                                     he

                                tandard.

                                             earer


A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



  IN THIS ISSUE:


           Meditation: Intended Comfort for the Bereaved

           Editorial: The Nature- af the Atonement: Limited or General?

           David and Goliath

         il The Standard Bearer: A Plan For Its Failure

           Billy Graham's Answers



                                          Volume XLIII/  Number3/   November  1, 1966


                                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                                                                            I           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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             Rev. M.  Schipper                                                                                                                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
Editorial  -                                                                                                                                                            Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
      The Nature of the Atonement: Limited or General? . . . . . . . . . . . . 53                                                                                       Rapids,  Mich.       49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       words and must he neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
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      The Providence of God  - God's Providence and Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . 56                                                                                      All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
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      Billy Graham's Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
             Rev. R. C. Harbach
All Around Us  -
      Death of the Prayer Amendment
      World Congress on Evangelism                                                                                                                                                         MEN'S LEAGUE MEETING
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             Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                                                                             Our Fall meeting will be held, D.V., on Monday eve-
Announcements                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70    ning, Nov. 7 at 8:00 p.m., at the Southwest Protestant
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71                                           Reformed Church. Rev. R. Harbach will speak on the
            Mr. J. M. Faber                                                                                                                                             topic "The Significance of the Different Races in the
                                                                                                                                                                        World."
                                                                                                                                                                        We invite all our men to gather with us for an eve-
                                                                                                                                                                        ning of spiritual edification and Christian fellowship.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       H. Dykstra, Sec'y.


     MEDITATION-


                             Intended Comfort For The Bereaved

                                                                                                                                      by Rev. M.  Schippev

                                            `But I would not have you to be ignorant,  brethren, concerning them which aye
                                            asleep,  that ye SOWOW not, even as others  which have no hope.  Fov if we be-
                                            lieve that  Jesus  died and  yose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
                                            will God  bring with him."                                                                                                                   I Thessaloniuns  4:13,  14

        How wonderfully the Word of God, speaking to the                                                                                                                dissolution of the ,earthly tabernacle. This all is only
Christian about death, softens the blow, and removes                                                                                                                    the result, the emblem of death!
the sting.1                                                                                                                                                                 Rather, according to Scripture, death is separation
        Death!                                                                                                                                                          from God and His fellowship! As the Scriptures speak
        The last enemy that must be overcome!                                                                                                                           of it, and as we often sing of it in our Psalters: "To
        What is meant by it is not what we merely see of                                                                                                                live apart from God is death, tis goodHis  face to see."
it, merely `the cutting of ties of flesh and blood, the                                                                                                                 One, therefore, who is really dead, is the object of
separation of soul and body, or the corruption and                                                                                                                      God's wrath and eternal displeasure!


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                         51

   But for the Christian the Scripture intends to                  Asleep through Jesus !
destroy this very idea of death! It does so with re-              Not for all is death a sleep! The ungodly die in
spect to death itself, when it reminds us that God's           night that never ends ! They sink away in death into
wrath is removed, and His curse is lifted from  US;            everlasting destruction!
when it tells us that He has given unto us a life that             Only for those who die through Jesus, is death a
is immortal, that cannot die. It does this also with           sleep. That means, to be in Jesus, and then die. TO
respect to the death of the body, when it speaks of            be hidden in Jesus, and so to enter into temporal,
death as a. departing, and a being present with the            bodily death, that is to sleep! To belong to Him in body
Lord; when it speaks of "putting off this my taber-            and soul, for time and eternity; to become one plant
nacle" or the dissolution of "the earthly house." Or           with Him, so that all He is, He is for us; that is, His
again, when it speaks of our departure out of this life        righteousness is our righteousness, His life is our
as an "offering," as if my life were poured out upon           life . . . so as the text has it in the o,riginal . . *through
the altar of God. Or, as is beautifully expressed in           Jesus asleep!       It is by reason of Him alone that
our text,    where death is spoken of in the figure of         death's darkness is made beautiful. It is for His sake
"sleep."                                                       that our death is no longer eternal separation from
  Thus, when we or our loved ones who are in Christ            God, but the sudden removal of the soul into His
die, we or they fall asleep, asleep in Jesus!                  glorious presence, and the entering into the rest of
   The child of God cannot die !                               sleep as far as the body is concerned!
   He simply sleeps in, or rather, as the original text           This the saints at Thessalonica evidently did not
would have it, through Jesus !                                 know.      They sorrowed over their dead as those who
   He that sleeps shall awaken again in the morning            had no hope.      Their sorrow was aggravated by the
of the resurrection!                                           misconception of the relation between Christ's second
   So, we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope!           advent and their dead.        Somehow they believed that
   This is the solid comfort we need!                          Christ's coming was so imminent that believers must
   So it was intended also for the children of God in          be alive when He comes. But then, what about their
Thessalonica.    Also their dear ones had fallen asleep!       dead?      They sorrowed as those who have no hope.
We understand this to have reference, of course, only          That is characteristic of pagans, those outside of
to the body, not for the soul. The apostle here is not         Christ, who are without God and without hope in the
talking about soul sleep.         This is the conception of    world.      Like them the Christians at Thessalonica
some. They believe that when the body dies the soul            acted. But were they then not acquainted with the gos-
enters an unconscious condition of sleep. This was             pel of the resurrection? Had not the apostle pro-
undoubtedly true of some, who were later raised from           claimed this glorious gospel to them? 0, indeed, they
the dead, and still later died again and remained in           knew of this wonderful truth, but they were unable to
their graves, - such as, the daughter of Jairus, Laza-         understand it and apply it in all its implications. They
rus, and the son of the widow of Nain. But no where            were beginners who were looking for the Deliverer to
does the Scripture teach that the soul is ever in an           deliver them from the wrath to come. But they failed
unconscious state of sleep.          In fact, according to     to apply it to the present situation. They believed
Scripture, the soul never sleeps, but it is always             this deliverance applied only to those alive at His
conscious and active. This is true of every soul, also         coming.     And they despaired of those who would be
of the wicked, who at death go into a conscious state          dead at His coming.
of torment. But especially true this is of the souls of           So the believers were sorely in need of comfort!
God's children! They go immediately into a conscious              And this is the comfort we need!
state of glory with Christ! That is, that aspect of the           Sorrow not as those who have no hope !
soul which the Scripture calls spirit. Concerning these           Though sorrow we will! It is expected!
the Scriptures teach: "For we know that if the earthly            Are not those who have fallen asleep veryprecious?
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a             Do they not have a place in our hearts? Do they not
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal         make up an important part of our lives? Were we not
in the heavens." "For I am in a strait betwixt two,            accustomed to walk the path of life together? Did we
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which        not hold with them precious secrets? Were not our
is far better." "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon          hearts and theirs filled with the same anxieties and
them, and judgment was given unto them that were               cares ?    Did we not lean on each other as we walked
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Lord            together in life? Yea, more, were not the ties more
God, and . . . they lived and reigned with Christ for a        than earthly? Were we not together in Jesus? Were
thousand years."                                               there not only ties of flesh and blood, but was there
   Sleep is not for the soul, but for the body!                not also a unity of life, of love, of faith and hope? Did
   Just like I lay myself down at night, with the thought      we not together serve one Lord, and was not one God
of rising again in the morning, so is death for the            our Father, and did not His Spirit dwell in both of our
body. It is a going to rest in the .hope of the glorious       hearts?     Was not one truth very precious to us, and
resurrection.    Just as I close my eyes and separate          one confession on our lips? Did we not together fight
myself from the world about me, with aview to opening          the same battles of faith? Did we not know each other
them again after the rest of sleep, so is death of the         intimately, while the world knew us not? Did we not
body for the Christian!                                        walk together as strangers and pilgrims in the world?


52                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

Were not we confronted and often surrounded with the             He died and rose again!
same temptations? And did we not sing often together             These two are inseparably connected. They form
of our Redeemer and His wondrous love to us?                  one whole.        Without the resurrection His death is
      And now that loved one has left you to enter the        vain, our faith is vain, our preaching is vain, and we
house not made with hands, while you still dwell in           are of all men most miserable. Without it there is
the tabernacle of this flesh!                                 no hope for those who fall asleep.
      Should we not sorrow because of this pain of sep-          Only in the resurrection can we see His death in
aration?      Should we not feel it when the arm that         its proper light! Then, and only then, was His death
supported us is taken away?' Should we be wholly              a victory over sin, death, and the grave. So, and so
unaffected when we cannot see or hear our dear one            only cannot death hold its prey, while the grave be-
any more?                                                     comes a part of the pathway to glory!
      0, indeed, we may sorrow!                                  He died a death that had the power to overcome
      Never could we possibly act as the stoic or cynic,      death so as to destroy it! As the obedient Servant He
who'claims to be insensitive to pain!                         descended into the very abyss of death and hell.
      But we are not to sorrow' as  those who have  no        There He declared obediently His great love of God,
hope!                                                         while at the same time .He bore the `curse due to our
      Nor are we to sorrow for those who are  asleep          sins.
through Jesus!                                                   He died and had the power to rise again, because
      Rather let it be the sorrow of those whose hearts       He was the Son of God, the resurrection and the life!
are filled with hope !                                           His death makes our death sleep, and His resur-
      Hope! Blessed balm for all our sorrow!                  rection makes our sleep certain of waking!
      Hope, according to Scripture, is always assurance,         So we are not like those who .have no hope ! They
never doubt!      It is never the shrug of the shoulder,      speak of "inexorable death." They say: "thanks be
never hesitation!         That is the way we often use the    to God that He has not taken any away by the cold
word. We say "I hope so" because we are not sure.             hand of death." They aver: "how thankful we should
But so the Scripture never uses the word. Always it           be that we are still in the land of the living." But
contains the assurance, the knowledge of its object.          they speak as those who have no hope! Not so, the
Here the apostle emphasized the knowledge of this             Christian!    He has a faith that ties him to the Lord
hope. Says he, "I would not have you ignorant;" that          Jesus.    He confesses his faith that Jesus died and
means positively, "I want you to know, I want you to          rose again for his justification and life. And he has a
know the hope. I want you to know the hope concerning         living hope that looks with assurance and longing to
those who sleep." That you sorrow not as those who            the awaking, in the morning of the resurrection!
have no knowledge of it, but that your sorrow be                 Moreover, his comfort is grounded also in the
tempered with this knowledge of hope !                        promise that God through Jesus will bring those asleep
      In this knowledge of your hope rests all the com-       with Him.
fort you need in the midst of your sorrow!                       0, surely, God through Jesus will bring those who
      And this knowledge is grounded in the faith that        fall asleep through Jesus from the grave! And through
Jesus died and rose again!                                    Jesus in united and glorified body and soul shall they
      Jesus! The God of our salvation! The revelation         appear also with Him in glory!
of the God our salvation in the flesh! Who was fore-             Why then should we stand by the graves of our
ordained to save His people from their sins, from all         dear ones who sleep in Jesus and sorrow as those who
the effects of sin. Who was anointed to be the Head           have no hope ?
of His people and prepare the way for them, the way              Yea, rather, we will rejoice in the triumph we
that must lead through death and the grave, and which         have through Jesus over death and the grave!
must end in unspeakable and eternal glory!                       Through Jesus we are more than conquerors !



              .  . . .This divine calling is always effectual. This does not mean that the preacher may
              expect that all that come under the external preaching of the Word are also called unto
              salvation. Always there is a twofold effect: the preaching is a savor of death unto death,
              as well as a savor of life unto life. But the elect are surely called. They receive the
             hearing ear, the seeing eye, the willing heart. They hear the Word of God and they
             tremble.       They are sorry for their sins, and repent. They cry out: "God be merciful
             to me, a sinner," and receive forgiveness. They hear the voice of Jesus say to them
             personally: "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest!" and they come to Him and do find
              rest.    They hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and know that they are of His sheep.
              And they follow Him, and He gives them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
              shall any man pluck them out of His hand. For the gifts of God and the calling are with-
              out repentance.
                                                       H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," pp.56, 57


                                                                                                                       I



                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                53



EDITORIAL-


               The, Nature of the Atonement
                      - Limited or General?

