, even that heavenly city
would solve all their problems. They were waiting           fades from view. We walk by faith, and not by sight.
with much prayer for the fulfillment of that                The #enemy attacks; we falter shamefully; we even fall
promise.                                                    into sin. Keenly we feel the need for daily for-
   Suddenly it happened. On the first day of the week       giveness, even for sanctifying grace to be renewed
the.Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Almost as         every morning. Yet through it all we rejoice with a


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 363


joy unspeakable and full of glory. (Rom.  5:3, 4).              Paul speaks of tribulations that work patience, of
Gratefully we realize that we are blessed with every         patience that works experience, and of experience
necessary blessing of salvation by the Spirit that is        that works hope. Our comfort is that the power of
given to us!                                                 Almighty God works within us by His Spirit, even as
   Wonderful gift of the Spirit!                             we struggle and falter on our upward climb to Sion's
   By opening for us the Scriptures, our road                heights. Tribulation is not strange to any of us. The
                                                  map  to
the heavenly City, the Spirit enlightens our minds,          word Paul uses means literally "pressure." Satan
quickens our will to seek the things above with a            applies his pressure upon us; the world exerts her
lively hope.                                                 pressure; our own flesh adds its pressure to make us
                                                             stumble, to make us fall. Pressures from every side,
  We ask ourselves: why'do I want to go to heaven?           while the road is steep, the load is heavy, the cross is
Is it the desire to meet dear ones who have already          painful, so that in this tabernacle we groan. But there
gone to sleep in the Lord? Is it to be delivered from        is always present the working power of God in those
the present misery of sin and death, never to sin any        tribulations, teaching us the invaluable lesson of
more, never to suffer any more? All that is really           patience. --
secondary. My main desire is to be with Christ, Who
draws me to Himself by His efficacious power. To be             Patience is the elasticity, the give and stretch of
                                                             our faith. It keeps us alert. It creates endurance. By it
with Christ includes seeing my God in the face of            we gain experience, so that we as trained,  well-
Jesus, beholding His beauty, being satisfied with the        equipped soldiers can stand throughout the evil day.
radiant light of  His perfections, in intimate com-
munion of life at the wedding feast of the Lamb. One         Each day prepares us for the next. Each victory helps
thing, just one thing have I desired of the Lord. That       us to be ready to meet an even more formidable
will I seek after, that I may behold the beauty of the       enemy with greater confidence. We learn to sing in
Lord and be saturated with His glories. (See Psalm           ever richer hope: "We're marching upward to Sion,
27:4). Then I will be like Him, as fully as that is          that beautiful City of God!"
possible for any creature, enjoying to the full His             Blessed work of the Spirit, Who leads us from faith
blessedness, to declare with my whole being: "My             to faith, from strength to strength, and from hope to
God, how GREAT Thou art!" Now, in anticipation,              higher reaches of hope.
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!                     Is it all as easy as that? How about the old man of
  That hope is real. True enough, it far exceeds our         sin who still fights us at every turn of the way? How
fondest imaginations, for it belongs to those things         well we realize that he burdens us with excess luggage
that we have never yet seen, nor heard, nor were             for his own luxurious comforts. Too often we
invented by our limited imagination. Yet it is as real       experience the doubts and fears that he raises, causing
as anything we now know.                                     us to ask: Does not that hope ever put us to shame?
  That hope is absolutely sure. When faith utters the           What if that hope we cherish proves to be nothing
word `hope' it attaches a meaning to it that this world      but a hallucination, a vain dream? The world also has
can never know. In this life we are forced to speak of       her illusions that end in disappointment. The Indian
our hopes with a shrug of the shoulders, expressing an       has his "happy hunting grounds." The Vikings had
uncertain "I hope so." Scripture even warns us not to        their Valhalla. Round about us arise  various.voices
speak with proud certainty concerning the day of             denying the infallibility of the Scriptures. They tell us
tomorrow. It is only proper to say: "If the Lord wills       that Abraham had his idea of life beyond the grave;
and I live." (James 4: 13-l 5). When we speak of that        Moses gave us his version of his hope; and David
heavenly City, we can speak with all the confidence          expresses his personal expectation. How can we be
of true faith. Faith declares: "I know Whom I have           sure that they were not misguided by the super-
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep           stitions of the heathen nations? After all, when we
that which I have committed unto Him against that            face death we face an enemy enshrouded in thick
day." (II Tim. 1: 12).                                       darkness.
  That hope is living, active, for it reaches out              There is another conceivable possibility. Granted
toward that heavenly City with eager longing. Have           that the hope of the believers has been realized for
you never watched the clock as you eagerly awaited           them how do I know that this hope will also be
the arrival of a dear one; even wondering at times           attained by me? When I consider my own depravity,
whether the clock had stopped? As you went to the            along with my strong inclination to hate that which is
window time after time, did you not wonder that              good, and to cherish all that is evil, the fear creeps up
time could so sorely tax your patience? So, as you           in my soul that some day I will still perish at the hand
pause for breath on your pilgrim's journey, the              of my enemies. When I consider my sins that weigh as
mountain peak of your hope can seem so far away.             a heavy burden of guilt upon my soul, ever threaten-


364                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


ing to crush me, I know that if it depends upon me,                    that all that we are and all that we have is the fruit of
I'll never make it. What if, approaching the journey's                 Christ's indwelling Spirit in us!
end, it should slip from my grasp?                          -.            How can I personally know that I possess this?
  Still another possibility stirs my soul. Granted that                   To that the apostle answers: We know, because
my heavenly home is real, and that I also, am heir to                  "the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts." One
that salvation, the thought persists, What if the future               of the gifts which the Holy Spirit takes from Christ
glory should disappoint my fond expectations. I see                    and shares with us is the gift of God's love. God lives
the beauty of a sunset, and I ask, "Can heaven be                      His own glorious life of love and fellowship so
more beautiful than that?" I hear a choir sing the                     intensbly in Himself, that He must needs share this
"Messiah", and I ask, "Can heaven's choirs outdo                       with all His people in Christ. The overflowing Foun-
that?" I experience the warm comforts of fellowship                    tain of grace draws to Himself a people to delight in
with my family and church members, and my soul                         His blessedness forever.
enquires, "When I am compelled to leave this all
behind, will heaven's communion far exceed even                           It is as simple as this: God loves His people in
this?" I see an invalid who has never known a                          Christ. He has foreordained them to know Him,
moment without pain, never enjoyed the pleasures of                    delight in Him, adore Him, worship Him, bursting
this life, and the question demands an answer, "Will                   forth in humble adoration to the praise of His glory;
the joys of heaven really make all this present                        He delivers that people from the deepest woe of sin
suffering more than worth while?"                                      and hell into the most perfect blessedness of sons in
                                                                       His house, who adoringly confess: "We love thee,
  Powerfully faith rises to the occasion to brush all                  becaulse Thou hast first loved us."
these objections aside with the confident assertion:
"Hope maketh not ashamed!"                                                We take up the song that has thrilled the hearts of
                                                                       the saints of all ages, "I love the Lord, because He
  Heaven is real! God's Word vouches for its own                       hath heard my voice and my supplication. Because He
divine authority. God's promises are sure unto all                     hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call on
eternity!                                                              Him as long as I live." (Psalm 116: 1, 2). From the
  Heaven is sure! Faith is from God, and that faith                    lisping lips of the small child, as well as from the
cannot fail us. Faith is knowledge, a sure knowledge                   rasping voice of the aged saint, the one beginning to
wrought in our hearts by the Spirit of truth in Christ                 climb Sion's Holy Hill, the other almost attaining his
Jesus! Faith itself is certainty, for faith trusts in God,             goal, comes the same refrain, "Jesus loves me, this I
Who grants it to us. It is the living bond that unites us              know,, forthe Bible tells me so."
in living fellowship with the living Savior in heaven.
He Who has begun a good work will surely finish it!                       Pentecost has come and gone.
  Heaven will exceed our fondest imaginations. All                        What remains is the Spirit of the risen Lord with
the sufferings of this present time will fade into                     and in His church. I know, because He loves me so
oblivion at the sight of that glory. What mortal                       much:, that He has spread His love abroad in our
tongue can tell the wonder of heavenly life, making                    hearts.
use of all our faculties, and of all our gifts and talents,               That love abides in faith and in hope.
each in his own capacity, to devote ourselves                             I shlall never be put to shame in that hope.
completely to the sole purpose that God's glories may
shine forth to His praise in all His wide and vast                        The half has not been told.
creation? Then we shall realize, even better than now,                    Thanks be to God for His abiding gift of the Spirit.

                                                   NOTICE!!! CALL TO SYNOD

         According to the decision of the last Synod, the Consistory of The Protestant Reformed Church of Hull', Iowa, notifies
       the Churches that the 1975 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churc:hes  will convene on Wednesday, June 11, the Lord
       willing, at 9:00 A.M. in the above mentioned church.

          The. preSynodical service will be held on Tuesday evening, June 110, at 8:00 P.M. Rev. D. Engelsma, President of the
       previous Synod is scheduled to preach at this service.

         Synodical delegazs are requested to gather with the Consistory before the service.

          Those requesting lodging are to contact Mr. Henry Hoekstra,.Hull, IA 51239.          Consistory of The Hull
                                                                                               Prot. Ref. Church.

                                                                                                   Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.
                                                                                                   Henry Hoekstra, Sec'y.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                    365


EDITORIAL

              A Gravamen In The Garb Of A Request
                                                   Profi H.  C  Hoeksema

  In  the  Reformed Journal  (April, 1975,  PP.  7-10)              express testimony is. The consistory declined this
there appears a significant article f&m the pen of Dr.              request stating that I can address this question to the
Harry R. Boer entitled "Reprobation: does the Bible                 church only in the form of a gravamen. Unable to
teach it?" - significant, I believe, because it fits into           concur in this judgment, I next addressed the request
what seems to be a world-wide pattern of attack and                 to my then  classis, Chicago South. In 1973 the Classis
erosion with respect to the Reformed faith. But more                gave me the same, answer that the consistory had
about that significance later. What makes th,is article             given me. I now address my request to the Synod.
                                                                    There is urgent reason arising from a publicly known
important is the fact that it is actually a transcript of           harmful, and to a large extent officially existing
an address to the Synod of the Christian Reformed                   situation  in the Christian Reformed Church, and
Church. It does not appear in this year's  synodical                further from the missionary context in which I work,
Agenda, nor could I  find it listed among the                       that leads me to ask the Synod to receive and deal
unprinted personal appeals in the Agenda. Hence, I                  with this altogether important question.
do not know, as of this writing, whether this address             In the rest of his rather lengthy article, Dr. Boer
will reach'and be treated by the 1975 Synod of the              clarifies and motivates the request quoted above.
Christian Reformed Church. Possibly it could be                 Because of its length, we shall not quote the entire
excluded from treatment on technical grounds; but               article, but summarize parts of it and quote only as
that, it seems to me, would only mean that it could             necessary. However, there is an important section of
appear on the Agenda a year later. However that may             clarification in the remainder of the article which it is
be, the fact is that this address to the Christian              necessary to quote in full. This is numbered "I" and
Reformed Synod is public. And we wish to comment                reads as follows:
on its form and its content, both to keep our readers                  Permit me to make two clarifications. First, my
informed as to what is happening on the Reformed                   request is not an appeal from consistorial and classical
scene and to instfuct our readers.                                 refusals to hear me. Nor is my request to be
  Dr. Boer's address to the Synod is purportedly a                 construed as a gravamen against the doctrine of
request to Synod to furnish Scriptural proof for the               reprobation. My address to Synod is a request for
doctrine of reprobation as taught by the Canons of                 information: what is "the express testimony of sacred
Dordrecht. It concerns especially Article 6 and                    Scripture" that teaches the doctrine confessed in the
Article 15 of Canons I. The request itself reads as                credal quotations adduced above?
follows:                                                               Second, both quotations include the decree of
      It is stated in Article                                      election in their scope. I do not request Scripture
                                  6 of the First Head of           support for the doctrine of election. Election is not
   Doctrine of the Canons of Dort that the fact "that              only well attested in the Scriptures, it is constitutive
   some receive the gift of faith from God, and others             of the whole doctrine of redemption. It is therefore a
   do not receive it, proceeds from God's eternal                  most fundamental and necessary doctrine. The fact
   decree." Article 15 of the same Head of Doctrine                that it is this forms no small part of my concern in
   similarly says that it is "the express testimony of             addressing you. I also exclude from my concern a
   sacred Scripture" that "not all, but some only are              request for Scriptural evidence that there is a
   elected, while others are passed by in the eternal              judgment of God on unbelief and sin committed by
   decree, whom God, out of His sovereign; most just,              unrepentant men in history, which the second half of
   irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, has            A r t i c l e   1.5  a s s o c i a t e s   w i t h   t h e   d o c t r i n e   o f
   decreed to leave in the common misery into which                reprobation.
   they  Fave wilfully plunged themselves, and not to
   bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of                      My address is therefore confined solely to a
   conversion. . . ."                                              request to receive from you specification of "the
                                                                   express testimony of sacred Scripture" with respect
      In Article 15 no Scripture is adduced to show                to  the doctrine of reprobation as taught in the two
   what is "the express, testimony of sacred Scripture"            articles cited and as limited in this paragraph.
   that supports the doctrine in question. The two texts
   adduced in Article 6 are certainly not perspicuous in          The rest of this document consists mainly of
   teaching what they are alleged to teach.                    explanation and motivation.
      Having been for some time concerned about this, I           In "II" Dr. Boer calls attention to the fact that the
   asked my  con&tory  in 1969 to inform me what this          doctrine of election "is rapidly going into eclipse in


