                                           he



                                                 earer


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





         IN THIS ISSUE:

                 Meditation: Putting on Christian Virtues

                 Editorials: The Christian Reformed Synod
                                           and the "Dekker  6se"

                           Consistorial Supervision of
                                           Catechetical Instruction

                 Reactions to the Dekker Decisions (see: All Around Us)

                 Our Mission Activities

                                                     Number 3  / November 1, 1967





 /  /


50                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                                         C O N T E N T S                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

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Meditation --
        Putting On Christian Virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
               Rev. M.  Stihipper                                                                                             Editor-in-Chiefi  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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        and the "Dekker Case" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52                               Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
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         MEDITATION-

                                    Putting  on. Christian Virtues

                                                                                                   by Rev.  M:Schippev

                                            "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved;. bowels of  mercies,
                                   kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,  longsuffeving, forbearing one another,
                                  and  forgiving   oti another, if any man have  a  quarrel against any: even as Christ
                                  forgave  you, so also do ye."                                                                                   Colossians 3.92, 13
        Therefore!                                                                                                       and on the other, it calls for  consistency,..that is, if
        Significant word appearing in the introduction of                                                                that which precedes is true then that which follows
this portion of Holy Writ! It has a twofold  signifi;                                                                    should be in harmony with it.
cance. On the one hand, it, points to a conclusion, to                                                                      To apply this to the text and the context at hand,
something that follows out of  sotiething that precedes;                                                                 the argument of the apostle goes something like this:


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     51'

If we confess that we are Christ's and are risen with             All these virtues are characteristic of the new
Him, then our life and walk must be consistent with            man! They are the reflection of the image of Christ
our confession. If we claim that in principle we are           as it comes to manifestation in the redeemed and
putting off the old man with his deeds and putting on          regenerated. sinner. And strikingly all of these virtues
the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the            are intended to be displayed by the child of God to
image of Him that created him, then we will be busy            others.      His heart is. full of mercy and compassion.
putting on bowels of mercies, etc.                             His disposition is kindly and beneficently disposed
   Putting on Christian virtues !                              toward others. He has a deep sense of moral little-
   Figurative language!                                        ness which esteems other better than himself. He is
   As one puts on clothing wherewith to cover himself,         always ready and willing to confess his own sin first
and being covered to thus make his appearance before           before he is ready to point out the sin in others. And
others; so must these virtues be donned, and without           he is ready to suffer abuse and reproach of others,
them we should not be seen !                                   so long as he may thereby show that he has been with
   Put on bowels of mercies !                                  Jesus, and show to those who bring the abuse and re-
   The term "bowels" refers properly to the vital,             proach that they are the objects of the love which
internal organs of the body, such as the heart, lungs,         dwells in the heart of the one who is longsuffering.
liver, intestines, etc., which were considered by the             Putting these virtues on!
ancients as the seat of all emotions and affections, of           But how shall. we put on what is principally and
all passions, good and bad. Rightly considered, how-           essentially spiritual and internal?
ever, the term undoubtedly refers to the heart, out of            Surely all these virtues which the apostle enumer-
which are all the issues of life, which is the seat of         ates here are spiritual, and as such are invisible
all our thinking, willing, all our emotions from a             qualities of the inward man.           However, when the
spiritual-ethical point of view.                               apostle says that these must be put on, he means that
   When the apostle speaks of bowels "of mercies"              we are  fo allow them to become manifest in our con-
he qualifies this seat of emotion and affection. The           duct.      Not, you understand in the sense in which we
mercy here signifies compassion, pity, and sympathy,           often speak of "put' on." For the apostle would never
so that the seat of the affection is characterized as          exhort us to hypocritically show off what really was
having the quality of sympathetic pity and compassion,         not there; though it is possible that one with a vain
and as such is considered by the apostle as the foun-          show of piety can sometimes imitate these virtues,
tain and source of all the other virtues he here enu-          while in heart never mean them.           But certainly no
merates.      That is, kindness, lowliness of mind, meek-,     real child of God will merely show off or manifest
ness, and longsuffering have their beginning in this           what he really does not possess. Nay, rather, when
seat of the affections. And the relation is such that          he puts on these virtues it becomes outwardly seen
there is graduation in these concepts.         Each added      what he already possesses inwardly and spiritually.
virtue adds to the original mercy, and longsuffering,             A continual act!
which is mentioned last, is undoubtedly that which                Indeed, the actual putting on of the new man takes
makes' up the fulness of the concept mercy.                    place once, principally, when the child of God is
   Kindness !                                                  regenerated, born again from above, when the Holy
   A most beautiful word as it is the expression of a          Spirit of Christ makes us partakers of the image of
most beautiful grace! It is a grace that pervades and          Christ, when our spiritually dead and corrupt heart
penetrates the whole nature, mellowing there all which         is renewed, and we are changed from haters to lovers
has the natural tendency to be harsh and austere. It           of God, His Christ, His people. But in the process of
signifies benevolence and sweetness of disposition as          sanctification there is a continual putting on and put-
shown in the intercourse with others.                          ting off. When we are changed, we are changed prin-
   Lowliness or humbleness of mind!                            cipally, which means there is only a  beginning.of  new
   One who possesses this virtue has a humble opinion          obedience.     But it lies in the very nature of this work
of self. Such an one has a deep sense of littleness. It        of the Holy Spirit that it cannot stop with the mere im-
springs from the sense of unworthiness, of dependence,         planting of the seed.      The seed must grow, the new
and finds its first expression in the confessionof sin.        life must needs come to outward manifestation. It
When it is displayed over against another, it always           would be a contradiction to say that we have put on
deems the other better than oneself.                           the new man, and not these virtues. The process must
   Meekness !                                                  continue until the full new man is complete.
   So closely related to the preceding virtue because                          ***************
it is only the humble heart which is also meek. One               Forbearing one another!
who is truly meek does not puff himself  ,up as being.            Forgiving one another!
better than others, but confesses freely his own  ,un-          So this putting on of Christian virtues is brought to
worthiness.      It desires to see the other exalted rather    manifestation. In our Christian experience it is possi-
than self.                                                     ble that  offences  will arise, though- we should never
Longsuffering!                                                 seek them, and much less be the occasion for them.
   One- who possesses this `virtue is  able.long  to hold      Offences  may arise for many different- reasons. Some-
out  .before  he gives room to  actionor  passion. It  ex-~    times Christians because of their natures may become
presses  the,  .willingness  to  bea-r reproaches and all      troublesome persons. They seem to delight in strut-
evil treatment of the object that is loved.                    ting about with a chip on their shoulder. They are


52                                            THE  STANDARD  BEARER


often great fault finders. They are people you could              Notice how the apostle stresses the mutual, the
wish were delivered completely of the old man of sin           reciprocal nature of these graces. Forbearing one
and translated to heaven, so that you would not have           another.    Forgiving one another.        Forgiveness can
to' deal any longer with them. Then again, often these         never be the act of one alone. The offended must be
offences arise out of misunderstanding, or perhaps             willing to forgive, and the offender must seek forgive-
through lack of tact.       Then again, they may be oc-        ness.
casioned through some physical condition or weak-                 Only he who forbears and forgives, is putting on
ness.      Perhaps one is run down physically, so that we      bowels of mercies.         If we say we are putting on the
say his nerves have run away with him, and he says             new man, we must also be putting on bowels of mer-
more or less than he ought'to say, and he may do or            cies.    And if we say we are putting on bowels of mer-
say things which in a more reserved moment he would            cies, we must be willing to bear with one another and
never do or say. Consequently friction results, sparks         to forgive one another.
fly, and when these sparks fly long and fast enough,              As Christ forgave you!
the result is a huge conflagration. What then should              That Christ forgave us, we believe and confess.
the Christian do?       How must he act when there is          Therefore as He did so must we do. One who fails to
something between him and the other?            Should the     forgive cannot say he has been forgiven. That is what
sparks be allowed to start a fire? Or, should there be         Christ taught us.       "If ye forgive not men their tres-
a withdrawal, and the position assumed that gives the          passes, neither will My Father forgive your  tres-
heated person a long time to cool off?                         pwsses." He taught us to pray: forgive us our debts
      The apostle exhorts: forbearing one another, and         as we forgive our debtors.
forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any: even as Christ (or the Lord) forgave you,                       ***************
so also do ye !
      Forbearing one another !                                    As elect of God !
      Longsuffering and forbearance are different. This           Holy and beloved!
is true especially as these two virtues are found in              You, the saints of Colossa! And you also who con-
God Himself. Then longsuffering reflects His attitude          stitute the whole body of Christ!          You have been
over against His. beloved people, while forbearance            chosen by God eternally, sovereignly.           You were
reflects His attitude over against the wicked. He              chosen in order that you should become holy, and be-
bears with them just so long as He suffers with His            cause you were loved.
people.      He does not destroy them until they have             As a fruit of that election!
served His purpose with them. But when these virtues              Put on bowels of mercy, all Christian virtues !
are found in us, then we are longsuffering when we                In order that you might appear without blame be-
endure the reproaches of those whom we love, and we            fore Him, in love He has chosen you. In order that
bear with their sin until they come to repentance, and         you may walk before Him without blame, He calls
seek for forgiveness.       We do not condone their sin,       you whom He has chosen in love to be constant in put-
but we bear with it, not returning evil for evil.              ting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the
      Forgiving one another !                                  new man, which consists in putting on all these
      That is, the grace that makes us willing to show         virtues.
kindness to the  ,offending  one, and the readiness to            That fruit which has its principle in election, must
help him remove the offense so that it no longer ex-           come to outward manifestation in our walk.
ists.                                                             The seed always bears fruit!

  EDITORIALS-

                   The Christian Reformed Synod
                                                     and the "Dekker Case"

                                  "Abstract'`-Without Definition or Proof

                                               bj Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

      In its decision, quoted in full in a previous  edito-    Professor Dekker" for this is, of course, that it is
rial, the Christian Reformed Synod not only decided            wrong to express one's self in an abstract way. For
that Professor Dekker expressed himself ambiguously            certainly one is not admonished for expressing  `him-
about the love of God and the atonement, but also that         self well, but only for expressing himself wrongly.
he expressed himself in an  abstract  way. Moreover,              In a well-formulated decision, therefore, one might
the implication of Synod's decision to "admonish               expect the following:


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     53

   1) A clear statement of what Synod means by ab-            Doctrinal Committee. It was not one of the issues in
stractness.                                                   the interchange of ideas between Professor Dekker
   2) Proof that such abstractness is wrong and that,         and the Doctrinal Committee. In fact, this element
therefore, one who expresses himself abstractly is            was introduced as a  `<way out" of the impasse to which
worthy of admonition.                                         Synod had come.        Especially in this light it became
   3) Proof that Professor Dekker indeed expressed            incumbent upon Synod to explain what it meant. The
himself abstractly and that, therefore, he was subject        Synod discarded the Report of the Doctrinal Com-
to admonition.                                                mittee, a report which was the result of three years'
   First of all, let us examine Synod's decision in the       labor.    And it adopted a new charge on the spur of the
light of these three criteria.                                moment practically, without giving account of its
   Does Synod anywhere explain what it means by the           meaning. Of the report of the Doctrinal Committee,
term "abstract"?                                              whether one agreed with it or not, one could at least
   The answer to this question is negative. One may           say that its meaning was clear; but the best that can
search the decisions of Synod from beginning to end,          be said of the present decision, taken at face value, is
but nowhere will he find an explanation. Even when            that it leaves matters undefined, and, to that extent,
we consider the "Preliminary Observations" of Re-             undecided.
port IX-D, there is no help to be found. In its pre-             3) It is indeed true that words have meaning. Any-
liminary observations the committee does two things.          one, therefore, has the perfect right to turn to the
It lists the statements of Professor Dekker which             dictionary in order to discover, if he can, what this
"have caused extensive discussion and controversy             charge of being "abstract" means. However, when
in the churches."        And it informs Synod that it  `5s    we attempt to apply the dictionary meaning of the
convinced that Professor Dekker has erred in making           term "abstract" to Dekker's statements, we discover,
ambiguous statements and using them in an abstract            as I shall point out later, that there is nothing abstract
way." But in vain does one look for any definition of         about them.
what is meant by this charge.                                    What really happened, then, when Synod adopted
   But someone might object that this kind of reason-         this charge and decided to admonish Professor Dekker?
ing, according to which Synod was duty bound to ex-           On the surface of things, this charge appears to be
plain what it meant by this charge, would involve the         innocent.      It is undefined. It is rather meaningless,
Synod in endless explanations and endless debate.             apparently.     It did not decide very much. And because
After all, words have meaning; and a Synod may cer-           of its very vagueness, this term apparently served as
tainly assume that its delegates are of normal intel-         a means of deciding the case  without deciding the is-
ligence and understand the meaning of those words.            sues. For it must be remembered that the basic issue
Moreover, the Synod may assume also that the minis-           before the Synod was this:  aYe Professor  Dekkev's
ters and elders of the churches will understand plain         statements in harmony with the weeds,  OY  are they in
English, and that even the membership will, for the           conflict with the creeds?  From a formal point of view,
most part, understand this language.         To this my       this issue was shelved: it was twice tabled. From a
answer is as follows:                                         material point of view, however, it was not shelved.
   1) There certainly was no evidence at Synod that           Synod twice refused to declare Professor Dekker to be
the delegates, by and large, knew what they were              in conflict with the creeds. Twice the Synod declared,
adopting.      There was no real inquiry into the meaning     in effect, that Professor Dekker, as far as Scripture
of this decision. There was no debate as to whether           and the creeds are concerned, may continue to teach
the decision was true.        And there was no debate or      his Arminian views.
discussion about the rightness or wrongness of being             But there is even more to be said concerning this
abstract. True, there was references made by some             charge of abstractness. It is an innocent term only on
delegates to this idea of abstractness; and there were        the surface of things. It is apparently innocent only
several references to what some call the "kerugmatic          because Synod did not give account of its meaning.
situation," - a much used (or: abused?) expression            But that term "abstract" is like an iceberg. In the
which is so little defined that it is itself much more        synodical decision you only see that part of the iceberg
open to the charge of "abstract" than are Dekker's            which is above the surface of the ecclesiastical waters.
statements.       But there was absolutely no evidence        By far the largest part of that iceberg is lurking below
that in the concrete situation before them the delegates      the surface; and the real danger is in that part which
clearly understood what they were saying. And even            lurks below the surface of this synodical decision.
if this had been clearly before the minds of the dele-        This I will prove later.
gates, or if it had become clearly evident in the dis-           There are two more questions which we must face
cussion, the mind of the delegates and the discussion         before we go into the deeper implications of this
on the floor of Synod is not part of the official record.     charge, however.
The result is that it is anyone's guess what this                One question is this:       did Synod show that it is
charge really means.                                          wrong to be abstract, and that, therefore, one who  .is
   2) This element of "abstract" was, as far as the           abstract is worthy of admonition?
official proceedings of the Dekker Case are concerned,           Also this question must be answered negatively.
an entirely new element which arose on the floor of           Neither the grounds of the decision nor the pre-
Synod and in the report of the Advisory Committee.            liminary observations of the advisory committee
It will not be found in the recommendations of the            show this.      There is not an iota of proof furnished.


