                                   he



                                           earer


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




    IN pIIS ISSUE:

                 Meditation: Jehovah's Vigilance

                 Editorials: "Report of the Doctrinal Committee"
                                         - A Critical Study

                             Protestant Reformed Primary, Education

                 David in Exile

                 The RES - and Its Ecumenism



                                               Volume XLIII/  Number  14/  ApTi  15, 1967


 3i4                                                                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

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               Rev.  J;Kortering                                                                                                                                                                                  E&toy--   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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              Mr. J. M. Faber                                                                                                                                                              S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, notifies the churches
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                                                                                                                                                                                                 Consistory of Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Rev. J.  L.  I<ortering,  President
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Dewey Engelsma, Clerk


                           MEDITATION-

                                                                                          Jehovah's Vigilance
                                                                                                                                                            by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                                                         FOY the eyes of the Lovd are oveY the  righteous, and his eaw ave open unto their
                                              pyayevs: but the face of  the Lovd is against them that do evil.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I Peter 3.-U

         Righteous or a doer of evil.                                                                                                                                                      ever face.       The words of our text identify both the
         With which group do you identify yourself?                                                                                                                                        righteous and the doer of evil and tell us what attitude
         It's either - or, we are either righteous or  adoer of                                                                                                                            Jehovah has toward both.                 His -attitude toward the
evil.                                                                                                                                                                                      righteous is, "The eyes of the Lord are over the
         This question is the most important question we can                                                                                                                               righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers."


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     3i5


His attitude toward the doer of evil is, "The face of the     sins stand as a barrier between the righteous God and
Lord is against them."                                        their filthy souls. Supplicating in the name of Jesus
    Search your heart and your life for the answer.           Christ who hath merited righteousness for all His-own,
   May our meditation on this Word of God aid us in           these righteous seek the assurance that for Christ's
our search.                                                   sake God will not hate them, but love them and forgive.
  The line of demarcation is determined by our                Their cry is that of confession, they tell God they hate
attitude toward our sins.                                     their sins, they are sorry for them, they long to be
   The  r-ighteous  are a crying people. They weep on         delivered f om them and live constantly to the glory of
account of their sin. We are told this directly in our        Jehovah, the God of their salvation. Their prayer is
text. The word "prayers" could just as well be trans-         marked with sweat and tears.
lated "cries." You recall that in Scripture different            In contrast the doer of evil doesn't know what it is
terms are used to describe prayer.          Some prayers      to weep for sins committed.        When Peter describes
are declarations of thanksgiving. Others are petitions        the wicked as the doer of evil he doesn't simply refer
of request for daily needs.       Still others assume the     to one who sins. The righteous sin also and yet are
form of intercession, seeking the guidance and strength       not described as an evil doer. Rather, he is one who
of Jehovah on behalf of others. Yet, there also are           gives himself wholly to sin. He violates the command-
prayers of supplication.        A deep awareness of our       ments of God.      This doesn't mean that he is always
needs and our own helplessness drives us to our knees         some notorious and infamous sinner as such. He may
and we lift up our eyes heavenward imploring Jehovah          even live an outwardly noble life; many people may
to hear us and supply our lack. These prayers are             consider him a worthy example.              Yet, in all his
mentioned in our text and they always assume the form         thoughts words and deeds he doesn't have the love of
of an urgent cry.                                             God in his heart. His one goal in life is to satisfy his
   Our righteousness occasions this cry!                      own lusts and seek his own ambitions. He delights in
   This indicates that the righteous surely are not           his evil way of life.     When he revels in sin he finds
self-righteous.      There were many in the days of the       excuses.    His pet phrase is, "To err is human." He
apostles that boasted of their being righteous on             looks back at his "mistakes" and says proudly, well,
account of their works. The Pharisees could rattle off        we can't always succeed. I may not be the ideal man,
a long list of things they did in obedience to Mosaic         yet I'm a great deal better than most. Sometimes this
law. Similarly today, myriads of people console them-         even takes on a religious flavor. Did you ever hear
selves in the delusion that they surely aren't as bad as      someone who professes to be a Christian say, well I
some of their fellow human beings and in many ways            couldn't help it that I fell into sin, after all I still have
they are a great deal better.        Attend any memorial      my sinful nature.       Sometimes young people like to
service and one gets the impression that there isn't a        imagine they can live in riotous iniquity under the pre-
person on earth that's bad enough for hell. These are         tense that youth has a license to sin, for after all they
righteous in their own eyes.       Peter isn't speaking of    have to sow their wild oats, they have to wallow in the
these: they never cry!                                        filth of sin and rebellion, "to get it out of their system
   The supplicating cry flows from the lips of the            while they are still young." Natural man likes to find
righteous as they are burdened with their sins. In the        excuses for his evil way of life.         Every time he is
context of this epistle of Peter to the "scattered            tempted to sin he grasps at the slightest excuse and
strangers," we learn of many reasons for their crying.        tries to suppress the fiery flame of his incensed con-
Many of them were in great affliction; they were              science. How often don't we hear it said and we some-
distressed because of bodily suffering. They lifted up        times say it ourselves that we were victims of circum-
their souls and cried for grace to bear their pains           stances.    We really didn't want to do this wrong, but
patiently.     Others were weeping because of the effects     this and that happened and we couldn't help ourselves.
of persecution, their homes were broken, fathers were            This is how an evil doer speaks. He simply tries
taken captive, children were scattered to the winds.          to justify sin, and is no different than the Pharisee who
Some were in prison, others were tortured. They cried         pretended to be so religious and yet was filled with
on account of their righteousness, for darkness hates         dead man's bones. You can be sure of one thing, if we
the testimony of the light. Yet in the immediate con-         try to find excuses for sin and point to the so called
text, it is obvious that Peter intends to single out those    good in our life as reason why all is well with us, we
who are distressed because the dark curtain of sin            will never cry the supplicating prayer of the righteous.
envelopes their soul and they pine beneath it.                We will continue in the way of sin.
   Do you weep supplicating tears because of your                Jehovah's attitude toward the righteous is quite
sins? The righteous do. They know the sweetness of            different from His attitude toward the doer of evil.
covenant life with God. They have learned that nothing           Peter describes His attitude toward the righteous
is more precious than to behold the smile of God's            as, "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and
approval upon them. They know from the Word of God            His ears are open unto their prayer." In this self
that He is righteous, He loves the light and hates            description, God pictures Himself as one of us, having
darkness.      He is Jehovah who punishes evil with evil      eyes and ears. By means of this picture language God
and rewards the good with good. This knowledge brings         reminds us that with all His being He is mindful of His
them to tears.       Casting a searching glance over their    children and ready to hear them and help them when
life they behold the sordid depths of their sins. These       they cry unto Him.        The God that stirs the human


316                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


heart and arouses the cry of supplication is the same          all, for the eye of the Lord was upon them. The same
God that hears that cry and answers. Jehovah is a              Shekinah that led them into this apparent trap now
merciful God. He never brings to tears without drying          began to move behind them. The ear of the Lord had
them.      By sovereign grace He reveals Himself to us         heard their cry.        All that night the eye of the Lord
as the God of righteousness and holiness. He crushes           shone down upon them, affording them light while the
all our pride and exposes before our human conscience          mighty winds of the heaven prepared a drypath through
the horror of darkness that crouches within our mortal         the midst of the sea.       Jesus Christ provided safety
frame.      He causes us to be restless with ourselves         for them and led them safely out of all their distresses.
and through tears of sorrow to seek His forgiveness.           For Christ's sake God is faithful to His people and
As a tender Father that loves His children He directs          forgives.
our troubled soul to the cross and whispers in our                Yet it was that very same Shekinah that delivered
ears, "Forgiven!" He reminds us that we have been              the death blow to Egypt. Jehovah's back was turned to
clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. By His         Egypt and therefore it was pitch black and the chariot
Spirit He calms the storm and draws us closer to               wheels came to a screeching halt. Thinking that they
Himself. That's favor for the righteous.                       could partake in Jehovah's goodness to Israel and sneak
   Jehovah's attitude toward the doer of evil is quite         through the sea on dry ground, Egypt encountered the
different, "the face of the Lord is against them."            full wrath of Jehovah. The Israelites found them lying
That's the opposite. The face is the point of contact          dead upon the shore.
we have with each other as friends.         While we visit        Let's not confound this glorious truth.       Surely it
together we don't sit with our backs to each other, but        appeared for a long time as if the favor of God was upon
our faces are directed toward one another. Our whole           Egypt and not on Israel. Israel was in bondage, her
personality is reflected in our face. Hence a turned           sons beaten with many stripes. Egypt prospered out-
face indicates a cessation of friendship. The picture         wardly with cucumbers and garlic. God's favor, how-
here is simply this, God turns around and looks away           ever, was not determined by outward things, rather
from the doer of evil. Through this figure of speech          by the inner fellowship of the heart. For awhile Egypt
the apostle reminds us that where there is no friend-         prospered because Israel was in her midst. God's
ship there is enmity and wrath. Scripture makes clear         blessing was upon Israel for He was making of them a
that God doesn't simply  ignore the doer of evil. He          great nation. Even the lashes of the whip were spiritual
hates him and in His just judgment moves to subject           blessings.     As soon as Israel was delivered from
such a one to His righteous indignation against sin.          bondage Pharoah and his hosts were slaughtered in
This takes place already in this life.         Those who      mighty judgment.
continue in sin are made subject to God's wrath right             Remember Asaph, "Then understood I their end."
now.      God presses upon such a one the certain wages        Ps.  73:17
of such sin, namely death. The power of death takes               Peter know of what he spoke. One night he went out
hold of such a one and draws him deeper and deeper             and wept bitterly.
into the cesspool of filth.     Even the good gifts of God        Righteous or a doer of evil, what are you?
are so used by the doer of evil that he refuses to give           Do you weep or do you laugh?
God the glory, but elevates himself above the rest of             Your sins a burden, so much so that you long for
mankind in stinking pride. After physical death the           forgiveness and desire to live according to God's will
doer of evil will be cast away into outer darkness,           and to His glory? Be assured that Jehovah is not deaf
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.                 to your cry, He hears ! Gaze upon the cross and behold
   Just recall a moment how God demonstrated this             our Shekinah Who has led us through death and hell
truth to Israel as they stood at the edge of the Red Sea.     into everlasting glory.
Here this grumbling and sin-laden people lifted up their          Continue in sin, find pleasure in sin? There is only
voices in crying and supplication as the mighty forces        wrath, judgment and hell.
of Egypt bore down upon them. Was there not forgive-              Thank God that we never weep in vain. Jehovah is
ness with God?        Would Israel be slain as helpless       vigilant.
sheep entrapped in the snare of greedy Egypt? Not at              He hears and answers !




                     Salvation...is the deliverance from all evil, from the guilt and dominion of sin
                  and corruption, and from the power of death; and the being made heirs and partakers
                  of the highest good, eternal righteousness, life, andglory  in God's heavenly kingdom
                  through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who was delivered for our transgressions and raised
                  for our justification.
                                                       - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 84


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  3i7



      EDIT0 RIAL-


                "Report of the Doctrinal Committee"