366                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



the Christian Reformed Church." And he blames as a                              In the concluding section of this document, Dr.
"very basic cause" of this eclipse "the prevalent,                           Boer summarizes his request, quoting once again from
public, and officially condoned attitude of the                              the Canons of Dordrecht the specific passages for
Christian Reformed Church to the doctrine of                                 which he requests the Scriptural proof. And then he
reprobation as this is set forth notably in the citations                    writes :
from  I/6 and  I/l5 in the Canons of Dort given                                     I have not been able through my own study to
above." As to the  fa.ctualness of Dr. Boer's claim                              discover this "express testimony." Scriptural
here, I can only comment that I believe he has 20-20                             support adduced for it by Reformed theologians does
vision. Whether, however, this is proper motivation                              not impress me, and in any case I am not bound by
for his' request to synod is an altogether. different                            their exegetical judgments. My consistory and my
question.                                                                        classis have declined to respond to my request for
   In "III" Dr. Boer claims that "It is psychologically                          Sc:riptural  verification. Had they done so there would
and theologically next to impossible to preach on                                have been a basis for synod's fmalizing action. I wish
                                                                                 to know officially what the explicit Scriptural
election in the Christian Reformed Church even if                                support is for this doctrine which the Form of
one genuinely wants to do so." And what is the                                   Subscription binds all office-bearers, and presumably
alleged reason for this claimed impossibility? Dr. Boer                          ecclesiastical bodies when they are called upon to
says: "This disturbing circumstance is caused by the                             deal with matters directly and inseparably related to
existence alongside the doctrine of election, and                                it, both "diligently to teach and faithfully to
inextricably bound up with it, of the companion                                   defend."
doctrine of reprobation." In this section Dr. Boer                              I think it will be plain from the above account,
goes on to claim that "As a teaching of the Church it                        regardless of one's opinion for or against the
(the doctrine of reprobation) has become a credal                            document, that it deals with a matter of the utmost
appendix that appears to have no function in the                             seriousness. Dr. Boer himself states that the doctrine
body ecclesiastic." He further characterizes the                             of reprobation as taught in our Canons is inextricably
doctrine of reprobation as a "diseased appendix."                            connected with the doctrine of election. Hence, it is
And he goes on to claim that "The diseased condition                         fair to conclude .also that the doctrine of election as
arises from the fact that the general disbelief in the                       taught by the Canons is necessarily involved in this
doctrine has not resulted in its rejection as a central                      document of Boer also  - whether the document is
doctrine of the Church." Still speaking of reprobation                       vieweld as a request or as a gravamenI And recognition
in relation to election, he warns: "The Church cannot                        of this part alone is sufficient to brand this document
long preach a doctrine which she believes when it is                         of Boer as important. It deals with matters which are
part and parcel of a doctrine which she no longer                            of the very genius of the Reformed faith and
believes."                                                                   confession. Reformed believers, therefore, will do
       In "IV" Dr. Boer claims that the public situation                     well to observe what the outcome of this bit of
with respect to the doctrine of reprobation "has an                          strate,gy of Dr. Boer will prove to be.
official aspect which makes that situation even more                            As far as the formal, church political aspect of Dr.
ominous." In this connection he refers to the fact                           Boer's document is concerned, first of all, it seems to
that in the Christian Reformed Church the doctrine                           me that the document is patently and transparently
of reprobation "played no role of any kind whatever                          not a, request, but a gravamen against the Canons.
i n   t h e   d e b a t e   t h a t   w a s   c a r r i e d   o n   f o r    For tlhe benefit of any of our readers who may not be
four-and-one-half years" in connection with the                              acquainted with this term, a  gravamen is an official
Dekker Case. He claims, I believe correctly, that                            charge of error against one of our Three Forms of
neither the study committee, nor the numerous                                Unity, brought under the provisions of the Formula
 overtures to the Synod of 1967, nor the decision of                         of Subscription. Since a gravamen is against the
 Synod ever raised the relevance of the doctrine of                          confessions, its claim will necessarily be that the,
 reprobation in connection with the so-called Dekker                         teaching of the confession is not in harmony with the
 case.                                                                       teaching of Scripture itself. It is our claim, contrary
       In  "V" Dr. Boer offers as a further reason for his                   to Dr. Boer's avowals, that his document is
 request his position as a missionary engaged in a                           nevertheless such a gravamen. It is only disguised -
.textbook writing ministry in the service of                                  and rather poorly disguised - as a request. Why do I
 Englishspeaking African. theological.students.  And he                       make this claim? My reason is that while this
 writes: "I believe I am entitled to know the position                        docu:ment  of Dr. Boer claims to be nothing more than
 of my sending denomination on the question of the                            an innocent request, its entire tenor, as well as various
 Biblical basis for a doctrine so closely related to the                      specific statements, is critical of the Canons on the
 central Reformed affirmation of the sovereignty of                           doctrine of reprobation. In the first place, we must
 God and man's salvation as reprobation."                                     bear in mind that this request  - contrary to


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                367


appearances - does not "drop out of the blue," so to         this is the case, you know, with many articles in our
speak. For one thing, Dr. Boer has been a minister of        confessions  - it simply will not do for a man to
the Christian Reformed Church, I would guess, for at         subscribe for many years to the confessions and then
least thirty years. For all these years he has               suddenly to a&for proof. If he has doubts as to the
subscribed to the Canons. Is he suddenly now                 Scriptural validity of Articles 6 and 15 of Canons I,
discovering that there is allegedly no Scriptural proof      then the burden of proof is on him, not on the
in the Canons for the doctrine of reprobation? Did           Synod. Dr. Boer is using the disguise of a mere
he, then, blindly subscribe to the Canons for all these      request to make his point that no Scriptural proof
years? One would be inclined to address to the doctor        can be adduced for the doctrine of reprobation as
the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, "Art thou a master          taught by the Canons. Why he did not follow the
of Israel, and knowest not these things?" For another        method of gravamen, or whether he thought this
thing, we must view this document of Dr. Boer in its         method was too tedious and doomed to failure in
proper setting on the Reformed scene. It is exactly          advance, I do not know. Whether the strategy of his
these two points of the Canons which have not only           request is to put the Christian Reformed Synod
been criticized in the Netherlands, but have been            before the same issue that was faced in the Dutch
rejected by the Gereformeerde Kerken, and that, too,         churches several years ago, and in this connection, so
on the ground that the teaching of these articles is         to speak, to put the Synod between a rock and a hard
not the teaching of Scripture. It is well known that         place, I do not know. But any Synod would be
various theologians in the Netherlands, and especially       justified in giving the same answer as that which was
Dr. G. C. Berkouwer, have long been making                   given by Boer's consistory and by  Classis Chicago
propaganda against the Reformed doctrine of                  South. And in that case, of course, the burden of
reprobation and double predestination. For another           proof would rest squarely upon Dr. Boer's shoulders.
thing, Dr. Boer himself has written critically on this         Materially, of course, I do not agree with the
doctrine in the past. Besides, he is critical of the lack    position of Dr. Boer's article whatsoever. And yet it
of interest in and attention to the recent book of his       would be beneficial and would result in a "moment
fellow liberal, Dr. James Daane,' The Freedom of             of truth" if the issue raised by Dr. Boer would
God.  All this in itself, however, would not be              eventually somehow be treated by the broadest
sufficient reason to characterize Boer's document as a       ecclesiastical assembly of the Christian Reformed
gravamen. But there are also specific critical               Church. Perhaps Boer's request will not reach the
statements. In the  fast place, while it is technically      1975 Synod. Perhaps he will be told that he must
true that "in Article 15 no Scripture is adduced to          register a gravamen. If that should take place, I hope
show what is `the express testimony of sacred                that Boer will register such a gravamen. Why? Not
Scripture' that supports the doctrine in question,"          because I believe that Dr. Boer is correct in his
yet Dr. Boer certainly knows very well that in Canons        assessment of the reasons why the Christian
I, Rejection of Errors, Article 8, the Canons do             Reformed pulpits are largely silent concerning both
adduce three Scriptural passages in support of               reprobation and election. Not because I believe that
reprobation to which Dr. Boer does not pay the least         the fault is to be laid at the door of the Canons. Not
attention. They are:, Romans 9: 18, Matt. 13: 11, and        because I believe that the much maligned Reformed
Matt.  11:25, 26. In the second place, his statement         doctrine of double predestination (that is, election
concerning Article 6 is critical in a very serious way       and reprobation) is at fault. But because I believe that
of the Canons; and besides, it begs the question. That       principally the Christian Reformed Church
statement is: "The two texts adduced in Article 6 are        contradicted the doctrine of sovereign reprobation
certainly not perspicuous in teaching what they are          (and therewith inevitably the doctrine of `sovereign
alleged to teach." This is a round about way of saying       election) in 1924 when it adopted the doctrine of com-
that the Canons do not prove their point in Article 6.       mon grace and of the free offer. And if a future Synod
Besides, of course, this is merely a claim of Dr. Boer,      of the Christian Reformed Church would be com-
and a claim for which he offers no iota of proof. The        pelled to face the real issue of Dr. Boer's document,
burden of proof is on him to show that the Canons            this would result in a "moment of truth." Does the
are at fault here. I do not believe they are. I,             Christian Reformed Church truly hold to the Reform-
therefore, could as well say to Dr. Boer, "None is so        ed doctrine of reprobation, or is the general silence
blind as he who will not see." In the third place, Dr.       concerning this doctrine and that of sovereign
Boer in "III" of his document is obviously critical of       election evidence of the fact that the Christian
the doctrine of reprobation, blaming it for the silence      Reformed Church, while credally subscribing to these
about the doctrine of election in his denomination.          doctrines, nevertheless wants nothing of them?
He refers to reprobation as a diseased credal appen-           And that leads me to my final point. I began by
dix. And, finally, even if there were no explicit Scrip-     calling this document of Boer significant. I had in
tural proof offered by the Canons whatsoever, - and          mind the fact that on the worldwide Reformed scene


368                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



there has for several years been a process of erosion      by Dr. S. Woudstra. And I have in mind, too, that
going on with respect to these truths. I already           already in the Christian Reformed denomination
referred to the fact that theologians in the               reprobation has been denied by more than one
Netherlands have for a long time already openly            theologian. Is this document of Dr. Boer an opening
contradicted this doctrine of reprobation (and with        wedge in an attempt to make this denial  official?
it, inevitably, sovereign election) and that the Dutch     Time will tell. But meanwhile let all Reformed
churches have officially opened the door to the denial     believers be on their guard, and understand that with
of the teachings of our Canons in these two articles. I    the denial of sovereign reprobation the denial of
have m-mind, too, the fact that Dr. K. Runia, at that      sovereign election goes hand in hand. And with the
time still in Geelong, openly denied this doctrine.        denial of sovereign predestination Reformed churches
And he, of course, has now been followed at Geelong        deny all that is precious of the Reformed faith.


