                                          he

                                    tmdard  -

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     A   R E F 'O R M E D   SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE..                                       I/
~                                                                                          I




        IN THIS ISSUE:


         Meditation: Thanks For the Fruits of' Election

                                                                                      I
         Editorials: `TO Free You From All Worldly Cares"
                          The Christian Reformed Synod
                                             and .the "Dekker Case"

         The CRC and the WCC

         All Around Us: End of African Missions?
           .                  Lutheranism 450 Years After Luther


                                            Volume  XLN/Number2/  October 15, 1967


2 6                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                         C'ONTENTS                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
Meditation -
       Thanks For The Fruits Of Election . . . . . l............  26                                                            Published by the Reformed Free' Publishing Association, Inc.
              Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                Editor-in-Chiefi  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Editorials -                                                                                                                  Department Editors: Rev. David J. Engelsma, Mr. JohnM.Faher,
       "To Free You. From All Worldly Cares" . . . . . . . . . . 29                                                              Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C.
                                                                                                                                 Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                               C. Lubhers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,
       The Christian Reformed Synod and                                                                                          Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
       The "Dekker Case" ,..................................... 30                                                               Bernard Woudenberg
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                            Editovial  Office: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Trying The Spirits -                                                                                                                                   1842 Plymouth Terrace, SE.
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       The Mediation of Christ . . . . . . . ..<...................... 34
              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                              Church News Editor: Mr. John M. Faber
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       The Book of Hebrews (Hebrews 4:1-10) . . . . . . . . . . . . 36                                                        Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the
              Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                                    contents of his own articles. Contributions of general interest
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 MEDIlATION-

                       Thanks for the Fruits of  EIecti,on
                                                                                                     by Rev. M. Schipper

                                    "We give thanks to God  always  for  you all, making mention of you in  OUT prayers;
                               remem  be&g  without ceasing your  work.of faith, and labor of love, and patience of
                               hope in  our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God  ouv Father; knowing brethren
                               beloved, your election of God."                                                                                          I Thessaloniuns  1:2-4

       The church `. of Christ,. and here particularly the                                                                   These fruits have their origin and source not in the
church of the Thessalonians, brings forth fruits which                                                                    church, considered by herself, but in God Who has
become manifest as she assumes her place in the                                                                           chosen her in order that she might bring them forth.
world.' ,                                                                                                                    For this fact, and for these evidences  .of divine


                                                        THESTANIjARDBjL4JtER                                                27

     ,election  the apostle and those with him cease not to         work that is toilsome. The church at Thessalonica
     give thanks.                                                   had evidently undergone much suffering for Christ's
        This is the thought expressed in our text I                 sake.     The apostle is thinking of this now, when he
        Consider, first of all, these beautiful fruits!             speaks of their labor of love.
        Your work of faith!                                            It is your labor marked by love!
        It' should become apparent that the apostle is not             This same apostle in Colossians 3:14 offers what
     speaking here of "your work," that is, of the work of          may be called a definition of love, when he says, "And
     the church. He is not interested in the mere work of           above all these things put on charity (love), which is
     the church. This is indeed a far cry from the .situation       the bond of perfectness." That describes the true nature
     as we see it in.the church today. Today the emphasis           of love. It is a bond that unites a perfect subject and a
     seems to fall on the work of the church, what the church       perfect object, or, it is the action of a perfect subject
     is doing or is expected to do. A long list of works are        whereby he seeks the perfection of its object. For
     prescribed for her and assigned to her membership to           example, if I possess the grace of love and I see you do
     perform. Even ministers are no longer called today in          that which is wrong, or evil, I cannot be silent, lest I
     the accepted sense of that term to the preaching of the        hate you. However, if I truly love you I will seek your
     Word and the administration of the sacraments, but             perfection. That is love!
     they are being hired as professionals to be the admin-            Here the apostle has in mind very evidently the love
     istrators of the works.` They must be adept in organiz-        of others. In their love of others they suffered. Hence,
     ing and fostering youth. clubs, missionary societies,          labor of love !
     serving in ministerial andpoiitical organizations, which           And finally, the apostle mentions your patience of
     in turn again are intended to serve the community.             hope !
        Nor is the apostle interested in the diligence with            Note the triad: faith, love, and hope!
     which the church works. Also this is a far cry from               The apostle in I Corinthians 13 speaks of this trilogy
     the situation as we see it. in the church today. The           again, only in a different order. Therehe writes: "And
     church is encouraged to be on fire for the work of the         now abideth faith, hope, and love (charity), these three;
     church.    And the church is judged according to the           but the greatest of these is love." Here noticeably
     amount of enthusiasm she displays as to. whether or            love is mentioned last and receives `the emphasis. But
     not she is a good and prosperous church.                       in our text, the order is: faith, love, and hope. Not
        But again, the apostle does not give thanks because         especially does this order emphasize the greatness of
     the church was all on fire, filled with holy enthusiasm,       hope in distinction from the others. For also here,
     expending all her energy in vying with other churches          most assuredly, love would be the greatest. But hope
     in a popular effort, or even for the cause of Christ.          in our text marks the climax, the end of the ascending
        Rather, it is your work that is marked by faith!            scale.
        And again, this does not mean that the apostle gives         Patience marked by hope !
     thanks merely for faithful work accomplished by the               Hope is that grace in the child of God that desires,
     church.    He is not complimenting the members for             longs for a certain object with the confidence that it
     their faithfulness, because they had been faithful in all      will attain to it, or receive it. It is never used in the
     that they did, though there is nothing wrong with              Scripture in the sense in which we oftenuse  it, when we
     acknowledging faithfulness on the part of members of           mean to express our doubt or uncertainty relative to a
     the church and it may be entirely in place. Someone            certain thing. We say when we are asked whether we
I    has said that it is the oil of appreciation which makes        are going to this affair or are expecting a certain thing:
     the machinery of social relations run more smoothly.           I hope so. We mean, I'm not sure. We are asked: Are
     And this is also true in the church. Nevertheless, the         you a child of God? or, Are you saved? And we reply:
     apostle is not rewarding the church members here for           I hope so. We mean to say: I'm not quite sure. But
     their faithfulness. Rather, he is speaking here of the         so the Word of God never uses' this concept. Rather,
     work of faith. That is, the work which proceeds from           hope is absolute certainty relative to an  objectwe know
     faith, not from the members. It is the work which faith        exists, though we see it not; that we shall surely have
     produces in and through those who possess it.                  it,. though it is only promised to us. `Hope is that
        Then there is, your labor of love!                          activity of faith that aspires to its object because it
        This is not mere repetition.               :                knows it-is real, though it cannotibe  seen .as yet.
        Labor and work are different. Work may be the                  Patience, on the other hand, is that grace of endur-
     mere use of energy in the accomplishment of a certain          ance which bears up under the most trying circum-
     task. But labor has' in mind that `work which is done          stances. It is seen in one who has gone through intense
     with much weariness. For example, a man may work,              battle, and when the smoke of the-battle is dissipated
     let us say, in a foundry where heavy castings are made..       he is still standing. It refuses to go down. It remains
     And at the end of `the,day he' may .have.`fiIled  his quota    steadfast  ro the' end. `It is a grace that is given to us,
     and become very tired so I that he must retire for the         which we do not possess of ourselves. Peculiarly, you
     night. But if that same man works in a shop where he           never read in the Scripture that God is patient. You do
     is pestered because he refuses to join with the union,         read that Be is longsuffering, and forbearing, and you
     out of religious principles, .he labors. He labors with        also read that- `He is the God of .patience;  that is, the
     great difficulty. He has the added burden of persecu-          God. Who gives' patience; but you never read that He is
     tion to contend with. The apostle evidently has in mind        patient. -It is a virtue peculiarly given to. His'people of


28                                             THESTANDARDBEARER

mere grace. It is given unto them not only to believe          God chose us in order that we would bring forth certain
on Him but also to suffer for His sake; and in the midst       fruits of grace in our lives. He chose us in order that
of that suffering to endure. That is patience. Patience        we,might ,believe,  possess a faith that works. He chose.
of hope is patience that is produced by hope, which in         us in order that we might love, a love that labors. He
turn motivates, gives that patience its enduring char-         chose us in order that we might hope, a hope that en-
acter.                                                         ables us to endure faithfully to the end; namely, accord-
      All these, work of faith, labor of love, and patience    ing to which we shall stand in the assembly of all the
of hope, are fruits which find their origin not in us, but     elect in life eternal.
in sovereign, eternal election.                                   Judging their works, the, apostle can say of the
                           ***                                 saints in Thessalonica, I know your election of God.
      Election!                                                You have not been chosen because you possess faith,
      Not merely foreknowledge!                                love, and hope; but you have faith, love, and hope be-
      0, it is that too, no question about that! Surely        cause you have been chosen. Election is, therefore,
election means that we were foreknown of God. Those            the cause, the source of these graces. And for this the
elected God knew before the foundation of the world, and       apostle gives thanks !
that, too, with a knowledge of love. Paul tells us in                                                         *  *  *
Acts 15:18  "Known unto God are all his works from                A continual thanksgiving!
the beginning of the world." And this surely applies              Paul, Silas, and Timothy cease not to give thanks,
also to those elected, chosen by Him. Yet, if we were          remembering without ceasing these fruits of election.
to say no more, the Arminian would have no quarrel                And again, the thanks are not directed to the con-
with us. He too believes in and teaches election. It is        gregation, no matter how faithful she had been. Thanks
exactly his theory that God chose those whom He fore-          only to God!
knew would do works of righteousness, andon that basis            God is praised, He is well-spoken of1 That is the
He chose them.                                                 implication of thanksgiving here !
      Rather we must say that election is an eternal,             And so, God attains to the very purpose for which
sovereign, causal choice. God did not choose us be-            He has chosen us, and causes us to bring forth fruits
cause He knew before hand what we would be or                  in our lives, - His glorious praise!
become. He chose u's in order that we might become                Thanks be unto God for .His unspeakable Gift,through
what He ordained we should be. He did not choose us            Whom flow unto us all the riches of Christ Jesus, which
because we were holy in His sight, but He chose us in          work for our salvation not only, but unto the glory of
order that we might become holy in I&is sight. He did          God.
not choose us because of our work of faith, labor of
love, and patience of hope; but because He wanted us to
have these things. Election is the cause, the source of
the virtues of faith, love, and hope. The possession of
these virtues is therefore the proof of our election.
      Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God!                                                 IS THE
      `This is a knowledge which the apostle has concern-
ing the saints at Thessalonica.                                                          REFORMATION
      And how did the apostle attain to this knowledge?
How did he know that the saints were chosen of God?                                                   DEAD?
Did he perhaps have a secret look into the Lamb's book
of life where he discovered their names  ,inscribed?
Had God perhaps given to him a special revelation of                     "450 YEARS . . . AND THEN?"
His predestinating counsel and showed him exactly
who were the chosen ones? The answers to the last                                                                by
two questions are negative.                                                         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                              ,
      The apostle received no secret or spec&l revela-
tion concerning the election of God. Nor do we receive                 Commemorate   with   us   the   450th  annivarsary   of  ths  Protestant
a secret or special revelation concerning our election.                Reformation.   We  want  you   too   to  hear  and   be   stirred,   by   a  relavant
Would we know our election of God, we may determine                    msrrags  which  you  will  near  forget.  Mark  the  date  cn your  calendars!
this by its fruits. When the apostle Peter in II Peter
1:lO exhorts: "give diligence to make your calling and                               THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER  2
election sure," the implication is: that we make our                                                AT  -8:OO P. M.
election sure by making our calling sure. The same
relationship obtains in our text: we make our election                     First Protestant Reformed Church
sure, that is, we know our election, .by its fruits. This
would also imply, would it not, that in the purpose of                                                 (Fuller   at  Franklin)
God election never stands by itself. To our election,                                    (Sponrorsd by  the  Ptat,r`an`  Rsfomad   Churchas)
that is our having been chosen of God, also belongs the                             "
way in which that election is realized and the fruits it
must also bring forth. Or, to put it still more simply,


29                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER




           EDITORIALS-


                     "To Free You From All Worldly Cares"