                                             by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


THE CONFESSIONS ON THE D&FINITE AND                         head and soul for soul, which holds to the Catechism
PERSONAL ELEMENT OF THE ATONEMENT                           as its creed and which preaches and hears the preach-
(Continued)                                                 ing of the Catechism.       But the Catechism is the
   We concluded our survey of the expression of the         expression of the faith of believers and their seed,
Heidelberg Catechism as to this element of the nature       or, of the church, organically. Who are the believers
of the atonement with a series of questions as to the       and their seed? They are the elect, the elect church.
significance of the language which the Catechism            What we have, therefore, in the Catechism is the
employs in this connection. These questions were all        expression of the truths of salvation by the elect
related to this one basic question: does the Catechism      church as that church exists and comes to manifes-
teach a definite and personal atonement, or does it         tation organically at a given point in history and in
teach an atonement which in its very nature is general,     a given congregation, and as those truths of salvation
or is the Catechism silent on the matter?                   are subjectively experienced by that church in its
   In the light of the Arminian controversy, which took     conscious faith.    The Heidelberg Catechism, so to
place, of course, when the Catechism and the Belgic         speak, puts words in the mouths of believers, teaching
Confession were alre.ady  the creeds of the Reformed        them to express and to give content to the faith that
churches, but when there were as yet no Canons, and         lives in their hearts and to give account of the "only
in the light of the fact that the Canons are officially     comfort" that is their blessed portion.
called an explanation of some points of the doctrine           This may very easily be tested.
set forth in the Catechism and the Belgic Confession,          Just try to read the personal confessions made
we might expect to find essentially the same doctrine       throughout the Heidelberg Catechism as though they
of atonement in the Catechism and Confession as in the      were generally true of all men, or even as though they
Canons,  - only in less clear and in more unexplained       were generally true of every individual member of a
form.    As was pointed out last time, the Canons are       given congregation.    If you do that, it will become
but an explanation of the doctrines already contained in    evident that, thus interpreted, the Catechism gives
the other confessions, an explanation which was ne-         expression to some blatant lies.      This is the case
cessitated by the claim of the Arminians that they, too,    throughout the Catechism. That "we, our, us, I, my,
held to the Catechism and the Confession.                   me" are the same throughout. Take, for example,
   Hence, the only possible answer to the question          the thirty-fourth answer, which was quoted in the
posed above is: yes, the Catechism teaches that the         previous issue: "Because he hath redeemed us, both
atonement in its very nature is definite and personal.      soul and body, from all our sins, not with gold or
This is the only possible explanation of the language       silver, but with his precious blood, and hath delivered
employed by the Catechism.                                  us from all the power of the devil; and thus hath made
   To clarify the above statement, I call your attention    us his own property." Make these statements general,
to the following:                                           general even with respect to the church as it exists
   1) The personal language of the Heidelberg Cat-          in the midst of the world as a mixture of carnal and
echism (the "we, our, us, I, my,.me" which occur so         spiritual elements, and the result is evident untruth.
frequently) is due to the subjective-experiential ap-       Change that "us" of this answer to "every man" (or
proach of the Catechism in all its instruction. This        to "every individual member of congregation"), and
approach and this language do not mean that the             the result is something which is evidently not true.
truths expressed in the Catechism are general, and          Has Christ delivered every man (or even every indi-
that these general truths become in fact true for the       vidual member of congregation X) from all the power
individual when he believes them and confesses them.        of the devil? Has Christ made every man (or again,
This approach and language do not mean that what is         even every individual member of congregation X) His
expressed in the Catechism is objectively true or           own property? You answer: that is saying too much!
potentially true of the entire congregation, head for       That is pure unive@ism! I agree. But then the same


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

must be applied to the first statement of this answer:      in Christ, Who represented him - just as really as
"Because he hath redeemed us...with his precious            if he had in his own person atoned for all his sins.
blood from all our sins." That is the same "us"             Because of that objective fact, when that same man
as in the last clause of this answer. The atonement         comes to the consciousness of faith's knowledge and
does not apply, therefore, to every man, nor to every       confidence, he is also able to express this and to
member of a historically existent congregation.             say, "Christ died for me." You see, if that man was
    2) In this personal language of faith of the Cat-       very really present and represented in Christ at the
echism there is reflected and expressed the object-         cross, then all his sins and guilt have been covered
ive truth and fact of Christ's atonement as it was ac-      in the sight of God and have been removed (not now,
complished nineteen hundred years ago and as that           when he believes;      but at the cross, centuries ago).
objective truth and fact has now become the personal,       That is why he is able to confess now, in the twentieth
conscious knowledge and confidence of the child of God.     century, "Christ died for me." But it was true al-
This is very important.        What is expressed in the     ready long before he was born; it was true, after he
Catechism with respect to Christ's atoning death does       was born, before he ever believed; it would be true,
not become tmce. objectively at the moment that it is       even if that man died as an infant who never came to
embraced and confessed by the believer. Historically        conscious faith and who never said or was able to
it  has been  tmce  ever since Christ died His atoning      say, "Christ died for me." To make the point very
death; and in the Catechism the believer simply gives       emphatic, although this is an abstraction and could
expression to this truth from the point of view of the      never take place:      if would be true, even though a
knowledge and the confidence of his personal, conscious     man would be born, come to maturity, and die without
faith.     If we do not remember this, we will become       ever confessing, "Christ died for me." And, on the
engulfed in the hopeless morass of Arminianism with         other hand, if a man was not personally represented
all its subjectivism and relativism and with all the        in Christ at the cross, and if, therefore, his sins and
personal doubts that it must needs engender. A knowl-       guilt were never covered in the sight of God and were
edge and a confidence which are purely subjective,          never removed by Christ's atoning blood, then that
which are not founded upon objective fact and truth,        man can never in truth confess, "Christ died for me."
have nothing to recommend them.            They are as         Again, let us put this to a test with respect to
changeable and unreliable and comfortless as im-            the Catechism. We have already noted that the Cat-
perfect believers can be. The so-called "well-being"        echism employs such pointedly personal language.
of faith has its "ups and downs" in the process of the      Now let us note that the above description is exactly
battle of faith.      And if in that process there is no    expressed by the Catechism when it uses such per-
objective ground and no unchangeable fact of salvation      sonal language. Take, for example, the 39th answer:
to which faith can always and again return and cling,       "...for thereby I am assured (this is a matter of the
one must needs end with the "today you're saved,            present assurance of faith, H.C.H.) that he took on him
tomorrow you're lost" gospel of Arminianism, accord-        the curse which lay upon me (this is the past, objective
ing to which the matter of salvation to the very last       accomplishment of Christ on the cross for me per-
depends on a condition of faith.                            sonally, H.C .H.)"     Is it not very plain? Though
    Now what does all this mean with respect to the         I was not yet born, I was at the cross ! There, at
teaching of the Catechism about the atoning death of        the cross, the curse of God lay upon me personally!
Christ?       What does it mean concretely with respect     And Christ took that curse which lay upon me and
to what the Catechism says in the statements quoted         bore it away, removed it from me ! It is gone ! Gone
last time?                                                  forever, before the sight of God Himself! It can
   It means this, that in the objective, factual sense      never again be imputed to me. That has been true
of the word the atonement of Christ was personal.  When     ever since Christ accomplished it. But now, in the
the believer says that Christ atoned for him person-        year of our Lord 1966, by the knowledge and confi-
ally, that is based upon and is the expression of the       dence of faith I am assured of it.
objective truth that nineteen hundred years ago Christ         The same is true of the 44th answer: "That in
actually died for and redeemed him personally. Christ       my greatest temptations, (those are my present temp-
did not die in the abstract. He did not die for all men     tations, H.C.H.), I may be assured, and wholly com-
generally and abstractly, so that His death and the         fort myself in this, (this is also a matter of the pres-
benefits of His death become the portion of a certain       ent, of my present assurance and conscious comfort,
individual only when and if that individual is willing      H.C.H.), that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpres-
to believe. Nor is faith in the atonement a matter of       sible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in
a logical deduction, as follows: 1) Christ died for         which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but
all men. 2) I am a man. 3) Christ died for me. Not          especially on the cross, hath delivered me from the
at all! Faith in the atonement is based upon simple,        anguish and torments of hell (This, too, is all per-
objective reality.     If any man is ever to say in that    sonal; but it is past, objective fact, accomplished at
very personal sense, "Christ died for me," he can           the cross. H.C.H.)"
only do so because as a matter of objective fact,              And again, the same is true of the 52nd answer:
nineteen hundred years ago on the cross of Calvary,         "That in all my sorrows and persecutions (present,
Christ very really did die for him personally1 That         H.C.H.), with uplifted head I look for the very same
man was at the cross I He was- very personally there,       person (this looking with uplifted head is also present,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  55

H.C.H.) who before offered himself for my sake, to the       it directly mentions election and the elect but very
tribunal of God, and has removed all curse from me           little, nevertheless shows by such mention how the
(personal;      but past, objective fact, accomplished at    subjective "we, us, I, me" are to be interpreted.
the cross, H.C.H.) . ..."                                    You have a clear instance of this in Question and
   Indeed, this is a tremendous truth! It is amazing!        Answer 54, which speaks of "a church chosen to
Glorious ! To think of it, that I could have been per-       everlasting life," and then goes on to have the be-
sonally represented at the cross and that this wonder-       liever say, "and that I am and for ever shall re-
ful Jesus Christ represented and died for me per-            main, a living member thereof." It is very plain
sonally!                                                     here that the implication of this "I" is that he is
   But this makes the gospel vital, far more vital           one of the elect, and that as such he gives expres-
than that miserable and impotent, "Christ died for           sion to the assurance of his abiding membership in
all men; and he died also for you...if, if, if, you are      the Church, the elect body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
willing to accept it and believe it." Moreover, it is        But notice that Question and Answer 52, which speaks
tremendously irresponsible to go around telling men          directly of the atonement in connection with Christ's
generally, head for head and soul for soul, that Christ      return for judgment, also directly connects this per-
died for them, - that is, if you give that atoning death     sonal and subjective "me" with election and with the
of Christ any real and objective significance and            body of the elect. For it speaks of the fact that Christ
content. That can never produce faith, you see. For          shall  `&translate  me  with all his chosen  ones to him-
if Christ died for all men, and if their guilt has ac-       self..."     It is very plain to see that this "me" is
tually been blotted out, then they need not believe.         speaking here as one of those chosen ones, the elect.
They can just as well say, "Fine! Christ died for            But mark you well, this is the same "me" that says
me;      I don't have to worry about my sin and guilt.       earlier in this answer: "....who before offered him-
Whether I believe or not, Christ has died, and I can         self  fov my sake,  to the tribunal of God, and has
never be condemned for my sins."                             removed all curse from me.... "
  But if, on the other hand, that atonement of Christ           In the third place, I remind you once again that
is personal and particular, then I. can preach. I can        the Catechism's entire description of the atonement
call men to faith and repentance.        I can do so in-     as being in its very nature satisfactovy  and vicavioua
discriminately, and yet, as far as the content of the        is so definite and clear-cut that it cannot possibly
gospel is concerned, particularly.       And I can say:      be made general. To do so is to make the Catechism
"Whosoever (or: all who) believe in Christ crucified         say far more about the atonement than even the Ar-
shall surely be saved and have eternal life. All who         minian can swallow.       I repeat:    the Arminian, to
believe in Christ crucified are assured that their           maintain that the death of Christ is general, must
sins have been blotted out forever, that they are            emasculate that death of Christ and remove all the
righteous before God with an everlasting righteous-          riches of its atoning character; if he does not do so,
ness."        And I can preach thus because God Him-         he is compelled to be a strict universalist. The
self, through that preaching of the Word, will ef-           same is true of Dekker and Daane, though they may not
fectually apply that preaching to those same elect for       appreciate the drawing of this consequence. To make
whom Christ died in such a way that they, and they           the atonement general, they must necessarily give that
only, embrace that atoning death of Christ for them          death of Christ a different character first; if they do
personally and confess, "He died for me. He took             not do so, they must needs accept the consequence of
upon him the curse which lay on me. He before                universalism.
offered himself for my sake to the tribunal of God              But what then, in the fourth place, of the one ex-
and has removed all curse from me.,.."                       pression in the 37th answer which seems to be gen-
   3)       This brings us to the third aspect, namely,      eral?       I refer to the expression, "all mankind."
that these expressions of the Catechism can be cor-          Note, in the first place, that this is not the same as
rectly understood only when we understand them to            "all men." Note, in the second place, that in the
express the truth of limited, definite, particular atone-    same answer that same particular "our" occurs.
ment, atonement for the elect alone, and that too, in        Hence, the term "all mankind" is the objective equiv-
the very nature of the case. This can very readily           alent of the subjective "our", which in turn is the
be tested;      and perhaps such a test is the clearest      subjective expression of election from the viewpoint
way of demonstrating this truth. Go back now to all          of conscious faith and experience.        And it means
the expressions of the Catechism about the atoning           not that all men are atoned for, but that when Christ
suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note           dies for the elect, the race is atoned for and there-
that they one and all speak of theobjective accomplish-      fore saved, while some individual branches and members
ments of that death. Note, too, that they all speak the      of that race are not atoned for and go lost forever.
very subjective language of "we, our, us." But then          When God redeems His elect church, He does not
interpret that subjective "we, our, us" as being gen-        rescue a few individuals, while the race nevertheless.
eral, rather than particular. What is the result? You        goes lost; but, on' the contrary, He redeems the real
make the Catechism say far too much! You make the            human race, while some individuals go lost.
Catechism say things which necessarily land it in               The atonement, therefore, according to our Cat-
complete universalism.                                       echism, can only be understood to be in its very
   In the second place, the Catechism itself, although       nature both personal and definite, or limited.


