                                    he

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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: The Dayspring From On High

       Editorials:  The Nature of the Atonement

                    A Grand Rapids Area High School?

       Why Hell? (See: All Around Us)

       cocu




                                        Volume  XLI..I/ Number  5/ December 1, 1966


9 8                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


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

Meditation  -                                                                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
       The Dayspring From On -High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                  98
               Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                                         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
Editorial  -                                                                                                                                                          Editor-   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
       The Nature Of The Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                   101
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                 Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
       Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      102    Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                 Rapids,  Mich.       49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
       A Grand Rapids Area High School? ,............................ 103                                                                           words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                 lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
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               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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          MEDIlATIOfV-

                                           The  Dciyspring From On High
                                                                                                                                      by Rev. M.  Schipper

                                                           "Whereby the  daysp~i?zg   from  on  high  Ruth  visited us, to give light to them
                                                    that sit in davkness  and in the shadow of death, to guide our   feet into  the way
                                                    of peace."                                                                                                                  Luke   1:78b, 79

            "Behold the morning Star arise,                                                                                                         For when the angel of the Lord had announced to him
                  Ye that in darkness sit!                                                                                                          the coming birth of a son, when the aged priest was
            He marks the path that leads to peace,                                                                                                  told that his barren wife Elizabeth would bring forth,
                  And guides our doubtful feet."                                                                                                    Zacharias would not believe. He had asked for a sign.
         Beautiful, comforting verse!                                                                                                               And a sign had been given to him, the sign of dumb-
         Taken from the Song of Zacharias !                                                                                                         ness, until the day that the promise would be fulfilled.
         For Zacharias, you see, could now sing!                                                                                                        But now the word of promise: was fulfilled!
        Once  through unbelief he `was both deaf and dumb.                                                                                              He who was to go before the face of the Lord had


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      99

been born!                                                    was then the daytime of all creation!           When with
    And when the day had come when this son was to            scintillating grandeur the raying sun played upon the
be circumcised according to the law of Moses, and his         glorious works of God, bringing out of each creature
name was required, the aged father could not speak.           the sparkling wisdom and glory of the Creator. Then
The neighbors and relatives who were present at the           all creation breathed with life and joy and peace!
scene urged that he should be named after his father.             But, alas, when sin came, darkness and death
But the mother objected, and said that his name should        intercepted the light and swooped down upon the whole
be John. And the aged father, being pressed to affirm         creation of God.         Ever since the fall of man it has
or deny, motioned for a writing tablet, and wrote,            been dark with the spiritual darkness of death. In
saying, "His name is John."                                   that darkness, all men by nature sit. In that darkness
   Then was his mouth opened and his tongue loosed!           there is no place to .go,  and no passage that will lead
    And with praise to God, he uttered this song:             them out.         0, there are the wise of the world who
    Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!                        would offer a way, a plan to get out. They have devised
   For He hath visited and redeemed His people !              a plan of salvation in social reform, and education.
   To perform the mercy promised to our fathers,              They have called for peace parleys, and conferences
and to remember His holy covenant!                            to solve the problems. They havemademany scientific
    That is the theme of this beautiful and inspired          inventions which are calculated to bring about the
song !                                                        freedom men desire.
    Zacharias' son would be the prophet of the Most               But it is all for`nought!
High. Greater, indeed, he would be than all  thatproph-           There is a guilt that cannot be blotted out! There is
esied before him.           For, while all the prophets of    a power of corruption from which man cannot deliver
old could only see the promise afar off, John would           himself!         There are shackles of death which man
be able to touch Him, and point with his finger to the        cannot break1 Night it is, hopeless night! In the dark-
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world!           ness men sit. In the shadow of death they grope, with
   With clear, spiritual, insight Zacharias, beholding        nothing but hopelessness and despair!
the son of his old age, understands that the Lord had             All humanity, apart from Jesus Christ, is covered
visited His people; that it is now the  fulness  of time;     by this awful darkness! Every soul that is born out of
and that God, Who would raise up the horn of salvation        Adam, - and that includes you and me, as we are by
out of the house of David, had through His mercy              nature,  - is enveloped in this shadow of death.
caused the Dayspring from on high to appear!                  Into that sphere, the Dayspring from on high has come
   The Dayspring from on high !                               to visit us !
   Hath appeared!                                                 Beautiful figure!
   To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in             It is that of the sun in its rising! The sun as it
the shadow of  death!                                         appears in golden lustre on the horizon, and proph-
   The picture is horribly complete !                         esying of a day that will be presently bathed in light!
   Sitting in darkness !                                      The reference here is undoubtedly to Malachi  4:2,  "But
   Like the miner caught in an explosion miles below          unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of right-
the earth's surface, trapped in utter darkness, with          eousness arise with healing in his wings . .  ." Here
all avenues of escape cut off. Or, perhaps still closer       the sun is looked at not merely as the lightbearer,
to the meaning of the text, like the victim on skid-row,      but as the healer.        Its wings are its beams of light
caught in the darkness of moral depravity. It is a            spread out over the earth. And those beams of radiant
darkness that offers him an awful dilemma. If he              light literally carry in them the cure of our diseases,
moves, he may stumble and fall to his death. If he            etc. There is also no doubt a reference to Isaiah 9:2,
sits, he will also perish with suffering and death.           "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great
Sitting in darkness, the sinner knows no way out; re-         light :    they that dwell in the land of the shadow of
maining in darkness, death's cold chills are his only         death, upon them hath the light shined."
companions.                                                       It is to these prophecies that Zacharias refers and
   Sitting in the shadow of death!                            which he evidently had in mind as he uttered the
   That is, the darkness that is caused `by death!            prophetic words of our text.
   Death, that grim reaper, does not walk in the light.           0, you knew it all the time, even when you read the
Rather, he blots out the light and brings on the shades       text which appears above this Meditation, that the figure
of darkness.     And to sit in the darkness of death is       pointed to Jesus Christ our Lord!
indicative of hopelessness and despair. Who is the                When you were a little child, and could not even
artist that can paint it? It defies description1 But          pronounce the name of the Saviour, you heard about
such is the awful figure presented in our text  1             Him. It was the theme of the whole life of your for-
   But whence is this darkness and this shadow that           bears, your parents, and your grand-parents before
is caused by death?                                           them, your pastors and teachers. They all spoke of
   How did those enveloped in this awful state and            Him, and you heard it o'er and o'er. The Dayspring
condition become prey to this dilemma?                        from  on.  high is the blessed Son of God Who comes to
   We know the answer!                                        us with healing in His wings  !
   Not always was there darkness  !                               And indeed, He is from on high!
   Once the sun shown brightly in Eden's garden! It               He is not of us ! We did not plan on Him  ! We did


100                                                THh   STANDARD      B E A R E R

not, nor could we produce Him! Though He was born                    now in His favor. And peace, that wonderful state of
in the generations of our race, and became like unto                 blissful harmony is our experience.
us in all respects except sin, He was nevertheless not                  In the way of peace to guide our feet!
of us at all!                                                           He straightens out our feet which have been en-
       He is of God !                                                tangled in the quagmires of sin and the sloughs of
       He came to us from out of this world. He is                   despondency.          And He sets them on the path of light
planned, prepared, and sent of God, the God of our                   that leads to perfect peace!
salvation!        He is come to us in the darkness and                  Beginning at Bethlehem!
shadow of death through the sovereign and tender                        He is acclaimed by the angels of glory as the
mercy of our God!                                                    Peace Bringer when they sing, "Glory to God in the
       Through the tender mercy of our God!                          highest, andonearthpeace inmenof his good pleasure."
       He hath visited us !                                             He Himself declares when He stood in the presence
       Into the midst of our suffering and death He came!            of men, "I am come a light into the world, that who-
That He visited us, means that He came to behold our                 soever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."
plight, to look after us in our misery, to bring help                "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
and deliverance to the captives, to care for and to                  not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heal our sickness and pain. He came to bring light                   heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
into our darkness, life into our death. In one word,                    And on His cross He makes peace!
to bring us His salvation!                                              So the apostle could say of Him, "And, having
       Dispelling our hopelessness!                                  made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
       As the Sun of righteousness, purging away our                 reconcile all things unto himself;          by him, I say,
sins!                                                                whether they be things in earth; or things in heaven."
       And to guide our feet into the way of peace!                  And again, "For he is our peace, who hath made both
                                                                     one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
       Peace!     That beautiful state of harmony where              between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
confusion and warfare are dispelled! Here it refers                  . . . for to make in himself of twain one new man, so
to the harmony between your heart and the very                       making peace;         and that he might reconcile both unto
heart of God! In the darkness in which we by nature                  God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
grope, we were enemies of God and of one another.                    thereby:         and came and preached peace to you which
In the darkness and shadow of death is the dispensation              were afar off, and to them that were nigh."
of the holy wrath of God, a wrath that shall be felt                    But He doesn't stop there!
to the full in outer darkness, where there is weeping                   He continues to lead us on!
and gnashing of teeth. But when the Dayspring, the                      Until we shall arrive in the haven of peace, where
Light from on high appears, the darkness is removed,                 there will be forever no night!
and with it the awful dispensation of wrath. God then                   Blessed Dayspring!
looks down on those who were children of wrath, but                     Blessed God of our salvation!





                         The word  grace  has different connotations in Scripture. It may refer merely to an
                 attribute, a perfection, a virtue of God: God is gracious in Himself, apart from any rela-
                 tion He sustains toward us. Grace then means that God is beautiful in His perfections,
                 and that He is pleasant and attractive, as well that He is eternally attracted by His own
                 virtues.       There are pleasures with our God for evermore. Grace may also denote a
                 disposition and attitude of God towards the creature, and then it signifies favor; and when
                 this favor is revealed to those that are in themselves unworthy of it, that have forfeited
                 it through sin, it stands in opposition to works. It is, of course, this aspect of grace that
                 is revealed in salvation, particularly in God's justifying the ungodly in Christ, and thus
                 reconciling us to Himself. But this is not all. The term  grace  also is used in Scripture
                 to denote that power and divine operation upon us, and within us, whereby we are actually
                 delivered from the dominion of sin and death, whereby we are liberated from sin's slavery,
                 changed from guilty children of darkness into righteous and living children of the light.
                 And also this grace operates upon us from the God of our salvation through Jesus Christ
                 our Lord.
                                                              --H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 35


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        101




       EDITORIAL-



                          The Nature Of The Atonement

                                        Limited or General?

                                                    by  Pyof. H. C. Hoe&emu


THE CONFESSIONS ON THE DEFINITE AND                               That is, they are the church, believers and their
PERSONAL ELEMENT OF THE ATONEMENT                                 spiritual seed. And if you ask that this be stated in its
(continued)                                                       ultimate and objective form, the answer is: they are
   We now turn to those articles of the Belgic Con-               the elect. Christ died for all the elect, for them only,
fession which speak more directly of the atonement.               and for them personally, in such a way that they can
   The first of these is Article 20. Since,it is very             and do say,  "God....laid  OU'Y iniquities  upon him."
brief, I will quote the entire article:                              But someone might object that this statement of the
                                                                  Confession, while it is definite, is nevertheless not ex-
       We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and
   just, sent his Son to assume that nature, in which the         clusive: while it speaks of our iniquities being laid
   disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in            upon Christ, it does not exclude that the iniquities of
   the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by his most        others were laid upon Him.           Such an  .objection, of
   bitter passion and death. God therefore manifested his         course, plays our fathers for ignoramuses who did not
   justice against  his Son, when he laid our iniquities          know how to express themselves. It is true that in the
   upon him;  and poured forth his mercy and goodness on          formal sense the Confession does not make an exclusive
   us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of            statement here: it does not affix the limitation of "only"
   mere and perfect love, giving his Son untodeath for us,        to Christ's atonement. However: 1) Nowhere does the
    and raising him .for our justification, that through him      Confession ever make the atonement broader in scope.
   we might obtain immortality and life eternal.                  2) If our fathers had intended to say that Christ died
   That this article speaks of the atonement is beyond            atoningly for all men, they could and would have said
dispute, certainly. Moreover, one of the beauties of              so, instead of limiting that death to His people. 3) The
this article is that it views the atonement from the              Canons, as we shall see, make this limitation very
point of view of God. It answers the question: what did           explicit. 4) This foolish and rather facetious argument
God do in the atonement? Hence, we also see here the              was more than once answered  -by the theologians of
atonement is considered from the viewpoint of its                 Dordrecht in the interpretation of John 10's references
nature, its divine design.     God sent His Son in order          to Christ's laying down His life for the sheep. "Sheep"
that the Son might make satisfaction for  sinin  the same         there does not mean the sheep plus all other men; then
nature in which the disobedience was committed. This            Christ would never have said "sheep". So also here:
satisfaction was made by bearing the punishment of sin.           the Confession does not mean "us" plus all other men;
And now comes the crucial question as far as our pres-            then it would never have used this limited "us."
ent discussion is concerned: whose sins were involved?               The very next Article, Article 21, speaks of this
Was that bearing of the punishment of sin general and             same truth of the atonement, but now from the point of
indefinite?    Then we might expect the next sentence of          view of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. I will quote
this article to read: "God therefore manifested his               that part of the article which speaks directly of Christ's
justice against his Son, when he laid the iniquities of           atoning work.
all men  upon him; and poured forth his mercy and good-                  We believe that Jesus Christ is ordained with an
ness on  all  men,  who were guilty and worthy of damna-             oath to be an everlasting High Priest, after the order of
tion, out of mere and perfect love, giving his Son unto              Melchisedec; and that he.  hath presented himself in our
death for  all  men....." But we find instead a very                 behalf before the Father, to appease  his wrath by his
precise limitation: "God therefore  ,manifested his                  full satisfaction, by offering himself on the tree of the
justice against his Son, when he laid  OU'Y  iniquities upon         cross, and pouring out  his precious blood to purge
him; and poured forth his mercy and goodness                         away our sins; as the prophets had foretold. For it is
                                                      on us,         written: He was wounded for our transgressions, he
who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of mere                 was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
and perfect love, giving his Son unto death  for us.....  "          peace was upon him,  and with his stripes we are healed.
Who are the "us" in this statement? They are those                   He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and numbered
who say through out the Confession, "We believe....,"                with the transgressors, and condemned by Pontius