                                                           by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


       The above is a phrase extracted from a paragraph                    $4500. I have no statistics for non-subsidized churches.
in the form call-letter in use in our churches. The                        Besides, I am listing only the more extreme cases.
whole paragraph reads as follows:                                             2. Usually, let alone the fact that salaries are
           Convinced that the labourer is worthy of his hire,              already below average, increases in salary do not keep
      and to encourage you in the discharge of your duties,                up with increases in the cost of living. This is ac-
       and to free you from all worldly cares and avocations               cording to government statistics.
       while. you are dispensing spiritual blessings to us, we,               3. As a rule, increases in salary do not keep up
       the elders and deacons of the . . . . . Protestant Reformed         with increases in size of family, nor with increased
       Church do promise and oblige ourselves to pay you the               costs as a family grows up.
       sum of . . . . . dollars, in . . . . payments? yearly, and every       4. The average per family income in the United
       year as long as yap continue the minister of this church,           States is said to be around $9500 per year.
       together with free use of parsonage, and free use of a
       telephone . . . . .                                                    5. In comparison with other denominations, salaries
                                                                           in our denomination as a whole are at the bottom of the
  As you have guessed, the subject of this editorial                       scale. I do. not say this because we should "keep up
is ministers' salaries. More specifically, it is low                       with the Joneses." But I present these statistics
salaries.                                                                  merely to give some idea of what other churches do.
       Before I proceed, let me exclude myself, lest any-                  For example, the.  average  (not the highest) Christian
one think that the intent of this editorial is self-serving.               Reformed salary in  1967. is  $6,734.52;  the projected
I am adequately cared for.                                                 average for 1968 is $6,935.00. Recently Igleaned from
       Now let me explain.                                                 a Chicago newspaper some statistics as to average
       It. is almost an annual occurrence at our synodical                 salaries in Protestant denominations in that area. For
meetings that when subsidy requests are treated, some-                     example: The Episcopal Church pays an average of
one makes the remark that the salaries of ministers                        $6500, plus utilities, pension and hospitalization allow-
in subsidized churches are low, -low to the point of                       antes.      The United Church of Christ reports a "low
being downright inadequate.                The trouble with that           average salary" of $5200, plus car allowances of $1000
remark is, however, two-fold.                    In the first place,       to $1500.      The United Presbyterian Church will not
synod can do nothing about this situation. It does not                     install `a pastor unless the congregation pays a mini-
have the right, for example, to say to a congregation,                     mum salary of $6000, with provision of $200 additional
"We will give you $500 more subsidy- than you have                         for each dependent child.       The Lutheran Church -
requested, provided you raise your minister's salary                       Missouri Synod' reports that base salaries, plus hous-
by that amount." In the second place, the remark is                        ing and benefits, start at approximately $7000 to
really made at the wrong place: for the most part, it                      $7500.
does not reach those who should hear it.                                      Understand well, I am not saying that the salary
       Hence, I decided to make the remark(s) where they                   standard for our churches ought to be the average
could be heard by all, both in subsidized and in non-                      salary standard of  all other denominations, even
subsidized consistories and congregations. .This is not                    though the newspaper article previously referred to
an attempt to dictate to any consistory. Moreover, I                       made a point of commenting that while the average
am aware that some consistories inquire annually of                        earnings of ministers have come up in recent years,
their pastors whether their salaries are adequate,  -                      they have not come up as much as the cost of living.
although I am also aware that many a pastor is reluc-                      Other churches are not our standard, even in salary
tant to ask for a salary increase, especially in a                         matters.
subsidized congregation. .This is merely an attempt                           We have a standard, and it is a good one;
to call attention to what I believe is a real problem,                        It is the Biblical standard expressed in the words:
and to do so at the time of year.when proposed bud-                        ! `Convinced that the labourer is worthy of his hire...."
gets are being considered by consistories.                                 And, secondly, that standard is expressed in the words
 Consider the following facts:                                             which state the purpose of the salary: "-..to free you
       1. Of ten churches whit h requested subsidy this from all worldly cares and avocations while you are
year, seven listed proposed s.alaries  of $4800 down to                    dispensing spiritual blessings to us.. . ."


     30                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                           -.
I          This standard must be observed, and observed              other churches and in comparison with the ability of
     diligently and carefully. And it must be observed, of           the congregation? Or can the congregation do more,
     course, in the light of the facts of economic life and of       perhaps, without difficulty? Remember: for a congre-
     the cost of living and the standard of living.                  gation of 20 families a fifty cent increase in the weekly
           And then, I submit that it does not take a financial      budget will produce a salary increase of $500 for the
     expert to discover that..some of our ministers and their        pastor.
     wives do.some "nailbiting" to figure out how to "make               2. If the consistory, after careful appraisal, is con-
     ends meet" on a salary of, say, $4500 for a family that
     has two or three little ones.                                   vinced that the congregation is already doing its best,
           But what, then, is the solution for a small congre-       then let them freely ask for an increase-in subsidy. To
     gation' which should raise and desires to raise the             my knowledge, our churches have never yet rejected
     pastor's salary?                                                a well-founded request for subsidy. And, contrary to
           I would suggest two things:                               the thinking of some, our synodical budget is not a high
           1. Let the consistory first make a careful and            one.
     comparative appraisal of the weekly budget per family.             Think about it, -before the annual congregational
     Is it already high in comparison with the budget of our         meeting.





           The Christian Reformed Synod

                                                and the "Dekker Case"

                                                       by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


     THE TRAGIC. DECISION ANAL YZED                                      In the first place, the decision accuses Professor
           In a previous editorial on this subject we looked at      Dekker of expressing himself in his writing on the love
                                                                                                            _ ._'
     the August decision of the CR Synod in the "Dekker              of God and the atonement in an ambiguous w.?y.
I    Case" from a formal point of view. We are now ready                 What is the meaning of that word ambiguous?
     to enter into the contents, the material, of the deci-              Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition, gives
     sion.                                                           this:
      We shall concentrate first on what is undoubtedly                       Doubtful or uncertain, esp. from obscurity or in-
     the "meat" of the decision, `namely "That Synod ad-                distinctness; capable of being understood in either of
     monish Professor Dekker for the ambiguous and                      two or'more possible senses; equivocal.
     abstract way in which he has expressed himself in his               Now I am at a complete loss to understand how the
     writing on the love of God and the atonement." As I             committee and the Synod arrived at this judgment
     have remarked before, Point 3 of Synod's decision,              concerning Prof. Dekker's writings about the love of
     which has to do with not adopting the recommendations           God and the atonement.
     of the Doctrinal Committee and which is based on the                Nor does the decision of Synod make this plain
     fear of adopting extra-creedal statements, is also              whatsoever. There is not even the slightest attempt,
     important, probably more crucial than many realized             in fact, to prove this claim. Take note of the grounds.
     when it was adopted in June. Moreover, there is a               The first ground reads: "His writings have resulted in
     goodly measure of ecclesiastical hypocrisy in its ref-          considerable misunderstanding and confusion within the
     erence to the decisions of 1924. But to these matters           churches concerning the doctrine of the atonement."
     we shall return later. All have recognized that the             Now let us note that this again is in itself an altogether
     crucial decision is the one quoted in the beginning of unproved statement. It may be true; in fact, I believe
     this paragraph. This was the thing for which Synod              it is true. But this by no means proves that Dekker's
     recessed and reconvened. This is the "upshot" of the writings were ambiguous. It might indeed prove that
     "Dekker Case" at the 1967 Synod.-                               the churches were so poorly founded in the truth con-
           Let us analyze the decision itself, first of all. What    cerning the love of God and the atonement that when
     does it say, judging by its language?                           Dekker began to write, they easily became confused.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           31

And I suspect that this is true: there are many in the            What could "widespread uncertainty concerning his
Christian Reformed Church who no longer know the               adherence to the creeds" be a ground for?
truth concerning the love of God and the atonement and            It might indeed be a ground to examine the doctrinal
who are unable to discern and who become easily con-           soundness of the churches.        It might be reason to
fused.     This "ground" might also prove that the             investigate whether the churches are even able and
Christian Reformed Church by its, decisions of 1924            willing to judge someone's adherence to the creeds
and by its preaching and writing ever since has created        any longer, seeing that Prof. Dekker is so plainly in
considerable misunderstanding and confusion within the         conflict with the creeds and so rankly Arminian in his
churches concerning the doctrine of the atonement. But         doctrine, and seeing that the churches had before them
the ground DEFINITELY DOES NOT PROVE that Prof.                for more than a' year a report which rather plainly
Dekker was ambiguous.                                          showed that Dekker was in conflict with the creeds. It
                                                               might also be very good ground for examining Prof.
    The second ground reads: "His presentation of his          Dekker. For if there is such widespread uncertainty,
views has resulted in widespread uncertainty concern-          is it not logical to find out and to decide once and for
ing his adherence to the creeds." Again, this state-           all whether or not a seminary professor is in harmony
ment itself is only a claim, and an unproved claim at          with or in conflict with the creeds?
that. It may be that there was some uncertainty on this           But ground for charging Prof. Dekker with ambiguity?
matter in the minds of some. That it was widespread            It does not follow whatsoever.
is open to serious doubt indeed. As I read the various            These two grounds may be characterized as two
journalistic writings and the documents on Synod's             buckets of whitewash. They constitute a "snow job."
Agenda (and I think I have read nearly everything that         The churches have been sold a bill of goods !
was written on the matter), and as I listened to the              But then there is, one other place to turn to find a
discussion on the floor of Synod, I certainly did not          reason for Synod's decision. I refer to "preliminary
gain the impression that there was much uncertainty observation b." That reads as follows:
on the score of Prof. Dekker's adherence to the creeds.
I rather gained the distinct impression that there were
two opposing camps with respect to this question. On                 After long consideration and much discussion with
the one hand, there were those who vehemently claimed             Professor Dekker, members of the Study Committeeon
that Prof. Dekker was entirely loyal to the creeds, and           Doctrinal Matters, and others, your advisory committee
                                                                  is convinced that Professor Dekker has erred inmaking
that the matters involved in the "Dekker Case" were               ambiguous statements and using them in an abstract
strictly extra-creedal matters, and that therefore there          way.
must be room allowed for an on-going discussion. This,
generally speaking,. was the position of the liberals.            Yes, but the Study Committee on Doctrinal Matters
And, as is well known, this is the position of the             was convinced that Professor Dekker was in conflict
Refovmed  Jouvnal.,  particularly of Dr. Henry Stob. I         with the creeds.     The Advisory Committee was not
will not enter into the intellectual honesty of this           convinced that Prof. Dekker's position is in conflict
claim here, except to say that it seems to me that this        with the creeds (cf. Report IX-C, p. 2). And Prof.
case is so clear that the above claim almost neces-            Dekker himself claims that he is loyal to the creeds.
sarily must be made with tongue-in-cheek. On the               Moreover, I doubt whether Prof. Dekker feels himself
other hand, there were those who were firmly con-              to be guilty of any basic ambiguity, even though, ac-
vpnced that Prof. Dekker's writings were in conflict cording to Report IX-C, he expressed a willingness to
with the creed. This was the position of the Doctrinal         accept the personal admonition proposed by the com-
Committee: did they not repeatedly begin the negative          mittee. Who the "others" were and what they thought,
part of their recommendations with the words, "It is           this the committee report does not tell us.
unwarranted in the light of Scripture and the Confes-             Now, of course, `this- was not a formal ground for
sions....?"      And in these recommendations did they the decision. But it was a "preliminary observation,"
not deal literally with Dekker's statements? This was          and as such it psychologically led up to the recommen-
also the position of many of the overtures sent to the         dation. For if the advisory committee, was convinced of
Synod of 1967, even to the extent that they asked for          this, they surely had to recommend it. As far as Synod
Dekker's suspension under the Formula of Subscrip-             is concerned, however, the only conclusion one can
tion. And this .was the expressed position of a goodly         come to is that it acted simply on the. say-so of the
number of delegates during the course of the discus-           Advisory Committee;
sion on the floor of Synod, --until that fateful evening          However, if one delves back into Report IX-C (the
of August 30,. when suddenly these same delegates              unified report prepared in July, but tabled by Synod),
conveniently. overlooked their creedal  convictions and        he discovers certain facts. Personally, I wondered for
said they would be satisfied to call  the. professor           a long time why this report was not adopted. For I
a m b i g u o u s .                                            considered it to be a much more thoroughcompromise,
    These are simply the facts.                                and a smoother one, than the report whichsynod finally
   .This second ground is far from the truth.                  adopted (Report IX-D).      Actually the decision' which
    But even conceding. that it might be the truth, is it a    Synod finally took was but one small item lifted almost
ground for calling Prof. Dekker's expressions ambig-           literally out of Report IX-C. And I have come to the
u o u s ?                                                      following conclusions about Report' IX-C:


I    32                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


           1) That it would inevitably have involved Synod in        is true of the third proposition: "God loves all men
     painful discussions about 1924, the well-meant offer,           with a redemptive love." Again, you may agree or!
     and, ultimately, the question of what is creedal  and           disagree with the statement. I, for one, violently dis-
     what is anti-creedal.                                           agree and claim that it directly contradicts Scripture
           2) That because Synod would have to pass on a             and the confessions. Or again, Prof. Dekker may have
     statement of Prof. Dekker included in that report, they         difficulty explaining why all men are not actually saved
     would again have been confronted by the question of his         if this statement is true. But the statement as such is
     loyalty to the creeds, something which he affirms in            as clear as the sun in the heavens. It very forthrightly
     that statement.                                                 teaches a universal love of God which is redemptive
           3) That Synod would have confronted recommenda-           in nature.
     tions that "Synod recognize the need for further dis-              Whatever may be Prof. Dekker's failings in this set
     cussion on the issues raised in the writings of Prof.           of statements, one of them is not ambiguity.
     Dekker," and that these recommendations would again,               Now let us examine the- second set of statements
     if debated, raise the question of the creeds.                   quoted by Synod:
           4) That finally there was an agreement, supported
     by members of the Doctrinal Committee, to limit                          The atonement itself is inherently universal. There
     Synod's decision to this one recommendation about                  is neither need nor warrant for retaining the concept of
     Dekker's ambiguity, leave the impression that at least             limited atonement, as it has been traditionally used
     to some degree Prof. Dekker was "ticked on the                     among us.
     fingers," and pass by in silence the nettlesome ques-              Again I say: one may accuse Prof. Dekker of many
     tion of the creeds.                                             things in connection with these statements. He may
           But if there is any doubt about it, I will show later     agree or disagree with what the professor teaches. But
     that this entire decision plays into the hands of the           one thing is certain: the statements are clear to the
     liberal, or pro-Dekker faction in the CRC. In fact, it          point of bluntness. In fact, has not that been exactly
     even uses some of the language of the  Reformed the history, that many were shocked when the professor
     Jownal.                                                         so bluntly came out against limited atonement? The
                                                                     trouble was not that Dekker was not clear; it was
     BUT WAS PROF. DEKKER AMBIGUOUS?                                 rather that Dekker was much too blunt!                Bluntly
           Does Synod's decision ring true?                          Arminian! And especially when these statements are
           Let us' apply it to the three statements of Prof.         taken in the context of his writings, they are exceed-
     Dekker which are quoted in Report IX-D.                         ingly clear.
           The first set of statements is as follows:                   The atonement is inherently universal?
                                                                        That is precisely the same as the Second Point of
              There is one love of God and this one love is re-      the Arminians : "Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world,
           demptive in nature. God loves all men with a redemp-      died for all men and for every man, so that he has
           tive love.                                                obtained for them all, by his death on the cross,
           Are these propositions ambiguous 7         Doubtful or    reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins."
     uncertain, due to obscurity or indistinctness7 Capable             Neither need nor warrant for retaining the concept
     of being understood in either of two or more possible           of limited atonement?
     s e n s e s ?                                                      That means this: the doctrine of limited atonement
           Mark well, the question is not whether they are           has no basis in Scripture or the confessions. It is
     true, whether they are according to the Scriptures and          worthless, good for nothing; We must discard it, for
     the creeds. But are they of a double meaning?                   it is both unnecessary and unwarranted. And do not
           The answer is so obvious that I need not belabor it.      forget that Professor Dekker exactly claimed that this
     The above statements have only one meaning, and that            unneeded and unwarranted concept of limited atone-
     one meaning is perfectly clear. The meaning of these            ment actually constituted an obstacle to the mission
     statements is  clear. even when they are read apart from        work of his denomination!
     the context of Dekker's articles. "There is one love               Pray, tell me: what is ambiguous about all this? I
     of God," - not two or three loves, not a common and a           cannot understand how there could be a single delegate
     special love; but one love of God. "This one love is            on the floor of Synod who was convinced in his own
     redemptive in nature." Using Dekker's own explana-              conscience that this second set of statements was of
     tion, "redemptive" means "tending to redeem." What              double meaning, suffering from obscurity or indistinct-
     is ambiguous about it? Prof. Dekker means, and every-           ness.
     one knows that he means, that there is not a non-                  The only term about which there might be some
     redemptive as well as a redemptive love. God's love             question is that term "traditionally." But, in the first
     in its very nature tends to redeem. You may agree or            place, Prof. Dekker himself made it abundantly clear
     disagree with the statement. I, for one, agree with it.         in his writings that he certainly did not equate "tra-
     To me,. a love of God which would not tend to redeem            ditionally" and "confessionally." Dekker referred to a
     its objects, in other words, a love which would tend to         concept of limited atonement which he claimed had
     let its objects go lost, is inconceivable, is a contra-         grown up in the Christian Reformed Church and which
     diction in terms. But whatever you judge of the state-          was by some thought to be and alleged to be the doc-
     ment, it surely is not of a double meaning! The same            trine of the confessions. But Prof. Dekker made it


                                                  .THE.$TANDARD BEARER                                                    33

very clear that he did not consider this traditional              only with difficulty, it seems to me, express himself
concept of limited atonement to be confessional; he               more unambiguously.
claimed all along, - astounding. though that may seem                    Every man individually? Does that not mean every
to a Reformed man, -that his doctrine of universal                last son of Adam whom one meets? Does it not mean
atonement was according to the confessions. Hedenied,             men, individuals, without exception?
for example, that he was in conflict with Canons II, 8,                  We may say? Was not Prof. Dekker writing about
He affirmed that his doctrine was in harmony with                 preaching on the mission field when he wrote these
Canons II, 3.                                                     words ?      Do they not plainly mean that missionaries
   But even if we grant a degree of ambiguity on this             have the right (the may), and therefore thedivine com-
point, who was the Synod to admonish Dekker for using             mission, to say this?
this language? The Synod used the same language. In                      Christ died for you? Does not Prof. Dekker make
fact, that is the "sleeper" in Point 2 of Synod's de-             it very explicit when he tells us that this means that
cision.       They speak of the report of the Doctrinal           Christ has actually suffered for every man's sins and
Committee as `<a valuable contribution, within the Re-            in that sense expiated his guilt? Who has any difficulty
formed tradition,  to the discussion of the matters con-          understanding such language?
tained within the report." To many, I know, this means                   Perhaps it might be objected by some that the last
the same as "within the Reformed confessions" or                  proposition in this set of statements is ambiguous. The
"in the framework of the confessions." But you may                answer to this objection is that this is not the fault of
be certain that Synod did not say this and did not intend         Prof. Dekker's way of expressing himself.  His language
to say this. If S'ynod had attempted to say this, there           is very clear, and leaves no doubt as to what he means.
would have been a prolonged debate on the point. That             He says: 1) That if the word "expiate" is intended to
word "tradition" leaves the door open for Prof. Dek-              include the idea of effectuation, he would not want to
ker's idea of "the concept of limited atonement as it             use the word to describe what Christ has done for all
has been traditionally used among us." But then Synod             men. 2) That he does not think that the word "expiate"
must not accuse its professor of being ambiguous.                 necessarily includes the idea of effectuation. There is
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones !          nothing cloudy or doubtful about what the professor
   Now look at the third set of statements:                       says, therefore. This last proposition is simply the
                                                                  embodiment of the characteristic Arminian denial of
           We may say to every. man individually, "Christ died    the efficacy of the atonement.             But ambiguity of
   for  you." When I say, "Christ died for you" to any            expression there is not.
   man, I mean to say that Christ has actually suffered                  The conclusion of this investigation of Synod's
   for, his sins and, has in that sense expiated his guilt.       decision is plain for all to see.
   If, however, the word "expiate" is intended by defini-                The charge of ambiguity is not true.
   tion to include the idea of effectuation, which to my
   mind it need not include, I would not want to use the                 The admonition was uncalled for.
   word expiation to describe what Christ has done for  all              The sad part is that the Synod did not even bother
   men.                                                           to examine and to discuss this question. Scarcely a
                                                                  word was said about it; and there was no debate about
   Once again: whatever the fault of the above state-             it.
ments may be, one would be hard pressed to point out                     But by means of this ruse Synod avoided the main
any ambiguity.         In fact, one stands amazed that the        issue:  cveedal   or anti-creedal?
Advisory Committee, let alone the Synod, had the                         Next time, D.V., we shall discuss the charge of
audacity to call this language ambiguous! One could               abstractness.


                Now, in order to understand how Scripture can speak of this suffering as a gift of grace, we
           must note that it is voluntary. It is a form of suffering which under certain conditions be-
            lievers deliberately choose. This is not true'of the suffering of this present time in general.
            When sickness attacks your frame, or when sorrow and death enter your home, you have no
            choice. This kind of suffering is simply inflicted upon you without your will. You cannot avoid
            or escape it. But in regard to the suffering in the behalf of Christ this is different. You are
            placed before an alternative, and you must make a choice. The alternative is always suffering
            with Christ, or freedom from suffering with Belial; the' reproach of Christ, or the pleasures of
            the -world; fellowship with Christ in His death, or fellowship with the world in its life. And he
            that suffers in the behalf of Christ makes a decision. -He considers the alternatives and evalu-
            ates them in order to determine what is preferable. And he reaches the conclusion that the
            reproach of Christ is to be esteemed far greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, that it is
            far preferable. to die with Christ than to live with Belial. And having reached this conclusion,
            he follows it up to' the very end: he deliberately chooses to suffer with Christ, and without
            hesitation he rejects the proffered  delivernce that is presented to him on condition that he will
            deny Christ, and walk in the way of the world.
                                                            -H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p! 102, 103


34                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




       TRYTIVG  .THE  SPIRITS-


                            The  Mediation  of  Christ

                                               by Rev. R. C. Harbach


      About ten years before he became, or knew anything     2:s that He is not. God. Christian `Science, falsely so
about being  Protestant Reformed,  this writer came          called, does exactly this; it maintains the double denial,
across a tiny book in the library of his maternal grand-     that he was neither man nor God - He was an idea in
parents, entitled, "The Heidelberg Catechism." On            the mind of Mary.        But the Scripture is full of the
page 7 of this little book a question is asked, "What        truth that the estrangement between God and men could
sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we seek           never be removed and overcome except by a mediator
for?" The answer given is: "For one who is very man,
                  ._.                                        who had in himself both the divine and the human na-
and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all      tures.
creatures; that is, one who is also very God." Since            Also in the same marvelous little book we read,
we are to seek such a mediator, is there such a medi-        "Can there then be found any where, one who is a mere
ator to be found? Holy Writ assures us that there is.        creature, able to satisfy for us? None! for first, God
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God          will not punish any other creature for the sin which
and men, the man Christ Jesus." (I Tim. 2:s)                 man hath committed; and further, no mere creature
      We once had a conversation on the train with a fine    can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against
gentleman, a medical doctor, and a Roman Catholic.           sin, so as to deliver others from it." This is true, be-
Our dialogue centered around the above text. We asked        cause there is such a great difference between God and
whether he believed that there were many mediators by        man as a result of man's sin and fall from Him. The
which we are to approach God He readily affirmed that        fall brought about the complete ruin of the whole hu-
he did.      We then asked, that if there were only one      man race. There could not then be found in heaven or
mediator, whether all other so called mediators were         earth .a.ny creature, in its original state or condition,
unnecessary.     He replied that they probably were, but     fitting or able to restore the breach between God and
that they could be of help. Then we asked that if there      man.      "For if one man sin against another, the judge
were exclusively one mediator between God and men,           shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord,. who
that then all other so calledmediators are no mediators.     shall entreat for him?" (I S. 2:25). Yet mediation must
He admitted that in that event such would be the case.       be effected or man is without hope for ever. The
Finally, we asked that if the Word of God stated just        mediator, though of God, and true God, could not be
such a fact, would he believe it? Then we quoted the         God absolutely considered, for "a mediator is not of
above words of Paul. It was pointedout that Paul could       one, but God is one." (Gal. 3:20) He must also be
not hold with the Roman Catholic doctrine of many            "one who is true man." He is God manifest in the
mediators.      Romanists say that Christ Jesus is the       flesh, and as such became, as the children of God did,
one mediator, but not the only one. To this it need- only    a partaker of flesh and blood.
be replied that the words "one mediator" mean                   The eternal Son of God was possessed and embraced
nothing less than "only one mediator," just as the           in the bosom of the Father by eternal generation. In
language "one God" certainly means "only one God." the counsels of eternity He was set up, ordained, be-
They are blasphemously wrong who infer that Christ           fore the earth was, to be the Head and Mediator of His
Jesus is not the one and only mediator. They deny            people. In eternity He willed to come into the world
the exclusive mediation of Christ, as taught, e.g., in       as Head and Mediator. From everlasting, from the
I Tim. 2:5; Jn. 14:6 and Acts 4:12.                          beginning, when God appointed the foundations of the
                                                             earth, He, the Son, was eternally rejoicing in the
      Among apostate Protestants there are modernists        habitable part of His earth, and His delights were
who have appealed to this text (I Tim. 2:s) in support       eternally with the sons of men. That is, the decree of
of their denial of the Godhood of Christ. To their minds     the incarnation was always before His mind. Note,
the text teaches that Christ is not God, but plainly and while we are on this thought, that in the view of God's
merely man. To go along with this thinking would be          decree, the Son was seen first as Head, then as Medi-
to follow blind guides. Consider the apostle in Gala-        ator. God has the end in view first, then the means to
tians  l:l, "Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by that end. In God's decrees, Christ as Head is first.
man, but by Jesus Christ." One might as well reason,         All else is means. "Christ is (first) the Head of the
as the Doketic heresy, that in the light of this text the    Church, and (then)' He is the. Saviow of the body."
Lord Jesus Christ is not man, as to infer from I Tim.        (Eph. 5:23)