56                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 CONTENDING FOR THE FAIW-


                                   The Providence of God
                                          God's Providence and Sin

                                                  by Rev. H. Veldman

      We remarked in our last article that the child of       when He commands it stands. All things take place
God must have a Scriptural explanation of God's provi-        through that almighty word of the Lord. In general
dence and sin. He must have this explanation, first           this truth is conceded. Scripture states it so plainly,
of all, because of the fact of the power of sin. Sin is       so as to tolerate no discussion or dispute, that even
so universal and such a terrible reality. To ignore           all the hairs of our head are numbered, and that a
it is simply impossible.       Sin has all men within its     sparrow does not fall from the house-top without the
grasp. And no man is exempt from its results, death           will of the Father.
and the curse of the living God. With these remarks
we are concluding our last article.                               However, we must be absolutely consistent  withthis
      However, the soul of the chiid of God also cries for    truth of God's sovereign control over all things. We
an answer to this problem from the viewpoint of God.          must also understand that the reality of sin, too,. takes
I must have an explanation also because of God. For           place by the providence of the Lord. Concerning this
He is my God. Him I love, the eternal and only true           truth, Scripture does not leave us in doubt. The Word
God. As I am confronted by the reality of sin, I must         of God speaks plainly to this effect. Do we not read
have an explanation exactly because I am a child of           in the Scriptures that God forms the light and creates
God.      Does the Lord delight in iniquity? But is He        the darkness, yea, that He makes peace and creates
not good? Or, does sin exist independently of that            evil? Joseph is brought into Egypt through the abomi-
eternal Jehovah?       Or, if God be sovereign, the only      nations of his brothers, but when these brothers finally
Ruler of heaven and of earth, how must we explain             appear before him in Egypt he declares unto them
that the world may continue in its course of evil and         very plainly that God turned all their evil thoughts
mad iniquity? To answer that the Lord permits these           unto good. Repeatedly we read in the Scriptures that
things to happen does not satisfy, because the Lord           God hardens the hearts of men. He hardens Pharaoh's
does not merely permit anything to happen. He works           heart and even proclaims unto Moses that He will work
all things according to the counsel of His sovereign          in Pharaoh's heart unto that end, and this is also
will. But, to say that the Lord does iniquity would be in     announced to the monarch of Egypt, -surely, Scrip-
conflict with His adorable holiness and perfection.           ture employs a langauge here in this connection which
Then again, to give sin a place independent of the Lord       we otherwise would never have dared to take upon our
would be a denial of His sovereignty. And because my          lips.    The king's heart, we read in Proverbs, is in
soul thirsts after the living God, because I desire that      the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water; He turneth
that God remain God, I must have an answer to the             it whithersoever He will.     Was it not the Lord Who
question concerning sin in connection with the provi-         caused David to count the people, and we all know how
dence of God. Indeed, I do not demand an answer be-           Shimei cursed David when he fled from before Absalom;
cause I would curiously pry into the secrets of the           yet David himself declares that this cursing.by Shimei
Lord, because I would understand with my finite and           was of the Lord. Godless hands nailed the Lord Jesus
limited mind the ways of the Lord. The text: "For of          Christ to the accursed tree, but nevertheless He was
Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things,"           delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
must surely be applied also to the reality of sin and         of God. Upon the question whether sin is independent
iniquity.    In other words, also the fact of sin must        of God, or whether this power of evil occurs alone
somehow impart comfort to the child of the living God.        through the providence of God, so that the Lord from
      In answer to this urgent question, it must be main-     moment to moment is realizing His counsel, there
tained, first of all, that God is really God in all the       can be but one answer, without a single moment's
operation of His providence.        We cannot emphasize       hesitation: There is no evil in the city which the Lord
too strongly that this must be understood in the abso-        does not perform.      He, He alone, also now, is the
lute sense of the word. The Lorddoes not only support         Cause, the supreme Cause of the existence of all
and sustain all things, but He is also absolutely sov-        things; every curse, every evil thought, every rebel-
ereign in His Divine government. We may and must              lion of sinful man is of the Lord, not only from eter-
surely maintain that there is nothing more certain            nity, but He also realizes His counsel, even unto the
than the word of His mouth. When He speaks it is,             minutest details, from moment unto moment.


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      57

   Yet, confessing this truth of God's Word, this con-       choice is from the Lord-He alone determines our
nection between God's providence and sin, we come            course of action, The same thought is stated in verse
seemingly into irreconcilable conflict with the holiness     9:     "A man's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the
and righteousness of God. We cannot escape the word          rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He will."
of the Lord in Job  34:lO:    "Far be it from God, that      We must bear in mind the power of an eastern monarch
He should do wickedness; and from the Almighty that          as he held absolute sway over the life and death of his
He should commit iniquity." Or, turning to Habakkuk          subjects. Note that his heart, the deepest fountain of
1: 13 we read: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold        his spiritual life, is controlled by the Lord so that he
evil, and canst not look on iniquity." And the apostle       does only what the Lord wills. And this we also read
John writes so uncompromisingly in his epistle that          in chapter 19:21: "There are many devices in a man's
He is a Light in Whom is no darkness. Hence, the             heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall
Lord God and sin must certainly be viewed'as exclud-         stand." Throughout Scripture the same truth is ever
ing one another. There is in God nothing that resem-         held before us.
bles iniquity. The Lord is truly a Light, He is Light,              Besides, we must never confuse true freedom with
the overflowing fountain of all good. How now is it          the ability to choose the good as well as the evil. God
to be harmonized with our God, Who doth not behold           is surely free in the highest, the absolute sense of the
iniquity, that nevertheless sin is not to be explained       word. Yet, the Lord cannot do evil. He is a Light in
as independent of Jehovah, Who has formed the wicked,        Whom is no darkness. God's freedom consists herein
note well, the wicked unto the day of evil?                  that he unhindered and unmolested wills and maintains
   When discussing the question how the providence of        Himself.       And we must also bear in mind that God's
God and sin must be understood in relation to one            freedom determines our freedom. This is not freedom
another, another question forces itself upon our at-         that I can do whatever I please. This is surely not the
tention:    What is freedom? Many are of the opinion         desire of the reborn child of God to be lord himself,
that freedom and responsibility are inseparably con-         and that he also be able to do evil. It is not the desire
nected, and they understand freedom in the sense that        of the bird to be in the water as well as in the air, or
the natural man, the sinner, is able not only to choose      of the fish to be in the air as well as in the water. But
the evil but also the good. To do justice to the con-        the desire of the reborn child of God is to serve God
cept, responsibility, the ability of the sinner to choose    alone;      and then I will be perfectly free when I will be
the good must be maintained. However, we must never          able to serve the Lord perfectly and unmolested by
confuse freedom with moral sovereignty. This is the          sin, in purity of heart and life. Understanding all this,
error of the pelagian. He simply explains the respon-        we conclude that man's responsibility does not consist
sibility of man as his free will. And when he speaks         in this, that he is able to do the good as well as the
of man's free will, the pelagian means that man must         evil; if this were man's responsibility, then we would
be free to choose between good and evil in the sense         never be able to speak of man as a moral-responsible
that he is able to choose either of the two. Now it          being, and this for the simple reason that the natural
must certainly be maintained that man always chooses         mind is enmity against God, is not subject to the law of
between good and evil, and that he is also free in that      God, and neither indeed can be.
choice. But today it is no longer understood that one              So, we must always maintain that responsibility is
can be responsible for his action without being able to      never sovereignty. Indeed, we shall not say that the
choose the good. Of course, this pelagian conception         child of God is a slave of grace, because slavery
of things is wholly impossible. It is impossible, first      belongs in the sphere of sin, and my freedom is the
of all, in the light of the Word of God. The fact remains    service of God, to Whom I am adapted and Whom to serve
that, according to the Word of the Lord, not man de-         is life everlasting. But man bynature is surely a slave
termines his course of action, but the Lord. This is a       of sin, is not truly free, is a slave in the full sense of
Scriptural truth so clearly taught in the Word of God        the word, who must walk in iniquity, who cannot desire
as to permit no contradiction. We are born dead in           aught but evil, who is wholly darkness in all his desires
sins and in trespasses, and the flesh cannot desire          and deliberations.       This we must confess. And the
the things that are of the Spirit. I do not determine        Lord does all His good pleasure.
the action which I pursue, but my heart determines                 Nevertheless, the providence of God and sin are so
this action. Throughout the Word of God we have the          related to one another that sin is always a deed of man
refutation of all pelagianism.       Every thought and       and never of God. Man, although never sovereignly
every desire, every emotion of the soul, every action        free, is morally free. To be sure, he does not possess
of the will is controlled and directed by God, so that       the true freedom of the service of Jehovah. Fact is,
there is no action within me independent of the Lord.        only Adam, in the state of perfection, was able to
The Scriptures state this truth very clearly, especially     choose the good and the evil. Thenatural man is unable
in the book of Proverbs.       We read in Prov. 16: 1:       to choose the good, can choose only the evil. The reborn
"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer        child of God, as in heavenly perfection and immortality,
of the tongue, is from the Lord." When the man of            cannot choose the evil, will never again be able to
God speaks here of the preparations of the heart he          choose the evil. Man, however, although never sov-
refers to the deliberations which man has in order           ereignly free, is morally free.       This demands some
before his consciousness out of which he must choose.        elucidation. The Lord willing, we will continue with
Notice that the answer of the tongue, his decisive           this in our following article.


58                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES


                                    David and Goliath

                                              by Rev. B. Woudenbevg

                                                 I Samuel  17:42-46

      We are not told whether Saul recognized David         that easily. For one thing, it was the only ray of hope
when he was brought to him at the battlefield of Elah       he himself had.       This was the only one who had ap-
or not. It may well have been that he did not. Although     peared willing to do battle with this Philistine. As
for a time David had become a very familiar figure          impossible as it seemed, Saul could not bring himself
in the royal court, the circumstances and even the          to let this one possibility slip away. But even more,
appearance of David were so different as to almost          there was the answer which the lad gave to his com-
defy identification. Then David had been dressed in         ment . He said, "Thy servant kept his father's sheep,
the finest clothing that his father was able to provide;    and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb
now he stood before Saul in the rough but serviceable       out of the flock: and I went out after him, and smote
clothing of the field. Then David had been presented        him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he
in the capacity of a musician with all of the tenderness    arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and
and poetic sensitivity of his nature on the fore; now       smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the
he stood as a young but courageous youth ready to go        lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine
and do battle where all of the strongest of Saul's          shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the
warriors had backed down. Besides this, Saul's own          armies of the living God. The LORD that delivered
outlook was now so completely different. Then he had        me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of
been moody and depressed. Samuel had spoken some            the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this
very harsh and  depricating words to him and had            Philistine." Here was something which Saul knew full
broken off friendship with him completely. He had           well.      He had met it often before in the old prophet
been looking for some encouragement and assurance           Samuel.       It was the voice of unwavering courage
that he wasn't so bad after all.        But now he was      arising from a living faith in Jehovah God. He had
frightened, even terrorized. There was Goliath each         never really known it himself. In a way he had never
day down in the valley calling for some one to fight        wanted it because it implied a sacrifice of personal
him. Saul knew what was expected. He was the leader         ambition which his nature would not allow. But he
of Israel, he was the one who should meet Goliath's         recognized that power when he saw it, and with the
challenge. But he had never been a man of that kind         expression of this faith David grew before him to a
of courage, and now all he could remember was               stature which the eye could not measure. He did not
Samuel's curse. Was this the moment so soon when            dare to countermand him but humbly answered, "Go,
the kingdom was to be taken from him? All Saul's            and the LORD be with thee."
heated mind could do was to search about desperately            Nevertheless, Saul could not send the youth directly
for something that might save him from this peril.          into battle without making some effort to prepare him
It was no time to ask about the familiarity of some-        properly.      Perhaps it was a rather foolish gesture;
one's face.     Saul's only concern was with what this      but there was no better armor in the camp than the
young man was able to do.                                   king's own, and so he took it off and instructed David
  At first glance the appearance of David must have         to put it on himself.      Patiently the youth submitted
been terribly disheartening. Surely when first it had       and put the armor on piece by piece until it became
been mentioned to the king that someone had been            perfectly evident that it would not do. Not only was
found who .was willing to go out and fight with Goliath,    the armor much too large, but David was completely
his mind must have imagined some new recruit of             unused to such cumbersome wear as that. Respect-
unusual strength and stature whom he had not met as         fully but emphatically he told the king, "I cannot go
yet; but now there was brought before him- a young          with these; for I have not proved them." Nor did the
man, scarcely more than a lad, with nothing more            king dare to urge him further, for he felt himself
than shepherd's togs upon his back. Gently and hiding       completely outclassed by this youth. In these days
his own disappointment as best as he could, Saul said       when he smarted so under the curse of Samuel, Saul
to the youth, "Thou art not able to go against this         recognized in David that blessing he did not have for
Philistine to fight with him: for thou art a youth, and     himself. In fact, as long as he could identify himself
he a man of war from his youth."                            with this youth, it was almost as though he was able
      Still, Saul was not able to dismiss the young man     to escape the effects of that fearful curse. With very