54                                           THE  STANDARD  BEARER


The decision simply  assumes  that it is wrong to be           This question he answered affirmatively and in the
abstract, or to express one's self in an abstract way.         most concrete language possible: "I mean to say that
In other words, Synod's decision begs the question.            Christ has actually' suffered for his sins and has in
It assumes that which should be proved. Moreover, as           that sense expiated his guilt."
I will show when we study the deeper implications of              I ask: what is abstract about Professor Dekker's
this charge, both Scripture and the confessions make           language?
so-called "abstract" statements in the same way in                Is the love of God an abstraction? Is the oneness
which Professor Dekker  make,s "abstract" state-               of God's love an abstraction?        Is the redemptive
ments . Again, therefore, the conclusion in regard to          character of God's love an abstraction? Is "all men"
Synod's decision is:  tried, and found wanting!                an abstraction? Is the death of Christ, or the atone-
      The second question is this:       were Professor        ment, an abstraction? Is expiation abstract? Are all
Dekker's statements indeed  abstract,  -understanding          these things theoretical considerations? Did Dekker
the term "abstract" in the ordinary sense  ofthe word?         consider the love of God or the atonement of Christ
      According to the dictionary, "abstract" is the op-       apart from any application to a particular object?
posite of "concrete." It refers to that which is  "cdn-           The answer to these questions is plain. Professor
sidered apart from any application to a particular ob-         Dekker was dealing with what to him was a concrete
ject." Or, the term "abstract" is defined as "dealing          problem in missions, that of the content of mission
with a subject in its theoretical considerations only."        preaching.    And when he dealt with this problem he
      Apply these descriptions, if you will, to the three      did not speak of abstractions, but of concrete realities,
sets of statements which the committee quotes in               of such eternal verities as the love of God, the atone-
Report IX-D.                                                   ment of Christ, the expiation of sin and guilt. More'-
      Do they fit? Are they apt descriptions of Dekker's       over, although indeed he maintained that the love of
statements?                                                    God and the death of Christ are universal, that is,
      Even as with that term "ambiguous," so it is with        all-inclusive, he did not separate that love and atone-
this term:     a calm and careful consideration of  Dek-       ment from particular objects. He exactly maintained
ker's statements, whether taken all by themselves or           that the particular objects concerned in that love and
taken in the context of the entire discussion as he            atonement were "all men," that is, every member of
introduced it in the  Reformed  Journal,   will reveal that    the human race, and "every man," that is, every
there is nothing abstract about them. To be sure, they         human being to whom a missionary speaks or whom
are  doctrinal  statements; but that is not the same as        he might possibly meet.
"abstract."      Indeed, they are  objective  statements;         There might indeed be room for applying the term
but that also is not the same as "abstract." Surely,           "abstract" when Dekker employs such terms as
the question may be raised whether these objective,            "inherently universal" and "concept of limited atone-
doctrinal statements are true or false; but that is an         ment." But such language is "abstract" only in the
altogether different question than the question whether        sense that we all use abstract language, -to express
they are abstract.
._                                                             a concrete truth in concept form.      There is nothing
      What is the truth about Professor Dekker's state-        wrong about this, especially not when the concept is
ments?                                                         generally understood and when it is made in a context
      First of all, we point out that the professor from       which leaves no doubt about its concrete implications.
the very beginning of his writings was dealing with a             What, then; is the only possible conclusion?
concrete problem and a concrete situation. The prob-              Professor Dekker did not make abstract state-
lem, according to Dekker, was that the Christian               ments. He made very concrete statements as to what
Reformed mission program was ineffectual: it did not           he maintains is the objective truth and the objective
produce enough converts. The solution to the problem,          content of the gospel.
according to the professor of missions, lay in the fact           Synod's decision to admonish Professor Dekker for
that the  mission message  was not correct. Specif -           expressing himself in an abstract way is absolutely
ically, Professor Dekker maintained that the mission           unfounded.
message was not correctly understood on two counts:               But it is worse than unfounded. It is deceptive.
the love of God and the atonement of Christ.                      For Dekker's expressions are not abstract, even
      In the second place, we should note that as a solu-      as they are not ambiguous. They are concretely and
tion to the concrete problem Professor Dekker pro-             unambiguously Arminian. They constitute a concrete
posed two correctives:      1) The (to him) gospel must        and unambiguous denial of the Reformed faith.
be proclaimed that God loves all men with a redemp-               Synod's decision is. deceptive, too, because that
tive love.      This, according to Dekker, must be the         term "abstract" has deeper implications. It carries
contents of the preaching. 2) The (to him) gospel must         with it a freight of which perhaps some, even many,
be proclaimed that Christ died for all men, head for           delegates were unaware. It is expressive of a cancer
head and soul for soul. We may say to  any man (see-           that is eating at the vitals of the Reformed faith, both
ing that Christ died for  every man),  "Christ died for        in this country and the Netherlands. This I shall show
y o u . "                                                      next time, D.V., when I discuss: The Evolution of the
      In the third place, in the course of the discussion      Charge "Abstract."
with the Doctrinal Committee, Professor Dekker was                If you are curious about this subject, read Pro-
confronted by the question whether he included the             fessor Hanko's report of what the RES News says about
idea of expiation in the death of Christ for every man.        the Dekker Case decision.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          55





               Consistorial  Supervisick

                                     of Catechetical Instruction

                                              by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


(Note:       At the request of the Officebearers' Confer-    concerning the visiting of catechism classes. We will
ence of  Classis  East, I have prepared for publication      come to that problem eventually in the course of this
an address delivered at their October meeting on the         discussion; but I consider that particular problem to
above subject . It will appear serially in the  Standard     be only one phase of a larger and very important
Bearer.   H.C.H.)                                            subject.    The actual visiting of catechism classes is
                                                             but one part of a very important duty of any consis-
INTRODUCTION                                                 tory, namely, to assume the chief responsibility for
   As far as this subject is concerned, I suppose I          catechetical instruction and therefore to supervise
might almost be counted a "has-been." Catechetics            all that belongs to that instruction.
has never been one of my subjects in the seminary;              To various aspects of this consistorial responsi-
and Church Polity is no longer one of my branches of         bility I now call your attention.
instruction. Moreover, though I am an officebearer, I
have no active part in any consistorial labor; and it is,       The Importance of  This  Consistovid  Supervision
besides, very seldom that I ever teach catechism any            As I already suggested, this importance lies, in
more, except occasionally as a substitute.                   the  deepest-.-  sense, in the  importence  of catechetical
   Nevertheless, I deem this subject both interesting        instruction itself. And the importance of catechetical
`and important, and that for more than one reason. In        instruction, in turn, can only be seen correctly when
the first place, it is as important as catechetical in-      we note the nature and purpose of catechetical instruc-
struction itself is:      and that is probably even more     tion. To that nature and purpose, therefore, we must
important than we think it to be and than we sometimes       give our attention.
treat it as being. But it can surely be readily under-          For a description of the nature of catechetical in-
stood that a consistory which considers catechism            struction I will quote from our seminary's  "Cate-
instruction to be important will also consider consis-       chetics Notes," written by the late Rev. Herman
torial supervision thereof to be important.          For,    Hoeksema:
basically, the quality of the former can be no better               Catechetical instruction is the official  labor which
than the thoroughness and the carefulness of the latter.        tlie church by way of instruction is called to bestow
In the second place, I deem this subject important be-          upon the seed of the covenant, in order that it may
cause I am of the opinion that catechetical instruction         attain to the knowledge of the covenant and be enabled
                                                                consciously to assume its part in that covenant.
could receive more attention and emphasis than it                   In distinction from ail other instruction, it is
sometimes does. It is, of course, always a mistake to           spiritual, religious instruction, the contents of which
assume that there is not room for improvement. But              must be derived directly from Holy Writ.
it is also true that even where there is a high level of            It (catechetical instruction) is official ecclesiastical
quality in the instruction given in the catechism room,         instruction.    It is a form of the ministry of the Word.
this can only be maintained by careful supervision and          It is more particularly the task of the minister of the
oversight on the part of those responsible.         Good        Word.     And it is a very important part of that task.
things have a quiet way of slipping away from us and            For by catechetical instruction the seed of the cove-
of becoming neglected merely by default and through a           nant is prepared for the preaching.
process of being taken for granted. And certainly our           As far as the task and purpose of catechetical in-
consistories must take care that catechetical instruc-       struction are concerned, I quote the following from the
tion does not have a "second fiddle" role in our             same notes:.
congregations. Positively speaking, we must take care               The task may be described as consisting in this,
that this instruction is as thorough and as intensive as        that the. church instruct the seed of the covenant in
possible.                                                       the whole counsel of God. And the purpose of cate-
                                                                 chetical instruction...is to lead the seed of the cove-
   As far as the origin of this assigned subject is             nant from the state of spiritual immaturity to that
concerned, I would guess that it has probably arisen            state of maturity in virtue of which they can take their
in  .part out of that sometimes nettlesome question that        position in the church in which they have a.place,  make
is. addressed to the consistory at church visitation             confession of their faith consciously in the  fellowship-


