                                    IIe




                                             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: Grieving the Holy Spirit

          Editoria,ls: Government Support For Our Schools?

                      Social Security Now Mandatory For Clergy

                      A New "Anti-Abstract" Theological Method


          The Death of Saul

          Our Mission Activities


                                       Volume  XLIV/  Numbev  9/  Febrmavy 1, 1968


194                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER

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       MEDITATION-

                                              Grieving  the  Holy Spirit

                                                                                                  by Rev. M.  Schippev

                                         And  grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye we sealed unto the day of
                                   Yedemption.                                                                                                Ephesians  4:30

        Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God!                                                                       general, as the Scriptures do, for example in Genesis
        Startling and shocking admonition!                                                                       6:6, where we are told: "it repented the Lord that he
        Startling and shocking is this admonition because it                                                     had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
is addressed to the church of Christ and particularly to                                                         heart"; but he is addressing -the children of God who
the members of the church. The apostle is not speak-                                                             make themselves guilty of this act of grieving the Holy
ing here of the grief of God over the acts of men in                                                             Spirit of God.           To you who have been called out of


                                              THESTANDARDBEAR'ER                                                   195~


 darkness into God's marvelous light, who have been            strife. And she has the promise of final and complete
 made the recipients of the grace of salvation merited         deliverance in the day of Christ, in the parousia on the
 by Christ, who have been renewed in the spirit of your        clouds of heaven.
 mind after the image of Christ, who have been united             Unto that day of redemption the church is sealed by
 as members of Christ's body in the bond of peace. To          the Holy Spirit ! Yea, the very seal is the Spirit Him-
 you is this admonition addressed!                             self. He is the divine stamp indelibly stamped on the
    An admonition related to the general admonition in         church, the mark which sets the church off as the
' the context; namely, "that ye put off concerning the         genuinely redeemed and glorious body of Christ. In
 former conversation the old man, which is corrupt             this stamp the church is designated, in distinction
 according to the deceitful lusts; D . . and that ye put on    from the world of darkness, as God's precious pos-
 the new man, which after God is created in righteous-         session. Hence, the church is safe, and the gates of
 ness and true holiness." And an admonition still more         hell cannot prevail against her.
 closely related to the more particular admonition:                       *************
 "Neither give place to the devil." #And still more               Grieve not that Spirit!
 particularly related to the admonition that immediately          But how. is this possible? How can the Spirit be
 precedes our text:     "Let no corrupt communication          grieved? Is not all grief suffering? Can God suffer?
 proceed out of your mouth, but that whichis good to the       Moreover, when you consider that the church is the
 use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the          product of the grace of the Holy Spirit, do we not
 hearers."                                                     meet with a serious problem when we are confronted
    In this setting must the admonition be seen and            with- the doctrine of irresistible grace, a fundamental
 understood!                                                   and basic doctrine of Christian faith? How can it be
    Grieve not!                                                said that the Spirit grieves over His own work?
    The Holy Spirit of God !                                      Yet there it stands in bold relief!
    The third Person of the Holy Trinity! Very God,               Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are
 co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son!          sealed unto the day of redemption!
 Who with the Father and the Son possesses all the di-            Now certainly as third Person of the Holy Trinity
 vine attributes, is worthy of divine honors and praise,       it is impossible that the Holy Spirit should suffer
 is clothed with divine majesty and glory, possessing          grief ., For He is the eternally perfect One, Who lives
 in Himself and knowing the eternal fullness of the            the life of spotless perfection with the Father and the
 Fountain of all Good.      Who proceeds from both the         Son. There is nothing that can disturb Him or bring
 Father and Son. In Whom both Father and Son meet,             Him anguish as He lives the life of perfect blessed-
 and have together the most perfect covenant life of           ness.    No more than the Son of God in divine nature
 divine fellowship. Who searches out the deep things           could sorrow or suffer grief, can the Holy Spirit as
I of God, taking them out. of the Father and revealing         divine Person in the Trinity be grieved.
1 them to the Son, and taking them out of the Son and             But the situation becomes quite different when you
revealing them to the Father.                                  consider that the Holy Spirit becomes the Spirit of
    Holy Spirit He is called because of His peculiar           Christ, Who dwells in the church, the church which
! Personal relation to the divine family. Accordingly          dwells in the world, Looking at it from this point of
 He is devoted to the Father and the Son, never speak-         view, you can understand not only how it is possible,
 ing of Himself, but always in loving devotion and con-        but often very truly is the case that the Spirit is
 secration to the Father and the Son.                          grieved., For as the Son of God, possessing the divine
    Holy Spirit of God here viewed as the Spirit of            nature which cannot suffer, nevertheless assumed the
 Christ and given to the church!         The Spirit which      complete human nature in which all His life time He
 Christ merited through the way of His perfect obedi-          suffered, a suffering which was climaxed on the cross
 ence, and which is given to Him at His exaltation, and        of Calvary, so also the Spirit, as the Spirit of the
 which He on the day of Pentecost -poured out into the         Mediator, dwelling in the church in the world and very
 church as the Comforter, the One Who would lead the           much subject to sin and corruption, can suffer and
 church into all the truth, and abide with her forever.        be grieved.
 That Spirit by which Christ would apply unto His                 Grief and sorrow have to do with an object of love.
 church all the graces of salvation He merited for her,        Parents will grieve over the sinful conduct of the child
 the grace of regeneration, justification, sanctification;     which is the object of their love. In a much higher and
 faith, love, grace, mercy, etc.                               deeper sense these reactions are registered in the
    The Spirit whereby ye were sealed unto the day of          relation of the Holy Spirit to the church. He loves and
 redemption!                                                   rejoices in His own work. He takes all that is in Christ
    In principle the church has been redeemed! Christ          and declares it to the church. He glorifies Christ and
 Jesus brought the ransom price and paid it before the         pours out the riches of Christ into His body; the
 tribunal of God, so that the just and holy God must al-       church. In this work of giving the life of Christ to the
 low those for whom Christ died to. be free from I-Iis         church the Spirit rejoices.         He rejoices when the
 wrath, and to be delivered out of the bondage of sin          church reveals her true earmarks, and shows that she
 and death. But that church is still in the world of sin       is living the life of God. He rejoices greatly when in
 and darkness, still in the throes of war, unrest and          the struggles of the believer He observes him putting