                                    - A Critical Study 4

                                      The Committee on the Offer


                                              by  Pvof. H. C. Hoeksema

THE COMMITTEE SEES THE POINT                                 satisfied,  - even on a Christian Reformed basis,  ,- as
   We have already noted that the mandate given the          to the question how a general, well-meant offer of
Study Committee in the Dekker Case obviously has in          salvation can be an evidence of so-called  .common,
view the First Point of 1924.       For this mandate is      non-saving grace. The fact is, too, that this dissatis-
interested in the question whether it is valid to make a     faction appears in the points raised by the committee
qualitative distinction between the general love of God      of pre-advice at the last Christian Reformed Synod.
and His special love for the elect. This of course,          For two of the "related problems" which the committee
precludes any Reformed conclusion on the part of the         of pre-advice said were in need of "theological clari-
committee. It means that they are bound to the idea of       fication and precise statement" have to do with this
a general love of God. They may conclude that there          matter. They are: 1) "The relationship between election
is, or is not, a qualitative distinction between God's       and the sincere offer of salvation." And it should be
general love and God's special love. But to the theory       remembered that in Christian Reformed parlance the
of a general love of God they are bound. From the            word "sincere" means "well-meant." 2)  "Theuniver-
outset the committee has the millstone of the First          sal implications of the atonement."
Point hanging about its collective neck. And this means         It is too bad, by the way, that the committee of
that unless the .:ommittee  has the courage to go beyond     pre-advice did not add  this  problem as being in need
its mandate and to say that the Christian Reformed           of theological clarification:       the relation between
Church was wrong in 1924 and to tell the CRC that the        sovereign reprobation and the general, well-meant
alternative posed in its mandate is a false one, the         offer of the gospel.      Or should I say "disjunction"
Report is doomed to failure: the failure of being            instead of "relation?"
un-Reformed.                                                    Fact is, too, that in the end the committee falls
   The committee, therefore, had the choice of ap-           flat on its collective nose. For in its conclusions and
proving the theory of Prof. Dekker and going in the          recommendations the committee ends by making
direction of full-blown Arminianism with respect to          basically the same statements as the First Point of
the love of God, the death of Christ, and the preaching      1924 without resolving the problem whichwe Protestant
of the gospel; or the choice of following the covert,        Reformed always raised with respect to the First Point
half-way Arminianism of the First Point, which tries         and which Dekker and Daane have raised from their
to connect the so-called offer of the gospel with            point of view.
common grace, but which nevertheless speaks of a                This I will show in due time.
general, well-meant offer of salvation. It had the choice       But I also want to show how the committee reached
of following more consistently the Arminian track with       this conclusion, or rather, maneuvered themselves
respect to the preaching of the gospel or of attempting      into this position and played hocus-pocus with the
to continue to follow a double-track theology.               facts and with the Reformed truth until they came up
   The committee took the second option, and it tries        with this conclusion.
desperately to maintain it. In fact, while the commit-          For as in 1924, so also today, this requires some
tee's efforts reveal many of the same methods, the           very devious maneuvering. And the admonition of the
same inconsistencies, and the same desperation tactics       1966 committee of pre-advice to avoid poorly defined
which have characterized all those who have tried to         categorical statements and ambiguous terminologymay
run on two tracks, and while the committee tries             very well be applied, above all, to the Study Committee.
probably more desperately than ever before to maintain          First of all, therefore, let us note that the Study
the First Point without becoming "too" Arminian,             Committee apparently saw the point at issue rather
- something which perhaps accounts for the lengthy           clearly.     They immediately place their entire study in
meanderings of their report, -the fact is that anyone        the context of the First Point of 1924 and the  well-
who studies the report must be left altogether  un-          meant offer of the gospel. For one thing, they refer


3i8                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


openly to the fact that Prof. Dekker and Dr.  James             are not elect. This is a covert denial of double pre-
Daane have written in the context of 1924 and "compel           destination which is becoming very common. Here is
us once more to take a good look at the decisions of            a good question: why does -virtually no one today want
our Synod of 1924 and the interpretation of these de-           to speak of reprobation? Here is another: why does
cisions that was given by the Synod of 1959." And               the committee, which wants to maintain common grace
 again, they write: "For we are convinced that now as           and a common love of God, consistently prefer to speak
then we are again wrestling with the age-old problem            of the "non-elect" rather than of the reprobate?
concerning the grace of God." And thus they finally                 3/ Let me remind you, in connection  withmyquota-
say: "Let us briefly review 1924 and its aftermath in           tion of Calvin in the April  1' issue of the  Standard
.our ecclesiastical history."                                   Beavev  that "these deniers of the doctrine of common
       And what the committee states concerning 1924            grace" are in good company when they deny that the
reveals that they see the point rather clearly. Permit          passage in Ezekiel refers to the reprobate wicked. The
me to quote the following from pages 441 and 442 of             committee seems to raise its hands in holy horror that
the Acts of Synod, 1966:                                        anyone could "go so far as to aver that this text refers
         In 1924 the Revs. H. Danhof and H. Hoeksema            only to the elect wicked."
stressed the exclusiveness of God's grace at the                    4/ Let it also be noted, however, that this reference
    expense of leaving no room at all for the doctrine of       to Ezekiel 33 already places the discussion in the
    so-called common grace. Prof. Dekker, and perhaps           context of salvation and damnation, not in the context
    some others with him, are inclined to wipe out the          of so- called
    distinction between special and common grace. Yet                            "non-saving benefits of the death of
    both meet on this point that both would maintain that       Christ," nor in the context of so-called commongrace,
    God's grace is one. The former, however, would limit        which is concerned only with so-called temporal
    that one grace of God to the elect alone; and from their    blessings.
    standpoint draw the conclusion that any mention of             The committee continues as follows:
    common grace or even general favor or benevolence                  Our Synod of 1924 rightly repudiated this conception
    on the part of God towards the non-elect is forbidden.         of God, and stated emphatically that "on the basis of
    Fact is, the Rev. Hoeksema contended that God could            Scripture and Confession it is certain that there is,
    manifest only His wrath towards those whom he labelled         besides the saving grace of God shown only to the elect
    the reprobate.     Not for one moment could God be             unto eternal life, also a kind of favor or grace of God
    favorably disposed towards any one who did not belong          which He manifests towards his creatures in general."
    to his elect people. Even when the prophet Ezekiel             Moreover, in the two points of doctrine, which followed
    says SO plainly that the Lord "has no pleasure in the          that first point, Synod declared that this general favor
    death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his         of God manifests itself in a "restraint of sin" and in
    way and live;" these deniers of the doctrineof common          this that "unregenerate men, though incapable of any
    grace went so far as to aver that this text refers only        saving good, are capable of doing civil good."
    to the elect wicked. The others God delights to visit          Once more I must interrupt for comments:
   with His wrath.                                                 l/ Here we have an accurate statement of the main
    I must interrupt the quotation for a few pertinent          proposition of the First Point. The Second and Third
comments. They are the following:                               Points are less fully stated; but we may ignore this  at-
    l/ The committee does not have its historical per-          present, since the issue is the First Point.
spective correct here.       In the first place, the Revs.         2/ The committee correctly discerns that there is
Hoeksema and Danhof stressed this position long before          a conception of God at stake here. In other words, this
1924.      In the second place, there was no "doctrine" of      discussion goes to the very heart of doctrine, namely,
common grace before 1924. There was a theological               theology. I must, however, remind the readers that
opinion held by some; and up to 1924 it was possible            while surely one's conception of God is one of the
to discuss common grace as an extra-confessional                fundamentals, yet the Synod of 1924 declaredHoeksema
matter.      But there was no "doctrine" of common              and Danhof to be Reformed with respect to the funda-
grace until the Synod of 1924 officially established it         mentals. Strange, is it not?
in the Three Points.                                               But now comes the paragraph in which the committee
    2/ The committee plainly suggests an aversion for           makes it very plain that they see the point at issue:
the term "reprobate" in this paragraph. They evince                   Nevertheless, although the Synod of 1924 made
this same aversion throughout their report. And this               these clear and definite statements in regard to the
aversion is common to many in the current discussion.              doctrine of common grace, it soon became evident that
All seem to prefer to speak of the "non-elect." Note               there were still several problems left in the area of
that this is the committee's term here; and they speak             God's grace that remained unresolved. For example,
of _ those "whom he (Rev. Hoeksema)  labelled the                  there was, first of all, the question about the so-called
reprobate." The reader should beware of this ter-                  "favorable disposition of God toward all His creatures
minology. We are all perhaps automatically inclined to             in general" that gave rise to a long debate. (But how
understand and mentally to read "reprobate" when                   can the committee call this an unresolved problem
                                                                   when the Synod established this as binding doctrine?
this term "non-elect" occurs.         I find myself doing          Does the Synod establish problems as binding? H.C.H.)
this.      But the terms are not the same. The term                But more important than this was the problem that
reprobate is a positive term; the term  non-elect  is              was presented by what Synod had adduced as one of its
strictly a negative term, that is, it does not say any-            grounds for the position taken in the first point, and
thing about those who are not elect except that they               which Rev. Hoeksema called "the little point of the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


   first point" ("het puntje van het eerste punt"). (Again,     else, of any well-meant offer of thegospel which comes
   does Synod establish problematical grounds for its           to all men promiscuously. But this is the consistent
 : doctrinal pronouncements? History shows that none of         Christian Reformed misrepresentation of the Canons
    the defenders. of the First Point considered this a         which the committee slavishly follows. If only they had
   problem; but Hoeksema, Danhof, Ophoff, and others
   made it very uncomfortably problematical for men             refused slavishly to follow this position, they might
    like  Berkhof, H. J. Kuiper, Heyns, Keegstra, Zwier,        have accomplished something worthwhile in their report;
    and Jan Karel Van Baalen  to maintain this position of      and they certainly would have had no difficulty in re-
    Synod. H.C.H.) This ground stated that this certain         futing and condemning Dekker's position.
   favor or grace of God toward all His creatures in               Nevertheless, I wish to make the point that the
  general appears from the well-meant offer of the              committee in so far is correct, namely, that they see
    gospel, which the Canons of Dort present'as coming to       the point. The point at issue is the so-called general,
    all men promiscuously (II, 5 and III & IV, 8, 9). It was    well-meant offer of the gospel in relation to the love
    this point especially that became the main target of        (or grace) of God. and in relation to the atoning death
    Rev. Hoeksema's attack upon 1924; and it is this same       of Christ. Still more: the point at issue concerns the
    point that is also calling forth the shades of 1924 in
    our present controversy.                                    particular, redeeming love of God and the limited,` or
                                                                definite, atonement of Christ. How in the light of the
                                                                latter is it possible to speak of a general, well-meant
   We understand, of course, that when the committee            offer of the gospel?
speaks of the Canons of Dordrecht as presenting the                This point the committee sees rather clearly.
well-meant offer of the gospel, they are speaking from             But this same point the committee tries mightily to
a Christian Reformed point of view. The Canons of               avoid and to obscure.
Dordrecht do not speak in these articles, or anywhere              To this I shall call your attention next.



    ON THE HOME  FRONT-



                      Protestant  Refdrmed

                                                      Primary Education


                                                  by Pvof. H. C. Hoeksema


ENCOURAGING PROGRESS                                            seed in the school as well as in the home and church
   Some months ago we devoted our attention with                must be in harmony with our distinctive Protestant
respect to the "Home Front" to Protestant Reformed              Reformed beliefs.
Secondary Education.                                               Nor  is it open to question whether there is a dif-
   We now turn to Primary Education.                            ference.     I will not argue this matter of difference as
   It is, of course, no less true withrespect to primary        far as the public school is concerned: the public school
education than with respect to secondary education that         is not neutral, but it is the school of the world; and
the principle must be followed that wherever and                covenant parents may not allow covenant children to be
whenever the Lord makes it possible, Protestant Re-             brought up in the world's schools. Nor will I argue
formed parents must provide for Protestant Reformed             the matter of difference between our schools and the
children Protestant Reformed schools.                           existent Christian (Christian Reformed) schools on
   This implies, of course, in the first place, that the        practical grounds. I will simply point to the fact that
principle of Protestant Reformed education as such is           as surely as the doctrine of common grace is a doctrine
one that cannot be gainsaid.         It simply cannot be a      which radically affects one's world-and-life view, so
question, from the point of view of principle, whether          surely it affects education; which is exactly concerned
Protestant Reformed people shoul d favor Protestant             with one's world-and-life view. Those who adhere to
Reformed education.        This is a matter of simple           common grace see this clearly, and they are not
consistency.    The covenant instruction of our covenant        ashamed to act accordingly. We ought also to see this,