QUESTION BOX

             About Breaking Gad's Covenant
                                              Profi H.  C.  Hoeksema

  Recently I received two questions about this              His elect people in Christ Jesus, then it certainly
subject, both from the West Coast, but from different       follows, too, that that covenant cannot be broken. It
localities. The one question asked in general whether       is eternal, and it is an everlasting covenant. And it lies
it is possible to break God's covenant. The other          in the very nature of the case, therefore, that an
question was more specific. It arose out of the             eternal  covenant and  an everlasting  covenant is
discussion of the question whether the elect can or do      unbreakable. And if, further, you maintain, as we do,
break God's covenant. My questioner evidently was           that the covenant of grace is in the deepest sense of
of the opinion that this is impossible. I draw this         the word unilateral both in its establishment and its
conclusion from the following two specific questions        continuation and realization, that is, that the
which he asks: " 1. If the elect can break God's            covenant is throughout strictly God's covenant, in no
covenant, how can the five points of Calvinism              sense dependent upon you and me for its
possibly be maintained.7 2. If the elect can break          maintenance or its existence, then. you can
God's covenant, what meaning can text such as Phil.         understand, too, that the covenant is absolutely
1:6 and Psalm 73:23, 24 have then?"                         unbreakable, and can understand also why it is
Reply                                                       unbreakable. Now this is not merely some dogmatic
                                                            reasoning, but it  is_ the plain teaching. of Scripture
  It seems to me that the two specific questions            every time it speaks of an everlasting covenant, as, for
quoted above actually constitute two rather strong          exam:ple, in the well-known words of Genesis 17: 7, "I
arguments for the position that God's covenant              will establish my covenant between me and thee, and
cannot be broken. To question number 1 I would              thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an
have to answer: if the elect can break God's covenant,      everla.sting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to
the five points of Calvinism cannot possibly be             thy seed after thee." Further, it is this aspect of
maintained. And to question number 2 I would have           God's covenant which is emphasized in the
to answer: if the elect can break God's covenant, the       well-known history of the revelation of that covenant
texts cited, both of which refer to preservation and        to David in II Sam. 7 when the Lord assures David: "I
perseverance, would be meaningless.                         will  lbe  his father, and he shall be my son. If he
  Yet I feel that the argument of these two                 commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of
questions, however valid it may be, approaches the          men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But
subject rather indirectly. I would prefer to approach       my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took
the subject directly and from the viewpoint of the          it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And
very nature of the covenant of grace. And then I            thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for
would point out that this question is closely related       ever before thee: Thy throne shall be established for
to the question what we understand by God's                 ever." II Sam. 7: 14-16. These are the sure mercies of
covenant. If-you define the covenant, as we do, as the      David, mentioned by the prophet Isaiah and
eternal relationship of friendship between God and          celebrated in Psalm 89.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               369


  All this is plainly taught also in our Baptism Form.       Finally, I think it should be pointed out that we
The entire second paragraph of the "principal parts of     sometimes speak rather loosely and inaccurately in
the doctrine of holy baptism" teaches this; and it is      connection with the sins of those-who are brought up
emphasized especially in the very last part of that        in and live in the sphere of God's covenant in the
paragraph in the following language: "In like manner,      midst of the world of those sins as being a breaking of
when we are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost,        the covenant. Sometimes this language is used with
the Holy Ghost assures us, by this holy sacrament,         respect to the elect members of God's covenant, but
that he will  dwell in us, and sanctify us to be           sometimes it is also used with respect to the Esaus,
members of Christ applying unto us, that which we          who do `not belong to the covenant, but who live in
have in. Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins,     the sphere of and under the dispensation. of the
and the daily renewing of our lives,. till we shall        covenant. In the latter case, this is very plainly
finally be presented without spot -or wrinkle among        inaccurate: for one  -who does not belong to the
the assembly of the elect in life eternal." This           covenant of grace could hardly break that covenant.
language clearly presupposes that the covenant can         But in the former case, it is also inaccurate:
never be broken. And this forms the basis for what to      for it is exactly the nature of the covenant relation of
me is a most beautiful and comforting statement at         friendship with the living God that our sins cannot
the conclusion of this doctrinal section of the            break that bond of friendship. It is possible to violate
Baptism Form: "And if we sometimes through                 God's covenant, to sin against grace, to transgress
weakness fall into sin, we must not therefore despair      God's covenant. And we must never forget that it is
of God's mercy, nor continue in sin, since baptism is      precisely in the sphere of God's covenant that all our
a seal and undoubted testimony, that we have an            sins are more emphatically sinful. We may also say
eternal covenant of grace with God." The whole             that by our sins, as far as we are concerned, we make
thrust here is exactly the truth that God,is a faithful    that covenant bond impossible. But thanks be to
covenant God, our unfaithfumesses notwithstanding.         God, His covenant is faithful, for He is faithful. And
The eternal covenant of grace with God cannot be           this is the comfort'of God's people in the midst of all
broken and is not broken even when we sometimes
through weakness fall into sin. And if this were not       their present sin and imperfection. Do not object that
true, then it would certainly be true that all our sins    such a doctrine will make men careless and profane.
would be so many reasons to despair of God's mercy         For, first of ah, this is impossible for a true child of
and to give up the battle against sin and to continue      God, as our confessions also emphasize. And,
in sin. But we must not despair of God's mercy, nor        secondly, it is precisely the faithfulness and
continue in sin, because in baptism we have a seal and     unbreakableness of God's covenant that is the basis
undoubted testimony that                                   and the incentive for daily repentance and conversion
                               we have an eternal
covenant of grace with God. If we understand this,         from sin.
then we can also understand that the arguments in            Thus I would answer this question. If either of my
the two questions quoted above are pertinent;              questioners is not satisfied, call again!


ALL AROUND US

                                                  Prof H. Hanko
                                           Rectification

  In the April 15, 1975 issue of the Standard Bearer,      be an expression of their desire for unity. The caption
I commented on an article which appeared in the            of this article spoke of the fact that the students from
Wayland  Globe concerning an ecumenical mass which         Byron Center Christian School had participated in
was attended by the sixth grade students of the            this mass. On that grounds I criticized the actions of
Byron Center Christian School. The article in the          the Christian School for engaging in this act of
Wayland  Globe spoke in its title of the fact that the     ecumenism.
students of the sixth grade of Byron Center Christian        The principal of Byron Center Christian School,
School had attended this mass with the sixth grade of      Mr. Bonnema, called me up about the article, and I
a Roman Catholic School in the area. The mass was          later talked with him and the teacher who teaches the
held during Unity Week and was, on the part of the         Sixth Grade in Byron Center Christian School. They
students of the Roman Catholic School, intended to         both assured me of the following facts: they had told


370                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


the Roman Catholic teacher who extended the                                     which was a part of their heritage, and the  teachqr
invitation that they had no intention of participating                          used  the opportunity to give to the students a greater
in  -any respect in the celebration of the mass. They                           appreciation for the heritage of the Reformation in
made it very clear to the teacher that they could not,                          the light of the perversions of Rome. Further, the
for conscience' sake, have any part in it  - not the                            teacher, Mr. Los, also went with the class and did not
kneeling, the singing, the chanting, nor any other                              leave  ,the matter with a student teacher.
activities involved in the mass itself. At the                                    I arn glad to hear this, and happy to present this
celebration of the  mass, the students, along with their                        information to our readers. The article in the
teacher, were only observers. They witnessed the                                Wayland  Globe  was in error on this key point. We
c e l e b r a t i o n   o f   t h e   m a s s   -  n o t h i n g   m o r e .    offer our sincerest apologies to the teachers and
Furthermoi-e, they informed me that after they had                              students of Byron Center for reporting the erroneous
returned to their classroom, they spent nearly three                            information  in  the  Waylund  Globe,  and for our
hours discussing together the celebration of the mass                           criticisms which we made which arose out of this
in the `light of the principles of the Reformation                              erroneous article.
                                   More On The Abortion Issue
   The editor of  ow paper received a letter from one                               her get rid of the son who was still clinging to her.
of our readers which he referred to  me because the                                    Mr. Ceres had been hunting and had carried his
letter had to do with what I had written in the April                               rifle (surgical instruments). A single well-aimed shot
1 issue of the  Standard Bearer,  on the subject of                                 loosened the boy's grip and Ceres was able to pull the
abortion.  The letter reads as follows:                                             mlotber  to safety.
                                                                                       In our Men's Society (the men) were of  the
          I am having difficulty with a statement on page                           opinion that God would never cause such a situation
       296 of the Standard Bearer, Volume LI, number 13,                            to happen.
       April, 1975.                                                                    Please, what is your verdict?
          In the second column I read: "The ultimate
       decision rests with parents, or perhaps with the                            Thi: question which confronts believing parents a
       mother alone. Hence murder is condoned.                                  a time when the life of the mother is threatened is a
                                                                                difficult one. In fact, we do not hesitate to say that
          "But we want to emphasize again that abortion in                      the question is so difficult that believing  carents niay
       all cases except when the choice is very concretely                      very well `pray that they never face it. Nevertheless, it
       between the life of the unborn child and the mother
       is murder."                                                              happens. The difficulty of the decision which they
                                                                                are called to make however, is in  $art, due to other
          Is this a case of situation ethics? Here it is assumed                matters. It is not always easy to tell when the life of
       that in certain instances God in His providence places                   the  m.other  is actually threatened by childbirth. Even
       a believing mother and believing doctor before au
       impossible decision, and the killing of a life becomes                   consc:ientious  doctors oftentimes do not know with
       a good thing acceptable to God.                                          certainty. Parents have told me of their own personal
                                                                                expe:riences  in this respect. They have been
          God leaves it up to the mother  and, doctor to                        themselves informed by doctors that further children
       decide  which life shall be more useful in God's
       kingdom  here on earth.                                                  would seriously endanger the life of the mother. They
                                                                                have, nevertheless, been given children from the Lord
          So far my question.                                                   without any harm whatsoever to the mother. The
          (In another connection I included) the following                      same thing is true during a pregnancy. The doctor
       illustration. A Mr. Ceres was crossing a bridge over a                   may very seriously inform the mother that her life is
       gorge when upstream in the swollen river he spotted a                    threatened by a continuation of the pregnancy, but
       figure struggling to stay afloat. This called for quick                  the doctor does not always know.
       action, for farther down stream was a treacherous
       falls and certain death.                                                    This problem is compounded in our day by the
          Quickly he took hold of a nearby life belt with                       fact that -all doctors are not equally conscientious
       rope attached. This he tossed over the railing as the                    about this matter. Doctors may sometimes, on the
       struggling figure neared the bridge.                                     flimsiest of medical evidence, inform the mother that
          Now he saw that it was a neighbor lady with her                       continued childbearing would be a threat to her
       ten year old son clinging to her back. She was able to                   health and life.
       get hold of the life belt and Mr. Ceres started to pull                     In all these cases, parents must certainly get the
       them up on the bridge, but his strength was not equal                    opinion of more than one doctor, and, if at all
       to the weight of the two.                                                possible, they should try to get the opinion of a
          The mother then pleaded with Mr. Ceres to help                        `Chrisl:ian doctor.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   371


   It is for these reasons that I stated in my article:            In this context, the question very really comes to a
". . . except when the choice is  very concretely               decision concerning the life of the mother and the life
between the life of the unborn child and the                    of the unborn child. It seems to us then, that the
mother. . . ." The choice must be as clear as it is             grounds on which such a decision has to be made are
possible to make it in the light of all available medical       suggested by our correspondent when he writes:
evidence. It is for this reason, too, that the analogy of       "God leaves it up to the mother and doctor to decide
the story of Mr. Ceres is not completely appropriate.           which life shall be more useful in God's kingdom here
                                                                on earth." I would modify this somewhat. I would
  But all of this does not yet get at the question. The         think that the decision rests alone with the parents.
question, if I understand it correctly, really asks             This does not mean that they may not consult others,
concerning the grounds on which one makes a choice              but the final decision is their's to make. And then it
of this nature. When parents are confronted very                would seem to me that the decision would have to be
specifically and definitely with the choice between             that the mother "is more useful in God's kingdom
the life of the mother and the life of the unborn               here on earth." She has responsibilities towards her
child, what can serve as the basis for their decision?          husband and family. She has a definite place and
                                                                calling already established in God's Church and
  I think it is important at this point to remember             kingdom. It would, it seems to me, be incredible
that a decision has to be made. It will not do just to          under these circumstances, to take the life of the
let matters take their course. It is true that believing        mother in order to save that of the unborn child.
parents believe that the ultimate outcome of the
matter is in the hands of the Lord. But at such a                 Nevertheless, we must remember that the
crucial point in their lives, the Lord calls them to           responsibility always remains to do all in one's power
make a decision - prayerfully and before His face. It          `to the very end to save both  the' mother and the
is a decision which may be difficult and                        child. We never know with certainty what God will
heart-rending; but it must be made. It is a decision            do in these matters. Our lives are, after all, in His
comparable to the kind of decision which a believer            hands alone. He gives life and only He can take it
faces when he has, e.g., a tumor in his brain. The              away. And He rules over life in ways that oftentimes
doctors have assured him that he will die without               amaze the most capable of doctors.
surgery, but surgery carries with it the risk of                  There are two remarks which I want to make by
destroying his mind.                                           way of conclusion. In the first place, there are many
                                                               other circumstances which may enter into the
  If parents do not make such a decision and simply             decision. We cannot anticipate them all in this article.
let matters take their course, the mother will die, and        Although these circumstances do not materially
perhaps the baby also will die. To refrain from doing          affect the principle we have stated above,
anything is also a decision of sorts, but it also can          conscientious and believing parents must make their
carry with it the gravest responsibilities. Are the            decision before God's face and in the light of all the
parents who let matters take their course with the              circumstances. In the second place, we do not want
result that both mother and baby die any less guilty           to suggest in any way that the decision is an easy one.
of murder than those who let a loved one die through           We may well hope and pray that we are never
neglect and failure to provide proper medical care             confronted with it. But we may nevertheless be
when they knew such care was necessary? Is not a               assured that when the decision is forced upon us and
doctor guilty when he refuses to treat a person for a          we make our decision in prayer before God, God will
sickness when it is within his power to do so?                 bless that decision as well.