196                                           THESTANDARDBEARER


off the old man with his deeds, and positively putting      Spirit's presence, nor the assurance of his'salvation.
on the new man which is the reflection of the image of             Secondly, that grief of the Holy Spirit is seen also
Christ.      But just as truly He is grieved by all that    in the sorrow of the other members of the body of
which is out of the old man: all the works of darkness      Christ who refuse to walk with you in your sin. We
we still commit bring Him sorrow. All hatred, enmity,       must not forget that the Holy Spirit of Christ dwells
party strife, lying, slander and back-biting, evil gos-     in all the members of His body. And whoever grieves
sip, which are works of the devil, He hates. He is          the Spirit by his sinful walk grieves also the congrega-
grieved when we still walk according to the flesh and       tion of Jesus Christ. As it is true that when one of the
produce in our lives the unfruitful works of darkness.      members suffers all the members suffer with him, and
In the measure we live out of the old man of sin, we        when one of the members .' rejoices they all rejoice
are the authors of His grief. Whenever we fall into         with him; so it is just as true that when one of the
sin, we are guilty of grieving the Spirit.                  members sins and the sin becomes known to the other
       But how and in what manner does the Holy Spirit      members, they all are grieved because of his sin. And
show His grief?                                             this pain and sorrow will continue until the sinner re-
     Observe, first of all, that this grief comes to        pents . And it is most striking that the apostle before
manifestation in the individual believer who sins. That     he exhorts not to grieve the Spirit, first exhorts, "Let
believer will for a time lose the consciousness of his      no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
own salvation.      For he cannot walk in darkness and      but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it
still boast of his security and assurance of faith. When    may minister grace unto the hearers." It is as if he
the Spirit is grieved, He leaves the childof God in such    were saying, "and the most common way in which you
a wonderful way that he also becomes grieved with his       become guilty of grieving the Spirit is by the improper
own sin. Do not misunderstand! This sin of the be-          use of your tongue."
liever whereby the Holy Spirit is grieved and leaves                         *************
him has nothing in common with the so-called unpar-                Why should we not grieve Him then?
donable sin. The latter is something quite different.              Well, because the Spirit rejoices in a holy and
The true believer never commits it. One who com-            sanctified walk. Then, too, the assurance of our salva-
mits the unpardonable sin is never grieved over it.         tion rests on our being pleasing to Him. Not our sal-
The fact that one is alarmed about committing the un-       vation, for that is sure; but the assurance of our sal-
pardonable sin is proof that he never committed it.         vation rests on it. And if we truly love Christ's church,
But the grief of the Holy Spirit of which the apostle is    we will not be guilty of grieving the Spirit because the
here speaking is something quite different. We hasten       very spiritual life of the church is dampened when we
to add that when we say that the holy Spirit leaves one     do.
in such a wonderful way that he becomes grieved with               What is our calling then?
his own sin, this departure is only of a temporary                 Put off the old man with, his deeds! Put off all
nature. In fact we should say that the Holy Spirit never    bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour,  malice, evil speak-
leaves the true believer, except in the consciousness of    ing !
that believer. The very fact that there is a conscious-            Positively, put on the new man which after God is
ness of sin on the part of the believer is proof of the     created in righteousness and true holiness.! These are
Spirit's presence and work. For it is the Spirit that       the works of light which are the rejoicing of the Spirit,
convicts of sin. But while the believer loves and seeks     and consequently also the rejoicing of all the people of
his sin, he cannot have the consciousness of the            God.


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                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     197



   EDIT0 RIALS-


          Government Support
                                                   For Our Schools?
                                            by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


   A recent Associated Press item in the  Grand               Now it is not my purpose to stick my nose in the
Rapids Press entitled, "Parochial Schools Seek Funds,"     business of the schools of other groups. What they do
brought this subject to mind. According to this item,      is up to them.
"Officials of Michigan's private schools Wednesday            I am interested in this subject, however, with a
asked the State Board of Education to consider using       view to our own schools and because the question
state funds for private schools to help ward off `a        arises occasionally as to what should be our attitude
revenue crisis.' "    These "officials of Michigan's       on the subject of state aid.
private schools" included a representative of the             And then, first of all, I would issue a word of
Lutheran schools, a representative of Roman Catholic       caution against pragmatic, or utilitarian, arguments.
education, and a representative of the Christian (par-     We are all aware, I think, of the fact that the costs of
ental) schools. Whether the latter was from the Na-        education are rising; this is inevitable when the cost
tional Union of Christian Schools office is not stated     of living and the standard of living generally are ris-
in the news report. I suppose I need hardly add that       ing.    I think it is also true to some degree that our
this representative of the Christian schools repre-        schools feel the pinch of these increasing costs. Mark
sented Christian schools exclusive of our local Prot-      you well, I do not speak of a financial crisis; I am not
estant Reformed Christian schools.                         convinced that there is such. But there is the necessity
   The argumentationused in the above-mentioned plea of adjusting our school budgets from time to time in
was purely pragmatic. The Lutheran representative is       harmony with rising costs and the rising standard of
reported as arguing from the idea that non-public          living. And, inevitably, the parents who support our
schools are making substantial contributions to the        schools also feel this pinch to one degree or another.
general welfare of the total community, that private       And the temptation may sometimes be strong to con-
schools save Michigan taxpayers an estimated $202          vince ourselves that we face a financial crisis, an im-
million annually in funds that would be necessary if       passe, and even a crisis which involves the very exis-
these children were enrolled in public schools, and        tence of our schools if we must continue to support
that therefore Michigan citizens should be made aware      them by ourselves, and thus to look about for other,
of the fact that the non-public schools are having a       easy sources of revenue.        And then, by means of
revenue crisis, or, in plain words, are short of money.    utilitarian arguments we can convince ourselves that
   The Roman Catholic representative is reported as        it is right to seek and to accept financial aid from the
pointing to a downward trend in Michigan's non-public      government, whether state or federal. And after we
school enrollment. He claimed that there was a de-         have convinced ourselves by means of practical and
crease of 10 per cent over the past three years, from      utilitarian arguments, we either ignore our principles
360,000 to 330,000. No break-down was given in these       or adjust them to make them fit. This is never right.
figures as to where the decrease has beenoccurring, -      We must be men of principle first and always, and
in the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, or the Christian      adjust our practice to coincide with our principles.
schools . In connection with the rising costs of educa-       Secondly, I believe that it is principally wrong to
tion generally, this gentleman pointed to the fact that    seek and to accept government support for our schools.
private schools are being forced to spend much more        I believe that it is contrary to the very principle of
money to educate fewer children.                           parental education, one of the foundation-stones of our
   The Christian schools representative argued that        educational view. That principle is that before God it
state assistance of non-public schools actually would      is the calling and privilege of covenant parents to train
save Michigan taxpayers much more than it would cost       their covenant children in the fear of the Lord. If, as
because it would "prevent many of our schools  -           is the case, that training cannot be provided directly
especially those in the inner-city - from closing."        in the home; then the parents remain responsible for
   Surprisingly enough, no mention is made in this         that training; and, banding together in a school society,
particular news item of a much over-worked argument        they make provision for the academic training of their
that because we contribute in our taxes, we are also       children by hired teachers and in a school. Now as
entitled to receive tax monies to support our schools.     surely as this is the calling and privilege of covenant


