r                       . . .
                                     h'e

                                 tandard

                                            earer
                                                     -,

     A   R E F 'O R M E D   SEMI-MONTHLY  M A G A Z I N E



     IN THIS ISSUE: . .


            Meditation:  Manasseh, Sinner-Saint

            Editorials: Winds of Doctrine from the Netherlands
                      The Nature of the Atonement: Limited or General?

            Faith and Mission Preaching

            David and Goliath




                                           Volume  XLIII/ Number  2/ October 15 1966


 26                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and  August
                                                                                                   Published  by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                            C O N T E N T S                                                                      Editor-  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema  3
                                                                                               Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
Meditation  -                                                                                  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
    Manasseh, Sinner-Saint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         26              Rapids,  Mich.      49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
                                                                                               words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
         Rev. M. Schipper                                                                      lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
Editor's Notes -                                                                               All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
    New Place for Announcements                                                                      1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
    Important Publication News
    Annual R .F.P.A. Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         28              Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00  feeincludedmust
                                                                                               be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Editorials -                                                                                   All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
                                                                                                       Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
    Winds of Doctrine from the Netherlands , . . . . . . . . . . .             29                                 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                     Renewal: Unless 
    The Nature of the Atonement: Limited or General? . . . . 31                                                        a  definite request for discontinuance is
                                                                                               received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
Contending for the Faith -                                                                     scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
    The Providence of God                                                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year
    Government . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     33                  Second Class Postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
         Regv. H. Veldman
The Lord Gave The Word. . . Ps. 68:ll -                                                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
    Faith and Mission Preaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
         Rev. C. Hanko                                                               With thankful hearts to our ever faithful Covenant God,
A Cloud of Witnesses -                                                               we announce the 55th wedding anniversary of our dear
    David and Goliath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    37    parents,
         Rev. B. Woudenberg
The Church at Worship -                                                                         MR. AND MRS. JADOB H. VANDER WAL
    The Form For Excommunication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              39                        (First Church, Grand Rapids)
         Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
Examining Ecumenicalism                                                              On October 26, 1911, they were joined together in the
    cocu 2                                                                           bond of Holy Matrimony and each moment since, and
    A Merging, Emerging Church . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41              especially during recent years while experiencing
         Rev. G. Van Baren                                                           serious physical afflictions have tasted continually
From Holy Writ  -                                                                    the wondrous promise of our Lord that all things
    The Good Shepherd of Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         43
         Rev. G. Lubbers                                                             work together for good to them that love Him.
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Reformed                                          With the Psalmist of old, together we confess -
    Free Publishing Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         45    "0 Lord, my God, I praise Thy Name, all other names
Annual Treasurers' Report, R.F.P.A., 1966. . _ . . . . . . . . .               46    above; 0 give Him thanks, for He is Good and bound-
Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation . . . . . 46                      less is His Love".
Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      47                                         Mr. and Mrs. Henry Vander Wal
News from our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Dick Vander Wal
                                                                                                                          Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Versluys
                                                                                                                             14 Grandchildren
                                                                                                                               7 Great Grandchildren

MEDlTATION-

                                          Manasseh, Sinner-Saint
                                                                      by Rev. M.  Schippev

                                              "Then Manasseh knew that the  Lovd  he was God."
                                                                                        H Chronicles  33:13  b
       Manasseh!                                                                     what they believed, and how they demonstrated their
       Sinner - Saint!                                                               faith.        But you look in vain in this long list for the
       Not in the long list of those whoare  called the great                        name of Manasseh.
heroes of faith does his name belong. There is such a                                    Rather, his fame, or shall we say, his notoriety is
list recorded in the Holy Scriptures, you know. The                                  to be pointed out in another direction. He belongs to
writer to the Hebrews records their names, beginning                                 the list of those who had greatly sinned, but who in the
with Abel, the first martyr. Carefully and unerringly                                eleventh hour of their  lives are brought to a most
be follows down the list, marking for us who they were,                              wonderful conversion through the mercy of God. He


r-                                             THE  STAND&D BEARER
 fits well in the list of those who were guilty of terrible     could take his place, and for this he really prayed.
 sins, but who later found grace in the eyes of the Lord.       None there was who could follow him to the throne of
 Like Paul, for instance, who was guilty of persecuting         Judah who was of the royal line of David. And God
 the church of Christ, who himself confessed that he            had promised this as one of the sure mercies of
 was the chief of sinners, but who was converted on the         David.      For the fulfillment of the promise Hezekiah
 way to Damascus and became the greatest of all the             evidently prayed. And his prayer was answered three
 apostles. Or, like the woman who was guilty of being a         years later when Manasseh was born. We read in
 harlot, who had fallen into the sin of adultery, but who       verse 1 that Manasseh was twelve years old when he
 later is found washing the feet of the Saviour with her        began to reign, which reign must have begun im-
 tears and wiping them with the hairs of her head. Or,          mediately upon the death of his father, to whose life
 like the thief on the cross, who all his life time indulged    had been added fifteen years.
 in all the sins of his t.ime, but in the last moments of          So we conclude that at least for the first twelve
 his life was forgiven and given the promise of Para-           years of his life Manasseh had a covenant training.
 dise. So was Manasseh! Who shedmuch innocent blood,            And this is no small matter! To be brought up in a
 and not withstanding was pardoned, finding mercy with          home where the fear of God dwells, to be trained with
 God !                                                          a Christian education, that is never a small and insignif-
    Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God!                icant matter!      Such without mistake was the training
    A small text, but set in a large historical context!        Manasseh received.       He was schooled in the law of
    Not only is this history recorded in II Chronicles          Jehovah.       He was instructed in the same religious
 33, but also in II Kings 21. The latter passage records        principles that moved his father.
 practically the same facts as the former, with this               Moreover, Manasseh was a royal son of David! His
 difference, that the former only informs us of his             name appears in the genealogies of Christ. (Matthew
 conversion. From both of these passages it becomes             1:lO). This means that Manasseh was in the genera-
 clear that the intention of the Word of God is to show         tions of the royal elect line. The very generations that
 that the realization of the kingdom of heaven is not           must bring forth the Christ. Now we can understand
 dependent on the inherent goodness of man, but solely          why Hezekiah prayed so earnestly when he was sick.
 on the sovereign and eternal mercy of the living God.          He knew he was of the seed of David, and should he
    Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah!                              die leaving no seed, the Christ could not come. In
    Son of a God-fearing king of Judah!                         Manasseh, therefore, he found the answer to his
    And this cannot mean that his father was without            prayer.
 sin. For what man is perfect in all,his ways? Heze-               Let us not fail to notice how important this truth
 kiah, like all of us, will have to say: "All our right-        is as a background for the study of Manasseh! When
 eousnesses are as filthy rags in Thy sight, 0 God!"            we see how wicked this man became, we must see it on
 Of one particular sin the Scriptures inform us that            the background of God's sovereign election and the
 Hezekiah was guilty. He had entertained a delegation           counsel of His covenant.         This is, indeed, the high
 from the wicked king of Babylon, and had showed them           point in our meditation regarding Manasseh!
 all the riches of his house. For this the prophet Isaiah          Manasseh, the sinner!
 in the name of the Lord had rebuked him, informing                How wonderfully the Scriptures reveal and do not
 him' that all those things would one day be brought into       spare even the children of God when it comes to
 Babylon; Hezekiah realized his sin and confessed it.           revealing their sins  1 Fact is, when we read the account
 And the Lord promised not to bring judgment in his             of the sins of Manasseh, it appears none committed
 life time. (Isaiah 39).                                        more sin and fell so deeply as he. Moreover, if the
    But of Hezekiah we read: "He did right in the sight         same Scripture did not tell us that he was a child of
 of the Lord." II Chronicles 29:2. He restored the true         God you would conclude he was a reprobate of the
 worship of Jehovah, just the opposite of his father Ahaz,      worse sort.
 who had done so wickedly. Hezekiah opened the doors               He sinned, first of all, against his religious train-
 of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought         ing! To repudiate that is a heinous thing! To all his
 in the priests and the Levites once more `into the             father told him of God, His promises, His covenant,
 sanctuary and made them sanctify themselves for the            His law and service, he turned his back. The stories
 true worship of God. He instituted a great revival in          his father told him while he sat on his knee concerning
 Jerusalem.     Gathered the rulers and the people to-          Jehovah's power to deliver His people and His great
 gether and proclaimed a solemn Passover, while all             love for the kingdom of David, he now laughed to
 the instruments of idolatrywere destroyed. God blessed         scorn.
 Hezekiah and prospered him greatly.           He became           His departure from all the principles of his reli-
 exceeding rich, and his kingdom increased.                     gious training was accompanied by his embracing all
    Manasseh, was the son of Hezekiah's old age!                the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had
    Hezekiah, you will remember had been sick unto              cast out before the children of Israel. He built again
 death.    We are not told the nature of his illness, but       the high places his father had broken down, and he
 the prophet had informed him that it was' fatal. And           reared up altars for Baalim.. .and worshipped all the
 Hezekiab had prayed that his life be spared. Many              host of heaven and served them.
 reasons have been given to explain this prayer, but               Very bold he was in his wickedness ! He even went
 only one of them satisfies us.        He had no son, who       into the house of the Lord to build there altars for all


28                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

the host of heaven. Thus with his kingly power and           deeply had the Lord humbled him that he ate grass as
influence he made Judah and the inhabitants of Je-           the oxen. And at the end of his humiliation his kingdom
rusalem to err.                                              was restored to him, and his honor and brightness
      And if that was not bad enough, he even caused his     returned to him. Then opened he his mouth and blessed
children to pass through the fire in the valley of the       the Most High, and he praised and honored Him that
son of Hinnom!                                               liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting
      Manasseh, the unbeliever!                              dominion, and his kingdom is from generationtogener-
      Who when he and his people were rebuked by the         ation. He, too, knew that God is God, but with a knowledge
Lord for their sin, would not hearken! His devilish          that was so different.     It was the knowledge that is
pride, and his love for sin, moved him to misuse his         impressed upon the wicked, and a confession that is
power and to corrupt his way and to lead Judah astray!       forced out of him.
Verily, to look at him, he. appeared no different than           How different is the knowledge of the child of God!
the most ungodly of the heathen.                             Of the sinner who is saved by grace!
      Manasseh, nevertheless, the saint!                         Manasseh knew that Jehovah was his God!
      And God's saints cannot perish!                            The God of his salvation!
      The mercy of God is His constant desire and un-            The God, Who, for His covenant's sake cannot allow
changeable will to reach down to the sinner in his           one of His Own to perish!         Though his sin be even
deepest misery, not only to deliver him, but to make         greater than that of Babel's king, sogreat is His mercy
him blessed as God is blessed! And that mercy in its         that it must deliver from the greatest misery, unto the
operation first makes the sinner most miserable that         highest good!
he may know his sin and guilt.                                   And what is the highest good?
      Thus Manasseh was brought in irons to Babylon.             That they, sinners great though they be, lost and
There in captivity he was sorely afflicted. So great         undone in themselves, may know Thee, the only true
was his affliction that all his sinful pride was humbled,    God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent! To know
and all his arrogance broken. 0, how wonderfully the         Him is eternal life. To know Him is to dwell in His
Lord knows how to bring His beloved to despair, so           fellowship, to be taken up into the friendship of His
that they cry out after Him!                                 covenant.
      When Manasseh was in affliction, he besought the           Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah He is the God,
Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the         `and all the rest are idols in whose service is the bond-
God of his fathers. And as he prayed for forgiveness,        age of sin!
God heard his supplication, and brought him again to             0, indeed, the realization of the kingdom of heaven,
Jerusalem into his kingdom.                                  does not depend on the inherent goodness, nor is it
      Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God!           frustrated by the inherent badness of men, but it
      There was another king who had exalted himself         depends solely on the sovereign, elective, and eternal
over against the King of heaven and earth, whom God          mercy of the God Who worketh all things after the
had humbled, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. So             counsel of His immutable will!