102                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

       Pilate  aa  a malefactor, though he had first declared     included in that transaction was so very really borne
   him innocent. Therefore: he restored that which he             by Christ and borne away that they could never be
   took not away, and suffered, the just for the unjust, as       held guilty again, that they could never miss having the
   well in his body as in his soul, feeling the terrible          remission of their sins, that they could never again be
   punishment which our sins had merited; insomuch that
   his sweat became like unto drops of blood falling on           made to bear the punishment of sin. If all men, head
   the ground. He called out, My God, my God, why hast            for head, were included in that transaction, then all
   ehou forsaken me? and hath suffered all this for the           men are forever free from condemnation. Then we
   remission of our sins..."                                      must be full-blown universalists. The longer I study
                                                                  the beautiful Reformed presentation of the atonement
       Here again, the elements of satisfaction and sub-          the stranger it becomes to me that a Reformed man
stitution, and that too, as objectively accomplished              cannot see this. But Guido de Bres saw this; and our
nineteen hundred years ago, are very beautifully and              fathers saw it.      And in the strong consciousness of
Scripturally set forth by our Confession. And who are             their oneness with the believing and confessing church
involved in this transaction that was accomplished                throughout the ages they confessed: "Christ died for
altogether without us, in fact, even long before we               our  sins." The atonement is definite, and the atone-
were born? The Confession states it very plainly:                 ment is personal.
it is the communion  of  the  believevs.       And that is the        The above are the most significant passages of the
same as saying, from the viewpoint of God's eternal               Belgic Confession on this subject. The same truth is
counsel,  the elect. No one else is menti.oned  as having         taught less directly in the article on faith, Article 22;
been included in this objective transaction. And why              in the article on justification, Article 23; and also in
not?      The deepest reason is, of course, because the           the articles on Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Articles
Confession follows Scripture here. But from the view-             34 and 35. But let this be sufficient.
point of the nature of the atonement what is the reason?              Next time, the Lord willing, we must take a brief
The reason is that the atonement is such a real, ob-              look at the Form for the Administration of the Lord's
jective transaction, according to which all the debt,             Supper;     and then we shall turn to the Canons of  Dord-
all the guilt, all the punishment of all those who were           recht,  which really settle the whole matter.


                                              Editor's Notes
                                                    by  Pyof.  H. C. Hoeksema

   The pre-publication sale on the late Rev. H. Hoek-              scene is the  spectre of ecumenicism.           Indeed, the
sema's "Reformed Dogmatics" has come and gone.                    church at large has fallen upon evil times. They are
The latest word on results of the sale is that well over          sad times for one who loves Zion. And yet they are
20% of the first edition of one thousand copies is                in a sense exciting and even glorious times if we may
already, sold. Your editor has been closely associated            live and labor in the conviction of the truth of the
with the preparation of this volume, which is now                 gospel, the truth of our Reformed heritage. In the ser-
fast reaching its actual publication date; and thenearer          vice of that heritage our Standard  Begrev   continues to
the reality of publication comes, the more enthusiastic           send forth its witness.
he becomes about the prospect of it. This will be a                   One of the many important developments to which
worthwhile book, and it will be an attractive publication.        we have thus far not devoted much attention is the
If you did not take advantage of the pre-publication              recent World Congress on Evangelism which was held
sale you will nevertheless want a copy at the full price          in Berlin. Rather full reports of this congress have
when the book comes from the press. As to the exact               been carried in  Chvistiunity Today; and they are dis-
date of publication, we have no definite word yet; but            turbing.       How men from the Reformed community
we are pressing for publication around the time when              could take part in this Congress, as they did, - unless
this  Standiwd  Bearer  reaches you; and we have been             they were present only to observe and to disapprove,
assured that  .it will be in ample time for Christmas             - is a riddle to me. But our readers may look for a
gifts, barring unforeseen delays.                                 rather detailed report and evaluation on this matter
                                                                  from the editor of "Examining Ecumenicalism."
                              *  *  *                                                        *  *  *
       Anyone who follows current events on the ecclesias-            Meanwhile, with  all  our attention to the ecclesiastical
tical front must needs be impressed by the upheaval               scene round about us, we must not neglect attending to
and the rapid development among the churches. One                 the "home front" of  .our  own Protestant Reformed
disturbing trend after another makes its impact, and              Churches. Beginning in this issue editorial attention
one instance of doctrinal deviation follows another in            will be paid to various aspects of that "home front",
quick succession. Even if one limits his attention, in            and from time to time the reader may look for more
as far as that is possible, to the Reformed movement,             such editorials. On these, and on any other matters,
there is well-nigh too much to follow and evaluate.               reader reaction is  ' solicited, - either in our Question
And always casting a foreboding shadow over the whole             Box or in our Contributions department.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   103



 THE HOME  FRONT-


      A Grand Rapids Area High  School?

                                               by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   One area of the "home front" that demands our               that decision is simply a matter of realism. A school
continuing and persistent attention is that of the edu-        simply cannot be built with insufficient funds.
cation of our covenant children; and by this I mean               The situation therefore is this: we have a hoped
the Protestant Reformed education of Protestant Re-            for  goal  of opening a high school with the tenth and
formed children.                                               eleventh grades in 1968, D.V.
  In that area of education, an increasingly crucial
specific area is that of the secondary, or high school,        DOES IT  MAKE  SENSE PRINCIPALLY?
education of our adolescent children -- increasingly              From a positive point of view, the Standard Bearer
crucial as their present education becomes increasingly        has always endorsed the principle of Protestant Re-
unsatisfactory.                                                formed education for Protestant Reformed children
   And again, in the latter area, there is. the more           wherever and whenever the Lord opens the way for
concrete question concerning a Protestant Reformed             Protestant Reformed parents to establish their own
High School for the Grand Rapids area. This editorial          schools. There can be no doubt that this makes sense.
is about that subject. To the extent that it concerns          It makes sense that there is harmony in the instruction
a specific project and a specific area, let me state           of church, home, and school; it does not make sense
frankly that it is addressed  primarily,  though not           that the instruction of the school should be "out of
exclusively, to our readers of this area, where, I             kilter" with that of church and home. It makes sense
take it, our numerical strength is concentrated. But           that parents commit their children to the instruction
to the extent that it deals with facts, principles, issues,    and training of teachers who have the same convictions
and lessons with which we all should be concerned,             as they; it does not make sense that our children be
we may all learn from these lines.                             committed to teachers who have convictions other
                                                               than ours.     About these things, if we take our being
THE SITUATION                                                  Protestant Reformed seriously, there can be no dif-
   Most of our readers are probably acquainted with            ference among us.
the fact that in the Grand Rapids area there has been             But from a negative point of view the situation
in existence for several years already an Association          with respect to the secondary education of our children
for Protestant Reformed Secondary Education, whose             is rapidly becoming so serious that I would almost?
avowed goal has from the outset been to provide the            be tempted to say that it is reaching emergency pro-
graduates of our Adams and Hope schools with a high            portions.     I speak from experience in this regard,
school education which would be a logical and consistent       gained both from the fact that I have children of high
follow-up to their elementary and junior high education.       school age and from contacts with other high-schoolers
This would be a high school attended by our Protestant         in our churches. Any parents who "keep an eye" on
Reformed children from all of the Grand Rapids                 the education of their high school children will have to
churches, plus Hope, Hudsonville, and Holland.                 agree with me: 1) That they are not receiving even a
   In recent years, land has been purchased in the             generally Reformed education, not even to mention a
neighborhood of Hope's church and school, a building           specifically Reformed one. 2)         That they are not
fund has gradually been gathered, and preliminary              breathing even a generally Reformed atmosphere  inthe
curriculum plans were prepared.            In fact, some       existing schools, let alone a specifically Reformed one.
building plans were also prepared; and at the time             I have in mind in this connection the character of
of the last drive for funds the goal of opening a school       chapel exercises, for example; and I have in mind
in 1967 and of beginning with the tenthgrade and there-        also the increasing looseness and permissiveness
after adding another grade in each of the next two years       with respect to the movie, the dance (square or other
was proposed.                                                  variety), and worldly music (by whatever name it
   According to a recent news letter, the Board now            currently is called). 3) That they are thrust into an
has in view the goal of opening with two grades in the         atmosphere where the danger of the disapproval of
year 1968. I have no quarrel with the Board's decision         their peers, let alone the forming of undesirable friend-
to postpone the proposed opening one year: in view             ships, in a very real way constitutes a force tempting
of the facts, especially the financial facts, I believe        them to be less loyal to what sometimes appears to


104                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

them to be the "narrow" position of their church and          THE PER TINENT QUESTION
their parents.      4) That  ;hey are subjected to much           I had first intended to ask and answer the question
erroneous instruction.       Let me mention just two          whether a Grand Rapids area high school of our own
examples that have recently come to my attention:             makes practical sense also. But I do not believe that
1)      The burning issue of creation-or-evolution. 2)        question needs treatment. There is no doubt in my
The false doctrine of the universal love of God and           mind that we are of sufficient numerical strength in
general atonement.                                            this area to establish and operate a high school. Nor
       If any parents entertain the dream that this in-       is there any doubt in my mind that we have the finan-
struction is not dangerous, I can only pray that they         cial strength to do it.         I believe indeed that it may
will wake up. If you imagine that your children can           require some dedicated and sacrificial giving. But
be subjected to instruction and not be affected by it,        I believe also that our people have shown again and
you have wholly underestimated the power of the               again that when they are -convinced of the rightness
educational process. And this says nothing yet about          of a thing, they will give generous support.
the fact that while our children are undergoing this              I believe that the most basic question with respect
detrimental education, they are  missing  what they           to a high school for the Grand Rapids area is this:
ought to receive,  - a positive and thoroughly Re-            do we will it?  )
formed instruction, which can be of such inestimable              Many have answered that question affirmatively;
value especially in those formative, adolescent years.        and their number is increasing.
       Frankly, I vex my soul every time I think of the           But that answer must come from us all. And by
fact that our Protestant Reformed young people are            all I mean those who never again will have their
being denied a Protestant Reformed education. I vex           own children of high school age, those who have
my soul when I think of the fact that we must turn            children of that age or approaching that age, and
our children over to those who disagree with us               those whose children are many years away from
exactly in an area which fundamentally affects edu-           high school as yet.
cation and all of what is called "culture,"  - the                I believe that the pulpit must place our people
area of the theory of common grace. And I vex my              before this question. I believe that our  consi  stories
soul when I can see and hear Protestant Reformed              must do so in  family  visitation. And I believe that
young people sometimes begin to chafe at being "nar-          we all must co-labor to the end that this question
row" and "old-fashioned," - due in no small degree            receives the proper answer.
to the educational influences to which they are sub-              That answer is this:         Yes, we will it; and, God
jected.                                                       willing, we shall have it  1