198                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


parents, so surely it is also their calling and privilege,    of the purse-strings. But you see, behind this lies the
- call it responsibility, if you will, - to maintain these    fact that you have already conceded the principle that
schools financially.      No more than covenant parents       the government  may  meddle in education.          It will
have the right to shrug off the responsibility for train-     hardly do, when once you have conceded this, to say,
ing their children, `no -more do they have the right to       "You may pay, but you may not say."
shrug off the responsibility for  providing financially          I need hardly add a fourth point, namely, that the
for this training.      In other words, we are obligated      argument that government support of non-public schools
before God to pay for our own. And although, generally        would save the tax-payers money is patently specious.
speaking, it is very easy to be swept along with the          It is well known that when we first pay out our tax
current of the times in these days of the welfare state       monies to the government, in order then to get those
and the handout, we do well to keep this principle            same monies back in the form of handouts, the result
clearly in view and to stick to it, - simply because it       is never savings, but losses. Somehow when these
is  Tight.                                                    monies pass through the devious processes of govern-
       But there is another side to this same principle.      ment bureaucracy, they are always depleted before
That is that it is not the business of the government to      they reach the recipients.
educate. It is the calling of the government to govern           A word or two in conclusion. I am disturbed when
and to wield the sword, not to educate my children or         I hear talk of financial crisis and even of the impossi-
the world's children. In fact, although this is not my        bility of maintaining covenant schools. One reason is
point particularly now, all the friction about religion       that I wonder whether we really know what financial
in the public schools can be traced to the government's       crisis is. I am not denying that some of our parents
meddling in the business of education, which is not its       may have a considerable task in paying the costs of
business. I arn well aware of the fact that we Reformed       educating a family of several children; and I am in
Christians, being in the minority, cannot reverse the         sympathy with them. But when I think back to the times
trend and get the government out of the business of           when the tuition-rate at the Christian School which I
education.      But this does not change the principle.       attended in my childhood was $2 per week, per family
And this does not mean that we must tacitly concede           (mind you, not per child!); and when I think back to the
that the government may assume the task of education          sacrifices which many of our parents made in the days
by accepting support for OU'V schools. We must con-           of the Great Depression to keep their children in the
tinue to say to the government, in effect: "None of           Christian School; and when I think back to the time when
your business !       Education is not your calling! And      the Christian School Benevolent Association was formed
therefore I will not look to you either to educate or         in First Church in order to gather, not dollars, but the
to help provide for the education of my children."            pennies and nickels and dimes which might ordinarily
       And this brings me to a third and frequently           be spent for a piece of candy or an ice-cream cone or
mentioned point., It is this: government support in-          a Whaleback Cigar, - then I am inclined to think that
evitably leads to government control. Do not be too           we of today's "affluent society" do not really know by
certain that this is merely a practical argument. It is       experience what it is to face a revenue crisis. And my
this, and it is abundantly proven in history, not only in     second reason is that covenant education for covenant
the area of education but also in other areas. When           children may not be a question, but must be viewed as
the government, either federal or state, gives a hand-        a  sawed  must.. Proceeding from that principle, we
out, it always wants, and gets, some say-so at the            must and shall sacrifice if necessary and as necessary,
same time. It is able to do this because of the power         putting first things first.



               Social Security Now
                                                  Mandatory For Clergy

                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

    The January 19 issue of Christianity Today carried        knowledge and that of some of my colleagues, not been
a news item stating that beginning this year the law          given much publicity, and may have escaped the notice
requires all ordained ministers to participate in the         of many, I thought it well to call attention to it in this
Social Security program as self-employed persons.             brief editorial.
Heretofore participation was optional; and, as far as I           Briefly, according to the item cited, here are the
know, most of our ministers have not participated.            details:
       However, because this bit of news has, to my               1) Participation becomes mandatory this year.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    199


   2) Ministers who file an estimated income tax for        however, to prevent the consistory from paying this
1968 should include with. it the estimated Social Secur-    tax, or from dividing payment as is done by law, for
ity Tax.                                                    example, in the case of a factory worker.
   3) The rate for 1968 will be 6.4 per cent of taxable        3)` Consistories will to well to cast about for Eegiti-
incomes up to $7,800.                                       mate ways of increasing their support of their minis-
   This means, for example, that a minister who re-         ters without increasing their taxable income.          For
ceives a salary of $5000 will be required to pay $320       example, if the consistory assumes responsibility for
Social Security Tax.                                        paying the heating and utilities costs of the parsonage,
   If the report carried by  Christianity Today  is         this results in no little increase in the support of the
accurate, that the President signed this into law on        minister without an increase in his taxable income.
January 2,- it seems to me that our consistories and        This would be a perfectly legitimate measure; and it
congregations will want to reappraise the salary situa-     would be more prudent than a straight increase in
tion of their ministers; and subsidized congregations       salary.
may want to do this promptly, in order to revise their         But one thing, it seems to me, is obvious. This new
subsidy requests in time for the next Synod. For the        tax measure will strike hard at ministers already in
practical effect of a tax like this is simply an auto-      the lower salary bracket especially; and some meas-
matic cut in salary of no small proportions. Merely         ures will have to be taken.
to maintain a $5000 salary-level would require more            The other side of the picture is, of course, that the
than a $320 increase in salary since the $320 increase      retirement benefits of Social Security will eventually
would also, in turn, be subject to the 6.4 per cent tax.    ease the strain on the denomination's Emeritus Fund.
A couple of suggestions, I think, are not out of order      According to the news item cited, the largest monthly
here:                                                       check for a surviving family will be $434.40, and the
   1) Consistdries can consider a simple salary in-         benefits for an individual will range from aminimum of
crease.                                                     $55 to a maximum of $160.50. This is premised, of
   2) Consistories can consider adopting a policy of        course, on the solvency of the Social Security Fund;
paying this tax for the minister, either wholly or in       and there are many who seem to have doubts about
part. Under the law, a minister is classified as a self-    that solvency nowadays.
employed person, and therefore is himself responsible          But, for your information and guidance, this is the
for his entire Social Security Tax. There is nothing,       picture.





                   A  New  "Anti-Abstract"

                                                    Theological  Method

                                             by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


   We are busy considering the question whether the         saved? If you say No, you run stuck with the objective,
new theological method alluded to by Dr. Henry Stob         abstract doctrine of the general, well-meant offer.
in his comments on the Dekker Case  (Reformed                  Incidentally, before I proceed to the question at
J'ouvnal, May-June 1967) is a method which can meet         hand, I must say that I am happy at-least to see the
the test of Scripture and the confessions. One of the       implicit admission that the objective doctrine of defi-
characteristics of this self-professed new method,          nite atonement and the objective doctrine of the well-
as we saw, is that it claims to be anti-abstract and        meant offer, according to Dr. Stob, are at loggerheads,
also appears to equate anti-abstractness with anti-         create an impasse, a cul-de-sac.         This is what we
objectiveness. Dr. Stob himself gives us an example.        Protestant Reformed have been maintaining for years.
In our theology we must not consider as an abstract         And this is confessional too.
question of fact,  as a scientific question concerning         But to return to the main subject, we began last
an objective state of  affairs  such    a question as,      time to illustrate how our confessions make what to
.`.`Did  Christ die for everybody?" This, according to      Dr. Stob must be abstract statements concerning an
him, is an insoluble question. If you say Yes, you run      objective  ,state.  of affairs, and how therefore his
stuck with the problem: .how is it that all men are not     m-ethod  is surely a departure from the method of the