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
                        The Proof For The Trinity
                                                  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                   (An Exposition of Article IX of the Belgic Confession)

  Article VIII of the  Belgic  Confession  states the          The church believes that these three, while they are
Biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity, viz., that God is       to be distinguished according to their personal
one in essence, yet nevertheless distinguished in three        properties, may never be separated, for: ". . . they are
Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy. Spirit.            all three co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither


372                                               THE STANDARD  BEARtER


first nor last: for they are all three one, in truth, in        the Father is heard from heaven, the Son is being
power, in goodness, and in mercy." (Article VIII, The           baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him in
Belgic Confession) In its ninth article the Confission          the form  ,of a dove. Luke  1:35 is the well-known
treats "The proof of the foregoing article of the               passage which speaks of the announcement of Jesus'
Trinity of persons in one God." For the complete and            birth to Mary by Gabriel. In this announcement the
rather lengthy text of Article IX the reader ought to           angel speaks to Mary of the Holy Spirit that shall
consult the Liturgical section of Tee Psalter, pp. 26,          come upon her, of the power of the highest that shall
27. In its opening sentence, which reads, "All this we          oversh.adow her, and of the child that shall conse-
know, as well from the testimonies of holy writ, as             quently be born who shall be the Son of God.
from their (The three Persons of the Godhead, R.D:)             Matthew 28: 19 is the baptism formula which speaks
operations, and chiefly by those we feel in ourselves."         of our being baptized in the name of the Father, the
The Confession speaks of a double or two-fold proof.            Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Apostolic benediction
for the doctrine of the Trinity. That two-fold proof            also mentions all three Persons: "The grace of the
is, first of all, the testimony of the Scriptures; and,         Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
second, it is found in the operations of the three              communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
Persons of the Trinity, especially those operations in          Amen." (II Cor. 13 : 14) I John 5 :7 speaks clearly of
the heart of the believer.                                      the three Persons of the Trinity as being one: "For
       Turning to the Scriptures for proof for the Trinity,     there are three that bear record in heaven, The
the Article cites two passages from-Genesis: Chapter            Fathe:r, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these
1:26, 27 and Chapter 3:22. The first of these familiar          three are one." The difficulty is that this passage is
passages reads: "And- God said, Let us make man in              the object of a good deal of dispute. Most of the most
our image, after our likeness: and let them have                reliable  of the ancient manuscripts do not contain
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the cattle,         this verse which leads many New Testament scholars
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing           (even among the conservatives) to believe that it does
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in             not actually belong in the New Testament. It is not
his own image, in the image of God created he him;              our purpose to discuss this whole question. Just two
male and female created he them." There is more                 matte.rs ought to be noted. First, the doctrine of the
than these verses than may meet the eye. Notice the             Trinity does not depend upon this verse from I John.
rather striking use of the plural form of the first             If this verse indeed does not belong to the sacred
person personal pronoun, "us," and the plural form              record1 the Trinity is still plainly taught in many other
of the possessive, "our". At the same time the verb,            passages. Hence, in the second place, whether it is
"said," is in the singular form. Thus there is a                actually to be received as part of Scripture or not, it
plurality of Persons in God, but, also a basic oneness.         teaches the truth. There are three that bear record in
The same is taught in Genesis  3:22 which reads:                heave:n, and these three, the Father, the Son (Word),
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become               and the Holy Spirit, are one. In all these passages and
as one of us . . ."                                             more, therefore, ". . . we are fully taught, that there
                                                                are three persons in one only divine essence."
       In addition to these passages from the Old Testa-        (Article IX) Proof for the Trinity will. be found in
ment there are others which prove the Trinity. There            the Bible.
are the "Angel of Jehovah passages" such as Genesis
18 : 2; 19: 1,24; and many more. Psalm 33 : 6 speaks of           The Confession also speaks of the operations of the
the creation of the heavens: "By the word of the                three Persons as proof of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them            Moreover, it is "chiefly by those (operations) we feel
by the breath (or Spirit, R.D.) of his mouth." In               in ourselves" that we know this doctrine. The idea is
Chapter 61 of Isaiah the `prophet speaks of his being           that  the  threeness of God becomes manifest in the
anointed by the Spirit of God. The doctrine of the              works of God. And those works of God are distin-
Holy Trinity is taught, therefore, already in the Old           guished as those which God performs without us and
Testament Scriptures.                                           those within us. Still more, it is chiefly by those
                                                                within us that we know that God is three Persons in
       Nevertheless this truth is taught more clearly in the    one divine being. Those works or operations within us
New Testament. Article IX is correct when it states:
`Z                                                              are such operations as: regeneration, the calling, faith
      . . . but that, which appears to us somewhat obscure
in the `Old Testament, is very plain in the New."               (conversion), justification, sanctification, preserva-
                                                                tion, and glorification. By our being born again,
Mentioned in the article are five passages from the             called. out of darkness into God's fellowship, united
New Testament: Matthew 3: 16, 17; Matthew 28: 19;               to Christ by faith, justified through the shedding of
Luke 1:35; II Corinthians 13: 14; and I John 5:7.               His blood, made holy and preserved by His Spirit and
       Matthew 3: 16, 17 speaks of the baptism of Jesus.        Word; by these operations we know the Father, Son,
The three Persons of.God are all present: the voice of          and Holy Spirit as the God of our salvation. We may


                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                              373
                                                                                              =:                             --.

_  _ .  I  _  ____.____  _.  ..-  .__.  -  --..  .-  .- -- -- --  -. --  -..- ----  -.- -  -.._- .__ -_ --  _..-.;  ..-- -.------ - - ,._- _ -. _ _. ._ _. - .- _..__ __.._.. _ __ -.-.--_-  - --.-. _ .-
    also observe those works of God without us. These                                                     article speaks of several heresies over against which
    include the work of creation, that of providence, that                                                this doctrine has always been defended by the true
    of redemption in Jesus Christ; His cross and resurrec-                                                Church. It has been defended over against unbelieving
    tion, and ascension to glory. This the article further                                                Jews, who deny Christ and therefore the Trinity.
    explains in these terms: "Moreover, we must observe                                                   Mohammedans with their belief in Allah also deny
    the particular offices and operations of these three                                                  the God of the Scriptures, and this truth has been
    persons towards us. The Father is called our Creator,                                                 defended over against them.. Several heretics are cited
    by His power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer,                                                     by the article,  viz.: Marcion,  Manes, Praxeas, Sabel-
    by his blood; the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier, by his                                                lius, Samosatenus,  Arms,  ". . . and such like, who
dwelling in our hearts." This does not mean that God                                                      have been justly condemned by the orthodox
    the Father only was involved in our creation, but not                                                 fathers." Marcion  rejected the entire Old Testament
    the Son or the Spirit. Nor does it mean that the Son                                                  and retained only a mutilated form of the New. He
    without the Father or Spirit is alone involved in our                                                 denied the literal incarnation. God's Son according to
   redemption. Rather, the idea is that all the works of                                                  him had only a visionary body. Manes (also known as
    God, "the particular offices and operations," are of                                                  Mani) is the father of Manichaeism (to which Saint
    the Father, through the Son, and in or by the Holy                                                    Augustine was addicted for a time). He also denied
    Spirit.                                                                                               the incarnation and taught that God created Christ as
        The emphasis here ought not escape our attention.                                                 the ideal man who in this body came to earth to save
   Note well, our creed speaks of knowing this doctrine                                                   mankind by his teachings. Praxeas and Sabellius were
   of the Trinity from "the testimony of holy writ," and                                                  the founders of Sabellianism, which heresy rejected
   from "their operations . . . chiefly by those we feel in                                               the doctrine of three eternal  subsistences  within the
   ourselves." This does, not mean that we know this                                                      one divine essence. Paul of Samosata taught that
   truth from two sources; Scripture and our experience.                                                  Christ was a mere man who became progressively
   Ultimately our only source of this knowledge is the                                                    more divine by allowing God to penetrate his earthly
   Word of God. Apart from the. objective Word of                                                         life more completely. Arius too denied the divinity of
   God's revelation preserved in the Holy Scriptures we                                                   Jesus Christ.
   simply cannot know God. But the point is that                                                              Finally, with this article of our creed we confess:
   knowledge is never merely a matter of our intellects.                                                  ". . . although this doctrine far surpasses all human
   It's not mere "head knowledge". So very often it is                                                    understanding, nevertheless we now believe it by
   exactly at  this. point that the Reformed faith is                                                     means of the Word of God, but expect hereafter to
   criticized. The accusation has it that being a                                                         enjoy the perfect knowledge and benefit thereof in
   Reformed, a Protestant Reformed Christian means                                                        Heaven." This doctrine always transcends- our
   one has a  head".full of doctrinal facts but no real                                                   comprehension, for God "only hath immortality,
   experience..Nothing  could be further from the truth.                                                  dwelling in the light which no man can approach
   Our knowledge of God is always a knowledge  re-                                                        unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom
   ceived out of His Word as that Word is applied in our                                                  be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (I Tim.
   hearts by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, I                                                 6: 16). We do expect to enjoy the perfect knowledge
   know not merely that God is the Father of His elect                                                    and benefit (not in the sense of comprehension) when
   in Christ, but I know that God is my Father for Jesus'                                                 the covenant shall have been perfected in glory and
   sake. And I know that because the Spirit witnesses                                                     we shall know and enjoy the fellowship of God
   with my spirit that I am a child of God. (Romans                                                       perfectly. Now we see and know in part, but then face '
   8:16)                                                                                                  to face; and we shall know even as we are known. (I
        On the basis of the above-mentioned proof the                                                     Cor. 13:12)




                                                                       TEACHERURGENTLYNEEDED
                                                           The Hope Christian School of Redlands, California is in urgent need
                                                       of a teacher for the 1975-76 term for the lower grades,  grades  l-4. Any
                                                       prospective teacher interested should promptly contact: Mr. Otto
                                                       Gaastra, 917 Campus Ave., Redlands, California 92373. Phone: (714)
                                                       7933991. Who will help?