      TRYING THE  SPIRITS-



                        Calvinism Unpopular But Right


                                                by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


       The religious and doctrinal outlook of this now        trend back to the Romish church.            At the best, the
beyond middle age twentieth century is not that of            modern religious outlook is that of Arminianism, that
Calvinism or that of the Reformed Faith. It is rather         influential error which runs with great popular accept-
that of an inclusivistic or syncretistic and non-doctrinal    ance throughout the majority of American churches.
religion.     The movement of this religion is not in the         Arminianism is popular because it is man-centered,
direction of "revival," as is widely claimed, nor in          flattering to human nature, concerns itself as little as
that of Reformation, but toward a united world (ly)           possible with doctrine, shuns controversy, shies from
church.      The trend is away from the old Protestant        debate, in fact, deliberately and consistently has no
Reformation and its biblical principles which led men         place for any of the latter. It gains acceptance because
from the false church to the perfect doctrine of salva-       it sounds pious, is apparently very philanthropical (it
tion. Now men speak not of a reformation, but in rather       talks so much of "love"), and presents a popular,
left-wing political terminology of a "new revolution,"        geared-to-the-times delivery which furnishes men in
as per (and that  t,ypically)  Billy Graham. This seems       sensational language with what they already know, or
to many alert people to be an almost imperceptible            what they want to hear. It is only rarely now that we


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     105

who call ourselves Reformed, and aim to be strictly            indefinite expressions of religion, which they seem to
and consistently so, are charged as we used to be with         think will preserve unity. They must have a distinct,
being "ultra-Calvinistic," with always excoriating             forthright gospel, such as Paul, Augustine, Luther,
Arminians, or with preaching election "in almost               Calvin, Knox and others preached. Unity inheresnot in
every sermon." Consistently Reformed people are,               some nebulous conception of "love," nor in a friendly
increasingly, finding themselves in a place where, as to       spirit of compromise, but in the faith of Scripture; not
the religious and theological world, they go unnoticed.        in the anti-intellectual non-theology of modernism, nor
Seldom do they hear the criticism that once was their          in the truncated creeds of Fundamentalism, but in the
honor.                                                         faith of the Reformers.
   If men would only take a good look at the lie in               Professing Christians and professed sound Bible
their right hand, and see it to be what it is, the per-        believers must come to the realization that perhaps
version we call Arminianism, the worst falsehood on            contemporaneous evangelists do, but the Word of God
earth, then they would not be deceived by creeping             does not, teach that man is merely very-far gone from
theological liberalism and modernism, nor be enamored          original righteousness. They do teach, but the Word
with the wild denominational mergers now attracting            of God does not, that it is in the power of man to will
so much attention. The need of the times is not for            to be saved, and that men must make themselves
more evangelism, but for a return to the truth of the          willing.     They must recognize the truth that man is
Westminster standards and the Reformed confessions,            wholly gone from original righteousness apart from
which, to make it short, we call Calvinism. We indeed          Christ, and that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of
need ministers who will do the work of an evangelist,          him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
but especially do we need men who will give promi-             They must know that a universal redemption, so popular
nence in their ministry to the truth of God's absolute         among Fundamentalists, is a very sad and comfortless
sovereignty, men who will preach the dynamic power of          idea unless it is based on a universal salvation. For
the gospel without watering down its full strength, with-      a universal atonement without a universal salvation is
out blunting the sharp edges of the Sword of the Spirit,       like aleadlife-preserver, like an anc$or  imbedded in a
without toning down the clear call of Christ. Salvation        marshmallow. They must understand Christ's prayer,
must be proclaimed as being not of man's free will             "I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them
(thereis no such creature), but of God's good will; and        which Thou hast given me; for they are Thine." They
conversion, not of man's autonomous act in turning to          must believe and preach that we are chosen in Christ
God, but a turning which is the fruit of God's work of         from all eternity, before the foundation of theuniverse,
regeneration.       The pure Word `of God must be fully        before having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
preached. The church must return to its original purity,       God according to election might stand.
must renounce all error and everything repugnant to the           They must have enough enlightenment to see that
Word of God.         Until it does, the church will have,      Arminianism cannot boast of having one aspect of
perhaps, popularity, but no power. The church must             indispensable truth in the doctrine of man's responsi-
not say "yes" and "no." It must not one day preach             bility. Arminianism has no valid emphasis on human
Calvinism and another day Arminianism. It must never           responsibility. Nor has it the right to identify respon-
cease preaching Calvinism. It must not preach the Five         sibility and free will. Arminianism and free will are
Points of Calvinism in the morning worship only to             practically synonymous, but not Arminianism and human
deny them in the evening service. Nor must it preach           responsibility. Man is free in his will to act according
Calvinism in the first two points of the sermon, only          to his nature. But his nature is fallen in sin, hence
in the conclusion to drag in Arminianism. It must not          man is free only in the direction of sin. He is wise to
merge "yes" with "no" and try to come out with                 do evil, but to do good he has no knowledge. He is
"maybe." It must not attempt to blend Calvinism with           wholly incapable of doing any good and is inclined to
Arminianism.        It must not try to make the two the        all evil.     Yet despite his total depravity and total
equilibrium in "the balance of truth." That is, it must        inability he has responsibility to the law of God and
not become Amyraldian. It must not have fellowship             the high standard of the gospel.          Ability is not the
with such unfruitful works of darkness. It must not            measure of responsibility. If it were, then the worse
preach a "twilight" gospel, a "gray" gospel, but a             man gets the less responsibility he would have. Man
gospel of light.      If in the truth, the whole truth, and    is indeed a willing creature. He has an awful power of
nothing but the truth, the church cannot find its useful-      will, the power to forsake God. It is a fearful thing to
ness, then it cannot find usefulness' in error. If the         fall into the hands of the living God. It is also a fearful
Word of God as found in Scripture is not enough for            thing to fall under the power of your own fallen will.
men, philosophy will be of no avail.                           For then a man will choose sin to the end,  .and go down
   Let the liberal church have its god which is no god,        with his load of sin to the pit. If there is no eternal
which hangs on man's  leash,.and  serves man rather            plan of redemption according to which God ordains to
than rules over all. But let the true church proclaim          save through Christ the elect He has chosen, then no
that God is God, that God is not only a God, but the only      one will be saved.
God, the God who is the living God, the high and mighty           If God's eternal purpose-embraces not only a happy
Ruler of the universe, eternal sovereign and King of           end for me, but also all the means to that end, the  ful-
kings.                                                         filment of which is not conditioned on man's accept-
    Men must be called upon to have done with vague,           ance, but on the free bestowal of sovereign grace, then


106                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

I shall without fail be saved. If -Christ died for all          Arminianism teaches that  ouv faith saves us, our faith
whom He represented as Substitute,  then-  He shall             in the final analysis clinches salvation. You can pray,
infallibly lead all His people to glory. If the regenerat-      you can believe, you can accept Christ, you are self-
ing work of the Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, then            sufficient, you have a free will that can turn in any
chosen dead sinners shall be made alive and they shall          direction. This is really bad news, not "the good news"
never perish. If faith and repentance do not result in          to the sinner enlightened and savingly convicted of his
regeneration, but are the effect and  YesuZt   of  regenera-    sins. For he will answer it, I am lost and ruined! All
tion, then God shall have all thegloryand men through-          that I can ever do cannot equal the work of conversion,
out all ages shall believe to the saving of the soul.           let alone that of salvation! I feel that I can do nothing
       This is all so contrary to the thinking of the man on    at all! If my eternal life depends upon something  Imust
the street and the preaching of Billy Graham, who               do, I am lost! IfTaith  is a condition unto my salvation
believe `, in a salvation which is effected not by grace        which I must  fulfil, if faith must originate with me,
alone, but by the sinner's activity.           Arminianism      then my salvation is by works  - and that excludes me
claims, "This love of God that is immeasurable, un-             -for all my works are filthy rags! Faith must be the
mistakable and unending, this love of God that reaches          gift of God so that I can believe! If I may believe
to whatever a man is, can be entirely rejected. God             through grace, then, praise God, my deliverance is His
will not force Himself upon any man against his will...         work from beginning to end!
But if you really want it, you must believe-you must               This is Calvinism. It is unpopular, but it is right.
receive the love of God, you must take it" (Billy               It is despised' but glorious. It alone can say, Sola  Dei
Graham,  Decision,  October, 1962, emphasis: RCH).              Gloria!


 QUESTION   BOX



                   Questions About  The Ten Plagues

                                                 by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


       From the Men's  Societv  of Hone Church, Grand           distinction became still more precise, i.e., adistinction
Rapids, I received several questions which deal with            that involved their houses. My reasons are as follows:
Israel's place in the plagues which the Lord sent upon          1) Not until the fourth plague is there any mention of
Eww         I will quote the questions from the secretary's     distinction; and then the mention is very emphatic,
letter:                                                         Exodus  8:22,  23: "And I will sever in that day the land
       "The following are questions in dispute. Did Israel      of  Goshen,  in which my people dwell, that no swarms of
suffer the first three plagues in the same way as the           flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I
Egyptians? Or, did Israel suffer them as chastise-              am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put a
ment in order to make them humble? If they did not              division between my people and thy people: to morrow
suffer them at all (as some of our Society believe),            shall this sign be."
why doesn't Scripture tell us as it does in the following       2) The same is true of the fifth plague (the murrain),
seven plagues  ?'                                               Exodus  9:4: "And the Lord shall sever between the
Rep0                                                            cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall
       First of all, welcome to our question' box. May          nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel."
your example be followed by others, especially if the           This time Pharaoh even checked up to see whether
questions deal with such interesting subjects. Our              Israel's cattle were exempt, 9:7.
question box gathers a good deal of dust through disuse,        3) Also the sixth plague (the boils) was only upon the
and I encourage its use.                                        Egyptians. For while no direct mention is made of a
       I will answer your last question first. For if the       distinction, the implication of  9:ll is clear: "And the
suggestion made in that question is correct, namely,            magicians could not stand before Moses because of the
that Israel did not suffer the plagues at all, then the         boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all
other questions fall away. It seems tome, on the basis          the Egyptians;"
of the Scriptural record, that the Lord made no distinc-        4) From the plague of the hail the Israelites were also
tion between Israel and the Egyptians until the fourth          exempt: "Only in the land of  Goshen,  where the children
plague, that from the fourth plague on this distinction         of Israel were, was  thereno hail." Exodus  9:26.
was made, and that in the ninth and tenth plagues this          5) In connection with the eighth plague (the locusts) we


                                                THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     107

do not read of a specific exemption. By this time the            sunshine, flood and drought, plenty and famine, pros-
exemption was well established; besides, we do indeed            perity and depression, war and peace, lightning and
read in  10:5,  6 that the plague was directed against the       hail, tornado and hurricane, health and pestilence, -
Egyptians: "...and they shall eat the residue of that            all these befall the wicked and the righteous in common.
which is escaped, which remaineth unto you (the Egypt-           2) As far as the motivation and the purpose are con-
ians, H.C.H.) from the hail, and shall eat every tree            cerned, however, essentially God always makes dis-
which groweth for you (the Egyptians, H.C.H.) out of             tinction.    Just as grace is not common, so wrath is
the field: And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses        not common. God's people are sanctified and saved
of all they servants, and the houses of all the Egyp-            through the. same means that the world is embittered
tians....."                                                      and destroyed. And is this not clearly illustrated here
6) In the ninth plague "all the children of Israel had           also.
light in their dwellings." Exodus 10:23.                         3) Whether we can say anything specific as to why God
7) And, as is well known, in the tenth plague, only those        caused Israel to suffer under the first three plagues?
houses which were covered by the blood were passed               First of all, I would point to the fact that Scripture's
over by the angel of death.                                      main emphasis is upon God's purpose with Pharaoh
    In the light of the above data, anyone who would             through the plagues; and the Bible does not say any-
maintain that Israel was also exempt from the first              thing directly about this question. Secondly, I would
three plagues must answer three related questions: 1)            suggest that there is a strong reminder of the fact that
Why is there no mention of any exemption inconnection            there is no natural difference between Israel and
with the first three plagues? 2) Why is there sudden             Egypt; Israel was not by nature exempt from these
mention of such exemption beginning with the fourth              judgments. Any difference between Israel and Egypt
plague? 3) And why does Scripture even call special              was purely a matter of divine and sovereign distinction.
and emphatic attention to this exemption? I know of no           The Lord Himself made separation. Thirdly, byway of
satisfactory answer to these questions if Israel was             contrast, what a marvellous sign and what a sure
already exempt from the first three plagues; It seems            comfort it was to God's people when at the fourth
to me to be very plain, on thecontrary, that it was part         plague He made this separation. In the fourth place, I
and parcel of God's dealings with Pharaoh, of the in-            can agree that the general purpose of the Lord was to
creasing clarity of His testimony against Pharaoh and            humble and sanctify His people. Israel had much to
of the progress in His hardening of Pharaoh's heart,             learn, as we know from subsequent history, before they
that the Lord made sharp distinction between Egypt               entered the land of Canaan. And these plagues belonged
and Israel beginning with the second set of three                to that sanctifying process. And finally, I would suggest
plagues.                                                         that the suffering of these plagues also served as a
   The first two questions from Hope's Men's Society             later testimony against the rebels in Israel who longed
are closely related.       I would suggest the following         for the fleshpots of Egypt. What `was the Egypt for
elements by way of answer: 1) As far as the event of             which they longed? It was the Egypt which had made
the plague itself was concerned, Israel suffered the             their own situation perfectly galling and impossible in
first three plagues in the same way as the Egyptians.            the bondage; and it was the Egypt of which they knew by
This is God's usual way of dealing with His people               experience that it was the object of God's wrath and
in the course of history. And there is nothing strange           judgment.
in it, from this point of view, that when these judgments           I hope that these suggestions will help Hope's men.
came upon Egypt, the Israelites, who lived in the same           If not, call again! The entire subject of the ten plagues
land, experienced them also. When God's judgments                is indeed an interesting subject and warrants thorough
are in the earth, God's people suffer also. Rain and             study.                                            H.C .H.