320                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

-if anything, even more clearly. Moreover, anyone                In this connection, I wish to emphasize three items.
who has seen the actual fruits of our own schools and            The first is this: we must continue to provide.
our own education in our children will testify that there     teachers for our schools. There was a time when it
is indeed a difference.                                       almost began to appear as though we would have a
   The concrete question, therefore, is not that of the       surplus of potential teachers.      But this is certainly
principle of Protestant Reformed instruction as such;         not true today. In the first place, of course, there is
hut the question is one of discerning when and where          always a certain amount of normal loss in this regard,
the Lord opens the way for us to have our own schools         so that the supply of teachers must be constantly
and of being ready, when the way is opened, to follow         replenished.       But secondly, the demand for teachers
up our calling.                                               is on the increase.        As we open our high school in
   There has been encouraging progress in this regard.        the Grand Rapids area, and as we open more grade
   In some areas, of course, we have had our own              schools, there will be an acute need for more teachers.
grade schools for many years.       In fact, the time may     And therefore I cannot emphasize strongly enough that
not be far off when we will have a graduate or two from       our Protestant Reformed young men and young women,
our seminary who has had his entire grade school              when they face the question of their life's work, should
education in one of our Protestant Reformed schools.          give serious consideration to the teaching profession.
It has  also been reason for gratitude that in spite of       We need you in our schools !         Moreover, I wish to
all the miseries of 1953 and in spite of numerical loss,      emphasize that we must provide teachers. They must
we were able to maintain our schools in these areas           come from our Protestant Reformed homes.            This
where they had already been established.                      means not only that parents should encourage their
   But in more recent years there has been progress.          children to train for the teaching profession.     But it
In Loveland our people were not slothful in beginning         also implies practical measures. It is up to our school
their own school. In South Holland a school has been          movement to help provide the necessary means whereby
established and is prospering. In Iowa the Northwest          our young people can be trained as teachers. In this
Iowa School Society, according to recent announcements,       day when a college education costs in the thousands of
plans to open a school in the fall of this year, the Lord     dollars, I believe it is not amiss that our school move-
willing. And various news items indicate that progress        ment provides for prospective teachers scholarships
is being made in  Redlands also. These are good signs,        and grants-in-aid, much in the same way that our
and these are reasons for gratitude. And, under the           churches provide grants-in-aid for p r o s p e c t i v e
Lord's blessing, we may surely  look'for  good fruits         ministers.
from these efforts.                                              The second item is this: we must put forth greater
   Moreover, I would also express a word of encour-           efforts in the direction of -applying our distinctive
agement to our people in this regard, especially in those     Reformed principles to every aspect of education and
areas where numerical smallness makes it more of a            especially to the subject-matter of education. There
struggle and a sacrifice to establish and maintain our        is, in my opinion, a vast area here in which we have
own grade schools. By all means, go ahead! It is not          only begun to scratch the surface. This is, of course,
always easy to get started. Sometimes, for various            as far as the actual work is concerned, primarily the
reasons, the backing of our people is not always one          task of our teachers. But it is also the responsibility
hundred per cent. Sometimes, when one looks back on           of our school boards and school societies to see to it
the history of our school movement, there may seem            that this task is accomplished. This means not only
to be reasons for discouragement and hesitation.              that our teachers must work at the task of applying our
Moreover, once started, we may expect it to be a              Reformed principles in their day-to-day instruction in
struggle to maintain our schools.       But, by all means,    the classroom, but it also includes the task of providing
go ahead!     The advantages far outweigh any disadvan-       educational materials,  - notes and manuals and text-
tages; and the benefits to be reaped far outweigh any         books,  - in which these principles are applied. We
sacrifices that must be made.                                 must continue to build in this regard. This, by the way,
OUR ON-GOING CALLING                                          is one of the chief reasons for the establishment of our
                                                              Federation of Protestant Reformed School Societies.
   All this does not mean, however, that we have              This organization has now been in existence for several
arrived.     To think thus, even in those areas where our     years.    I do not know how much progress they have
schools have long been established, would be a serious        made; but I do know that thus far we have seen little
mistake.                                                      in the way of concrete results. And I believe that we
   This is true, first of all, in general. The goal of        must work, and work hard, in this direction. I also
Protestant Reformed education is not merely to have           believe that there are more of our school societies
separate  educational  institutions.     The essence of       that could and should join this Federation. The work
Protestant Reformed education does not lie in the             in which they are engaged is for the common benefit
Protestant Reformed  name  on the building. The goal          of our schools.
is separate, that is,  distinctive education.  To provide
such education is our on-going calling; and, I dare say,         The third item which I wish to emphasize is this:
it involves a continuing struggle. It simply will not do      we must continue to support our schools generously.
that, once our schools are established, we rest on our        We must see to it that we have adequate facilities.
laurels.                                                      We must see to it that our teachers have adequate


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     321


salaries.       And we must pay our own way; no one else          I also wish to emphasize that we must never, never
will do it for us. I do not share the opinion that our        go in the direction of accepting government aid. The
grade schools in the Grand Rapids area will suffer            possibilities of such aid seem to be increasing; and
financially because of the high school movement. Nor          as the cost of education increases, the temptation to
do I share the opinion that we must hesitate with              accept such aid also grows. As has been pointed out
respect to our high school because of the financial           frequently, with state aid goes state control. And state
burden of our grade -schools. Both are our calling.           control will mean inevitably that our schools will be
And if we must sacrifice, then let us sacrifice to            deprived of their Christian principles and will be
provide for both.       The same is true with respect to      secularized. There is enough of state control already.
all `our schools: we must be prepared to meet the             And the time will come soon enough when the  Anti-
costs.    And truly, that cost is little enough in compar-    Christ will try to make it impossible for covenant
ison with the high privilege of providing our children        parents to train their own children in the fear of the
with covenant training. I believe, too, that in general       Lord. Besides, it is the callingof the parent, not of the
our people have shown their willingness in this regard.       state, to educate his own children.  Wemust, therefore,
And basically that means this: the Lord has provided          be prepared to pay our own way, even at the cost of
for us ! And we may be confident that He will continue        sacrifice.
to provide !                                                      Let us, then, put our shoulder to the wheel!




     THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-



                        The Prayer of Ordination

                                                by Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg


   The prayer which brings to a conclusion the service        prayer which, at the same time, expresses its motiva-
of ordaining one in the ministry of the Word must not         tion. That statement is: "Since no man is of himself fit
be construed merely as a part of the "form." Although         for any of these things, let us call upon God with
it certainly belongs to the Form of Ordination, it is         thanksgiving." This confession is more than a mere
much more than this.         If careful consideration was      admission of human inadequacy.            It implies that
given to all that preceded, particularly the exhorta-         positively there is a sincere desire in the heart of the
tions and charges given to the newly ordained minister        petitioning church to possess the blessings of God
and the congregation, this prayer will not be uttered as      which He bestows through the offices in His Church
a mere "form," but it will express the spiritual               and, realizing that no man is fittoprovide these things,
consciousness of the church and her minister.          Its    the earnest prayer is made to God. This desire, this
content will register a lasting impression upon all           hungering after the spiritual riches of the Kingdom of
those who spiritually participate in this calling upon        Heaven, is the deepest motivation of the prayer.
the Name of God. This is the way it also should be.               The prayer itself may be divided into four main
A prayer, whether part of an accepted liturgical form         parts.        First of all, there is a brief but significant
or composed by the officiating minister, cannot be            expression of thanksgiving. This is followed by several
imposed upon the praying church, but rather, the church       petitions that relate directly to the minister who has
must express from the heart her needs and supplica-           been ordained and his needs. The third section of the
tions with thanksgiving. True prayer has its origin in        prayer contains supplications in behalf of the congre-
the hearts of those who are genuinely conscious of            gation, and then the prayer is concluded with the words
their needs and sincerely seek God for their fulfill-         of the well known Lord's Prayer. Briefly we make the
ment. The effectualness of prayer depends on this and         following comments on these parts of the prayer.
so the church and her ordained minister must not simply
bring this service to its traditional ending with a word                            THE THANKSGIVING
of prayer, but every utterance of the prayer must be              From the very outset to the conclusion of this
the expression of heartfelt desires and needs.                 prayer we must note especially its highly spiritual
   This follows from the statement introducing this            content.      Thanksgiving is rendered to God because "it


322                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

,pleaseth  Thee, by the ministry of men, to gather a          and troubles which he may meet with in his ministry,
Church to Thyself unto life eternal, from amongst the         and that he may be steadfast to the end.
lost children of men." Recognition is not only given to          (6) That, with all faithful servants,, he may be
the fact that the gathering of the Church is exclusively      received in the end into the joy of his Master.     I
the work of God, but for that fact gratitude is expressed.       This is indeed a very rich and beautiful prayer.
AOW  grateful we may indeed be that it is not otherwise.      The congregation may pray this often in behalf of her
Now the gathering of the Church is sure. Nothing can          minister.     The work of the ministry is a spiritual
hinder'its realization, for the Almighty God establishes      labor that is entirely dependent upon God and the work
it, gathers and maintains it, according to the pleasure       of His Holy Spirit. Men may indeed build  organiza.-
of His unchangeable will.      And that the Lord gathers      tions, but man is  .not able to promote  .the cause of
this Church from amongst the lost children of men can         Christ in his own strength or power. This is God's
only be a most profound reason for thanksgiving, for          work which He accomplishes through the means of men;
this utterance is made in the realization that we, the        men whom He chooses and calls unto the ministry of
memh.ers of that Church, are lost in trespasses and           the Word. Upon them God bestows the necessary gifts
sin.       That we may belong to that Church is to be         and powers to accomplish the humanly impossible task.
attributed only to the grace of God, for which we give        Although God certainly does this, the prayer for these
thanks.                                                       things is necessary because, as our          Heidelberg
       The second reason for thanksgiving here is the fact    Catechism expresses it, "God will give His grace and
that God has "so graciously provided the Church in            Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires
this place with a faithful minister." We are to observe       continually ask them of him, and are thankful for
here that the provision of the ministry is correctly          them." This is the case with respect to our individual
viewed as a product of Divine grace. God graciously           prayers and experience but it is also true for the
provides in order that through the ministry He may            church.      The church that does not desire and is not
bestow the blessings of His grace upon His Church.            appreciative of these spiritual benefits does not receive
The means of grace are directly related to the office         them. Only when the church is spiritually hungry for
of the ministry of the Word. Without the ministry of          the blessings of the ministry does God through that
the Word there are no means of grace, and without the         ministry bless her.
latter the riches of the grace of Christ are not bestowed.       The course of the faithful ministry is always en-
In this consciousness the Church expresses            Her     countered by many difficulties and troubles.        This
gratitude for this provision. It is actually, therefore,      cannot be avoided.      Not only do the powers of the
a thanksgiving for al.1 the blessings of redemption which     wicked and ungodly world expend themselves in
the Church receives through the ministry of the Word.         opposition to the cause of Christ, but within the Church
                                                              itself are found those who do not really belong to the
               PRAYER FOR THE MINISTER                        Church and who, in countless ways, oppose the ministry
                                                              of the truth.     Militancy never ceases as long as the
   In this part of the prayer the Church expresses her        church is in- this world. There are continuous disap-
consciousness of the nature of the office of the ministry     pointments and discouragements, and only because
of the Word as this was also expressed in the Form for        God Himself preserves His Cause can and does the
Ordination.      She does not, therefore, pray that her       ministry of the Word persevere. The Holy Spirit gives
minister may be a potent influence in the community,          an unbreakable comfort in the assurance that the cause
a zealous promoter of civic affairs, a successful com-        of Christ shall have the victory, and although things
petitor in the sports arena, a behind-the-scene lobbyist      that appear often seem to emit a totally different
for political legislation, etc.     All these things the      testimony, the truth shall ultimately prevail. Then the
Church of Christ does not expect of her minister, and         cause of Christ shall be glorified before all men, and
she does not look for these things to come through            all who have faithfully labored in that cause will enter
the ministry. In many so-called churches today this is        into the joy of their Lord.
no longer the case and such churches cannot sincerely
pray the prayer we are discussing.                                       PRAYER FOR THE CONGREGATION
   That prayer contains six specific petitions in.be&lf of       Not only is it imperative that the minister of the
the minister. These are: (1) That he may be qualified         Word be faithful, but it is equally important that the
daily more and more by the Holy Spirit for the work of        congregation understands and heeds her calling. With-
the ministry unto which he has been called.                   out this the labors of the ministry are to no avail. The
   (2) That his understanding may be enlightened to           fruits of a blessed ministry are manifest in the con-
comprehend the holy Word of God.                              gregation, and therefore a four-fold prayer is also
   (3) That he may boldly preach the mysteries of the         uttered in her behalf. In this respect, too, the prayer
gospel.                                                       in behalf of the congregation contains no element of
   (4) That he may have wisdom and valor to rule the          carnality, but is raised to a high spiritual plane.
congregation  aright and preserve them in Christian           Though the church is still in the midst of the world
peace, to the end that God's Church, under his admin-         and her members are of the earth earthy, no mention
istration and by his good example, may increase in            is made in this prayer for any physical or material
number and virtue.                                            comforts. The basic, fundamental needs of the body of
   (5) That he may have courage to bear the difficulties      Christ, without which she cannot survive,. and with


                                                THE STANDARD BEAR'ER                                                 `323


which, no matter what the external circumstances of             because of these things. It is given to her "not only to
her existence may be, she can and will be manifest as           believe but also to suffer for Christ's sake.". (Phil.
the true body `of Christ, are the objects of petition in        1:29)    This is part of her glory and crown, and in her
this prayer.                                                    prayer she is asking for all that is essential in order
  ,.                                                            that she may be a faithful church unto the day when she
        The- Church then must have grace to deport itself in    shall be taken into her everlasting inheritance and
a becoming manner toward their minister; to acknowl-            made partaker of eternal life.
edge that he is sent of God, and therefore to receive
-his- doctrine with all reverence and submit themselves                           THE LORD'S PRAYER
to his exhortations. The underlying supposition is that            The final petition of the ordination prayer is: "Here
in all these things the congregation is submitting              us, 0 Father, through Thy beloved Son, Who hath taught
itself not to man but to God.            It is His Word, His    us to pray": and then follows the words of the  well-
doctrine, His exhortations which come to them through           known Lord's Prayer. We need not discuss the content
the. ministry of the Word that they are to heed. The            of this perfect prayer in this connection. Only let it be
fact that the church is to reject "a man that is an             observed that this prayer must not be considered as a
-heretic" does not enter into consideration here.               mere appendage to the prayer offered. It is the perfect
Certainly the point is not disputed that the people of          prayer expressing all that needs to be expressed in
God are never obligated to submit to false doctrines or         prayer. In a sense, therefore, it is repetitious of what
the mere whims and wishes of men, but rather the                has already been said, but the importance of the
positive point is established that in submitting to the         matter may well be emphasized by repetition, and in no
doctrine of godliness which is the truth, the church is         way can it be said better than in the words of the Lord
made partaker of eternal life. She must walk in the             Jesus Himself. May we perhaps express the matter
way of faith.        Believing in Christ, she is called to      this way: "0 Father, we have tried to express our
follow Him. With her minister, who faithfully expounds          needs and desires to Thee hut we confess our inability
the Word of Christ, she must stand in opposition to             to do so and therefore, hear us as we bring these needs
every false way and fight the battle of faith with  all         to Thee in the words which our Lord taught us to pray.
steadfastness, even though and when she must suffer             Amen."