374               ;                            THE STANDARD BEARER


FROM HOLY WRIT
                  /              Exposition of Hebrews 13
                                                      Rev. G. Lubbers
THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE VARIOUS                                 aforementioned position that these exhortations are
EXHORT'ATIONS  OF HEBREWS 13 TO THE MAIN                        not th.e outflow and application of the teachings of
ARGUMENT OF HEBREWS.                                            this letter proper.
   There is a school of thought which holds that these            Some of these exhortations stand in direct relation-
exhortations in the last chapter of Hebrews are rather          ship with the great exhortation to. the Hebrews that
detached: injunctions by the writer which have little           they be not moved from the hope of the gospel, nor
or no dir&t relationship with the teaching of the rest          depart from the living God as He reveals Himself in
of the ,ebistle. These injunctions, so it is held, could        Mt. Zion, the city of the living God in Christ the
very  we4 have been  aphended to any other letter               Messiah. (Heb. 12-14) And we add that this is true of
which, fsr example, Paul had written to the church at           some of these exhortations on the very surface of
Rome.  /                                                        them. Thus it is the case in vss. 9-15 of this chapter,
   It may be well to give a brief survey of these               where the Hebrews are warned against being led
various i$junctions which we find in Hebrews 13. We             astray by the Jewish teaching concerning meats; they
will itemize them as follows:                                   must not be carried about with diverse and strange
                                                                doctri:nes, which have not profited those who were
        1.  Chstian  brotherly love, including showing          occupied therein. This is a direct reiteration of the
hospitality to the wayfaring stranger, and to those             main theme of  this letter. Even the allusion to the
who are evilly entreated, vss. l-3.                             acceptable sacrifices spoken of in vs. 16 indicates that
        2. Tlie honorableness and chastity of holy wed-         the writer is still thinking of this main theme here,
lock in  idistinction  from the impurity of  whore-             and would drive this point home. Likewise this is
mongers bnd adulterers, vs. 4.                                  reflected in the exhortation that the believers of the
        3. The sin of covetousness as contrasted with           Hebrews imitate the walk and teaching of those who
childlikeitrust in the Lord God of Israel, vss. 5, 6.           had been their instructors, the apostles atid evangel-
                                                                ists. They have to consider their departure out of this
        4. The injunction to imitate the godly walk and         world, triumphantly in faith and' hofie and love. This
teaching jof the apostles and teachers, giving heed to          is a very direct repetition of what the writer had
their triymphant end, vss. 7, 8.                                already written in Hebrews 2: l-4.
        5. An admonition not to be led astray by Jewish           Although the former paragraph raiher conclusively
doctrines and observances, but rather to be edified by          proves our position, we would still add that there are
God's g&e, vss. 9-l 5.                                          other of these exhortations which flow from the great
        6.  An exhortation that we do good and com-             principle of a better covenant, which is based upon
municate to. others, vs. 16.                                    better promises, to wit, that the law is now, written
        7.  Ah exhortation to be obedient to the leaders,       not simply on tables of stone but upon the tables of
the elde<s in the church, vs. 17.                               the heart. (Heb. 8 : 1 O-12) We now have the promise
                                                                of the Lord, spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, ful-
        8. Ai exhortation and petition that the writer be       filled in Jesus Christ. It is the law written in the heart,
remembdred in the prayers of  -the saints to be                 which was a better covenant, based upon better
restored 10 them the sooner, vss. 18, 19.                       promises. (Jer.  31:31-34) This is the great, central
        9.  A beautiful prayer for the blessing of the          teaching of the letter to the Hebrews. All is ",better"
congrega"tion  by the God Who raised up Christ from             now. And we. may add to this that there are also
the dead; vss. 20, 2 1.                                         exhortations here which are very much implied in this
   10. An appeal that the congregation receive the              basic and central teaching of Hebrews. Thus the
chief ad$onition  of this letter in the fear of the Lord,       matter of chastity in and outside of wedlock is the
vs. 22.                                                         teaching that we have been saved from dead works to
                                                                serve the living God. (Heb. 6:l; 9: 14) We must purge
   11. AL expression of the writer's hope to visit the          our  clonscience from dead works to serve the living
Hebrew Christians with Timothy at an early date, vs.            God.
23.         j/                                                    Aed, lastly we see this in the various exhortations
   12. Tl;le salutation and apostolic benediction.              which. underscore brotherly love. In this the love of
   When; we study all these exhortations carefully and          God, which is written in our hearts in the new and
analyze them, we find that we must disagree with the            better covenant, reveals itself. It belongs to the grace


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 375


necessary in our lives to make our calling and election       never paid up in full. It is the law of heaven and
sure. (II Peter  1:5-10) And when we read that                earth. And this love must not wax cold and inopera-
beautiful benediction prayer in vss. 20, 21, we see           tive. There is a danger that such it might become in
that all we have is through the "blood of the                 these saints. Had not the apostle written in Hebrews
everlasting covenant." This refers to the blood of the        10:24, 25 concerning the necessity of giving heed to
Mediator, Jesus, Whose blood speaks better things             each other and to good works? And must they not do
than that of Abel.                                            so much the more as they see the day approaching?
   All this indicates that these exhortations are very        There was therefore danger of their faith not being
germane to the total argument here in this epistle,           strong, their hope not lively, and their love waxing
and not some loosely appended afterthought                    lukewarm and indifferent in the midst of trials and
injunctions.                                                  persecutions for the Lord's sake.
THE NEED OF ABIDING BROTHERLY LOVE                              Yes, they must not be as those in whom the seed is
(Hebrews 13: l-3)                                             sown in stony ground, nor as that which is sown
   The writer enjoins brotherly love. Writes he, "Let         among the thorns. The former are those who are
brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain        enthused for a little while, but have no depth of
strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels           earth; and when persecution comes, they are offended.
unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as                 And the latter are those in whom the cares of life and
bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as          the deceit of riches choke the Word, and they bear no
being yourselves in the body."                                fruit of the gospel in their lives. (Matt.  13:20, 21)
   Basically this "brotherly love" (philadelphia)  is the     This is an ever present peril to the saints in every age,
love of God in our hearts, which we have to all the           and it was so to these Hebrews Christians. But God
saints. (Eph. 1: 15; Col. 1:4) It is not a so-called love     works grace through His admonitions of the gospel,
of the brotherhood of man as advocated by all who             and thus, He keeps His own elect from falling into the
love to speak of the "fatherhood of God" over all             sin of not walking in brotherly love.
men. Such is the stand of all unbelief, and in the              This brotherly love must reveal itself continuously
highest sense of the anti-Christ himself. And the world       in the very concrete situation of the Hebrew Chris-
is full of this in its philanthropic works, which are not     tians as they live as those suffering for Christ's sake.
rooted in the love of God. This brotherly love here is        Some of these brethren are homeless; they are lonely
very uniquely a love which a fellow-Christian has for         wayfarers, and must travel from place to place. They
his brethren in the Lord. Wherefore the apostle Paul          are not welcome in the Jewish community or by
writes in Ephesians 1: 15, 16 that he does not cease to       those of the unbelieving Gentile world. They must
give thanks unto the Lord for these saints, whereas he        therefore experience the communion of the saints by
has "heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and of            being received into their homes. Had not Jesus said in
their love to all the saints." This is indeed a living        Matt. 25:44,45 that what we do to one of these little
faith, which shows itself in works. (James  2:14-26)          ones of Him, we do it unto Him, even if it be but a
Paul writes in the same vein in Eph. 3: 17, 18, where         cup of water? The believers in Thessalonica have been
he speaks of Christ so dwelling by His Spirit in our          commended that they had shown that they were
inner man that we may be able to comprehend with              taught of God  (theodaktos)  in their showing
all the saints  what is the breadth and length, the           brotherly kindness and love to all who were in
depth and height of the love of Christ. This is the love      Macedonia. (I Thess. 4:9, 10) And is not being taught
by which faith is wrought in our hearts. (Gal.  5:6)          of God the grace of those who have come to Jesus
There is a "brotherhood" in the world to which we             because the heavenly Father has drawn them by
belong as Christians; a certain suffering is fulfilled in     irresistible grace? (John 6:45) And in the marvelous
the midst of these saints. And we know ourselves akin         providence of our heavenly Father He brings such
to them in their. life and sufferings. (I Peter 5: 9) Such    "strangers" to our door, that we may show them
is this brotherly love in its nature and operation. It        love. And without knowing, we show kindness to
knows of a unique ministering to the saints as the            those who are even more precious than angels. We
fulfillment of the law of Christ, the fulfillment of the      show kindness to those concerning whom the angels
law'and prophets, the golden rule as taught by Jesus          rejoice before the throne of God, when one such
in Matthew 7: 12. This is the fulfillment of the very         sinner repents. Abraham indeed showed hospitality to
Magna  Carta  of the kingdom of heaven, both in the           angels unawares. Yes, he showed kindness to the
Old and New Testaments.                                       Angel of the Lord, the Christ in the Old Testament
  Now this brotherly love must "remain." This refers          dispensation as He visited His people. And Lot also
to the exercise of this love in the midst of the saints       showed kindness to and entertained angels unawares.
in all its dimension. The law of the Lord is very wide.       (Gen.  18:3;  19:13) Well may we heed this added
We must owe no man anything save that we owe him              incentive to this exhortation that brotherly love
                                                                 .
ever and abiding love. It is a debt which is paid, but - contlrm%


376                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



SIGN* OF THEs,TIMES

                                The Shakertown Pledge
                                                               Rev. G. Van Baren

             i
  Recently, I (and I assume all the clergymen of our                         - Second, we must be willing to simplify our own
area) received a special mailing from G.R.A.C.E. (the                        lifestyles and begin to move toward a just World
ecumenical council of clergymen and rabbis in Grand                          Standard of Living.
Rapids) encouraging participation in a "hunger week"                            This is what is "new" about the Shakertown
beginning last April 13. This was designed to make                           pledge. Declarations of world citizenship are not new.
people aware of the hunger problem in the world as                           Devotional and worship commitments are important
well as to raise monies to help relieve the problem.                         - but are hardly new. No, what is "new" in the
Enclosed: in this appeal was a suggested Bulletin insert                     Pledge is the  fnm declaration that  personal piety,
for the Sunday of April 13, entitled, "The  Shaker-                          social conscience, and a simple lifestyle are all essen-
town Pledge". I do not know how many churches                                tial parts of a religious life that possesses integrity.
actually  .I printed that in their bulletins. Probably
many  did. It is another instance of propaganda                             One notes many points which are disturbing, to say
conditioning those within the churches (and syna-                         the least. There is the proposed declaration of "world
gogues) for the coming antichristian world power.                         citizenship". This can not mean, of course, that all
For although this "pledge" contains elements which                        men live on one earth. That has always been true. Nor
one might not dispute, much of it involves ideas                          does this merely suggest that one has certain obliga-
which can only prepare and condition many for the                         tions, and that too, before God, to use material things
coming  :of the antichrist and his kingdom. The                           aright. But this suggests the fact of "citizenship".
"pledge", reads as follows:                                               That certainly implies a political relationship.
                                                                          Usually, we regard ourselves to be citizens in a
          I declare myself to be a world citizen.                         specific country, whether of United States, England,
          I commit myself to lead an ecologically sound life.             Canada, or elsewhere. But the "pledge" would seek to
          I commit myself to lead a life of creative sim-                 remove that concept from one's mind. We must
       plicity and to share my personal wealth with the                   rather think in terms of "world citizenship". That
       world3 poor.                                                       would suggest ultimately a world, power, a centralized
          I commit myself to join with others in reshaping                world government. One is encouraged to think in
       institutions in order to bring about a more just global            terms of that.
       society in which each person has full access to the
       needejd resources for their (sic) physical, emotional,               That is foretold also in Scripture (Rev. 13 is a clear
       intellectual, and spiritual growth.                                example of this). Man will finally conclude that the
          I commit myself to occupational accountability                  solution of his problems is to be found in  world-
       and in so doing I will seek to avoid the creation of               oneness; in a world power. And from his point of
       products which cause harm to others.                               view, this is correct. The "wound of the beast" of
                                                                          Revelation 13, incurred evidently `at the tower of
          I affirm the gift of my body, and commit myself
       to its iproper  nourishment and physical well-being.               Babel and the confusion of speech, will be healed.
                                                                          Divisions among mankind must cease. Man must
          I commit myself to examine continually my                       become united. There must be world citizenship
       relations with others, and to attempt to relate                    rather than national citizenship.
       honestly, morally, and lovingly to those around me.
          I  ,commit  myself to personal renewal through                    And all this is being printed on church Bulletins to
       prayer, meditation, and study.                                     encourage cooperation of the churches with this
          I commit myself to responsible participation in a               antichristian viewpoint.
       community of faith.                                                   Secondly, this "pledge" has something to say
  The document goes on to explain the idea of this                        concerning the redistribution of wealth. It not merely
"pledge'!:                                                                recognizes inequalities in the question of wealth, it
          We believe that there are two important steps that              not only points out injustices in connection with
       can b!e taken:                                                     that, but it pledges an individual to work toward
       - First, we must commit ourselves to work for a                    redistributing his personal wealth to the world's poor.
       globally just society in which no one goes without.                And, this is proposed as a "pledge" for a Christian.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                377