               .  .  . . It is through this calling that the sinner comes to repentance, so that he is filled
               with sorrow after God, that he comes to the water of life to drink, and to the bread of
               life to eat, that he is translated from darkness into light, from the state of enmity into
               that of reconciliation with God; and that he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and is
               saved.    Without and apart from this calling, the gospel of the crucified Christ is a
               stumblingblock to him, foolishness, and a savor of death unto death; but through the
               saving efficacy of this calling all this is changed, so that Christ becomes the power and
               the wisdom of God, and the gospel is a savor of life unto life unto the sinner.
                                                              H. Hoeksema,  `YI'he  Wonder of Grace," p.52


108                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



  ALL AROUND  US-



                                      Why  Hell?

                                                      Pike's Trial

                                                        by  Prof.  H.  Hank0


WHY HELL?                                                                 failed got a prize in the end anyway. Maybe, I say,
   In the October issue of the Reformed Journal,                          there are such old guard Pharisees hiding among the
Prof. L. B. Smedes writes briefly on his reason for                       conservative theologians. If they are there, they are
believing in hell. We quote the article in full.                          going to be fooled - when they get to heaven and "know
                                                                          as they are known," they will be most surprised of all
       Would you, Reader, be upset were everyone to go to                 that the Lord had grace even for the likes of legalists
   heaven? Would it unsettle you to discover that, by                     like themselves.
   amazing grace, no one was damned7 Do you need to                              Maybe, too, there  are  insecure people of nobler
   be reassured by the doctrine that some souls are surely                mind who are worried about God's character. They
   not going to be there? Or do only theologians suffer                   may suppose that somehow God's zeal would be un-
   the sort of insecurity that is relieved by the doctrine                rewarded if no one were punished. What, they may
   of hell?                                                               suppose, of God's pleasure in the death of the wicked?
       Why do theologians and preachers flee universalism                 What, they may wonder, of the glory that God presum-
   and insist on the realities of hell? As you may know,                  ably gets from the anguish of the reprobate? Not for
   Karl Barth am.ong  theologians is not very clear on the                their own,. they may argue, but for God's glory, hell
   point.      It is sometimes hard to know whether he is                 must be decently populated. But, of course, Brown
   sure that all men will go to heaven or whether he thinks               would say, this is all rationalizing; at the depths, these
   God's grace only gives him ground for hoping so. At                    theologians are only trying to overcome their insecurity.
   any rate, he has been taken to task by more than one                          Brushing aside the inner axieties of conservative
   theologian for being at least a reluctant universalist -               theologians, why should they insist on the real possi-
   or, better, a happy universalist and a reluctant sub-                  bility of hell? Why do they criticize Barth for his
   scriber to some cryptic doctrine of the possibility, at                cryptic universalism? Each critic must, of course,
   least, of some sort of hell. Why do conservative                       answer for himself.         For me, it goes somewhat as
   theologians take him to task for this?                                 follows.
       Robert  McAfee  Brown, who usually is one of the                          Hell is a real possibility because human choice is
   most delightful and fairest of American theologians,                   very significant. Heaven is possible because of God's
  suggests one answer. He writes: "Many conservative                      electing grace.       Hell is possible because of man's
   theologians criticize Earth for tending toward universal-              awful power of decision.
   ism, a belief that in the ultimate providence of God all
   men will be saved."                                                           George MacDonald said once that hell is the greatest
                              True enough. But why? The
   answer: "Such men seem to need the reassurance of                      compliment ever paid to man.           He meant that hell
   believing that other men (not themselves, but other                    shows how serious a man's choice is when he is con-
   men) will be damned." (In his Introduction,  p, xxx,                   fronted with Christ. A human decision is a thing of
   to G. Cassalis, Portrait of Karl Barth, 1964).                         consequence. Hell is the last proof of the weight of a
       How know, Brown? Do you really want to dig into                    man's choice. When Christ confronts .a man, the chips
   our conservative psyches? And do you really want to                    are down, the issue is joined. And a man cannot escape
   pin our doctrine of eternal punishment. on the insecur-                without consequences. To rid the future of the very
   ities of our pious little egos?                                        real possibility of hell is to emasculate history of
                                                                          genuine decision.
       Now, maybe there are people too eager to have a
   population explosion (via immigration) in hell. Maybe                         God allows us, I am sure, the same desire that He
   some rugged free enterprisers would feel cheated if,                   has - that not "any should perish." He will not frown
   having "sold some of their goods to feed the poor,"                    at a human hope for an empty hell. Should it turn out
   they woke up to find those who kept everything got                     to be so, we shall be as glad as Karl Barth will probably
   eternal blessings too. Maybe some people would think                   be.      And, with him, we should give all praise to the
   it not worthy "fighting the good fight" `if others who                 victory and the grace of God in Christ Jesus.


                                                 THE STAND&D BEARER                                                        109

      We do not like to think, Dr. Brown, that our criticism    could be multiplied. The trouble really is that Smedes
   of Karl Barth is so dubiously based as you suggest. At       has rejected the doctrine of reprobation; and has, very
   least we are sure that our pleasure in heaven will not       really, denied the truth of eternal punishment.
   be enhanced proportionately to the number of souls in
   hell. And we are sure that men do not go to hell to add      PIKE'S TRIAL
   to divine glory. If a man is in hell, he knows that hell        The trial of Bishop Pike, which we reported in the
   is where he, at bottom, chose to be. God only gives
 men their choice. Not because we are insecure- I               last issue of the  Standard   Beaver   is not over. The
   like to think- but because Jesus opened up this awful        House of Bishops before which body the charges against
   situation: "I was in prison, and you did not visit me."      Pike were first brought, came to its decision. But this
                                                                is not the end of the matter. The presiding bishop,
   We are not very  appreciative of the light-handed            fearing the harm a heresy trial would have, appointed
way in which Smedes treats such a fearful subject as            a committee on the case. The committee denounced
the doctrine of hell. He seems to write with facetious-         Pike's views in some very strong language. It char-
ness, a manner wholly out of keeping with the subject           acterized Pike's teachings as "irresponsible"; and
upon which he pens his thoughts.  But let this be.              said: "his writing and speaking on profound realities
   Nor are we interested at this point  ineither  Barth's       with which Christian faith and worship are concerned
views or Brown's views on the doctrine of eternal               are too often marred by caricatures of precious sym-
punishment.    But Smede's views do concern us, for he          bols and at the worst, by cheap vulgarizations of great
belongs to a Reformed and Calvinistic denomination.             expressions of faith." It criticized Pike for speaking
What troubles us very much is that he openly rejects            disparagingly of the trinity and chided him for denying
the doctrine of hell as being necessary to God's glory.         a truth which was such an integral part of the worship
And he gives as his reason for believing in hell the            and liturgy of the church. In conclusion the statement
fact that only hell gives seriousness and meaning to            said:    "We do not think his often obscure and contra-
man's decision to accept or reject Christ. And, within          dictory utterances warrant the time and the work and
this context, he, claiming to be on God's side in this          the wounds of a trial. The Church has more important
matter, hopes for the salvation of all men.                     things to get on with."
   What troubles us particularly on this whole matter             It was hoped that this rather severe reprimand (al-
is the fact that `there is really only one reason for           though no disciplinary action was taken against Pike)
believing in hell. Not the reason of Smedes surely.             would be sufficient. The statement passed by a vote of
But the firm teaching of Scripture in this respect. If          103 to 36.      But Pike himself was not satisfied. No
God says there  is a hell and that men shall go there,          sooner was the vote taken than Pike rose to submit a
then we believe this doctrine. And we believe it for no         document to the body in which he asked for a formal
other reason than that God tells us that this must be an
article of our faith. If Smedes would only believe in           trial and a full investigation to clear his name. In part
hell also for this reason, then he would not become so          his request read:
Arminian in this doctrine. Then he would find that Paul                  There are in circulation rumors, reports and
did insist that hell is for God's glory after all. Does             allegations affecting my personal and official character,
                                                                    namely (a) that by the Bishop of South Florida to the
not Paul write in Romans  9:22, "What if God, willing               bishops and to the press; (b) the charges of the Bishop
to shew his wrath, and to make his power known,                     of Montana in the Chicago Tribune; (c) the conclusions
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath                drawn by the ad hoc committee with three of my
fitted to destruction."?                                            accusers as members, without opportunity for me to
   And he would find that this is also the teaching of              be in dialogue with them and to present data and by
Calvin. Calvin wrote on this passage:                               the censure of the House of Bishops.
      . ..(Paul) briefly shows, that though, the counsel of     A committee was to be appointed shortly which
   God is in fact incomprehensible, yet his unblameable         would determine whether the charges (if they can be
   justice shines forth no less in the perdition of the         proved) constitute an offense meriting church discipline.
   reprobate than in the salvation of the elect....             If this is found to be true, an inquiry must be made to
     There are vessels prepared for destruction, that is,       decide whether Pike should be put on trial. Then the
   given up and appointed to destruction: they are also         question would. be brought before the court of bishops
   vessels of wrath, that is, made andformedfor this end,       to make final disposition in the case.
   that they may be examples of God's vengeance and dis-
   pleasure. If the Lord bears patiently for a time with           To some  this may appear as rather severe action.
   these, not destroying them at the first moment, but          But the fact remains that, in the light of the serious-
   deferring the judgment prepared for them, and this in        ness of Pike's heresy, this was extremely mild treat-
   order to set forth the decisions of his severity, that       ment . As one bishop himself declared: the church is
   .otheis  may be terrified by so dreadful examples, and       far more interested in her image than a heresy trial.
   also to  .make  known his power, to exhibit which he         We might add: than in the truth of God's Word.
   makes them in various ways to serve; and, further,              Pike has threatened to carry the case into the civil
   that the amplitude of his mercy towards the elect may        courts if necessary where, presumably, he would
   hence be more fully known and more brightly shine            act as his own attorney since he has a degree in law.
   forth; -what is there worthy of being reprehended in
   this dispensation?                                           What will be the outcome of this controversy will not
                                                                only prove to be interesting, but of significance for
   This example of Calvin's teaching on this subject            the American church and the ecumenical movement.