56                                                THE STANDARD BEARER.

      of that particular church, and consciously take their       stand the vocabulary of the Reformed faith.           And
      place at the communion table. The children of be-           therefore, ultimately the preaching of the Word itself
      lievers must come to a conscious possession of all the      must needs deteriorate according as a generation
      benefits God's people have in Christ.        They must      grows up which is not properly catechized. Moreover,
      learn to know these benefits and to appropriate them.
      They must learn to know their calling as members of         all the various elements which were mentioned above
      the body of Christ and of God's covenant, not only as       in connection with the purpose of catechetical instruc-
      such, but also in antithesis to the world that lies in      tion must needs be affected whenever and wherever
      darkness. `And they must learn to consider it grace         that instruction is neglected.
      in the cause of Christ not only to believe in Him, but         From all this, it follows that this official work of
      ak.o   to suffer with Him. For this purpose it is not'      the ministry must be carefully and very thoroughly
      sufficient, as the purpose of catechism is sometimes        and zealously performed. And from this it follows that
      presented to be, to lead the seed of the covenant to        it is a far from unimportant task for a consistory
      conversion. On the contrary, it must as much as pos-
      sible be founded in all the truth of Scripture as it is     carefully to supervise this part of the work of the
      understood and confessed by the church that instructs.      ministry.      Even as it is the consistory's task to
      Moreover, it must not merely be instructed in the           oversee the ministry of the Word, so it is the  con-
      positive knowledge of this truth, but also learn to         sistory's task to oversee the catechizing of the cove-
      distinguish it from every wind of doctrine, and by the      nant seed.      And even as the responsibility for the
      truth be trained to put on the whole armor of God,          ministry of the Word does not lie ultimately with the
      fight the good fight, and stand in the evil day. Such is    individual minister, but with the consistory, so the
      the task of catechetical instruction, and the end which     responsibility for the task of catechizing the covenant
      the catechizing church must keep constantly in mind.        seed does not lie ultimately with the individual teacher,
      Let me briefly point out' that the basis of all this        but with the consistory.
is the fact that God establishes His covenant in the                 Yet, whiie theoretically and principally we will all
line of continued generations.           If God had not con-      undoubtedly acknowledge this importance of  cate-
nected the historical development of His covenant                 chetical instruction, and therefore the importance of
with the organic continuity of generations, and if there          its supervision by the consistory, it is not difficult
were, therefore, no certainty whatsoever that He                  to point out how, in various practical ways, the im-
would gather His church from generation to genera-                portance is often minimized. Let me mention a few
tion, there would be no basis for catechetical instruc-           items which will be familiar to you merely by their
tion.     And since God gives the children of the covenant        being mentioned. Consider how the catechism season
not  only to the parents, but also to the church in the           has been abbreviated, so that it is by no means as
midst of the world, and instituted the church and                 long, for example, as the school term. In most of our
gives her the offices, it follows that the church has a           churches the maximum catechism season is some
sacred calling to minister the Word of God to the                 thirty weeks, three-fifths of the year. Or consider
lambs  .of Jesus' flock according to their capacity.              how sometimes the catechism season is simply al-
And we need not be surprised that it is only in those             lowed to "tail off" and to be terminated without
circles where this idea of the covenant of God running            really being completed.  .Spring weather comes. Per-
in the line of continued generations is maintained that           haps the neighboring church has ceased holding
catechetical instruction flourishes.                              classes.     Possibly the pastor would like to bring the
      This brief review of the nature and task and pur-           "busy season" to a close. And so it is proposed that
pose of catechetical instruction is sufficient, I think,          catechism be stopped, though the various courses
to make it clear, in the first place, that catechism in-          have not been finished. Or consider how catechism
struction is important.         It is safe to say, I believe,     sessions can be shortened to a scant forty-five min-
that catechetical instruction is second only to the               utes, so that it is all but impossible adequately to
preaching of the Word itself.            In the second place,     treat a lesson. Or consider the fact that catechism
that importance of catechetical instruction is  cEoseZy           classes are in many cases required to be taught at a
connected with the preaching of the Word in the church.           most disadvantageous time, at the tag end of a school
Through the means of catechetical instruction the                 day, when it is virtually a psychological impossibility
seed of the  covenant is led to spiritual maturity. And           to retain the full attention'of children who have already
a very important part of the life of the spiritually              been in school all day.       Consider, too, the fact that
mature child of God is his being under the preaching              though this instruction is very important, covenant
of the Word, listening to, understanding, and appro-              parents will allow their children to go to catechism
priating the Word preached. And by means of  cate-                class with little or no preparation and little or no
chetical training the seed of the covenant is prepared            parental supervision.       Or consider how sometimes
for the preaching.         This means, therefore, that a          children and young people are allowed to skip cate-
generation that is not properly catechized is not prop-           chism for the most flimsy, and sometimes the most
erly prepared for the preaching of the Word. Such a               carnal, of excuses,  - so that, for example, school
generation will be unable to understand the preaching             programs or basketball games can come before cate-
of the Word.          Such a generation will not be able          chism in import  ante . Or consider how little actual
properly to discern whether or not that preaching of              knowledge a consistory may have as to what goes on
the Word is true and pure.             Such a generation will     in the catechism room, and how little actual super-
have  no spiritual appetite for the pure preaching of             vision is exercised by the elders, and how difficult
the Word. Such a generation will not know and under-              it seems for the elders to accomplish class visitation.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                57

   The above are but a few practical items which I             21, dating from 1586, read as.follows: "Everywhere
mention from observation and which may serve to                consistories shall see to it that there are good school-
illustrate how  {the importance of catechetical instruc-       masters, who shall not only instruct the children in
tion can sometimes be minimized.                             `_ reading, writing, languages, and the liberal arts, but
   Hence, it is clear that consistorial supervision of         likewise ingodliness and in the catechism." In former
catechetical instruction is not a small thing, but ought       years catechetical instruction was in part the task of
to be counted an important task and responsibility of          the schoolmasters. We must remember that at that
the consistory.     It surely must not be treated as a         time the schools were under the supervision of the
matter of empty routine by the elders, or as one of            consistories, and the schoolmasters had to sign the
those numerous, bothersome tasks which must be                 Formula of Subscription.        They were bound by that
performed, but which are not of great importance.              Formula to teach according to our Reformed confes-
               Its Authority and Necessity                     sions .    In the original Article 21, therefore, super-
                                                               vision of catechetical instruction was clearly assigned
   When we turn to our Liturgical Forms and to the             to the consistories. We no longer have that article;
Church Order, we do not find many direct references            and undoubtedly we lost something of its meaning in
to this consistorial task. There is, in fact, very little      the process of the revision of it.        But this reference
direct mention either of catechetical instruction or of        nevertheless will suffice to show the thinking of our
the supervision of it in these documents. This does            Reformed fathers about the matter under discussion.
not mean, however, by any means that the authority                 Article 23 of the Church Order describes the
and necessity of catechetical instruction and of  con-         office of elder as including this:  "...to take heed that
sistorial  supervision thereof are without basis in            the ministers...faithfully discharge their office..."
our Reformed system.        I would suggest rather that        There is no specific mention of catechetical instruc-
because catechetical instruction became an inherent            tion here; but as surely as that instruction belongs to
part of our Reformed system, and because historically          the office of minister, so surely the office of elder.
it has been taken for granted as belonging to the task         implies the responsibility to take heed that the minis-
of the preaching of the Word, therefore it received            ter faithfully catechizes.      And that catechetical in-
little separate mention alongside of the preaching of          struction belongs to the office of minister is clearly
the Word.                                                      spelled out in the minister's call letter.
   In the Form for the Ordination of Elders we find no             Article 44 of the Church Order speaks indirectly
special mention of the fact that the elders must super-        of this supervision. This is the article about the task
vise catechetical instruction. Nevertheless this task          of the church visitors. These church visitors must
is implied in and certainly constitutes a part of the          "take heed whether the minister and the consistory
task of the elders as set forth in this Form. The              faithfully perform the duties of their office, adhere
elders are called "to take the oversight of the Church         to sound doctrine, observe in all things the adopted
. ..and diligently to look whether everyone properly           order, and properly promote as much as lies in them,
deports himself in his confession and conversation."           through word and deed, the upbuilding of the congrega-
To this deportment of the church belongs the faithful          tion, in pavticulav of the youth.. . "     ( i t a l i c s   m i n e ,
use of the means of grace; and to these means of grace         H.C.H.)     Note that according to this article it
belongs the preaching of the Word; and to the preach-          belongs to the task of minister and  consistovy  to pro-
ing of the Word belongs catechetical instruction. From         mote through word `and deed the upbuilding of the
this it follows that faithfulness with respect to this         congregation, in particular of the youth. Catechetical
catechetical instruction, both on the part of the parents      instruction is obviously included here. And that this
and on the part of the covenant seed, comes under the          conclusion is correct is plain from the fact that the
oversight of the elders.                                       adopted "Questions for Church Visitation" include
   Moreover, the elders must "have regard to the               questions which the church visitors must ask about
doctrine and conversation of the ministers of the              catechetical instruction.
Word, to the end that all things may be directed to                Article 55 also implies the necessity of  catecheti-
the edification of the Church, that no strange doctrine        cal instruction and ascribes -responsibility to elders
be taught..." Here also it is plain that to the task of        as well as ministers:        "To ward off false doctrines
the elders belongs the supervision of catechetical in-         and errors that multiply exceedingly through heretical
struction. They must have regard to the doctrine of            writings, the ministers and elders shall use the means
the ministers of the Word also in the catechism                of teaching, of refutation, or warning, and of admoni-
classes.     Also in the catechism classes they must           tion, as well in the ministry of the Word as in Christian
see to it that all things are directed to the edification      teaching and family-visiting."
of the church.      And also in the catechism classes              And Article 61, which requires a confession of the
they must see to it that no strange doctrine be taught.        reformed religion by those who are admitted to the
   When we turn to our Church Order, we discover.              Lord's Supper, and which places this matter under
again that there are very few direct references to             the supervision of the consistory, certainly implies
the matter of catechism instruction and its super-             the necessity of instruction in that "reformed reli-
vision.     There are in our Church Order no separate          gion" and implies a responsibility of the consistory
articles about these matters. Our present Article 21           to provide it and to see that it is adequate.
refers to the consistory's responsibility with respect             Finally, there are two questions asked at Church
to Christian education; The original version of Article        Visitation which directly refer to consistorial  super-


58                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


visiqn.     Question 5 of the questions to the full  con-       assist the minister when the need requires it in cate-
sistory reads as follows:       "Does the consistory see        chizing?" Notice that this question does not merely
to it that catechism classes are regularly conducted?           speak of visiting, but mentions the purpose of these
Does the consistory determine the material for in-              visits:     "to see how they are conducted and attended."
struction? And does it see to it that the classes are           Besides, the article presupposes that it is the duty of
regularly attended?" Notice that this question speaks           the elders to assist the minister as the need requires.
of three specific items of responsibility: 1) the con-             From all this it is plain that the responsibility
ducting of catechism classes;         2) the instructional      and authority lie with the consistory. Catechetical
materials; 3) the attendance of classes.                        instruction is not the task of the minister alone, no
      And among the questions addressed to the minister         more than the preaching of the Word is his sole
and deacons in the absence of the elders is Question 2:         responsibility.    The ultimate responsibility for  cate-
"Do they at set times attend the catechism classes to           chetical instruction lies at the door of the elders.
see how they are conducted and attended; and do they                                  (to be continued)


            IN HIS  FEAR-



                                  The Blessed Giver

                                                    by Rev. J. A. Heys


      The Church has no "social gospel" to proclaim to          Calvary; this He continues to do as far as the subjective
the world.                                                      and ethical aspect is concerned every day by His Spirit,
      She is indeed concerned with all the evils that are       until the full deliverance is attained in the resurrection
in the world.       For she is desirous of warning her          of the flesh, and our adoption is completed. This is
membership against them and of seeing thesemembers              the good news, and anything short of this is disappointing
flee from them. She also abhors all this evil that is in        news, sad and bad news. All seeming social improve-
the world. She testifies through the mouth and pen of           ments, all removal of class distinctions, curbing of
the psalmist in Psalm  119:136, "Rivers of waters run           riots, complete integration, high wages, comfortable
down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law." All             housing and the like go up in smoke anyway in the day of
sin, and not simply social evils, troubles the soul of          Christ; they are left behind at the moment of death and
the Church. She does not walk through this life in the          have such a temporary and therefore also deceiving
blissful ignorance that all is well . . . . She is not in-      value, that there is nothing truly good in proclaiming
different to the sufferings of the poor and has her             such an ideal as worth striving for or as having been
diaconate to releave and help the poor. And the Word            reached.
of God is full of condemnation of all the social evils             Let us note that, through the angel, God proclaimed
that-`are in the world and ever lifted their proud heads        a good news that promises salvation from SIN, and let
upon the face of this earth.                                    us not overlook the fact that the gospel also promises
      But the calling of the Church is to preach the gospel;    this salvation only to some.      And the promise is not
and she realizes that all true reform, whether that             conditional, for the simple reason that they needsalva-
be social, political or economic, even must be realized         tion exactly because they have no power to fulfill any
in the way of spiritual reform wrought by the Spirit            conditions.     We are spiritually dead the moment we
of Christ through the regenerating grace of God which           receive physical life. We stand in need of being born
causes a new and heavenly life to be implanted in the           again the moment we are born for the first time. He
depth of the sinner's being. Let it be pointed out, first       shall SAVE His people from their sins and not offer
of all, that the Church is called to preach the good            to save them, not assist them in saving themselves,
news of salvation in the blood of Christ, whereby one           nor try His best to save them.             He shall do it; and
is translated from the "kingdom of darkness into the            therefore He must be named Jesus. There is no doubt
kingdom of God's dear Son."(Colossians  1:13) And the           about it that He will save them, every single one of
gospel, the good news that this Church is to proclaim,          them. And therefore as alittle  Babe lying in the manger
is expressed, as to the heart of it, in Matthew  1:21,          He may receive already the name of Saviour, or Jesus.
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His          Social distresses, labor problems, discriminations
name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their             and abuse touch every man woman and child that is
sins."                                                          born into this world. Even the rich and socially high
      Here is the good news, for here is what the Son of        climber suffers because of riots, strikes, and the like.
God came in our flesh to do and did so perfectly                But salvation from all these is not for all. He shall
accomplish as far as the legal aspect is concerned at           save His people from their sins. If there is a social