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER

unusual humility, the king left this young man to go in      thing rested upon his mind and that alone. He had
the way of his own choosing.                                 heard the name of his God held up in mockery, and
   There was surely a hushed stillness that fell over        against this mockery the name of God had to be justi-
the camp of Israel as this youth, of whom they all had       fied. With even temper but with determined indigna-
become aware, descended from the camp into the               tion, he answered the Philistine, "Thou comest to me
valley to meet Goliath. To many it must have seemed          with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but
the final proof that the king had lost his senses. The       I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the
absurdity of it all was too evident. It was just incom-       God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
prehensible that a person with any common sense              This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand;
would even think of sending a child against the mighty        and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and
Goliath, and that was saying nothing yet about the fact      I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines
that this youth had nothing but a shepherd's cloak and       this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild
stave while Goliath was fully armed. Still, we would         beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that
believe that there were some in that camp who against        there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall
the tide of doubt held on believing to the hope which        know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear:
they had in God. They had heard of this youth's con-         for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into
fession, and they remembered what such faith in God          our hands."
had accomplished in the past. Although they them-                The words had been spoken, the challenge given,
selves had not had faith so strong as to go forth as         and now all that remained was the battle. The giant
David was now going, they did recognize and love it           angered beyond restraint hurried toward the youth
when it appeared in him.          Thus even as the youth     with all of the speed that his long legs were able to
went down into the valley, their prayers of faith were       provide. But David was equally determined. He was
ascending above in his behalf.                               prepared for he had already stopped at the brook to
   To no one, however, was this appearance of David          place five smooth stones in his pouch; and with the
more disconcerting than to Goliath himself. Forty            light speed of an unencumbered body he came toward
days now, that great Philistine had stalked the valley       the Philistine equally fast. But the battle was over
of Elah calling for someone to meet him in battle.           before Goliath ever came close enough to strike. In
Perhaps wisdom would have dictated that long before          David's hand was his sling, and while he was still
he should have given up this approach and called for         running a stone had been drawn from his pouch. It
the whole army of the Philistines to make an attack          took but a moment for him to place the stone within
upon the army of Israel. But he didn't want to do that.      the sling and deliver it upon its way; but it was the
He wanted so badly for their victory over Israel to be       hand of the Lord which brought it to rest deep within
a personal victory for which he alone could receive          the forehead of the giant. David's hands were skilled
the credit.     Day after day he continued to hope that      enough, but "the battle is the LORD's" he had already
Israel would finally break down and send their strong-       confessed.
est and most capable soldier into battle. Maybe they             One can imagine the electrified stillness which
would even send forth their king, a man known to be          filled the air when suddenly that towering body stopped
of considerable stature himself, or maybe they would         in its onward rush and then slowly began to crumble.
surrender without a battle. It mattered only to Goliath      One can imagine how the sound of that great carcass
that he should receive all of the credit. But now, when      hitting the ground must have seemed to sound as
he looked up to see nothing but a shepherd boy coming        thunder and the shock wave to make the hills to trem-
out to meet him, and with challenge and determination        ble.       And still for a moment all stood in stunned
in his every gesture besides, it was more than the           silence while that youth in the valley below with care-
pride of Goliath could stand. This was a cruel joke;         ful but swift determination drew that great sword from
it was an outright mockery; it was an unendurable            its sheath and cut off the head of the giant; but then
affront.    They were sending a child to fight him and       the hillsides erupted.     With anguished surprise, the
one who wasn't even armed. With a sudden surge of            Philstines turned and ran wildly away from that fear-
hot anger, the blood rushed to his hand while the            ful valley. But the armies of Israel were soon upon
anguished cry escaped his lips, "Am I a dog, that thou       them. With the exhilarating speed of a sure victory,
comest to me with staves? Come to me, and I will             they poured into the valley and up the other side to
give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the         follow the Philistines. There for a moment all knew
beasts of the field."                                        that they had beheld a miracle. "The battle is the
                                                             LORD's," David had expressed it. In this confidence
    But David was not one to tremble at words. He            they went forth, and in that faith victory only could
was not one to be concerned for his own safety. One          follow.


                  But how is this union (with Christ) accomplished? The answer of Scripture is un-
               equivocally: this union is unconditionally' and absolutely the work of God's grace in
               Christ Jesus.    By grace are ye saved! That implies, too, that by grace, and by grace
               only, you are incorporated into Christ, so that you become one plant with Him.
                                                        - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 39


60                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER




      FEATURE-

                        The Standard Bearer -
                                               A Plan For Its Failure

                                                 by Rev. G. Van  Baven

      Last September 29 the Reformed Free Publishing          whether there are  60  present, or 200.          Members
Association held *its annual meeting at Hudsonville,          will be elected to the board by the votes of others
Michigan. Some of the reports of this meeting were            without any assist from those who fail to come. So,
published in an earlier issue of the Standard Beaver.         why be there ?
At these annual meetings it is customary that a short            Encourage those who do come that this work is
speech is given by one of our ministers. This meet-           one which can be performed merely by the effort of
ing, the speech was given by the present writer. I            man.        Tell them that this is not an activity in which
would like to share with you a few of the thoughts of         one is completely dependent upon the blessings of our
this speech.                                                  God.
      We are, and we ought to be, concerned with the             By following such a procedure, the association
publication of our Standard Bearer.       After more than     which publishes the Standuvd  Beaver  will grow grad-
40 years one begins to take it for granted. It comes          ually weaker till finally it collapses. That, it seems
regularly in the mails. The editor does a tremendous          to me, would be a fatal blow against this magazine.
job by seeing to it that the  Stundavd   Beaver comes         If we would have it to fail, it is at this point that we
out on time. The various writers faithfully contribute        must begin.
for each issue. We pay (if we do not forget) our annual          Secondly, if we are to cause this Stundavd  Beaver
subscriptions. And we are, though vaguely, aware that         to be destroyed, we would encourage faithlessness in
someone or some group must be involved in the task            the reading and study of it.          You understand, the
of keeping the  Standuvd  Beaver  financially solvent.        careful perusal of this or any magazine arouses in-
Yet we have been taking this magazine rather much for         terest and concern. It becomes habit-forming. The
granted.                                                      more one reads, studies, contemplates its articles,
      Therefore, I wish to point to ways in which we can      the more he looks forward for the next issue. There
cause the Standuvd Beaver to fail. We do not want it          develops a proper craving for such materials which
to fail;     we do not seek its failure; but through our      serve to edify him.
own neglect, we unwittingly contribute towards this              And not only is there then spiritual growth in the
plan for failure. To emphasize this point, I wish to          individual who reads, but such an one can hardly
set forth a plan for the failure of the Standard Beaver.      keep silent concerning those articles which he has
      First of all, one must seek to destroy or under-        read.       Those which particularly interest him, those
mine the association which is responsible for the pub-        which .stir up his thoughts, are also articles of which
lication of the Standard Beaver.      It should be obvious    he wiil speak to others.         In his regular visits with
that a lively, faithful association arouses interest in       friends, this reader will ask the opinion of his friends
its own magazine. Very likely, to many of our people          on some of these articles.          And if these have not
outside of this association, the  Stanclard   Beaver  is      read the issue under discussion, they would likely
considered not only a good, but the best, religious           make iit a point to catch up on that reading in which
magazine available. But it is not  their  magazine;           they were admittedly lax.         Thus the one reader's
it belongs to the R.F.P.A. But those within the as-           interest arouses the interest of others in a sort of
sociation own the magazine, And because it is their           chain reaction. Try it once and see.
magazine, they are more inclined to promote it by                The result would be, of course, that the Standard
encouraging others to read it and to subscribe to it.         Beaver   would grow.         The number of subscriptions
      Therefore it is essential in any plan for failure,      would grow - for there would be more and more who
that the association itself be undermined. One can            would want to find out what it says. But more im-
do that by discouraging membership in that organi-            portant, it would grow in importance to our own
zation. Convince our people that it is far easier and         people. The Standard Beaver would become ever more
more beneficial personally to sit home in that easy           important and valuable to them.
chair.                                                           Then any plan for failure would have to seek to
      Or convince those who do belong, that their presence    destroy this desire to read the magazine. First, one
is not so essential. Decisions will be made whether           would gradually eliminate his own reading of the
they are present or not.          Reports will be given       Simdard  Beaver.        The reading must not be dropped


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    61

all at once.       For those who were taught in the im-         possibly for the sake of appearance, the  Standard
portance of reading good spiritual material, their              Beaver  can continue coming into our homes. When
conscience would doubtlessly disturb them were they             such a religious magazine is seen lying in our homes,
to take such a drastic step. Therefore the reading              it would seem as though here is a home which places
of the Standuyd  Beaver  ought to be eliminated in steps.       emphasis upon the spiritual rather than earthly.
Certain of the more difficult articles ought to be                  But one arrives at a point where it seems silly
passed over.       Do that regularly till the articles are      to continue subscribing to an unwanted and unused
not even missed as far as you are concerned. Then               magazine. Five dollars are five dollars. The price
omit a few additional articles and read two or three            of the subscription each year could beneficially be
which appear the most interesting. This too ought to            used for something else.        Possibly one could even
be done for a length of time before further action is           contribute that five dollars to the church  - that
taken.    Next, convince yourself that you have many            serves to soothe the conscience.
other and more important things to do - so many,                    Thus would the Standard Beaver cease to exist.
in fact, that you will have to "postpone" reading sev-              And we could readily find substitutes. There are
eral issues. Do not stop reading - but only "post-              so many other magazines which can be very benefi-
pone" it till such a mass of material piles up that it          cial. There is TIME, NEWSWEEK, LIFE, POST, and
is impossible to catch up. Pack up those old unread             others. These can be informative and interesting at
issues  - and begin the process over again. You'd               the same time. They keep us posted on those things
be surprised how well that works. Before long even              which happen in the world about us. They provide
this pretence  is cast away.                                    background information for an intelligent conversation
   Secondly, one must begin working with the next               with others.       Or there are other good religious
generation. If the Stulzdavd  Beavev continues so long,         magazines which are easier for children to under-
we can raise a generation which cares nothing for               stand.      These might even have a children's section
reading  - and particularly for reading spiritual               in them.       The material for us too is not so "deep."
materials.      One must begin teaching the children            And, after all, all other religious magazines are not
now. Tell them that they are too young for the read-            evil  - even though we might not always agree with
ing of the Standard Beaver., Suggest to them that they          everything.      We do also have many other activities
could better wait with reading such a magazine till             which can furnish us with instruction of the truth
they are graduates of high school - or even till after          of God's Word: societies, catechism, and centrally:
they have made confession of faith. Point out to them           the preaching of the Word.          We could give up the
that the material is too "deep" for young people.               Stund.avd  Beaver  then.
Nor .discuss any of the articles of the .Standavd  Bear-            The above represents a plan leading to the demise
eY with them or in their presence. They'll grow into            of the  Standard  Beaver.     You for yourself can know
adulthood then without any care or concern for the              in how far you have contributed towards making this
Stundavd  Beaver.                                               plan a success.
   And without readers, concerned and interested                    But God forbid that such a plan should ever suc-
readers, no magazine can long continue.            It will      ceed.       Both we and our spiritual seed need today
wither and die.                                                 more than ever such spiritual reading materials in
                                                                our homes. By God's grace, the Standuvd  Beaver  must
   One final step I could suggest towards the failure           continue to serve as a means for instruction, for
of the Stundavd Bearer. Subscriptions must drop - and           warnings, for comfort.       It must continue to be the
they will if disinterest can be encouraged. After the           bearer of that one Standard: the Word of God. By
faithful study of this magazine decreases and finally           that same grace will we continue to support it, read
ceases, there continues a period in which a remnant             it, discuss it  - and guide our covenant seed to use
of loyalty causes one to continue to subscribe. Or              such materials for their spiritual benefit.