          A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-


                                       DAVID IN EXILE

                                                  by Rev. B.  Woudenbevg


                        David  thevefove departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his
                    bvethven and all his fathev's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
                       And  every one that was in distress, and  every one  that was in debt, and  every
                    one that was discontented,  gathered  themselves unto him; and he became a captain
                    ovey them: and there were with him almost four hundyed men.
                                                                                         I  Sa.muf$22:1, 2

        It was in the cave of Adullam that David gradually      period by reading Psalms 59, 7, 56, 34, 57, 52, 143,
 came to terms with himself, the things which were              and 54 in that order.) For David, it was a period of
happening to him, and the `will of God for his future.          comparative inactivity; but it was a period of much
Rather symbolically, the cave was not a great distance          needed rest and refreshment also, through which he
from that place in the valley of Elah where he had              drew closer to his God.           These things which had
slain. the giant Goliath. That event had clearly demon-         happened to him had to be understood and received in
strated the power of God which overshadowed him; and            faith lest his soul should become permanently scarred
now that things  ,seemed to be going so differently, his        with bitterness. There in the quiet wilderness it came
thoughts must have returned to it again and again. But          as a healing balm.
there in the quietness of that wilderness valley, David            Meanwhile, the exile of David was having its effect
had again to think and pray andmeditate. And he did so          in Israel also. David had become far too prominent. a
too. We know from the many Psalms which-come down               figure merely to disappear from sight without it being
to. us concerning that period of his life. (One can still       noticed.     Through the years, David had become a
follow the spiritual development of David through that          national hero, known and recognized by everyone.


324                                           THESTANDARDBEARER


Even more, it was generally realized that his source          thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God
of strength and courage was much more genuine than            will do for me"; and the king of Moab, perhaps in
was king Saul's. When the rumor began to circulate            memory of Ruth the Moabitess and grandmother of
through the land, therefore, that Saul was determined         Jesse, granted them the requested refuge.
to kill David, forcing him to flee for safety into the            This, however, proved to be only the beginning.
very horders of Philistia, the land was ripe for fer-         Throughout the land there were more who expressed
ment.     There were undoubtedly those who merely             their discontent with the actions of Saul, and the
accepted the actions of the king as something which he        treatment they received was much the same until
had a right to do regardless of his motive: and there         many of them had to flee to Adullam also. Each in
were those as always who received a certain sense of          turn was welcomed and room was made for  all, with
glee out of seeing a great hero fall. There were, no          the result that soon all who were unsettled in the land,
doubt, those who felt badly because of the injustice of       those without work and in debt, those who were
the king but meekly accepted it in the end; and there         rejected in their communities for whatever reason it
were those whose sense of indignation was aroused and         might be began to drift down to Adullam. It was a
who would not be silent about it. It was this latter          rough, crude and motley throng that made up that
group which very quickly found itself in difficulty.          wilderness community; but soon it numbered nearly
Saul was not one to deal lightly with those who failed        four hundred and there was a joy and enthusiasm that
to support him. He had come a long way from the day           permeated throughout, unmatched by anything else in
when he had quietly forgiven those whofailed to support       Israel.      Even more, the prophet Gad soon joined their
him prior to the battle of Jabeshgilead, and he was now       number to teach the people and instruct them in the
quite a different man. No sooner did a man dare to            way of the Lord.          They were poor; but they shared
speak out in criticism of the king than the cruel hand        joyfully what little they had, and together singing the
of punishment was there to afflict him.                       psalms that David wrote, they worshipped their God
   Among the very first to feel the heavy hand of Saul's      with pleasure.
wrath were the members of David's own family. They                At last the strength of David and his company had
had actually had nothing at all to do with David's actions    been built up sufficiently for them to begin to identify
while serving Saul, but that made little difference to        themselves more clearly with the nation to which they
the king. The fact of the matter was that David had not       belonged.      God appeared to Gad and commanded that
done anything either to merit the disfavor of Saul. His       they should leave Adullam, which bordered between
family was counted guilty merely because they were            Israel and Philistia and was often identified with the
related to David. Neither did it make any difference          latter.    He commanded that they should go rather into
that David's family constituted the chief and most noble      the wilderness of Juda. Thus it was that David moved
family in the city of Bethlehem. Hardly had the hatred        to the forest of Hareth.
of Saul against David come out into the open than the            Meanwhile, Saul had become almost frantic because
servants of Saul were to be found in Bethlehem,               of his inability to do away with David. He felt the
watching, asking and generally prying into every              underlying ferment of the people, and wildly he lashed
matter that had to do with the family of Jesse. Very          out at any one who questioned his actions toward David.
evidently, they were looking for something upon the           It only made matters worse, until discontent was to be
basis of which Jesse and his children could be blamed,        found everywhere. To Saul this meant treachery so
while the servants of Saul neglected no opportunity to        that he no longer trusted anyone but his own family and
discourage everyone from giving any assistance or             his own tribe, while even here he suspected treason
encouragement to the house of Jesse at all. It was not        and was determined to weed it out. Thus it was that he
long before Jesse and all of his children realized that       called the men of Benjamin together and spoke to them
there could be no safety for them any longer in Israel        saying, "Here, now, ye Benjaminites; will the son of
as long as Saul was king; and gathering what posses-          Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and
sions they could, they all fled to Adullam to live with       make you all captains of thousands, and captains of
David in the caves of the ground.                             hundreds; that all of you have conspired against me,
   For David, it must have surely been a very en-             and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath
couraging thing to be joined in his exile by all of his       made a league with the son of Jesse, and there  is'none
father's house. Through the years his older brothers          of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my
had gradually become reconciled to the very evident           son hath stirred up my servant against me to lie in
fact that the youngest of them was ordained by God to         wait, as at this day?"
fill a most important place. Now they were among the             It was a crude and utterly wicked ploy on the part of
very first to join in support behind their exiled brother,    Saul to arouse support and sympathy for his own cause.
and we may be sure that David appreciated it very             He knew as much as any one about the friendship that
much. Only with regards to his parents did David find         existed between Jonathan and David, yet he would fault
a problem. They were old and the life of Adullam was          the men of his own tribe because none of them had
rugged and uncertain. Once again, because there was           thought to come and tell him about it. Even more, it
no safety for them any more in Israel, David found            was his way of letting them know that nothing was
himself forced to appeal to the heathen. This time it         more dear to him than the destruction of David, not
was the king of Moab to whom David addressed him-             even his own son. He wanted every one of them to tell'
self, asking, "Let my father and  my.mother, I pray           him everything they knew that could be used against


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    325


David, even if it reflected on his own children.                of all this, less or more."
   This was the opportunity that Doeg the Edomite was               Little did Ahimelech realize, however, how full of
waiting for. He had been holding what he had seen at            hatred Saul was. His answer showed no respect for
Nob until it could be turned to his own greatest advan-         the office of Ahimelech and no desire to find the way
tage.       Now the time had come. Quickly he stepped           of truth and justice. In anguished fury he answered,
forward and spoke, "I saw the son of Jesse coming to            "Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy
Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he enquired            father's house."       Then, turning to his immediate
of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave            servants and bodyguards, he said, "Turn, and slay the
him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."                       priest of the LORD; because their hand also is with
   This was exactly the kind of information Saul                David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not
wanted, not just because he wanted someone whom he              shew it to me."
could use as a demonstration of how determined he was               A stunned silence fell upon the whole group of men
to allow no one to give assistance to David, but it also        standing there.      These were Israelites and even
gave him someone upon whom he could vent his frus-              the most irreligious of them had been raised in awe of
tration.      Immediately he commanded that Ahimelech           the priesthood. Not one of them moved. They could
and all of the priests of Nob should be brought before          not do it.       But there was one there with no such
him for judgment. Into the presence of Saul they were           inhibitions, Doeg the Edomite, and Saul knew it. To
brought and without asking any questions Saul made              him Saul turned next and said, "Turn thou, and fall
his accusation, "Why have ye conspired against me,              upon the priests."       It was undoubtedly the darkest
thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him          hour in Saul's reign.      From priest to priest Doeg
bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him,           went unto all of forty five of them lay dead in their
that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this      own blood. But even that was not enough. Next Doeg
day?"                                                           went to the city of Nob to enter the homes of the priest
   Ahimelech was indignant. The utter injustice of              and to slay their wives and children. Of the whole
Saul's accusation was more than his sense of right-             family, only one understood what was happening in time
eousness could endure. He, after all, was the priest            to flee and save his own life. He was Abiathar, the son
of the Lord with as much right and authority in his             of Ahimelech.      He, too, made his way to David and
position as Saul had in his. Moreover, his conscience           reported to him what had happened.
was clear.        David had come to him and told him               It was a dark day for David too; for he was not
exactly what he was doing; and there was very much              without guilt in the whole matter.       He had lied to
more reason to trust the words of David than those of           Ahimelech,     and believing his lie, Ahimelech had
Saul.    His answer was in reality a counter accusation,        defended him before Saul.        Tearfully, he said to
"And who is so faithful among all thy servants as               Abiathar , "I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite
David, which is the king's son in law, and goeth at thy         was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have
bidding, and is honourable in this house? Did I then            occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's
begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let         house. Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh
not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to          my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in
all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing        safeguard."


    FROM HOLY  WRIT-

                            The Book of Hebrews

                                                    by Rev. G.  Lubbers

THE "SONS" CALLED "BRETHREN" BY JESUS                           causes the brethren to be one new manhood, one great
Hebrews  2.91-13                                                family of the sanctified and the redeemed.
   The Son is indeed perfected through suffering. He                In verse 11 this is stated in the "following words
brings a great many brethren to glory, since it                 "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified
behooved God to perfect him through suffering for that          are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to
very end. However, the writer has more to say about             call them brethren."       There is some difference of
this Jesus and the brethren who are saved through him.          opinion concerning who is meant with the "one" in the
It must also be made abundantly clear that the eternal          phrase "all out of  on&?". There are some who hold
Son of God comes into the most intimate relationship            that this refers to God. Christ and all those who are
with all the sons to save them.       He must come into         sanctified by him are out of one, that is, they both
such a relationship with all the sons so that the eternal       have their  sonship  from God. This is evidently true in
Son in the flesh, through his suffering and resurrection,       itself.    But the question is whether this is in accord