                                         Editor's Notes

                                              by Prof. H.  %. Hoeksema


New Place for Announcements:                                 be a change in the deadline for announcements. All
      Hereafter, all announcements, obituaries, anniver-     announcements for the issue of the 1st of the month
sary notices, etc., will be found on the next to the last    must be in the hands of the business manager (not the
page of each issue, and not scattered throughout the         editor) no later than the 20th of the .preceding month;
magazine.      The only exception to this will be an oc-     and all announcements for the issue of the 15th must
casional announcement immediately below the mast-            be in by the 5th of the month. Any tardy announce-
head on the inside front cover. We believe this change       ments will automatically be postponed to the next issue.
will be advantageous for the reader, who can now make        If this rule is not observed, we cannot meet our pub-
a habit of looking for announcements in a fixed place        lication deadlines.
in each issue; and we also believe that this will improve       Incidentally, - speaking of publication deadlines, -
the appearance of the magazine.                              there was more than one report to your editor of lack
      In order to make this change, however, there must      of delivery or tardy delivery on the issue of September


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    29

15. Checking into this, I learned that this can only be        it, mail your order (and your check) to: Reformed
the fault of the `Post Office Department. But if you do        Free Publishing Association, (Permanent Committee
fail to get your copy of any issue, please write to the        for the Publication of Prot. Ref. Literature), Post Office
business manager, who, I am sure, will gladly help you         Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501.
if he only knows of your problem.                                 On second thought, why not order two copies,  - one
                             ***                              for yourself, and one for your friend's Christmas
Important  Publication News                                    present?
   The Permanent Committee for the Publication of                                       *    *    *
Protestant Reformed Literature made a decision re-            Annual R.F.P.A. Meeting
cently which, I am sure, will be welcome news to                  Elsewhere in this issue you will find the secretary's
many readers. The decision is to undertake the publi-          and treasurer's reports which were presented at the
cation of two books. One of these is the late Rev. H.          annual meeting of the R.F.P.A., the parent organization
Hoeksema's exposition of the book of Revelation,               of our Stundavd  Beaver. It is not my intention to rehash
which will be published under the title, "Behold, He           those reports, nor to report on that meeting. There is
Cometh!"        The other will be a new edition of "The        one item of note to which I wish to call attention. Our
Triple Knowledge, An Exposition of. the Heidelberg             secretary reported that there was a net increase.of 78
Catechism." The Eerdmans Company has agreed to                 subscriptions in the past year. This is encouraging.
assign to us the copyright on the latter work, which           You say, perhaps, that is not a large number. No, but
originally appeared in ten volumes, four of which are          it nevertheless represents about a 200% increase over
now out of print. The new edition will be in one volume.       the net gain in subscriptions in recent previous years.
Tentative plans are to publish these works within the          Last year, for example, the net gain was 26 subscrip-
coming year, D.V.; but no definite publication date can        tions. Moreover, I know that a good many of these new
be fixed at this time.                                         subscriptions came  .from  people outside our Protestant
   In part, the publication date will depend on the            Reformed Churches. This, too, is encouraging; for it
response to our first huge project, "Reformed Dog-             is one of the chief aims of our Standard Beaver to bear
matics." For in order to proceed with new projects             the standard of the truth to others in the Reformed
we must recover our capital investment in that first           community, and we are glad when our voice is heard.
project.    And the recovery of that investment is de-            Particularly the Board of the R.F.P.A. may be en-
pendent on one thing: sales!                                   couraged by this trend.       Let us hope that the trend
   Right there is where you, the reader, come into             continues. Perhaps a concerted campaign of some kind
the picture.                                                   could be made with a view to increasing the number of
   For one thing, have you sent in your $12.95 and             subscribers and readers.       The Board could explore
your pre-publication order? This sale price will be            that possibility. Would it not be wonderful if next year
in effect until November 15. After that the price will         the secretary could report another  200% increase, for
go up to $14.95.          A return order envelope was en-      example, in the net gain in subscriptions?
closed with the September 15 issue of the Standard                Meanwhile, let all of us face this question: what
Beaver.  Look it up, and use it. Or, if you have lost          are YOU doing to increase the number of subscriptions ?




EDITORIALS-



            Winds of Doctrine from the Netherlands

                                                by  Pyof.  H.  C. Hoeksema


    From time to time one reads disturbing reports             tions column of De Wachtev (Sept. 20, 1966) carried an
and claims about the ecclesiastical situation in the           article signed "Vander Werff" in which the finger of
Netherlands, particularly in the Gereformeerde Kerken.         accusation is pointed at several Dutch scholars and in
As is well-known, .the decisions in the Geelkerken Case        which the author allegedly cites chapter and verse,
of 1926 have been under official review by the Synod           that is, points to the occasion and the speech or writing
of those churches; and the outcome of that matter re-          in which the alleged doctrinal errors were set forth.
mains to be seen.           But there have been disturbing        It is not my purpose to repeat and thereby to spread
things written on that matter. Recently the Contribu-          all the charges made in this article. Several of them


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

have to do with the Genesis-question and related mat-         an everlasting desolation. In that picture of hell what
ters, and most of the alleged errors are very intimately      is primary, in my opinion, is the remnant-less perish-
connected with the burning issue of the inspiration,          ing of all that is cast into thismost powerful, everlast-
infallibility, and authority of Scripture, as well as with    ing fire. Just as, according to the epistle of Jude, also
what are called hermeneutical problems, i.e., problems        Sodom and Gomorrah lie under a punishment of ever-
pertaining to the proper method of interpretation, or         lasting fire, (Jude, vs. 7). (Note: Jude, 7, speaks of
exegesis.    I will say that if all of these charges are      Sodom and Gomorrah "suffering the vengeance of
true, and if the alleged errors are indeed as alleged,        eternal fire." H.C.H.)
then the situation in the Netherlands churches is indeed          "Scripture warns against a participating in the
very serious. If leaders and educators can promulgate         everlasting torment of the devil, the beast, and the
such errors without ecclesiastical censure being ex-          false prophet. Thus it is in the visions of John. We
ercised, then I do not hesitate to say that the future        are therefore warned; but therewith we are neverthe-
looks very dark, if not hopeless.                             less not called upon to append a theology about an
    Moreover, if all of the accusations made in the           everlasting balance (equilibrium) between a full heaven
article referred to are as accurate as the charges            and a full hell. There will be gradation in the judgment.
made concerning a certain Dr. J. Stellingwerff, then          One must not think that one can escape the judgment
the report is dependable, and then there is reason for        and the punishment outside of the atoning blood of Jesus.
grave fears with respect to the doctrinal soundness of            "There is no balance between hell and heaven be-
the Dutch churches. For "Vander Werff" charges that           cause everlasting death is principally something other
Dr. Stellingwerff denies that Adam was the first man,         than everlasting life. One who sees a dead person next
denies the universality of the flood, and (yes, this is       to a living man discovers this immediately. The dead
not a printing error) denies everlasting punishment!          man is capable of nothing, is nothing, perishes. He
    And these charges are true!                               does not join in any more forever. On the other hand,
    It so happened that about the time when this article      the living person is capable of everything, certainly
was published in De Wachtev,  I was finishing the read-       the. everlastingly living. He always joins in forever;
ing of a little book by Dr. Stellingwerff, ftOo~sp~ong        he can therefore never more be passed by. An ever-
en Toekomst  van de  Creatieve   Mens." This boolc be-        lastingly dead person is nothing; an everlastingly liv-
longs to a series of works by Reformed scholars under         ing one is an unavoidable partner.
the general heading "Christian Perspective." Earlier              "We often give to hell and to everlasting death its
I had become aware (through reports and reviews of            own place in the new creation by ascribing an active
others) that in this book Dr. Stellingwerff denies the        meaning to the speech of the Bible about an everlast-
truth of creation; but I could hardly believe my eyes         ing torture (eeuwige  pijniging). By an everlasting tor-
when I came to the passage about everlasting punish-          ture (or, torment) we easily understand an always
ment and about hell. I read and re-read the passage.          continuing feeling of pain. Now the pain-feeling ap-
I then telephoned a colleague and read the passage to         pears to be very strongly dependent upon the period
him without comment, lest I was misunderstanding or           of culture in which one lives and the circumstances
reading more into the passage than'the author intended.       under which one must bear the pain. It appears to me
But there are no two ways about it: the author indeed         to be possible that by pain in the Bible is not to be un-
denies everlasting punishment and denies the reality of       derstood that which one feels with the senses, but
hell !                                                        much rather the opposite of joy, which rests upon
    It is nothing short of amazing, alarming! The more        friendship and love.      And everlasting torture then
so when such stuff innocently appears under the head-         means that God nevermore offers friendship, that he
ing of "Christian Perspective."                               definitively turns away from these men and will no more
    In proof of the above, I will quote some pertinent        be concerned with them at all. The Judge of heaven
statements from this book. The translation is mine.           and earth has definitively rejected them. He passes the
    "Primary in that which Scripture says about ever-         death-sentence and executes it. Then the corpse is
lasting death and the pool of fire is that the fire and       burned in everlasting fire.
the death are everlasting and not that that which is             "Not the pain is eternal, but the torture, and then
cast into this mighty fire are everlasting. Thus it is        too, not the always continuing torture, but rather the
out of the question that there should be any remnant that     irrevocable judgment that as capital punishment comes
can escape this annihilation, this radical desolation.        painfully and that remains as a sentence forever
Never shall the enemies of God and the powers of sin          passed, (bet onhevvoepelijke  oordeel  datdoodstrafpijn-
and misery have any more opportunity. Their meaning           lijk aankom t en dut eeuwig  blijft geveld.)    Just as the
(significance) is finally at an end.                          example which Jude gives in his epistle. This apostle
    "The last judgment has death, the final end, the          wrote: `even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities
everlasting desolation of death and the realm of the          about them in like manner, are set forth for an example,
dead as its consequence.                                      suffering. the vengeance of eternal fire.' If one looks
    "There shall be a punishment from which the               for this eternal fire, then he finds the Dead Sea. In
devil, the beast, the false prophet, and their followers      the same manner as this example, the last judgment
cannot escape and which offers them no possibility for        also has the death of death and the realm of the dead
new activity.    Neither day nor night shall there be         as its consequence. Fire is not thefigure of pain. God
opportunity to escape.      For them death, the fire, is      has never willed the fire-death. Indeed, after capital


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  31

punishment fire was used as the means of annihilation           And this is supposed to be Christian perspective,
of the corpse and of the possessions of the condemned        and that too, out of the Reformed community of the
one."                                                        land of our fathers?
   Thus far the quotation and translation.                      I have not presented the author's evolution-theory
   The above presentation is all supposed to be based        in this editorial; perhaps I will do so in the future.
on Scripture, and the author makes the appearance of         Nor is there transparent in the book a connection be-
an attempt to base it on Scripture in the context pre-       tween his evolution-theory and his denial of everlast-
ceding this quotation.                                       ing punishment.      Nevertheless, it is not difficult to
   However, it is perfectly obvious, when'one strips         see that one who begins by denying the  creation-
away all the window-dressing and devious pseudo-             record, as does Dr. Stellingwerff, will end by denying
exegesis of this presentation, that what is left is this:    everlasting punishment, and eventually by denying
1) A denial of the everlasting torment and the ever-         still more. For at the heart of all these denials lies
lasting suffering of the wicked. 2) The simple anni-         the matter of the authority of Holy Scripture.
hilation-theory, clothed in some apparently Biblical            One can only lament with Jeremiah: "How is the
language.                                                    gold become dim!"





                          The Nature of the Atonement

                                              .Limited or General?


                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


   It is becoming increasingly evident that the question     find it fundamentally impossible to maintain the re-
whether the atonement is in its very nature limited is       maining elements.
an extremely crucial one for the Reformed faith. This           Now we turn to our confessions.
is evident in the Dekker Case itself, bothfrom  the writ-
ings of Prof. Dekker and of Dr. Daane. But a careful         THE CONFESSIONS ON THE DEFINITE AND
study of the Report of the Doctrinal Committee will          PERSONAL ELEMENT OF THE ATONEMENT
reveal that this issue is extremely crucial with respect        It is certainly a mistake to think that we must look
to the atonement-aspect of their study, and that they        for the doctrine of limited, definite, and personal
make a crucial error when they concede this point to         atonement only in the Canons of Dordrecht. This is
Dekker and Daane. In a way they attempt to hedge and         usually done.      And I dare say that most of us are
to qualify their position somewhat, evidently because        automatically ready to turn to the Canons and to the
they themselves feel that they have conceded an im-          Second Head of Doctrine when the subject of limited
portant point. To this I will return at the proper time,     atonement is brought up. Now it is certainly true that
however.      I only wish to emphasize now the crucial       the Canons speak of this doctrine, and that too, de-
importance of this question, and thereby to emphasize        finitively and in unequivocal language.     But we must
that it is important to see what the confessions have        not imagine that at Dordrecht an entirely new doctrine
to say about it.                                             was adopted. This, in fact, wouldimplythat we assume
   Once more, however, I wish to underscore the fact         the position of the Arminians at the time of the Synod
that we must consider the nature of the atonement as         of Dordrecht. The Arminians did not relish the posi-
a  whole. In the course of this discussion we are dis-       tion of accused heretics who were on trial at the
tinguishing various elements in that nature of the           Synod. They wanted to be treated as equals and as in
atonement.     .But these various elements must not be       good standing. They did not claim to militate against
considered separately from one another.         Together     the confessions then held by the Reformed Churches,
they all constitute the one nature of the atonement.         but rather attempted to maintain that they were in
The element of satisfaction, of substitution, of a def-      basic harmony with the creeds. They wanted rather
inite and personal character, and of the infinite value      to meet on an equal footing with the Reformed, and
of the atonement, -these all belong together, and they       they wanted to subject the existent confessions (the
must be considered together. Each element is i.ndis-         Catechism and the Belgic Confession) to review and
pensable, and that, too, in relation to the others. Take     reformulation.     Our Reformed fathers, on the other
one of these elements away, therefore, and.essentially       hand, considered the Arminians heretics, charged
you destroy the whole nature of the atonement and will       that they were not in harmony with the confessions