              .  . . .The preacher must be conscious of the fact that he is a minister of the mighty Word
              of God, and he may not leave the impression that Christ is a poor and weak beggar, Who
              would fain persuade men to open their hearts to Him and let Him in, but Who is powerless
              to enter if they refuse. In much of our modern preaching there is no longer the note of
              authority and power; and men, instead of being convicted of sin, and humbled in dust and
              ashes, receive the impression that they really would do Christ quite a favor if they would
              leave their wicked way and repent. God's calling is authoritative. When He says to you:
              repent ! woe if you don't! But God's calling is also powerful. When through the preaching
              of the Word, He enters into your inmost soul, and calls you, it is no longer in your power
              not to repent and not to return from your wicked way. For the Word of God is quick and
              powerful; it accomplishes all God's good pleasure.
                                                              H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p.56


62.                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-
                                      "0 worship the  Lovd in the beauty  of holiness.r'
                                                                         (Psalm  96:9a)



                 The Form For Excommunication
                                         Exhortation and Prayer

                                                 by Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg

       The congregation which instrumentally enacts the         seriousness of this admonition cannot be over-empha-
excommunication of the impenitent brother, is no better         sized. It is essentially the same as the direct calling
or more worthy than he who is excommunicated. Each              of the Word of God that we work out our salvation "with
member of the church, as they witness the excommuni-            fear and teem bling, " and that we make our "calling
cation, must feel in their hearts that apart from the           and election swe."  To accentuate this emphasis the
grace of God this is also their just portion. None of           attention of the brethren and sisters in the Lord is
us deserves a place in `God's Kingdom. It is only the           focused directly upon the example of the excommuni-
grace of God that continually leads us to repentance            cated member in order that we may all see what can
that gives us that place and preserves us in it. Only           very really happen to anyone and all of us. We are
in the spirit and attitude of deepest humility then may         to observe how this "brother began to fall, and by
the church proceed in this disagreeable but necessary           degrees is come to ruin." The  fall is gradual. Step
work.                                                           by step the sinner departs from the way of truth. At
       In connection with the actual excommunication there-     first the departure may not appear to be so serious
fore, each member of the congregation must be ex-               and may not even be detected as sin. But it is only
horted with respect to his attitude toward the one who          the beginning and soon it is followed by another step
is being excommunicated as well as with respect to              and then another, each one more intensely wicked,
himself.       Concerning the former he may not look            until finally he is completely overcome by the power of
down upon the brother with contempt, think himself to           evil.    How careful we must be to avoid that first
be holier than he or treat him as scum but he is en-            deviation from the law of God! But since we are de-
joined "to keep no company with him, that he may                parting every day, how necessary it is that we have
be ashamed; yet count him not as an enemy, but at               the grace of repentance by which we are humbly brought
all times admonish him as you would a brother."                 to our knees in confession of all our sins, and so
The "beloved Christians" addressed in the Form for              constantly seek Divine guidance in our way. We need
Excommunication are Christians, not in name only, but           to seek and desire His preservation so that we may be
in life and practice and as such they continue to have          faithful day by day.
concern in their hearts for the eternal well-being of               Noting this example we are to learn "how subtle
the brother who has been ensnared and fallen into               Satan is, to bring man to destruction, and to withdraw
heinous sin.       They continue to pray for him, to ad-        him from all salutary means of salvation."         The
monish him, to direct him in the ways of the Lord in            sinister purpose of the wicked one is not always easily
the hope that he may yet be saved. With him they                discernable because he so often appears as an angel
cannot and may not walk for to do that would be to              of light. Under a guise of religious piosity and with
partake of his sin, but they certainly must manifest            a pretense of confessing the truth he leads men astray.
in every possible way their concern for his soul.               `*Guard then," warns our Form, "against the least
This spiritual attitude is often lacking among Christians       beginnings of evil, `and laying aside', according to
to the serious detriment of the church.                         the exhortation of the apostle, `every weight and the
       But the members of the church must also take             sin which doth so easily beset us, let us run with
heed to themselves. They are further exhorted with              patience the race that is set before us, looking unto
these words: "In the meantime let every one take warn-          Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; be sober,
ing by this and such like examples; to fear the Lord,           watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Today,
and diligently take heed unto himself, if he thinketh           if you will hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your
he standeth, lest he fall; but having true fellowship           hearts, but work out your own salvation with fear and
with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, together              trembling'; and everyone repent of his sins, lest our
with  al1 faithful Christians, remain steadfast therein         God humble us again and that we be obliged to bewail
to the end, and so obtain eternal salvation." The               some one of you; but that you may with one accord,


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     63

living in all godliness, be our crown and joy in the         of our great transgressions, to be cut off and banished
Lord."                                                       from Thy presence."
   These matters are always extremely serious. We               A confession such as this is born out of the sincere
are living in a religiously superficial era in which         desire for reconciliation with God and so the prayer
these spiritual matters are so easily slighted. The          proceeds with a four-fold request or petition. First,
speed of living and the incessant clamour for pleasure       the church asks for forgiveness of sins for Christ's
and the material things of life tend more and more to        sake and that God will daily work in our hearts a greater
obliterate these most serious considerations from our        measure of sorrow for them.         This, together with
minds. Even apart from an actual case of excommuni-          the statement, "that we may, fearing Thy judgments
cation, the beloved brethren and sisters in the Lord         which Thou executest against the stiff-necked, endeavor
may well be reminded to give heed unto these things.         to please Thee," prescribes the true and only way of
Failure to do so is already giving ground to the devil.      reconciliation with God. Forgiveness of sin can never
If we follow on the road of materialism, humanism,           be obtained by a lip-confession and a further contin-
worldliness, etc. Satan will, by subtle devices, con-        uance in the way of sin. To have forgiveness implies
tinue to lead us into catastrophic destruction. In the       that there is a sincere remorse, a true sorrow for
heeding of the warnings of God's Word there is great         sin, together with a real desire and determination to
reward.                                                      walk in the ways of the Lord, to submit to His command-
   Finally, the Excommunication Form concludes with          ments and to obey His Word in all things, even and
a prayer of the church accompanied with confession           especially when that obedience involves us in the loss
of sin.      Concerning this prayer we may note, in the      of worldly goods, name, honor, etc. Whole hearted
first place, that it, together with the preceeding  ex-      obedience is the unmistakable earmark of forgiveness,
hortations, proceeds on the proper assumption that the       for the grace of forgiveness is manifest in the grace
excommunicated one is not finally and hopelessly lost.       of obedience unto God. Where the latter is lacking,
In the second place, the prayer itself may be divided        the former cannot exist!
into three main sections.       The first of these is the       The second petition of the church is for grace that
address to God as "the righteous God and merciful            she may be kept from the pollution of the world and
Father." The second deals with the humble confession         also from the sins of those who are cut off from the
of sin by the church and then we have the body of peti-      communion of the Church. This follows of necessity
tions followed by a recital of the prayer which our          from her expressed desire to please God, which, of
Lord taught us to pray.                                      course, is impossible if she becomes partaker of these
   How appropriate it is that we address God here            sins. The church must have grace toconfess the truth,
as the "righteous God and merciful Father." It is            but also to live that confession, for without this the
very conceivable that we could address Him with              judgments of God will surely descend upon her. In
many of His other attributes as well. However, in            this consciousness the saints, fearing these judgments,
this particular circumstance in which a member has           prays for the grace of sanctification.
been excommunicated from His church the righteousness           The third request is made in behalf of both the
and the mercy of God must stand out in the conscious-        church and the excommunicated member. The right-
ness of the church. She prays in the awareness that          eous God and merciful Father is asked "that he who
all of the works of God are right, and that is especially    is excommunicated may become ashamed of his sins;
applicable with a view to His work which even now He         and since Thou desirest not the death of a sinner, but
is performing through the church. It is a matter of          that he may repent and live, and the bosom of Thy
righteousness that the impenitent be cut off from the        Church is always open for those who turn away from
body of Christ.       The unrighteous cannot inherit the     their wickedness; we therefore humbly beseech thee, to
Kingdom. At the same time, however, we must never            kindle in our hearts a pious zeal, that we may labor,
lose sight of God's mercy by which He saves us sin-          with good Christian admonitions and examples, to bring
ners. His mercy is never in conflict with His right-         again this excommunicated person on the right way,
eousness, for these are one. But mercy is the mani-          together with all those, who, through unbelief or dis-
festation of that virtue in God according to which He        soluteness of life, go astray."
delivers His people from the misery and bondage of              The need of this for the church is indeed very
sin in the right and just way, which means that He           great.    It is so easy and even a natural tendency to
does this on the basis of the atonement of Christ, His       forget one who has been severed from the church of
Son.       The church concedes the possibility and even      Jesus Christ. We will then have nothing more to do
expresses the hope that this mercy may yet be manifest       with them.     This is not the right and Christian way.
to the member who is being excommunicated.                   In our prayers we must remember them, and with our
                                                             admonitions we must labor to bring them out of the
   Note the cry of the church confessing her sin and         captivity of sin. Not least of all must our entire life
acknowledging herself to be worthy of the same con-          be an example of godliness in which the way of hap-
demnation.       "We bewail our sins before Thy high         piness and life is so clearly demonstrated that it may
majesty, and acknowledge that we have deserved the           serve to bring shame upon the disobedient and turn
grief and sorrow caused unto us by the cutting off of        the refractory unto the Lord God. Not only is this our
this our late fellow-member; yea, we all deserve,            duty, but to fulfill this obligation must be the desire
shouldst Thou enter into judgment with us, by reason         of our hearts or else it is mockery to ask the Lord to


64                                            THE STANDARD  BEAR&R

kindle that zeal in our hearts.        And this involves        our efforts in themselves are always futile. Unless God
labor, hard labor, labor of love that denies self and           works His redemptive work in us and through us there
seeks the true well-being of the neighbor.                      can be and is no salvation. Without His blessing upon
                                                                us all of our endeavors are only vanity of vanities.
      The final petition of this prayer is that God may         How utterly dependent we are. How gloriously sov-
"give Thy blessing to our admonitions, that we may              ereign is He. And thus, when through the prayers and
have reason thereby to rejoice again in him, for whom           labors of the church, God brings one sinner to re-
we must now mourn, and that Thy holy name may be                pentance, the angels in heaven rejoice with the church,
praised, through our Lord Jesus Christ."                        and all glory and honor is ascribed to God`alone, Who
      In this petition the consciousness is evident that        works all things according to the pleasure of His will.