326                                             THE STANDMD  BEARER


with the context and the general teaching here in-this          of Israel. It will therefore be a faithful church  @the
entire section. The writer here is emphasizing the              unity of faith and hope upon God.     From the east and
very humanity of the Christ who is exalted at God's             from the west, from every tongue, tribe, people and
.-right hand: rather than his Deity.       It is strong and     nation they will be gathered. It will be a holy catholic
intimate relationship to the brethren by means of               church, in which each member is a brother, a living
participation in blood that is emphasized and enunciated;       member.       And this will be brought to pass after the
(verse 14) It is for this reason that we hold that the          author has cried out "my God, my God,  -why  hast thou
sense of the Spirit here in the "all out of one" is that        forsaken me." Did not Jesus say in the high priestly
both Christ and all the brethren are out of one flesh.          prayer in John 17:6 "I have manifest thy name unto the
They are all from one common human stock, they are              men which thou gavest me out of the world"? And this
all out of Adam. This is clearly stated in Luke  3:38,          "Name" is God's saving power and grace and truth.
where we read  ". . .and Adam the son of God." All are          The blind received their sight, the lame walked and the
out of the one Adam, the first Adam, and thus out of            lepers were cleansed, and the poor had the gospel
God.       For Christ did not assume the nature of angels,      preached to them. And blessed is  hewho is not offend-
but he assumed the nature of the sons of Abraham.               ed at such a brother!
    Furthermore, in this relationship each has its own             The writer could have stopped here with the quota-
role, Christ the eternal Son in the flesh, and the sons         tion from the Old Testament Scriptures to prove his
of adoption. The former is the sanctifier and the latter        point.    That he proceeds is not redundancy, but rather
are those who are santified. Not only does God bring            it will cast more light on this important gospel-truth
`~the sons to an external glory, but that glory to which        of Christ's relationship to the "brethren."
God brings all -the sons is one which befits saints,               Yes, there is still another Scripture passage which
inwardly sanctified, free from all sin and guilt, in the        teaches clearly that Christ is not ashamed of the
true liberty of sons, whom the Son hath made free               brethren, who are his, being given to him by the
indeed.      And therefore we read here of both those who       Father in sovereign election of grace. The writer
are santified and of him who santifies.                         quotes from Isaiah 8:17 as follows "I shall put my trust
   To indicate the close relationship between the               in him" Here the Christ in the flesh is presented as
sanctifier and those sanctified the writer tells us that        being very really man. He is introduced as having his
~Christ is "not ashamed to call them brethren." The             personal confidence upon the Lord, and sanctifying the
fact is that there is every reason why one would think          Lord in his heart. He would live by the promises of God,
that Christ  wpuld  be ashamed to call us brethren. He          and would believe the promises of God's aid and pro-
is the Most High God as to His divine nature, He is             tection as spoken of in the Scriptures. A little study of
holy, harmless and undefiled, while we are very filthy          Isaiah 8 will show that this has great significance. For
land guilty sinners. Yet, he is not ashamed to call us          the situation was that in Isaiah 8 the prophet and the
brethren.      Such is not only his love for us, but such is    great multitude of the people did not see eye to eye.
his station toward us. He is like unto us in all things,        The vast majority in Israel in the time of Isaiah and
sin excepted. He is born, grows and developes, and              King Ahaz were such that they looked to the king of
suffers and dies.                                               Assyria for help and not to the Lord. The promise of
   Where did Jesus call all those, who are sanctified           God to David by the prophet Nathan did not mean any-
by him, brethren?                                               thing to them. They did not look for that Stone laid by
   This Jesus did before his coming into the flesh              God in Zion. They sought their safety and salvation in
through the Spirit in the prophets, and this he also did        a confederacy, and did not place their hope upon the
while upon earth in his suffering and resurrection, and         living God to sanctify Him in their hearts. But the
this he does now from out of heaven. However, the               prophet here speaks in such a way that he introduces
writer has specifically in mind that thus Christ spoke          the Christ as saying; that in the midst of this all and
of the church already in the Scriptures of the Old              notwithstanding what Israel does in placing her trust
Testament. Here already the church could read of one            upon a confederacy, he will place his trust in the Lord.
who is to come and who will be a brother amongst                This is also what happened historically. For, when
the brethren.                                                   Christ is hanging on the Cross, the enemies accuse
   The writer quotes from various passages of the Old           him jeeringly "He trusted in God." (Matthew  27:43) He
Testament Scriptures.                                           trusted in God in the midst of the brethren. He was
   The first passage which is quoted is taken from              not ashamed to call the children "brethren" and to
Psalm  22:23.      This passage is quoted in verse 13, and      walk trustingly as a brother amongst them.
it reads as follows "I will make thy Name known                    The writer has one more passage to show that the
among my brethren." Here the writer is speaking to              eternal Son was not ashamed to call those who are
God.    And he is speaking of what he will do with God's        sanctified by him "brethren." I refer to verse  13b,
name in'reference to his brethren, who are called "my           where we read "Behold, I and the children which God
brethren."       These brethren are not mere  "blood-           hath given me" The quotation here too is from Isaiah
brothers," but are the brethren which belong to the             8:18. There we read, "Behold I and the children whom
"church" elected unto everlasting life. Wherefore we            the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders
read further in this Psalm (and it is quoted. here) "in         in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in
the midst of the church will I praise thee." The Christ         mount Zion."
will cause God to dwell upon the hymns and the praises             How must we understand this passage? Who are


                                                THE STAND&D BEARER                                                        327


these children? No doubt these "children" are liter-            are those  to. whom he shall say: Depart from me ye
ally the- two sons which God gave to Isaiah in those            workers of iniquity, I never knew you.         But he is not
most troublesome-and faithless times in Israel. The             ashamed of the many brethren, but brings them forth
one son was given the name Shear-jashub, which                  from the captivity  -of Babylon, taking captivity captive
.meant: a remnant shall return. The other son was               and gives gifts unto men."' (Ephesians  4:8; Psalm
given the name  Maher-shalal-hash-baz,  which meant:            68:19)
making speed to the spoil he hasteth to the prey. In               However, this must not be misunderstood. It is not
these two names the entire history of Israel is shown           all Israel that is out of Israel. We must keep this in
`to be in the hands of God, and is connected with the           mind also when we come to the next verse here in this
naine  of the birth of the Son of `the virgin, whose Son        chapter.     Only then will we be able to see the glory of
will be called Immanuel, God-with-us! These two sons            this section in which the true humanity of Christ is
which God gave to Isaiah would all their life long be           taught.
for signs and the wonders of God in Israel. For the Lord
would surely make a speedy end to both Ephraim and
Syria as they rose up against the Lord and His anointed         CHRIST LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE FLESH
king on David's throne. The Lord will bring up Assyria          AND BLOOD OF THE CHILDREN - Hebrews 2:14
against both of them and destroy them. That was the                The writer to the Hebrews here continues to say
meaning of the name  Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  On the             something about organic unity of Christ to the "chil-
other hand the true Israel would go down into Babylon           dren" of election of grace as this relates to "blood
with Judah.       However, they would not remain there          and flesh." Yes, they are all out of one, both he who
forever.      Although all shall not return again to the        sanctifies and they who are sanctified.             But this
land of Immanuel where the "Child" shall be born,               relationship must not be misunderstood. Writes the
whose name is called Immanuel, yet a remnant shall              author "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
return to the land of promise from the Captivity. And           of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the
that was the meaning of the prophetic and signifi-              same; that through death he might destroy him that had
cant name of the son called Shear-jashub.                       the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews  2:14)
   These sons of Isaiah therefore are prophetic of the              Perhaps we may state at the outset that we must
return. and salvation of the "remnant,"  (S&c&. And             properly distinguish in the text between "blood and
these  ".sheaY" are the remnant according to election of        flesh," the "sons" who are partakers of the same,
grace.      And Christ stands in the midst of this remnant      and finally the place which the eternal Son has in
of election and is not ashamed of them, but says "Be-           "partaking of the flesh and blood" in the midst of the
hold, I and the children which God has given me." He            children.    The larger outer circle of flesh and blood
says this trusting in the Lord even in the deepest              (mankind), the more limited circle of the sons, accord-
depths of his suffering at Calvary; he says this now in         ing to election, within the larger circle (a smaller
glory while he ever lives to pray for them, `"for the           circle) and finally in the center of this smaller circle
men which thou hast given me out of the world." (John           the Christ of God, as he took part by the Incarnation of
17:6)                                                           the flesh and blood as the children. took part of the
   Christ is ashamed of some men in the world.. There           same.



         CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH-


                                       The Doctrine Of Sin

                                        The First Period, 80-250 A. D.


                                                     by Rev.  H. Veldman

   The Canons of Dordt, of course, also express                     and the whole man was holy: but revolting from God by
themselves on the subject of sin. Articles I through IV,            the instigation of the devil, and abusing the freedom of
of Heads III and IV, which articles speakfor  themselves,           his own will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and on
read as follows:                                                    the contrary entailed on himself blindness of mind,
                                                                    horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of judg-
          Man was originally formed after the image of God.         ment, became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate  inheart
   His understanding was adorned with a true and saving             and will, and impure in his affections... .Man after the
   knowledge of his Creator,. and of spiritual things; his-         fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt
 heart and will were upright; all his affections pure;              stock produced a corrupt offspring.       Hence all the


328                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


   posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have derived        internal conflict which sin has introduced into the
   corruption from their original parent, not by imitation,     nature of man; it does not form a part of our nature,
   as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propaga-        nevertheless it is spread through the whole human
   tion of a vicious nature. . . ..Therefore all men are        race.    We come to sin, writes he, without ourselves
   conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath,
   incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin,        knowing how.
   and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating            Origin, born about the year 185 and having died
   grace of  the Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor         probably in the year 254, also conceives of sin as a
   willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of         universal corruption, since the world is apostate. In
   their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation       his writings against Celsus, III, 66, he writes: "Now
   . . ..There remain, however, in man since the fall, the      here Celsus appears to me to have committed a great
   glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some        error, in refusing  to those who are sinners  by  nature,
   knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differ-      and also by habit, the possibility of a complete trans-
   ence between good and evil, and discovers some regard        formation, alleging that they  cannnot  be cured even by
   for virtue, good order in society, and for maintaining
   an orderly external deportment. But sofar is this light      punishment.      For it clearly appears that all men are
   of nature from being sufficient to bring him to asaving      inclined to sin by nature, and some not only by nature
   knowledge of God, and to true conversion, that he is         but by practice, while not all men are incapable of an
   incapable of using it aright  even in things natural and     entire transformation." And in III, 62, he declares the
   civil.     Nay further, this light, such as it is, man in    following:
   various ways renders wholly polluted, and holds it in            "While if by those `who were without sin' he (Celsus,
   unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable       H.V.) means such as have never at any time sinned,  -
   before God.                                                  for he made no distinction in his statement, -we reply
   Also in these articles  the same truth concerning sin        that it is impossible for a man thus to be without sin.
is held before us. Man has retained glimmerings of              And this we say, excepting, of course, the man under-
natural light, but this must never be confused with             stood to be in Christ Jesus, who `did no sin.' Now we
spiritual light. Sin, also here, is a vicious corruption        assert that it is impossible for .a man to look up to
of man's entire nature. He has retained glimmerings             God (adorned) with virtue from the beginning. For
of natural light, but he is so corrupt that he is incapable     wickedness must necessarily first exist in men. As
of using even this natural light aright in things natural       Paul also says, `When the commandment came, sin
and civil.                                                      revived, and I died.' "
   We now return to the writings of the early Church               Nevertheless the writers of this present period do
Fathers, in the period 80 to 250 A.D. Justin Martyr,            not express as strong a sense of sin as those of the
an Apologist of the second century, complains of the            following.     On the contrary, jubilant feelings prepon-
universality of sin and declares that the whole human           derated in view of the finished work of the Saviour;
race is under the curse, when, in his dialogue with             counterbalanced by external contests and persecutions,
Trypho, a Jew, he writes in chapter 95, discussing the          rather than by internal penitential struggles. It is as
topic: "Christ took upon Himself the curse due to us,"          one sided to expect in the first centuries the experience
he writes as follows:                                           of later times, as it is to misconceive the necessity
       For the whole human race will be found to be under       of the later developments.
   a curse. For it is written in the law of Moses, "Cursed
   is every one that continueth not in all things that are
   written in the book of the law to do them." And no one                THE DOCTRINE OF SIN IN GENERAL
   has accurately done all, nor will you venture to deny           Though sin was recognized as a fact, yet definitions
   this; but some more and some less than others have           of its precise nature were to a great extent indefinite
   observed the ordinances enjoined. But if those who           and unsettled during this period. The heretical sects
   are under this law appear to be under a curse for not
   having observed all the requirements, how much more          of the  Gnostics in general (Gnosticism believed in
   shall all the nations appear to be under a curse who         dualism. The Most High God is an unfathomable depth.
   practise idolatry, who seduce youths, and commit other       Over against Him stands the material world, itself
   crimes? If, then, the Father of all wished His Christ        evil, and formed by a God of lower rank, the Jehovah
   for the whole human family to take upon Him the curses       of the Old Testament. Gnosticism also made a haughty
   of all, knowing that, after He had been crucified and        distinction between the lower, common faith of the
   was dead, He would raise Him up, why do you argue            masses and the higher knowledge of the elite), fore-
   about  Him, who submitted to suffer these things             runners of Manichaeism, with their dualistic notions,
   according to the Father's will, as if He were accursed,      either ascribed the origin of evil to the demiurge, or
   and do not rather bewail yourselves? For although His        maintained that it was inherent in matter.
   Father caused Him to suffer these things in behalf of                                                           On the
   the human family, yet you did not commit the deed as         other hand, the Christian theologians, generally speak-
   in obedience to the will of God.          For you did not    ing, agreed in seeking the source of sin in the human
   practise piety when you slew the prophets. And let           will and clearing God of all responsibility. Such a
   noneof  yousay:  If His Father wishedHim to suffer this,     view easily led to the opinion of Origin, that moral
   in order that by His stripes the human race might be         evil is something negative. This will become plain
   healed, we have done no wrong.                               when presently we quote Origin in this matter.
   Clement of Alexandria, a Greek writer of the third              A definition of sin, akin to that of the Stoics, is
century, directs our attention in particular to the             given by Clement of Alexandria.         He writes in the