32                                             THE  STUDARD  BEARER

even as they then existed, and dealt with them as                My answer is yes.
such.     They put the Arminians on trial. And in that           And the Catechism is literally full of all kinds of
connection they did not view the Canons as an alto-           proof of this. I will first quote a series of passages
gether new statement of doctrines which were not              from the Catechism which bear directly on this issue,
found in the Catechism and the Belgic Confession.             reminding the reader that the pertinent word or words
Rather did they consider the Canons to be an explant-         in each quotation are italicized. Thereafter I will give
tion  of certain points of doctrine. The Canons, there-       a brief explanation as to the significance of these
fore, made more explicit certain doctrines which were         quotations.
already contained in the other creeds of the Reformed            "Because he is ordained of God the Father, and
Churches.                                                     anointed with the Holy Ghost.. . . . . . .to be OUT only High
      This means, therefore, that we may expect to find       Priest, who by the one sacrifice of his body, has re-
the very same doctrines in the Heidelberg Catechism           deemed us. . . . ." Qu. and A. 31.
and the Belgic Confession as we find in the Canons.              "Because he hath redeemed  US, both soul and body,
And it means that we should be able to discover an            from all OUY sins, not with gold or silver, but with his
expression of those doctrines there, and not only in          precious blood, and hath delivered us from all the
the Canons.                                                   power of the devil; and thus hath made US his own
      As Reformed people, therefore, we need not and we       property." Qu. and A. 34.
do not pin the entire doctrine that Christ died and              "That is OUT Mediator; and with His innocence and
atoned only for the elect on Canons II, 8, for example.       perfect holiness, covers in the sight of God my. sins
      I propose, therefore, to look for this same doctrine    . . . . . " Qu. and A. 36.
of definite and personal atonement in the Catechism              "That he . . . .sustained.  . . .the wrath of God against
and the Confession, first of all; and only thereafter         the sins of all mankin& that so by his passion, as the
shall we turn to the Canons, Second Head.                     only propitiatory sacrifice, he might redeem 0%`~ body
      That this is the correct approach to and v'lew of       and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for  us
our confessions is beyond all doubt.         First of all,    the favor of God, righteousness and eternal life." Qu.
anyone who is acquainted with the history of the              and A. 37.
Arminian controversy and of the Synod of Dordrecht               In answer to the question as to why He suffered under
will. know that the above presentation is true. It is         Pontius Pilate, we read: "That he. . . .might thereby
simply a matter of history. In the second place, let          free .US from the severe judgment of God to which we
me call your attention to the fact that this is the           were exposed." -Qu. and A. 38.
official presentation of the matter in Reformed churches.        The 39th Answer is again very definite and personal:
My authority for this is nothing less than the Formula        ". . .for thereby I am assured, that he took on him the
of Subscription. There we find the following language:        curse which lay upon me. . . ."
      "We, the undersigned, professors of the Protestant         The 44th Answer speaks the same language. Not
Reformed Churches, ministers of the Gospel, elders            only is it personal when it speaks of assurance, but
and deacons. . . .do hereby sincerely and in good con-        also when it speaks of the objective work of Christ:
science before the Lord, declare by this, our sub-            "That in my greatest temptations, I may be assured,
scription, that we heartily believe and are persuaded         and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus
that all the articles and points of doctrine, contained       Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors,
in the Confession and Catechism of the Reformed               and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged during all
Churches,  together  w?th the explanation of some points      his sufferings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered
of the aforesaid  doctrine,  made by the National Synod       me from the anguish and torments of hell."
of Dordrecht, 1618-`19, do fully agree with the Word of          And, to mention no more, I quote the 52nd Answer,
God." (emphasis mine, H.C.H.)                                 which concerns Christ's coming to judge the quick
      This same language is found in the last paragraph of    and the dead, but which very appropriately connects
the Formula of Subscription, which speaks again of            this with His atoning work: "That in all my sorrows
"the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, or the ex-           and persecutions, with uplifted head I look for the
planation of the National Synod."                             very same person, who before offered himself fov my
      Notice this carefully.                                  sake, `to the tribunal of God, and has removed all curse
      The Canons are the e$&&atioti,  of some points of       from me; to come as judge from heaven: who shall
the  aforesaid  doctrine. They are not something new,         cast all his and my enemies into everlasting con-
but an explanation. An explanation of what? Of some           demnation, but shall translate me with all his chosen
points of the aforesaid doctrine. What is the aforesaid       ones to himself, into heavenly joys and glory."
doctrine? It is the doctrine contained inthe Confession          There are many more such references iu the Cate-
and the Catechism.        The conclusion is unavoidable,      chism.    The reader can go through the Catechism
therefore: the doctrines contained in the Canons are          himself with an eye for similar statements. But those
merely explanations of what was already contained in          cited above are sufficient. They are very clear. And
the Confession and the Catechism. You will find the           they all make direct mention of Christ's atoning work.
same doctrines there.                                            The question %s now: what do these statements
      The question now is: do we indeed find the doctrine     mean? Do they speak of an atonement which is definite
of definite and personal atonement through substitution-      and personal, and that too, in its very nature? Or are
ary satisfaction in the Heidelberg Catechism.                 they general? Or are they, perhaps, purposely vague,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  33

leaving the identity of that "we, our, I, my, me, us" an    Catechism simply does not use any excluding language
open question? Or do they leave us with the impression      here, and that it is merely silent about the question
that while the atonement itself is general, rhe applica-    whether any are not included in that atoning death of
tion of that atonement is particular? Or is it thus,        Christ?
that while the atonement is here presented as definite         I will let the reader ponder these questions in the
and personal, this definiteness does not belong to the      light of the language of the Heidelberg Catechism until
natuve  of the atonement? Or is it even thus, that the      next time, D.V.



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-



                             The  Pr&idence of God

                                           Government

                                                by Rev. H. Veldman


   We concluded our last article with a quotation from      are on earth; even in him." This passage needs no
Rev. H. Hoeksema's Dogmatics. Writing on that phase         clarification. Here we are told that it was the mystery
of God's providence which is known as Government,           of God that He should gather together all things in
Rev. Hoeksema writes that God, when creating the world,     Christ. Hence, it was not the Lord's purpose to gather
did not have all kinds of possibilities in mind, but was    together all things in the first Adam and then in the
moved and prompted by only one purpose. And that            second Adam, should the first Adam fail, but to gather
one purpose was, not to perfect all things in the first     together into one all things, in heaven and on earth, in
Adam, who was of the earth, earthy, but to bring them       our Lord Jesus Christ. God's eternal counsel, there-
to  final perfection in' Christ, Who is the Lord from       fore, never knew any other purpose, than this uniting
heaven. The final goal of all things, as conceived by       of all things in Jesus Christ.
God in His eternal counsel, is the -new creation, the
new heavens and the new earth. This is the only pur-                     GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND SIN
pose conceived by God in His eternal counsel and will.
And the providence of God certainly means that, from           This aspect or phase of God's providence is com-
the very first beginning to the end of the world, that      monly known as concurrence or cooperation. It cannot
wonderful return of our Lord Jesus Christ, God governs      be said that the word, "cooperation," conveys to us a
and guides all things by His counsel unto that end which    Scriptural idea of the truth. There are those who like
He has in view. And, from the beginning of the world        to quote I Cor. 3:9, and we quote: "For we are labour-
even unto the end, nothing ever happens which does not      ers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are
happen according to that counsel of the Most High. God      God's building." It is, of course, especially the first
is one and therefore His counsel is one, and also His       part of this text which they like to quote. But, in the
purpose is one. This is surely Scriptural. It is cer-       first place, it must be said that this cannot be consid-
tainly emphasized in Isaiah 46:lO: "Declaring the end       ered to be a true translation. Abetter translation would
from the beginning, and from ancient times the things       read: "For we are  labourers  together of God." The
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,      idea of the text is that the apostles were labourers
and I will do all my pleasure." This passage certainly      together,    not with God, but because of God, of
emphasizes that the Lord's counsel shall stand, that He     God. It is God Who caused them to be labourers
is never influenced by anything outside of Himself, and     together, with one another. And, in the second place,
that therefore the entrance of sin into the world must      this is. emphasized in the latter half of the text, where
never be divorced from this sovereign will of rhe Lord.     we read that, the church is called the building of God.
And this truth is also beautifully set forth in Eph. 1:     We repeat: it can hardly be said that the word, "co-
9-10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of his         operation," conveys to us a Scriptural idea. We surely
will, according to his good pleasure which he hath          cannot maintain the thought that God and man work to-
purposed in himself; That in the dispensation of the        gether, that the Lord and man may be compared to a
fulness of times he might gather together in one all        team of horses, each doing his part. But, as is the
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which       case with the word, "providence", which word does


34                                            THESTANDARDBEARER

not appear in the Bible with respect to the Lord's            source, the only true God, whereas dualism presents
control over all things, so also this word has found its      it as having a two-fold origin, light and darkness
way into the terminology of the church throughout the         always opposing one another, with the outcome ever
ages. And when we speak of "cooperation" we mean              in doubt. We declare that infralapsarianism is dual-
that work of God whereby He realizes His will and             istic because it places sin in God's counsel without
counsel also through the acts of all His moral-rational       explaining its origin, as independent of the Lord. Far
creatures. It is well, however, that we devote a few          better is surely the supralapsarian view of things.
articles to this phase of the providence of God: God's        This view places, in God's counsel, the decree of elec-
providence and sin.                                           tion and reprobation before the fall of man. Creation
      We may certainly say that the sovereign government      and man's fall are but God's sovereignmeans to realize
of the Lord over all things and sin has been a "bone"         His sovereign decree concerning the salvation or perdi-
of contention throughout the ages. The Pelagian would         tion of man.
solve this problem simply by denying God's absolute              This problem of the providence of the Lord and sin
sovereignty and maintaining the will of man as wholly         is difficult. The difficulty of this problem does not lie
independent of the Lord. He confuses man's freedom            in the propositions as such. God is sovereign, and man
with man's sovereignty.       According to the Pelagian       is a responsible, moral-rational being. This is clearly
conception of things, the will of man, as far as its          the teaching of the Word of God. We must never confuse
root is. concerned, is good. He can will to do good.          or detract from these two fundamental principles.
And, all things are dependent upon this will of the sin-      Both must be maintained. But the difficulty lies here:
ner. However, with this conception we simply lose God         how can the holy God direct the actions of iniquity so
as the sovereign Ruler of the universe, and have no           that we do not lose sight of man's responsibility and
eye for the stern reality that all men sin and that but       yet maintain that God is holy and righteous? God may
few are saved. The deterministic conception of this           work sin, but man does the sin. Now we do not purpose
problem goes to the other extreme, and explains this          to solve this problem. But we do desire to discuss
problem simply by denying the responsibility of man.          this question and to inquire of the Word of God what
According to this view, man is merely a machine. He           it has to say about it.
is moved about by God's own hand without any action              We have already called attention to the Scriptural
on his part. This operation of God simply takes place         significance of God's providence, both from the aspect
through. the will of man. Man is wholly passive. Such         of preservation and government. The Lord preserves
is the deterministic conception. Also this presentation       all things, in the absolute sense of the word, and He
we must wholly reject: such a conception has no place         also governs all things, leading them to that one deter-
for man as a responsible, moral being.                        minate end which He has willed from before the foun-
      In Reformed circles, in connection with this prob-      dation of the world. However, we must also face the
lem, we are faced, first of all, with the infralapsarian      reality of sin. The fact of sin as such we surely can-
conception of sin.      The word "infra-1apsis" means         not deny.       Even the most optimistic of men must
literally: under the fall. The exponents of this doctrine     acknowledge the fact of sin. One may refuse to glorify
place election and reprobation, in God's counsel, as          God, and have no consciousness of sin in the true,
following the fall of man, prefer to speak of sin as          spiritual and Scriptural sense of the word. Yet, who
taking place with the Lord's permission, and therefore        would have the courage, the brazen effrontery today to
believe that God has elected and reprobated out of a          lay claim to perfection-- such an one must be viewed
fallen humanity ; reprobation, then, is merely God's          as well nigh beside himself. The daily murders, the
decree to leave people in sin and death. The motive           constant presence of wars and rumors  ofwar speak but
prompting this conception is to nullify the charge that       too emphatically of the jealousy and hatred governing
God is the -author of sin. However, this infralapsarian       the children of men. Apart, however, from the natural
view of sin and grace is surely not satisfactory. We,         man, who does not discern spiritual things, and there-
when making this statement, are aware of the fact that        fore surely does not discern the reality of sin, anyone
our confessions are infralapsarian. But we are also           who has learned by the power of the grace of God what
aware of the fact that the supralapsarian view of sin         it means to be a sinner, understands the fact of sin and
and grace has always been allowed. Firstly, this view         iniquity. What a tremendous phenomenon is this reality
is unsatisfacto y because it does not explain the strong      of evil! At the dawn of creation, when all the handiwork
expressions 0g Holy Writ touching upon this matter.           of God united in singing praises unto the Lord, when
And, incidentally, the infralapsarian concedes this point.    not a solitary defect marred the whole creation, sin
Secondly, it does not answer to its purpose. The infra-       entered this world and caused all things to become
lapsarian purposes to avoid making God the author of          subject unto the curse of the Almighty. Death and
sin. But, I pray you, what is more cruel: a God Who           destruction it left in its wake. Sickness, misery, care
causes man to fall, or a God Who can prevent this fall        and sorrow are our lot, every man's lot. Moreover,
but nevertheless leaves that man in sin and perdition?        there is also the fact of sinitself. We all are conceived
Thirdly, the infra-lapsarian view is fundamentally            and born dead in sins and in trespasses. What an
dualistic. Dualism, as well as the antithetic concep-         iniquity abounds upon the face of the earth! Scripture,
tion of things, speaks of light and darkness, life and        and our own experience impress upon us the reality
death, as contrasted with each other. But the antith-         that the powers of hell and darkness are ever attempt-
esis explains this contrast as originating in. the one        ing to subject this earth unto themselves. And, what