110                                              THE STANDARD BEARER





        EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


                                                   c-ecu
                                                              3

                                "The Principles of Church Union"


                                                   by Rev. G. Van  Baven


       At its last meeting at Dallas, Texas on Mav 2-5,            its own desire to press steadily forward toward wider
1966, the eight churches engaged in the Consultation on            unity, both national and international. The separate
Church Union adopted a document entitled, "Principles              churches desire not. merely to form a new and larger
of Church Union." This document was to be distributed              denomination, but to embark on a pilgrimage whose
within participating denominations for study and com-              only ultimate goal can be the unity of the whole Body."
ment. Copies of these "Principles" are available at                (p. 17) Even in the present consultation, the churches
25C a copy, and can be obtained from the Forward                   intend to study the creeds of other, non-participating
Movement Publications, 412 Sycamore St., Cincinnati,               denominations, and to join in them where possible,
Ohio 45202. I intend to quote from this document in the            "enhancing the strength and richness of our common
present article. The entire book proceeds from the                 faith and expressing the fuller unity of the Body of
conviction that the church must necessarily manifest               Christ." (p. 25)
itself in outward unity. It declares, "We are convinced
that the characteristics of the Church, which are God's            PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE MEANS OF GRACE
gifts to it, can be fullyseenonlyas the Church becomes                One of the central concerns of the last gathering of
visibly one." (p. 11).                                             COCU delegates was the question of the means of
PRINCIPLES  ,CONCERNING  ECUMENISM                                 grace. At COCU there is the realization that denomina-
                                                                   tions have different views concerning the sacraments.
       First, a united church must eliminate "overlapping          The gathering was much concerned in the matter of
and duplication so that greater energies can be released           resolving problems of this nature. The "solutions"
for the common task." (p. 14) This will mean, of                   are rather interesting. These solutions in effect com-
course, that the original denominations and its members            bine all views so that each is acceptable. It also seems
can expect to sacrifice something of that which they               to be true that there is the strong tendency towards
formerly had. For, "the costs of a wider unity will                approving the Roman Catholic position on the sacra-
doubtless require sacrifices on the part of all, including         ments. First, the sacraments are set forth as being of
the acceptance of new limitations for the commongood.              central importance ("The sacramental rites of baptism
Structures of authority are necessary...." (p. 16)                 and communion are at the heart of the Church's wor-
       Secondly, at every level the united church will be          ship, being commanded by the Lord and uniquely ex-
expected to be "ecumenical."         Repeatedly, this is           pressive of the root relationships between mankind and
emphasized.       As far as the "parish-congregations"             God."). Secondly, Baptism is set forth as that which
are concerned, "each local unit will be obligated to               itself gives spiritual life:
work in ecumenical cooperation, as far as possible,
rather than separately." (p. 69). This will be-expected                  Since the earliest days, baptism has been the door
on every level: "We heartily endorse the principle                    of the Church, the apostle Paul, for example, pre-
that at every level the united church will commit itself              supposing  as self-evident the baptism of  allChristians.
`to do its work in ecumenical cooperation in so far as                   The new life given in baptism transcends mortal
possible, rather than separately.'  " (p. 76)                         life and death; it is a foretaste of the eternal life prom-
                                                                      ised by Christ. Therefore baptism constitutes an
       Thirdly, the united church "must be a uniting as               entrance into his Kingdom.  (p. 38)
well as a united church. This means emphasizing the
united church's incomplete and provisional character,                 The latest decision of COCU reaffirms their former


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  111

stand that  .both infant and adult baptism are acceptable      "united" church believe? Which confessions of which
and may be performed by either immersion, pouring,             denomination or church will be acceptable to the whole?
or sprinkling; evidently, COCU sees no principle in-           Two ancient creeds it is willing to accept: the Apostles'
volved in any of these divergent views. They state:            Creed, and the Nicene Creed (pa  23). Beyond that, the
      Both infant baptism and believer's baptism shall be      united church would allow any to hold to what it pleases
   accepted as alternative practices in the united church.     -provided this does not interfere with the belief of
   Neither shall be imposed contrary to conscience.            others :
      In the united church, baptism shall be administered
   in water (whether by immersion, pouring or sprinkling)                 It (the united church) will not, however, permit the
   in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,       use of any single confession as an exclusive require-
   after appropriate instruction and preparation. (p. 39)         ment for all or as a basis`for divisions within the new
                                                                  community.          As we unite, we agree to recognize all
   The position of COCU on the Lord's Supper is                   those confessions which are cherished by the uniting
similarly compromising. Both the question of the use              churches, as accepted by them, and to listen attentively
of wine and that on the presence of Christ are presented          to the truths embodied in them. (p. 24)
in such a way that it could include almost any view.              But what will the "new" church believe? It implies
      This one table through the bread and the fruit of        that points of difference which separated the churches in
   the vine proclaims the reconciliation accomplished by       the past are outdated: "One century's divisions may be
   the death and resurrection of Christ, the longed for        pointless in another century; the theological questions
   consummation of his victory, and the oneness of the         of one generation may not be those of another. Indeed,
   redeemed community. (p. 41)                                 such divisions, cultural or confessional or whatever,
      Christ is present as the Crucified who died for our      may have become simply the excuses we use for retain-
   sins and who rose again for our justification, as the       ing separateness which have little or nothing, to do with
   once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world who        the gospel in our day." (p. 61)
   gives himself to the faithful.  His.  life and death and       The `"united" church is not yet ready to state what
   resurrection  .are not only remembered by the Church
   but also become, by God's action in Christ, present         it, as a church, will believe. These are things which
   and efficacious realities. (p. 43)                          must develop over a period of time. Possibly, within a
                                                               generation a new confession can be made for the entire
   COCU calls preaching an essential element in the            church. In the meantime, the church must not hinder
worship service but, it appears, of lesser importance          the development of "new" truths.
than the sacraments:                                                      The responsibility of the united church as guardian
      The preaching of the Word of God (is) an essential          of the apostolic testimony includes its obligation, from
   element in every form of public worship, save for              time to time, to confess and communicate its faith in
   urgent cause.... It shall be the responsibility of the         new language and in new formulations, under the
   preacher to apply the gospel to contemporary life and          authority of the Scriptures and with the guidance of the
   awaken, inform, and enlist the conscience of the               Holy Spirit. (p. 24)
   hearers. (p. 33).                                                      Perhaps this title (Preparation for a Constitution)
                                                                  is a mis-nomer, for the writing of a final, formal
                                                                  constitution is, in our view, of much less crucial a
PRINCIPLES CONCERNING CHURCH ORDER                                character than the process of mutual discovery and
AND CONSTITUTION                                                  sharing which should characterize this stage. We do
   First, COCU has accepted as part of the order of               indeed feel that a better and wiser constitution can be
the proposed united church the office of bishop. This             written after a period of experience in unity, for we
                                                                  shall then have had the chance which only time can
is in harmony with the position of  someof  the denomin-          give to solve small problems, learn other ways, dis-
ations participating in COCU. It also brings these de-            cover one another, lose suspicions, and gain a sense of
nominations more than one step closer to Rome. This               the single mission which commands us all-gifts we
was one point where it became impossible to adopt the             must have if the Constitution is to be anything save a
differing positions at the same time. Concerning this             safeguard of compromise and prejudice.
bishop, COCU declares:                                                    . ..Step 5, the definitive adoption of theconstitution,
                                                                  might be deferred a generation or more-whatever
      The united church accepts the office of bishops.            length of time seems necessary to the Provisional
   Because this office is a principal symbol and means of         Council to provide the experience and confidence re-
   continuity and unity of the church, we therefore provide        quired to make the Constitution what it should be.... (p.
   that bishops shall be chosen, consecrated, and governed         87)
   in their ministry by the constitution of the united
   church. We understand that the episcopate historically         So moves forward this plan for the union of the
   came into existence without reference to any single         churches of our land. Apparently the movement will
   doctrine or theory of its being or authority. We do not,    no longer be stopped. What will the end of it be? In
   therefore, set forward any such interpretation to the       the  midst of this enthusiastic endeavor to unite all
   exclusion of others. (p. 48)                                churches into one large, powerful body, the assurance
                                                               of God to us remains: "Fear not,  little flock;  for it is
   Finally, of course, even the order of the church is         your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
determined by its confession of Scripture. What does a         (Luke  12:32)


 li2                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




  THE LORD GAVE THE WORD-


                 .-      Some Principles. Of Missions

                                     The Importance Of The Gospel

                                                      by  Pvof.  H.  Hank0


        It is evident, I think, that the subject of missions            But this is that which was spoken by the prophet
 revolves around the preaching of the gospel. There                     Joel;      And it shall come to pass in the last days,
 are those, even in our day, who deny this. But these                   saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,
 denials come from liberal circles. And, although we                    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
 shall turn to this in some future article, the Lord                    and your young men shall see visions, and your old
 willing, it seems that this is sufficiently agreed upon                men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on
 by more of those interested in our subject to assume                   my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my
                                                                        Spirit;     and they shall prophesy:    And I will show
 its truth for the present. It is therefore, to the general             wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth
 importance of the preaching of the gospel that we turn                 beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The
 first of all in this series of articles.                               sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
        As we concentrate our attention upon what Scripture             blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord
 has to say concerning the importance of the preaching                  come:       And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
 of the gospel (also inrelation to the subject of missions)             shall call upon  the name of the Lord shall be saved.
 we cannot help noticing that the whole idea of the                     Acts 2:16-21.
 preaching of the gospel is most intimately connected                   It ought not to be surprising therefore, that the work
with the signs of the return of Christ. And it is to                of missions is most closely connected with the return
 this subject that I wish to turn first of all.                     of Christ.
        It may come as some surprise that a discussion of
the preaching of the gospel should begin with the relation              This is  also strikingly emphasized by the Lord
between this preaching and the signs of our Lord's                  Himself. Near the end of His earthly ministry, we find
 return  - especially if we are considering the subject             Christ on Mount Olivet discussing with His disciples
 of missions.          But it seems to me of paramount im-          the signs which shall mark His return upon the clouds
portance nevertheless; that precisely in this light we              of heaven.        Christ had spoken of the destruction of
must consider the  gospelif  we are to understand prop-             Jerusalem and particularly the temple.             This had
 erly what the work of missions is all about. In other              disturbed the disciples and they inquired concerning
words, only when missions in put in the perspective of              it, identifying it, apparently, with the end of the world.
the Lord's return at the end of this age, can we also cor-          They had          asked    the Lord: "When shall these
 rectly understand the principles which underlie this               things be? and what shall be the  signof thy coming, and
important calling of the church.                                    of the end of the world?" Matthew 24:3.  The Lord had
        That there is such a close relationship between             not answered the first question concerning the "when"
missions and the coming of the Lord is evident from                 of these things except to remind them that no one knew,
the fact that this dispensation in which we now live is             not even the angels, but that it was their calling to
on the one hand, the age of the gathering of the church;            watch and pray. But the Lord gave a very elaborate
and, on the other hand, the age of Christ's return.                 and detailed answer to the second question concerning
        That this is the age of the gathering of the church         the signs of His coming. He mentionedmany signs, but
is evident from the.words of Christ Himself as He sent              among them we find the sign of the preaching of the
His apostles and His church with the abiding command:               gospel.        "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
 "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. . . . "           preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
But that this same age is the age of the Lord's return is           and then shall the end come." vs. 14.
evident from the fact that on Pentecost, which glorious                 The importance of this sign is evident from the fact
event ushered in this dispensation, the apostle Peter               that the Lord closely identifies it with the end by means
spoke of the fact that the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled  -        of the important word "then."         The preaching of the
. a prophecy which speaks emphatically of the end of time:         gospel, as a witness to all nations cannot possibly be