        IN HIS  FEAR-



                           Honour To Whom Honour

                                                     by Rev. J. A. Heys


      "They allow you five miles over the limit."               ment in good working order before he moves it. And
      Whether they always do and who these "they" are           that includes his speedometer. Besides, if one doubts
is entirely beside the point. The point is whether the          the accuracy of his speedometer and equipment his
Judge will allow those five miles over the limit.               calling is to stay a safe speed undev rather over the
      And we would like to point out, in case you missed        posted speed.
that point, the word Judge begins with a capital letter            Traffic laws are made to protect life and are de-
and, therefore, refers to Him Who is the Judge of               signed for the well being of the neighbour, whose good
heaven and earth.                                               we are obliged by the law of God to seek. And we ought
      Really, it is not a question of what "they" say but       therefore to give good heed to the efforts of those in
what He says. His law is very definite and distinct.            authority over us to do unto others, in this instance also,
We are either right according to it, or we are wrong.           as we would have them do unto us. Would we desire
Either we keep within its bounds, or we transgress              to be injured, have our children killed and crippled,
and go over the line that He has clearly drawn. Either          have our property damaged? Of course not. We
we obey and do what is pleasing in His sight, or we             would live, enjoy life, be strong and well. Do then
disobey and add to our debt and guilt. The argument             unto others so that we may further them in their
that the traffic officer, highway patrol man, Safety            pursuit of life and happiness.      The sixth command-
Patrol, or whatever he is called in your area (who is the       ment as interpreted as by the Heidelberg Catechism
"they" mentioned above) must allow five miles above             means that we "prevent his (the neigbbour's) hurt as
the posted speed limit, because all speedometers do             much as in us lies; and that we do good, even to our
not read exactly alike, and some room has to be left            enemies."
for these mechanical inaccuracies, falls away when                 Our "hot-rodding" youth ought to take heed!
we bear in mind that when you have gone faster even                Speed kills !    Recklessness is unconcern for the
than those five miles above that speed limit, these             neighbour's wellbeing.     The show-off shows off his
five miles are, added to the amount of miles held               hatred of the neighbour and not his love. And exceeding
against you.      If you have gone ten miles faster than        the posted limit with an eye on the rear view mirror
the posted speed, you are not fined for five of them            for the officer's car is failing utterly to take into
and forgiven the others because of mechanical inac-             account the Judge above and to live according to His
curacies in the speedometers in different makes and             law of love to the neighbour. His judgment seat we
types of automobiles, but you. are fined one dollar             shall never escape. We all have an appointment there.
for each mile above the posted speed. Then the first            Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:lO that he expects
five miles per hour over that limit are as evil as              to be there with the Corinthian church, for he says
those above five miles, and they will cost you just as          that "we"al1  must appear before the judgment seat of
much. Then suddenly you have to go by the speedom-              Christ." Young people,  - and sad to say older people
eter of the officer.                                            as well, -may make a joke of their arrests and brag
      Then, too, there is the obligation of every driver        of their escapes. But unconcern for the well being of
to make sure that his automobile is with all its equip-         others is no joke; and there will be no bragging when


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                65

the books are opened before the great white throne,          form, however, is not due to the fact that at times the
and the sins we "got away with" in this life will be         natural man is found honouring even father andmother.
there to accuse us of the evil which we did.                 Certainly the day of revolt and riot, of revolution and
   Well, that is getting to be an introduction that is       rebellion in which we live is a clear denial of that
long enough for the subject. We are not at the moment        position.     And the world today is not any different
concerning ourselves with the sixth commandment but          from the world wherein man lived when God gave His
rather with the fifth. Our driving habits, however, do       law on Mt. Sinai, except perhaps in degree, for there
show us how little we do render honour to whom               is a steady and definite development of sin. Cain
honour is due.       And it all begins at home in that we    killed his brother, and Lamech dared to boast of
do not honour father and mother. Here in the basic           killing more dreadfully and with more reason for
unit of society we learn or we fail to learn to render       punishment. And today men consider Cain and Lamech
honour to whom it is due.                                    as mere beginners. They were so unskilled in their
   The fifth commandment is different from the other         killing.     They did not know the fine touch of today's
nine in that it expresses the truth positively. It tells     murderers, nor the brassy boldness. There we saw
us what to do instead of what is forbidden us. And the       the child of sin. Growing up rapidly before our eyes
law certainly condemns all this so-called child psychol-     is the full-fledged, thoroughly trained and equipped
ogy that condemns .a11 prohibitions and claims that you      man of sin. Too bad some people cannot see that and
must only be positive in your approach to the child.         still want to talk about a restraint of sin in the heart
Life is not that way, and Scripture teaches us clearly       of the unregenerated by the Spirit. "Common grace"
enough that we are always doing the forbidden by             must be a very inferior grace that fights such a losing, -
nature, because we are conceived and born in sin.            and such a glaringly losing battle against sin. The
And therefore, since we commit `these evils, a word          so-called Christian nations are outstripping the pagan
is in order to approach man with a "Thou shalt not!"         world for sheer brutality, for bestiality, for immoral-
In the denial of total depravity and taking the wicked       ity, murder, theft and crime of every sort. With every
position of the ungodly philosopher that a child comes       new law there arises another generation that sets its
into this world with a soul that is a "clean slate"          heart on trying to find out how to get around that law
and you and I can write what we will, your approach          with impunity. Race riots and organized violence of
will indeed be the positive approach. You will suggest       union members are not only rampant. They are even
the "good," encourage in the "good" and seek to train        defended and advocated.
the child in the "good." Why the quotation marks?                And the beginning of so much of it is exactly in
Because the worldly philosopher does not know what           the home.       Honour to father and mother is lacking.
good is. And many there will be, Jesus said, whose           As the British educator remarked, when he came home
position today is, when they stand before His judgment       from a visit to our country, "It is amazing how well
seat and are told that they must depart from Him into'       the parents obey the children in the United States."
everlasting torment, "But, Lord, have we not proph-          Juvenile delinquency is burning like  wild fire. On
esied in Thy name: and in Thy name have cast out             every side you see youth rebelling openly against all
devils? and in Thy name have done many wonderful             order and rule. And this is no doubt due.in the first
works?"        But what actually is pleasing in His sight    `place to parental delinquency. But we must not talk
they never knew.' They built their philosophical struc-      such foolishness about a restraint of sin. Especially
tures apart from the Word of God. They dare to deny          not lest, we contradict Him Who declares that the
the infallibility of His Word, and yet claim to have         measure of iniquity will be filled before the day of
done many wonderful works for Him. Some are haughty          Christ dawns.
enough even to say that He is dead and that His Word            There is not even much external restraint of sin
is not relevant for the day in which we live and still       by those in authority today. We all have seen the picture
expect this "dead" God to bless them, and to boast           of the policeman standing and watching, -perhaps in
before Him of what they did in His name. (I suppose          fear of consequences, if he interfered, but neverthe-
that in His name they proclaimed the blasphemythat He        less standing and watching, - while goods are stolen
is dead.) But take the position of that infallible Word      from a store during a race riot. The criminal gets a
of God, maintain its undeniable doctrine of total,           "fairer" hearing and treatment than the victim of
complete, absolute depravity, and you can understand         his brutality.     Places of wickedness are not closed
why God comes to us with a law that is, except for           but allowed to remain open for the sake of the large
this fifth commandment, in the form of a "Thou shalt         amount of tax money they bring in, and then periodi-
not !"      There we are ! God from on high looks down       cally raided as a veneer of indignation for the crimes
and sees the children of men. And what He sees is            committed. But why go on? From Adam's eating of
a people, a whole human race that has another and            one piece of fruit until the rains of the flood began to
other gods besides Him, walking in idolatry, taking          fall, there was no restraint of sin  in the heart  of
His name in vain and having utter disregard for His          unregenerated man by the Spivit of Christ.       Genesis
Sabbath.      He sees a people that has no honour and        6:3 does not say that the Spirit will not always strive
respect for authority and goes about killing, com-           in the heart of man; and verse 5 strongly emphasizes
mitting adultery, stealing and bearing false witness         a total depravity that is absolute. For we read, "And
and thoroughly coveteous  and greedy.                        God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
   That He places the fifth commandment in the positive      earth, that that every imagination of the thoughts of


66                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

his heart were  only  evil  continually."     How would      up into the sky to press all into the service of his
you put it more strongly?         And we repeat, that if     depraved flesh? - man does make much progress in the
verse 3 means that in a "common grace" God will by           way of sin. He can "compare notes" and revise his
His Spirit restrain sin in the heart of the unregen-         approach.       He can unite with others and combine
erated, it surely was an inferior and proven-to-be-          ideas to produce fruit upon the tree of sin that the
worthless grace. For after striving by His Spirit with       wicked world before the flood would have envied. We
man in that "common grace" things got worse instead          say, Look for worse days ahead. That is the Word of
of better. For verse five is the end result. What is         God. Paul's word to Timothy in II Timothy 3:1-5 was
more, God decides that this "common grace" is not            not that the Church is going to exercise some leaven-
`going to be common anymore. He will destroy man,            ing influence upon the world and bring -about some
and surely not in any kind of grace that He has. In          "civic righteousness." And dare we say that these
wrath, dealing with man according to his evil works,         days of which Paul speaks, these perilous times as he
God will come with the destruction of the flood.             describes them are past already? And in II Timothy
      And from the exodus out of the ark through the sins    3:13 he declares, "But evil men and seducers shall
of Noah and of Ham sin has again set out on a course         wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
of development that will bring the whole world to            The kingdom of the Antichrist will not be more Christ-
destruction in the day of Christ. Riot and revolution,       like than the world has been in the past. It will be
revolt and rebellion are not anything strange today.         more Satanic.       The cancer begun in man's soul in
Look for worse days ahead!                                   paradise makes steady progress, and no measures of
      The tree of sin can bring forth more fruit, and        man can stop its phenomenal growth.
the ungodly under the power of Satan are constantly
striving to "improve" the strain.        Without modern         In His fear there is hope.          In His fear there is
means of communication and transportation, with our          respect for those in authority, for in His fear we love
electronic and mechanical marvels, - and how many are        God, The Authority, and desire to be pleasing in His
not yet in store for man as utterly apart from the fear      sight.      We would honour Him as the God that He is,
of God, he digs into the bowels of the earth and reaches
           ._                                                and therefore we honour His servants.


 TRYING THE SPIRITS-




                         Billy Graham's Answers

                                               by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


      The constructive and warrantable critics of Billy      Christianity Today,  a neo-evangelicalpublication, takes
Graham, the "one-world" evangelist, are on the in-           his part. But he himself has not fought, and it would
crease as multitudes of people are being alerted both        seem, cannot fight his own battles.
as to the wrong doctrine, as well as to the shockingly         One of the stock answers Graham defenders make
unscriptural methods of the man.         It has been his     against the thrusts of critics is to insinuate that they
policy in the past not to pay any attention to his           are guilty of Phariseeism. Often this accusation is
critics, to ignore giving them any answer. He has            hurled in the face of any who dare to make the mildest
announced over his radio broadcast that he can neither       criticism of Billy Graham, as from the barbed remarks
burden nor side-track himself with answers to critics.       of relatives this writer has experienced. The accusa-
His own words were, "I never answer my critics."1            tion has it that just as the Pharisees of Jesus' day
Yet Dr. John R. Rice says that often Billy would call        objected to His keeping company with publicans and
him long distance, or write a long letter beseeching         sinners, so Graham's critics are "typical of the Phar-
Rice's aid to defend his campaign, though he himself,        isees of our day" when they object to Graham's
as he said, would not defend it.2 Graham's staff in          policies, methods and close connections with modern-
the Minneapolis office may undertake to defend him,          ists and leftists.       Graham critics are then guilty of
his policies and doctrine.      Or he has a foreign, at      modern Phariseeism and so of "legalism." They are
present, British apologist to defend his case. Or his        legalists in that they forget the greatest of all Chris-
father-in-law, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, executive editor of       tian virtues, - love.      Graham's critics are jealous,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        67