  In considering that, one must beware of' a  con-         reformation. He sees the evidences of sin in the
elusion  based on greed in which he would insist that      institutions of men. But this is not the same as
he will keep what he has. He will not give. These          insisting upon a "reshaping" in order to bring about a
material things belong to him. But on the other hand,      "more just global society".
the principle set forth in the "pledge" is hardly            In the fourth place, the "pledge" speaks of one's
Christian. Fact is, there seems to be more than a tinge    relationship to others so that one "relates honestly,
of socialism suggested there. There is the implication     morally, and lovingly to those around me." That does
that all ought to share equally of this world's goods;     sound good. Sounds a bit like the Boy Scout oath: Or
that there is something inherently unchristian to have     a modified golden rule. Yet it must be noted  that,
more than others. Now Scripture does not teach that.       Christ has no place in this proposal (nor in any of the
In the Old Testament, rich men as Abraham, Job,            others). The "pledge" suggests a relationship between
David, Solomon are not required to redistribute their      mankind which presumably is common to man.
wealth so that all might have equality. In the New         Anyone can practice such relationship  - if only he'
Testament one does not find a command to work for          tries enough. But the child of God is to love his
such equality. On the contrary, the rich are called to     neighbor for God's sake. His relationship proceeds
be properly compassionate and the poor to receive          out of a regenerated heart. He shows in word and
thankfully.                                                deed that he does belong to Christ. We may not
  One might add that the giving of the child of God        confuse that relationship with the "social gospel" of
is first of all to assist fellow-saints. When Paul at      our day.
Antioch took collections for the drought-stricken            Fifthly, the "pledge" speaks of "personal renewal
Jerusalem, these collections were given there to the       through prayer, meditation, and study." That, too,
church.  But also, these mercies-of Christ are to be       would fit in well with the principles of the antichrist.
given with the Word of God accompanying it. One            The Pharisees of Jesus' day could observe this
who receives must know that this gift is not com-          requirement well. There is in it no personal regenera-
parable to the "giving" by the world, but is rather the    tion or conversion. There is no God specified to
fruit of the mercies which the Christian has experi-       whom one is to pray. There is no mention of Christ -
enced from Christ.                                         just: prayer, meditation, and study. Reminds one of
  The pledge, then, seems to lead into a distortion of     the idea of salvation by good works. It sets forth a
Christian giving *to make it appear more as socialism      course of  `%ighteousness" that any can observe. All
or Communism than a reflection of Christ's mercies.        can "profit" by pledging to do this. But this in no
                                                           way compares to the specifics required in Scripture.
   In the third place, this "pledge" commits one to a      In the Bible one learns how he must study the Word;
"reshaping of  in3titutions in order to bring about a      pray to the Sovereign God for Jesus' sake.
more just global society in which each person has full
access to the needed resources. . . ." Again, one must       Finally, the "pledge" speaks of "responsible
be quick to say that there are many institutions today     participation in a community of faith." That is worse
in need of "reshaping". This is true both in govern;       than that oft-seen statement, "Worship God in the
ment as well as within the church world. There ought       church of your choice." The "pledge" speaks only of
to be a spiritual reformation. But that, obviously, is     a "community of faith". What would that be? Surely
not what this "pledge" has in mind.                        it would include Protestant and Roman Catholic, but
                                                           also Jew. Each of these participate in a "community
   The "reshaping is that governments and churches         of faith". Even other religions can not be excluded
may bring about a "more just global society. . . ."        from this statement. A Moslem could also speak of
One pledges to compel institutions to take the same        his participating in his "community of faith". That all
point of view as the "world citizen". Where views          emphasizes again that man is interested in "religious"
clash against this "world citizenship" viewpoint, the      beings - and it matters not what religion this might
individual must see to the "reshaping" of these            be. Surely the way is open for the coming of the
contrary views and the organizations which hold            antichrist when men are ready to pledge to
them. The "pledge" does not mention the means              participate "in a community of faith" - for that is
which must be used to reshape organizations. Some          what the kingdom of the antichrist is: a community
have advocated "peaceful" means; others insist that        of faith - in-man.
violence is justified to accomplish the end of re-           No, the. child of God can not participate in such an
shaping of the institutions.                               unholy "pledge". It shocks him that so many
   The child of God may not be participant in such         "churches" can be ready to "pledge" all of this. But
"reshaping". He confesses that organizations are           it does remind us again that soon then our Lord must
often very corrupt. He must also point out this            return on the clouds of glory.
corruption and emphasize the calling for spiritual           "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"


 378                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  THE DAY OF SHADOWS

                /_j                 Fleshly Impatience
                f                                   Rev. John A. Heys

        The child of God has three enemies with which he       husband was approaching his eighty-sixth birthday,
  must fight all through his earthly life: the devil, the      and she herself was a woman of seventy-five. In her
  world and his flesh. And that flesh is to be reckoned        favour may be stated that she was very interested in
  with, if we are to understand his struggle in the midst      God's covenant promises and rejoiced to hear that
  of this world. We must not be too quick to blame the         Abraham would have a son of his own even at this
  devil for the sins which we commit. And we sin so            late date in his life. But to her shame, it must be said
  often when there is no world to tempt us or to bring         that she became impatient and led Abraham also into
  pressure! to bear upon us. Paul writes in his epistle to     a stand of fleshly impatience.
  the  Remans that, "The carnal (fleshly) mind is                Sarah tried to help God, and the very thought of
  enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of      doing so is loathsome to one who knows the truth
  God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in         concerning God. He needs no help from man. He had
  the flesh cannot please God." Twice here in Romans           just shown Abraham that the covenant stands because
  8:7,`8 he makes mention of the flesh, for he speaks of       of His faithfulness. And while Abraham slept, God
  the fleshly mind and of the flesh of man which is            passed between the pieces of the beasts and swore to
  incapable of doing anything pleasing in God's sight.         keep His covenant which He had established with His
        Abraham had such flesh as well as we do. This flesh    people in Christ.
  is not something that became man's after the cross of          Without making it a matter of prayer, without
  Christ. Paul is speaking of the flesh of men in the Old      walking by faith with the matter, Sarah suggests to
  Testament dispensation as surely as he is speaking of        Abraham that he take Hagar, her maid, and raise up
  the men of his own day. In fact, ever since the fall of      this promised child through her. Hagar was given no
  Adam the flesh of man has not been subject to the            voice in the matter, although she r$adily agreed and
  law of God, neither indeed can be.                           was likewise moved by the flesh. And Abraham
        And that flesh of Abraham began to manifest itself     likewise without making it a matter of prayer and
  after God made plain to him that his heir would be           without walking by faith took Hagar and sought this
  one that would come forth out of his own bowels. He          promised son through her. He, too, was moved by
  at last had something definite in the way of a promise       fleshly impatience. God was too slow. Abraham could
  from God concerning his seed. No longer did he have          not wait patiently for God to give him a child
  to look: around at Lot or at his eldest servant, Eliezer.    through his lawful wife, Sarah.
  He  had; it directly from the mouth of God that he             To understand a bit Abraham's position let us bear
  would have a child that was his own flesh and blood.         in mind that the promise of making him a great
        God bid not say that this child would be the flesh     nation  - which implied a son - was now about ten
  and blood of Sarah. This we now -know to be true.            years old. Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldees
  And this could easily have been deduced by                   and into Canaan when he was seventy-five years old
  Abraham, for she was his only wife. For-God gives a          (Genesis  12:4); and when Ishmael was born to him
  man children through his wife. Of course, there is the       and to Hagar, he was eighty-six years old (Genesis
  flesh again that may reason that Sarah may die and           16: 16). That was a long time to wait. It is a long time
   God may give him another wife, and hence he cannot          for a young couple that is just married and prays to
  be sure that this promise of, one that would come            God for covenant seed. It was even a longer time for
  forth from his bowels means also that he will be             Abraham and Sarah who now have passed the prime
   Sarah's, flesh and blood. But as things stood at the        of their lives and have waited and been unable to
  `moment, the logical conclusion to draw, since Sarah         bring forth children. The matter is not as serious as it
  is his wife, and he has been promised a child of his         would be today. For in Genesis  11:26 we read that
`\ own flesh and blood, is that Sarah will mother this         Terah, the father of Abraham, begat Abram, Nahor,
   child.  '                                                   and  Haran after he was seventy years old. But with
        Sarah was elated at this revelation of God that        Sarah's barrenness and the fact that he was older than
   Abraham would have a son of his own and gave some           his father when he begat his firstborn, these ten years
  very serious thought to the matter. She was getting          seemed like  a,long time to both Abraham and to
   older, and she had been barren all her life. Her            Sarah.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 379


  Sarah was the instigator. The thought of. taking          an angel to Hagar, who had been driven away by
Hagar did not originate in the mind of Abraham, nor         Sarah, He instructs that angel exactly to call her,
in the mind of Hagar. It was all the thought of Sarah.      "Hagar, Sarai's maid." There you have it. God did not
And one wonders that she would be willing to share          for one minute consider Hagar to be another wife of
Abraham with Hagar. That element she did not think          Abraham. Let it not be stated or held that God
through carefully. And it is only after Hagar con-          approved of bigamy in the Old Testament times. Had
ceives and Sarah is despised in her eyes that Sarah         He done so, Hagar would have been called Abraham's
begins to realize what she had done and what a              wife.
serious thing it was for her to give her husband this         Hagar suffered for her part in the whole trans-
maid to raise up seed for her.                              action. She was driven away by Sarah, and even
  This much may be said in Sarah's favour that it           allowed to be driven away by Abraham. To placate
shows that she was covenant minded. Her interest in         Sarah, who now became furious after she saw the
God's covenant promises is commendable. It is her           implications and results of her plan, Abraham told
fleshly impatience and refusal to wait for God to           Sarah to do with Hagar as she pleased. She dealt hard
work out His own plan that is to be condemned.              with Hagar so that she fled from her cruel hand. The
There is even a certain element of humility and self        abuse she received was like a whip to drive her into
sacrifice that Sarah was willing to undergo in order        the wilderness where the angel of God meets her and
that she might see God's covenant promise fulfilled.        sends her back. But Hagar suffered for her part in the
But her deed still is wrong and is to be branded as a       transaction.
deed of the flesh, and then of fleshly impatience.            Sarah suffered, and she above all deserved to
How correctly Paul states it when he writes to the          suffer. For the whole transaction was her way of
Romans, "When I would do good, evil is present with         trying to help God. Hagar did not raise up children
me."                                                        for Sarah. Sarah had said to Abraham, "Go in unto
  Hagar is to be rebuked for her part in the whole          my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by
matter. It is true that she was a maid and under            her. " But that was not to be. That child became
orders. She was Sarah's possession. But we ought to         Hagar's. And that child became Abraham's And this
obey God rather than man. And there is no evidence          hurt Sarah more than she wished to confess. She had
that Hagar had any interest in the covenant. She did        by her fleshly impatience created an impossible
not submit to this arrangement of Sarah because she         condition in her family. And again, let no one say
too was impatient for God to fulfill His covenant           that God approved of bigamy in the Old Testament.
promise to Abraham. It was on her part a carnal             He shows clearly by the troubles and strained
matter. And perhaps also a very appealing and flatter-      relationships that result from it that He visits such
ing thing to be given to the master of her mistress,        breaking of His law with evidences of His displeasure
and thus to elevate her above the position of a maid        and strong disapproval. Things will never be the same
and servant. She became impudent and showed her             again in Sarah's family and life after this bit of fleshly
pride as soon as it became plain that she had con-          impatience.
ceived by Abraham and would bring forth a child for
him.                                                          And although a man can take these matters in
                                                            stride more easily than a woman, Abraham suffered
   Sarah, in spite of her carefully laid plans cannot,      also because of his part in the fleshly impatience. A
of course, be sure that God will give a son. It could be    strained relationship developed between him and
that Hagar would only bring forth and continue to           Sarah. He asked for it by readily accepting the
bring forth daughters to Abraham. And Abraham               suggestion of Sarah. He did not behave as a man of
cannot be sure either that he will receive a son            understanding, nor surely as a man of faith; and he
through Hagar anymore than he could through Sarah.          got himself into an impossible situation in his family
All in all it was failing to figure with the God Who        life. Sarah was unjust in blaming Abraham and saying,
gave the covenant promise.                                  "My wrong be upon thee." But this is part of the
  Abraham, though the plan did not originate with           punishment. that Abraham must now bear for not
him, also revealed fleshly impatience and perhaps was       taking the matter to God in prayer, and for not
motivated by much more than the desire to receive           waiting patiently for Him to fulfill His own covenant
covenant seed. The thought of receiving Hagar, and of       promises. But as we said at the beginning, that flesh
Hagar being given -to him by his lawful wife, appealed      has to be considered and with it we must reckon,.
to him; and his flesh readily accepted such an arrange-     because it is there and must be curbed.
ment. We can only say that Abraham, too, deserves a           Well may we take heed and watch our own flesh.
severe rebuke for his deed and part in the whole            We may not be, and most likely are not in Abraham's
transaction.                                                and Sarah's position. But there are a host of other
  And God showed His disapproval. When He sends             circumstances under which we become impatient.