200                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


confessions. Purposely we turned to the Canons: for           Rejection of Errors for himself and judge how objective
here you have some of the clearest illustrations of the       and "abstract" they are.
method of our confessions. And intentionally we began                But now let us turn to Canons II. And let us take up
with Canons I, 6, because this is one of the articles         exactly the question which Dr. Stob uses as an illustra-
which very objectively and abstractly (you understand         tion of an abstract question of the type which we may
I am using Dr. Stob's terminology) answers a question         not ask and which we cannot answer. Is this the method
of the same type as, "Did Christ die for everybody?"          of Canons II? There has been a great deal of quib-
   Now our Canons are replete with such objective             bling about the question whether Canons II, 8 teaches
statements. They repeatedly face what Dr. Stob terms          limited, or d&finite, atonement or not. This question
"abstract questions of fact" and "scientific questions        has been confused by injecting an altogether unneces-
concerning an objective state of affairs." I will not         sary argument into the recent controversy, whether in
weary the reader by quoting in full all the articles          speaking of efficacy the Canons are speaking soterio-
which illustrate this point, for then, I would be quoting     logical language (that is, language dealing with the
almost every article. Rather I will make a few refer-         personal 
ences 0                                                                     application of the benefits of salvation by the
                                                              Spirit and gospel) or whether the Canons here speak
   The First Head of Doctrine, "Of Divine Predestina-         Christological language (that is, language concerning
tion, " again and again furnishes examples. Take, for         the efficacy, the power, of the atoning death of Christ
example, Article 7: "Election is the unchangeable pur-        itself). I say this is an altogether unnecessary ques-
pose of God whereby, before the foundation of the             tion. The subject in this Head of Doctrine is the 
world, he hath out of mere grace, according to the                                                                      death
                                                              of 
sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen O.. a                Christ,  not the applicatibn  of the benefits of salva-
                                                              tion. The subject is the objective accomplishment of
certain number of persons to redemption in Christ e . *"      redemption, not the subjective realization of it. And,
And again this article gives us an objective statement        by the way, it has always been a favorite ploy of
when it says:       "This elect number (an abstraction?       Arminianism to play hocus-pocus with the difference
HCH) D. .God  hath decreed to give to Christ. D. "            between meriting and appropriating. This very chapter
       Canons I, 8 answers the "abstract" question con-       calls attention to this in the Rejection of Errors,
cerning the objective state of affairs, "How many             Article 6.
decrees of election are there?" Canons I, 9 answers             But the eighth article of Canons II, which was
a similar question concerning the relation between            written, remember, exactly over against the Arminian
election and the benefits of salvation: "This election        doctrine which answered Yes to Dr. Stob's question,
was not founded upon foreseen faith.. 0 as the pre-           "Did Christ die for everybody?" --I say, this article
requisite, cause or condition on which it depended; but       speaks for itself and gives a very clear No to Dr.
men dre chosen to faith, holiness, etc... . " Canons I,       Stob's question. It has been quoted often in the course
10 deals with a question concerning an objective state        of these discussions. But read it once more:
of affairs: "What is the sole cause of this gracious
election?" Canons I, 11 deals with the same type of
question. In this case, the question is, "Can election                  For this was the sovereign counsel, and most
be interrupted or changed, recalled or annulled?" It                 gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the
                                                                     quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious
might seem that in Canons I, 12, when the subject of                 death of his Son should extend to all the elect, for
the assurance of election is treated, at last the Canons             bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith,
are making a non-abstract statement, one "within the                 thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is,
context of belief and unbelief." But the fact is that this           it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the
article makes some very objective observations about                 cross, whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should
the manner in which the assurance of election is at-                 effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation,
tained. Not to mention every article, note that Canon?               and language, all those, and those only, who were from
I, 15 again makes objective statements of doctrine                   eternity chosen to salvation, and given to him by the
concerning sovereign reprobation. And let me add in                  Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which
                                                                together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy
parentheses that this article leaves no doubt whatso-                Spjrit, he purchased for them by his death; should
ever on the subject of the sovereignty of reprobation                purge them from all sin, both original and actual,
even though the language is the milder language of                   whether committed before or after believing; and
infralapsarianism!                ..,                                having faithfully preserved them even to the end,
                                                                     should at last bring them free from every spot and
       As might be expected, the Rejection of Errors pro-            blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence
duces more of the same kind of objective statement of                forever.
fact, or truth, but the statements are negative. The
various paragraphs of the Rejection of Errors are                    In the light of this article it is perfectly obvious
simply the No of the Yes found in the positive part.          that the answer of our Canons to Dr. Stob's question
You see, the Canons do not take the position with re-         is a resounding No. Or could you imagine what the
spect to "scientific questions concerning an objective        reaction of a Franciscus Gomarus, who spat on the
state of affairs" that we can say neither Yes nor No          ground in disgust about Martinius' "flick-flaying"
to them. The reader may look up the articles of the           with the Arminians, - what his reaction would be to
                            L


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       201


the claim that we cannot answer the question, "Did               redemption had never in fact been applied to any per-
Christ die for everybody?" Or would you hazard a                 son.      For this doctrine tends to the deposing of the
guess as to what Johannes Bogerman would say to that             merits of Jesus Christ, and is contrary to Scripture.
claim? Or even is there any doubt what the Arminians             For thus saith our Savior: "I lay down my life for
themselves would say if they were living, or what they           the sheep, and I know them," John 10:15, 27. And the
would say about Canons II, 8 and about the claim that            prophet Isaiah saith concerning the Savior: "When
you can be loyal to this article and nevertheless claim          thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall
that Christ died for all men?                                    see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
                                                                 pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand," IS.
   Talk about plainly objective statements about an              53:lO.     Finally, this contradicts the article of faith
objective state of affairs!                                      according to which we believe the catholic Christian
   Or for a negative type of "abstract" and objective            church.
statement, take the example of Canons II, B, 1, where            This, therefore, is the method of the confessions.
the Synod rejects the errors of those:                        It is not the neither Yes nor No method proposed by Dr.
       Who teach: That God the Father has ordained his        Stob and whereby crucial questions of the faith are
   Son to the death of the cross without a certain and        avoided.
   definite decree to save any, so that the necessity,          Nor must a false antithesis be created between
   profitableness and worth of what Christ merited by his     "kerugma" and objective doctrinal truth. Doing this,
   death might have existed, and might remain in all its      we will destroy the kerugma altogether by robbing it
   parts complete, perfect and intact, even if the merited    of its content.