                                              Tl?E STANDARD BEkRER                                                    59


gospel-and there is complete deliverance from all social        sufficient for his needs and his family's, is he better
injustices and inequalities rooted in sin, from all abuse       off than the slave who had a bed on which to sleep and
and cruelty in the Kingdom of Heaven-it is still only for       food to fill his stomach after the day's work? And with
some and then on the new earth and not in this present          all pur labor problems and strikes bringing hardships
world.                                                          upon  .innocent  victims of such lock-outs, boycotts and
   Churches make a serious mistake when they unite              picket lines, have we really advanced, no let us change
with the world and worldly organizations to bring about         that, has the world advanced one whit in its social
social reform. They leave behind their  armour and the          reform? We will soon have another step of inflation
very tools which God has given them. They also ignore           and raising of the cost of living. Automobiles, the
tbe plain teachings of the Word of God. To begin with           radio announcement just declared, will cost over $100
this last element, we may point out first of all that           more per car than last year. Did we ger somewhere?
the believer is warned by Paul in II Corinthians  6  not        Can we really solve these problems in this life while
to be unequally yoked with the unbeliever, because Christ       the heart of man is unchanged?  Can.we do that which
and Bellial `have no concord, and have no common                Christ did not even attempt to do?
ground  on which to stand.        Churches can meet and            His eye was not on this world but on the Kingdom
discuss  with the world these problems of natural life          of Heaven. He never strove to change this world into
only if and when they leave the Word of God behind.             His Kingdom of Light. Indeed, He rebuked sin wherever
For Belial does not believe in Christ as Jesus Who              He saw it and denounced all greed, hatred, covetousness,
saves His people from their sins. They will concede             injustice, cruelty and unrighteousness. But when did
that He was born and died a martyr's death. They                He bother Himself with the kingdoms of this world?
will admit that He gave some fine social advice such            When did He send out His apostles and disciples out
as the so-called "Golden Rule." But they  want nothing          into the world to reform that world socially, econo-
of regeneration as the only way of social reform. They          mically and politically? There was plenty need and room
know nothing of the love of God shed abroad in the              for it in that day. He limited Himself only and always
hearts of His people. They ridicule the idea of being           to the sphere of the Church. And He predicted that
new creatures in Christ.        Leaving the Word of God         there would be wars and rumors  - and these would be
a closed book, as the unbeliever will demand, churches          true and not false rumors  - of war, that nation would
put on a shelf the shield of faith, the breastplate of          rise up against nation.      This is no restraint of sin
righteousness, the helmet of salvation and the sandals          wrought in the heart of the ungodly by the Spirit
of the preparation of the gospel of peace when they             without renewing them  - but a development of sin.
seek social reform with the ungodly. They put in the            Through the apostle Paul He did not say that unless
sheath and lock in their closets the sword of the Spprit,       we are careful and as a Church seek "social reform"
which is the Word of God. Consequently they have no             their would be a day whenmen  would be "lovers of their
tools anymore wherewith to realize or seek to realize           own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
a real social reform and to fight sin.                          disobedient to parents, without natural affection, truce-
   Besides the Word of God makes it so very plain               breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
that there will be a development of sin and always has          of those that are good, traiters, heady, highminded,
been a development of sin in the world. Canons III,             lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God (II Timothy
IV, Article 4, may be quoted in defense of a restraint          3:1-4).     He predicted that these would come. Cancer
of sin and as proof of civic righteousness, if one quotes       begun in one cell spreads through the whole body until
only the first half, as was done in 1924. But a reading         it dies!     All the attempts of spiritually dead men to
of the whole article indicates that,  ". .  .so far is this     change the outward appearance of this cancer patient,
light of nature (note not spiritual light) from being suffi-    even with the help of the Church that discards the
cient to bring him (fallen man) to asaving knowledge of         preaching of the Word and puts the weapons of the
God, and to true conversion, that he is incapable of            spiritual warfare on the shelf in order to be unequally
using it  aright even in things natural and civil. Nay          yoked with Belial, the infidel, the children of darkness,
further, this light, such as it is, man in various ways         are not going to save that patient but run the risk of
renders wholly polluted, and holds it inunrighteousness,        spreading that cancer.
by doing which he becomes inexcusable before God."                 Jesus says, "Whatsoever ye would that men should
   From that rendering of his natural light  wholly             do unto you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law
polluted springs forth this constant, steady development        and the prophets (Matthew  7:12)." But he says this in
of sin.    In fact, each generation learns to go a step         the sermon on the mount and unto the Church. The
further into sin and receives new means and instruments         world can never heed this world, for they come into
for added sin. He does not use it  aright even in things        this life spiritually dead and remain in that state
natural and civil; and it is for that reason that we have       because God did not see fit to regenerate them. There
all the social problems of this day. Look back upon the         can be no social reform worthy of the name among such
history of this world! Are we in a better world than            but: only in the Kingdom of Heaven, whose citizens
some generations age?        We have had an industrial          Jesus is addressing here in the sermon on the mount.
revolution. We have found and made many  s&called               With the life of regeneration in them, these can do unto
labor-saving devices. We have raised the standard of            others as they would have them do unto themselves.
living. But just what social evils have we eradicated?          These shall, when that Kingdom of Heaven is come
The negro who cannot get a job because he is dis-               on the new earth, do that, and meanwhile strive to do
criminated against, who lives in a ghetto without food          so with that principle of new life.


60                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


      We have not come near our subject yet, "The             and more after what his neighbor has by outright
Blessed Giver", but this will serve as an introduction        theft, or by those evils that cannot be punished by
to a consideration of the positive teaching of the eighth     the magistrates.       But in His fear we give instead of
commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." What we have             taking.     And in His fear we do unto others as we would
in mind is that other saying of Jesus, "It is more            have them do unto us. In His fear we seek reform from
blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:  35)." Blessed      our sin before Ggd; and we know that in this way we will
is the man who does not take his neighbor's goods             be delivered from our cruelties and injustices against
but  .gives to his neighbor in his time of need. In the       man. And we pray and wait for the Kingdom of Heaven,
world there is theft; and the natural man is more             where all our physical and spiritual problems are solved;

      TRYING THE  SPIRITS-

                                The Anointing of Christ

                                                   by  R; C. Harbach

      As to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has all    God of Abraham." (Ex.  3:2,6)          Where Jehovah said,
power and wisdom. As to His humanity, He is limited           "Mine Angel shall go before them,"             (Ex.  32:34)
and finite.      As the second person of the trinity, He      He explained in "My presence shall go with thee."
said, "I and the Father are one," (Jn.  10:30) As the         (33:14)      This Angel, then, is. a manifestation of the
Mediator, He said, "My Father is greater than I." divine presence.                   Another of these titles is "Advo-
(14:28) He said this in His humanity, in His humilia-         cate." "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
tion, when He had made himself of no reputation. But          Christ the righteous," (I Jn.  2:l)
it was the divine person of the Son who said it. For it              This Messenger, Angel, Mediator, in the prophecy
would be folly for a mere creature to utter these             according to Zechariah appears as a man. Yet the
words.       Therefore the saying unveils God the Son in      prophet addresses Him as Lord. In the next breath
mediatorial office.                                           that Lord is "the man who stood among the myrtle
      He was inducted into this office by His anointing.      trees."       That man is the Angel of the Lord.  (l:lO,
The anointing is inseparably connected with His medi-         11)      "Then the Angel of the Lord" addressed Jehovah
ation.      The one is with a view to the other. In the       of hosts, making intercession before Him for Jeru-
office He bears many titles besides that of "Medi-            salem.      It is the Anointed One who makes intercession
ator." He is "the Christ," the Anointed One.  It was          for the benefit of God's elect.
He as the Mediator who met the deep longing of Job                   "Why is He called Christ, that is, Anointed? Be-
who complained, "Neither is there any  Daysman                cause He is ordained of God the Father and anointed
(LXX, "Mediator," as in I Tim.  25) between us, that          with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and
might lay His hand upon us both." (Job  9:33) The             teacher; who has fully revealed to us the secret
same yearnings for Him are expressed in, "Oh that             counsel and will of God concerning our redemption,
One might plead for a man with God, as a man                  and to be our only high priest, who by the one sacri-
pleadeth for his neighbor!"  (16:21),  in "Oh, that I         fice of His body has redeemed us and makes continual
knew where I might find Him, that I might come even           intercession with the Father for us; and also to be
to His seat!"  (23:3), in "Oh, that One would hear me!        our eternal king, who governs us by His Word and
Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer           Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the en-
me."  (31:35) Job wished for a mediator in God's              joyment of that salvation He has purchased for us."
stead like himself formed of the clay, for one ab-            ( H C ,   3 1 )
solutely God made him afraid, weighed with a heavy                   The same expression of truth is found in the
hand upon him.  (33:6,7) He therefore hoped for "a            Westminster standards.          "Why was our Mediator
Messenger with Him an Interpreter, One among a                called Christ?       Because He was anointed with the
thousand, to show unto man his uprightness, then He           Holy Spirit above measure; and so set apart, and
is gracious `unto him, and saith, `Deliver him from           fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute
going down to the pit; I have found a ransom!' " the office of prophet, priest and king of His church,
(33:23f)                                     .-               in the estate both of His  humili&ion and exaltation,"
      Another synonymous mediatorial title is "the An-        (LC, 42)
gel."       Christ is "the Angel of the covenant." (Mal.             A passage referred to in the last article was Prov.
3:l) This Angel is not one of the created angels, but         8:22-31.      Verse 23 reads, "I was set up (anointed)
the Son of God in His mediatorial office. This is             from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the
indicated in Jacob's words, where he speaks of "the           earth was."        The subject is the eternal Son of God
Angel who redeemed me from all evil." (Gen.  48:18)           who from eternity viewed himself as the anointed,
Certainly this angel is divine. For "the Angel of the         ordained Mediator, incarnate and tabernacling with
Lord appeared" unto Moses "in a flame of fire out             men. (v. 31) He speaks of the triune God, Jehovah,
of the midst of the bush" announcing himself as "the          (v. 22) that from everlasting He was beside Him (v.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                             61

30, Heb.), that He was therefore co-equal with God.           ministry. (Mt.  3:16) But there was a sense in which
"Then I was beside Him, as one brought up with Him. "         He also was anointed by the Spirit when conceived of
Omit the italicized words.        The verse may then be       the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, (Lk.
translated, "I was beside Him a father," for so the           1:35) when His humanity was sanctified by the Spirit,
original, rendered "one brought up," is in Isa.  49:23        so that He could be the Sin-bearer. There was a final
the word for "father." Christ is a father in His own          and climactic anointing of Christ, which took place at
right, for He is known to the Church as "the Father           His ascension.                At that time, He ascended to His
of eternity.".  (9:6)     In this passage He speaks in        throne and took up His reign (Dan.  7:13, 14). Upon
reference to and as the Head of the everlasting               the throne He was anointed.                                  "Thy throne, 0 God, is
covenant. (Heb. 13:20) Before the foundation of the           for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a
universe, "while as yet He had not made the earth...          righteous sceptre.                      Thou  lovest righteousness and
nor the..  .world," (v. 26) He was anointed as Mediator       hatest wickedness:                       therefore, God, Thy God hath
and appointed to that office.       For it was the Christ     anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy
"who verily was foreordained before the foundation            feliows." (Ps.  45:6, 7)
of the world" and was then viewed as a lamb without               The Mediator is here addressed as God: "there-
blemish and without spot.        He is "the Lamb slain        fore, God!" and is said to have been anointed by His
from the foundation of the world." (Rev.  13:8) Being         God, "therefore, God, Thy God anointed Thee." As to His
the Mediator from eternity, He acted in the office of         human nature, God was His God.  (Jn,  20:17) God was
Mediator all' through the O.T. dispensation, as  Zech. 1      His God in the covenant relation in which He was
proves. God's elect were always redeemed and taken            appointed Head and King of the Church. (Eph.  1:18ff)
to heaven through the mediation and intercession of           That He was "anointed with the oil of gladness  above"
Christ, the Angel of His presence. (Isa.  63:8, 9)            His fellows refers to the supereminent honors given
   The appointment of Christ to His office of mediator        Him after He had humbled himself to death, the
signified a deputation to the kingdom while His anoint-       death of the cross, in which He completed His re-
ing signified His ability to fill the royal position. His     demptive work. For the completion of this work He
ability came from the power of the Spirit. The use of         was rewarded  .with the highest exaltation to the right
the anointing oil is closely connected to and meant to        hand of God, far above all principalities, powers,
signify the anointing with the Spirit of God. In the          might and dominion, above all creatures. This anoint-
consecration of David to the royal office, the sign of        ing is alluded to in the truth stated in Acts  2:33,
anointing is joined with the thing signified.      ` `Then    "Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted,
Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the           and having received from the Father the promise of
midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord             the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this which ye now
came upon David from that day forward." (I S.  16:13f)        see and hear." The Mediator still performs the work
Even more pointed is this word, "The Spirit of the            of His office. He does so from the throne in heaven,
Lord God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to           for He is there "now to appear in the presence of God
preach good tidings." (Isa.  61:l) Peter says Christ for us." (Heb.  9:24) We also learn from Psalm 4.5
was "anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power." that there is a spiritual union between Christ and His
(AC.  10:38)                                                  people who, here denominated His "fellows," are also
   The Word of God places weighty emphasis upon the           anointed.     God has established us in Christ and has
Redeemer's office. He is called "the Christ," (Mt.            anointed us (II Cor. 1:21) with the Spirit, and therefore
16:16) "that Christ," (Jn.  6:69) "very Christ," (Acts        has denominated us "Christians." (I Pet.  4:16), In
9~22) "the Lord's Christ," (Lk.  2:26) "the Christ of         fact, as we know, according to Scripture the Church
God."  (9:20).      "Christ" is the Lord's official title     and its Head `together are denominated "Christ."
which denotes His office or the position which the Son        (I Cor.  12:12; Gal.  3:16)
of God assumed to secure the salvation of His people.
In this position of the one office of mediator, He has
three functions, as prophet, priest and king. So that                                               IS THE
the Anointed is Christ, the Anointer the Father, (Acts                                REFORMATION
4:26f) and the Anointing the Spirit, (I Jn.  2:20, 27; Lk.
4~18)      The title also denotes the  yight Christ has to                                         DEAD?
assume these functions, and the  ability  to execute
them. Hence, there can be only one Christ. (Mt. 24:5,                        "450 YEARS .  . .  AND THEN?'
23, 24)                                                                                                      by
   Anointing is a  consecratory act. When the taber-                                  Prof.  H.  C. Hoeksema
nacle had been finished, it was consecrated to the
Lord by the anointing oil being applied to it, to all its                  Cmmamora+.  with  us  +he  ,504,   .nni*,nav   o      f       tb.  Pt.,,os,,nt
                                                                           Reformation.  We  r.nt  YOU  too  lo  hear  .nd  b.  rtimd~by .  nlaant
parts and furniture. (Ex.  30:22-29) The tabernacle                        m.nag.  which  YOU will n.nr  bq.t.  Mart  fb, da,.  on y~~,   dmdm,
and everything in it were anointed. This signified the                                THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2
pouring out of the Spirit upon Christ and His Church,                                             AT  -8:OO P.M.
that the Body of Christ might be a habitation fit for
His dwelling. The priests were likewise anointed with                         First Protestant Reformed Church
oil. In keeping with this, Christ was anointed in His                                               lhrlltr at RmklinJ
baptism with a view to His soon-to-begin public