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  35

is more, it seems that they may continue unmolested,          of sin. We must contend with this power of sin within
mocking at God and His Christ, and making of the              our lives. But we must also deal with the power of sin
church of God the plaything of the ages.                      in the world round about us. That wicked world hates
   Having God's providence and sin clearly before us,         God, His Christ and His Church. Seemingly they may
we face the question: what is the connection as such          proceed unmolested in their wickedness. And it is for
between them, as according to the Scriptures, without as      the child of God of the greatest significance whether
yet discussing the question how they are actually related     God is God, or whether that world rages against the
to one another?      And then we would remark, in the         Lord as having power in itself, and that therefore the
first place, that the child of God demands a Scriptural       cause of God's righteousness must remain in doubt
explanation of God's providence of sin. I must have an        even unto the end. So, the child of God must have, an
explanation of the reality of sin, and I must have this       explanation of this problem as revealed to him in the
explanation from the Scriptures.       I must have this       Scriptures.    The Lord willing, we will continue with
explanation, first of all, because ofthefactof the power      this discussion in our following article.



THE LORD GAVE THE WORD . . ..Psalm 68:~



                           Faith and Mission Preaching

                                                   by Rev. C.  Hank0


   Ever since the fall in paradise, guilt-burdened sin-       some were deeply moved by it. How wondrous are the
ners have asked in deep despair: "What must I do to           ways of God, unfathomed and unknown!
be saved?'                                                       And then it so happened that the jailer was brought
   To that ever-recurring question there is always            into personal contact with God's ministers of the
and can be but one answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus         Gospel. These men were put under. arrest for the good
Christ."      And those who heed that word receive the        they had done to this wretched damsel by releasing
assurance: "Thou shalt be saved!"                             her from the power of the demon. After having been
   This immediately calls to mind the well-known              cruelly beaten, they were placed under the special
account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer as         surveillance of the jailer.     He understood his duty
recorded in Acts 16:25-34.                                    well, for he brought Paul and Silas into the inner
   As we read this interesting account we are im-             prison, chained them to the wall, bound their feet in
pressed, first of all, by the wonderful handof providence     stocks, and securely locked the doors. He made sure
that brings the jailer under the ministry of the Word to      that they would not escape. Strange prisoners these,
work his conversion.        There was the Macedonian          for they offered no resistance to their arrest, although
call that came to Paul at Troas and brought him to            they were guilty of no crime. They submitted to the
Philippi. Little did the apostle realize at that moment       cruellest whippings, although Paul as a Roman citizen
that a prison-keeper was one of those represented by          could have had special protection against such anunjust
the Macedonian man in the vision. Then there was the          treatment.     They allowed themselves to be cast into
preaching of.Paul and Silas that soon became a common         prison and bound in chains without as much as being
topic of discussion, to a great extent through the antics     shown the courtesy of having their bloody wounds
of a demon possessed girl.        For even the devil, in      washed and bound.      While the jailer tossed about in
spite of himself, helped to arouse curiosity in the           what may well have been a troubled sleep, these men
preaching of Paul by causing the girl to trail behind         filled the prison with beautiful strains of songs in the
him day after day with the ever-repeatedchant: "These         night, giving thanks to God that they were counted
men are servants of the Most High God, which shew             worthy to preach the Gospel of Christ and to suffer for
unto us the way of salvation." Even the city jailer           His sake.
became interested in these strange happenings. Maybe             Then two wonders happened in rapid succession.
in his time off he went to hear what Paul had to say.            The first wonder was the earthquake. Not as if an
Surely there lingered in his thoughts that persistent:        earthquake is an unusual thing, possibly even in that
"Servants of the Most High God," "Shew us the way of          area. But an earthquake is always a forceful reminder
salvation . , . salvation." God had not left.himself          of the power of God who with the mere touch of His
without witness in Philippi. Many heard the preaching         finger shakes the earth down to its very foundations.
of the Gospel, even if out of curiosity. Many rejected it,    No one but God can do that, and even wicked unbelief


36                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

cannot escape His testimony that He is God. And now           ante think that some great sacrifice would have to be
at the stroke of midnight, on the very night when these       made to appease this God? Did he still in the pride
notable prisoners are so securely bound within their          of his flesh hope to contribute something toward his
prison cell, the divine hand reaches out and touches          salvation? If so,, the apostle brushes aside any notion
that very spot.       The jailer, rudely awakened, soon       of the sort by answering in essence, "There is abso-
realizes that the prison itself is undamaged, but the         lutely nothing that you yourself can add toward your
prison doors are torn from their locks and stand open.        salvation. For salvation is by faith. And that is never
Still more amazing, the chains that held the prisoners        of man, but the work of God." Thereby the apostle
are torn, from the walls, the- stocks are shattered. A        also assures him that nothing of ourselves is necessary
power beyond his control has reached in and released          toward our salvation. God asks, wants nothing of us. It
his prisoners.                                                is all of Him, that no flesh may ever glory in His
      His first reaction was only a deep concern for his      presence.
personal safety. He saw himself called to account for             In a few simple words Paul sums up the entire
the escape of his prisoners, especially these two             glorious gospel of salvation: "Believe on the Lord
notable ones. How could he ever explain these myste-          Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
rious happenings and expect anyone to believe him? He             Glorious gospel? Not for the proud sinner to whom
would be disgraced, discharged from his position,             salvation means nothing more than an escape from a
possibly even severely punished, maybe with death, In         bad situation in which he finds himself. Jesus is no
his utter despair suicide seemed the only honorable           help to him.      Nor is this a glorious gospel for the
way out of a bad situation. And so with drawn sword in        individual who wants to save face, retain his dignity,
his hand, ready to plunge it into his heart, he intended,     or have something to boast about in the future. Be-
as he hoped, to end it all. But even then he found him-       lieving in Jesus is a deeply humiliating experience for
self hovering as it were, over the very brink of hell.        the flesh, because Jesus is either our only and complete
He found himself face to face with the Most High God,         Savior, or He is no Savior at all. It is none of self, and
the righteous Judge of all the earth. In mere seconds         all' of Him. Nor is this a glorious gospel to him who
his whole sinful life must have passed in review before       lacks that gift of faith.          The man who knows only a
his troubled mind.                                            temporary remorse for the wrong he has done, will
      Already a second wonder was taking place, although      find no comfort in the call to faith in Christ. There is
the jailer himself did not yet realize it.                    a sorrow for sin that wants to continue in the same
      He was aroused out of his bitter ruminations by the     evil way but escape the consequences. That person
voice of Paul, assuring him, strange as it might seem,        discovers that Jesus is for him a stone of stumbling
that not one of his prisoners had escaped. The                and a Rock of  offence.        He scorns in bitter disgust
Most High God, Whose presence was so keenly felt              the only possible way of salvation. No, to any one who
within that prison, prevented His servants from leaving,      lacks the grace of God in -his heart this saying is
even though the way of escape had been opened for             hard; he cannot receive it. Faith is the humanly im-
them. What a relief to know that he need not concern          possible way out. To ask it is to ask too much. The
himself about that any more.         -                        sinner steeped in sin turns a deaf ear to any message
      But now his spiritual problem loomed bigger than        like that.
ever.     He realized that before the face of the living         And yet that Word of God makes the way of salvation
God he was nothing but a wretched, lost sinner, that          so very simple.       .Believe !     It is as simple as that.
deserved everlasting condemnation. He trembled in             Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to bear the
holy fear and guilty shame. And that brought to mind          sins of His people and to bear them all away. Believe
anew the familiar chant of the strange damsel, "These         that He arose to give unto His own eternal life. Be-
men are servants of the Most High God, which shew             lieve that He is mighty to save, so that anyone who
unto us the way of salvation." Calling for a light he         comes to Him in true sorrow for sin is being drawn
rushes into the dark, dank prison hole, falls down at         by His almighty power. Believe that though our sins
the feet of Paul and Silas in deepest reverence, and          be as scarlet, they are made as white as snow by His
asks: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"                     atoning blood. Believe that in Him alone is life, eternal
      Actually, without realizing it, he was savedalready.    life, salvation full and free..
God is alw,ays first. He does not wait for the sinner to         It is as easy as that. Forthat  same Word that calls
take the initial step, for then no one would be saved.        us to believe is the power of God wrought by the Spirit
But already the Spirit of God had wrought regeneration        drawing' Christ's sheep unto salvation.           The Spirit
in this wretched sinner's heart. Already the life of the      WC rks through that Word. We hear the voice of Jesus
Spirit convicted him of-sin and guilt under the righteous     say: "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest for your
judgment of the true and living God. Already godly            soul." And we experience the wonder of God within
sorrow was working repentance unto the knowledge of           us that we are able to respond: "Lord, I believe, help
salvation. Eagerly he turned to Paul and Silas in the         Thou my unbelief."
conviction that these men must be servants of the Most           I realize that this description of faith is far more
High God who were able to show him the way of salva-          inclusive than a mere decision for Christ. But I am
tion.                                                         convinced that when the Holy Spirit works in the heart
      All he could ask was: "What must I do?" The             of the lost, yet elect. sinner, He works far more than
question arouses our curiosity. Did he in pagan ignor-        some mere vague decision. I also know that the Spirit


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  37

does not begin by telling the sinner: "God loves you."           was speaking to him, banishing his erroneous notions,
For that sinner realizes very well that a righteous God          clearing up his doubts, assuring him of that wonder
cannot love him as he stands condemned in all his sin            that salvation is of the Lord, solely by grace. And as
and guilt. But the Holy Spirit does convict us of sin            he listened, his soul responded in growing conviction:
and condemnation so completely that we despair of                I believe !    I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal
ourselves, and are ready to be led to the cross of               Savior.
Jesus. At the foot of the cross He opens our eyes to                 Readily he even bowed before that truth revealed to
a love so great, that it spared not God's only begotten          him that God gathers His Church in the line of the
Son, but offered Him up as a sacrifice for our sins.             generations of believers.      He saw that he had been
There we realize that Christ who died was also raised            called out of a world of sin and death to be engrafted
again. He lives, and the proof of His life is His work           into Christ and into the church of the living God. And
of grace in our hearts. For we now love Him even as              there he would experience that God's covenant runs in
He loved us, and confess in holy wonder:"My Lord and             the line of continued generations of those who believe.
my God!" Faith is the living bond that unites us to              Ever richer grew the assurance: "Thou shalt besaved,
Christ, whereby we become partakers of Christ and of             and thy house."
all His benefits.                                                    Yes, faith is the way of salvation. But it is not
        That is what the jailer experienced.     Quietly he      man's way, it is the power of God that creates in us
listened as Paul spent the fleeting hours of the night           a spiritual knowledge and a sure confidence that we are
instructing him in these wonderful truths of Scripture.          saved. Therefore the preacher of the gospel never
Greedily he absorbed in his soul the blessed gospel of           hesitates to include in his glad tidings the blessed
Jesus Christ, God's Son and our Lord. It all took on             refrain: "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and
meaning, new meaning, personal meaning for him. God              that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."