  A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

                                 The Death of  Sad

                                                 by Rev. B. Woudenbevg

                   Now the Philistines fought against  Israel: and the men  of  Israel fled  f?om  before
               the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa...
                   Then said Saul, unto his avmouvbeavev, Draw thy  sword, and  thrust me through
               therewith; lest these uncircumcised  come  and  thrust  me  through,  andabuse   me.
               But his  avmouv  beaver would not;  for  he was  soYe afraid.  Thevefove  Saul took a
               sword, and fell upon it.
                   And when his avmouvbeavev saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his
               sword, and died with him.
                   So Saul died, and his  three  sons9   aml his avmouvbeavev, and all his  men,  that
               same  day  togeth&.                                                     I Samuel  31:1,  4-6

   Dark depression and gloom hung over Saul like a            he had given his heart over to the black practices of
cloud as he returned from the sorceress of Endor to           Endor's  enchantress, even this died.            All that re-
his army encamped on the slopes of Gilboa.  The night         mained now was that black door to the grave and to
was dark; but that he hardly noticed. The judgment of         hell, and he was powerless any longer to fight it.
God hung over him, inescapably so, and all hope of               When at last the sun rose once again over the
light was driven out of his soul. His blood ran cold in       slopes of Gilboa, Saul's eyes looked down the plain of
his veins, and even desire had fled from his heart.           Esdraelon; but -darkness hung still over his mind and
Nothing any more really mattered, and even the thought        heart. Below him lay the world's most famous battle-
of oblivion in the grave seemed to reach out to him           ground. In the days before recorded time, Egypt had
with attraction. To be sure, it had been a long time          fought here with the nations. Already in Israel's short
since Saul had known any real joy or consolation. His         history, the judges had filled this valley with the shout
life had `been dark and getting darker ever since his         of miraculous victories, while Saul's soon to appear
battle with the Amalekites; but through it all there had      successors would do the same.               Here all of the
always remained that ray of hope, that feeling of stub-       world's great, each in his own hour, would make their
born confidence that somehow in some way he would             own stands in glory or in dishonor, whatever the case
be able to come out as victor against that curse of           might be, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, and even
Samuel, against the strength of David, and even over          Napoleon in his day.         Here in modern times .Israel
against the power of God. In that hour, though, when          would make its effort to restore its former glory


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


without the power of God, and here even now history          eagerly he rushed from place to place looking for its
is yet to end in the great battle of ArMageddon.  But        coming.      And then it came, carried upon an arrow
the mind of Saul was oblivious to all of this. Even the      falling, as it were, out of heaven itself and burying it-
Philistines who now before his very eyes were swarm-         self deep into his body. The pain was almost sweet
ing through the valley, filling it with the activities of    and with relief he felt it swell - only, it didn't swell
preparation for battle, seemed almost unreal  - at           nearly enough, it didn't become overwhelming, there
least, they appeared to his mind as a force that was         was not gushing of the blood carrying his strength away
more than human, a force against which it was hope-          and leaving him to sink into the darkness of sweet
less even to try to fight. Upon his height of observa-       oblivion. It hurt, but not nearly enough. No, and with
tion he just stood there, cold, unmoving and paralyzed,      anguish Saul realized it, death was not yet; and he
without a gesture, without an order, until at last the       would have to plunge on into the battle again to find
paralysis spread like a contagious disease out in large      that final ending which now he wanted, it seemed, as
swooping circles about him, covering the whole of his        badly as he had ever wanted anything.
army. Their king did not move, he would not lead, he             And then it struck him, a new thought, one with as
could not fight, the battle to him was lost before it was    much and greater terror than he -had ever known be-
ever begun; all of Israel knew it, and no one took as        fore  - it was the thought that maybe he was not going
much as a step toward the gathering power of the             to die. It seemed impossible at first, too unreal for
enemy.                                                       his mind to be able to adjust to it; but it grew fast and
  Meanwhile, unchallenged in the valley below, the           began to overwhelm him with a horror beyond com-
Philistines were going about their preparations for          parison. It was evident that the battle was really fin-
battle, hastily at first, and then more slowly and           ished.     His men were hopelessly scattered, pursued
thoroughly.    Carefully they chose their desired lines      by the bloodthirsty Philistines; and for himself he was
of battle, they set up their defences  and strengthened      finding it ever harder to meet any Philistine who would
them again and again, all of the while watching and          fight.     He tried, desperate in his determination, but
waiting for the army of Israel to come down off Gilboa       always there was his faithful armorbearer or some
and make their challenge. At last there was nothing          other who would put the Philistine to flight in pursuit
more to do, so they just waited until at last it became      of some easier game. Could it be that here on this
evident, Israel wasn't coming. Saul was not going to         battlefield he was not to die? that he was to be taken
make an attack. It was almost impossible to believe          by the victorious enemy, still alive? If that would
and frustrating to the extreme. Wisdom would have            happen, he knew only too well what toexpect - torture,
dictated at that moment that they go on to leave Saul        slow painful mutilation of his body, or even more
at Gilboa while they spread out to ravage the land; but      terrible than that, a public display with mockery and
somehow the kings of the Philistines came to sense           ridicule before the whole of the Philistine nation. It
the true nature of the situation. Saul's army would not      was not unlikely, this was a favorite to the Philistines;
fight, it could not, it was helpless againstthem; and the    Saul remembered Samson only too well. To him there
impossible order was given.       The Philistines com-       was nothing more terrible, there never had been. One
manded their army straight up the slopes of Gilboa           thing that he had never been able to endure in life was
against the Israelites on its heights. It put them at a      the least suggestion that someone was mocking him and
tremendous tactical disadvantage, fighting up hill           holding him in disrespect.       The very thought of it
against a well entrenched enemy; but now it didn't           could tear his soul apart and drive him to distraction.
matter. Somehow they sensed the real situation. With         And now, here it was, staring him in the face as the
confident fury they made their attack.                       most likely outcome of this battle.
   Before long it became completely evident just as              It was more than Saul could endure. For a moment
they had expected. There was token resistance, feeble        he contemplated it in cold terror; and then, turning to
efforts by valiant men of Israel to make resistance;         his armorbearer with all of the authority he could yet
but nothing that really mattered, In spite of the uphill     muster, he demanded of him that he take a sword and
nature of their battle, the Philistines in an amazingly      drive it deep into his heart. But it was too much, more
short time had turned the battle decisively in their own     than the poor man was able to do. He was faithful as
favor. And strangely it was that final, decisive turning     an armorbearer, as faithful as a man could ever be.
of the battle against him, that finally aroused Saul out     Through all of the utterly unpredictable actions of the
of his stupor. Now he began to move, and, indeed, not        king, he had stood close by his side and protected his
to run with his fleeing soldiers, not to hide, but to        king to the utmost of his power. He was ready at any
plunge himself into the midst of the thickest battle.        moment to give his all for his king. But this was too
Wildly he fought, recklessly, without any of his usual       much.      To turn a sword against his own lord and so
regard for his own safety. From battle to battle he          have to appear in the judgment with the blood of
ran and from skirmish to skirmish, seeking for some          Jehovah's anointed on his hands, this was more than
with which to fight, or even more, looking for, waiting      he could do.       A man who had never trembled for a
for that sharp cut of a sword's edge, that hot plunge of     moment before the strongest enemy, the armorbearer
a spear, or that piercing sting of an arrow that would       now drew back in terrible fear from the presence of
bring the end to all of this misery in which he had been     his king. He could not harm the Lord's anointed even
living. It would come, he knew it had to, and almost         when the king himself demanded it.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  203