Pharisees and wilfully blind legalists. In this way              parable, myth, allegory and is often quite unhistoric
they are supposed to be shamed into silence.                     and inexact - are "false teachers"?
   For this reason many have been hesitant to make                  A. Unanswered.
any criticism of Graham. But the above argument is               This question should have been answered instantly,
not as devastating as it seems.        It has an inherent     unhesitatingly, with a clear, unequivocal affirmative.
weakness, - a double weakness, -first, it cannot be           What sort of testimony is it, to God, to His Christ,
made to stick, and second, it boomerangs on Graham's          His truth, His Gospel and His Word, for a preacher to
head. For the Pharisees complained of Jesus' having           remain silent on such a basic issue?             How can he
any association with publicans, harlots and sinners.          save his hearers from confusion and make it clear to
They self-righteously condemned him for any such              them as to where he stands? What possibly is to be
contacts. This argument is employed to defend Gra-            gained by such silence? He may avoid offending the
ham's visits to the Skid Rows, the Soho districts, the        modernists and the liberals throughout the denomina-
Skulley Squares of the cities of the world. Night clubs       tions in the world.       That is his aim at the moment.
and honky-tonks exploit Billy Graham as a result of           This is to shelve principle for expediency. Graham
his visits to such places.       They capitalize on his       occasionally talks about false teachers, but never at-
having been there. In connection with such visits, he         tacks any, much less does he identify any. Some day
has had to flee the clutches of strip-tease girls and         they may sink him in an irrecoverable bog of embar-
belly-dancers in order to escape becoming too com-            rassment.     Graham does not want to commit himself
promised by the trash of this world. Neither the man          to the extent of going on record as saying these neo-
nor his supporters seem to know that this is casting          modernists (neo-orthodox) are  izot false teachers. For
pearls before swine and giving that which is holy to          though then he would conciliate them, he would almost
the dogs (Mt.. 7:6).                                          irreparably estrange himself from the Bible believing
   Now, though Jesus did come into a limited social           world. The true church and the true preacher do not
contact with publicans, harlots and sinners, he never         fail to instantly deny that the Bible is myth, allegory
allowed them to exploit or compromise him.            The     or "quite unhistoric," and to forthrightly affirm that
Pharisees admittedly condemned Him for such affili-           the Bible is the verbally, infallibly inspired Word!
ation, but never for companying with Sadducees. For           But as shown in the previous installment, this is not
Jesus never associated with any Sadducees. He rather          the first time Graham has been lax on this vital point.
excoriated, exposed and reprobated them. But Billy            It is no surprise, then that Graham followers can
Graham is in thickly with modern Sadducees, has them          accept and live with the New Confession of the United
on his sponsoring committees, on the same platform            Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Both he and they hold
with himself during his campaigns, and has them who           the "theology" of the Rejection of Errors.
are Unitarian in belief and therefore adepts of another          Through his syndicated column one asked Graham:
god to lead in "prayer" before his vast audiences.
Graham is in the habit of welcoming Sadducees and                   Q. What is predestination7 Some say a person is
Pharisees both into his sponsorship and to his                   predestined to heaven or hell at birth. I know that
                                                      sup-
port. Jesus neither claimed nor sought the sponsor-              Jesus Christ is my Savior.        In your opinion, was I
                                                                 predestined to accept Christ as my Savior7
ship or the support of either Pharisees or Sadducees.                                                                W.P.
Therefore we are not Pharisees because of criticisms               A. Unfortunately, Cod has no power over the will
we make of Billy Graham. We would be, if we joined               of man.        That is to say, He cannot save a person
in support of his campaigns. So the Pharisee - argu-             against His will, but at the same time, He is not willing
ment falls flat on its face.                                     that any should perish. He has made it possible for
   Of late, the self-styled Graham-apologists are                all men to be saved.        But the Bible indicates that
saying that Graham does answer questions. But this               salvation depends upon man's willingness to be saved.
does not mean that he actually answers critics. It is            It would be a kind of tyranny if Cod saved people against
further said that now he does answer questions that              their will. But his heart embraces all men, and in the
                                                                 word "whosoever will may come" is the universal
concern his policy and ministry in relation tonotorious          invitation, with no one excluded. Were you predesti-
modernists, liberal organizations and the leftist Na-            nated to be saved? Since it is His will and desire that
tional Council of Churches. But this does not mean               everyone be saved- in that sense you were of the
that he answers on matters of doctrine.          Graham,         elect. But this does not imply that if a person is lost,
for example, has never answered the contention that              that Cod ordained it so. It is because that person was
he is thoroughly Arminian in doctrine. A very good               not willing to place himself within the scope of Cod's
sample of what he believes and preaches may be found             redemption by yielding his will. The Bible indicates
in the contents of that document well known in the               that Cod will do everything short of coercion to re-
Reformed church world as "The Rejection of Errors."              deem people. But even He cannot save them against
Certain very interesting questions this summer have              their will?
been put to Graham from the church liberals, most of             This answer is in almost every sentencecompletely
which he has answered in his usual slippery way.3 One         erroneous.        The  initial remark, where Graham in-
question which he failed to answer was;                       felicitously confesses an unfortunate god, is flatly
       Q. Do you believe that we who teach that Christ is     contradictory to Psalm  110:3, which see.            His next
    the word of God and that the Bible bears witness to       statement being a half-truth is a whole error. The
    Cod's revelation in him-but that the Bible is full of     first work of grace  in  the order of salvation is  re-


 68                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

generation, and although that work is not wrought in                 assertion that "salvation depends upon man's willing-
the heart of man again&. his will, it certaimy is ac-                ness" is a species of one of the worst errors traceable
complished  without his will, according to John 1:12,                down to Arminianism to Pelagianism to humanism.
13, which see. Then when a wonderful text is taken                   Where Scripture insists, "So then it is not of him that
from its context, we have Scripture conflicting with                 willeth, nor of him that runneth (i.e., places himself'
itself.      For how does God "is not willing that any               within the scope of God's redemption), but of God that
should perish" agree with *`What if God, willing to                  showeth mercy" (Rom. 9:16), Graham nevertheless
show His wrath and to make His power known, endured                  flies in the face of Holy Writ,  .teaching that  it`is of
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to               him that willeth!      That God does not ordain that a
destruction" (Romans 9:22)?              `If God is  not  willing    sinner be destroyed, condemned or lost is contrary
that  any  one perish, but desires that  every one be                to this Pauline passage and also contrary to Jude 4,
saved, then why is God willing~ to show His wrath and                which see. Graham's "gospel" then is identical with
exert His power against certain ones fitted to de-                   the philosophy expressed in that part of the Canons
struction?        That these who are fitted to destruction           of Dort known as the Rejection of Errors. His oral
stand in contrast to others who were afore prepared                  and literary productions have the effect of entirely
unto glory is proof positive that God does not have it               cancelling Bev Shea's much better message,  "How
in mind "for all men to be saved." Graham's next                     Great Thou Ad!`!
1 Billy  Graham   - The  Pastov's Dilemma,  I, E. Hulse,             2 ibid., pp. 52-3.
       p.- 52, M.  Allan Publrs, Ltd., Middlesex, Eng.               3    Christian  Beacon, Aug. 18, 1966, p. 2.
       Order:     Reiner Pub., Swengel, Pa., 17880, 75c.             4 Quoted in the Baptist Examiner, July 30, 1966, p. 1.

ALL AROUND  US-
                                    Death of the Prayer Amendment
                                                  World Congress on Evangelism
                                                                     Nature Still Boss
                                                          by  Pvof. H. Hanho
DEATH OF THE PRAYER AMENDMENT                                         Americans United For Separation of Church and State,
       Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen (Republican                 and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Senator from Illinois) had worked hard to get his                     Some predicted that the amendment would never come
amendment through the senate. Since the time when                    out of committee to the floor for debate and voting.
the Supreme Court outlawed prayers in the public
schools, many people have warned that our country                         Nevertheless it did. It failed also. But the final
was drifting more rapidly in the direction of atheism                vote was something of a surprise, for it was only
now that the highest judicial body in the land erased                nine votes short of the two-thirds vote needed for
all vestiges of religion from the nation's schools.                  passage. Of course, even if it had passed the Senate,
Senator Dirksen determined to do something about                     it would still have needed the approval of the House
it.     He introduced in the Senate a proposed amend-                of Representatives and of three-fourths of the state
ment which reads:                                                    legislatures.
           Nothing contained in this Constitution shall prohibit          Senator Dirksen promised to renew the campaign
       the authority administering any school, school sys-           to gain passage for his amendment in the Ninetieth
       tem, educational institution or other public building         Congress next year
       supported in whole or in part through the expendi-                 We have written before that we are not very much
       ture of public funds from providing for or permitting         interested in whether or not prayer is permitted in
       the voluntary participation by students or others in          the public schools. The fact of the matter is that the
       prayer. Nothing contained in this article shall au-           question is the wrong kind of question. We ought not
       thorize any such authority to prescribe the form or           to be asking the question of whether or not prayer
       content of any prayer.                                        should be permitted in the public schools; we ought
       It appeared as if the larger majority of people               rather to be asking the question whether the state
in this country were in favor of the amendment, while                has any business at all in the work of education when
the organized religious bodies, through their lead-                  the responsibility is parental. And the fact that the
ers, opposed it. Those organizations with lobbies in                 government nevertheless assumes responsibility for
Washington and those called to testify while the amend-              this only hangs the state on the horns of a dilemma.
ment was being considered in committee were, on                      The state is supposed to remain neutral in matters
the whole, opposed to any efforts even to modify                     of religion.     But neutrality is, in the nature of the
the Supreme Court decisions.               Some of these or-         case, atheism.        That atheism has taken over the
ganizations were the National Council of Churches,                   schools is also apparent in every subject which is


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        69

taught  - especially those subjects which are to be                       Devout men from every evangelical group in the
found under the natural sciences.                                  world will come to the World Congress to receive
   A  few prayers introduced into the schools are not              spiritual dynamics. . . .
going to change all this.        In the nature of the case,               The early disciples went away from Pentecost to
they cannot.                                                       change the world.. . . All evangelicals  must join hands
                                                                   in evangelism to see revival of spiritual religionin our
WORLD CONGRESS ON EVANGELISM                                       time. . . .
                                                                          . . . Let every evangelical body call its people to
   Sponsored by                                                    prayer. Pray that all who attend will see visions and
                       Christianity  Today  as a Tenth An-         be so embued with the Spirit of Jesus that they will
niversary project, the World Congress On Evangelism                be able to carry back to every section of the world
will meet October 26 through November 4 in Kon-                    spiritual qualities and insights that God can use to
gresshalle, Berlin. Delegates have been invited from               give rise to a spiritual upsurge unprecedented in the
all over the world to "plan for the global fulfillment             history of Christianity.
of Christ's Great Commission in this last third of the
twentieth century."  - in the words of a recent                     As if this comparison is not enough, the same
editorial in  Christianity  Today.       Billy Graham has       editorial quoted above says: "The congress recalls
been appointed honorary chairman and will probably              the Jerusalem Council about A.D. 50, which support-
lead several of the meetings. The purposes of calling           ed the extension of evangelism to the Gentile as well
such a meeting are:                                             as the Jewish world, and will include delegates from
                                                                some of the oldest as well as the youngest churches
       (1) to define biblical evangelism, (2) to show the       in Christendom."
   modern world the relevance of Christ's mission, (3) to         We consider such comparisons highly presumptuous.
   stress the urgency of evangelistic proclamation through-
   out the world in this generation, (4) to discover new        And inaccurate. The Jerusalem Council was under the
   methods of relating biblical evangelism to our times,        direction of the apostles who occupied a unique place
   (5) to study the obstacles to biblical evangelism and to     in the church;         and it was called together to inter-
   propose the means of overcoming them, (6) to consider        pret for the church the implications and significance
   the types of evangelistic endeavor currently em-             of Pentecost. Pentecost itself was a unique event in
   ployed in various lands, and (7) to summon the Church        the history of the church. For through the outpouring
   to recognize the priority of its evangelistic task.          of the  Spirit of the resurrected and ascended Lord,
                                                                the church was brought out of the gloomy dispensation
   A "prayer-News Bulletin" is sent out periodi-                of types  and shadows into the dispensation of the
cally to rally support for this meeting and to provide          reality of the fulfillment of God's promise.              This
information concerning the progress of plans. In a              same Spirit given by Christ has dwelt in the church
recent issue, C. E. Aubrey writes on the subject of
"Congress                                                       since that time and dwells in her today. Pentecost
                  and Pentecost Similar."      A  few quotes    was not revival time. There never will be any event
from this article will show the areas in which the              similar to it. Nor need there be.
author believes there are comparisons to be made.                   The purposes of this congress include among them
       There is striking similarity between the needs           this one purpose:          "to define biblical evangelism."
   which preceded Pentecost and the needs which pre-            We sincerely hope that this purpose will be accom-
   cede the World Congress on Evangelism. The world             plished. We hope that most strenuous efforts will be
   needs today the same spiritual effects that came from        put forth to change the entire concept of missions in
   Pentecost.       Spiritual religion was in a state of de-    vogue today to fit once again the data of the Scrip-
   cline. . . .                                                 tures.      The church has strayed far from this, ignor-
       . . . The philosophy, methods, message and spirit-       ing the Scriptures on this important point. A total
   ual concepts which are prevalent now are inadequate          revision is necessary. It is necessary to define the
   for our day. The philosophical and theological men-          work of missions as the official preaching of the
   tality which prevails now is not, for the most part,
   conducive to New Testament evangelism.          A reali-     gospel.       It is necessary to put missions once again
   zation of this makes the World Congress on Evan-             into the perspective of the great truths of Scripture:
   gelism an imperative.                                        total depravity, limited atonement, election, the cove-
       There is another similarity relative to the per-         nant .      It is necessary to consider missions in the
    sonnel at Pentecost and those who are to attend the         light of the preaching of the gospel as a sign of the
   World Congress. At Pentecost, "devout men out of             return of Christ.         If the congress would undertake
   every nation under heaven..." were gathered for a            this task, we could hope for a profitable session.
    religious festival.... In Berlin it is hoped that every
   evangelical body will be represented....                     NATURE STILL BOSS
       There is an even more striking similarity in the
   objective of Pentecost and the World Congress on                 In a candid article which recently appeared in the
    Evangelism to be held in Berlin. At Pentecost they
   came .with a great sense of spiritual need and pur-          Grand Rapids  Press   a noted scientist took a long,
   pose. . . .                                                  hard look at man's efforts and claims to control his
       The objective of Pentecost was to receive spiritual      environment.        He was not impressed. "For all his
   power to do what Jesus had already commissioned              trying, man has controlled virtually nothing," is his
    them to do.                                                 opinion.