                                                   THE  STRNDARD  BEARER                                                        113

divorced from the end of the world. In fact, the whole                   The Word  of  God  rides forth into all the world. Its
point of the Lord here is that when this gospel of the              carrier, the horse, is white, which is the color of
kingdom has indeed been preached to all nations, at                 holiness and of heaven." p. 222 (Italics are the author's)
this point also the end comes  - indeed,  must  come. In
other words, the end cannot come until this is done;                 In his detailed and important work on the book of
and when this work is finished, then the end can be               Revelation Rev. H. Hoeksema takes this same position.
delayed no longer.                                                He writes:
   If we inquire into this just a bit further, then it
must strike our attention that there is good reason for                   The victorious  warrior on the white horse evidently
this. The end of this age comes when the purpose of                   stands for the triumphant progress of the  cause  of
God is fully accomplished. We believe, most emphat-                   Christ's kingdom in this dispensation.... The world
ically, that all the history of this world is the revelation          lies in darkness, is the dominion of the prince of dark-
of the eternal counsel and purpose of God. When God's                 ness, stands inimical over against the kingdom of
                                                                      Christ that is to come. And therefore, if that world
counsel is realized and His purpose fully reached, then               is to be transformed into a kingdom of God, it is not
there is nothing more to be done in history. The goal                 sufficient that the evil-doers be destroyed,. but spir-
of history has been attained; the purpose accomplished.               itual victories must be won. The power of the new
The end must come. But, evidently, this purpose of                    kingdom must go forth into this inimical world and make
God is reached principally through the preaching of the               subjects for the kingdom of heaven. For this purpose
gospel. It is, from a principal and basic point of view,              Christ  sends  forth  His  Spirit and  Word    to regenerate
true that all God's purpose is attained through this                  and call  and bring to a conscious faith, to cause men to
preaching.                                                            fal.I  down before the great King and worship Him instead
   Apparently this is also the general idea of the first              of the evil one. And it is this combined effort of the
vss. of Revelation                                                    Spirit and Word,  and  all that is connected with their
                        6.  Those who are at all acquainted           work, which is portrayed under the symbolism of the
with the general contents of the book of Revelation will              white horse and its rider. That victorious warrior,
know that its general scheme deals with the signs of the              going forth conquering and to conquer, shoots his sharp
return of Christ. These signs of Christ's return are                  arrows into the hearts of the enemies, and thus brings
introduced in the sixth chapter with the opening of the               them into subjection to the Lord of lords and King of
seven seals. The seventh seal becomes seven trumpets;                 kings.    Up to the present day this rider has pursued
the seventh trumpet becomes seven vials. And all                      in the main a very definite course. He did not ride at
(seals, trumpets and vials) speak of the many signs of                random and roam in every direction, all over the earth;
Christ's return upon the clouds of heaven.                            hut clearly he had his course prescribed and definitely
   Now of particular importance to us is the fact that                mapped out.         Starting from Jerusalem, he drove to
                                                                      Antioch and through the various cities of Asia Minor.
the first four seals describe to us the running of the                From thence he crossed over into Europe, first scoring
four horses-a white horse, a red horse, a black horse                 his victories in Macedonia and Greece, then boldly
and a pale horse. It is not our intention to enter here               striking for the very heart of the mighty Roman Empire,
into the general meaning of these four horses; but of                 in order from there to sweep over the mountains and
considerable importance is the fact that the white horse              plains of Europe, and finally cross over into the western
signifies the victorious progress of the preaching of the             hemisphere when the time was ripe. Surely, today he
gospel.                                                               aIS  rides in other parts of the world, and the inhabit-
   Perhaps we ought to pause momentarily toestablish                  ants of Asia and Africa must bow before his power.
this point, for it is of crucial significance to our argu-            But there is a distinct difference between his work in
                                                                      Europe and America, and that among the nations of the
ment.                                                                far east and south. In the former countries his vic-
   That this white horse signifies the triumph of the                tories were so pronounced that outwardly entire peoples
preaching of the gospel is generally agreed upon by                  have been Christianized, while in the latter the result
orthodox students of Scripture, a few of which we                    of his drive is noticeable  only  in the conversion of
quote.                                                               individuals.       And  thus the ultimate result of the drive
   Wm. Hendriksen, in his book "More Than Conquer-                   of the first warrior is that the tremendous contrast
ors" writes:                                                         is called into existence between the so-called Christian
                                                                     world and the world of heathendom, Israel and the Gag:
           Our Lord Jesus Christ is conquering now; that is,         and Magog.          Standard Bearer, Vol. XXXIV, p. 30.
   throughout this present dispensation his cause is going           (Italics our's)
   forward, for he is exercising both his spiritual and his
   universal kingship.                                               We shall return again to this important and inter-
                               By means of the  Wovd  (Gospel,
   Matt.  24:14) and the Spirit, the testimonies and the          esting quotation.
   tears of his disciples, his own intercession and their            But for the present, it ought to be evident that there
   prayers, the angels of heaven and armies on earth, the         is an internal connection between the various signs
   trumpets of judgment and the bowls of wrath, our Lord          which are so symbolically described in the book of
   is riding forth victoriously, conquering and to conquer.       Revelation. They are not merely thrown together in an
   That, in .aR  probability, is the meaning of the Rider on      arbitrary order. The various signs are not arranged
   the white horse. p. 117. (Italics our's)                       capriciously. There is close and important connection.
                                                                  This  is_ evident throughout the entire book of Revelation,
   R.C.H.  Lenski, in his commentary on Revelation                but is of particular interest  tous   inthat  the four horses
writes:                                                           introduce the whole discussion of the signs. And while


114                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

the four horses. introduce the whole discussion of the               the running of the white horse is the cause of the run-
signs, the white horse introduces the four horses.                   ning of the red horse, of the black horse and of the
       Therefore it is evident that the white horse is not           pale horse. And all the other signs which John is com-
set at the very beginning of all the signs without pur-              manded to record with such vividness follow in the
pose. Its place is of considerable importance. For                   most intimate relation of cause and effect the sign of
the conclusion is forced upon us that the sign of the                the gospel and its triumphant progress through the
preaching of the gospel is not only the most important               world.
of all the signs, but is itself the  CUUS~  of the signs
which are described after it, This is especially true                   We shall discuss this a bit more in a following
of the signs which occur in the history of the world. To             article. and demonstrate the importance of this to our
put the matter in the symbolism of the seer of Patmos,               discussion of missions.



        IN HIS  FEAR-



                                  Honour To Whom Honour

                                                                3

                                                    by Rev. J. A. Heys

   Children, I have a few words for you.                             shake your head in pity  - and be sure you do not dishonor
   Teen-age young people, there is that which you                    them by that head shaking - it will be worthwhile for
must consider.                                                       you to consider the truth of God's Word that there is a
   Young men and young women living under father's                   continual and even accelerating development of sin in
and/or mother's roof, you must remember aScriptural                  the world, so that each generation does exercise a
principle.                                                           greater laxity, has a broader and more liberalview,
   Fathers and mothers, yea even grandfathers and                    excuses more sin and has a bigger world of the lust of
grandmothers who might still have a parent living in                 the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life to
this vale of tears, you still are bound to a divine precept.         seek. You have yourself far more liberty and freedom
   He Who unchangeably says, "Thou shalt have no                     than your parents ever dreamed of having. Yqu  have
other gods before me," also says just asunchangeably,                your own automobile at an age much less than when your
"Honour thy father and thy mother." And He does not                  father was able to buy his first one. You have your
say this simply to little children but to all who still              own radio, and perhaps television set, in your room to
have a parent upon this earth.                                       use so often without parental supervision, and you know
   To you, children, parents always seem a little odd.               the world and its wicked heroes far more intimately than
And the oider you get, the more you will see your                    your parents ever could have known them. Higher
parents. in a strange light. 0, you may love them with               education brings many of you away from the farm and
natural affection. Your heart may go out in sincere                  small city to places where you can see and enjoy the
pity and sympathy towards them, but they are different               flesh pots of Egypt. You return with visions and dreams
and your sympathy and pity may well be because you                   of a world to conquer; and the life to which you return
see them so "out of step" with the times, so  old-                   is so drab and flat. Here, again, you cannot understand
fashioned, so narrow minded, and, shall we say "Vic-                 your parent's lack of enthusiasm and resent their
torian" in their views.                                              pouring of cold water upon. your glorious plans that
   There are reasons for this viewpoint which you                    would take you away from the church and the truth you
have. First of all your parents are from a different, a              know to pursue your ambitions in Egypt.
former generation that grew up under different cir-                     Take. heed and remember, however, that your
cumstances and faced different problems. That in itself              parents have a divinely bestowed authority over you.
explains already much of the "Oh, Mother . . . .  !"                 And in the love of God they give you good spiritual
and "But, Dad . . . .  " that falls from your lips so                counsel.    They may appear odd and out of step, but
quickly and easily. Your parents just cannot always get              they are wiser than you are because of their experiences
enthusiastic about matters that thrill you and seem to be            with the enemy, and they know better than you his
the most important things in your life. But before you               methods and power.         It is their love for you, their


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     115

natural love, but especially their spiritual love that           And be not conformed to this world; but be ye trans-
directs you and curbs you in your flights and fancies.           formed by the renewing of your  .minds,  that ye may
When they say, No, they say it with authority given them         prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. Remember that authority is the right to impose           of God."
one's will and thinking upon others placed under one                And may I say to you young men for your parents,
by God. They may be wrong. The danger they see in                or else to underscore their remarks to you  - that the
this activity which you seek may not be there. But they          Word of God declares in I Corinthians  11:14,  "Doth not
still have the divine right to deny you. Only when they          even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long
demand sin of you, only when they demand that you                hair, it is a shame unto him?" It is not simply that
dishonour God, may you refuse to do their bidding.               your parents belong to a former generation that they
                                                                 object to you being conformed to some of the boldest
   A word I might give here also to the parents. Paul            of infidels and most rebellious of the younger set by
writes to the fathers in Colossians  3:21,  "Fathers,            imitating their unkempt, shameful head of hair. A child
provoke not your children to anger, lest they be dis-            of God does not look like a beatnik, a bug, an atheist
couraged." It is undeniably true that there is one fact          and an infidel. He presents his body as a living sac-
to which parents have great difficulty adjusting, and            rifice to God. The same is true, of course, of the young
that is the fact that their children are distinct in-            women. They do not seek world' conformity in dress
dividuals with their own natural tastes and likes and            and hair style (See I Peter  3:1-4).  Let the young women
talents. They come at birth to the parent so helpless            of the church be a distinct group of young people. Let
and- apparently so easy to mold and form the way we              that which is inside by virtue of regeneration shine
wish. They do not complain when they are babes about             forth in dress and appearance. Young people, let it be
the color or fashion of their clothes. The little boy            seen by all that you have the fear of God in your hearts.
wears dresses without complaint. But when they grow              And the young men and the young women of the world
up, they begin to show their likes and dislikes, their           will leave you alone, as they ought; and you will save
tastes and preferences. And it is tragic when parents,           yourselves the grief of temptations. In His fear drive
while the child is still not self-conscious, plan the            from your sphere the daughters and sons of the devil.
whole career and life of their child and intend to stick         Remember Genesis  6:2  and the result of this fact!
to it.    History is full of examples of great men (by           It is better to remain single in His fear than to be
worldly standards) who were forced for years by their            married into the devil's sphere! We repeat, "It may
parents to pursue a different career and one in which            be that there is a principle behind your parent's po-
they could not succeed because they did not like the             sition that you do not see. World conformity is sin!"
work. And so you find also children with no musical                 The fifth commandment demands obedience of you
ability whatsoever plinking and plunking, tooting and            while you are in your father's and mother's home. The
blaring away without interest and progress. Older                only way to honour the parent who has a right to com-
children waste years in college training for a career            mand you and forbid you is to show them the respect
which they will never pursue after. their initial failures       of being that. authority in the home. And that calls for a
in it. But there has been a long generation of men in            walk of obedience. That also then includes the hours
that family in that profession! And then  the.re  are natural    when you must be home, whether the parent is reason-
likes and dislikes that have nothing to do with sin.             able or not. And again, parents who are of a former
Mother likes the color yellow for a dress. Daughter              generation see things differently.       But whether too
places this last on the list of her preferences. But             strict or not, whether reasonable or unreasonable,
there goes daughter to school with a yellow dress, be-           the right to impose their will upon you is God-given.
cause mother likes that one best due to its color. Son              Honouring them is not finally yielding to their
wears a pair of shoes like unto those of his father, al-         demands.       Honouring them means that you respond
though he has always coveted a different style not               the first time you hear them, and without arguments,
only but also a different color. But father always wore          and by all means without disrespectful language of
that kind! Well, mother said so! Father followed his             mimicking, snarling retort to show that you heard
own preference! Children  do.grow  up having their own           them.       The fifth commandment does not say, "Obey
distinct likes and dislikes. And when sin is not in-             your parents" but "Honour thy father and thy mother-,"
volved, and it is not imitating the world and being con-         It is far broader than simply obedience. It goes  beyo;idr
formed to the world but merely a matter of natural               when obedience stops. When the child moves from his
preference, the parent should consider this.                     father's and his mother's home to set up his own,
                                                                 becomes a parent himself, that fifth commandment
    All this does not mean, children, that you may go your       remains. When that parent becomes childish, when he
own way contrary to the wishes and expressed opinion of          must `be waited upon hand and foot, and for his good be
your parents. It may be that-thereis a principle behind          placed in an institution that can care for his every need
their position that you do not see. World conformity             every hour of the day and night, the demand to honour
is sin! Paul is not giving some personal preference              them still remains.       There is no talk anymore of
when he declares in Romans  12:1,  2, "I beseech you             obedience to them, although the'y  may still try to dic-
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye               tate. But there is the calling to respect them and not
present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, ac-              ridicule them. There is the call to visit them as your
ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.             parents and not to leave them in their lonely hours.