  But Saul was not to be dissuaded.            The fear of     gathered, he was satisfied to take Saul's crown and
public ridicule was too much for him to endure. With           rush off without more looting toward the south,
wild determination, Saul was left no choice. Drawing              But that was not all. In time the Philistines too
his own sword, he held it against his own chest, and           came back, and they found the body of Saul with as
before anyone could as much as lift a hand to stop him         much joy as had the Amalekite. They loved to gloat
dashed. it against the ground. The sword was sharp and         over their enemies, as Saul had known full well; and
the blow was heavy. There in a moment Saul died the            the mere fact that he was now dead was not going to
victim of his own hand. Only the poor armorbearer              stop them. Taking the king's body, as well as those
witnessed it; but for him it was too much. It made no          of his three sons found not far away, they lifted them
difference how it had happened. He had failed to keep          with triumph and carried them off to their own land.
his king. To himself he did what he had refused to do          But just four bodies were not enough, and so they
to the Lord's anointed.      Taking his own sword, he          divided them.    Here the bodies, here the heads, and
plunged it into his own heart, following to the end the        here the various pieces of armor were carried with
way of his king.                                               glee throughout their land through cities and temples
                                                               and towns. There was a joy to defeating the Israelites
   There was a quiet that settled over the field of            such as came from no other nation. In their hearts
battle and it lasted some time. The victory of the             the Philistines knew that behind Israel there was
Philistines had been very complete. They drove the             Israel's God, and He was very great.        It was like
children of Israel off from Mt.  Gilboa, out of the            strong wine to the head that they were able to demon-
plains of Esdraelon, and even over the river Jordan.           strate that they had overcome Israel in defeat. The
It was a long time before they were able to return to          head of Saul they gave to the temple of Dagon, his
the scene of original -battle to collect their loot. But       armor went to Ashtaroth, and his body with those of
parasites are not hard to find and soon there was a            his children was hung from the walls of Bethshan. It
wandering Amalekite picking his way through the field          was the Philistines way of putting Israel and Israel's
of strife taking the choicest of what he could find, until,    God to shame.
that was, he came to the body of Saul. His quick eyes             It must surely have been with sad gratitude forever
took in at a glance all that had happened, and a clever        after that David recalled how God had kept him from
plan formed in his mind. Leaving all he had previously         taking part in that dreadful event.


     TRYING THE SPIRITS-



                      The Exaltation of Christ.

                                                by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


  Modernist religion has no place for the exaltation of        with it." (As quoted from "Christianity In Its Modern
Christ.    A well known advocate of religious liberals         Expression," p. 144, in Systematic Theology, Berkhof,
and modernist "theology" was Professor George Bur-             I, 348). The reason the modern mind cannot do any-
man Foster, of the University of Chicago, who later in         thing with this doctrine of Christ's exaltation is be-
life was pastor of a Unitarian church. In the preface          cause of an overpowering natural aversion to it. "The
to a certain volume he openly denied every one of the          Logos involved the central assertion that God  cancome
Christian fundamentals of the faith. On the exaltation         into the world.. . and into man his child.. .Jesus was
of Christ he said, "According to orthodoxy, the Son of         essentially the forthgoing of God himself into his
God laid aside his divine glory and then took it up            world. This philosophical approach to the understand-
again. He alienated from himself certain divine qual-          ing of Jesus is less congenial with our modern minds
ities, and then integrated them again. What is meant           . . .The modern mind often feels positive and indignant
is at bottom good, viz., that the great and merciful           aversion against such theological construing of the
God -serves us, and is not too good for our daily human        Master." (Harry Emerson Fosdick, quoted in "The
food. Perhaps the form of the orthodox doctrine was            Leaven of the Sadducees," 224). The ascension is just
necessary' when the doctrine was excogitated, but that         as offensive to the modern mind. "On Ascension day
terrible being, the modern man, cannot do anything             .it becomes difficult to refrain from satire. To speak


     204                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


     of this event as one of actual occurrence is simply to        began between His death and resurrection. Then oc-
     affront educated people at this time.. 0"       (Strauss).    curred tbe descension into hell, by which is not meant
     "The farewell of Jesus to the earth could be imagined         that He went to hell in the modern, popular sense of
     literally as a physical levitation until he was received      the word, not the hell of the eternally lost, but to the
     into heaven a definite distance above the ground..  .The      lim bus pa&urn,  which, like lim bus infanturn, is one of
     marvel is not that such a picture of the Master's             the compartments of hell. There the souls of the 0. T.
     going and return should arise (but) that after that old       patriarchs and saints were held in reserve for their
     world had been so long outgrown.. .many.. .should still       being taken to heaven at the ascension. But Hebrews
/    retain the old picture of our Lord's ascent (Fosdick,         11:40 at once disposes of such a view. It is this view,
     ibid.,  223)." The final stage of His exaltation is re-       if anything, which is "Jewish apocalypticism" and
I    garded as "Jewish apocalypticism," and "the future            rabbinical mirage. For between His death and resur-
     judgment is only a rabbinical vision (ibid.,  221)."          rection Christ's spirit was in the hands of His Father,
            This is to make the whole Bible, Old and New           absent from the body, which was then in the grave,
     Testaments, an antiquated Jewish mythology, a product         and present in Paradise (Luke 23:46, 43). Nor care
     of Pharisaical dyspeptic fancies. But shall. we listen        we a thing for the rationalization that "into Thy hands"
     to modern man's wisdom (I Cor. 2:4) with his nihilistic       can also include hell, since Scripture says, "If I made
     denials, or to the overwhelming testimony of irrefut-         my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there (Ps. 139:8)."
     able witnesses, that of holy men of God, who were not         For it is plain that at death "the spirit shall return to
     swept away with the wisdom of this world (1:20; 2:6),         God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7), and "God is in heaven
     but were carried along by the Holy Spirit? Through            (5:2)." Whereas modern Arians and Socinians openly
     them the infallible Word of God was given, which              deny the Lord's exaltation, Romanists pretend to own
     plainly states that the humiliation of Christ was fol-        it, but deny it with their goddess idol of a woman, self-
     lowed by His exaltation.       Mark states that after He      confessed in need of a Savior (Luke 1:47), set up over
     had been crucified, buried and raised, He was re-             Christ.       They make a practical denial of Him to be
     ceived up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of           God over all in denying Him to be sole sovereign over
     God (16:19). Luke insists that of necessity He had to         all worlds. The Arminian also denies the exaltation in
     suffer and enter into His glory (24:26). John saw Him,        making Him a pitiful, frustrated Savior who has done
     handled Him in the days of His humiliation as One yet         all He could to save all men from hell, including those
     to be glorified (John 7:39). Paul kept the facts of his-      now in hell and going there, but could not save them
     tory straight when he recorded that Christ came into          without their help or cooperation.
     the world (I Tim. 1:15), died, was raised, ascended              Christ was officially as Redeemer exalted'to the
     and now intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34).                        throne of God. There He applies `the purchase of His
            But while the false church has always denied it,       redemption to those for whom the price was paid. The
     the true church has always confessed that the state of        Romish promiscuous redeemer leaves many of the
     Christ's exaltation consists of the mighty victories of       redeemed unredeemed after all. The Arminian dis-
     His resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand        appointed redeemer loses, after all his pains and suf-
     of the Father, and His coming again to judge the world.       ferings, what he had purchased. But the only Redeem-
     In His resurrection He was exalted in that His very           er of God's elect paid the ransom price, which re-
     same body which suffered on the cross was raised              covers and restores His clients. He paid no uncertain
     from the dead by His own power, and united to His             sum to purchase any merit or a righteousness which
     soul; that He vanquished death and him that had the           hangs in suspense until those for whom it was paid
     power of it; and did so as a public person, the Head of       accept it.      He paid a definite price for His covenant
     the Church, to assure His people of their resurrection        people, knowing exactly what, how much and for whom
     from the dead at the last day. In His ascension He            He paid., As exalted King He makes sovereign demand
     was exalted in that He, in our human nature, as our           of the property His redemption purchased. Nor can it
     Head, visibly went up into the highest heavens, triumph-      be that any He redeemed shall not be His purchased
     ing over all His and our enemies, there receiving gifts       possession!
     for men, there to prepare a place for us, till his second        Christ was also officially exalted as infallible Head
     coming at the end of the world. In His sitting at the         of the Church. Infallible as Head He is, because He
     right hand of God He was exalted in the highest ad-           never delegates His headship or resigns His authority
     vancement to the divine favor, to the fullness of joy,        and sovereignty. The 0. T. priests passed out of the
     glory and power over all things in heaven and earth.          tenure of their office on account of death, and were
     There He gathers, defends and preserves His Church,           followed by a successor.        On the contrary, Christ,
     puts down their enemies, and ever lives to make inter-        being exalted, dieth no more, but ever  liveth hence has
     cession for them.       In His coming again to judge the      no successor.       There is but one covenant Head in
     world He shall be exalted in great power and glory, to        heaven, one ruling Head, one mediatorial Head, so that
     be visibly revealed to all the world of angels and men,       all usurpers of this supremacy and dignity must be put
     as the King of glory, with a shout, the voice of the          to shame. Any influence or authority interposed be-
     archangel, the trumpet of God. (Cp. Larger Catechism,         tween God and man other than the exalted Christ him-
     51-56 with Scripture proof texts).                            self is insult to God, rejection of Christ and deceiving
            Roman Catholics teach that the exaltation of Christ    of the people.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205