                                                                                                                            I
                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                         35

   From before all worlds, He saw himself as the             "restore to us righteousness and life." (HC, 17)
Head of a glorified people, becoming so as Mediator,            Back in Depression days a great aunt read to me
Saviour, as making "himself of no reputation," and from a little black Puritan book entitled, "The West-
taking "upon Him the form of a servant," seeing him- minster Confessions," where she rightly deemed this
self "made in the likeness of men," looking to the day very teaching beautifully expressed. "It was requisite
when He would fill and discharge the office of mediator. that the Mediator should be God that He might sustain
How God condescended to man in the foreappointment           and keep the human nature from sinking under the
of His Son as the humble Saviour! God "dwelleth on infinite wrath of God and the power of death, give worth
high, and humbleth himself to behold the things that are     and efficacy to His sufferings, obedience and inter-
in heaven and in the earth." (Ps. 113: 5, 6) Every cession, and to satisfy God's justice, procure His
consideration the most glorious God has for His crea-        favor, purchase a peculiar people, give His Spirit to
tures is an infinite condescension. This is so because       them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to
there is an infinite distance between the being of God       everlasting salvation." (Westminster L.C., 38) He
and the being of the creature. "What is man that Thou must be a divine person, for only God can give eternal
art mindful of him?" In fact, what are "all the na-          life and be a Saviour of those dead in sins (Jn. 10:27,
tions before Him" but "a drop of a bucket!" This is          28; 11:43). The Princeton Seminar'ybookstorediscard-
so, too, because God is Jehovah, the absolutely inde-        ed an old book we salvaged containing the works of
pendent and self-sufficient God. He needs no other           Herman Witsius (1693), who wrote, "For man to glory
outside himself to be what He is, the eternally happy        in any one as his Saviour, and give him the honor of
God.    Man, the creature, has a desire to that which        the new creation, to resign himself to his pleasure,
will bring or add to his comfort. Neither he, nor any        and become his property, and say to him, `Thou art
creature, is self-sufficient to his own happiness. But       Lord of my soul,' is an honor to which no mere creature
God never wants anything, never lacks anything, never        can have the least claim. `In Jehovahshall all the seed
needs anything, is never envious of anyone. "Your            of Israel be justified and shall glory." (Isa. 45:25)
heavenly Father is perfect."                                    Also the Mediator had to be man, a human being
   How the Son of God humbled himself! He being in           without being a human person, for He couldnot, as with
the form of God, considered it not robbery, robbing          Nestorianism, be two persons. But He must be true
God of His infinite glory, to be equal with God. That        man and perfectly righteous man, "because the justice
is, He considered it perfectly in harmony with reality       of God requires that the same human nature which hath
to be what He is, equal with God! He was always being        sinned should likewise make satisfaction for sin, and
in the form of God and equal with God, even when He          one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others."
made himself of no reputation by taking the form of a        (HC, 16) Or, the same thought may be expressed
servant. God alone possesses absolute transcendence thus: "It was requisite that the Mediator should be
beyond the whole creation. God alone is so perfectly man, that He might advance our nature, perform obedi-
self-sufficient that nothing can be taken from Him,          ence to the law, .suffer and make intercession for us,
nothing added to Him. Yet He became nothing, of no           in our nature, have a fellow-feeling of our infirmities,
reputation, a worm and no man!. This is evidence that that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have
from before the foundation of the world He loved the         comfort and access with boldness unto the throne .of
decree and covenant of God, He loved the Father, He          grace." (Westm. L.C., 39)
loved the people the Father gave Him. "Lo, I come, in           Further, the Mediator must be God and man in one
the volume (head) of the Book (of election) it is written divine Person.        "It was requisite that the Mediator
of Me, -to do Thy will, 0 God," "I do always'those           who was to reconcile...man should himself be both
things that please the Father." "Having loved His own God and man, and this in one person, that the proper
which were in the world, He loved them" perfectly.           works of each nature might be accepted of God for us,
   Christ as Mediator is the Son. of God in human            and relied on by us as the works of the whole person."
nature, God and man united in the one person of the          (L.C., 40) Had He been God only, He could not have
Son, His two natures distinct, yet inseparable, unmixed,     died. Had He been man only, His death could not have
undivided. This explains what we meant when we said been-the satisfaction for sin demanded  bydivine  justice.
the .Mediator  could not be God absolutely considered,       Nor could He have come forth in resurrection life to
that is, God without a human nature united.to  the divine bestow the Spirit and eternal life  on,His people.
person. For then He could never make himself of no
reputation and take the form of a servant. He would be
too transcendent to humble himself according to obedi-
ence to the, law, being obedient, even as far as death,
the death of the cross. Nor couldHe be man absolutely                EASTERNLADIESLEAGUEMEETING
considered, that is, a mere creature. For  then-He           The Eastern Ladies League will hold its Fall Meeting
would be too low, too inadequate,> with no infinite value    Thursday, `October 26, 1967 at' First Protestant Re-
attached to' His work.     It took God. incarnate in two formed Church' of Grand `Rapids at 8:00 p.m. ; D.V.
perfect entire natures to beg the Mediator. He must          Rev. J. Kortering will speak on "The Great Tribulation
therefore be in one person true God -and true man,. and the Freedom of Speech." Ladies; you are invited
"that He might by the power of-His Godhead sustain in        to meet with us-for an evening of Christian fellowship.
His human nature the burden of God's wrath," and so                                 E. Kuiper, Vice Sec'y.


  36                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


   FROM HOLY WRIT-

                                The Book of Hebrews
                                                        Hebrews  4110

                                                        by Rev. G. Lubbers
                         Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any
                     of you should  seem  to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as
                     well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being  mixe$with
                     faith in them that heard it.      For we which have believed do  enter into rest,  as  he
                     said, As I `have  swwn in  my  wrath, if they  shall enter into my rest: although their
                     works  weve finished from the foundation of the  wovld. For he spake in a  cevtuin
                     place of the seventh  day  on this wise, And God did  Test the seventh day from all his
                     works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my  Yes t.     Seeing therefore
                     it  remain&h  that some must enter  thevein,  and  they to whom it was first preached
                     entered not in because of  unbeliefi Again he limited a certain  &y, saying in David,
                     To day,  after so long a time; as it is' said, To day if ye will  hear his voice, harden
                     not  youv  hearts.  FOY if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he  notafter-
                     ward have spoken of  another  day.  There   remain&h  therefore  a  pest to the people
                     of God.  FOY he that is entered into his rest, he also hath  ceased   from his own
                     works, as did God  from his.

  TIi!E FOURFOLD "WHEREFORE" of HEBREWS 4                          THE REST RESERVED FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD
        l&en a casual reading of this chapter shows that it        (verses  l-1 0)
 is one of great admonition, exhortation, threatening, and             It might seem that since many of Israel did not enter
  a warning finger raised. These are warnings and                  into the rest as did God swear with an oath, that this
  threatenings which come to us from the dealingsof God            would be a reason for us not to give diligence to enter
  with unbelieving Israel in'the desert, which could enter         into the rest.      However, such is not the case. The
  into the rest of God. They :ould not enter because of            truth of the matter is that the "example" of Israel's
  their unbelief!                                                  unbelief is used as amotivation inus of holy fear. "Let
        A word ought to be said about the development of           us therefore fear, lest a promise beingleftus...." The
  the argument and exhortations here, as appears from              promise of entering into the rest stands ! It is left us,
  the "wherefore" as this is found in the verses 1, 11, 14         that is, the status quo of the promise of God to Abraham
  and 16. The term in the Greek translated "wherefore"             remains real, as realized in Jesus Christ! There ever
  is the conjunction ".oun." According to Thayer in his            remains a rest for the people of God. (Verse 9) No
  Lexicon this conjunction indicates "that something               matter whether "some" cannot enter because of un-
 follows from another necessarily." Writes Thayer                  belief, others must enter in by faith. For "it remains
  further, "Hence it is used in drawing a conclusion and           for some to enter in." This is left to them; this is left
  in connecting sentences together logically." In exhor-           to them as a consequence of the unrepealed promise
  tations this means that the writer will show what ought          made to Abraham and his seed, to the people of God.
: now to be done by reason of what has been said. This             The Greek term for "left to them" is the verb
  is very emphatically the case here in this fourth Chap-          "apoleipe tai" which is a present passive indicative: to
  ter of Hebrews.                                                  leave behind, to remain over, as dispensation of God.
        Since the people in the desert could not enter into        Thus there was not "left over" a sacrifice for the sin
  the rest of the promised land because of unbelief, the           of those who willfully walk in unbelief after they have
  consideration of the tremendous implication of the               known the truth (Chapter 10:26). Paul would say: God
  righteousness and divine judgments ought to cause us             hath not forsaken his people whom he foreknew. (Rom-
  to walk in holy fear, with awe and trembling before              ans 11:2)
  God's majesty.        Rather than walk as did Israel we              That such a rest-is reserved ever for the people of
  should give all diligence to enter into the rest in order        God is evident, first of all from the fact that the word
  that we fall not in the same example of unbelief as              is preached to us now even as it was to Israel then by
  Israel of old.       But living under the preaching of the       Moses.       Certainly if the promise was not to us, the
  sharp and living Word of God, we should hold fast the            gospel could not be preached to us. But the gospel has
  `profession, since we have a great high priest who has           been preached to us even as it was to them, that is, to
  passed through the heavens. And, therefore, we should            Israel who wandered about in the desert. And it is
  draw nigh to the throne of grace and find mercy and              exactly at this point that we must fear and tremble.
  grace in time of need1                                           We must give heed to the preaching of the promise. If


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        37
                                                                                                                               I
unbelieving Israel could not enter because "their hear-      THE FEAR MOTIF IN THE PREACHING IN
ing was not mingled with faith," our hearing must be         RELATIONSHIP TO THE ENTERING INTO THE REST
such that it is with believing ears and hearts. And          (verse i ff.)
since the preaching of the gospel is either a savor of
life unto life, or of death unto death (I Corinthians 2:        There is ever the possibility that we hear the gospel
14-16), whether in the desert in Moses' day or               and perish in our sins notwithstanding.             Such was
                                                    anno
Domini  1967, we are to exercise ourselves in holy fear      actually the case with more than 600,000 men in Israel
when we listen to and hear the gospel. Says Jesus in         which came out of Egypt. No, noneof the elect perished.
Mark 4:24 "If any man have ears let him hear. And            But many who were under the preaching did. Many are
he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear...for he that      called and few are chosen. (Matthew 20:16; 22:14)
hath to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from               It is of this calling by the preaching that the writer
him shall be taken even that which he hath." And,            to the Hebrews refers. Writes he, "for to us was the
according to the gospel of Luke, Jesus said "Take heed       gospel preached, as well as to them." In some this
how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to himshall be given:       preaching is received with believing hearts; the hearing
and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even is mingled with truth faith. In others faith is lacking.
that which he seemeth to have." (Luke 8:18) Yes, the         They hear and hear not, see and perceive not. They
promise to enter is left us. Only the entering is by         do not repent and are not healed.
faith, a faith that lays hold on the gospel of salvation             Now God uses the "hear motif" to keep us as good
in the great and merciful High Priest, Jesus.                listeners, who receive the word with hungry and be-
                                                             lieving hearts, so that we "beware how we hear!"
                                                             Such fear as here spoken of is not the slavish fear of
   Yes, there remaineth even a rest for the people of        being filled with morbid fear, with anguish and terror
God. But that "rest" is the perfect rest of the com-         from the face of God, rying: hills fall on us and
pleted work of God in Jesus. The reasoning of the            mountains cover us !           Nay, this is the fear of the
writer here in the book of Hebrews is not wholly clear       Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. Surely the
at first reading. However, a careful study and prayer-       Bible speak of both kinds of fear, which are quite
ful reflection will make it- clear that the writer speaks    different both in nature and in motive.
here not simply of the rest of the earthly Canaan into
which Joshua brought Israel, crossing Jordan. For               The carnal fear of the wicked who will not believe
David, when all the land is subjugated and the temple        God, who walk in their own chosen ways, is described
worship is organized some four hundred years after           to us by the Lord himself in Deuteronomy 2:25. Says
Joshua, says `:today" if ye will hear hisvoice. This is      the Lord, "This day will I begin toput the dread of thee
a later day. Israel must still enter into the rest by        upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who
kneeling down before the Lord their Maker. (Psalm 95)        shall hear of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish
This indicates that there is a "Sabbatismos" which is        because of thee." Truly, that is not the fear toward
still left and into which we ever enter in by faith          which the writer admonishes the reader in Hebrews
through the preaching.                                       4:l.
                                                                However, the fear of the Lord unto which the church
                                                             is admonished is to stand in holy awe before God, to
   It is true that Joshua brought Israel into the rest.      tremble in the beauty of holiness as did Israel of old
Howbeit, that rest was open-ended, so to speak. It was       when God appeared in the cloud of glory above the
not a completed and closed rest. It was not as the           tabernacle.         A very instructive passage, in this
rest spoken of in Genesis  2:2. That rest was not            connection, is what we read in Psalm 5:7, "But as for
open-ended; it was the rest of creation; it is closed        me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
and not open, awaiting a further fulfilment. Here God        tender mercies: and in `thy fear will I worship toward
had placed a period. `He wrote "finis!" For we read,         thy holy mountain." According to the Hebrew parallel-
do we not "And God rested on the seventh day from            ism this "fear" is the expression of the "mercy" of
.all his works?" A closed rest.         It is a day which    God. Were it not for thegreatmercy of God none could
ideally is followed by none other. It is not limited .come into God.`s presence in the fear of God. This fear
by morning and evening. It is a picture of the eternal       is the principle of the love of God. This passage is but
day. It is used in our text as an analogy of the perfect     one of the many passages which we could quote to
rest. But such a period was not place by God back of         substantiate the thesis of the uniqueness and godliness
Joshua's bringing of Israel into the rest of the land of     of the "fear" unto which we are admonished so that
Canaan. This typical rest simply prefigured the final        we may hear and heed the gospel which is preached
rest of the heavenly Canaan, as realized in Christ's         tous. Should any desire to pursue this study further we
death and resurrection. Hence, not entering into this        suggest that he take note of the following passages:
rest on the part .of some does not put to nought the         Psalm  2:11,  5:7;  19:9;  34:ll;  111:lO; Proverbs  1:7;
faithfulness of God with res,pect  to his people.. For       9:lO;  22:4; Acts  2:43; Romans  11:20; Colossians  3:2;
when God speaks of "my rest" in David, he is speaking        Philippians  2:12; I Peter  1:17;  3:2;  3:15. In all these
of the "Sabbatismos" which there remaineth even for          passages we are told to work out our salvation with holy
the people of God now in faith and presently in heaven's     fear and trembling. It is God who worketh in us both
glory, face to face!                                         to will and to do.