380                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


God's ways very seldom are our ways; and He is so            when it is terminal and the pains are there every day,
often much too slow for us. We must guard against            we sometimes hear a child of God ask why the Lord
running ahead of Him and do wisely when patiently            does not take him and bring an end to the miseries.
we wait for Him to unfold His counsel. Lest we think         The family seeing the pain and misery also wonders
foolishly, as Asaph did, that clean hands are worthless      that God keeps His child in such pain for so long. But
and pure hearts are vain, we had better let the Word         here, too, rather than to be impatient, go to the Word
of God be our guide and go to Him in prayer.                 of God and be assured that all things work together
  In sickness and affliction it is so easy to become         for good to those that love God. And go to Him in
impatient and to question God% love. Recovery is so          prayer seeking the patience of His grace, lest we walk
slow, and we would like to have Him hurry it up. And         after the flesh and be displeasing in His sight.


STdIES IN ISAIAH

                     Israel Rejected In Just Judgment
                                                Rev. Robt. C. Harbach
           "For Thou hast rejected Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the East,
        : and (with) sorcerers, like the Philistines:  and with the children of foreigners they go hand in
        ( hand" (Isaiah  2:6).
  I. The Suffering of it. A. Deserted. For, or because!         II. The Deserving of it, for reasons which follow. 1.
Calvin spots the connection of the discourse when he         They became expert practitioners in occult arts.
imagines that Isaiah, in amazement at the blatant evils      "Rejected . . . because they are full from the East
of the nation, suddenly breaks off his line of thought       with sorcerers." From the East indicates the source of
to turn' to God with, "Thou dost rightly reject a            all occultism, going back to Babylon. "Babylon hath
nation so desperately wicked,  because,  abandoning          been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all
itself to: dark Satanic depths, it is not walking in the     the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her
light" (4. 5)! Thou hast rejected Thy people. With the       wine, therefore the nations are mad" (Jer.  51:7).
rejecting of the Jews there would be a receiving of the      Babylon was the original source from which the
Gentiles;. The fall and diminishing of the Jews became       occult arts flowed. Egypt and Greece derived their
the riches of the Gentiles, the casting off of the Jews      apocryphal religions from Babylon. The esoteric
the reconciling of the world (Rom. 11: 12-l 5). There        system of the Phoenicians and the Romans came
would be a temporary rejection of the elect, but He          from the same source, and ". . . the secret system of
will not `reject them utterly (Ps. 94: 14; I Sam. 12:22).    Free Masonry was originally founded on the mys-
But these are the unbelieving reprobate Jews who             teries of the Egyptian Isis, the goddess-mother or wife
claim to be God's chosen people and the house of             of Osiris" (Hislop). Here, too, is the origin of all
Jacob, who say they are Jews, but are not, who are           Satanism, as a study of the god Aesculapius reveals.
the synagogue of Satan, for which the wrath of God           Babylon, the great mother of the whores of the
comes on them to the uttermost. After the rejection          abominations of the earth, represents the kingdom of
of Christ on the cross, the Jewish church became a           Antichrist in the aspect of its seductiveness. By her
synagogue of Satan and God said of it, "Your house           golden cup she entices to drink of her allurements,
is left unto you desolate" (Mt. 23:38).                      the exquisite poetry and prose in the whore's  (anti-
  B. Unpardoned. "and Thou wilt not forgive them"            Christian) literature; her seductive science, the heady
(v. 9;  cp. Ex.  34:7), which is the exact opposite of,      cup of her philosophy, the brilliance of her music, the
"Father:, forgive them." Calvin points out that Isaiah       allure of her entertainment. The occult arts go back
does not speak "of every individual, but of the body         to the time of the Chaldean Semiramis who reigned in
of the people, which was so deeply infected by its           the time of Abraham. She infected the minds of many
vices that there was no hope of cure." Matthew               with the mystery-cult religions of the East. These
Henry with still more force says that  the nation  of        "mysteries" were introduced privately, little by little,
the Jews, as far as its connection with the religion of      under the pledge of secrecy and the sanction of an
Jehovah is concerned, would be wholly cut off to an          oath, so that what could not safely be revealed all at
"irreversible doom . . . never to be formed into such a      once and openly in all its hideousness was inculcated
body again, nor ever to have their old charter restored      stealthily and secretly. Semiramis was a beautiful but
to them again."                                              abandoned queen of Babylon, a paragon of unbridled


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                               381



     lust and licentiousness. She is identified with Venus,       this in common that they are depending on their own
     the mother of all impurity. With her, Babylon became         treasuries and armies as though they could not be
     the "grand seat at once of idolatry and consecrated          safe, easy and happy without them. Yet in plain
     prostitution" (Hislop). A study of the secret societies      honesty they all must admit that they are not so with
     will show a connection with heathen idolatry and the         them. It comes down to this, Blessed is the nation (ha
     foul evils lurking in the bosom of the Babylonian            goi) whose God is the Lord. That nation is identified
     system.                                                      by a comparison of Matt. 21:43 with I Pet. 2:9 as the
        They are filled with sorcerers like the Philistines,      Church!
     who were deeply involved in the Babylonian arts,               4. They gave idols their homage: "and his land is
     including witchcraft. The latter was to be found in          full of idols. To the work of his hands they do
     the guilds. In Lydia, the population of-the city of          homage, (to) that which his fingers have made" (v. 8).
     Thyatira was divided into tradeguilds. Each guild had        The word for idols, having intentional, similar sound
     its own patron-god and its heathen feasts in honor of        to  Elohim,  the Putter forth of all power, is  elilim,
     its pagan deity. "In the existing state of society it was    no things. Images, far from being books of the
     impossible to dissociate membership of a guild from          ignorant laity, are in pedagogical value worthless.`
     idolatry, and the idolatry was of a kind that by its         Jeremiah taught this, too, calling idols non-entities,
     symbolism and its efficacy exerted great influence on        no gods and lies, and the men who use them stupid.
     its adherents, making them members of a unity (at            These absurd godlets are gross and ghastly caricatures
     once a labor-union and a secret society  - RCH)              of the one true and living God (Jer. 2:ll; 10:14, 15,
     which was essentially non-Christian and anti-Chris-          10). "They that think one God too little will find two
     tian."  (Ramsay, Hastings Bible Dictionary). Their           too many" (Matthew Henry). Nor will the ungodly
     .religious  banquetings, even in the highest Greek           world evolve out of and above their empty idolatries.
     culture (cp. Socrates), were celebrated with base            "But the rest of humanity, who were not killed by
     revelry and immorality.                                      those plagues, did not repent from the works of their
       2. They became friendly with foreigners:  (`and            hands, so as to cease worshiping demons and the idols
     with the children of foreigners they (strike hands           of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, that can
     with) go hand in hand." The heathen do not use the           neither see nor hear nor walk. Nor did they repent of
     common handshake, but hold the hands palm up                 their murders, or of their magic arts, or of their
     while another st#es downward with his hands on the           immorality, or of their thefts" (Rev.  9:20-2 1, The
     upturned palms,,to reciprocate holding his own palms         New Berkley Version).
     upward to receive a pat on the palms. So they became           5. They degraded themselves: "and the little man
     friendly with aliens from the commonwealth of                (common man) is bowed down, and the big man is
     Israel. They went so far as to reject their own heritage     humbled, and Thou wilt not forgive them" (v. 9).
     and history to  find rapport with those ignorant of          They degraded themselves with their abominations.
     God's  mighty'acts. Their land became a hot-bed of           Now they learn to their terror that there is the
     syncretistic admixture with Syrians, Ammonites,              abomination that makes desolate. Now they will be
     Moabites, Edomites, Philistines and Phoenicians. The         thrown down to the rocks and to the dust in  final
     more they became fond of them, their fashions and            judgment, all of them, men lost in the crowd and
     customs, the more cultured they thought them to be.          outstanding public figures alike  - "the kings of the
       3. They made gold their god: "and his land is full         earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains,
     of silver and gold, and there is no end to his treasures;    the mighty man, every bondman and every free man
     and his land is full of horses and there is no end to his    shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of
     chariots" (v. 7). They came more and more to depend          the mountains." Society, at the day of judgment, is
     upon the money and the armies of these foreign               still constituted as it always has been. Modem
     powers. This is true of the Roman Catholic Church            civilization, politically, shall not have advanced
     -which has heaped up riches by selling indulgences and       beyond the ancient establishment of monarchy. Such
     masses, and by the paying of tithes and fees for             idealism is not to be realized. Kings, princes and
     praying souls out of purgatory. The Vatican with its         orders of nobility remain on the earth till judgment
     army and treasuries is a picture of any nation's             comes.  No  utopia of peace and prosperity `is to be
     reliance on its military might and of everyone gone          expected in this world, wherein all nations convert
     money-mad. This goes double for the secular, hybrid          their instruments of destruction into implements of
     nation of Yisraeli which relies on other nations for its     agriculture, with the noise of war forever silenced.
     own scientific, economic and military development.           For that day will find soldiers and military men
     This is true of the Soviet state. Communism cannot           embroiled in blood, sweat and tears up to its very
     make it, on its own, without the opulent aid of              end.  `Nor will there be a complete end to human
     capitalist nations. Israeli, Russia and the USA all have     slavery, with all men free and no more class


L


382                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                   -

distinctions. For the  final judgment will find slaves          world with all its evils, its social and economic
and their masters still in the world. Religious and             injustices will continue under the burden of them
political advocates of the social gospel will then, if          until Christ comes to throw down all the wicked and
not before,  find it to be an utter failure. For the            judge them for their sins.

1
                                            Book Reviews
     THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE OLD                          parenthesis. Such features will help all earnest
     TESTAMENT,  Vol. I, edited by G. Johannes                  students of the Bible avail themselves of the manifold
Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren; translated by John              theological insights of this monumental new work."
T. Willis; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand                While this will undoubtedly prove to be a
Rapids, Mich. 479 pp., $18.50 (cloth). [Reviewed by             convenience for many students, it is nevertheless a
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                                            sad commentary on the inability of far too many
                                                                students of Scripture to make use of the Hebrew
       This is the first volume of what promises to be a        language.
very ambitious project on the Old Testament similar
to the recently completed  series, Theological                     The present volume covers the words from `abh to
Dictionary of the New Testament, also published by              badhadh.
Eerdmans. This  Theological Dictionary of the Old                  While there is much valuable material to be found
Testament  is also a translation from the German                in this ,volume, I must needs add a word of caution to
language. There is no question about it, in my                  my recommendation. The reader is informed already
opinion, that for those who can afford these                    on the dust jacket as follows: "The emphasis, though,
expensive volumes, they will prove to be valuable               is on Hebrew terminology and on biblical usage.
helps in the study of the Old Testament. A work of              Besides philology, form-critical and traditio-historical
this' kind is intended, of course, only for those who           m e t h o d s   a r e   e m p l o y e d ,   w i t h   t h e   a i m   o f
are at home in the Hebrew language. However, the                understanding the religious statement in the Old
translators have made a concession: "This English               Testament." This means, of course, that one cannot
edition has attempted to serve the needs of students            simply accept all that is offered  in&this volume: for
of the Old Testament who do not have the linguistic             the authors are addicted to the viewpoint of higher
background of more advanced scholars, without                   criticism. In perusing this first volume, I discovered
sacrificing the needs of the latter. Not only are               that in many instances this is very obvious. In other
Hebrew words transliterated, but wherever a precise             instances, however, this critical approach to Scripture
technical scheme is not necessary, a simpler, more              is more subtle. Hence, the believing Reformed scholar
readable transliteration is employed, to enable the             must be warned to be very discerning when he makes
reader to.sound out and thus become familiar with the           use of a volume like this in his research. However, as
word discussed. Meanings of foreign words are given             anyone at home in this field will-know, this is true
even where they are obvious-to advanced scholars.               even of some lexicons. Hence, this is no reason why I
And where the Hebrew text versification differs from            .should not recommend this book as a valuable
that of English bibles, the English verse is given in           addition to one's Old Testament library.