116                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

       For years they bore with our weaknesses, which         old woman" but must be "father" and "mother."
were mostly physical. When, then, they become not             They must be the authority whose opinion you seek
only physically but also mentally feeble, render honour       before you do this or that. They are to be consulted
to whom honour is due. And although the Heidelberg            and not ignored. And you are to love them for their
Catechism is speaking of the other authorities placed         concern and exercise of rule over you and not in
over us by God and refers to the calling to obey, the         spite of these.      They are God's `representatives in
statement in Lord's Day XXIX is applicable here as            your home. They live in your home as His priests who
well,". . . "patiently bear with their weaknesses and         have a calling to dedicate and consecrate you unto God
infirmities . . . " Natural love will usually take care       and His service.       They function as His prophets to
of that, but that is not what the law means. The law          teach you in His fear and concerning that fear. They
demands a spiritual love that is love towards God             sit on the throne as king in your home to rule you as
exercised upon the neighbour..                                they in His fear think is best. And you cannot function
       And if this phrase is true for the aged and feeble     in your threefold office of prophet, priest, and king
who need not be obeyed anymore, certainly, children           when you refuse to accept them as God's prophet,
and young men and young women, it applies to you who          priest and king over the home.
are still to obey. That your parents have weaknesses                Rebelling against their rule is not walking in His
and infirmities, a parent with such weaknesses and in-        fear. It is neither honouring them nor God Who placed
firmities (also in writing about these matters) is            them over you. But in His fear honour them, and then
ready to concede. But all these weaknesses and in-            when you have children of your own, and the tables
firmities, in parents who have provided you with edu-         are turned so that you are of that former generation
cation .far  higher than they themselves were given to        that your children do not understand, you will under-
receive, do not erase out of the granite into which God       stand your calling in regard to your children. This
carved the fifth commandment the demand that you              honour must be learned in childhood and must be learned
always honour your father and mother.                         in His fear, not out of worldly constraint or social
       They may not be to you "The old man" and "The          urgency.



       FROM HOLY  WRIT-




                                The Book Of Hebrews

                                                   Hebrews   1:1-4


                                                by Rev. G. Lubbers


       "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners       distinction between .the  two Dispensations of God. He
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,         writes from the historical view-point of the end of the
hath in these last days spoken unto us by (his) a Son,       first Century A.D.        He speaks of the "time past"
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom            in distinction from "these last days." The question
also he made the worlds (ages); Who being the bright-        is:      how are we to understand this distinction? It is
ness of (his) glory, and the express image of his person     my conviction that the latter phrase must not be made
(being) and upholding all things by the word of his          to refer to the entire New Testament era, the time
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat           from Christ's ascension till his return with clouds,
down on the right hand of the.Majesty  on high; Being        but that exegetically it refers to the time from the birth
made so much better than the angels, as he hath by           of Christ till his ascension to glory at the right  hand
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."       of God's Majesty on high.          Concerning the former
A CONTINUED SPEAKING OF GOD IN TWO                           designation of "time past"  @alai)   there can be no
                                                             doubt but what it refers to all the ages before the point
DISPENSATIONS ( Yss  1, 2)                                   in time called elsewhere in Scripture the fulness of
   The writer in Hebrews begins with the clear-cut           time.      (Gal.  4:4)  More particularly it refers to the


                                              THE STXNDARD     BEARER                                                 117

time from God's speaking to Adam and Eve in Paradise          The speaking in a Son was much more sublime, richer
in the Prot-evangel of Gen.  3:15, till the time of the       and fuller. For this speaking was not merely in words,
last prophet Malachi, some 400 years before the birth         but it was in the Son that we hear God speaking much
of Christ. The view-point thus of these two times in          nearer to us: this Son is God in the flesh, Immanuel!
which God spoke are that of promise and fulfillment           God was in Christ reconciling us and the world to
as so beautifully defined in Question 19 of the Heidel-       Himself.       Here is the Mystery of godliness that is
berg Catechism,"  a . . . the holy gospel, which God          great.       God is manifested in the flesh. It is for this
himself first revealed in Paradise; and afterwards            reason evidently that the writer in the original Greek
published by the patriarchs and prophets, and rep-            does not write  "the  Son" nor  "His  Son", but  sinply
resented by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of            "a Son." This does not deny that He was the  Son as is
the law;       and last has fulfilled by his only begotten    evident from what follows in the next verses and from
Son." The key-words here are: revealed, published             the entire letter, but it does emphasize that the
(proclaimed) represented (portrayed) and fulfilled!           speaking  was different in these last days. Not the
Such is the perspective of the writer to the Hebrews          identity of the Son is pointed out, but the manner of the
here in these verses under consideration. And such            speaking of God is underscored. It was here that God
is the perspective of the entire book of Hebrews.             spake as He could not and did not speak in the prophets
    It is true that the writer to  theHebrews  emphasizes     to the fathers! God spoke in the prophets in "sundry
that it is God who has spoken; it is He and none else         times."       Fact is, that in the Greek text this is really
who is the Author and Speaker in the Prophets and in the      in "many parts." Each prophet became the vehical of
Son. That is the starting point here, and it is also the      a "part" of what God had to say to the fathers; it was
end of all contradiction. Thus we read in the book of         all piece-meal be it then that in the totality there was
Genesis "In the beginning God...".         And here it is     progressively more that God spake thus. And in the
stated that it is this God who continued to speak. It is      prophets God spoke in "divers manners."           Each was
the same God in both Dispensations with whom we have          distinctly the time for the prophet to speak in a certain
to do! There is something in the construction of the          manner.        God spoke in visions, dreams, symbolisms,
Greek sentence here which we ought to notice. It is           symbolic acts of the prophets, divine theophanies, or
this:      the God who spoke through the prophets to the      directly through the mouth of the prophets, moving
days in a Son! Had He not spoken then He could not            them to speak. But the manner  y,as  never in a Son in
have spoken now!        Moreover, all that God spoke in       time past. But now in these  last,d'ays  God spoke to us
time past, was such that it awaited what God spoke            in a Son in the full glory of grace and truth! Thus
in these last days. He continued to speak even though         God continued to speak in these ast times !
                                                                                                  i
it seemed for a while, during the 400 years between
Malachi and the birth of John the Baptist, that he had        THE UNIQUENESS OF GOD'S SPEAKING IN
discontinued speaking. The Old Testament Scriptural           HIS SON UNDERSCORED (Vss 2b--4)
canon ends with the announcement of great things to               1.      This is underscored in the  identity  and  deity
come. (Malachi  4:5, 6.)                                      of the Son. (vss. 2, 3) Thus we read "Whom he hath
    The writer here also indicates that now this speaking     appointed heir of all things by whom also He made
of God has virtually ended. The full counsel of God con-      the worlds (ages)" This underscores his greatness
cerning our redemption is now revealed, and fulfilled.        and identity.        And again we read "who being the
There is really nothing more for God to add to what He        effulgence of (his) glory, the expressed image of his
has said.        He will not continue to speak. He has        being (person)."        This underscores the deity of the
spoken  and we have but to heed.       And He has spoken      Son. The two can be distinguished, but may not ever
in these last days in a Son. That makes it authentic          be separated. He is not the one without the other; he
and final. We are to give earnest heed to the things          is not appointed heir of all things apart from his being
spoken. (Hebrews 2:1-4). Therefore we must not                the effulgence of glory and the expressed image of
think of this speaking as a  continual  speaking, an          God's being or essence!
endless repetition, nor must we think here of the                The manner of God's speaking to us in these last
Scriptures as being simple a record of what God has           days is unique, that is, there is nothing like it or equal
spoken:      the Bible is the Word of God, and is as such     to it in all the speaking in the prophets. For this is a
Theopnms tic,      that is, it is God-breathed. When we       speaking in him who has been appointed Heir of all
read the Bible we read the Word of God, we read what          things.      The Son is the Heir of heaven and earth; He
He has spoken through the prophets to the fathers and         is the Son in whom Abraham is called heir of the world.
what He has spoken in these last days `in a Son!              (Rom.  4:13) Such was not the case with the prophets.
    According to the Greek text God spoke  in  the            He is heir of creation and all of history and all of the
prophets and  in  (the) a Son. This means that the writer     ages are made by him. Thus he is in the Counsel of
puts all the prophets in one class. All'the prophets          God, and thus he was appointed (established) Heir of
together were such that God was speaking in them,             all things. And all of history is the Son claiming his
in their speaking and writing. They said: thus saith          Heirship.       For the "worlds" here are the "ages";
the Lord. And all who heard them heard God speaking           it refers to history, the history in which prophets
to them in these prophets! And all who heard the Son          are vehicles through whom God spoke in times past;
heard God speaking to them in the Son. However, there         he controls these ages and gives meaning to them;
was a difference in this speaking in the two instances.       apart from him all history is meaningless, and the


118'                                        THESTANDARDBEARER

`Old Testament Scriptures could only give us an account            glory itself; it proceeds from God's virtues of power,
of a Jewish epic, the glories, the heroes, the fortitudes          wisdom, might, majesty and honor. It means that this
of a great nation among the nations of the world as                Son is in the very light; dwells in the unsearchable
these are recorded and acclaimed in its poetry and                 light of God Himself. All the glory of God is radiated
literature.    But now history is the concern of God in            in and through him in all the world. He is not the mirror
the great Heir, a Son, who makes history and leads                 of the light, but he is such that the light of God's glory is
all things so that they are placed under His feet for the          in him. In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead
benefit of the heirs of the promises.           That makes         bodily!
God's speech in these last days unique! It is the                           In close connection with the foregoing, yea, basic
bringing of the First-born Son through suffering and               to the foregoing is the deep and impenetrable mystery
death, to glory.                                                   that he "is the expressed image of His being." It is
    Furthermore, it should be noticed that the Son                 true that the King James Version translates "upo-
could never be such unless he is also very God. He                 stasis" by the term "person." However, in doing so
is "the brightness of (his) glory, the expressed image             they evidently follow the theological terminology of the
of his being."       This calls for a bit of exegesis and          Latins who speak of the three persons as the "three
interpretation.     We are dealing here with unfathomable          Upostasis."        It ought to be stated here and now that a
mystery to  .be sure. However, we must say  sometmng               careful study of the term in the Bible shows that such
about this revealed mystery of godliness which is great.
                                 - -                               is not the meaning of the term in Scriptural usage.
    In t he first place, we would notice that the term             We therefore follow the Dutch and German translations,
"brightness" here is the translation of the Greek                  which translate "Upostasis," "zelfstandigheid" and
term "apaugasma."         The term comes from the verb             "Wesen,"        respectively. Wherefore we hold that the
"Augazoo"  which means to beam, to shine, to be bright.            term means: expressed image of God's Being. Now
The term  "augee" radiance is used especially of the               it may be true that we cannot build the doctrine of
sun.      ""Apaugazma" means to emit brightness. The               the essential unity of the Son with the godhead on this
term is sometimes used of "reflected" brightness.                  one text; it nonetheless remains true that only thus
It then is not effulgence of light, but the refulgence of          can the Son be said to be the effulgence of God's glory.
light.    It is then mirrored light merely and not light           He is the "expressed image" of it, that is, he is such
from the deepest source, the Fountain of light. It                 that the impress of God's very being is upon him.
seems to me that the term "brightness" here must                   When God, therefore, spoke to us in these last days
be understood in the sense of "effulgence of light"                in him, He came very near to us: God visited his
which comes from the Fountain itself. This is the                  people! Says Jesus: He that hath seen me hath seen
light which proceeds from the fountain-head of God's               the Father !


BOOK  REVIEWS-

                              What About Tongue Speaking?

                                           John Calvin, A Collection of Distinguished Essays

                                                        Why Scientists Accept Evolution

WHAT ABOUT TONGUE SPEAKING7                 the theological implications and its           JOHN CALVIN, A Collection of Dis-
by Anthony A. Hoekema. Wm. B. Eerd-         history.    There is an excellent ex-          tinguished Essays;          Edited by  G. E.
mans Publishing Co., 1966;  161  pp.,       planation of the various texts involved        Duffield; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publish-
$3.50.                                      and convincing arguments are set forth         ing Co.,  1966; 228  pp., $5.95.
                                            for the cessation of this gift with the
  This book, by the professor of Sys-       close of the apostolic era. It is the             This book is the first volume in a
tematic Theology at Calvin Seminary,        contention of the author that present          series entitled:      "Courtenay Studies
is an interesting book and an excellent     day manifestations of glossolalia are          in  Xeformation     Theology" which, ac-
treatment of the problem of glossolalia     not gifts of the Spirit but are phenom-        cording to the introduction, is "a
as found especially among various           ena psychologically induced.                   series of contemporary studies of the
Pentacostal Churches. In connection           The book ends with a chapter deal-           Reformers and their teaching. The
with a brief treatment of the history       ing with the profit to be derived from         approach, in this volume as in the whole
of glossolalia, some mention is made        the  Pentacostal  movement and a plea          series, is sympathetic, yet strictly
of the neo-glossolalia movement, i.e.,      for a more "Spirit-filled life."               within the accepted canons of modern
the spread of tongue-speaking into the        One lack in the book is its failure          historical scholarship."
established churches including the Re-      to warn against the dangers of the move-         The titles of the essays are iIIus-
formed Churches.                            ment - dangers in doctrine and life.           trative of the contents:
  After describing the chief charac-          Recommended to all who are in-                 The Calvin Legend, by  Basil   HaII.
teristics of the movement, the author       terested in this subject.                        Calvin Against the Calvinists, by
analyzes it on the basis of Scripture,                                   Prof. H. Hanko    Basil  HaII.