      38                                                        -THE  STANDAEiD  BEARER

I
            :  Suchisthe fear-motif of Scripture for the godly. It             and .a great King above all gods.... . For he is our God;
     is  not the anguish of hell,  the cold sweat of a terrified               and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep
      conscience. Yet, it is that awe which prevents us from                   of .his  .hand.    Today if ye will hear his voice, harden
      a heedless attitude  of- indifference when God speaks.                   not your heart as in the provocationin the wilderness!"
      It  is,the fear which heeds joyfully and willingly the ad-                   In this fear we who have, receivemore abundantly,
     monition of the Psalmist "Let us come before his                          and our hearing will be mingled with faith. Only thus
     presence  .with thanksgiving, and make .a joyful noise                    will `we hold firm our profession to the end, looking to
      unto him - with Psalms. For the Lord is a great God,                     Jesus, the greater than Moses.



                                     7.
             EXAMINING  ECUMENICALIShl-



                                            The C.R.C. and the W.C.C.
                :



I

                                                                  by Rev.  G. Van  Baren



             In  examimng  ecumenism it is beneficial for us to                    that the Church's unity should come to visible expres-
      observe also the actions and reactions of other denom-                       sion;
      inations to this trend of the day towards church unity.                          - that the Christian Reformed Church has a re-
      This. column has called attention to the recent concern                      sponsibility with respect to all Christian churches;
      of the Christian Reformed Church towards the ecumen-                             -that we want to, obey the Lord, both in seeking
      ical  movement as embodied in the W.C.C. The  Gere-                          fellowship with all those who confess Jesus Christ,
                                                                                   and in separating ourselves from those who reject,
      formeerde- Kerken of the Netherlands had asked mem-                          deny or pervert the truth of the Gospel.
      .ber churches' of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod to
      give their reaction to the stand of the Gereformeerde                    THE C.R.C., POSITION TOWARDS THE W.C.C.
      Kirken  that it was permissible for Reformed churches
      to belong to the  W;C.C.                This caused considerable             The Synod adopted the following position with regard
     `discussion in the Christian Reformed Church. There                       to the W.C.C. (as quoted in the Bannerof July 14, 1967:
      were those who strongly voiced support for the W.C.C.
      as well `as many who voiced strong opposition. When                              Although fully aware. of the ecumenical calling of
      the' appointed study committee reported to the synod                         Christ's church as expressed in the  synodical Report
                                                                                   of 1944 (Acts 1944, pp. 330-367),  and therefore of the
      of the C.R.C. this year, there was both a majority and                       responsibility to contact all those churches in which
      minority `report  on'the  subject. The advisory commit-                      some traces of the catholic church of Jesus Christ are
      tee- of this synod was likewise divided. I quoted some                       still to be found, Synod declares with regret that it is
      of the minority report `in the last article. In this                         not permissible for the Christian Reformed Church to
      article I `.would quote from the final decision on the                       join the fellowship of the W.C.C. because of the present
      subject .as it was adopted by the Synod of the C.R;C. I                      nature, its inadequate basis, its maintenance and func-
     believethat on'this score the  Synodis to be commended                        tioning of that basis, its socio-political activities and
      in that it was willing to state that it was "inadvisable"                    declarations, and the implications of membership in
      and `even -"`not permissible" to join the W.C.C. as                          this Council. Following are the grounds for this deci-
                                                                                   sion:
      presently constituted.                                                           1. Concerning the Nature of the W.C.C. -The W.C.
      STAT&&NTS   CON~RNING   TF                                                   C. claims to be, and is in fact, substantially more than
                                                      W.C.C.                                                                                     _
                                                                                   a forum for the discussion of differences.         It is a
            With-. regard to the World Council of Churches, the                    "council of Churches" which defines itself as a "fel-
      majority  .committee  reminded the C.R.C..  Synod of the                   lowship  of churches,`* and thus claims to be at least a
      f o l l o w i n g :                                                          provisional manifestation of the unity for which Christ
                                                                                   prayed ((ohn 17). Furthermore, the ecclesiological
                     While. Synod would.be  well'advised  to address itself        character of the W.C.C. is ambiguous and is regarded
             `solely. to the issue which is before it, it should be                differently by various meniber churches.
             .borne. in mind constantly, that all our statements are                   2. Concerning the inadequate Basis of the W.C.C. -.
             rhade  within the faith of the Christian Church. Specifi-             Although the words of the Basis are in themselves a
             cally our pronouncements issue  froin these convictions:              summary of the Gospel, the Basis is inadequate for
                     -that there is only one Church of Jesus Christ a~.@           ecclesiastical fellowship in'view of the doctrinal errors


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                39

   within the churches today. In the light of history and           (a) fellowship with alL who confess and. obey Jesus
   contemporary theology, the Basis is inadequate for               Christ, and. (b) separation from .those  who reje.ct,  deny,
   excluding radically unbiblical interpretations of the            or pervert the truth of the Gospel.
   Gospel. Hence the Basis admits to membership in the                  3. Synod requests its sister churches to bear in
   W.C.C. such churches with which we may not have                  mind the situation from which we are speaking. On
   fellowship (koinonia).                                         our Continent we are daily confronted by the blight of
      3. Concerning the Maintenance and Functioning of              theological modernism, and by the fact that the evangel-
   the Basis  - The W.C.C. does not maintain the Basis in           ical churches -which, for example, supply the largest
   a meaningful way since it does not consider it within            number of missionaries  - are generally opposed to the
   its jurisdiction to judge whether member churches are            W.C.C.
   really faithful to the Basis. The W.C.C. declares that, ~.           4. Synod reminds the Gereformeerde Kerken that to
   if it were to judge whether an applicant or a member             join the W.C.C. means to give recognition also to
   church was actually living in harmony with the Basis,            churches -with  a. radically different interpretation of
   the W.C.C. would become a `&super-church."  That the             the Gospel.     One cannot claim to be engaged in a
   Basis does not function meaningfully is evident from             "common calling to the glory of the one God, Father,
   the admission that there are churches within the W.C.C.          Son and Holy Spirit" with churches which in fact
   "to which the qualification `modernist' is fully or              require the evangelistic endeavours of our local Re-
   partly applicable."                                              formed congregations. Therefore, membership in the
      4. Concerning the Socio-Political Activities and              W.C.C., even if it were permissible, would be inadvis-
   Declarations of the W.C.C.--The activities of the W.             able:
   C.C. in the social, economic, and political areas in-
   volve it in pronouncements and programs which  arenot            In addition, it was decided to forward to the Gere- .
   the immediate responsibility of the church. The type          formeerde Kerken a transcript of the decisions to-
   of action taken in these areas is frequently an em-           gether with the Majority and Minority Reports on the
   barrassment to a Reformed church.                             W.C.C. by Synod's study committee. A transcript of
      5. Concerning the Implications of Membership in            the decisions is to be sent also to the member churches
   the W.C.C .-The general character of the W.C.C. is            of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod and to the General
   ambiguous. Its membership is diverse ecclesiastically         Secretary of the W.C.C.
   and doctrinally. By joining this organization we would
   endorse the ecumenical methodology of the W .C.C.,            CONCL USIONS
   give a measure of recognition to churches with a
   radically different interpretation of the Gospel, and            It was rather sad, I feel, that the C.R.C. Synod also
   thereby becloud or relativize our own witness. "Scrip-        decided to send two observers to the Fourth-Assembly
   ture forbids such association with unbelievers and with       of the W.C.C. which convenes at Uppsala, Sweden,
   those who preach another Gospel.". Cf. II Cor. 6:14-18        July 4-20, 1968. Rev. William Haverkamp- and Rev.
   and Gal. 1:8, 9 (Acts 1958, p. 92)                            John Vriend (the president and the first clerk respec-
                                                                 tively of this last Synod) were chosen as -observers.
   One point ought to be. noted at this point. If the
above decision is a true evaluation of the W.C.C., and           Why such a concluding decision would be t-aken, I am
I believe that it is, there is no reason at the present          not sure -unless it is to satisfy a large number
                                                                 within the C.R.C. who reveal strong leanings toward
time  that the Christian Reformed Church, or any other
Reformed church, should have                                     the W.C.C. I am convinced that the C.R.C. Synod, if it
                                    anything to do with this     is to continue to maintain its position of opposition to
organization.     The resolutions above emphasize that           membership in the W.C.C., should not have decided to
the W.C.C. IS NOT a manifestation of the unity for               send observers.
which Christ prayed. That is true at the present date.                                 For several reasons I am convinced
                                                                 of this:
Even past history shows that the W.C.C. is not im-                  1. The presence of observers gives the appearance
proving; it is not approaching more closely to that              of a real interest and concern in the W.C.C. -despite
which is "orthodox"; but each year the evidence ac-              the decisions which had been taken. Yet if the deci-
cumulates showing that the W.C.C. departs ever further           sions taken were correct, there should not be any mea-
from the Scriptural unity. Then there is absolutely no           sure of interest at all in this organization at this time.
reason for imagining that in the future this organization           2. What conceivable advantage will the presence
will conceivably change for the better.                          of observers gain the C.R.C.? It could give such ob-
   On the basis of the above resolutions, the Synod also         servers the. opportunity to convey a very favorable
adopted statements in response to the resolutions of             report of the gathering (especially if sue h observers
the Gereformeerde Kerken. The Synod stated:                      were predisposed in favor of the W.C.C.) which will
      1. Synod judges that in view of the grave implica-         place renewed pressure on future C.R.C. Synods to
   tions of membership in the W.C.C., it is not sufficient       join the W.C.C. Yet, finally, a decision to join or not
   to state that there is  "no decisive impediment" to           to join the W.C.C. can only be based on official pub-
   such membership, but that it is necessary to demon-           lished decisions and actions. Observers can not change
   strate convincingly that one is acting in obedience to        or even interpret these decisions. If there is a change
   Scripture and in line with the Confession.
      2. Synod urgently requests the assistance of the           for the better in the W.C.C., the official decisions will
   Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in working out           plainly show this.
   a positive statement on our ecumenical calling, in the           At this point, one can only wonder what conse-
   context of our common confession of Articles 27-29 of         quences there will be as a result of this decision. Two
   the Belgic Confession. This Confession demands of us          years should tell.


40                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


All AROUND  US-

                 End of African Missions?