     62
I                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

I    THE  CHUR`CH  AT WORSHIP-
                               "0 worship the Lord in the beauty  of holiness."
                                                                    Psalm   96:9a


                                                Our Worship
                                                      by Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
     .  . Four years ago we introduced this rubric of the nation unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the
     Standard Bearer, dealing with `our Liturgy, to our              calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniq-
     readers.          After a few brief articles in which we        uity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and
     .treated  the idea and  .importance  of our liturgy, we         your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a
     devoted ourselves to a discussion of some of the                trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when
     liturgical forms which are used in our churches. We             ye spread forth your hands,, I will hide mine eyes
     have treated the Baptism and Lord's Supper Forms,               from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will
     the Excommunication Form and the Form for the Re-               not hear: your hands are full of blood."
     admittance of Excommunicated Persons, as well as                    The prophet Malachi speaks in the same vein in
     the Forms for the Installation of Office Bearers in             Chapter  1:12-14 of his prophecy:    "But ye have pro-
     the church of Christ.        Although there are still forms     faned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is
     which are worthy of our attention, we choose at this            polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is
     time to put these aside in order that we may concern             contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness
     ourselves with matters that deal directly with our              is it!    And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of
     public worship. Our intention is not only to discuss            hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the
     the various elements that  are' found in our worship            lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering:
     but also to consider these things in the light of the           should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.
     historical development of liturgical practices. The             But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a
     church has not always worshipped according to the               male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a
     same form.          Although the essence of worship remains      corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of
     the same through all the ages, its form is subject to           hosts, and my'name is dreadful among the heathen."
     constant change.         This observation demands that we           These unreserved condemnations of formalistic
     confront several important questions to which we also           worship are in accord with the description given by
     must find satisfactory answers.                                 the apostle Paul of those who in the last days will
           Some of these questions are: Why did the church           also in pretense worship God, "having a form of
     in past centuries worship as it did? What necessitated          godliness but denying the power thereof." (II Tiv.
     or brought about the changes in the form and order of           35) Emphatically the apostle warns, "From such
     her worship? Were these changes good or bad? Did                turn away." That may be individuals, but it may also
     they improve the service or did they detract from it?           consist of complete institutes of the church on this
     And, perhaps the most important question of all and             earth.    The church that in its religious practices and
     consequently also the most difficult to answer is this:         worship turns formalistic; goes through the motions
     What, in the form and order of worship, belongs to the          of serving God and no more, is not an institute that
     essence of the service of God and should therefore              serves the edifying of the body of Christ, and neither
     never be changed, and what is incidental and therefore          does it glorify God through such practices. The child
     subject to alterations? We should know not only what            of God who sincerely desires to worship God in spirit
     to do when we enter into the house of God but we                and in truth cannot remain there. From it he must
     should also know why we do the things we do. If this            turn away and seek fellowship in that spiritual com-
     is not the case our worship reverts into a mere form,           munion of saints where the Spirit of our Lord Jesus
     and formalism is,  acc'ording  to the Word of God, not          Christ breathes and upon which He bestows the
     worship  .at all, but it is very displeasing to God. In         blessings of His grace.
     the Old Testament God severely reproves His people                  The point we wish to make here is that our obli-
     because. of their superficial and meaningless for-              gation to God is not met by attending church once or
     malism.          Consider, for example, the words of Isaiah     twice each Sunday. Neither, from the vpewpoint now
     l : l l - 1 5                                                   of the church as such, is that obligation fulfilled
           "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacri-          when she conducts a. formal service which in its
     fices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt           formal aspect conforms with the traditions of the
     offerings of rams; and the fat of fed beasts; and I             p a s t . There is something much deeper that is so
     delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of        essential that without it all that appears externally
     he goats.          When ye. come. to appear before me, who      in the form of worship stands condemned and is
     hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?            devoid of the blessing of God.
     Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an  abomi-                 When we began this rubric four years ago we


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                        .63

pointed out that the term "Liturgy" is derived from           to our form of worship.  We,will be understanding..
the Greek term "leitourgia" or "leitourgein" which               At the same time, however,' we will also realize
is  " a composite of two terms, "leitos" meaning people,      that all form is not equally conducive to good worship.
and "ergon" meaning work or service. Hence, the               The . . form,  pf worship must serve to give expression
idea of our liturgy is that it reflects upon all that         to the fundamental idea of worship. All form does
constitutes the service of the people. Specifically it        not do this equally well, and therefore we must under-
refers to our service or worship of God. In a re-             stand each aspect of our form of worship so well that
stricted sense the term is generally used then to             we are able to give account as to why we do as we do,
denote that which belongs to the instituted worship of        and also then be able to instruct those who worship
the church, but in the broader sense of the word we           according to an inferior form. This will not be easy
understand that our whole life upon this earth must           and will require a measure of patience and tolerance.
consist of "leitourgia." "Whether therefore ye eat,              On the other hand, we must also remember that
or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of         there are some practices in the very form of worship
God." (I Cor.  10:31) "And whatsoever ye do in word           that do not contribute at all to the idea of worship
or deed, do- all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving        but rather detract from it. Such practices must not
thanks to God and the Father by him." (Col.  3:17)            be tolerated but condemned.      Here too we must be
"For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to         careful that we do not ban certain practices because
himself.      For whether we live, we live unto the Lord;     they are not to our liking or because they are different
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether             than those practices to which we have become accus-
we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." (Rom.          tomed, but, if we are to ban them, we must be able to
14:7,  8) To these, many, many more passages from             show why and in what way they detract from the
the Word of God can be added, but the point of the            fundamental idea of worship. With this in mind we
whole matter is beautifully expressed by Jesus Him-           purpose to examine some of the liturgical practices of
self, when, after instructing us in the truth that the        the church of the past as well as the practices of
heart of God's law (criterion by which our service is         some of our modern day churches. Our aim in doing
to be measured) is that we shall love the Lord our            so is not to be critical but rather: (1) to enable us to
God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, He           see the development of worship in the church under
teaches us that the second principle of the law, which        the guidance of the Spirit of Christ. We believe that
is like unto the first, is: "Love thy neighbor as thy-        the Spirit has not only led the church in the develop-
self".      This principle of Christian love is absolutely    ment of the truth doctrinally but in line with that
fundamental in all worship. Without it our gathering          development the church has been taught to enrich her
together, our singing, praying, offering, preaching,          worship.    It would follow that the more the church
listening and all the rest reverts to an empty form,          learns concerning the truth of God, the better equipped
simply because the blessing of God does not -rest upon        she becomes to enrich her service of Him, and this
it.     He abhors it and it wearies Him as much as the        should be reflected in her worship. (2) to compare
sacrifices and oblations of Israel of old did. If you         our own practices with those of others for the purpose
doubt this, just read I Corinthians 13 and in the King        of ascertaining which are really the best. In doing so
James version insert the word "love" in the place of          we will be following the injunction of the apostle Paul
the word "charity" in each instance it occurs in the          to, "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."
chapter. If the worship of the church is to be a potent,      (I Thess.  5:21) We may concede that there is much
spiritual force, the membership of the church must            yet to be desired in our worship and that perfection
practice the love of God and the love of one another          will not be reached in this world of sin, and conse-
in their daily life, and the force of that love must be       quently, we must with open mind be ready to consider
the power that unites them in public worship.                 whatever may enhance the beauty of worship. (3) to
       Moreover, without that love we are not really able     serve, if possible, in directing our churches to a
to understand or to realize experientially what we are        unified practice in this regard. I am not sure that it
doing in our public worship. We can go through the            is so but I am told that the order and form of worship
motions or we can follow certain established customs          in our various churches differs. To what extent I do
or practices in worship simply because these have             not know but I might suggest that someone (the clerk
been handed down to us or we have been told that this         perhaps) in each church send me their order of wor-
is the proper way to do things, but then we have not          ship so that I can make a comparison and perhaps
grasped their spiritual significance, and we cannot           reflect on this in some later article.    We must also
leave the House of God with the satisfaction that we          realize, of course, that the choice of an order of
have truly entered into worship. The latter is some-          worship belongs to the autonomy of each church- and
thing else again. Now each part of our worship must           it is the prerogative of each consistory to determine
be spiritually motivated and until we ourselves are           this. No established order may be coercively imposed
able to enter personally into that motivation, we are         upon the. churches and certainly our aim is not to
unable to derive the spiritual blessing from that part        attempt that. But if we consider carefully the various
of the service.       And when we are able to do that we      elements, their meaning, and their proper relation to
will also realize that the external form of this or that      each other and the whole of our worship, it may be
part. of worship is not of primary importance, and we         that we can arrive at agreement on what should be in-
will not be hasty to condemn others, either of the past       cluded, what should be excluded and what order we
or the present, because they do not conform exactly           should follow when we go up to the house of our God.


64                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



 EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


                R.C.A.  - P.C.U.S.  -.A Progress Report

                                                       by Rev. G. Van  Baven


      The reader is acquainted with the fact that the                  CHURCH and THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
Reformed Church of America and the Presbyterian                        PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH meet simultaneously (but
Church in the U.S. (commonly known as the Southern                     not at the same place) in 1968 and that the date of
Presbyterian Church) have been working towards even-                   meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
tual merger.         This past summer, at their broadest               Church be fixed by the Moderator of the Presbyterian
gatherings, further action was taken in that direction.                Church in the United States.
Through the courtesy of the office of the stated clerk                 There had appeared to be one barrier to the pro-
of the P.C.U.S., I received a copy of the minutes of the            posed union: in 1966 the  P.C;U.S. had decided to be a
General Assembly of the P.C.U.S. From this I would                  full participant in the Consultation on Church Union.
like to quote such parts as show the development which              That is the Blake-Pike union plan for the churches of
is taking place, and what can be expected in the future.            our land.        It appeared to many to be impossible to
      Both the Reformed Church of America (reportedly               "woo two mistresses." Some believe that the P .C .U.S.
with about 90% in favor) and the Southern Presbyterian              had to make a choice: merger with the Reformed
Church adopted the recommendations of its Joint Corn-               Church or work with C.O.C.U. The Synod of the Re-
mittee of 24 (12 men from each denomination). The                   formed Church also submitted the following questions
following are the recommendations which were adopted                fol' an answer:
(pg. 166 of the Minutes):                                                 1. What is the relative importance of these several
          "WE RECOMMEND THAT THE GENERAL AS-                           actions 7
      SEMBLY AND THE GENERAL SYNOD AFFIRM ONCE                            2. Were these actions intended to be inclusive or
      AGAIN THEIR CONFIDENCE IN THE PROVIDENCE                         exclusive?
      OF THE POSSIBLE AND THEIR SERIOUS AND EN-                           3. Is it expected that the General Assembly will
      THUSIASTIC PURPOSETO PROCEED AS RAPIDLY AS                       vote on the matter of a commitment to the Church of
      POSSIBLE LOOKING TOWARD THE UNION OF OUR                         the Consultation on Church Union either in 1967 or
      TWO CHURCHES."                                                   19687
         The Joint Committee submits the above as our first               4. Should the preparation' of the Plan of Union of
      recommendation. We further recommend:                            our two churches be continued as vigorously as possible
          (2) that the General Assembly and the General                in accord with the report of our Joint Committee7
      Synod direct the presbyteries, classes, sessions and             The Joint Committee of the two denominations dis-
      consistories to study the first drafts of the plan of         cussed these questions for some time- andarrived at the
      union as they are published and to respond as soon as
      possible with their comments, criticisms and sugges-          following answer:
      tions.                                                               The action of the 1966 General Assembly of the
         (3) that the General Assembly and General Synod               Presbyterian Church in the United States changing its
      urge the congregations and institutions of our two               relationship to the Consultation on Church Union from
      denominations to take the initiative in arranging means          that of an observer to full participation prompted the
      of mutual  ~ acquaintance; and that each presbytery and          General Synod of the Reformed Church in America to
      classis,  especially, be requested to undertake a specific       inquire as to the meaning of this action as it affects
      project to that end between now and the next meeting             the negotiations of the two communions looking toward
      of our Assembly and Synod.                                       union.
         (4) The General Synod (RCA) and the General As-                  The Committee of Twenty-Four notes that both the
      sembly (PCUS) have directed the Joint Committee to               Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian
      present , to the respective courts in 1968 a Plan of             Church in the United States have been related to COCU
      Union. Each of the courts will consider the plan at the          in some fashion for several years. The PCUS has
      1968 meeting of the court and may well determine to              been observer and is now a full participant in the
      amend, change, alter or otherwise act upon the plan              consultation; the RCA has been an observer from the
      prior to any action sending the Plan of Union to the             beginning.      The 1966 General Synod instructed its
      classes and presbyteries for their advice and consent.           Committee on Interchurch Relations to study the pos-
      In view of the fact that the plan may be amended,                sibility of becoming a full participant in COCU.
      changed, altered or otherwise revised by the highest                The Committee of Twenty-Four also notes that the
      courts of the two denominations, it is recommended               General Synod and the General Assembly have affirmed
      THAT THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED                           their support of the Committee of Twenty-Four in its