A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-



                                   David and Goliath

                                                   by Rev. B.  Woudenbevg


                          And the Philistine said, I defy the  armies  of  Israel this day; give  me  a
                      man, that we may fight together....
                          And David  spake to the men that stood by him, saying . . . . who is this un-
                       circumcised Philistine, that he should defy the  armies of  the living God?
                                                                                    I Samuel  17:10,26

        There was something about the music of the young         happened.      The curse which Samuel had pronounced
harpist who played in his court that cleared the mind            was still there, and in the back of his mind Saul knew
of Saul and drove his deep depression far away. It was           it. It was just that, for the moment, by the means of
hard to say just what. About the only explanation was            this music, the king had come to the point where he
that musical instruments were rare and the mastery of            was able to ignore it, able to act as though it didn't
them almost unknown. It was a new experience even                really matter, able to live as though it weren't there.
for a king to have the air filled with music all around          That is, until the Philistines came.
him for extended hours. It couldnot  help but to'captivate           There was something about the Philistines that had
his attention and carry his mind away from those                 always troubled Saul more than any other enemy.
bitterest thoughts. It seemed as though with that young          Against other enemies he had always been able to
man there came the crisp freshness of the Judean  air,           maintain himself in strength; but when the Philistines
the radiant glory of the open field, the bubbling life of        came, it seemed as though things somehow went amiss.
the mountain streams, and upon the wings of his music            It was almost as though they were there for the special
they entered with their healing balm into the king's             purpose of trying him. So now again, things were just
troubled soul.        The days were not many before the          beginning to look up again and there they were pitching
strength and interest of the king revived. Even the              their tents in his territory between Shochoh and Azekah.
young musician could return to his home as the king                  Saul knew; of course, what he had to do. Years
took up again his normal activities.                             had passed since he had last engaged in battle with the
        Still, it was not as though anything basic had really    Philistines, and those years had brought him a vast
  -.


amount of experience in the tactics of warfare. Quickly      went as it did.      There was good reason why Jesse
he called his army together and pitched camp over            chose David of his five remaining sons to perform this
agamst them just as any commander would be expected          mission.      Not only was David far more inclined to
to do. That wasn't the trouble. It was that other, that      share his father's concern for the welfare of the nation
fear which for a short time the magic of music had           than any of the others, but he was known to be coura-
seemed to have driven from his mind; now it was there        geous as well as observant and truthful in all that he
again throbbing through his head just as loudly and          did.     Besides, being as yet little more than a young
terrorizingly as it ever had. Always before he had           shepherd boy, he would be the least likely to be molest-
had that one great consolation even though he couldn't       ed should he meet up with the enemy.
always understand it; he had had the assurance that the       I When at last David arrived upon the battlefield,
great and mysterious power which Samuel represented          what he found there was even stranger than the reports
`was behind him; but now that was gone. All he could         that had come to them in Bethlehem: he found the whole
remember were those terrible words of curse, "Thou           great army of Israel cowering in absolute fear. The
has rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath         terror which gripped the heart of the king had had its
rejected thee from being king over Israel." He couldn't      effect also upon his men.        Although Saul had long
forget it. It terrorized him every day anew; it paralyzed    mastered the trick of keeping his face calm regardless
him, he couldn't move. There he stood surrounded by          of what his inner feelings might be, the men very
a great army, but never had he felt so much alone.           quickly felt that new uncertainty which had come upon
   And then, as though to mock him in his terror,            him.      Beyond doubt, when the army had first come
there stood Goliath. It must have seemed a frenzied          together there at the valley of Elah, there had been
dream that first morning in the camp when he heard           many of the valiant men of Israel who were more than
the rumbling in the valley and looked out to see             ready to go out to do battle against this new invasion
Goliath towering there.     Standing full ten feet high,     of the enemy. Even when Goliath had first appeared,
and looking twice that, the great Goliath called and         as terrible as his appearance might have been, a simple
shook the mountains with his voice as he called to           call from the king would surely have brought many
Saul to come out and meet him in battle. What was a          volunteers from the ranks willing to give their all
man to do, particularly one who himself was used to          against any odds for the sake of their country. But
standing head and shoulders above everyone else?             Saul had hesitated, and the result was a disaster. Day
Before Goliath he looked like a child, and that was the      after day the men gazed upon the imposingfigure of the
way he felt too, even though there were still hundreds       giant, listened to his mocking challenge, and noted the
of feet between them. It all seemed to fit in together to    indecision of the king until each had taken second
make Saul completely unable to move.                         thoughts and no one dared to move. Even more, when
   Meanwhile in Bethlehem circumstances were being           at last the king's call for a volunteer came, it was not
prepared which were to bring David once again into           a simple request, but was couched in promises of
contact with king Saul, only now in quite a different        riches, a royal marriage, and absolute freedom in
capacity.                                                    Is'rael which sounded more like a bribe than anything
   David's three oldest brothers were members of             else.     It only frightened the men the more, until all
Saul's army. Thus they were among those summoned             hope of finding anyone was gone. The terror of Saul's
when the Philistines had invaded the land, and they had      own heart had engulfed the camp.
been encamped with Saul on the battle field ever since.       : To the young David entering the camp of Israel's
But the reports which came back to their home since          army for the first time, it must have seemed incom-
they had left were not good, at `least they were un-         prehensible.     In his young mind, the army of Israel
believably strange. First, of course, there were the         had always been idealized. With his faith in God, he
almost unbelievable stories of that great giant who          firmly believed it to be undefeatable. That he should
came out each day to defy the armies of Israel and mock      now find this very army cowering in fear and doing
them. But even stranger than that was the fact that no       nothing was to him unbelievable. But that was nothing
other reports followed. Israel's army by this time was       at, all compared to his amazement when Goliath suddenly
a large army and strong, accustomed to pushing a             appeared in the valley to hurl once again his daily chal-
battle with determination until victory would result.        lenge at Israel, "Why are ye come out to set your battle
But now week after week went by without reports of           in' array? ana not I aphilistine, andye servants to Saul?
any attacks or battles or even minor skirmishes. To          choose you a man for you, and let him come down to
Jesse, a man who had always been deeply concerned            me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then
about the welfare of his nation, this all did not make       will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him,
sense. Regardless of how big and imposing the Philis-        and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve
tine's giant might be, there was no reason why the           US.      I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a
hundreds of thousands of Israelite soldiers should not       man, that we may fight together." The sound of that
have moved in and attacked. Why the battle was not           voice stopped David short and sent shivers of amaze-
joined, Jesse could not understand.                          ment down his back; but with him it was different than
   Finally he could bear the concernnolonger. Calling        with the others. He was yet a young man, hardly more
to him David, his youngest son, he instructed him to         than a boy, who had grown up in a home where the
carry some provisions to his brothers in the army and        name of Israel had always been held in highest respect,
to inquire of them the real reason as to why the battle      for it belonged to the children of the living God. Time


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     39

and again he had spent hours and even days in the field       possible, but it was not; this boy was about to volunteer
carefully piecing together songs by which he could sing       to fight that giant. He had to be stopped. It was not
its praises; but such words as these that came from           just concern for David's safety that troubled him, it
Goliath he had never heard. He could not imagine why          was the thought of the shame that would come upon him
that great army of Israel did not rise up in shocked in-      and his father's house if one of his own family should
dignation to plung down the hill and silence the mockery      be guilty of precipitating the defeat of the nation, and
of that voice together. Was there not one in the camp         it was the shame he already felt to think that in this
who could endure the mockery of that voice no longer?         youngest brother there was a courage that he him-
Eagerly he looked about to see who would be stepping          self lacked. There was only one thing that Eliab could
forth to meet the arrogant challenge. After all, there        think of which might stop him, that. was to challenge
was no cause for fear. Jehovah their God was with             David's obedience.        Thus angrily he said, "Why
them; and before Him the  size  of Goliath meant              earnest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left
nothing.    But all he saw was men drawing back and           those few sheep in the wilderness ? I know thy pride,
cowering in fear while those about him plaintively ex-        and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come
plained,    "Have ye seen this man that is come up?           down that thou mightest see the battle."
surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be,
that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich                But David was not to be distracted with such petty
him with great riches, and will give him his daughter,        complaints.    His heart had been stirred with much
and make his father's house free in Israel."                  more serious concerns, concerns for the name of his
   David was astonished at the very suggestion that a         God and his nation. He simply answered, "What have
reward should have to be offered in the attempt to find       I now done? Is there not a cause?" and with that he
someone to meet this challenge, and unbelievingly he          turned to pursue his inquiry further.
asked again, "What shall be done to the man that                  It was not long before the men began to realize
killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach         that here was one the like of whom over a month of
from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philstine,         searching had failed to turn up, one with the courage
that he should defy the armies of the living God?"            to fight with Goliath. He appeared almost impossibly
   It was Eliab, David's oldest brother, who first            small in the middle of that army of grown men, but the
suspected the direction in which the conversation was         desperation of the hour was such that no possibility
going and did what he could to head it off. He knew           could be ignored. The word soon came to the ears of
David and his utter lack of fear. It might seem im-           Saul, and David was brought before him.



THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP- "0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.rr
                                                                               Psalm  96:9a



                   The Form for Excommunication

                                                by Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg

   To the liturgy of the Reformed Churches belongs            described order, we will briefly discuss the contents
the Form For Excommunicating impenitent persons               of this Form For Excommunication.
from the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. This form                                The Informative Part
may be found in the back of our Psalters, along with              In order that you may have this material before
our other Confessions.     It may be divided into four        you, we will quote this part of the form in full. It
main parts.    The first part contains an informative         reads as follows:
section, in which the congregation is made aware of               "Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ; it is known
the sin and impenitence of the offender and the neces-        unto you, that we have several times, and by several
sity of excommunicating him. This is followed by a            methods declared unto you the great sin committed,
short paragraph in which the act of excommunication           and the heinous offence  given by our fellow-member,
itself is described. Thereupon an important exhorta-          N., to the end that he, by your Christian admonition
tion is laid upon the congregation in which she is en-        and prayers to God, might be brought to repentance,
joined to be of the proper spiritual attitude and be-         and so be freed from the bonds of the devil (by whom
havior toward this matter. The form then concludes            he is held captive), and recovered by the will of the
with an appropriate prayer.       Following the above         Lord.    But we cannot conceal from you, with great


40                                            THESTANDARD.BEARER

sorrow, that no one has yet appeared before us, who           ourselves that it is no concern of ours or to make up
hath in the least given us to understand that he, by the      all kinds of excuses for our failure actively to perform
frequent admonitions given him, (as well in private as        our duty; but this cannot relieve us of our responsibil-
before witnesses, and in the presence of many), is come       ities. If we know that a member of the church is going
to any remorse for his sins, or hath shown the least          to be unjustly excommunicated or has been unjustly
token of true repentance. Since then he daily aggra-          barred from the Lord's Table and we do nothing about
vates his sin, (which in itself is not small), by his         it, the guilt of the misdeed becomes ours.
stubbornness, and since we have signified unto you the            On the other hand, if a member is disciplined, and
last time, that in case he did not repent, after such         we have knowledge, which the consistory does not, of
patience shown him by the Church, we should be under          some things that might indicate a hope or possibility
the disagreeable necessity of being further grieved           of repentance, we must also tell the consistory. Such
for him, and come to the last remedy: wherefore we            information might prove very valuable. It might open
at this present are necessitated to proceed to this           up an-avenue of labor for the consistory which other-
excommunication according to the command and charge           wise is closed.      It very likely would have a bearing
given us by God in His holy Word; to the end that he          upon the decisions which the consistory must make
may hereby be made (if possible) ashamed-of his sins;         with regard to the time interval `between the various
and likewise that we may not by this rotten and as yet        a$monitions  and the time of the excommunication
incurable member, put the whole body of the Church in         finally.     Although the members of the church do not
danger, and that God's name may not be blasphemed."           labor in these things in the same official capacity that
      When the disagreeable necessity of using this form      the elders do, they must nevertheless be conscious of
of excommunication in the church arises, the reading          the labor which they are called to perform. A lack of
of it certainly does not acquaint the congregation for        this is detrimental to the entire spiritual life of the
the first time of the offender and his sin. The various       church. The church is a body. It is one, though com-
steps of Christian discipline have been followed. Both        posed of many members. The unity of these members
with and without the name of the offender this matter         is rooted in the faith and love of Christ, which also
has been made known to the church. The magnitude of           constrains them to exercise care for each other.
the heinous offense committed has been set before the         Spiritually, therefore, it is impossible when one who
congregation in order that, if possible, through the          belongs to the church becomes sickly and offensive to
prayers of the church the sin might be removed and            the church, to ignore that one or shove the whole
the offender set free from the bondage of the devil.          matter off on the consistory. The love of Christ in
Prior to this time of excommunication the consistory          us demands of us that we seek the well-being of that
informed the congregation of her intent to proceed with       member in every way we possibly can. If he is guilty,
the excommunication if there was no evidence of re-           we tell him and admonish him in love. If he is inno-
pentance.     All of this, designed to help and save the      cent, but for some reason unjustly disciplined, we up-
offender, was necessary in order that the whole con-          hold him and defend as much as we are able his honor
gregation might be able to assist with its admonitions        and good character. When then no one has appeared
and prayers in bringing this person to repentance.            at the consistory to do any of this, the consistory may
But it has all been of no avail and now the most dis-         rightly assume that every member in the congregation
agreeable necessity is laid upon the church to proceed        is agreed in the matter of the excommunication that
in that work which Christ, the head of the church,            must take place.
has given to her.                                               ; This act of excommunicating a member from the
      We note here that emphasis is placed on the in-         church is called here a "disagreeable necessity".
formation which is now given to the church concerning         It, is this because by it the church is sorely grieved.
the offender's impenitence. There has been not even           It hurts deeply, and the pain the church suffers in this
the least token of repentance; the sin is aggravated          is not a physical one, which can be alleviated through
daily; and the offender continues to scorn the patience       various remedies; but it is a spiritual sorrow of the
shown to him in the labors which the church has be-           heart.      Realizing the seriousness of what is to take
stowed upon him. Of all this the whole church must            place the church cries in pain for the soul of him who
now be witness because the entire congregation par-           will not be brought to repentance. Just as the church,
ticipates in the excommunication and is responsible           together with the angels in heaven, rejoice when one
for it. The very fact that no one of the congregation         sinner is brought to repentance, so is she grieved to
has come to the consistory, either to protest the             witness one who has come so close to the Kingdom of
decisions previously made or to produce some evidence         God go the way of perdition.
that there is at least the beginning of repentance, in-           If then there is any consolation to be found in the
dicates the approval and concurrence of the congre-           performance of this disagreeable task, it must be in
gation in the disciplinary labor of the consistory. The       our keeping before our mind the three-fold purpose
congregation must always be mindful of its responsi-          that this labor must serve. Briefly stated that purpose
bility in these matters. If an injustice is done against      is: (1) the conversion of the sinner, (2) to maintain the
a member of Christ's flock, we may not keep silent            purity and well-being of the church, and, (3) for the
or just look the other way. We must speak out in pro-         honor of the Name of God. Our excommunication form
test against all injustice and insist that truth and right    puts it thus: .` `to the end that he may hereby be made
be maintained. It is undoubtedly much easier to tell          (if possible) ashamed of his sins, and likewise that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       41