                       Lutheranism  450 Years After Luther

                                 The Battle Over Abortion

                                            Religious Liberty in Spain

                                                by  Pyof. H. Hank0

END OF AFRICAN MISSIONS?                                    in their teaching and worship the indigenous culture of
      The missionary work of the church in Africa is in     the Africans. By this is not meant that the Scriptures
deep trouble.     As the African nations emerge from        be translated into the natives' languages or that the
paganism and take their place on the scene of Twentieth     churches train black ministers and teachers. Rather,
Century History, they show an increasing hatred of the      the governments are insisting that pagan religion itself
white man's church and of the work of missions. Some        be introduced into the worship and teachings of the
evidences of this:                                          church. In Kenya, e.g., suggestions have been made
      --In Uganda twelve Roman Catholic priests were        that the Bible be rewritten so that the first man and
expelled from the land. The charge against them was         woman are not Adam and Eve but Gikuyu and Moombi,
smuggling arms, but reliable reports indicated they the primordial spirit-beings of old pagan legend. Others
were only helping refugees from the fighting between        are insisting that the Christian doctrines of sin and
Uganda and Sudan.                                           salvation be substituted for by something which speaks
      - Tanzania's President Julius Nyerere informed the    more directly to African needs in these days of rising
churches in his country that he would tolerate no           nationalism; teachings which stress the place of Africa
preaching but that which supported his own brand of         on the world stage.
social revolution. And this is only one instance among         All of this surely points to the end of mission work
many in which African leaders are attempting to force       in the days ahead and reminds us of the coming of the
churches to become instruments of their own political       Lord when the gospel will have been preached in the
aspirations.                                                whole world.
      - Almost all of today's African leaders are them-
selves products of mission schools. But this does not       L  UTHERANISM  450 YEARS AFTER L UTHER
prevent them from taking a hostile positionoveragainst         This year is the 450th anniversary of the beginning
the Church now that they are in positions of power.         of the Protestant Reformation. In this day of ecumen-
The leader of Uganda has nationalized all missionary        ical activity we can expect that the Reformation will be
schools and assumes the right to appoint teachers in        discussed in the next couple of months in its relation
these schools, many of whom have no intention of giving to church merger and return to Rome. But we can also
religious instruction.    Tanzania has recently forced      expect that there will be studied ,attempts to deny the
all missions to give up landholdings not presently in       significance of the Protestant Reformation in efforts
use.                                                        to pave the way back to Roman Catholicism. Already
      -Even in white-ruled countries (Rhodesia and          some aspects of this subject are under discussion,
South Africa), mission work faces rough going. The especially among Lutherans.
reason is different: usually these governments are             Apparently some Lutherans had hoped that with the
suspicious that white missionaries are too sympathetic softening attitude of Rome towards Protestantism and
towards the movement of black rule.         Rhodesia is     with the 450th anniversary of the Reformation in the
making plans to turn over control of 2,781 missionary-      offing, the Romish Church would finally relent in its
run private schools  (95% of the elementary educational     condemnation of Luther and lift the excommunication
system) to tribal chiefs who are paid by the govern-        which was imposed on him. But it seems as if these
ment and who can expect to teach government policy.         hopes are not to be realized. The Vatican has given no
South Africa has reduced missionary visas from three        indication that it intends to alter its standon  this point.
years to one and has, in several instances, refused         Rather, the word from Rome is that any change in
extensions when present visas'expired.                      Luther's status would involve too great a change in
      -Much more dangerous to the churches in Africa Roman Catholic doctrine. But Lutherans find solace
is the growing demand that the churches incorporate         in the fact that Luther has already been "indirectly


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     41

rehabilitated" by the Second Vatican Council. Luther-       was really no alternative. Luther came to understand
ans point out that Luther's theology is being carefully this very well.         But from this position of adamant
studied by Romish theologians and that many of his          opposition to Luther the Romish Church has ,not moved
hymns are now sung at worship services in the-`Romish       till this day. Hence the choice is between remaining
Church. They insist too that liturgical reforms in the      true to Luther's teachings (something which American
Romish Church are directly due to the influence of the      Lutheranism has long ago ceased to do) and staying
German Reformer.      And, almost with a sigh of dis-       away from Rome, or denying all Luther ever stood for
appointment, they opine that if only Luther had not been    and rushing back into Rome's deadly embrace.
so sharp in his attacks  on the papacy, even now there
would be possibility that Rome would restore Luther         THEBATTLE OVERABORTION
to good standing within the Church.                            The battle to liberalize abortion laws continues. An
   If we can imagine that Luther were an observer to        interesting development is to be found in the views of
these men who are interested in changing his standing       Mr. Authur  H. Jones, a state representative in North
in the Romish Church, we can. also almost hear              Carolina, and the one most responsible for recent
Luther's bellow of disgust. The petty and superficial       passage of a liberalized abortion bill in that state. At
reforms of Vatican II would be of little interest to the    present, the law reads that abortion may be legal if
man who stood so firmly on the sole authority of            there is grave danger to the life or health of the
Scripture. And he would, with some choice words, tell mother, if the child to be born might have serious
those who want his status altered to mind their own         physical or mental defect, or if pregnancy resulted
business. When he defiantly burned the papal bull of from rape or incest. But Mr. Jones has made clear
excommunication, he snapped his fingers in the face of that he thinks this law is not nearly adequate, but only
the pope and said: "As thou (Pope) hast vexed the Holy      a first step.    He is willing to settle for such a first
One of the Lord, may the eternal fire vex thee!"            step for the time being because he is aware of the fact
   But all this does not keep eager Lutherans from          that public opinion, for the moment; will not allow for
trying their best to get back to Rome. The 45 year old      much more. But he has his plans for the future. And
Council of the Lutheran Student Association of America the first step in these plans is to re-educate the
has recently passed a resolution urging the three major     populace so that they take a different attitude towards
Lutheran Churches in this country (American Lutheran        abortion. When this has been done, the next step is to
Church, Lutheran Church in America, and Lutheran make abortion legal for any mother  wh3 desires it. The
Church-Missouri Synod) to seek organic union with hope is that, `if this is done, there will be no more
tbe Roman Catholic Church. The resolution was unan-         unwanted children in the world. But even this is not
imously adopted and was intended "to inject a note          enough to satisfy Mr. Jones and those who are in favor
of hope for church unity into the observance of the         of liberalized laws. These people envision, with ob-
450th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. As a         vious relish, the time within the next 100 years when
basis for this resolution, the Council pointed out that     every woman desiring a child will have to secure a
Luther never intended to establish a separate denom-        permit from the government. She would make applica-
ination, but wanted only to reform the Romi,sh  Church.     tion to a government agency which would study her
The separation which did occur, the Council insisted        case and decide whether or not to issue a permit. The
"was not intended but forced by a series of historic        agency could decide to refuse such a permit on the
and ecclesiastical misfortunes."                            grounds that there were already too many people of her
   There is a small element of truth in this assertion;     race; or that her family could not provide financial
although what the Council could conceivably mean by         security for the child; or that she and/or her husband
"ecclesiastic and historic misfortunes" is a mystery.       did not have a sufficiently high intelligence to be par-
At any rate, it is correct that Luther had, in the early    ents; or that the area in which they lived was already
years of his work of reformation, no thought of sep-        too densely populated; or some such reason as this.
arating from the Roman Catholic Church. But there           If, nevertheless, the couple went ahead and had their
are two elements which are conveniently forgotten.          child, the state would then insist on an abortion or
The one is that Luther himself did not,(even when he        take away the- child under the guise of promoting the
nailed his theses to the chapel door) understand the        general welfare.
full implications of his own position - especially with        This is the ultimate aim of those who favor abortion;
respect to the doctrines of the sole authority of Scrip-    and it sounds perilously close to what Pharaoh tried
ture and justification by faith alone.      Only as he      to do in Egypt to the children of Israel.
developed in the truth of Scripture did he come to see         Protestant religious leader Dr. Paul Ramsey, thinks
how deep and fundamental was the cleavage between           it foolish even to debate abortion laws since he is con-
the Church in which once he had been a priest and the       vinced that within a few years drugs will be available
truth of God's Word.     Secondly, even then he might       which make it possible for a woman to bring about an
have continued to fight for reform within the Church,       abortion privately in her home. And, perhaps, Dr.
for he understood very well that this was his calling.      Ramsey is right. Already there are so-called "morn-
But it was soon apparent that the Romish Church had         ing after" birth control pills: and drugs to bring about
no thought at all of reform. And the stronger Luther        abortions cannot be too far away.
insisted upon it, the more vehement was the opposition.        Strikingly, 48 experts in the fields of gynecology,
It all resulted in Luther's excommunication. And there      law, sociology, and religion recently came together to


42                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
           -__
discuss the problem.              They came from all over the    Spain where the heavy hand of Roman Catholicism comes
world for three days of discussions- sponsored by the            very close to overt persecution. Recently the pros-
Harvard Divinity School and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.           pects of a, new religious liberty bill brought a collective
Foundation.- Their aim' was to attempt some kind of              sigh of relief from Protestants in Spain who hoped that
consensus on the whole question when studied from a              the. worst was over. But they are now having some
religious, medical, legal and sociological point of view:        second thoughts about it since the law has been heavily
But their! efforts were not entirely successful. They            amended. According to the Presbyterian  Journal, .the
agreed that the problem was far too complex for easy             law requires among other things:
solutions. But they also agreed on a couple of important            - that non-Roman groups must submit annually a
points.           They agreed that the unborn child, from the    complete list of members to the Minister of Justice.
first days of existence, was a human being, and that                - that the church's financial records must be avail-
the death of ,this human being for the sake of conve-            able for inspection and the government may intervene
nience was immoral.                                              if it believes a budget is being improperly administered.
                                                                    -that anyone who has ever taken priestly vows is
      This-.is a major point. And it certainly agrees with       forbidden to register as a non-Roman Catholic clergy-
Scripture : which teaches that at the moment of concep-          man. There is fear that the law will be used to force
tion the God-created person is united with the conceived         former priests who have become Protestant ministers
nature in the womb of the mother. The meaning is,                to resign.
quite clearly, that the unborn child is a personal being.           -that places of worship must be approved by the
As such, abortion is murder. It makes no difference              state and permission to hold any religious service
whether the act is `done before birth or after birth;            elsewhere must be obtained from the state.
the name. of the crime is still murder. Abortion must               --that a register of non-Roman ministers must be
be condemned. The Church of Christ must maintain kept by the Ministry of Justice.
the abiding.principles  of the law of God.                          - that any minister which includes home visitation
                                                                 as a part of evangelism is forbidden to do this.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN  SPAIN                                         Some Protestants insist they had more freedom
      Protestants have always had a difficult time of it in
             :  :                                                before the new liberty law was passed.



             FROM  -OUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE-
      ..-__ - -.--                         .

                                                Our Seminary

                                                       by J.  M. Faber


      Our Seminary is under the direct supervision of the        monthly visit from the committee. The obvious reason
Synod and its officially appointed Theological School            for those regular visits is to observe whether the
Committee, which carries out the work in the interim             instruction given is in full accord with Scripture and
between the annual meetings of Synod. TheTheological             the Three Forms of Unity and in harmony with the
School Committee is an out-growth. of the former                 constitution of our School. Each of these visits must
Curatorium, which supervised the school in the early             be reported in written form at the next committee
days of our existence, before we were organized as a             meeting. The Committee must also cooperate with the
full-fledged. denomination with Classes and Synod. The           faculty..in case of discipline, and with both faculty and
Curatorium at that time was made up of one delegate              students in case of other difficulties.
from: e,ach of our consistories; but the School Commit-             The opening day of school is ,open house for the
tee consists of synodically ,appointed  members elected          whole committee, and one of the minister-delegates
to three-year terms. At .present  hit consists of five           gives a word of encouragement to the faculty and stu-
ministers and five elders (all from the Grand Rapids             dents that they may`face the year withal1 boldness in
area).- . ..`.; :           -.                                   the faith that their efforts will be crowned with God's
      The. duties .of this committee are varied. They in-        grace. as they are true to the study of the Scriptures
clude t,he...appointment  of .delegations  of two brethren       and to their quest to be heralds of His Word.
each to, visit the classes, so.that the,school'receives  a        The Faculty, of our school has embarked on:a new


                                                 THE  STANiMRD BEARER                                                         43
                                                                                                                   -_
venture on a, one-year trial basis. The two profes-                  Our Seminary will be small this year - as small as
sors are editing the new  Protestant Reformed Theo-               it can be and ,still operate. We have only one student
logical Journal,. which is to appear semi-annually. It            this year. who will be kept very busy by his twopro-
will be of some 50 to 60 pages in mimeographed form,              fessors. The future of our school is looking.brighter,
and it will be sent free of charge to those asking for it,        however, than it has for years. The plea going out to
besides to those on the limited mailing list. The pur-            our young men is bearing fruit. under the gracious
pose of this magazine is to provide an outlet for our             guidance of our God.        Five young men have pre-
professors to develop the truth in a scientific and               enrolled in our school while still in high, school and
objective way. One of the by-products of this effort              college. The object of pre-enrolling them is that the
will be that the church world may'know that our sem-              Committee may notify the Draft Boards that the des"
inary is not stagnate, but is scholarly in its approach ignated young man is a divinity student and. is now
to the development of the truth of the Scriptures                 free from the draft according to the laws of .the land;
through a studious application to God's Holy Word.                This enables the aspirant to concentrate on the com-
   The first issue will contain a rather comprehensive pletion of the prescribed course of study in the pre-
examination- of the concept "Wisdom" in the eighth seminary years without the interruption of some years
chapter of the Book of Proverbs, from the pen of Prof.            of military duty. And so we may believe that the Lord
Hanko. Prof. Hoeksema's first contribution will be a' has heard our prayers for ministers and has moved
treatise on "The Scriptural Presentation of God's                 these young men to make this choice of  .vocation
Hatred," in the iight of the confusion existing in the            believing that they have been called to this work. Be-
Reformed church world regarding the scope of the love sides these five, there are as many other younger
of God, whi h is being proclaimed to be a blanket cov-. young men who have expressed their desire to follow
ering all men. Prof. H. Hanko is acting as editor of the same course when they shall have reached that
this journal. This newest arrival in the field of theo-           age.    Thus our older ministers may breathe a little
logical journalism may be found by some of us to be easier, knowing that our churches will not lack under-
somewhat "heavy" reading because of the scholarly shepherds as long as our ,Lord tarries to come and
approach; but many of the Bible students among our we are still allowed the freedom of worship:                          '
laity will find it quite readable and beneficial to our
understanding of the basic truths which are being                    The old, outworn poiitical cliche, "As Maine goes
caricatured these days until they are being made to               so goes the nation," may well be transposed into the
teach what they formerly denied!             Surely our con-      ecclesiastical realm: "AS the Seminary goes so goes
sistory members will take advantage of this golden                the denomination."
opportunity to arm themselves more fully to be leaders               Brethren and sisters of our membership, pray for
in the fight of faith in these last days.                         our school !