   Christ exalted is, according to God's Word, de-           ing fathers of the kingdom shall bring gifts, while
scribed as having in glory head and hair white as wool       queens shall be nursing mothers of the church, when
giving off a blinding brightness as sunlight on snow;        He shall possess the gold of Sheba and Ophir, when.
His eyes flashing as lightning are equally blinding; so      Arabians :on dromedaries shall bring Him gold and in-
His feet appearing as gold-bronze white-hot in the           cense and show forth the praises of the Lord. Spur-
refiner's furnace and burning out all evil trod upon;        geon well expressed God's point of view: "The world
His whole appearance is as the sun shining in full           has not gone to confusion; chance is not God; God is
strength. It is therefore impossible to gaze upon His        still Master, let men do what they will, and hate the
appearance as it is to gaze on the sun's incandescence.      truth we now prize, they shall after all do what God
In fact, no one can look upon any one part of His whole      wills, and their direst rebellion shall  prove  but a
appearance without being blinded by His glory. For           species of obedience, though ..they know it not. He is
every single aspect of His appearance bears the glory        God - know that, ye inhabitants of the land! and all
and intensity of light brighter than the sun (Rev. 1:13-     things, after all, shall serve Him. I like what Luther
16). His transcendent glory swallows up the majesty says in his bold hymn, where, notwithstanding all that
of kings, eclipses the splendor of empires, dims the         those who are haters of predestination choose to af-
gaudy pageantry of kingdoms, and crowns Him with firm, he knew and boldly declared, `He everywhere
many crowns. In the latter-day glory, kings, the nurs-       hath sway, and all things serve His might.' "




IN HIS  FEAR-

                                    The Blessed Giver

                                                 by Rev.  J. A. Heys



   There may have been a time when, as churches,             learned to love and enjoy the Reformed faith and cry
we had difficulty in applying Jesus' words to Judas          for it, pleading for more instruction, drinking it in as
Iscariot in John 12:8, "The poor always ye have with         a dry and thirsty land absorbs the refreshing rain, He
you.. . . " Congregations build up charity funds and         has also shown us that we do always have the poor with
the deacons have little work besides collecting, keep-       us.
ing track of the money contributed, and paying a few                Our collection plates are. passed around, and the
bills of the church here and there. We have no poor, is      bills threaten to fall off the' filled plate, and on oc-
the cry. Our deacons have no work, is the complaint.         casions do have to be picked up from off the floor to
   Yet Jesus also said, "It is more blessed to give          which they have fallen. Compare this with a collection
than to receive," Acts  20:35.       Do we not have this     "plate," as we saw them on the island, `into which a
opportunity of giving? Is this great blessedness denied      pence, a threepence, a sixpence  or a shilling (14C in
us in this day of wealth and prosperity? Where is the        our money) has been cast; and because of dire poverty
blessed giver today? And where do we have oppor-             and a willing heart to give, the change is made right
tunity even to become a blessed giver? The State             there out of the collection plate from a six to a three
takes care of the poor and puts the deacons out of           pence coin. And then listen to the prayers, offered up
business. Men would rather run and look to the wel-          to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, after the
fare organization than to Christ in His deacons for          offering has been taken." Lord, bless those that gave,
help.       And although the collections are still taken,    and bless also those who had nothing to give." Are we
half-heartedly perhaps, and the funds grow; we bestow        ever in that position that we have  nothing to give?
them upon ourselves, our "needy" causes of school            There are such among those with whom our churches
and church and give them back to ourselves. We as-           are dealing on the island of Jamaica.
sure ourselves meanwhile that we are doing works of                 Life there is simple and hard. Luxuries are not
charity.                                                     unknown but unattained. They can be seenin the resort
   But we would call the attention of our congrega-          areas, and more emphatically even than we see them
tions to the fact, and make no attempt to hide it,           as a rule in the areas where we live here in the States.
that since our covenant God has given us an open door        The contrast is so emphatic!        The brethren on the
on the island of Jamaica, and brought across our             island know the nicer things of life FROM AFAR ! And
pathway brethren and sisters in the Lord, who have           we could list the areas where there is definite and a