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

   studies of ways and means of developing a more ef-           nor with Scripture. The document on theology is to
   fective witness to the Gospel on the part of our two         include a "summary statement expressing the rele-
   churches, and in 1965 instructed them to proceed as'         vance of our combined doctrinal standards to our wit-
   rapidly as possible to create a plan of union. The           ness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
   1966 action on this matter by the General Synod and
   the General Assembly was unequivocaland strong.              present day."         Now such a "summary statement"
          The Committee recalls its findings which it has       might be very beneficial-but possibly could be used also
   previously reported to the General Synod and the             to minimize the significance of creeds in our day.
   General Assembly.         It has been found that common         But the committee working on the subject of "the-
   ground exists in theology and polity, in work and wor-       ology" wants  "a `Statement of Commitment' which will
   ship.      Common ventures have been undertaken and          bind the uniting churches to the appointment of a
   successfully carried out.      There is substantial evi-     theological commission to prepare a new Confessional
   dence that this union can be consummated with a              Statement, and will suggest guidelines as to procedure
   minimum of loss and a maximum of strengthening our           and content..  .."      I would not deny that a new and
   witness and service.
          The committee believes that the union of our two      profitable confession might conceivably be drawn up to
   denominations is the only viable possibility of union        guide such a united church. But considering the trends
   before us either now or in the immediate future. We          in our day, and recalling the obvious fact that there
   recall the action taken jointly by the 1965 General          are "liberal" camps in both these denominations, one
   Synod and the General Assembly, "that the most               can only fear concerning the contents of any such new
   genuine potential for advance of church union for both       confession.
   our denominations at the present time lies in contin-           The Joint Committee has been drawing up also
   uing with integrity these conversations which were           proposals on "Worship" and "Witness and Structure"
   begun in 1962 and which are looking increasingly toward      for the new denomination. Some of these "draft docu-
   the union of our twodenominations."                          ments" I. have in my possession and hope, D.V., to
                                                                consider them later.
FULL  SPEED  AHEAD                                                 One final matter that has been of concern to many
   So these two denominations continue in the course            in these denominations is the possibility of refusing,
.towards  eventual merger. Definite progress is being           as congregation, to join in any merger -without con-
made.       Documents have already been drawn up with           sequent loss of properties. Concerning this, the com-
suggestions what the combined denomination will be.             mittee advises:
Decisions must be taken with respect to the creeds of                 .The Committee also wishes to point out that the
a merged church.           In a draft document on theology,         spirit of the drafts is intended to be one of persuasive-
there is a listing of the confessions of both denomina-            ness rather than coercion. The Committee believes
tions: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism,            that if our two churches vote to unite, congregations
the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Confession of                   and ministers who might feel impelled to leave the
Faith,      the    Larger    and Shorter Catechism with            united church should be allowed to do so according to
editorial notes concerning changes and clarifications               a clearly described procedure without loss of property
made by either denomination.                                        or pension benefits. The first drafts are being sub-
   The listing of old and tried creeds is one thing. But           mitted in the hope that they "press on toward the goal
                                                                    of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,"
another point of great danger in this merger process                and that they afford an avenue by which the Holy Spirit
is the  real possibility that a new creed will  be.drawn           will lead our two churches toward a more effective
up,  which is not in harmony with the old confessions              witness to the Gospel.



 ALL AROUND  US-



                      Reactions to the Dekker Decisions


                                                     by Prof. H.  Hanko


   Our readers will be interested in reading of some            esting because: 1) The conservatives were very  force-
of the reactions to the decision of the Synod of the            ful for a time in expressing their view that Dekker's
Christian Reformed Church in the "Dekker Case".                 position must be condemned if the church was to
These decisions of the Synod are particularly  inter-           remain Reformed. 2) The Synod did not condemn  Dek-


I              66                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

I              ker at all although it administered a very mild rebuke.                discussion of the doctrine of limited atonement. In no
               We need not quote the decision here since it has been                  instance has Synod recommended the teachings of Prof.
               quoted and is being discussed in the editorial columns                 Dekker to the Church%  consideration. But Synod has
               of this paper;                                                         decided to "commend the report of the  dqctrinal com-
                     Rev. John B. Hulst, an articulate spokesman for the             mittee to the churches for guidance and as a valuable
               conservative position and one who had insisted on the                  contribution, within the Reformed tradition, to the dis-
                                                                                      cussion of the matters contained within the report."
               floor of the Christian Reformed Synod that Dekker's                   This decision should be taken seriously.
               position was anti-confessional, writes in the Torch and                           Fourth, by its decision Synod has admonished Prof.
               Trumpet about Synod's decision. After reviewing the                    Dekker . We are confident that the admonition will be
               treatment of the case on Synod both in June and in                    received in all seriousness. We are  confident,further,
               August, he writes:                                                    that Prof. Dekker will find in this admonition a posi-
                                                                                     tive charge, a charge to c.arefully  and precisely clarify
                        After brief and rather subdued discussion the rec-           his teachings on the love of God and the atonement.
                     ommendations were adopted.          The recommendations          Such a statement will be welcomed by the Church.
                     satisfied Synod because, though brief, they spoke to the                    Finally, though much more can and undoubtedly will
                     heart of the issue. And yet there was also much dis-            be said about Synod's decision, we wish to point out that
                     satisfaction expressed.                                         there is in this decision an implied charge to the entire
                        There were some, who had spoken in support of                 Christian Reformed Church, a charge to defend the Re-
                     Prof. Dekker's position (although no one indicated a            formed faith with courage, to proclaim the Reformed
                     desire to identify himself completely with Dekker's             faith with clarity and vigor, and to.live  the Reformed
                     teachings) who felt that the admonition was too strong.         faith with Spirit-wrought devotion. God give us the
                        On the other hand there were those who stated that           grace to respond to this charge unto the glory of our
                     the recommendations said too little. With these we               God and the salvation of those for whom Christ died.
                     agree. Indeed, the statements of Prof. Dekker were
                     ambiguous and abstract. But is this not exactly what             The Banner  also commented on the decision editor-
                     has caused such difficulty over the past four and a half     ially.          Previously, Rev. Vander Ploeg, editor of  The
                     years? And does not this very ambiguity and abstract-        Banner,  had pleaded for the doctrine of limited atone-
                     ness make Prof. Dekker's position erroneous? And             ment. He now writes:
                     should not Synod have said therefore that Prof. Dekker                      After almost five years of discussion in the church,
                     erred? We would answer these questions in the affirm-            this year's Synod agonized to come to a decision on
                     ative.    The sound of the trumpet must be clear, not            doctrinal matters pertaining to what has been written
                     muffled. When it is muffled error results. And it is             among us about the atonement and the love of God.
                     for this error, recognized in the observations of the                       Resisting suggestions that these matters be left for
                     advisory committee, that Prof. Dekker should have                continuing discussion or for the theologians to work
                     been admonished in the decisions taken by Synod.                 out, Synod judged that it was time for a decision and
                        But the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church has            took action according to the best of its ability. The
                     spoken. It has spoken softly, but it has spoken. And             temptation to sidestep this issue and take the easy way
                     now, for the sake of the welfare of our Church, we               out may have been strong, but it is a cause for gratitude
                     must endeavor to live and work with this decision in             that the body acted in keeping with its responsibility as
                     all seriousness.                                                 "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of
                        In conclusion we would make some observations.                the truth" (I Tim. 3:15)....
                        First, we believe that Synod's decision and the                          Now if there are those who judge that Synod should
                     discussion which preceded it indicate a genuine con-             have taken no adverse action as to Professor Harold
                     tern on the part of the Christian Reformed Church to             Dekker's views, there are others equally emphatic in
                     maintain her doctrinal integrity. Even an admonition             holding that these should have been repudiated in no
                     against ambiguity and abstractness constitutes a charge          uncertain terms. The dilemma that made adecision so
                     to all to respect our creeds, to adhere to them with             difficult arose, as it appears to this observer at Synod,
                     devotion, and to articulate their meaning with care and          out of Professor Dekker's use of ambivalent language
                     precision  because.  they are based upon the inspired and        . . . .
                     infallible Word of God.                                                     It is in the light of this situation that one should
                        Second, we believe that Synod's decision and the              regard the decision of Synod to do no more than
                     discussion preceding it indicate that the Christian              "admonish Professor Dekker for the ambiguous and
                     Reformed Church is not concerned to stifle discus-               abstract way in which he has expressed himself in his
                     sion of doctrinal issues. This is an accusation which            writing on the love of God and the atonement." No
                     is often leveled against the Church. But this  accusa-           matter how much others together with this writer may
                     tion is not true. One of the reasons for not adopting            wish that Synod had seen its way clear to adopt the
     ~  --.          the recommendations of the Study Committee was                   recommendations of the Study Committee, the compli-
                     Synod's fear that such adoption would tend to curtail            cating circumstances just stated should be borne in
                     d&cussiop.~n  the churches. But Synod also spoke of              mind to understand the action taken.
     ~               "legitimate" discussion, indicating that there is a                         No wonder that there now are those confused as to
                     proper and an improper way to carry on discussion.               what we are to believe about the love of God and the
                     This is all too often forgotten. Legitimate discussion           atonement. It is fortunate therefore that Synod decided
     I               is to be carried on within the framework of the Scrip-           also to "commend the report of the Doctrinal Com-
                     tures and the creeds. And should anyone have a prob-             mittee to the churches -for guidance and as a valuable
                     lem with the teaching of the creeds, there is a proper           contribution, within the Reformed tradition, to the dis-
                     way to seek a solution to-that problem - the way of              cussion of the matters contained within the report."...
                     ,consistory, classis, and synod,                                 In keeping with Synod's decision, we recommend this
                        Third,. and in connection with the above, we believe        report to all who seek guidance in these important and
                     that Synod has also said something concerning future             interesting matters.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               67