   70                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

         But the interesting comments he had to make had                     be any different.      For one thing, man does not rule
  to do with the fact that, in his opinion, man's efforts                    in the creation any more as God's friend-servant -
  to control "nature" have most generally backfired.                         as a benevolent and loving king who labors in the
  He  .refers to the pumping of ground water in the                          service of God.       Rather, he is a cruel and heart-
  central valley in California which caused the earth                        less tyrant who abuses the creation, twisting it and
  to slump and ruined costly canal systems, highway                          wrestling with it in order to force it to serve his
  grades and building foundations as an example of                           own lusts.       He is cruel, high-handed, rebellious
  this.      Another example is to be found in the matter                    against God.      The creation must serve his own evil
  of weather control.             In his opinion, weather control            purposes.       Because it is God's world, man cannot
  has not only been a failure, but if further efforts                        expect to get away with this sort of thing. But, for
  are made, the results of such efforts could very well                      another thing, the creation itself is under the curse.
  be disastrous.            He imagines that hurricane control              Not immutable laws of nature operate, but the frightening
  could result in massive droughts so that by avoiding                       reality of the curse.      It is this curse of God which
  one disaster, man creates a far worse one. ` `Man                         makes men's efforts futile and which results in the
  acts for his own purposes, and nature reacts ac-                           creation turning upon man to destroy him.         God's
  cording to her own immutable laws. Nature is neither                      wrath cannot be overcome with the greatest skills of
  friendly nor inimical.             She is merely implacable.               science and by the most astonishing accomplishments
  We had best come to terms with her," is his con-                           of wicked men. Creation remains man's implacable
  cluding comment.                                                           enemy, seeking ever to devour him. The result is
         Of course, this scientist speaks from the view-                     inevitably death and destruction.
  point of an unbeliever. We cannot accept his positing
  of nature as a force to be reckoned with apart from                           And, the more men insist on tampering with crea-
  God.       But what does strike us very forcibly is that                  tion, bending the world to serve their sinful goals,
  even sinful man can see that his efforts to subdue the                    the more the creation will turn against him to destroy
  earth have, for the most part, ended in creating new                      him. Wicked men could well take warning from this
  and more dreadful problems.                      This is the truth of     man of their own ranks. Especially as they seek now
  the matter across the whole range of scientific ad-                       to tamper with the processes of life itself, they would
  vance.      This is to be understood. It cannot really                    do well to pause and listen. God will not be mocked.

                            .Even though it pleases Him to call men out of darkness into His light through  the
                 0  a  .
                 preaching by men, it is still He that calls. He opens the eyes of the blind so that they
                 see; He gives the hearing ear to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd; He enlightens the
                 mind so that we may understand the things of the kingdom of God; He inclines the will
                 and the heart to give heed to the Word of truth. The calling is a work of God through
                 Christ.
                                                                           H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p.55


                                                            ANNOUNCEMENTS-

                 RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   MR. GYSBERT A. VAN BAREN
  The teaching staff of the Sunday School of the Prot-                      on September 28, 1966 at the age of 43 years.
  estant Reformed Church of Hudsonville expresses                           Psalm  91:1, 2: "He that dwelleth in the secret place
  its deepest sympathy to Mrs. Perlin  Schut in the                         of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the
  death of her brother,                                                     Almighty.       I will say of the Lord, He is  my  refuge
                      MR. GISE VAN BAREN                                    and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust."
                                                                                                           Mrs. G. Vroom, President
  May our covenant God comfort the sister and her                                                          Mrs. R. Van Baren, Sec'y.
  family.                              ---r_,
                                                 Donald Dykstra, Supt.
                                                 Betty Haveman, Sec'y.                     RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                            The Association of Protestant Reformed Education
                                                                            wishes to express our sympathy to our fellow member
                 RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                    Mr. L. Eugene Kuiper, in the death of his father
! The Ladies Auxiliary of the Protestant Reformed
  Christian School of South Holland, Ill. extend their                                        MR. LAMBERT KUIPER
utmost sympathy to our fellow members, Mrs. G.                              May the God of Grace comfort His sheep.
A. Van Baren and Mrs. J. Heys in the death of their                                                        P. S. Poortinga, President
  husband and brother,                                                                                    Gise Van Baren, Secretary


                                    :        j       .`
                                                       .      i     .     ;     a".        I  .1
                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                             71

               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                                                 RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
The Mission Board of the Prot. Ref. Churches here-                               The Association of Protestant Reformed Education
with expresses its Christian sympathy to the Rever-                              wishes to express our sympathy to the family of the
ends G. C. Lubbers and Herman Veldman in the re-                                 late
cent passing of their respective fathers                                                            MR. GYSBERT VAN  BAREN
   CORNELIUS LUBBERS and JAMES VELDMAN                                           who was a faithful member, served on our board,
May the Lord extend to both the blessed comfort of                                and in the past was our president. We thank God for
His Word.                                                                        the years of service rendered by this servant.
                                          The Mission Board                                                               P. S. Poortinga, President
                                                                                                                         Gise Van Baren, Secretary

               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
The Consistory and Congregation of Southwest Prot.                                                  RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
Ref. Church express their sincere sympathy to their                              The Ladies Society of the South Holland Protestant
Pastor, Rev. G. Lubbers, Mrs. Lubbers, and Miss                                  Reformed Church wishes to express their sympathy
Agatha Lubbers in the recent loss of a father and                                to three of its members, Mrs. G. A. Van  Baren,
Grandfather                                                                      Mrs. J. Heys, and Mrs. Tunis Van Baren, in the loss
                  CORNELIUS LUBBERS                                              of their husband, brother and brother-in-law
who was taken home to be with the Lord.                                                             MR. GYSBERT A. VAN BAREN
May the Lord comfort the hearts of the bereaved.                                 May our God comfort the bereaved family and give
Psalm  116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is                             them peace.
the death of his saints."                                                                                                    Rev. J. A. Heys, Pres.
                                A. Talsma, Vice Pres.                                                                     Mrs. R. Poortinga, Sec'y.
                                           H. Kuiper, Clerk

                                                                                                    RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                              The Men's Society, Ladies Society, and Mr. and Mrs.
The Men's Society of the South Holland Prot. Ref.                                 Society express their heartfelt sympathy to Rev. and
Church wishes to express its sympathy to Mr. Tunis                               Mrs. G. Lubbers and family in the recent passing of
Van  Baren, Rev. J. A. Heys, Mr. John Haak, Jr.,                                 his father and Grandfather
Mr. Barney Haak, in the death of their brother and
brother-in-law                                                                                       MR. CORNELIUS LUBBERS
              MR. GYSBERT A. VAN BAREN                                            "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord  from-
                                                                                 henceforth, yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest
"But the God of. our grace, who hath called us unto                              from their labours and their works do follow them."
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have                             Rev. 14:13.
suffered a while, made you perfect, stablish, strength-                                                                   Mr. Henry Brands, Sec'y.
en, settle you. To him be the Glory and dominion                                                                    Mrs. Don Lotterman, Vice Sec'y.
forever and ever, Amen." I Peter 5.~10,  11.                                                                            Mrs. Alvin De Young, Sec'y.
                                   Jack Lenting, Sec'y.





                                          NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-

                                                   Oct. 15, 1966                           REPORT OF  CLASSIS WEST
   The congregation at Randolph, Wis. has named a                                           CONVENEDONSEPTEMBER21,1966
trio consisting of the Revs. C. Hanko, J. A. Heys and                                      ATEDGERTON,MINN
J. Kortering.
   `Rev. R. C.  Harbach,,, of Kalamazoo,  Mich., has                                     With Rev. J. Kortering presiding and Rev. J. A.
declined- the call to be the Home Missionary of our                               Heys serving as clerk, Classis West finished its work
`churches.                                                                        in one day.
   Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, Iowa, has accepted the                                    On the agenda of every meeting of Classis West
call which he had from Hope Church in Grand Rapids.                               is the matter of the vacant churches within its sphere.
                                                                                                        -.--;- _
                                                                                                        .a?+..  -.


72                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

At present, there are five vacant churches in Classis                  After discussing the church political aspects of
West.      Classis West's treatment of this matter, at          the matter, Classis voted down a motion which would
this session, included:                 .:                      have included on the agenda an appeal that was not given
         requesting each minister in  Classis West to           to the Stated Clerk thirty days before the convening
         prepare two reading sermons in the next six            of Classis.
         months.                                                       About 4:00, Wednesday afternoon, Classis adjourn-
         requesting the consistory of South Holland to          ed.      Rev. Kortering thanked the delegates for their
         look into the possibility of Classis West's set-       co-operation.         Rev. C. Hanko closed with prayer.
         ting up a library of taped sermons.                           Classis West meets next, Lord willing, in South
         requesting Classis East to help out in the va-         Holland, Illinois.
         cant churches of the .West by supplying Ran-                                    Rev. D. J. Engelsma, Stated Clerk
         dolph entirely in the next six months, by grant-                                     ***
         ing one three-week appointment to Isabel  &            Bulletin  quote (Kalamazoo):
         Forbes and by supplying  Edgerton  for four                   "The slanderer wounds three at once: he wounds
         Sundays.                                               ,him that is slandered;             he wounds him to whom he
         drawing up and adopting a schedule of classical        reports the slander, by causing uncharitable thoughts
         appointments for the ministers in the West.            to arise up in his mind against the party slandered;
         The adopted schedule for classical appointments        and he wounds his own soul, by reporting of another
         follows:                                               what is false."                                 Thos. Watson
         EDGERTON  - Oct. 23, 30  - J. Heys; Nov. 13,                                         ***
         20  - G.  Vanden  Berg;, Dec. 4, 11  -  Classis               Our Theological School Committee, in an October
         East (tentative);      Jan. 8, 15 - D. Engelsma;       meeting, pre-enrolled a student who is at present a
         Feb. 12, 19 - J. Kortering;          Mar. 12, 19 -     sophomore in college.          Needless to say, this was a
         Classis East (tentative). ISABEL & FORBES -            very joyous event for the committee, for in this they
         Oct. 9, 16, 23  - R. Decker; Nov. 6, 13, 20  -         received an `answer to prayer that has been sent up
         D. Engelsma;         Dec. 4, 11, 18 - J. Kortering;    to the King of His Church to move young men to seek
         Jan. 8, 15, 22 - Classis East (tentative); Feb.        the office of minister in our churches.
         5, 12, 19 - J. Heys; Mar. 5, 12, 19 - B. Woud-                                     * * *
         enberg.     PELLA  - Oct. - G.  Vanden Berg;
         Nov. - R. Decker;         Dec. - G.  Vanden Berg;             Prof. H. Hanko addressed an Office Bearer's
         Jan. - R. Decker;         Feb. -  G.  Vanden Berg;     Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 4.               His talk was on
         Mar.  - C. Hanko.                                      "Partaking of the Means of Grace in Other Denomi-
      The Stated Clerk reported that the Litigation Com-        nations." After recess the speaker answered sundry
mittee of Synod had given him the archives of Clas-             questions from the aduience regarding the conclu-
sis West, through 1953,`which had been received from            sions of the subject-matter. These  evening-before-
the Christian Reformed Church.                                  Classis meetings prove to be very beneficial to the
      A committee appointed by Classis West in Sep-             office bearers in the Michigan churches in their quest
tember of 1965 gave its report at this session of               to "rule well" in their office.
Classis. This committee was mandated to study sev-                                            * * *
eral appeals that were brought to Classis by bodies
and individuals in the Illinois churches and to worlc                  Coincidentally, two days before the above men-
with the parties involved.          The committee reported      tioned event, the Young People's Society of Hull dis-
that God had effected a full reconciliation among the           cussed a related subject under the title, "Partici-
contending brothers and that, in March of 1966, all of          pating in Religious Activities of other Churches."
the parties decided to withdraw permanently their                                             * * *
appeals from the Classis. The committee took note
of the fact that. new trouble had arisen after March,                  Doon's pastor gave a "homework" assignment to
1966, but requested to be dismissed, since the com-             one of his catechism classes taken from the editorial
mittee had finished the work assigned to it and the             page of the Sept. 15th issue of the Standard Bearer.
appeals had been withdrawn.            Classis approved the     The article was by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema entitled,
report of the committee and dismissed it.                       "Toward Better Catechetical Instruction." The as-
      In accordance with a decision of Synod  (Acts  of         signment -excused no one, not even the non-subscrib-
Synod,  1966, Articles  147-149),  Classis authorized           ers, for Rev. Decker offered his personal copy for
the Classical Committee of Classis West to act upon             their use, if necessary. .Rev. Kortering, of Hull, also
financial requests from individual churches which are           called his people's attention to that editorial and asked
of an emergency nature.                                         them to be sure to read it. And we might add: If you
      Edgerton  requested permission to call ministers          missed it, look it up and read it to your own cate-
again whom they called within the past year. Classis            chumens  that sit around your table.
granted the request.                                                   . . . . see you in church                      J.M.F.