     THE CORINTHIAN CATASTROPHE, by George E.                   warnings, the logical pronouncements and the
     Gardiner; Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Mich.;        spiritual patterns in Paul's epistle when I was a young
     56 pages,  $.95, (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H. C.         Christian, seeking to know and please my Lord, I
     Hoeksema]                                                  could have been spared years of bondage,
                                                                disillusionment and despair. I can only pray that God
       The author of this little paperback is pastor of         will use this writing to spare others the same."
     Calvary Undenominational Church in Grand Rapids.           Certainly, part of the value of this book lies in the
       This is a book about the Charismatic movement.          _ fact that it is written by a convert from
     The author is an avowed foe of this movement,              Pentecostalism.
     although, as he informs.us in the Introduction, he had        While one could not expect from a book of this
     his training in a Bible School which was Pentecostal.      size a detailed expose of Pentecostalism, nor a
     In answering the question why he wrote another             thoroughgoing exposition of the pertinent Scripture
     book on this subject in a- day when the market is          passages, nevertheless this is basically a Scriptural
     flooded with books on this subject, he states:             approach; and it is clearly and rather crisply written.
     ` `Because if someone had shown me the clear


                                                             THE,STANDARD.BEARE.R . .
                                                                                1          /                                                     383
                                                                                      i

                                    News From Our  Churches
                                                                 April30,  1975

   The annual spring lecture, planned by the Lecture                          As is customary at this time of year, church
Committee, was held in First Church- on April 24.                          bulletins are  fnled with announcements concerning
The "Musical Number" in the program consisted of                           programs of one kind or another. Perhaps I could list
several selections by the Covenant Christian High                          some of those which have been held recently.
School Choir, under the direction of Mr. Roland                               Rev. Joostens, we notice, has been kept busy of
Petersen. The topic of the lecture for the evening was                     late. At the Mr. and Mrs. League Meeting, held in
"The Christian Marriage and the Problem of                                 Hope Church on April 22, he spoke on "Our
Divorce." The speaker, Rev. David Engelsma, began                          Christian Calling in Supporting Worldly
by assuring his audience that every pastor is well                         Organizations." On April 15, he spoke at the Ladies'
aware of the fact that there exist in many marriages                       League Meeting, which was also held in Hope Church.
problems  - for some of which the only merciful                            His topic at that time was "The Intermediate State of
solution, it would seem, is divorce. What he had to                        the Soul." And on March 19 he was the speaker at
say therefore, he insisted, was not at all out of                          the Spring Breakfast, sponsored by the Mothers' Club
ignorance of the realities of the situation. He                            of Adams Street School.
proceeded, then, to deliver a powerful exposition of
the clear teachings of  Scripture  with regard to the                         O n   A p r i l   1 ,   P r o f .   H a n k o   s p o k e   a t   t h e
matter of divorce. Divorce, except for the cause of                        Officebearer's Conference in Southeast Church. His
fornication, is never the solution to those problems.                      topic was, "The Discipline of the Mentally
                                                                           Troubled." On April 3, Prof. Hoeksema delivered a
   It goes almost without saying that the position of                      public lecture, sponsored by the Publication Com-
our churches on the divorce question, as it was                            mittee of our Holland Church. He lectured on
articulated by Rev. Engelsma, is not a popular one in                      "God's Sovereign Love for the World." On April 6,
much of today's church world. One thing is certain,                        the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church Choral
however - the near capacity audience in First Church                       Society, under the direction of Mr. Gerald Kuiper,
that evening must surely have been left with an                            presented an Easter Program in the church after the
appreciation for the fact that our stand is based                          evening service. On that same evening the  Hope
squarely on  theAWord of God, and, further, that the                                                                                       l 
                                                                           Choral Society presented an Easter Concert in Hope
essence of that position is not so much that it's against                  Church. South Holland's Choral Society rendered its
divorce, as that it's for marriage, which pictures, in a                   Easter Singspiration a week earlier, on March 30th.
beautiful  way,`. the blessed union which exists                           And in Grand Rapids on that night the Beacon Lights
between Christ and His Church.                                             sponsored an Easter Singspiration in First Church.
  According to the printed program, the evening's                             The annual spring Western Ladies' League Meeting
lecture will be available on tape. Tapes may be                            was held on April 16 at the  Doon Protestant
ordered from the RFPA, Post Office Box 2006,                               Reformed Church. The theme of the program was,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 4950 1.                                             "Lord, Lead Thou Us." On the 18th of April, two of
                             .*****                                                                                      ( continued on back page ).



              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                IN MEMORIAM
   The Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hull  (Iowa)  Protestant Reformed          The Mary Martha Society of the  Redlands Hope Protestant
Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ken          Reformed Church hereby wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one
Hoksbergen in the passing of her father, MR. PETER DECKER. May             of its members, Mrs. Mary Gail Gaastra and family, in the loss of their
they find comfort with the promise found in Revelation  14:13   -          father and grandfather, MR. GARRETT MOUW.
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."                                   May the Lord comfort them in this bereavement and give them
                                               Mrs. Leon Uittenbogaard,    grace to rejoice in the assurance that "blessed are the dead who die in
                                                                 Sec'y.    the Lord."

                                                                                                   Rev. Marvin Kamps, President
              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                               Mrs. Shirley Feenstra, Treas.

   The members of The Martha Ladies Society of Hull, (Iowa)
Protestant Reformed Church expresses their sympathy to one of our
members, Mrs. Wm. Hoksbergen, in the loss of her brother, MR.
GERRIT H. TE SLAA. "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).

                        Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.
                        Mrs. John Brummel, Sec'y.


                               >,  -.  ..~ .          .  .:<`I   *
I                                                                .
                                                          :,..i-iL,..                             ?
                                                .-              _i-
                                                                                                                         ,
     THE STANDARD  BtAREI                                                                                                                               SECOY-Q CL-ASS
             P.O. Box 6664                                                                                                                            POSTAGE PAID AT
     Grand Rapids, Michigan 495                                                                                                                GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH.





     our day schools presented annual All-School                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
     programs. The theme chosen by Hope School in                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
     Grand Rapids `was, "God's Most Elegant Books,"                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association,  Inc.
                                                                                   Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
     while that of our Loveland Protestant Reformed                      Editor-in-Chief:  P?of.  Homer C. Hoeksema
     Christian School was, "Rejoice, The Lamb Reigneth."                 Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
                                                                         R e v .   D a v i d   J .   E n g e l s m a ,   R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   Hank%
     On April 21, the Men's League Meeting was held in                   R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h ,   R e v .   J o h n   A .   Hey%  R e v .   J a y   Kortermg,  Rev.
                                                                         D a l e   H .   K u i p e r ,   R e v .   G e o r g e   C .   L u b b e r s ,   R e v .   M a r i n u s   Schrpper,  Rev.
     Southeast Church. The program consisted of a debate                 :ise  J .   V a n   Baren,  R e v .   H e r m a n   V e l d m a n
     on the topic, "Resolved that it is a proper activity for            Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                        4 9 7 5   l v a n r e s t   A v e .   SW.
     our churches and/or individuals to be involved in                                                  G r a n d v i l l e ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 4 1 8
                                                                         :horch  News Editor:                       M r .   D o n a l d   DOeZema
     world relief efforts of other Christian groups." And,                                                          1 9 0 4   P l y m o u t h   T e r r a c e ,   S . E .
                                                                                                                    G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 5 0 6
     finally, the Young Peoples Federation Board spon-
     sored the Church League "All-Star" basketball game.
     Half-time activities were to consist of a volleyball
     game between the students of the Seminary and the
     members of the Federation Board.                                    Reprint  Policy:  Permission is hereby  granted  for-the reprinting of arti-
                                                                         cles in our magazine by other publications,  provrded:  a) that such re-
                              *****                                      printed articles are reproduced in full; b )   t h a t   p r o p e r   a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t
                                                                         ls made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint  appears
                                                                         is sent to our editorial  office.
          Several other items, gleaned from various church               Business Office:  The Standard Bearer
     bulletins, might be more interesting if they're quoted                                             Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                                        P .   0.  BOX  6064
     directly. I'd like to do that:                                                                     G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 5 0 6
                                                                         Business Agent for  Australasia:Mr.   Wm. van  Rii
          From Faith's April 13th bulletin  - "The                                                                                  5 9   K e n t   L o d g e   A v e .
                                                                                                                                    C h r i s t c h u r c h   4 .   N e w   Z e a l a n d
     consistory has set this week Thursday the 17th as                   Subscription Policy:  Subscription price,  37.00  per year  ($5.90  for
                                                                         Australasia). Unless a definite request for  drscontinuance  is  recerved.  it
     open house, so that the congregation can see their                  is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscri bon  to continue  wlth-
                                                                         out the formality of a renewal order, and he  WI -P
                                                                                                                                                                   I   *
                                                                                                                                                                       tie  billed for renewal.
     parsonage. The time will be from 7-9. Cookies and                   I f   y o u   h a v e - a   c h a n g e   o f   a d d r e s s ,   p l e a s e   notify.tbe   BUSUESS  Office  as
                                                                         early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenlence of delayed deliv-
     coffee will be available. Since the sidewalks are not               ery. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                         Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
     in, you are requested to enter through the basement                 a d v e r t i s i n g   o f   a n y   k i n d .   A n n o u n c e m e n t s   o f   chu@h   a n d   s c h o o l   e v e n t s ,
                                                                         mniversaries obituaries, and sympathy resolutions  w!ll be placed  for  a
     to minimize tracking."                                              63.00 fee  ihese  should `be sent to the Business  Offtce and should be
                                                                         Iccompanied   b y   t h e   .$3.00   f e e .   D e a d l i n e   f o r   a n n o u n c e m e n t s   IS the 1st
                                                                         sr  t h e   1 5 t h   o f   t h e   m o n t h ,   p r e v i o u s   t o   p u b l i c a t i o n   o n   t h e   1 5 t h   o r   t h e
          From Loveland's March 16th  - "Taped sermons                   1st respectively.
     will be heard at both services today. The pastor is                 9ound Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders  for
                                                                         sound  copies of the  .current  volume: such orders are  filled  as soon as
     unable to preach, due to laryngitis."                               aosslble   a f t e r   c o m p l e t i o n   o f   a   v o l u m e .   A   l i m i t e d   n u m b e r   o f   p a s t   vol-
                                                                         .rmes  may be obtalned through the  Buslness  Office.

          From Southeast's April 6th  - "The Council has
     decided that at the Communion Service the                                                                                0            0              0
     communicants will partake of the elements in
     unison."                                                                                                                 CONTENTS
          From Edgerton's March 30th  - "Beginning next                  The Hope That Endures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362
     week, our afternoon service is moved to  7:30 P.M.                  A Gravamen In The Garb Of A Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
     This will continue through the summer.months."
     I                                                                   About Breaking God's Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .368
                               * * * *-*                                 Rectification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .369
          Informational letters and questionnaire cards                  More On The Abortion Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37C
     relative to the 50th Anniversary Celebration have                   The Proof For The Trinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
     been, I think, distributed in each of our churches.                 Exposition Of Hebrews 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .374
     The committee asked, remember, that the cards be                    The Shakertown Pledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .376
     mailed by the 15th of May, in order that appropriate                Fleshly Impatience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378
     arrangements can be made for food, lodging, games,                  Israel Rejected In Just Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38C
     -etc. If you're reading this May 15th issue of the                  BookReviews...................................  2
     Standard Bearer  on May 15, the deadline is today.                  New From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383
     You haven't forgotten, have you?
                                                            D.D.