   Prof. Martin H. Woudstra also comments on Synod's               this decision, though very small and taken after much
decision in  Church and Nation.  He also reviews the               hesitation, is indeed  satisfactory.  It does what the
action of Synod and then writes:                                   report wanted to do. It put things straight.      It states
                                                                   in. the shortest possible manner that Professor Dekker
      And now we must look to the future and at the same           was- wrong: he erred in making ambiguous statements
   time try to learn from the past. This writer wishes to          and in using these in an abstract way.... Our very
   go on record as having thought from the very beginning          careful 1967 Synod did not do much. But this Synod
   of this dispute that the basis on which to raise the            made no mistake in its concluding decision....
   tremendous problems that were raised in the original               Finally, this decision demands  fudher action. We
   1962 article was exceedingly narrow. Is this the way to         have always accepted the sincerity of Professor Dekker.
   theologize in this ecumenical age of ours? Do we really         He wanted to improve our missionary understanding
   wish to direct our effort as theological instructors at         and activity. Fine! Now his medicine did not work.
   some little distortion which we think we have discovered        It had bad side-effects . . . . We must consider the root
   amongst ourselves? Certainly, distortions of truth,             of the problem. Why can we not speak more meaning-
   however little, could have disastrous consequences.             fully about our Saviour to unbelievers?      And why do
   But what would one say about a man who was busily               unbelievers often shy away from us as soon as they
   trying to fix a leak in his roof while a tidal wave was         perceive that we want to talk about things not seen and
   about to carry away house, and roof and leak and man?           as soon as they notice that we have a message for
   Or are we exaggerating the threat which comes to us             them?
   from a well-nigh boundless universalism which today                It is our intention to place these problems into the
   seeks to cloak itself in the very clothes which God             focus of our attention in the future issues of our paper.
   designed to express the truth of particularism? It is
   possible, of course, that the tidal wave would wash             In the  R.E.S. News Exchange,  Paul G.Schrotenboer,
   over us and leave us unharmed. But it is not very            General Secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod
   likely. While we must avoid undue entrenchment, no           and one present at the sessions of Synod writes the
   matter how great the dangers that threaten, we should        following:
   on the other hand use our God-given time economically.
   Fixing a leakage does remain a useful thing to do even             The decision was taken by a large majority in an
   when the tidal wave is inches away, but only when               unenthusiastic vote.
   looked upon in isolation. I believe therefore that what            The decision was called a compromise by speakers
   the hour demands of all those who seek to promote the           who had favored both previous positions. The Rev.
   Scriptural truth of sovereign grace is to agree on              Adam Persenaire, chairman of the study committee,
   some global anti-tidal wave strategy, rather than on a          said that he still held that statements of Professor
   technique of how to fix a leaky roof.                           Dekker are anti-creedal and not in  .harmony  with
      Every comparison has its weaknesses. One of the              Scripture.    He was willing to  acquiese  only because
   weaknesses in this comparison is that the missionary            (1). Professor Dekker thinks that his statements agree
   concern as such which prompted the recent discussion            with the creeds and his intentions are good; (2). Many
   is by no means a trivial matter. This concern is more           who defend Professor Dekker can use his statements
   comparable with inviting threatened people under asafe          to mean something entirely different. The differences,
   roof so that they may be sheltered from the raging              said Persenaire, are not worth a split in the church.
   storm of God's judgment.       But then let the roof be            To those who wanted to "settle" the issue, the
   made of the stuff that will withstand the storm.                decision was disappointing. Others, who criticized the
      And this leads me to the second point where the              `abstractness' of the way Professor Dekker had
   comparison I just used is weak. For I do not think              written, saw in the decision a new tact, the kerugmatic
   that the roof which is made up of the doctrine of limited       emphasis.
   atonement and particular redemption as "traditionally           At this point the report in the R.E.S. News Exchange
   used among us" is a roof that needs fixing. More in          introduced a quotation from the final report of the
   need of discussion and debate are in my opinion the
   doctrines of the church, the ministry...,                    Advisory Committee to demonstrate what Synod meant
      . ..It is to be hoped that the Christian Reformed         by abstractness and to show what is meant by this new
   Church will go on discussing worthwhile subjects, not        "kerugmatic emphasis." What was meant was a fear
   in isolation, but in the context of the tremendous de-       that if Synod would condemn Prof. Dekker it would
   velopments of our time,. so that the comforting truth        lose the first point of common grace and specifically
   of God's sovereign goodness may become ever better           the general offer of the gospel. In part this quotation
   articulated in the face of the forces that threaten to       from the Advisory Committee reads:
   undo us.                                                           Other types of abstract theological statements may
   Dr. R. Kooistra also comments on the decision in                give the impression that we may not urge every man
                                                                   to whom the gospel comes to believe in Christ and be
the same paper. We can only quote him briefly.                     saved.
                                                                      We can therefore best solve the problem whichhere
      First of all, it is indeed a meager decision.... (This       confronts us, retaining full loyalty to Scripture and the
   in reference to the fact that Dekker was only admon-            creeds, and at the same time doing full justice to the
   ished  - H.H.)                                                  well-meant gospel offer, by following a concrete,
      In the second place, this decision has the character         kerugrnatic approach both in theologizing antinpreach-
   of a  compromise. Quoting Rev. A. Persenaire, Kooi-             ing.' For example, instead of saying `Christ died for
   stra says he pleaded for the compromise, since the              all men,' we can better put it this way, `We.may  say
   controversy was not worth the price of a lasting divi-          to any man whom we confront with the gospel, `You
   sion. Here you see the greatness of selfdenial.                 must believe that Christ died for you.' Or again, in-
      This leads to our third observation. Namely, that            stead of saying, `God loves all men with a redemptive


68'                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


       love,' we can better put it this way: `We may say to            The point brought up in this report is worthy of
       any man whom. we confront with the gospel, `God shows        far more extensive treatment than we can give it here.
       his love for you in entreating you now, through us who       There is a fundamental point at issue which this report
       bring the gospel, to be reconciled to Him.'                  calls attention to.    And, I think, rightly. But the point
                                                                    at  is.sue sounds suspiciously like the plea that is being
       It is obvious that this touches upon the very heart of       heard currently in the Christian Reformed Church that
the trouble in the Synod of the Christian Reformed                  the Church cannot come to any objective knowledge of
Church.       To condemn Dekker was, by implication, a              the truth of Scripture. All it can really do is preach
condemnation. of the well-meant offer of the gospel.                the gospel. This is very dangerous and destructive of
For the whole view of Dekker was a natural and in-                  all truth.
evitable conclusion from the position which the Chris-                 Finally we call attention to a brief remark to be
tian Reformed Church took when they adopted this                    found in  De Wuchter.  Prof. F. Klooster gave the con-
heresy. But they could not bring themselves to do this.             vocation address at the opening of Calvin Theological
And. so they admonished Dekker for making ambiguous                 Seminary.     Rev. W. Haverkamp reports on this ad-
and abstract statements, by which they meant that                   dress in his editorial column. The address was en-
Dekker really said the truth in essence, but erred in               titled: "Four R's  - Riot and Revolution, Reformation
separating these statements from a discussion of the                and Relevance ."       Most of the address is not of im-
general offer of the gospel. If only he had done the                mediate concern to us. But near the end the Professor
latter, he would have been soundly Reformed. Hence                  made reference to the Dekker controversy and to the
the rebuke.                                                         crisis it created in the Christian Reformed Church and
       The report goes on to say:                                   in the Seminary where Dekker is a colleague of
                                                                    Klooster. While not an elaborate reference, Klooster
          In the view of many delegates the extent of the           who has the reputation of being a conservative, called
       atonement and the nature of the love of God for all men
       cannot be answered in the way of theoretical theolog-        the Seminary faculty to forget the past and labor to-
       ical statements but must be framed  within the proc-         gether in unity to promote the cause of the gospel..
       lamation of the gospel in which God confronts man            Evidently Klooster also is willing to overlook the
       and elicits a response. That this view played a deci-        Arminianism in the Seminary, let bygones be bygones
       sive role in the Synod's decision is supported by the        and look to the future with hope.
       fact that leading spokesmen for both positions appealed         We have no room to comment on these reactions
       to it from the floor. Because it was a relatively new        quoted above.    Nor is it necessary to comment on
       emphasis in the church and many would not express            them extensively. It is apparent that while many are
       their views openly, the view did not appear in the           not happy with the decisions, they are not only willing
       decision in a clearly articulated form.                      to live with them, but they bend every effort to salvage
          If the church, both in its presentation of the gospel
       and in its theologizing honours the kerugmatic nature        some good out of them. But these salvage attempts
       of biblical truth, there is reason to hope that the unity    will just not work. Dekker's blatant Arminianism has
       that was found in Grand Rapids will spread through           been excused by the Synod. No amount of talking is
       the churches. What abstract theology cannot effect, the      going to change that. And this bodes ill for the future
       understanding of gospel proclamation may achieve.            of that denomination.



   FROM OUR MISSION  BOARD-



                                Our Mission Activities

                                                        by Rev. J.  Korteving

       The living church of Jesus Christ is constantly              therefore it is the calling of the church to be faithful
involved in missions. This is true not simply because               in this work no matter what the outcome may be.
the church's future depends upon it,. but rather be-                    Since mission work is the activity of the church, it
cause our Lord commands this. A pragmatic approach                  stands to reason that it is of vital interest to all the
toward missions will lead us inevitably into compro-                members of the church. The labors of the Mission
mise, a forsaking of the right and true in order to get             Committee are in the last analysis  OUT activities, they
better results. Mission work is Christ's work which                 are the products of our united efforts. The members
He commands His church to perform in His name,  and                 of the Mission Committee are appointed by the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    69

churches as they are represented in the  Synodical              cerned it was pointed out that besides the churches
session.        The mandates given to the committee are         mentioned above, 10 other churches were visited to
those things which have arisen in the hearts and                ascertain what the condition of the church buildings
minds of our people, either certain individuals or              is.     Three had been rebuilt of cement block and were
consistories.          The monies by which these labors are     in the process of completion.        These included the
supported are brought up by all our people through the          church at Waterworks, Islington, and Lacovia  - Read-
assessment placed upon the church budget or special             ing District. The others were still in the same con-
collections.           Consequently this interest transcends    dition as before. The representatives of the churches
geographical boundaries.            Our people, whether in      there discussed with our emissaries the possibility
Michigan, California, or Washington and all points in           of merging into 4 main churches and thus eventually
between, desire to know what is being done in mis-              dissolving the many small congregations. There are
sions and what fruits the Lord is giving us upon our            mainly 2 reasons for going into this direction, first,
work.                                                           from a financial point of view our churches can hardly
    It is with a view to satisfying this need for infor-        help them maintain all the little churches. Besides
mation that the Mission Committee upon the invitation           this the 3 church buildings already constructed are so
of the Standard Bearer Staff decided to publish in the          located that they could serve these needs. Secondly,
Sti&rd   Beaver  four reports during the coming year.           with so many small congregations, some with only 4
    Our Mission Committee is composed of the fol-               or 5 families, they lack the proper preaching of the
lowing members:             Revs. Harbach, Heys, Kortering,     Word. If they would consolidate, this lack could then
Lubbers, Schipper, and Van  Baren,  and the brethren            also be overcome.        The problem with going in this
D. Kooienga, H. Meulenberg, H. Ophoff, and H. Zwak.             direction is transportation for the people to go to
Rev. M. Schipper is president, and Rev. R. Harbach is           church.      The distance for many would be too far to
the secretary. Our regular meeting date is the third            walk. It was suggested that rather than going into the
Wednesday morning of the month at First Church of               direction of building more church buildings we could
Grand Rapids.                                                   better help them improve what they have and assist
    Of keen interest to all our people is the labor that        them with travel expense.         There are trucks and
has been continued in Jamaica. The Synod of 1967                busses-which the people could take to church.
decided to approve the sending of two emissaries to                    At this point we should emphasize that the collec-
the island to labor in the midst of the Protestant Re-          tions which are being taken for the Jamaican churches
formed Churches there. Rev. J. Heys and Elder H.                be specified. At present we are not taking collections
Zwak spent 56 days on the island, ministering to 11             for foreign missions; Jamaica is under our domestic
churches  (Lucea, Johnsontown, Mt. Salem, Latium,               program.      Synod decided to instruct the Mission Com-
Cambridge, Friendship Hill, Islington, Grange Hill  -           mittee to request each of the churches to take 4 col-
Crowder District, Lacovia  - Reading District, Santa            lections during the year for the church building needs.
Cruz, and Sunderland).            The main emphasis of this     These monies will be used for the repair and con-
visit was upon instructing the ministers of the churches        struction that is still needed. In addition, Synod re-
in the truths of the Word of God and as these truths            quested the deacons of Hudsonville to request the
are summarized in the Three Forms of Unity. To ac-              churches to contribute either from the Benevolence
complish this end, twenty-one sessions were held,               Funds or through special collection for the poor and
each lasting about 3 hours. Revs. Elliott, Frame, and           indigent in the churches of Jamaica. Our emissaries
Ruddock, as well as Elder Green and Deacon Binns,               distributed money when they were there,  - some for
comprised the class; the latter two are considered              medical bills they specified, and the rest was turned
possible future candidates for the ministry in those            over to the churches for their distribution. It was de-
churches.       Rev. Heys was specially suited for the task     cided by the Mission Committee to wait with conduct-
of instructing these men, since he had been their in-           ing another clothing drive until it can be determined
structor in a car-respondence course that had been              what the present set-up is on import duty. Rev. Heys
given them during the preceding year.             From the      is investigating this now.      The churches responded
mouths of Rev. Heys and Elder Zwak as well as from              with greatful hearts for blessings given them, spiritual
letters received from the brethren and greetings sent           and material. A special note of thanks was received
via tape, we may conclude that God has richly blessed           for the 300 new and 100 used Bibles and 100 Psalters
these labors unto the spiritual well-being of the               that were sent them. These had been donated by indi-
churches of the island. In the report to the Mission            viduals, societies, and congregations.
Committee a plea is made that God will open the door                   More information of Jamaican missions will be
still farther, so that the ministers there may be in-           available, D. V., when Rev. Heys and Mr. Zwak will
structed by someone who would be able to labor there            present a public program which is being planned.
for a longer period of time. They also have need of                    Much of our immediate attention as Mission Com-
more ministers that can labor among the churches                mittee has been directed to our witness at home.
there and serve the congregations as pastors. To                Since we are surrounded by apostasy, we must not
these needs we must address ourselves constantly.               neglect our witness to our neighbor in our immediate
Rev. C. Hanko will continue with the correspondence             vicinity.
course this year and cover the material of the New                     There will be a Reformation Day Celebration which
T e s t a m e n t .                                             will commemorate the 450th anniversary of the Prot-
    AS far as their church building needs are  con-             estant Reformation on Thursday, Nov. 2 in the First