                                                   THESTAhTDARDBEARER

  Calvin the Letter-Writer, by  Jean-         ment; and also in this book I find that        tolerance., nor with the logic of this
Daniel Benoit;         tr. G. S. R. Cox.      with which I cannot agree. This does           conclusion. The valid conclusion which
  The History and Development of the          not mean, of course, that books of this        follows from the so-called acknowl-
Institutio: How Calvin Worked, by             kind should have no place in one's             edgement of "their anti-supernatural
Jean-Daniel Benoit; tr. The Editor.           library. In fact, a good library might         bias" is that they should abandon
  Calvin and the  Unionof  the Churches,      very well contain a good many books            their evolutionism and consider him
by Jean Cadier; tr. P. Rix.                   with which one disagrees; and it is            learned and eminently honest who re-
  The Lord's Supper in the Theology           necessary, in my opinion, especially           jects the hypothesis of evolution. Evo-
and Practice of Calvin, by G.S.M.             because of all the current discussion          lutionists be more tolerant of those
Walker.                                       on the subject of creation versus evolu-       who do not accept evolution? Nonsense I
  Calvin. the Theologian, by J. I. Pack-      tionism that the Christian and Reformed        They should be intolerant of all evolu-
er.                                           apologete be well-posted on the sub-           tionism; and they should be far more
  Calvin the Biblical Expositor, by           ject, that he understand evolutionism          than "tolerant" of those who reject it
T. H. L. Parker.                              and the basic theological and philo-           and who hold to a creation-faith. But,
  Calvin and Louis Bude's Translation         sophical positions which form its              of course, the lie will never tolerate
of the Psalms, by Rodolphe Peter; tr.         foundation.                                    the truth, no more than the truth can
The Editor.                                      From the latter point of view, this         tolerate the lie.
  Calvin's View of Ecclesiastical Dis-        book is of value. As the title indicates,        And again:
cipline, by R. N. Caswell.                    and as the authors state from the out-            "Second, that the question of the
  There are (perhaps unavoidably when         set, it is not the purpose of this little      truth of evolution itself should be
different authors are contributing) con-      book to argue the issue of creation            reopened . . . . It could lead more scien-
tradictions in the book. The most im-         versus evolution. The book is devoted          tists to take a scientific attitude to-
portant contradiction revolves around         rather to proving from the writings of         ward evolution  .and  to accept the po-
Calvin's theology. Basil Hall maintains       scientists themselves that evolution-          sition that evolution is simply a work-
that Calvin had no central doctrine,          ism is not scientific, that,is,  that it is    simply a work hypothesis, which
a thesis disputed by J. I. Packer - and       not the result of valid scientific in-         thus should be treated as a working
correctly so. Basil Hall also main-           vestigation and conclusion, but rather a       hypothesis and not a fact. Why is it
tains, very incorrectly, that Beza(Cal-       hypothesis.        Evolution is a presup-      that `such an attitude is taken toward
vin's successor in Geneva) badly dis-         position from which the unbelieving            other matters which are no more
torted Calvin's theology (as did much         scientist starts out, not a conclusion         scientifically .established  than is evolu-
of subsequent Calvinistic thought) in         which he reaches by way of scientific          tion, but that it is heresy to take the
teaching supralaps.arianism,  verbal in-      investigation.       Evolution, in other       same attitude toward evolution? The
spiration, limited atonement, presby-         words, is  `Ia faith."                         acceptance of evolution as simply a
terian church government, imputation             Now the above position is no new.           hypothesis could lead to the prepara-
of Adam's sin to all men - points on          discovery, certainly; nor do the authors       tion of textbooks wherein scientists
which Hall maintains Calvinwas silent.        present it as such. Nor do we need             who are creationists and scientists
Some of these points too are contra-          proof from various scientists in order         who are evolutionists presented both
dicted in later essays.                       to understand that the above-described         sides of the question of origins."
  The general weaknesses of the essays        position is true. Nevertheless, this              Also with the above I cannot pas:
are: 1) too brief treatment of Calvin's       little book has value:  l/ Because it          sibly agree.         I do not believe that
theology and 2) constant attempts to dull     condemns the evolutionistic scientist          the question of the truth of evolution
the sharper points of Calvin's views.         out of his own mouth. 2/ Because it            should be reopened.          That question
Nevertheless, the book is interesting,        is always well to be reminded that             cannot be an open question,  i not
informative and a valuable addition to        evolutionism, - even when considered           on the basis of Scripture. Nor can I
one's library.         In my opinion, the     from a formal and secular scientific           accept the position that evolution is
chapter on "Calvin the Letter-Writer"         viewpoint,  - is very unscientific.            simply a working hypothesis; for the
is one of the best chapters in the book.         In the light of the above, I can freely     Christian, evolution is a false working
  Two remarks in conclusion: 1) Parts         recommend this book as containing              hypothesis. Nor do `I believe that a
of the book are difficult for many            some valuable and instructive material.        Christian could be satisfied with text-
since the `Latin and French are not              With the conclusion, however, - if I        books  .which  present  "both  sides" of
translated.       Although I hasten to add    understand it correctly, and I think I         the question of origins. There are not
that this does not detract significantly      do, -1 can hardly agree.          The last     two sides to the question in the sense
from its value for all who are interested     chapter of this book contains the fol-         that conceivably both, or either one of
in the work of Calvin.         2) A very      lowing paragraph:                              the two, could be true. There. are two
beautiful book as far as format is               "When, however, it becomes gen,             sides only in the sense of a true side
concerned is somewhat spoiled by typo-        erally known that the eminent evolu;           (creation-faith) and a false side (evplu-
graphical errors.                             tionists of the nineteenth century ac-         tionism). And over against those who
                                              cepted evolution because of their anti-        would suggest that the above position
WHY SCIENTISTS ACCEPT EVOLU-                  supernatural bias, and not because of          is very biased and unscientific, I say:
TION, Robert T. Clark and James D.            the weight of scientific evidence, at          "So be it. But I maintain that it is
Bales; Baker Book House, Grand                least two conclusions will logically           the only truly scientific position pos-
Rapids,        Michigan; 109 pages, plus      follow.        First, that an individual is    sible, because true science is always
bibliography; Price, $2.50.                   not necessarily either ignorant or dis-        essentially knowledge of God and pro -
                                              honest         because    he rejects    the    ceeds from. the knowledge of God, the
  This is `another of the many books          hypothesis of evolution concerning             Creator-Redeemer, revealed  .through
about evolutionism which have been            life's origin and manifold forms. Thus         the Holy Scriptures."  j
making their appearance lately. With          evolutionists ought to be more tolerant           For those interested in this current
the positions taken in many of these          of those who do ,not  accept evolution...."    debate, however, I recommend the book.
books one will find himself in disagree-         I cannot agree with this doctrine of                                            H.&H.


120                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

                                          NEWS  FROM  OUR   CHURCHES-
                                                Nov. 15, 1966     graders of their school, the reading of a poem of
       Rev. J. A. Heys, of South Holland, Ill., is in receipt     welcome, a piano-organ duet, and congregational sing-
of a call from our church at Randolph, Wis.                       ing. In response to this expression by his new charge
       Rev. G.  Laming  has requested from Edgerton's             Rev. Kortering asserted his eagerness to "get to work"
consistory an extension of two weeks to consider the              tending the flock of God at that place. The appreciation
call to come over and help them.                                  of probably the best of the "fringe benefits" enjoyed
                             * * *                                by the Korterings was evidenced by the enrolling of
       On Tuesday evening, Oct. 11, the congregation              their school-age children in the Hope Prot. Ref. Chr.
and friends of Rev. and Mrs. D. Engelsma gathered to              School some three hours before they moved into the
commemorate his three years in the ministry, and as               parsonage.     A' social hour followed the public re-
undershepherd of Loveland's congregation. Mr. Wm.                 ception when the members of the congregation were
Griess led in opening devotions and presided  asmaster            given opportunity to extend their personal welcome to
of ceremonies. A short program was planned, including             the new tenants of the manse. Rev. G. Lubbers served
a resume of their pastor's schooling and work in their            in the installation of Rev. Kortering the next Sunday
church, a song by the school children; an organ-cello             morning, and the pastor's inaugural sermon that
duet, and a vocal duet in the German language. The                evening was on II Kings  2:9-10,   - the account of Elisha
pastor was presented with a gift to which the congre-             receiving the mantel from Elijah's shoulders, whereby
gation contributed previous to the program. After                 he might know that he was to take up his office where
this Rev. Engelsma thanked his people for the gift,               his predecessor left off. The point was well taken that
and God for His mercies.              Mr. Art  Schwarz  led in    a man and his successor each has his own personal
closing prayer.        Refreshments were served in the            characteristics and abilities with which he must serve
basement and a social hour followed when many of-                 the Lord in the field of His calling.
fered their personal congratulations to Rev. and Mrs.                                             * * *
Engelsma.                                                            Prof. H. Hanko addressed the guests of the High
                             * * *                                School Circle in a public meeting held in our Hudson-
       A newsletter from the Dakotas reflects the appre-          ville Church, speaking on "Christian History." Des-
ciation of the labors of Seminarian Dale Kuiper who               pite the distractions of flickering lights and a frightened
spent the summer serving the churches at Isabel and               bird flying about the auditorium, the speaker succeeded
Forbes.       Milo  DeWald,  clerk of Forbes, and Milton          in pleasing his audience with an informative and in-
H. Collman, clerk of Isabel, both write that "the sum-            teresting talk, sending them home with the comforting
mer has gone too soon," and that because their churches           realization that all history is Christian history, center-
have no regular under-shepherd to feed them they                  ing around Christ who came to fulfill the counsel of
found this "an interesting and comforting experience."            God in regard to His Elect People.
They aver that their congregations will never forget                                              * * *
Student Kuiper in that "he drew a sharp line in his                  The area bulletins are carrying this announcement
preaching." They agreed that they enjoyed "his stress             which may be of interest to all our societies: "At-
on the seriousness of our walk in this life as children           tention, program committees: Do you find it difficult
of God."        We are also glad to report that Forbes'           to arrange an `after recess' program for your society
church has been restored and is pretty much back to               each meeting.       The Radio Comm. of the Reformed
normal. News of this kind cannot fail to remind us of             Witness Hour has again prepared a special tape re-
the acute shortage of ministers in our denomination.              cording for your benefit.                The tape runs about 32
Young Men, take  note!                                            minutes and renders a first hand account concerning
                             ***                                  our Mission Board's endeavors in the Prot. Ref.
       The League of Men's Societies met in Southwest             Churches on the Island of Jamaica. For further in-
Church Nov. 7 with Rev. R. C. Harbach as speaker.                 formation contact Mr. H. Vander Wal, 1047 Alto Ave.
The topic was, "The Significance of the Races in the              S.E., Grand Rapids,  Mich.  49507."
World."        Because of his scholarly approach to the                                           * * *
subject Rev. Harbach was asked to print his paper in                 Rev. B. Woudenberg, of Lynden, Wash. has again
his space in the  Standard Beaver   in order to share             begun a series of "Studies of Biblical Doctrine" which
it with all our readers.                                          he teaches to a class in his church, and of which he
                            * * *                                 sends copies to many who are in a select mailing list.
       Rev. J. Kortering and family received an enthu-            A reader from Scotsboro, Ala.  writes....%  is apleasure
siastic welcome from a grateful congregation in a                 to know that there is another group which teaches
public program in Hope Church of Grand Rapids on                  sound doctrine . . . ..I share with you the belief in the
Nov. 4.       Mr. D. Meulenberg, vice-president of the            special atonement of Christ  fpr  the elect  only...that
consistory, was the master of ceremonies and also                 they shall be effectually  call,,d....and  will be  pre-
served as spokesman for the congregation in a wel-                served...and not one of them shall be finally lost."
coming speech. The program was dominated by the                   Surely a vivid realization of letting one's light shine
theme, "God is Good to Us," and was carried out by                that our Heavenly Father may be glorified.
a vocal solo, group singing by the seventh and eighth                . . ..see  you  in church                             J.M.F.