we may not by this rotten and as yet incurable member,           designates the officiating office bearers in the public
put the whole body of the Church in danger, and that             act of excommunication as the ministers and elders
God's Name may not be blasphemed."                               of the church.    This excludes the deacons because
    All of this is introductory. It must serve the pur-          this is a matter of discipline which, strictly speaking,
pose of bringing the church to a full realization of the         does not belong to the office of the deacon. In prac-
situation.    She must understand that what she is about         tice, however, where the deacons are added to the
to do, though most undesirable, is not a matter of her           consistory under the provision of Article 37 of the
choice but is the performance of her duty to Christ.             church order, they naturally would also participate in
She must obediently use the power He has given to her            this disciplinary work. But even then, this is not in
and in that way trust that through her He will sover-            their capacity of deacons. Insofar as they serve as
eignly and graciously perform a work that will always            assistants to the elders or advisory elders only would
be salutary for His Church. In that confidence the               they have a part in this labor. The work of discipline
most difficult and unpleasant tasks can be performed.            belongs to the office of the ministers of the Word and
                  The Excommunication                            the elders because these two offices are reflective of
    The next paragraph in the Excommunication Form               the prophetic and kingly office of Christ. It is through
describes the act of excommunication itself. It reads            the efficacious Word of Christ and by His sovereign
thus :                                                           and royal authority that excommunication from the
    "Therefore, we, the ministers and rulers of the              church is enacted. The ministers and elders there-
Church of God, being here assembled in the name and              fore perform this work as representatives of Christ.
authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, declare before               And through them, as the official organs of the church,
you all, that for the aforesaid reasons we have ex-              the whole congregation functions.       That ministers
communicated, and by these, do excommunicate N.                  here is plural means two things. Firstly, this is be-
from the Church of God, and from fellowship with                 cause under a former system there often were several
Christ,' and the holy sacraments, and from all the               ministers in one congregation in a given town or city.
spiritual blessings and benefits, which God promiseth            Secondly, I believe the fact that this excommunication
to and bestows upon His Church, so long as he ob-                has been preceeded  by a long labor of love that in-
stinately and impenitently persists in his sins, and is          volved also the Classis and the ministers and elders
therefore to be accounted by you as a heathen man                of those churches represented in the  Classis, this
and a publican, according to the command of Christ               plural is proper. By the approval or concurrence of
(Matt. 18), who saith, that whatsoever his ministers             .the Classis the various disciplinary steps took place.
bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven."                        In them the ministers and elders also had a part. In
                                                                 a sense then the excommunication is performed by
    The importance of this paragraph cannot be over              the whole church even though it is done by the local
emphasized. It contains the very heart of the matter,            congregation.     Each church in that federation of
the excommunication itself. Several things, then, are            churches recognizes and honors what is done; for in
to be carefully noted here.       First of all, the form         it the churches together also had a part.


EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-

                                                   cocu
                                                            2
                          A Mergin& Emerging Church

                                               by Rev. G. Van  Baven

    The prospects are "bright." Before very long the             question of merger.     They have been analyzing the
possibility exists that seven large Protestant denomin-          difference between the denominations. They have been
ations, maybe more, will merge into one large super-             coming to conclusions. The pattern is being set forth
denomination containing 24 million members.. That is             of the large, presently unnamed (as far as I know),
what "COCU" is about (Consultation On ChurchUnion).              super-denomination which they hope and pray (?) will
The "Consultation" which has been in progress for the            emerge as a fruit of their consultations.
past five years is a gathering of nine representatives              And as I pointed out last time, the goal of those
from each of the seven participating denominations.              seeking such merger is not merely to form this one
These men annually discuss various aspects of the                super-denomination of seven existing denominations,


42                                                  THESTXNDARD:BEARER

but to work towards an organization consisting of all                     concern in that community. Recent experiments in this
the churches of the land. Then there will be one united                   kind of ecumenical action have been highly successful.
"church" proclaiming that "unity' of which Christ                         An  inter-church group could direct its attention to such
spoke in John 17 -- so they say.                                          community problems as: the local health services;
      But what problems, what differences, are being                      public school policies; high school drop-outs; lahor-
ironed out by the representatives to COCU? One can                  management relationships;             civil rights; or public
                                                                          transportation.
well imagine that denominations ranging from Presby-
terian to Methodist and Episcopalian would have many
doctrinal and confessional differences. But is this what           THEISSUESOFCONCERN
concerns them?                                                            In what was COCU most concerned? First, they did
                                                                   concern themselves with Scripture and its place in the
THEDOCTRINAL-CONFESSIONAL ISSUES                                   church.            At their Oberlin meeting of 1963 COCU
      I will be quoting in this article from a paper-back          addressed itself to the question of Scripture andTradi-
book entitled, "COCU  - The Reports of the Four Meet-              tion. Among many statements made is found this con-
ings," published by Forward Movement Miniature                     cerning Scripture: (pg. 23)
Books. This book summarizes what has been discussed
and decided at the first four meetings of COCU during                        The six churches represented in the Consultation On
1962 through 1965.                                                        Church Union recognize and acknowledge that the Holy
      It becomes readily evident that the concernof COCU                  Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments have a unique
is neither doctrinal nor confessional. They recognize                     authority. (italics mine)
                                                                             The Holy Scriptures witness to God's revelation,
that different denominations do have different creeds,                    fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and to man's response to the
these appear to be included in what are called "tradi-                    divine revelation.. . . They are the inspired writings
tions of the church", but very little is done with the                    which bear witness to the divine deeds in our history
doctrines taught in these creeds. At the first meeting                    by which God has called into being and sustained his
in Washington in 1962, the gathering stated these to be                   people and by which God calls all men to unite in his
the issues before them:                                                   service and share in his reconciliation of the world to
                                                                          himself.
         We have sought to isolate issues that need further
      study and clarification.     Among these are:. (1) the              There appears to be no clear-cut declaration that
      historical basis for the Christian ministry that is          Scripture is the infallible, inspired Word of God.
      found in the Scriptures and the early church; (2) the
      origins,                                                            The second subject for discussion, and considered
                  use and standing of creeds and confessional
      statements; (3) a restatement of the theology of liturgy;    to be their chief problem, was the question of the
      (4) the relation of word and sacraments. (pg. 18)            ministry.           At the first four meetings of COCU no
                                                                   final, conclusive decision was made. COCU stated,
      However, not much is done with point 2 above.                "The ministerial orders should include the historic
Rather, there is the deliberate attempt to minimize all            ministries of bishops, presbyters, (elders) anddeacons
differences on doctrinal issues.              At the Lexington     although we acknowledge that the particular functions
meeting in 1965 the following was st,ated:  (pg. 57ff)             of these ministries require further clarification... "
         The issues which divided us were not the profound                The proper administration of the two sacraments
      onea of theology and traditions. Indeed, what we have        also was subject of papers and discussion. Concerning
      learned together in these three years, and our greatest      the one baptism, the following was affirmed: (pgs. 45-
      source of hope, is that old theologies and traditions of     46)
      a separate nature has given way in this ecumenical
      century to an amazing consensus....                                    1. The understanding of baptism as a means of
         Our disagreements a year ago (admitting that we have             grace. The primacy of grace must be stressed, whether
      all too politely, and even carefully, skirted around some           infant or adult baptism be practiced. The primary
      of the hardest questions) were really on scheduling and             significance of baptism lies not in what we do but in
      time; one might say on caution versus commitment,                   what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ, to
      which is a hard alternative for any serious man.                    which faith is our response.
      To encourage "ecumenism" on the local, grass-                          2. The understanding of baptism as the decisive
roots, level, the following advice is given: (pg. 33)                     work of God leading to the continuing life in God.. . .
                                                                             3. The meaning of baptism as a corporate act of the
         In interchurch groups of' this nature, little is to be           Church under the authority of the living Lord. Baptism
      gained from arguments about old points of difference           is not a private affair. At each baptismal service the
      between churches; each side is likely to fall back into             faith of all the baptized members is continuously re-
      extreme positions that have generally been outgrown.           affirmed and proclaimed.
      Members of the various churches need to discover and                   4. The particular witness of infant baptism. Infant
      appreciate what they have in common before they can                 baptism is the manifestation of our helplessness and of
      tackle their differences creatively.                           God's grace on our behalf. It is also a witness to the
                                                                     ' corporateness of the Christian life. In the nurture of
      What must interchurch study groups talk about?                      the covenant community it always anticipates confirma-
                                                                          tion or personal confession of faith. Thereby, parental
         People  from several neighboring churches could                  and congregational vows uttered in behalf of the
      meet, as members of the Christian Church in the                     baptizand are fulfilled.
      community, to study and discuss matters of common                      5. The teaching emphasized in adult baptism. Here


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        43

   the stress is on the conscious dedication and commit-             The final problem of major concern for COCU was
   ment of awakened faith... .                                   liturgy, or, the manner of worship for the church.
       6. The common search for fulness of spiritual life.       Recommended here is: (pgs. 29-30)
   In spite of tensions within our communions, and weak-
   nesses of practice, infant baptism and adult baptism
   both seek to express and fulfill the same spiritual life.              The living Tradition of the Church implies certain
   Both seek to include infants within the one fold of               basic elements of Christian worship but does not confine
   Christ's Church, and both seek to nurture these little            worship to a single plan or form. Unity does not pre-
   ones in one faith which thereby can reach mature,                 clude freedom nor require uniformity.. . .
   responsible expression.                                                To encourage both unity and freedom it would be
   SO COCU has neatly included both infant and adult                 desirable to have three or four orders of service set
baptism (take your pick) and has lost sight of the idea              forth as approved forms in a united church, with an
of the covenant in this sacrament. The differences                   agreed upon statement of the elements which are
with respect to the Lord's Supper are also solved by                 necessary for a whole and proper worship.
presenting general conclusions to which most denomi-
nations could apparently agree. (cf. pgs. 52-53)                     The above represents a very, very brief summary
        1. In the Lord's Supper, symbols and symbolic             of COCU in its first four meetings. It would seem
    actions are used. However, the Eucharist is an effective      obvious that COCU does not intend to treat matters of
    sign; the action of the Church becomes the effective          doctrine, the matters which originally led to separation
    means whereby God in Christ acts and Christ is present        of the denominations. It is very unlikely that COCU
    with his people.. .                                           would ever define its idea of infallible Scripture, of the
        2. Christ is the minister, the high priest of the         virgin birth of Christ, of the Trinity, and such like
    Eucharist.. . . .
        3. Christ is present as the Crucified who died for        doctrines. Rather it would forge a unity based on that
    our sins and who rose again for our justification, as         which is outward: seeking consensus of opinion on
    the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world who      baptism,  eucharist, the ministry, and liturgy. Such
    gives himself to the faithful.. . .                           unity, based merely on that, will of necessity be only
        4. The Holy Communion is the presence of Christ           external and will not be that unity of which Christ
    who has come and who comes to his people, and who             speaks in John 17: that the church may be one even
    will come in glory....                                        as Christ and the Father are one.