70                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER

Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids. Prof. H. C.  Hoek-                                         broadcasting and necessary financial aid in carrying
sema will speak on "450 Years....And Then?" Plans                                             out this work". The Mission Committee approved this
have been made to advertise this widely in the Grand                                          request for 1 year.
Rapids - Holland area and a special plea goes out to                                             Another method of witnessing to the truth comes in
all who are interested in the Reformed heritage to be                                         the form of the printed page. The recently concluded
prese-nt.                                                                                     lecture series on the Five Points of Calvinism will be
          In keeping with the decision of previous Synods,                                    printed in booklet form. This will be a handy com-
our churches are responding to the need to be busily                                          pendium of the cardinal Reformed truths, one which all
engaged in witnessing to the truth on the local level.                                        our readers will want and be able to use in distrib-
This is evident in 4 ways.                                                                    uting to others.       These will soon be available from
          First, upon the request of the Pella consistory,                                    Rev. M. Schipper for the cost of $1.00 each. We also
plans are being made to share this Reformation pro-                                           received a request from a brother who appreciated the
gram with them as a witness in  t.hat community. Prof.                                        Reformed faith and has a reading room in Suez, Egypt.
Hoeksema is scheduled to give this  same Reformation                                          He desired to have a copy of "Reformed Dogmatics,"
Day address in Pella on Thursday, Nov. 9. Rev. Heys                                           by Rev. H. Hoeksema, which was sent to him. He also
was asked to accompany the Professor to assist him                                            expressed the desire to complete his set of Rev. H.
in conducting the meeting and in distributing literature.                                     Hoeksema on the Heidelberg Catechism. He needs
          Secondly, the Mission Committee decided that spon-                                  volumes VI (Baptized into Christ) and Volume VII
soring public lectures in the Michigan area be done                                           (Eating and Drinking Christ). If any reader knows
entirely by the local churches, and therefore a com-                                          where such copies can be secured or desires to donate
mittee was appointed to advise ways in which the                                              them, contact the undersigned. An offer was received
future Reformation Day rallies and public lectures be                                         from an anonymous party who was willing to have
carried on by a committee of the local consistories                                           printed 10,000 copies of a pamphlet which would serve
and not by the Mission Committee. Nine specific pro-                                          as a critique of the recent decisions of the Chr. Ref.
posals were adopted at our last meeting which will be                                         Synod, if we would assume the expenses of distributing
forwarded to the consistories in Michigan calling for                                         them. This offer was gratefully received, and Prof.
the organization of a steering committee which will be                                        H. C. Hoeksema consented to write this pamphlet
responsible for arranging, promoting, and financing                                           which should be available in the near future.
future lectures.                                                                                 Evidence of fruit upon past labors in the Houston
          Thirdly, a request came before our committee                                        area came to our attention. An independent Reformed
from the churches in Hull,  Doon, and  Edgerton  for as-                                      church was organized there, and they asked Rev. Lub-
sistance in' their sponsoring lectures in that area. It                                       bers to be present to speak for their dedication ser-
was decided to request Prof. H. C. Hoeksema to lec-                                           vices.    The Mission Committee requested Rev. Lub-
ture there either `Nov. 30 and Dec. 5, or Jan. 11 and                                         bers to extend to them our greetings.
Jan.  16.                   Details of, these lectures will still be worked
o u t . It was decided that expenses for these lectures                                          This presents some of the points of interest and
be paid as much as possible through collections, etc.,                                        work that has been occupying the attention of the Mis-
and that the deficit be paid out of the mission fund.                                         sion Committee. We are constantly reminded of our
          The fourth indication of local interest in mission                                  complete  dependance  upon God for His grace and
activity came from Loveland, Colorado. The congre-                                            wisdom, that we may be faithful stewards in His house.
gation there is active in distributing literature, the                                        Let  US  unitedly raise a voice of thanksgiving for past
Reformed Witness pamphlet and the  Stand&d   Beavev.                                          blessings and implore our God for continued strength
They requested the Mission Committee to underwrite                                            to carry on in this important work which is being done
the expenses of broadcasting the Reformed Witness                                             in His name. May He give us His light, that we may
Hour over  station.KLOV  in Loveland. Since our Synod                                         know wherein to walk in the midst of this sin-darkened
decided in 1964,
          -.          -.              "That as long as we have. no mission-                   world.    May He guide the light of His Word that it
ary, the Mission Committee consider any request                                               shine exactly as He wills it, so that the wicked are
from local churches to assist them in church extension                                        without excuse and the children of God infallibly gath-
in their local areas by supplying of pamphlets, radio                                         ered within the fold.


                              The Five `Points of Calvinism
     :

                                                       a 100 -page booklet containing lectures on
.                                               .        -The  Five Points Of Calvinism  -
                 .            ~.                       by Prof. H.  Hankb
                                           :              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                 T-.`~              "...-.                   Rev. Gise J. Van Baren.
                                                                             -
.`                                    . .            ready to come from the. press  :

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


                                                THE  STANDARD  BEARER.                                                    71


PICTORIAL  NEWS-





   This is the new Protestant Reformed school lo-                 and teacher of grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 is Mr. Fred Hanko
cated in  Doon, Iowa.           This picture appeared in the      of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Teaching grades one thru
Doon  Press with the accompanying write-up:                       four is Mrs. Edw. Van Egdom of rural  Doon. The
    "Months and years of planning culminated last                 school's board of directors are, Edw. Van Egdom,
Monday in what for many area families was a red                   pres.,  Doon; George Hoekstra, vice-pres., Hull; Ger-
letter day. The day was Monday, August 28, 1967  -                ald  Vanden  Top, sec., Rock Rapids; Elmer  Vanden
the opening day of the newly formed Northwest Iowa                Top, treas., Rock Valley; John Hoekstra, Hull; and
Protestant Reformed Christian School. The school is               Ben Bleyenburg, Sioux Center. The school is con-
a parentally-controlled grammar school, operated by               structed of steel and includes two classrooms, two
the N.W. Iowa P.R. Christian School Society withmem-              restrooms, a furnace room, supply room, and a large
bership in the  Doon and Hull Protestant Reformed                 multipurpose room. The  ~ building is located 3 blocks
Churches, and is state-chartered educational insti-               north of the Bank on highway 167. A dedication date
tution.      Enrollment in the opening term numbered 39           is planned for later."
students.      These are from the  Doon,  Hull, Rock Valley               And may we extend the congratulations of the en-
and Rock Rapids area. Administrator for the school                tire membership of our denomination!


                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                           RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the First Prot-               The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull Prot.
estant Reformed Church extends sincere sympathy to                Ref. Church expresses its sympathy to one of its mem-
Dr. and Mrs. Dwight Monsma in the recent loss of his              bers, Mrs. Pete Hoekstra, Sr., in the loss of her sis-
mother                                                            ter,
                     Mrs. Dirk Monsma                                                MRS. PETER WIERSMA
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;                of Leeuwarden, Netherlands at the age of 88 years.
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor             May the God of all grace comfort the sorrowing by
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the             His Word and Spirit.
former things are passed away.               Revelations  21:4                        Mrs. T. Jansma, Vice Pres.
                    Prof. H. Hanko, Pres.                                             Mrs. J. Brummel, Sec'y.
                    Mrs. M. Faber, Sec'y
                                                                                   RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                          On October 13, 1967 after much suffering it pleased
                                                                  the Lord to take unto Himself -
                RESOL  UTION OF SYMPATHY                                              MRS. EFFIE MONSMA
    The Board of the Society for Protestant Reformed
Secondary Education extends its sympathy to its Pres-             a member of the Ladies Aid Society of the First Prot-
ident, Dr. D. Monsma, in the loss of his mother,                  estant Reformed Church.
                                                                          We herewith express our sincere sympathy to the
                    MRS. EFFIE. MONSMA                            bereaved family, we also rejoice with them in the as-
    May the Lord corn ort the sorrowing and grant
                           %                                      surance that she has gone to be with her Lord in glory.
them peace in the knowledge that "All things work                   P s a l m   140:13, "Surely the righteous shall give
together for good to them `that love God." Romans                 thanks unto Thy name, the upright shall dwell in Thy
8:28a.                                                            presence."
                     Harry Zwak, Vice-President                                        Mrs; B. Woudenberg, Sr., Vice-pres.
                     Don Lotterman, Secretary                                          Mrs. J. Newhouse, Sec'y


  72                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        NEWS FROM OUR  CHURCHES-

         Report of the Meeting of Classis West held in            Rev. B. Woudenberg,  Classis  treated several  proirests
         Loveland, Colorado, on Sept. 20, 21, 1967.               and appeals. Concerning an objection by the Oak I,awn
                                                                  School Board to the accuracy of a report of a c:om-
        The highlight of the first meeting of  Classis  West      mittee of  Classis,  Classis  decided that it  coulcI not
  ever held in Loveland, Colorado was the examination             enter into the matter because the entire case, to  wrhich
of Mr. Dale Kuiper.         In accordance with the rules at-      the report and the objection belong, was removed  1from
  tached to Article 4 of the Church Order, Mr. Kuiper             the table of  Classis  by the involved parties. IrI re-
  preached before the  Classis  on I Peter  2:1,2. Also,          sponse to a brother's protest against a decisicm of
  the ministers of  Classis  West examined Mr. Kuiper             Classis  in March, 1967 that an appeal of his was
  in dogmatics, knowledge of the Reformed Confessions,            illegal,    Classis  maintained its original  decicsion.
  knowledge of Scripture, controversy and  practica.              Classis  also had before it an appeal that charged cer-
  The outcome of the examination was that Classis  unan-          tain members of the church with sin.  Classis  dec:ided
  imously decided that Mr. Kuiper be ordained in the              that the action in question had not been proved  1:o be
  ministry of the Word and Sacraments. This ordination            sinful and could not be proved to be sinful.
  is to take place, Lord willing, in our Randolph con-                One consistory requested  the' advice of Cletssis
  gregation on September 29.                                      regarding the increase of censure upon a memlber,
        It was with fervor that the delegates poured forth        as Article 7.7 of the Church Order demands. Clalssis
  their gratitude to God for a capable' and staunch               approved the action of the consistory.
  minister of the Word, for the seminary professors                  The. next meeting of  Classis  West is  schedulec1 for
  whose able, dedicated, and faithful instruction was             South Holland, Illinois.
  evident in the examination, and for the truth of the                           Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
  gospel of Jesus Christ which we may serve and pro-                             Classis  West of the Prot. Ref'd. Churches
  claim in our Protestant Reformed Churches.
        Although there will now be one less vacancy, five
  vacant churches remain in the West: Forbes, Hull,
  Isabel, Pella and South Holland.  Classis  West re-                 The evening of Monday, October 2, was a fer;tive
  quested  Classis East to supply South Holland entirely          occasion for  Doon's Church. The whole  congreg: nion
  during the next six months and drew up the following            came out to a surprise celebration of the secondI  an-
  schedule for the other four churches:                           niversary of their pastor's ministration to their ne:eds.
        HULL: Oct. 8 - G. Lanting; Oct. 15, 22  -  Classis        Rev. Decker and family were feted in a true  Chris:tian
        East; Nov. 12, 19  -  Classis East; Dec. 3,  lo,-17  -    manner with the emphasis on God's faithfulnes1s in
        Classis  East; Jan. 14, 21  -  Classis  East; Feb. 11,    caring for His flock in  Doon.       Their  thankfulnes:s to
        18  -  Classis  East; March 18, 25  - C. Hanko.           God was revealed in the program of  praise-worE ;hip,
        ISABEL  & FORBES: Oct. 8, 15, 22  - R. Decker;            and their esteem and gratitude for their pastor was
        Nov. 5, 12, 19  - D. Englesma; Dec. 3, 10,  17-           manifested by the presentation of a purse as a  tcoken
        D. Kuiper; Jan. 7, 14  - Classis  East; Feb. 11, 18,      of their love and appreciation.
        25  - G.  Vanden  Berg; March 4, 11, 18  - G. Lanting.                                ***
        PELLA: Oct.  - G.  Vanden  Berg; Nov.  - R. Decker;          The Radio Committee has prepared a tape for
        Dec. - G. Lanting; Jan.  - R. Decker; Feb.  - D.          distribution to our societies for an after-recess  ]pro-
        Kuiper; March  - B. Woudenberg.                           gram. The tape has  recorded.voices  from  Jamailca-
        The South Holland consistory reported that it has         from pastors, an elder, a deacon, a Sunday SChool
  set up a library of taped sermons and that it has on            class reciting Lord's Day 1, etc. For your copy  wrrite
  hand a number of sermons, including sermons for                 to Mr. Henry Vander Wal, 1047 Alto Ave., S.E. G:rand
  many special occasions.         Plans are to build up this      Rapids, Mich. 49507.
  library in the coming months. The vacancies also                                            * * *
require that the ministers in the  .West  prepare more               The Mission Board of our churches has  heeded 1 the
  reading sermons.        Reading sermons can be, obtained        request of Loveland's Church Extension Comm. tc) air
  from Mr.  G. Broekhuis, 341 Maple St., Box 393,                 the Reformed Witness Hour on KLOV, a radio  stattion
  Edgerton, Minn. 56128.                                          with a 40 mile radius of interference free recepl:ion.
        Under the direction of the president of  Classis,         . . . see you in church                             J.J!vl.F.