    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-


                                      The Doctrine of Sin
                                    The Second Period  -  250-730 A.D.

                                             The Pelagian Controversy


                                      Life of Augustine (Philip Schaff)


                                                    by Rev. H. Veldman

   It is a venturesome and delicate undertaking to                autobiographies none has so happily avoided the reef of
write one's own life (the undersigned believes that our           vanity and self-praise, and none  .has won so much
readers will be interested in an account of Augustine's esteem and. love through its honesty and humility as
life, particularly with a view to the pelagian contro-            that of St. Augustine.
versy, as set forth by Philip Schaff in his history.of               The "Confessions," which he wrote in the forty-
the Christian Church,' Vol. III, 988 f .f .), even though that    sixth year of his life, still burning in the ardor of his
life be a masterpiece of nature or of the grace of God,           first love, are full of the `fire and unction of the Holy
and therefore most worthy to be described. Of all                 Ghost. They are a sublime effusion, in which AU~US-


44                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

tine, like David in the fifty-first Psalm, confesses to          If ever there was a thorough and fruitful conver-
God, in view of his own and of succeeding generations,        sion, next to that of Paul on the way to Damascus, it
without reserve .the sins of his youth; and they are at       was that of Augustine, when, in a garden of the Villa
the same time a hymn of praise to the grace of God,           Cassiciacum, not far from Milan, in September of the
which led him out of darkness into light, and.called          year ,386, amidst the most violent struggles of mind
him to service in the kingdom of Christ. Here we see          and heart - the birth-throes of the new life -he heard
the great teacher of all times "prostrate in the dust,        that divine voice of a child: "Take, read!" and he
conversing with God, basking in His love; his readers         "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 13:14) It is a
hovering before him only as a shadow." He puts away           touching lamentation of his: "I have loved Thee late,
from himself all honor, all greatness, all beauty, and        Thou Beauty, so old and so new; ,I have loved Thee
lays them gratefully at the feet of the All-merciful.         late! And lo! Thou wast within, but I was without, and
The reader feels on every hand that Christianity is           was seeking Thee there. And into Tpy fair creation I
no dream nor illusion, but truth and life, and he is          plunged myself in `my ugliness; for Thou wast with me,
carried along in adoration of the wonderful grace of God.     and I was not with Thee! Those things kept me away
      .AURELIUS AUGUSTINUS, born on the 13th of               from Thee, which had' not been, except they had been
November, 354, at Tagaste, an unimportant village of          in Thee!    Thou didst call, and didst cry aloud, and
`the fertile province Numidia in North Africa, nor far        break through my deafness. Thou didst glimmer, Thou
from Hippo Regius, inherited from his heathen father,         didst shine, and didst drive away my blindness. Thou
Patricius, a passionate sensibility, from his Christian       didst breathe, and I drew breath, and breathed in Thee.
mother, Monica (one of the noblest women in the history       I tasted Thee, and I hunger and thirst. Thou didst
of Christianity, of a highly intellectual and spiritual       touchme,  and1 burn for Thy peace. If I, with all that is
cast,' of fervent piety, most tender affection, and all-      within me, may once live in Thee, then shall pain and
conquering love), the deep yearning towards God so            trouble forsake me; entirely filled with Thee, all shall
grandly expressed in his sentence: "Thou hast made            be life to me."
us for Thee, and our heart is restless till it rests in          He received baptism from Ambrose in Milan on
Thee." This yearning, and his reverence for the sweet         Easter Sunday, 387, in company with his friend and
and holy name of Jesus, though crowded into the back-         fellow-convert Alypius, and his natural son Adeodatus
ground, attended him in his studies at the schools of         (given by God).    It impressed the divine seal upon the
Madaura and Carthage, on his journeys to Rome and             inward transformation.      He broke radically with the
Milan, and on his tedious wanderings through the lab-         world; abandoned the brilliant and lucrative vocation of
yrinth of carnal pleasures, Manichaean mock-wisdom,           a teacher of rhetoric, which he had followed in Rome
Academic skepticism, and Platonic idealism; till at last      and Milan; sold his goods for the benefit of the poor:
the prayers of his mother, the sermons of Ambrose,            and thenceforth devoted his rare gifts exclusively to
the biography of St.  .Anthony, and, above all, the           the service of Christ, and to that service he continued
Epistles of Paul, as so many instruments in the hand          faithful to his latest breath. After the death of mother,
of the Holy Ghost, wrought in the man of three and            whom he revered and loved with the most tender af-
thirty years that wonderful change which made him an          fection, he went a second time to Rome for several
incalculable blessing to the whole Christian world, and       months, and wrote books in defense of true Christianity
brought even the sins and errors of his youth into the        against false philosophy and the Manichaean heresy.
service of the truth.                                         Returning to Africa, he spent three years, with his
                                                              friends Alypius and Evodius, in an estate in his native
      A son of so many prayers and tears could not be         Tagaste, in comtemplative  and literary retirement.
lost, and the faithful mother who travailed,with him in          Then, in 391, he was chosen presbyter against his
spirit with greater pain than her body had in bringing        will, by the voice of the people, which, as in the similar
him into the world, was permitted, for the encourage-         cases of Cyprian and Ambrose, proved to be the voice
ment of future mothers, to receive shortly before her         of God, in the Numidian maritime city of Hippo Regius
de.ath an answer to her prayers and expectations, and         (now Bona); and in 395 he was elected bishop in the
was able to leave this world with joy without revisiting      same city. For eight and thirty years, until his death,
her earthly home. For Monica died on a homeward               he labored in this place, and made it the intellectual
journey, in Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, in her fifty-    centre of Western Christendom.
sixth year, in the arms of her son, after enjoying with          His outward mode of life was extremely simple,
him a glorious conversation that soared above the con-        and mildly ascetic. He lived with his clergy in one
fines of space and time, and was a foretaste of the           house in an apostolic community of goods, and made
eternal Sabbath-rest of the saints. She regrettednot to       this house a seminary of theology, out of which ten
die in a foreign land, because she was not far from           bishops and many lower clergy went forth. Females,
God, who would raise her up at the last day. "Bury            even his sister, were excluded from his house, and
my body anywhere," was her last request, "and                 could see him only in the presence of others. But he
trouble not yourselves for it; only this one thing I ask,     founded~ religious societies of women; and over one of
that you remember me at the altar of my God, wherever         these his sister, a saintly widow, presided. He once
you may be."        Augustine, in his Confessions has         said in a sermon that he had nowherefound better men,
erected to Monica the noblest monument that can never         and he had nowhere found worse, than in monasteries.
perish.                                                       Combining, as he did, the clerical life with the mon-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     45     ~

astic, he became unwittingly the founder of the Augus-        sieging the fortified city of Hippo. Yet he faithfully
tinian order, which gave the reformer to the world. He        persevered in his work. The last ten days of his life
wore the black dress of the Eastern coenobites, with          he spent in close retirement, in prayers and tears and
a cowl and a leathern girdle. He lived almost entirely        repeated reading of the penitential Psalms, which he
on vegetables, and. seasoned the common meal with             had caused to be written on the wall over his bed, that
reading or free conversation, in which it was a rule          he might have them always before his eyes. Thus with
that the character of an absent person should never           an act of penance he closed his life. In the midst of
be touched. He had a couplet to this effect engraved          the terrors of the siege and the despair of his people he
on the table. He often preached five days in succession,      could not suspect what abundant seed he had sown for
sometimes twice a day, and set it as the object of his        the future.
preaching, that all might live with him, and he with all,         In the third month of the siege of Hippo, on the 28th
in Christ. Wherever he went in Africa, he was begged          of August, 430, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, in
to preach the word of salvation. He faithfully admin-         full possession of his faculties, and in the presence of
istered the external affairs connected with his office,       many friends and pupils, he passed gently and happily
though he found his chief delight in contemplation; He        into that eternity to which he had so long aspired. "0
was specially devoted to the poor, and, like Ambrose,         how wonderful," wrote he in his Meditations, "how
upon exigency, caused the church vessels to be melted         beautiful and lovely are the dwellings of Thy house,
down to redeem prisoners. But he refused legacies             Almighty God ! I burn with longing to behold Thy beauty
by which injustice was done to natural heirs, and com-        in Thy bridal-chamber...0 Jerusalem, holy city of God,
mended the bishop Aurelius of Carthage for giving             dear bride of Christ, my heart loves thee, my soul has
back unasked some property which a man had bequeathed         already long sighed for thy beauty!....The King of kings
to `the church, when his wife unexpectedly bore him           Himself is in the midst of thee, and His children are
children.                                                     within thy walls.     There are the hymning choirs of
   Augustine's labors extended far beyond his little          angels, the fellowship of heavenly citizens. There is
diocese.      He was the intellectual head of the North       the wedding-feast of all who from this sad earthly
African and the entire Western church of his time. He         pilgrimage have reached thy joys. There is the far-
took active interest in all theological and ecclesiastical    seeing choir of the prophets; there the number of the
questions.      He was the champion of the orthodox           twelve apostles; there the triumphant army of in-
doctrine against Manichaean, Donatist, and Pelagian.          numerable martyrs and holy confessors.           Full and
In him was concentrated the whole polemic power of            perfect love there reigns, for God is all in all. They
the Catholicism of the time against heresy and schism;        love and praise, they praise and love Him evermore....
and in him it won the victory over them.                          He left no will, for in his voluntary poverty he had
   In his last years he took a critical review of his         no earthly property to dispose of, except his library;
literary productions and gave them a thorough sifting         this he bequeathed to the church, and it was fortunately
in his Retractations. His latest controversial works          preserved from the depredations of the Arian `bar-
against the Semi-Pelagians, written in a gentle spirit,       barians.
date from the same period. He bore the duties of his              Soon after his death Hippo was taken and destroyed
office alone till his seventy-second year, when his           by the Vandals. Africa was lost to the Romans. A few
people unanimously elected his friend Heraclius to be         decades later the whole West-Roman empire fell in
his assistant and successor.                                  ruins. The culmination of the African church was the
   The evening of his life was troubled by increasing         beginning of its decline. But the work of Augustine
infirmities of body and by the unspeakable wretched-          could not perish. His ideas fell like living seed into the
ness which the barbarian Vandals spread over his              soil of Europe, and produced abundant fruits in nations
country in their victorious invasion, destroying cities,      and countries of which he had never heard.
villages, and churches, without mercy, and even be-                                (to be continued)


             The Five Points of Calvinism

                                a 100 - page booklet containing lectures on
                                   The Five Points of Calvinism -
                                by Prof. H. Hanko
                                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                       Rev. Gise J. Van Baren.
                                ready to come from the press

                                Order your copy at the price of $1 postpaid from Rev. M. Schipper
                                                                                      1543 Cambridge, SE,
                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