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   329


Instructor, Book I, chapter 13, "Virtue Rational, Sin                 for ourselves, being adapted for ourselves and our
Irrational," as follows:                                              neighbors.
      Everything that is contrary to right reason is sin.             In this quotation Clement writes that everything that
   Accordingly, therefore, the philosophers think fit to           is contrary to right reason is sin. Virtue itself is a
   define the most generic passions thus: lust, as desire          state of the soul which is rendered harmonious by
   disodient to reason; fear, as weakness disobedient to           reason in respect to the whole life. He further con-
   reason; pleasure, as an elation of the spirit disobedient       siders sin as error; whatever is done through error
   to reason. If, then, disobedience in reference to rea-          of reason is transgression, and is rightly called
   son is the generating cause of sin, how shall we escape         hamavtnma,  sin. The different kinds of sin are lust,
   the conclusion, that obedience to reason - the Word -           fear and pleasure. One consequence of sin, he also
   which we call faith, will of necessity be the efficacious       writes elsewhere in another passage, is forgetfulness
   cause of duty? For virtue itself is a state of the soul
   rendered harmonious by reason in respect to the whole           of the truth, and, lastly, eternal death. That which is
   life. Nay, to crown all, philosophy itself is pronounced        done right, in obedience to reason, the followers of the
   to be the cultivation of right reason; so that, neces-          Stoics call  prosnkon  and  kathnkon,  that is, incumbent
   sarily, whatever is done through error of reason is             and fitting. What is fitting is incumbent. And obedi-
   transgression, and is rightly called (hamavtnma) sin.           ence is founded on commands. Christian conduct is the
      But that which is done right, in obedience to reason,        operation of the rational soul in accordance with a cor-
   the followers of the Stoics callproseekon  and katheekon,       rect judgment and aspiration after the truth. And the
   that is, incumbent and fitting. What is fitting is incum-       life of Christians, in which we are now trained, is a
   bent.    And obedience is founded on commands. And              system of reasonable actions, the things taught by the
   these being, as they are, the same as  counsels-
   having truth for their aim, train up to the ultimate goal       Word. This system is the commandments of the Lord.
   of aspiration, which is conceived of as the end                 Virtue is, therefore, rational, in harmony with reason.
                                                       (telos).
   And the end of piety is eternal rest in God. And the            Sin is irrational, anything that is contrary to right
   beginning of eternity is our end. The right operation           reason.      However, we do well to bear in mind that,
   of piety perfects duty by works; whence, according to           although Clement speaks of sin as irrational and of
   just reasoning, duties consist in actions, not in sayings.      virtue as rational, he nevertheless also states that the
   And Christian conduct is the operation of the rational          life of Christians is a system of reasonable actions,
   soul in accordance with a correct judgment and aspir-           that is, of those things that are taught by the Word,
   ation after the truth, which attains its destined end           and that this system is constituted of the command-
   through the body, the soul's consort and ally. Virtue           ments of the Lord. That sin is irrational and virtue
   is a will in conformity to God and Christ in life, ,rightly
   adjusted to life everlasting. For the life of Christians,       rational, therefore, does not mean that man himself
   in which we are now trained, is a system of reasonable          determines, in the way of his reason, what is virtue
   actions -that is, of those things taught by the Word -          and sin. Yet, the language of our Reformed Confes-
   an unfailing energy which we have called faith. The             sions is surely more profound than this in its descrip-
   system is the commandments of the Lord, which, being            tion of sin and the power of it. This, of course, is to
   divine statutes and spiritual counsels, have beenwritten        be expected.



EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


                 The Reformed Ecumenical Synod

                                    - And Its Ecumenism

                                                      by Rev. G. Van Baven

   In a former article our attention was directed                  Synods. Because of our own interest in this body, it is
toward that organization called "The Reformed  Ecu-                proper that we know what has been done by the R.E .S.
menicsl Synod," or, R.E.S. for short. To this body                 in the past. It has made decisions, and has committees
belong several of the Reformed and Presbyterian                    making studies, on various issues. To some of these I
church denominations from various parts of this earth.             hope, D.V., to call your attention in this and later.
We as Protestant Reformed Churches has also  con-                  articles.
sidered  the possibility of sending observers to its                  One significant subject, which remains a matter of


,330                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


continuing study, is the question of ecumenism. It                   Reformation and the Church of Rome, there are no
would seem that as soon as two or more church groups                 decisions of the Second Vatican Council to make such
gather together in our day, this subject inevitably                  expectations realistic.
: arises. I present some of the decisions taken by the                    Although the Roman Catholic Church shows a tend-
last R.E.S. in  1963 in  this field of study.                        ency to soften its attitude towards those who do not
                                                                     belong to that communion, and seems to have under
UNITY AND UNION AMONG REFORMED CHURCHES                              consideration a re-evaluation of the Bible in relation
                                                                     to tradition, yet there has not been any attempt on its
   Two documents before the last  R1E.S.  urged study                part towards removing the real barriers between the
and  .decisions  with regard to the relationship of Re-              Churches of the Reformation and the Church of Rome,
formed denominations with each other., One of these              > .i.e., the unscriptural doctrines and practices of the
documents came from the Reformed Churches of                         Roman Catholic Church.
Australia, another from the Gereformeerde  I<erken  in                    The Churches of the Reformation in their approach
the Netherlands.         Both favor closer ties between              to the Roman Catholic Church and its members cannot
Reformed,groups.  The R.E.S. decided:                                do otherwise than to point to the infallible Word of Cod
         1. Synod declare that it is desirable that the mem-         as the sole rule for faith and conduct, while praying
   ber churches seek to establish contact with other                 that the Holy Spirit may open the eyes of the Roman
                                                                     Catholic Church to the sole mediatorship of Christ,
   churches of Reformed structure, whether in the R.E.S.             and the truth of salvation by grace alone, as set forth
   or outside it, in order that, under the operation of the          in the Holy Scriptures.
   Holy Spirit, Reformed Churches may be brought into                     The Churches of the Reformation should assiduously
   closer ecclesiastical fellowship with one another.                resist tendencies to compromise with such practices of
         2. Synod declare that the unity among its member            the Church of Rome as are at variance with the
   churches, now coming to expression in mutual under-               centrality of Holy Scripture in the service of Cod and
   standing and cooperation in many spheres, should come             the simplicity of the New Testament worship. (p. 51).
   to expression in union wherever possible.
         3. That Synod refer this matter to the member           FIVE RECOMMENDATIONS ON ECUMENICITY
   churches for their earnest consideration, and request
   them to inform the secretariat of the R.E.S. on any              The  Gevefovmeevde Kevken in  Nedevland  presented
   developments on recommendations 1 and 2. (pg. 50).            a copy of a report on  Ecumenicity and  "Plu~ifo~mity"
   Such a decision is rather vague.              There is the    to the R.E .S. for their study and opinion. The report
question of the meaning of "closer ecclesiastical                was prepared by "Deputies for Ecumenicity" of the
fellowship."      If such "fellowship" involves corres-          Gevefovmeevde Kevken  for their Synod of Utrecht in
pondence between denominations to apprise each other             1959.     The R.E.S. gave the following recommendations
regarding mutual problems and solutions  - this could            with respect to that study:
prove very beneficial. But possibly this "fellowship"
involves something different than this. It should be                      1. That Synod express its appreciation of the VaSt
                                                                    amount of valuable material contained in this study,
further defined.                                                    particularly the statement of the nature of the Church
   The second point reminds one of the many other                   in relation to ecumenicity: that the Church of Jesus
ecumenical organizations of our day which urge unity                Christ is one, that the church in its visible aspect
of churches.        It is true that this is modified by the         must strive to manifest this oneness, and that in con-
addition, "wherever possible." What does that mean,                 sequence membership in the R.E.S., important though
to urge unity "wherever possible" of member churches                it is, does not exhaust the ecumenical task  of.a
of the R.E.S.? Does this mean that doctrinal differ-                Reformed Church.
ences among Reformed churches of the R .E.S. ought                        2. That  Synod express the hope that the "Deputies
to be ignored? Or is it doctrinal differences which                 for Ecumenicity" will continue to labor at the admit-
make union impossible? One receives the impression                  tedly unfinished task of solving "the concentration
from the decision that those who subscribe to the                   problem"; that is, the basic question of the extent of
                                                                    the doctrinal agreement prerequisite to ecumenical
doctrinal basis of the R.E.S. ought to be able to unite             relations among churches.
together denominationally on the same basis. Is this                      3. That Synod express the wish that the "Deputies
the intent of the R.E.S. decision?                                  for Ecumenicity" expand their study so as to include
                                                                    the consideration of Calvin's evaluation from the view-
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE                                                point of ecumenicity not only of the Church of Rome
- ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURGH-                                            and the Lutheran Churches and the reformed episcopal
   The "attention of the R.E.S. is called to a certain              Church of England, but also his attitude towards the
development in the Roman Catholic Church of which                   Anabaptists of that day; in other words, that the
the Second Vatican Council gives evidence." The ques-               deputies face the ecumenical problem involved in the
                                                                    distinction between churches and sects.
tion was raised whether there ought not to be a re-                       4. Taking note of the fact that the "Deputies for
vision in the attitude of the churches of the Reforma-              Ecumenicity" have not completed their study, and in
tion over against Rome. The following declaration was               view of the undeniable fact that outspoken liberals are
made:                                                               active, and in some instances prominent, in the W.C.C.
         Although the latest development in the Roman               and that some of its member churches knowingly
    Catholic Church seems to have raised high expecta-              tolerate and even highly honor as preachers and
   tions in some Protestant circles regarding the possi-            teachers, deniers of cardinal truths of the Christian
    bility of a reapproachment of the Churches of the               religion, Synod is assured that in their further study j


                                                THE'STANDARD BEARER                                                           331


  `,the deputies will do justice to the antithesis of belief          councils or ought rather to heJ.p  bring into being a new
    and unbelief, the true Church and the false, as taught            evangelical council of churches.
   in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession and Chapter              That expresses the "ecumenism" favored by the
   XXV, v of the Westminster Confession of Faith and               R.E.S.      Can we as Protestant Reformed Churches
   in such passages of Scripture as Gal. 1:8, 9: II Cor.          work with this organization which has adopted the
    6:14-18;.  and II John 10, 11. Synod looks forward with
   great interest to the results that may be expected of           above? The above five paragraphs represent  only a
   further study of these deputies, presuming that no             declaration in response to a study made by one denoin-
  definite steps concerning affiliation with any ecumenical       ination.     Yet questions arise. What does the R.E.S.
   organization will be taken by the Gereformeerde Kerken          conceive the "ecumenical task of a Reformed Church!'
   in Nederland, without consultation beforehand with the         to be? (paragraph 1).          They state  thar it includes
   R.E.S.                                                         MORE than membership in the R.E.S. Howmtich  `more?
       5. That Synod express the desire that the "Deputies        The questions raised in paragraph- 4 concerning the
   for Ecumenicity" in their further study emphasize on           W.C.C. are very pertinent. The passages of scripture
   the one hand the need of strengthening the R.E.S. and           and confessions on that subject are relevant.. Fact is,
   on the other hand give serious consideration to the            though, that answers are not definitely given to the
   question whether a Reformed Church should affiliate            questions which are asked. One must wait and see
   itself with one or another of the existing evangelical         what their final stand on the W.C.C. will be.