FROM HOLY WRIT-


                         The Good Shepherd of Israel

                                                      by Rev. G.  Lubbers
                                                         John  lO:l-39

THE DIVINE EPITOME OF THE SHEPHERD'S                             factual statement of the Evangelist John. Here is the
TESTIMONY  (John  1:39)                                          proof of the sum of all that Christ has said about Him-
                                                                  self as the good Shepherd. None would take His life
   The mouth of every man shall be stopped one day,              from him!       He had been sent and empowered of the
and all shall be compelled to confess that Jesus Christ           Father to lay down His life for the sheep and also to
is Lord unto the glory of God the Father. That will be            take it again. He will die in no other way than in His
the final stopping of the mouths of evil men, who deny            voluntary death on the cross as the expiation of the
the Son of God, having come into the flesh. That will             sins of the people. With great longing Jesus longs for
be the final vanquishing of the Antichrist and of all             that moment when He may eat the final passover with
antichristians who are in the world.                              his disciples and drink the wine new in the kingdom of
   Such a moment there is also here in our text which             his Father. For the Son of manmust suffer the suffer-
reads, "Therefore they sought again to take him: but              ings of the cross, and thus be perfected; and God will
he escaped out of their/hand." Here we see the futility          thus bring many sons to glory. And when Christ went
of unbelief thwarted; the frustration of unbelief is ex-          out from among the hands of wicked men, who would
posed in all its poverty and helplessness over against            seize Him to kill Him, He is keeping the avenues open
the Christ of God.            It is the helplessness of those     so that He may presently walk the Via Dolorosa. He is
whose mouths had been shut.                                       and remains the good Shepherd, and continues in the
   But there is more here in this almost trite and                obedient role of the One sent of the Father throughout.


44                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

      The verb in the Greek for "to take" is "piatsein",          Presently when His hour is fully come He will
and it means literally: to seize, to take, to capture.        willingly give His hands to be tied, and being bound
In the Gospel of John it refers to the act of placing in a    He will be led to the judgment hall of Caiaphas. Then
state of arrest, and thus the beginning of a judicial         will He be condemned to death because He said: "I
process.     In this case it would lead inevitably to the     am the Lord of glory, I am the Son of God.' He will
stoning of Jesus, notwithstanding that all the arguments      then be bound with the oaths of God to the cross.
of the Jews had been met, and all their accusations had       There shall the Shepherd of Israel be slain, and all
been shown to be without ground. It would simply have         the sheep shall be saved from the wolves of Satan's
been the only answer of unbelief whose mouth had been         legions and cohorts !
shut by the evidence. Their is nothing reasonable in
unbelief. Evil men are ever unreasonable men. They            THE POSTHUMOUS CONFESSION CONCERNING
do not believe in law and order, andwill not bow before       JOHN'S PREACHING (John 10:40-42)
the highest authority and majesty of the Word of God!             Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. The
Such has been the bloody history of all who persecuted        bearer of the precious seed of the Word may weep as
the righteous, even from the time of Abel, the first          he sows, and meet the death of the martyr. But from
martyr, till the time of Zachariah, the son of Bere-          Abel onward, although they have died, they still speak.
chiah!                                                        The Word of the Lord does not return void, but per-
      Hence, they would take Jesus. As the conjunction        forms that unto which He sends it. The true preachers
"therefore" indicates, these Jews would. take Jesus           of the Word are aways a sweet savour to God.
because they had been bested in the argument; and this         Thus it was with John, the Baptist. He was a man
is their only argument, as it was of evil men in the          sent from God. His name was "John," that is, through
days of Henoch. He too was sought and they found him          him the grace and mercy of God would effectually be
not, for "God took him." But here is a greater than           administered to the Israel of God. He will, under God,
Henock. God did not take him, but he is very God in           turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the
the flesh. He is the good Shepherd of Israel. Where-          disobedient will be brought to the wisdom of the just,
fore He "escaped' out of their hands.                         and a people would be prepared for the Lord. When this
      There seems to be no proper word in the English         labor is finished John is taken away to his reward as a
language, or in any language, to express exactly what         prophet who spake the Word of God.
took place here. Here was evidently more than met              : The rule for measuring a true prophet from a false
the eye.      For here is One Who can summon twelve           one is given us in the Scriptures. The words of true
legions of angels to His defense if He so desired.            prophets are verified from heaven by God Himself.
When He is brought into the world of inhabited men,           Not so of the false prophets. In the days of Elijah fire
the Lord says: let all the angels of God worship him!         from heaven verified the work of that righteous man.
The Holland translation has "o&giwuit hunne handen".          But here is the greater Elijah. Here is the Elijah who
The fact is only related. The manner is not told us by        will reconstitute all things, pointing out the Christ of
John.                                                         God, and manifesting Him to the people at the occasion
      However, we are told repeatedly of Jesus departing      of Jesus' baptism. And John preached the coming of
from the midst of the Jews who would seize Him. In            the Kingdom; he preached repentance from sin, and a
some instances the manner is not told us, but the deep        s;anctification  which was more than mere ceremonial
reason and motive is given. Thus we read in John 7:33         and external cleanliness. There must be a bringing
that the reason why the deputies, sent of the Sanhedrin,      forth of fruits meet for repentance.
do not take Jesus into custody is that "never a man              It was the time of Reformation!
spoke as this man".        It was simply the power and           The Old Testament priesthood of Levi must give
authority, the kingly mien which held the deputies at         way as a priesthood which had perfected nothing. He
bay. For He spoke as one having authority and not as          points out the Lamb of God which will take away the
the Scribes. And this authoritative speech these Jews         sin of the world. He sends his disciples away from
had just heard. They must too have felt the impact of         himself to Jesus; the latter must increase and he
this reasoning, the power of the Scriptures, the con-         must decrease. John is but the friend of the Bride-
viction of the Holy Spirit, convicting of sin, righteous-     groom.        He is not worthy to unloosen Jesus' shoe-
ness, and judgment. Of judgment because they believed         latchet.      Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and
not in the Son of God. It will only be later in Gethsemane    with fire. Pentecost will come! All John's preaching
that these men will be able to take Jesus when He gives       w'as "concerning' (pev$). Christ. John is the messenger
Himself willingly into their hands. But they will there       before the face of the Lord. There is about to be the
too fall prostrate to the earth merely upon His Word,         ushering in of the better Covenant. Thus John had
"I am He" , I am Jesus of Nazareth whom ye seek to            preached. And this preaching had not fallen altogether
bind and kill.                                                upon deaf ears.        There were some who had ears to
      Behold, then, here the divine epitome of God's          hear.       And they came confessing their sins and they
testimony concerning His Son. The very conclusion of          were baptized.        Principally they were, therefore,
this incident here, this confrontation of these Jews          committed in their minds and hearts to the things
with the Christ of God, the good Shepherd, is such that       which Jesus preached concerning Himself. Such were
He is the One sent of the Father into the world, and          the people in Perea, beyond Jordan. These were the
Who says: "I and the Father are one!"                         people who "were saying"  (elegon)  that they are


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

confirmed in their faith by the things which they "see           they. acknowledge the Shepherd. Christ's ,sheep hear
and hear" in Jesus. The blind receive their sight, the           His voice and they follow Him. "They believed on
lame walked, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,             him there." And those who believe are "many' .
and the dead are raised to life, and the poor (in spirit)        Christ `had, many sheep beyond Jordan.        He abides
have the gospel proclaimed to them! All that John                among them till the time appointed. How long we do
said concerning "this one" is true.           It is all veal.    not know. It was long enough. The mission was ac-
They have not placed their hopes upon a phantom, a               complished there, and will be accomplished at his
mere mirage in the desert; God has visited His people            exodus at Jerusalem. And when Pentecost is come,
and the kingdom has come upon them. The promises                 they will see the words of John verified when fire
of God, spoken to the prophets and the fathers, are              comes from heaven to baptize them, the fire of the
being fulfilled, and the time foretold, that the Gentiles        Holy Ghost.      Then all the sheep will come from the
too would be joint-heirs of the promises, is at hand.            East and from the West and from the North and the
Great and wonderful things are "at hand". Their                  South; the four winds will blow upon the earth. It will
spirits are lifted.     John and his disciples may have          be from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,  and unto the ends
had their doubts whether he is the "One to come' ,               of the earth!
but these people harbor no doubt.
   Not one of John's words will fall to the ground as               Then shall the great and good Shepherd in Israel
so many idle tales and false hopes.           "All things'       be manifested.      The Chief Shepherd shall appear,
which John spoke concerning t`this one' are real and             Immanuel, God with us. And He shall go before us.
true. "This one" and none else is the fulfilment of the          A table He prepares for us before our enemies, and
promise.    This is God's beloved Son in Whom He is              He will cause the cup of all the sheep to overflow, and
well pleased.       Thus it had sounded from heaven at           He will dwell with them forever!
Jesus' baptism. It is all so real to them.                          Blessed faith of simple folk beyond Jordan.
   The sheep hear the voice of the forerunner, and                  Faith in the good Shepherd of Israel!




      Annual Report of the Reformed Free Publishing Association

Members and Friends of the Reformed Free Publish-                   The Book Committee, desiring that the increase in
ing Association:                                                 the interest in Bound Volumes continue, encourages
Dear Brethren:                                                   our subscribers to purchase them for use in future
   We do well to give thanks to God that through the             personal study, as they contain a wealth of sound
Standard Beaver we have again had the privilege for              Biblical writings. They are an invaluable aid for every
another year to witness to the truth of His Word. This           church society member. Activities of this committee
witnessing, we believe, has also been in harmony with            also included distribution of literature at the Reforma-
the. second purpose of our Association, namely, to re-           tion Day Rally in Grand Rapids and the selling of the
veal false and deceptive views repugnant thereto.                photographs of the late Rev. H. Hoeksema.
   This year the meetings of the Board have revealed                The Board would like to express its appreciation to
close harmony in the functions of the various com-               Mr. James Dykstra, our business manager, for his
mittees under the leadership of our President, R.                excellent handling of the business affairs of the Sbndard
Bloem, and Vice President, C. Kuiper. As many al-                Beaver.    One of the notable aspects of his work is the
ready know, our president, because of corrective                 low figure in the amounts due from accounts receiv-
heart surgery, was absent from us for several meet-              able.
ings .The I & E Committee for several months worked                 This year we experienced a better than average
closely with the Mission Board in the distribution of            increase in subscriptions. We had a total of 115 new'
                                                                 subscriptions and 37 cancellations for a net gain of
some 35 copies of the Standard Bearer. These issues
were sent to various consistories at their request to            78, compared with an increase of 26 last year. The
aid. them in their church extension work. This com-              total number of copies printed now is 1247, over
mittee also prepared a "Newsletter" aimed at en-                 against 1159 a year ago. Of these, 1017 are sent out
couraging the younger generation of men to become                as paid subscriptions and complimentary copies, 70
members of the R.F.P.A.                                          are for the Mission Board, 110 are reserved for Bound
   The Finance Committee, ever mindful of the need               Volumes, and 50 are kept as a mailing margin.
of a continual support from our people, has prepared                 May the Lord richly bless all who write in and
a new insert-sheet that is to be mailed with the sub-            work for the publishing of the Standard Bearer, and
scription notices.      In the past, these notices have          may it be used by Him in the furtherance of His king-
brought about a worthwhile increase in individual                dom's cause.
contributions.                                                                            Gerald J. Bouwkamp, Secretary


46                                                         THESTANDARDBEARER


                               Annual Treasurer's Report, R.F.P.A., 1966
          Balance on Hand Sept. 1, 1965                   $1,494.48               Isabel P.R. Church                                                    20.12
       Receipts                                                                   Hope P.R. Church                                                     312.93
          Subscriptions                    $4,314.25                              Doon P.R. Church                                                     107.47
          Membership Dues                     106.00                              Kalamazoo P.R. Church                                                 42.89
          Gifts                             4,503.16                              So. Holland P.R. Church                                              278.70
          Advertising                         212.00                              S. E. P.R. Church                                                    199.59
          Bound Volumes                       500.25                              Hull P.R. Church                                                     106.90
       Receipts For Year                    9,635.66       9,635.66               Hudsonville P.R. Church                                              470.02
       Total Receipts                                    $11,130.14               Redlands  P.R. Church                                                132.10
                                                                                  Lynden P.R. Church                                                    42.03
       Disbursements                                                              Edgerton  P.R. Church                                                 45.16
          Wobbema Printing Co.              9,024.13                              Oaklawn  P.R. Church                                                  40.73
          Holland Bookbinding                 408.00                              Loveland P.R. Church                                                  34.31
          Mr. James Dykstra-Gift              300.00                              Forbes P.R. Church                                                    13.25
          Miscellaneous                        91.22                              First Men's Society                                                   27.00
       Total Disbursements                  9,823.35       9,823.35               First Ladies Aid Society                                              50.00
       Balance on Hand Sept. 1, 1966                      $1,306.79               First Jr. Mr.  & Mrs. Society                                         36.75
                                                                                  Hope  Ladies  Aid Society                                             30.00
       Gifts                                                                      So. Holland Ladies Society                                            25.00
          Holland P.R. Church                                                     Individuals                                                          758.75
          S.W. P.R. Church                    142.16                              Refreshments-Annual Meeting                                            6.83
          First P.R. Church                 1,401.55                       Total                                                                     4,503.16
          Randolph P.R. Church                 66.96                                                                                                    R. Bos, Treasurer


           Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation

                (Act of October 23, 1962; Section 4369, Title 39,        or more of the total amount of the stock or securities of
                              United States Code)                        the publishing corporation; 10. This Item Must Be Com-
                                                                         pleted For All Publications Except Those Which Do Not
      1. Date of Filing: September 21, 1966; 2. Title of Publica-        Carry Advertising Other Than the Publisher's Own and
      tion: The Standard Bearer; 3. Frequencyof Issue; 21 issues         Which are Named in Sections 132.231, 132.232, and132.233,
      per year; 4. Location of Known Office of Publication: 1326         Postal Manual (Sections  4355a,   4355b, and 4356 of Title
      W. Butler Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507; 5. Loca-          39, United States Code)
      tion of the Headquarters or General Business Offices of the                                                                           Average No.
      Publishers:       Same; 6. Names and Addresses of Publisher,                                                                          Copies Each
      Editor, and Managing Editor-Publisher: Reformed Free                                                                                 Issue During Single Issue
      Publishing Assn., Inc., 1326 W. Butler Ave. SE, Grand                                                                                Preceding 12            Nearest
      Rapids, Michigan 49507; Editor: Rev. H. C. Hoeksema,                                                                                           Months      To Filing Date
      1842 Plymouth Terrace, SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan                  A. Total No. copies printed
      49506; Business Manager: James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler                 (Net press run) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250                             1250
      Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507; 7. Owner: Re-               B. Paid Circulation
      formed Free Publishing  Ass%., Inc., 1326 W. Butler Ave.               1. Sales through Dealers and
      SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507; 8. Known Bondholders,                     Carriers, Street Vendors
      Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding                    and Counter sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . None                                  None
      1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages                  2. Mail Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . 952                                         952
      or Other Securities: None; 9. Paragraphs 7 and 8 include,          C. Total Paid Circulation . . . . . . . . . . .                               952             952
      in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears         D. Free Distribution (including
      upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other               samples) by Mail, Carrier or
      fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation              Other Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .               135             135
      for whom such trustee is acting) also the statements in the        E. Total Distribution
      two paragraphs show the affiant s full knowledge and belief            (Sum of C and D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087                                1087
      as to the circumstances and conditions under which stock-          F. Office use, Left-Over,
      holders and security holders who do not appear upon the                Unaccounted, Spoiled after
      books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities            Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      163             163
      in a capacity other than  that of a bona fide owner. Names        G. Total (Sum of E & F -
      and addresses of individuals who are stockholders of a cok-            should equal net press run
      poration which itself is a stockholder or holder of bonds,             shown in A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250                    1250
      mortgages or other securities of the publishing corpora-          I certify that the statements made by me above are correct
      tion have been included in paragraphs 7 and 8 when the            and complete.
      interests of such individuals are equivalent to 1 percent                                                              James Dykstra, Business Manager




                  RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                                             RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
The Southwest Mens Society wish to express their                       The Men's Society of the Southeast Protestant Reformed
Christian sympathy to Mrs. Peter Offringa and the                      Church on its first meeting resolved belatedly to ex-
children in the loss of their husband and father:                      press its sympathy to one of its members, Mr. Albert
                                                                       Offringa, in the loss of his father,
                      MR. PETER OFFRINGA                                                                   MR. PETER OFFRINGA
We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are the called according to                "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble;
his purpose.                                                           and he knoweth them that trust in him". Nahum 1:7
                                   Rev. G. Lubbers, President                                                                                          Rev. M. Schipper,  Pres.
                                   Henry Brands, Secretary                                                                                             William Faber, Sec'y.


                                                                     *,n              --              ,,
                                                                   1        t       .%         L       .

                                       .,:                          .3-.2           :.;f,'                  ..-
                                              .
                                        .
                                              .    i    .J",   i  a-.  ;  *  l:  *a  _;  ;  5  I_
                                                   THE~TANDARDBEARER                                                                                     47

             RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                                                                  RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
The Consistory of the Hope Protestant Reformed                                         The Consistory of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
Church and the congregation express their sympathy                                     expresses its sympathy to our brother elder, John C.
to their former pastor, Rev. Herman Veldman, in the                                    Lubbers and his family, in the death of his father
death of his father                                                                                                    CORNELIUS LUBBERS
                MR. JAMES VELDMAN                                                      who was called home Sept. 20, to be with the Lord.
who was called to his eternal home on Sept. 14, 1966.                                                "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
"The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their                                   henceforth". Rev. 14:13
inheritance shall be forever". Ps. 37:18.                                                                               Consistory of the Hudsonville Prot.
                                         D. Engelsma, Clerk                                                                 Ref. Church
                                                                                                                        Harry Zwak, Clerk

                        INMEMORL.4M
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 20,                                                               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
1966, it pleased our heavenly Father to take up in                                     The Mens Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Re-
glory our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather                                   formed Church expresses its sympathy to three of its
                CORNELIUS LUBBERS                                                      members, Mr. John C., Peter J., andHenryC. Lubbers,
                                                                                       in the death of their father
at the age of 83 years and 2 months.
   Full of joy and consolation he dies in the Lord.                                                                  MR. CORNELIUS LUBBERS
   "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of                                   May the bereaved be comforted in the Word of God
God: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever".                                    found in Ps. 116:lS "Precious in the sight of the Lord
Ps. 52:8.                                                                              is the death of his saints".
                       The sorrowing children                                                                                 Hib Kuiper, Vice Pres.
                         Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Berens                                                                           Gordon Van Overloop, Sec'y.
                         Rev. and Mrs. George C. Lubbers
                         Mr. and Mrs. John C. Lubbers
                         Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Lubbers
                         Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Jelsma                                                              WEDDINGANNNERSARY
                         Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Lubbers                                 On Saturday, October 29, 1966, our parents, Mr. and
                         Mr. and Mrs. Bert Maring                                      Mrs. Peter Bykerk, will, the Lord willing, celebrate
                             22 grandchildren and                                      their 40th Wedding Anniversary. We are thankful to
                             40 great-grandchildren                                    our God for His sustaining grace to them for these
                                                                                       many years, and pray for His continued guidance and
                                                                                       blessing upon them and us for the future years He may
             RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                                      give US together. Isaiah 26:4: "Trust ye in the Lord
                                                                                       for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
The Southwest Church Men's Society and the Southwest                                   strength".
Eunice Society express their sympathy with Mrs. Peter                                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Robert Saurman
Offringa and family and with the sole surviving brother,                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bykerk
Mr. Simon Offringa, in the death of their husband,                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Arie Bykerk
father and brother                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Bykerk
                  PETER OFFRINGA                                                                                           Lubertha Bykerk
                                                                                                                           All of the grandchildren
May the Lord Himself pour the balm of Gilead into the
wounds of their sorrowing hearts in faith and hope of
the blessed resurrection.
              Henry Brands, Sec'y of Men's Society
              Mrs. G. Lubbers, Sec'y of Eunice Society
                                                                                                                   RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
             RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                                       The Teachers of the Sunday School of the Prot. Ref.
The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref.                                        Church of Hudsonville herewith express their sympathy
Church expresses its heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Bert                                    to our fellow-teacher, Mr. Peter Lubbers, in the loss
Maring, in the death of her father,                                                     of his father
                MR. CORNELIUS LUBBERS                                                                               MR ~ CORNELIUS LUBBERS
"`For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil.                                     "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
15.9.                                                                                      saints' s Ps. 116:15
                              Harry Zwak, Vice Pres.                                                                                Donald Dykstra, Supt.
                                        Vander Kooy, Sec'y.                                                                         Betty Haveman, Sec'y.


                                                                                                              .1.

                                       -.     .~     ~-.__~--- ~_./j__~~
                                                                                            .-    -.  -

48                                            `-  -,I.-  T~&STAIvi~D  BEARER

                                        NEWS  FROM OUR CHURCHES-
                                                     October 1, 1966     quested of us their addresses. Evidently we stay-at-
      Rev. R. C. Harbach, of Kalamazoo, has received                     homes little realize how homesick our young men be-
the call (for the third time) to be Home Missionary of                   come when separated from the fellowship of the people
our churches.       First Church of Grand Rapids is the                  of their church. This concerned soldier wrote in part,
calling church.                                                          I`. . .if you would be willing to send me their addresses
      Ebenezer Prot. Ref. Church, of Forbes, N.D. has                    I'll write them myself because I know, for one, what it
tendered a call to Rev. D. Engelsma, of Loveland, Colo.                  feels like when people from our own churches do not
                            *  *  *                                      write. . ." Well, do you?
      Monday evening, Sept. 26, Hope's,  congregation, of                                                   ***
Grand Rapids, gave a farewell social for Rev. and Mrs.                       Rev. G. Van Baren, of First Church, was the speaker
H. Veldman who are going to take up their labors in                      at the Annual Meeting of the R.F.P.A. (Standard
Hudsonville, Mich. -Mr. D. Kooienga, vice-president                      Bearer) held in Hudsonville Sept. 29. He spoke on,
of the consistory, voiced the congregation's thanks                      "The Standard Bearer, A Plan for its Failure." This
for Rev. Veldman's faithful labors in their midst, and                   negative approach was like an icy shower exposing
presented the departing couple with tangible evidences                   his hearers to the chilling realization of what we
of appreciation, including furniture, a record album                     should not do if we want our Standard Bearer to con-
and a receipted order for Rev. H. Hoeksema's "Dog-                      tinue to witness to the Truth as we are privileged to
matics" coming off the press in November. The pro-                       proclaim it. After the speech three new board members
gram included numbers by the choral society and the                      were elected: the brethren G. Pipe, C. Westra and V.
Hope Heralds, and the showing of Mr. S. Beiboer's                        Graeser. Look for the secretary's and treasurer's re.
colored slides of the Rocky Mountains, with appropri-                    ports elsewhere in this issue.
ate taped music, under the theme, "Great is Thy                                                            ***
Faithfulness".      The "farewell' was not a complete                       Is this news to you? This sentence found in Time
one for many of the children of the congregation be-                     magazine is a shocking revelation of that to which
cause Rev. Veldman has agreed to conduct some of                         some of our Covenant children are exposed: "On one
Hope's catechism classes until a new pastor accepts                      T.V. station, in one week, the author found 334 com-
the post.      The Veldman family moved into Hudson-                     pleted or attempted killings, mostly during youngster's
ville's parsonage Sept. 29, re-modeled and  re-fur-                      viewing time' ' .            That would be 334 violations of the
bished for the new occupants. Prof. H.C. Hoeksema                        Sixth Commandment between the reading of The Law on
was scheduled to install Rev. Veldman in his new                         two successive Sunday morning services: and all in
charge Sunday morning, Oct. 2.                                           the name of Entertainment!
                            * *  *                                                                         * *  8
      Classis West met in Edgerton, Minn., Sept. 21, and,                   Some bulletin notices as shadows of things to come:
according to bulletin news finished its business that                    Mr. Fred Hanko, teacher in Adams St. School, is the
afternoon at 3:30.       The official Report has not yet                 scheduled speaker for the Mothers' Club October 6th
reached our desk so will have to await its publishing                    meeting.         His announced topic is, "The Teaching of
until our next issue. Rev. C. Hanko, minister-delegate                   Bible in School." Rev. M. Schipper has been chosen
of Redlands, combined his trip with Church Visitation,                   to address the Fall Meeting of the Eastern Ladies
and Rev. Engelsma, of Loveland, filled a Classical                       League on October 13. November 11 is the date set
appointment in Pella, Iowa, thereby saving time and                     for a public lecture on "Protestant Reformed Educa-
expenses for Classis.                                                    tion" in our Hudsonville Church.
                           ***                                                                             *  *  *
      Loveland's Prot. Ref. Chr. School scheduled its                       The September issue of "Highlights' , Hope School's
Convocation Excercises  for Tuesday evening Sept. 6.                     paper contained an editorial by Miss A. Lubbers which
Rev. Engelsma was the speaker. The Board had in-                         was an outstanding challenge to the teachers to educate
vited "the children and their parents -and all those                     their children for a world to come  -  The World.  to
interested in Protestant Reformed education" to attend.                  come. This editorial was the text of a chapel talk by
Refreshments were served which contributed to the                       Miss Lubbers on Sept. 8 before the student body, and
sociability of the get-together after the program.                      must surely have inspired teachers and pupils alike to
                           * * *                                        strive to be ready for that World to come wherein
      Since our last issue of the news two of our ministers              "the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion
were bereaved of their fathers; as Rev. Vos, minister-                   and the ox shall lie down together - when all that is in
emeritus of Hudsonville, so graphically put it in his                   part shall be done away and we shall see Jesus as He
bulletin: "their earthly remains were laid to rest                      is."
against the great harvest of the ages."                                                                    * *  *
                           *  *  *                                          Bulletin quote (Oak Lawn's); "When we go to God
      Upon reading a news item regarding two of our                      in prayer the devil knows we go to fetch strength
servicemen who said they longed for letters from                         against him and therefore he opposes us all he can".
the folks in their congregation, one serviceman re-                                                                           - R. Sibbes