    46                                                 THE  STANDARD.BEARER


               Annual Secretary's Report  -. R.F.P.A.
          It is again with thanksgiving to our covenant God       of all grace keep us faithful, that we as Protestant
  that we. as-Reformed Free Publishing Association are            Reformed people may continue this work in His fear,
    privileged to complete our forty-third year of publish-       and that through this means His truth may be declared
    ing and .distrjbuting the Stand&d Beaver.                     and His name may be glorified.
          The purpose of our magazine, to declare the truth                                             -G. Pipe, Secretary
    especially as to God's sovereignty, His love and grace,
    and man's depravity, lack of merit and works, was
    achieved-`by our editor and staff. Although past efforts
    in spreeading these truths outside our churches havenot           TREASURER'S REPORT  - R.F.P.A.
    created great concern ,and had great effect, we know
    that the Standard Bearer.is  successful in makingknown        Balance on Hand September 1, 1966                    $  1,306.79
    the truth. to leaders and people alike. We know too that      Receipts
    it. has its, effect; and sometimes this becomes evident         Subscriptions                4,638.90
    from requests for back issues.                                  Membership Dues                 137.00
      :-This last .year through the combined efforts of the         Gifts                        4,837.84
    Mission Committee and the R.F.P.A. Board two hun-               Advertising                     192.00
    dred copies  of. the  Standard  Bearer  were placed on          Bound Volumes                   690.50
    tables at.each  of the lectures held in the.Grand Rapids      Receipts for year             10,496.24              $10,496.24
    area,  w_i_th riders inserted offering a three months' Total Receipts                                              $11,803.03
    free subscription to those requesting it.
          During'the past year eight-nine bound volumes, plus     Disbursements
    two partial sets of bound volumes, were distributed.            Wobbema Printing             9,297.74
    From reports of personal experiences these bound                Holland Bookbinding Co.         503.75
    volumes are found to have an abundance of reference             Mr. J. Dykstra - Gift           300.00
    materials-. in accordance with Scripture, and they are          Miscellanious                   164.00
    being used frequently as commentaries in Bible study.         Disbursements for year        10,266.39              $10,266.39
          According t.o our August report, we have had 108        Balance on Hand September 1, 1967                     $1,536.64
    new subscribers during the year and 59 cancellations,
    for a net increase of  .49.      Our total distribution at    Gifts
    present is 1285.                                                Doon Prot. Ref. Church                    49.09
          The annual treasurer's report of the Permanent            Edgerton  Prot. Ref. Church               40.70
    Committee for the Publication of Protestant Reformed            First Prot. Ref. Church             1,392.14
    Literature -shows that 432 copies of "Reform.ed Dog-            Holland Prot. Ref. Church            110.23
    matics"- have' been sold' to date.. .. Total receipts have      Hope Prot. Ref. Church               336.52
    been $11,550.92; total. disbursements were $9833.50;            Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church        517.78
    the balance on hand is $2,717.42.  This committee asks          Hull Prot. Ref. Church                    79.84
    for - combined efforts of ou r members in promoting
                          ~..                                       Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church               37.53
    the `sale of this book: Financially, the work of further        Loveland Prot. Ref. Church         `- 16.51
   book-publication is dependent on recovering the capital          Lynden Prot. Ref. Church                  13.76
    invested`in  the "Dogmatics."                                   Oaklawn  Prot. Ref. Church                11.00
          ,Cur `Education and Information Committee would           Randolph Prot. Ref. Church                27.81
    appreciate any information and suggestions which would          Redlands Prot. Ref. Church           111.30
    help to further the `Standard Beaver's witness to the           South East Prot; Ref. Church         179.82
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    and readership must be found.                                 Southwest  Prot.`Ref.  Church          152.33
          Our Finance Committee report shows that 50% of            Pricilla Sot. 1st Church                  25.00
.-. our costs' is -met by-donations. These donations are            Jr. .Mr. and l&s. Sot. 1st Church 48.75
    greatly appreciated by the Board. And we ask that the           Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Sot. 1st Church 65.00
    R.F.P.A. be remembered when collections are taken               Ladies Aid Sot. 1st Church           100.00
    in the. churches .and when various societies ,-annually         Choral Sot. Hull Church                   25.60
    distribute.their  gifts.  :                  -,                 Men's `Sot. Hope Church                   30.00
          This past year,the Board has exper,ienced  Christian     Men's  Sot. `Southwest Church              25.00
    harmony under the leadership of our chairman, Mr.               Ladies Aid  Sot. Hudsonville              25.00
    Theodore  Engelsma.-  Mr.  .James  Dykstra,  who  is. of        Men's.League                              25.00
    great .assistance  to: this organization, has again effi-       Mary.Martha Sot. Redlands            25.00
    ciently performed the various duties of Business Mana-          Individuals
    ger. We* hereby. express our appreciation.
      . .FinalIy-,:.  may .our earnest. prayer be that the God                                         - R. Bos, Treasurer


                                                THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                     47


BOOK REVIEWS-                                                                                                         ..~
                                                                                                     .     .     :      ,.     _.:

     Asleep In Jesus                                                 -.


                  God and Evil                                                             PEN PICTURES IN THE UPPER  ROQM,
                                                                                           by Bernard  C;  Clausen;  Baker Book
                          P&n Pictures In The Upper .Room                                  House, 1967; 187 pp.`, $1.50, (paper).
                                                                                             This is one of the "Preaching Helps
                                           GOD AND EVIL, by William Fitch;                 Series" being, published by Baker.. It
                                           Eerdmans Publishing Co.; 183 pp.,               contains fourteen communion sermons
                                           $2.65 (paper).                                  and has as its purpose: "If-we are to
ASLEEP IN JESUS, by J. H. Harten-                                                          recapture for modern Christians those
berger; Baker Book House ; 120 pp.,           Subtitled "Studies .in the Mystery           recollections. of Jesus himself which
$1.50 (pape?).                             of Suffering and Pain", this little book        glorified the .Communion moments for
                                           is a comprehensive discussion of evil           the early Church, we must make delib-
   Part of the "Preaching Helps Ser-       in the world. It discusses the problem          erate efforts to restore those fading
ies", this book contains twenty-three      of evil, not only as found in suffering,        pictures of the upper room, which have
funeral sermons. In some ways it is a      but also the evil of sin. While it is not       now almost surrendered to the patient
nice book: `it does .not contain in the    possible to agree with every part of the        attack  of. time." While the -book is
sermons long eulogies concerning the       book (the author occasionally intro-            well written and contains some inter-
deceased such as characterize modern       duces Arminian theology and questions           esting material on the Last Supper;' it
funeral preaching; it contains sermons     the literal interpretation of Genesis           is not a very good book. It is exege-
which are based upon Scripture and are     l-3) nevertheless, this is a worthwhile         tically unsound; it is based `upon a very
expositions of fitting texts. Although     book. It takes the Scriptural approach          loose conception of inspiration; `it
the Lutheran views of the author are       throughout and is both instructive and          misses the point of the events of the
included - especially his views on bap-    edifying. We recommend this book as             Last Supper badly, failing to direct the
tismal regeneration - the book can be      worthy of reading and study in the              attention of the reader to the -perfect
read for devotional purposes or togive     home and as of special importance to            sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Rec-
ministers ideas of various texts adapt-    all those whose way is beset by much            ommended for general reading, but
able to funeral preaching."                distress.                                       of little help in preaching.
                        Prof. H, Hanko                              Prof. H. Hanko                                    Prof. H. Hanko



                      INMEMORIAM                                               R E S O L U T I O N O F S Y M P A T H Y
It pleased our heavenly Father to take from out of our           The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant Re-
midst a former elder and member of our Men's                     formed Church mourns the loss of a faithful member
Society.
                    MR. SIMON DE VRIES                                                  MRS. JESSIE RIETEMA
Our comfort and peace in this bereavement is `that               whom the Lord called homeonsept. 23,1967. We here-
"We know that if our, earthly house of this tabernacle .with express our sincere sympathy to the bereaved
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house              family may they rejoice in the assurance that she has
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." II                 gone to be with the Lord in glory.
Corinthians 5:l.                                                     "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong
            The Consistory and Men's Society of                  and &good courage". Joshua 1:5, 6.
             The First Prote,stant  Reformed Church                                          Mrs. D. Jonker, Pres.
             of Holland, Michigan                                                            Mrs. J. Newhouse, Sec'y.


               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of First Protestant Re-
formed Church express their heartfelt sympathy to                              R E S O L U T I O N O F S Y M P A T H Y
Mr. and Mrs. .Stuart Looyenga in the recent passing of           The Ladies Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed
her Father.                                                      Church extends its sympathy to one. of its members,
                    MR. HARM HAMSTRA                             Mrs. John Moelker,  in the- loss of .her Mother
We know, that all things work together for good to them                                 MRS.  ,FLORA JOHNSON
that love God, to them that are called according to His          Our prayer is that our heavenly Father may comfort
purpose.                                                         the bereaved family.
                         Prof. H. Hanko, Pres.                                               Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.
                         Mrs. Donald Hauck, Sec'y.                                           Mrs. G. Engelsma, Vice Sec'y.


48                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                      NEWS FROM  OirR  CHURCHES-

                                      September.24,  1967 Hanko who was invited to conduct an afternoon service
      The Reformed Free Publication Association met in while there on Church Visitation.
Annual Business Meeting Sept. 21 in Southeast Church.          . . .see you in church                          J.M.F.
Election of three board members and the adoption of
several constitution changes occupied most of the                              Report of Classis East
evening after Rev. H. Veldman delivered a short but                      July 5 and September 13, 1967
pithy talk.    The speaker reminded the members of                            At Hudsonville, Michigan
their continued responsibility to contend for the faith        Rev. G. Van Baren led in the opening devotions.
through our Standard Bearer which has for forty years       After Classis was declared properly constituted, the
been the means of publicly proclaiming and defending        Rev. R. C. Harbach presided while the Rev. Van Baren
the basic truths of Scripture. He warned his hearers        recorded the minutes.
that because our position in the church world is unique        The Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee gave
in that ours is a lone voice in the wilderness we are       their reports.
called to faithfulness in witnessing boldly to the,faith       Requests for pulpit supply were received from Hol-
once delivered unto the fathers. The three members          land, and from Classis West for South Holland, Ran-
added to the board. are, George  DeVries,  Richard          dolph, and Hull. A committee of Rev. G. Lubbers, J.
Teitsma and Henry Velthouse.                                King and H. Ophoff prepared the following schedule
                          *  * *                            which Classis adopted:
      Thursday, Sept. 19, was the date scheduled by            Holland: Aug. 6 - H. Veldman Aug. 13 -M. Schipper
Loveland's Extension Comm. to feature a public lec-         Aug. 20 - J. Kortering.
ture by Rev. C. Hanko, of Redlands, Calif. The an-             South Holland: July 23 -H. Veldman July 30 -M.
nounced topic was, "Believing the Truth in these Last       Schipper Aug. 13 -G. Van Baren Aug. 20-G. Lubbers
Days."      Loveland's City Auditorium was the place        Sept. 10 - R. C. Harbach Sept. 24 -M. Schipper Oct. l-
chosen by the committee to seat the expected audience.      G. Lubbers Oct. 8  - J. Kortering.
Rev. Hanko had expressed' his intention of presenting          Randolph: July 16 - G. Lubbers Aug. 6 - R. C. Har-
material "that would be beneficial to all, especially bath Aug: 13 - H. Veldman Aug. 20 - G. Van Baren Aug.
to those who have little or `no acquaintance with the       27 -M. Schipper Sept. 17 -G. Lubbers Oct. 1 - R. C.
Reformed faith." Loveland was also. the site of an Harbach Oct. 8 - H. Veldman.
Office Bearer's Conference in which Rev.  Wouden-              Hull: July 23, 30 - J. Kortering Sept. 10, 17 -G.
berg, of Lynden, Wash. addressed' the delegates to Van Baren.
Classis West on the subject, "The Local Congrega-              The Church Visitors, the Revs. H. Veldman and M.
tion: Its Mission". After the address the delegates         Schipper, tendered their report of the annual church
were invited to discuss the paper.                          visitation which Classis filed for information.
                          * *  *                               Letters from the Stated Clerk of Synod relative to
      The congregation of First Church is eagerly a-        decisions of Synod pertinent to Classis East were read
waiting the end-ofrthe-year installation of their new       and filed for information.
organ.     They are advertising the sale of their old          Mr. D. Langeland and Mr. 0. Vander Woude served
organ and will expect the buyer to remove same at the       as finance committee for this session of Classis.
last moment (weeks) so that they will nothave to suffer        Classis in executive session treated requests for the
the inadequacy of piano accompaniment in such a large       increase of censure of several members of one of our
auditorium for more than two Sundays.                       churches, `and the erasure of a baptized member of
                          * *  *                            another of our churches.
      Emeritus `Minister, Rev. Vos, writes in Hudson-          Mr. R. Lubbers and Mr. H. Ophoff were appointed
ville's bulletin that his wife is also suffering from a     to thank the ladies of Hudsonville for their excellent
painful phlebitis besides the burden of extreme ner-        catering services.
vousness and rheumatoid. arthritis, but adds: "God is          Classis decided to meet next time the first Wed-
good, and we understand that all these afflictions work nesday in October in Holland.
together for good to those who love God, and we do that,       The Questions of ArticJe  41 of the Church Order
we do!"                                                     were asked and answered satisfactorily.
                          ***                                  The Chairman expressed appreciation for the co-
      Lynden's consistory scheduled a "work-bee" on a operation he received through these long sessions in
recent Monday evening to complete several projects          which Classis met.
in their church, which included some outside painting.         Rev. M. Schipper led the  Classis in the closing
Lynden's congregation was privileged to hear Rev. C.        prayer of thanksgiving.        M. Schipper, Stated Clerk