  THE LORD GAVE THE  WORD-



                    Some Principles  of  Missions

                                                      by  Pyof.  H.  Hanko


   Our thesis has been that the preaching of the gospel           broadest course. When the gospel was first preached,
is the principle sign of the return of Jesus Christ. It           it was limited to Jerusalem and surrounding environs.
is the principle sign because  .it is the means in the            But, according to the Lord's command, the gospel was
purpose of Christ to bring about the other signs both             brought to the entire known world of that day. It
in the history of the world and in the development of             spread to Antioch in Syria. And from there the gospel
the church. In our last article we discussed in what              of the cross was carried into Asia Minor and Greece,
way the preaching of the gospel realizes the fundamen-            Macedonia and Italy. With the close of the apostolic
tal division of the world into the two camps of Chris-            era, the gospel had been preached in every nation then
tianity and Paganism, "Jerusalem" and "Gog and                    known.
Magog." We pointed out that in the Christian nations,                 With the  fail of the Roman Empire and the settle-
the gospel has national impact. The gospel has in-                ment of Europe by the barbarian tribes, the gospel
fluence on the life of the nation and alters its character        was also brought into the heartland of Europe north of
sd that the nation becomes civilized.        But the gospel       the Alps.      Through extensive and oftentimes  heroi:
never accomplishes this in all the nations of the earth.          missionary labors, the gospel was brought to  everjr
Nor is this God's intention. Rather, in the nations of            barbarian tribe and Europe was converted.  Wifh  the
paganism, the gospel only saves those "who are                    opening of a new continent in our own land, the gospel
ordained to eternal life" without having this national            was preached here also. And when the vast migrations
influence which brings the nation into the camp of                of Europe filled this land, the gospel was brought to
civilization.    The nations themselves remain in dark            these shores and the church established in America.
heathendom .                                                          But always in these nations the gospel influenced
   As the end of the world nears therefore, there is              the entire life of the nation so that it became Christian.
a fundamental difference between the two camps into               The entire nation was affected by the preaching of the
which the world is divided by means of the gospel. On             gospel; civilization was developed; the lands were
the one hand there is the camp of Christian nations.              Christianized. This has continued till the present day.
Already in our day these nations are clearly defined.                 The result is that the nations of the "West" are
They are the nations in which the gospel has run its              what we commonly call "Nominal Christendom."


332                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


       However, this does not mean in any sense of the        return.    These characteristics do  not  mean that all
word that all the citizens of these Christian nations         these people in the nation are God's elect. This is far
are elect people of God and members of the church             from the case.      Rather, the situation is as it always
which is the body of Christ. Such is far from the case.       was in the nation of Israel during the Old Dispensation.
We need only look about us today at our own land to           The nation  as a whole was Israel "to whom pertaineth
see how far from the truth this really is. Yet these          the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the
Christian nations are characterized by certain dis-           giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
tinguishing marks.        In the first place, as we have      promises.". But the fact of the matter was that "they
already said; these nations have become the centers of        are not all Israel that are of Israel." This was never
civilization.    In them has been found the progress of       the case. Many who belonged to the nation were not
science, art, technology, philosophy and all branches         true Israel. They were a part of the nation; they bore
of learning. They have been the leaders in subduing           in their flesh the sign of the covenant. But they were
the earth and have stood in the vanguard of the advance       not God's elect.      The true Israel was only a small
of knowledge. No doubt, this is chiefly true because          minority, a "remnant according to the election of
the gospel in its very nature emphasizes education and        grace," a "seven thousand who had not bowed the knee
learning -because it emphasizes the knowledge of God.         to Baal," a "cottage in a vineyard, a lodge in a garden
And therefore as the gospel has penetrated into the           of cucumbers, a besieged city."
very life of the nation, the nation has become a re-             So it is true in the nations which belong to Christen-
pository of culture.                                          dom. Outwardly Christian they are; but outwardly only.
       In the second place, generally speaking, this has         Yet this is precisely the reason why Antichrist
taken place in nations divided according to the age-old       comes from these nations.        He is  Antichrist  (anti
division of the sons of Noah. It is particularly the          Christ) only because he comes in the place of Christ
descendants  .of Japheth who have been chiefly involved       and opposes Christ.      But he must know about Christ
in this. That is, the gospel has been brought to bear         in order to do this. He must be one who retains an
upon these nations who are descendants of himof whom          outward profession of the Christian religion and main-
it was said: "Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem."      tains that what he proposes as the religionof his realm
The civilizing force of the gospel has been chiefly           is indeed true Christianity. Thus the chief feature of
found among these people.                                     the kingdom of Antichrist is that it is apostasy from
   In the third place, the entire nation has been             the revelation of God in Christ given through the
brought into the institutional church. Not simply a few       preaching of the gospel.      Christendom develops into
scattered individuals; not simply aminority of families;      nominal Christianity; and nominal Christianity develops
but the entire nation has become a part of the institu-       into anti-Christianity. But Antichrist could not possibly
tion of the church of Christ. The result is that the          come out of paganism. His kingdom retains the name
nation, in its generations, and organically considered,       of Christendom and he is insistent that this be so. No
is composed of those who belong to the broad lines of         clearer evidence of this is to be found than in our own
the covenant.      The generations are born within the        country, where the church has become in the most
historical dispensation of the covenant, are brought up       literal sense of the word anti-Christian. While indeed
under the influence and teaching of covenant instruction,     there is an effort to retain the name "Christianity"
receive the signs of the covenant and live within its         and while surely to deny the fact that our country is
historical influence.       In subsequent years, many of      a Christian country is to run the risk of denunciation;
these children no longer are a part of the covenant           the fact is that our country is not Christian in the true
lines; but this is because in the generations that follow,    sense of the word - the sense of a pure and untarnished
many fall away.         They did belong to the covenant at    confession of the truth of Scripture.
one time; and the results of this are still evident in           But paganism is quite different from all this.
them.                                                            Indeed the gospel has come into these nations. It
   In the fourth place, no matter how wicked a nation         has been preached in many of them for a millennium
may become, it still retains some evidences of the fact       now. And there is no doubt about it but that the church
that it was part of the church. In our own country            has also been gathered from these nations, for God
there is, e.g., an ostensible belief in God. This is          gathers His Church from every nation and tribe and
recognized to such an extent that the name of God is          tongue. But a profounddifference nevertheless remains
included in many state documents; the motto "In God           between these nations and the nations of Christendom.
we trust" is included on our coins; the name of God is        In the first place, these nations (particularly of Africa
retained in oaths taken for public office; the pledge of      and Asia) have, for the most part remained in the
allegiance to the flag includes the phrase: "one nation       darkness of paganism. Civilization and culture have
under God", etc.         It may be  nominal  Christianity     not flourished among them, but passed them by. They
which characterizes our nation; but it is most emphat-        remain uncivilized and barbaric. They did not contri-
ically Christianity. So much is this true that Scripture      bute to the advance of knowledge. This is no doubt due
calls such nominal Christendom by the name of                 to the binding of Satan described so vividly in Revela-
"Jerusalem" or "the camp of the saints," etc.                 tion 20, for in his binding he was unable to deceive the
   These distinguishing features are of considerable          nations on the four corners of the earth. But this is
importance in our understanding of the role of the            also due to the fact that the gospel did not enter into
preaching of the gospel as a principle sign of Christ's       the life of the nation and alter its character. The


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          333

Church was plucked out as the gospel "glanced" off                    them they are content.
the periphery of the nation.                                             The gospel does all these things. This is the point
        In the second place, and closely connected withthis,          we are making. And, as the gospel does all these things,
the nation was not brought into the institutional church.             the purpose of God is being accomplished.
As far as its national character is concerned, it con-                   No doubt, inasmuch as Antichrist will rule over a
tinued to live in paganism with pagan religions. The                  world-wide empire, he will succeed for a brief time in
religions which characterize these nations are funda-                 imposing Western civilization and culture upon these
mentally different even from the nominal Christianity                 nations against their will. There are strenuous efforts
of the West. Buddhism, Hinduism,fetishism, Confucian-                 being exerted to accomplish this end today. Antichrist
ism and all the others are pagan religions which bear                 apparently will succeed in welding the entire world
no resemblance to the religions of Western denomina-                  together into one empire. But the basic differences
tions of whatever kind they may be. And the difference                that exist between paganism and nominal Christendom
is that while the religions of the West are apostasies                are not so easily destroyed. The differences remain.
from the true faith of God in Christ, pagan religions                 The chasm persists. The unity of Antichrist's kingdom
are corruptions of the manifestation of God increation.               is a veneer which only hides a bad crack underneath.
The heathen have not the revelation of God in Christ.                 And before the end comes again, the differences will
They have the speech of God in the things that are                    burst forth and the antagonism which has always
made.        And their religions are apostasies from this             characterized the relations between the two will break
speech of God. These are described in their essential                 out in fury..
character by Paul in Romans 1. And, no matter that                        It ought to be evident that these truths have im-
the gospel came also into these nations and gathered                  portant implications with respect to the character of
the church, as nations they remained wedded to pagan                  missionary work.      And to these we shall turn, the
religions. This has not changed until the present day.                Lord willing, in our next article.
        In the third place, this fundamental difference
between these two "camps" in the world is so great
that there is a mutual distrust, a mutual hatred, a
mutual bitterness that time cannot erase.             Pagan           An Open Letter
nations       cannot    tell the difference between true              From the Board of the R.F.P.A.:
Christianity and false Christianity. And they hate it
all.       They therefore consider the West to be truly               To  ow  belovedsubscvibevs, consistovies andpastovs
Christian and they deal with them as such. But as
nations they have no sympathy with Christianity and                       Have you ever asked yourself the question, "Whydo
with the Christian nations; they despise them and will                I subscribe to the  Standard   Beaver?"       Or to put it
not have a part of their religion.                                    another way, "What can I get from the Standuvd  Bearer
        Perhaps it is true in our day that these nations are          that I can't get elsewhere?" Certainly, there must be
eager to lay their hands on the fruits and luxuries of                something about the  Standard   Beavevwhich recommends
our advanced civilization. Indeed, who can blame them                 itself to me.       Unlike other periodicals,. it is not
for wanting a share in our material prosperity so that                humorous; it is not light reading; and apicture  between
their lives of poverty, disease and early death are                   its covers is  ararity. Well, then, what is its attraction?
changed? But the Christianity of the West they detest.                   We believe its attraction lies in its sound exposi-
How evident this is. As the nations which have been                   tion of God's Word, its fearlessness to face opposition,
sleeping in dark paganism for so many years gradually                 and its determination to sound the alarm in a church
emerge from sleep and become aware of what is                         world that has gone almost completely apostate. Take
happening in the world about them, they, too, want                    this away from your Standard  Beaver,  and substitute
their own place in the community of nations. But it is                pictures, a glossy cover, human philosophy, humor,
their own  place they want.        The strong nationalism             and a few human interest stories, and you would have
recently characteristic of these countries is a major                 just another average church magazine,  - interesting
news item of our times. They want to erase all traces            i from a human point of view, but spiritually dead.
of their former domination of foreign peoples. While                     Certainly, in gratitude to God we must do our best
they desire to join the community of nations and while                to obtain the widest possible circulation and make
they readily receive the benefits of the advanced                     the best possible use of the excellent material offered
technologies of their neighbors, they want nothing of the        : by our pastors. May we suggest to our churches:
religion of the West. When they become nations, as                       1) The occasional recommendation of articles from
often as not they expel immediately all the missionaries              the pulpit.
who labored there. Who can deny that the doors of the                    2) Finding room in your church bulletins for a
nations are rapidly being closed to missionary work?                  weekly reading schedule.
And it happens with startling frequency that once a                      3) The placing of a few issues of the Standard
nation has achieved independence, many in the nation                  Bearer in the lobby of your church for visitors.
who once were called Christians immediately revert               I       We feel that these three suggestions, if followed,
to their old pagan ways.        All traces of the religion of    ! will promote interest, spiritual growth, and circulation.
the West must be rooted out of these nations. They                                              Yours in His Service,
have their own religions -pagan religions; and with                                             Board of the R.F.P.A.


334                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
. . . .

  BOOK .RE VIE WS-

."  A..  S e r i o u s   - C a l l   T o   A   bevobt  a n d   H o l y   L i f e
              G o d   W i t h   U s ,   A   L i f e   o f   J e s u s   F o r   Y o u n g   R e a d e r s
                           T h e   M i n o r   P r o p h e t s
                                C a l v i n i s m ,   I t s   H i s t o r y , Principles and Perspectives
                                        Herman  B a v i n c k   E n   Z i j n   Tiidgenot-en

A SERIOUS CALL TO A DEVOUT AND                     lifetime and in this period of English       THE MINOR PROPHETS, by Jack P.
HOLY LIFE, by William Law; Wm. B.                  church history.                               Lewis; Baker Book House, 1966; 103
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1966; 313                                           Prof. H. Hanko     pp. $1.95.
pp., $1.95, paper..
                                                   GOD WITH US, A Life of Jesus For                If some society wanted to study the
           This paperback is an Eerdmans           Young Readers; by Marianne Radius;           minor        prophets in their historical
re-publication of a book first published           William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,           setting and as far as their chief
in 1728. William Law, the author, was              1966; 286  pp., $4.50.                       thoughts are concerned, this book could
born in 1686, a time which puts this                                                             serve as an introduction. It is some-
book in the era of dead orthodoxy in                  This Bible Story Book, written by a       what brief and sketchy, but written
E.ngland. And it is this dead orthodoxy            daughter of Catherine Vos whose own          from a conservative viewpoint and con-
which'is challenged by the book. Law               Bible Story Book is perhaps better            tains information which gives to these
writes in protest against the external             known, is not recommended to our              little known prophets attention which
religious practices of the day andcalls            readers.      The least of its faults are    ,they deserve. Recommended.
the church to live a holy and devout               sometimes strange explanations for the                                   Prof. H. Hanko
life in keeping with their outward con-            miracles: this explanation is offered
fession.                                           of the miracle of changing water into
           The book is wholly practical, with-     wine: "This was the first miracle
out any attempt being made to defend               Jesus did. Do you know why I think           CALVINISM, ITS HISTORY, PRINCI-
and develop the truth of Scripture. This           He did this first? It was because He          PLES and PERSPECTIVES, by Simon
is also an objection which has been                wanted us to know that we must serve         Kistemaker; Baker Book House, 166;
raised by others against it.              This     Him first of all in our daily lives. You      104 pp., $1.50 (paper).
objection is answered by Geoffrey W.               do not have to go to Africa as a
Bromiley' who insists that this was the            missionary to serve Jesus. Perhaps              This book is intended to be a study
type of book required by the times.                some day He will call you to go to           manual. It contains a short biography
While this `is perhaps true, it never-             Africa. And if He does, He will give         of John Calvin, a brief history of
theless remains a serious defect in the            you the special rewards He has prom-          Calvinism, a discussion of the prin-
book since the Christian's life from a             ised to all those who leave family           ciples of Calvinism (chiefly God's
practical point of view is rooted in,              and home for His sake. But you must           sovereignty), and a discussion of per-
and therefore can never be divorced                not wait till that day comes to start         spectives of Calvinism: the church's
from, his confession of the truth.                 serving Him.       He wants you to love      political task, educational task and call-
           While the book is of considerable       Him, and obey Him, and to enjoy Him          ing towards separate Christian organ-
value           and contains many pointed          too, right now, beginning today, at          izations.      Each chapter has a list of
insights into the dangers of hypocrisy             home, at school, yes, and in your play        questions added intended to stimulate
(a large part of the book deals with               and fun, and even at your parties"; a        discussion.      If any of our young peo-
prayer), it has strong ascetic and                 not always accurate presentation of the      ple's societies are looking for material
mystical tendencies. One also wonders              history; a confusing introduction into       for after recess programs, it would be
what Law's theology really was. E.g.,              the book of stories from the Old Testa-      well to consider this book. It is also a
he writes on p. 306: "The greatest                 ment.       The worst of the faults is a      handy book for reference, usable by
spirits of the heathen world, such as              constant play of Arminian theology of         anyone interested in the broader ques-
Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato,  Epicete-             the worst sort. So bad is this that I         tions of Calvinism.
tus, Marcus Antoninus, etc., owed all              would not want my children even to                                       Prof. H. Hanko
their greatness to a spirit of devotion.           read the book.
     "They were full of God; their wis-               All of which points to the fact that
dom and deep contemplations tended                 there is an important place yet to be         "HERMAN BAVINCK EN ZIJN TIJD-
only to deliver men from the vanity of             filled for a good Bible Story Book which      GENOTEN," Dr. R. H. Bremmer; J. H.
the world, the slavery of bodily pas-              can be of general use in our homes and        Kok N.V., Kampen, The Netherlands;
sions, that they might act as spirits              which will be a means to instruct our         306 pp; Price, f 22,75
that came from God, and weze  soon to              children in the marvelous truths of
return to Him."                                    Scripture. It is to be hoped that some          This book is a biography of a man
           The value of the book is to be found    day someone will  talce upon himself         who was undoubtedly not only a leading
especially in the glimpses of the                  or herself the writing of such a book.       theologian in the churches in the
spiritual state of the church in Law's                                        Prof. H. Hanko     Netherlands but a leading figure in the


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              335

 entire life of the Gereformeerde  Ker-           history. Something of this is expressed          and activities, as well. as of his-con-
 ken.       But this is more than a biog-         in the title of the book also: for it            temporaries. In fact, it rather am&es
 raphy.       When we remember that               speaks of Bavinck's  "Tijdgenoten,  "            me how much of  hi-s private corres-
 Bavinck's life-span extended from                contemporaries . The author explains             pondence is made available to the
 1854 to 1921, that this was a critical           this part of the book's title by pointing        public in this book.
 period in the history of the Reformed            to the' fact that Dr. Bavinck's con-.              I would call this book `a "must" for
 Churches in the Netherlands, and that            temporaries played an important role             anyone interested in Dutch church
 the Reformed movement in this country            in his life.      However, it is equally         history or in the Dutch .background  of
 especially in those years was very               true that Dr. Bavinck played animpor-            the Reformed movement in America.
 strongly and directly influenced from            tant role in the lives of his contem-            In fact, I would like to see a book like
 the Netherlands, then we can under-              poraries,       including      Dr. Abraham       this translated and published in our own
 stand that the biography of Bavinck is           Kuyper, Sr.                                      language.     But perhaps the market
 at the same time, - be it from a very              The book is interestingly written,             would not be large enough to warrant
 definite viewpoint, -the history of the          and it is also well documented. And it           this.
 Reformed movement in the Nether-                 furnishes many an interesting insight              Perhaps a few well-chosen photo-
 lands, and that it is very important for         into Bavinck's character and into the            graphs would have added some value.
 the understanding of that period of              behind-the-scenes aspect of his  life                                             H.C.B.


                              NOTICE                                                               IN MEMORIAM
 The Protestant Reformed Christian School of South                             The Ladies Aid Society of First Protestant Reformed
 Holland, Illinois, is in need of a teacher in the lower                       Church expresses its sympathy  tothe family of Mrs. L.
 room, to teach in grades 1 through 3. Please submit                           Vanden  Berg in the loss of their Mother, who was an
 applications to:                                                              honorary member of the Society.
                             Mr. Gise Van  Baren                                  Psalm  116:15  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is
                             16057 School Street                               the death of His saints."
                             South Holland, Illinois 60473                                           Mrs. D. Jonker, Pres.
                                                                                                     Mrs. J. Newhouse, Sec'y.

                              NOTICE
 The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School, the
 Lord willing, will open its doors September of 1967.
 Two teachers are needed: one for grades 1 to 4, the                                        RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
 other for grades 5 to 8.               Prospective teachers may
. write:                                                                       The Mary Martha Circle of the Southeast Protestant
                             Mr. Ray Brunsting                                 Reformed Church wishes to express its sympathy to
                             R.R.  2                                           Mrs. H. Kuiper, in the loss of her father,
                             Rock Valley, Iowa 51247                                            MR. W. J. DE VRIES
                   The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed                      "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
                                                    School Board               so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
                                                                               him." I Thess.  4:14.Mrs. M.  Schipper,  Pres.
                              NOTICE                                                                 .Mrs. C. Westra, Sec'y.
 The Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minnesota is
 in need of a teacher for the lower room for the coming
 school year. If interested, please contact:
                             Mr. Allen Hendriks
                             R.R. 2                                                           GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
                             Jasper, Minnesota 56144                           On April 26, 1967 our beloved parents
                                                                                         MR. AND MRS. JOHN VELTHOUSE
                             NOTICE                                            hope to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We
                                                                               give- thanks to our Covenant God for sparing them for
 Adams Street Christian School has need for six teach-                         each other and us these many years. We pray that God
 ers for the 1967-68 school year.               Four needed in                 may continue-to bless and comfort them.
 lower grades, two in Junior High.                Half day basis                                Mr. and Mrs. Henry Velthouse
 available for some grades. If interested, or for further                                            Grandchildren
 details call collect to:                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. John Velthouse
                             Mr. Edward Ophoff                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Irvan Velthouse
                                   Phone CH 3-5874                                              Robert Dale
                             1107 Boston St., S.E.                                                   Great Granddaughter
                             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507                                           Debbie Lynn


336                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        NEWS  FROM  OUR  CHURCHES-
                                              April 1, 1967
       Rev. D. Engelsma is considering two calls; the first    on "Proof of the Resurrection". Special music and
from our church in Randolph, Wis., and the second from         refreshments were also provided to enhance this hour
our church at South Holland, Ill.                              of Christian fellowship.
                            * * *                                                          * * *
  Beacon Lights Singspiration turned out to be one of             Pavents  of young men,  are your sons interested in
great satisfaction for the young people of the Beacon          attending our Seminary in the future? If so, they may
Lights staff.      The evening of Resurrection Day saw         obtain a Seminary Catalogue from your pastor or  con-
the largest crowd ever assembled in First Church for           sistory clerk at their  onvenience. The Theological
an after-service singspiration. The spirited singing           School Committee and our professors have made this
was led by Mr. Phil Lotterman, of our Southwest                booklet available to them, which contains such infor-
Church.      Special numbers included a vocal duet and a       mation as s  :hool calendar, courses taught, require-
piano-organ duet.         Mr. and Mrs. C. Jonker sang          ments for entrance as well as graduation, etc. A close
"Christ Arose", accompanied at the piano by their              look at the curriculum reveals that our Seminary leans
daughter, Marilyn; Mary Kregel was at the console              heavily in the direction of exegetical and dogmatical
of the organ and her sister, Ellen, at the piano key-          studies with special emphasis on preparations to
board as they presented "The Risen Lord" ina beauti-           preach, affording six semesters of practice preaching.
ful duet arrangement. The Easter holiday was a factor          Young men, interested in the course of study offered in
in the large number of school children attending this          our seminary, who are not members of our denomina-
late evening  hymnsing with their parents. The offering        tion, may also obtain this catalogue by requesting it
received was for the Beacon Lights' needs.                     from the Theological School Committee, addressing
                            * * *                              their request to the secretary, Rev. M.  Schipper,  1543
   The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hudsonville, in an after        Cambridge Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids,  Mich. 49506.
recess program, discussed, "Protestant Reformed                                            * * *
Secondary Education", touching upon such aspects as:              Redlands' congregation, in a March 17 meeting,
necessity, difficulties, curriculum, goals, distinctive-       decided to purchase the proposed 5-acre tract of land
ness, and needs. We trust that after having learned            for a future site for `<our own school, and a new church
the curriculum and its distinctiveness, and understood         and parsonage". The success of this project,following
the goals, the members of the society were also con-           their decision, rests upon raising the necessary  down-
vinced of its necessity, and that the difficulties could       payment which is expected to be met by loans made
be surmounted and the needs met.                               by members of the congregation.
                            * * *
   The Mr. and Mrs. League Meeting is scheduled to                                         * * *
be held in Hudsonville Church May 12 with Rev. J.                 The third of our Lecture Series was held in another
Kortering as speaker. Rev. Kortering was also slated           snowstorm-evening when the streets were slicked to the
to speak at the Men's League Meeting to be held April          extent that it was very dangerous driving on many of
3 at Hope Church. The topic of the latter speech was,          the roads leading to First Church. Despite this `natural
"The Importance of Maintaining the Three Forms of              (?) handicap a goodly number of interested people were
Unity and the Formula of Subscription".                        present to hear Prof. H. C. Hoeksema expound the
                            ***                                theological concept, "Limited Atonement", but much
   On March 14 Rev. R. Decker, of  Doon,  Iowa, gave           more than a mere concept  - an eternal truth revealed
a public lecture in South Holland under the sponsorship        in the Scriptures and embodied in our Confessions!
of the local Men's Society. The topic of the  lectures         May our churches never loosen their grip on those five
was announced as "Strivingfor the Faith of the Gospel."        points of Calvinism which are the subject of our own
                            * * *                              current lecture series !
   During amultiple-purpose Church Visitation-Classis                                      * * *
visit to Illinois Rev. C. Hanko, of Redlands,  Calif.,            The next in the above series is scheduled to be held
was privileged to conduct both services March 12 in            April 20 in First Church. Rev. G. Van  Baren  has been
our Oak Lawn Church where he held a ten-year pastor-           named to give this fourth lecture, which will be on,
ate some twenty two years ago.                                 "Irresistible Grace", the "I" of the word TULIP which
                            * * *                              so handily initials the famous Five Points. Consider
   The Young People of our Michigan Churches held a            this announcement to be an invitation to you and your
Mass Meeting in Hudsonville's Church on Resurrection           friends to attend this timely lecture, when we hope to -
Sunday afternoon. Prof. H. Hanko was invited to speak             . ..see you in church                         J.M.F.