                     ---


                                                                                                                     -
 206                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                         1
 crying need.           We would show that the poor we also     sent at least three times, but the need is great, and we
 have with us among these brethren and sisters in               urge all those who intend to visit the island to take an
 Christ.                                                        extra suitcase along filled with used or new summer
     There is the matter of food. And although the island       clothing wherewith to gladden the hearts of these needy
 is covered with what appears to be fruit growing wild,         and. to help them with these necessities of life. And
 all this belongs to some one and is not just there for         as soon as possible other shipments of clothing should
 the picking. Rev. Elliott laid out for us, while on one        be sent, or monies to buy the necessary clothing for
 of our tours with him across the island, that the people       them.
 on their little pieces of land raise what they can of             The buildings are not only in need of repair to keep
 yams or bananas or even ackee, the National fruit of           out the rain and to make them somewhat more com-
 Jamaica.     They pay the bus fare to go to the market         fortable - and the seats are very crude in some in-
 in the largest city near by. They rent a stall and pay         stances and very uncomfortable - but rebuilding is
 the fee for the right to sell. The heat and humidity           becoming a government requirement.          The window
 spoil their offerings before it can be sold - for you          openings must have glass; the doorways must have
 have the other side as well, that although others are          doors; and the whole building must be brought up to a
 hungry and would buy, they have not the few pennies            standard set by the government, or the group will not
 required - and then they must pay the bus fare back            be recognized, the marriages performed in that con-
 home, their business venture a total loss and resulting        gregation will not be considered legal, the baptisms
 in a poorer state than before their venture. And this          will not be valid in the eyes of the government. These
 happens not once in a life time but so very frequently.        churches have been inspected by the police, will con-
 You can understand then the prayer, ". -. . and bless          tinue to be under inspection, and we have a calling to
 those who have nothing to give. 0  o  0" This also ex-         help these brethren and sisters in getting their build-
 plains why, before you can enter the "supermarket" ings up to specifications. Let us remember this when
 to buy your groceries, you will be met by a half dozen         the four collections per year are taken in our churches
 men, women or children trying to sell you a pineapple,         exactly for these buildings and their repair.
 a few mangoes, a bunch of bananas, or perhaps some                There is also another area that is becoming more
 colorful decorative plant that grows so abundantly on          urgent of our attention and is extremely important.
the island. With pleading eyes, with eagerness to earn          Many in this area may have heard the tape of the young
 a few pennies they approach you. No one starves on             man of fifteen years of age, the son of the deacon at
 the island, but so many go to bed with an empty and            the Santa Cruz church, who recited the first Lord's Day
 hungry stomach, Food is everywhere to be seen; it is           of the Catechism from memory on the tape. He de-
 not for everyone to enjoy. Particularly meat is a rare         sires greatly to learn for the ministry of the Word in
 item for these brethren and sisters in the Lord.               their churches and needs help financially for his
     There is also that crying need for medical services        schooling.    He has entered high school now, passing
 and for proper eye examination and corrective lenses.,         his examination and so attaining his scholarship
 A physician up in the hills is an unknown luxury. We           (without any financial support). In Jamaica education,
 have a picture of a sign tacked up on the tree half way        and certainly not on the secondary level, is not yet
 up Porters Mountain, where Rev. Ruddock and his                compulsory due to the fact that they have not yet built
 family live, that expresses the situation rather clearly.      enough schools.     Entrance is then on the basis of
 The sign reads: District Midwife. Two words that               ability to learn; and a nominal tuition fee is charged.
 explain the whole situation! And the ruptured navels           This young man should be helped since he has shown
 of so many children - pathetic sights actually - give          the scholastic ability, greatly desires to prepare for
 mute evidence of the competence of these midwives.             the ministry, and can be trained and taught by us to
 Get sick with a serious ailment up in the hills and you        serve these brethren and sisters in Jamaica well with
 may wait for death, as was the case with a deacon in           the rich heritage of truth which is ours. We did send
 the Westmoreland district, until we supplied the funds         part of a collection taken at one of the reports on the
 to get, his kidney infection treated in the hospital, and      work of Jamaica, which it was our privilege to give in
 rejoiced to see him in church with us a month later.           and for our Mid-Western churches.         But more is
 There again, even if the doctors were there, there is          needed for this year and next and till his education is
 no money to obtain their services. And glasses that            completed, either completely on the island or supple-
 do more damage than good to the eye are picked up in           mented with training in our seminary.
 the Woolworth Store (0 yes, there is a Five and Ten               We have just, in our country, spent thousands upon
 Cent Store there) because there are no funds for eye           thousands of dollars for Christmas presents that will
 examination and fitted corrective lenses. Failing eye-         all go up in smoke; and many of them already are
 sight is a very common occurrence; and in the dimness          ready to be discarded as broken and soiled. Have we
 of the unlit churches as well as in broad daylight, we         not a little for such a glorious and important work of
 have seen them strain with their books a little more           supporting one training for preaching the gospel of
 than a nose's length away to catch a glimpse of the            Christ and feeding the' souls of God's people with the
 pri,nted  p a g e .                                            bread of life?
     There is the matter of `clothing and the matter of            The eighth commandment. is negative in its form
 their church. buildings.         Shipments of clothing were    and forbids us to take away from the neighbour, be he


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       207


needy or not. The Heidelberg Catechism expresses               men have given them here below. But what we have
the positive form when it declares that it is our duty         given them will bring us a blessing that abides forever
to labor faithfully, "so that I may be able to relieve         in the new Jerusalem.           What we receive from men
the poor." Here is our calling as well as not to rob           perishes, and we with it. What we give to men re-
the neighbour of his goods. And these needy we have            ceives a reward of grace in an everlasting inheri-
with us. Our attention has been called from time to            tance.
time to their needs. And let us then remember that
to give is more blessed than to receive. What they                Thou shalt not steal! But may you be that blessed
will receive from us will benefit them much  - in              giver who receives from the living God a reward in
this life.    But at death they will lose all that which       His kingdom.

   CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
                                   The Doctrine of Sin
                                   The Second Period  - 250-730 AD

                                         The Pelagian Controversy

                                                     Pelagianism

                                                     by Rev. H. Veldman
   Quoting Philip Schaff's History of the Christian               acquitted the accused of all heresy. Jeromeis  justified
Church in connection with the history of this Pelagian            in calling this a "miserable synod"; although Augustine
controversy, we were calling attention in our pre-                is also warranted in saying: "It was not heresy, that
ceding article to this controversy as it developed in             was there acquitted, but the man who denied the here-
Palestine.    We called attention to a diocesan synod             sy."
which was convoked by the bishop John of Jerusalem                       Jerome's polemical zeal against the Pelagians cost
in June of 415. At this synod a certain Orosius ap-               him dear. In the beginning of the year 416, a mob of
peared against Pelagius, and he gave information that             Pelagianizing monks, ecclesiastics, and vagabonds
                                                                  broke into his monastery at Bethlehem, maltreated the
a council at Carthage had condemned Coelestius (a                 inmated,  set the building on fire, and compelled the
disciple of Pelagius), and that Augustine had written             aged scholar to take to flight. Bishop John of Jeru-
against his errors. Pelagius answered with evasion                salem let this pass unpunished.          No wonder that
and disparagement: "What matters Augustine to me?"                Jerome, even during the last years of his life, in
John was a great admirer of the condemned Origen,                 several epistles indulges in occasional sallies of
and cared little for the authority of Augustine. After            anger against Pelagius, whom he calls a second
much discussion it was resolved that the matter should            Catiline.
be laid before the Roman bishop, Innocent, since both             Let us pause here in this quotation and make a few
parties in the controversy belonged to the Western             remarks.        Striking is the observation of Augustine,
church. And both parties were admonished to refrain            that not heresy but the man was acquitted at this
from further attacks upon each other. We now continue          council held in December of 415. Notice, too, that
with this quotation in regard to this controversy in           Pelagius was able to avail himself of equivocations.
Palestine.                                                     How often does it not happen in the history of the
      A second Palestinian council resulted still more         church that heretics are judged, either condemned or
   favorably to Pelagius.     This consisted of fourteen       acquitted and justified, not in the light of their hereti-
   bishops, and was held at Diopolis or Lydda, in Decem-       cal teachings, but in the light of their personalities!
   ber of the same year (415), under the presidency of         As Augustine remarked: It was not heresy that was
   Eulogius, bishop of Caesarea, to judge of an accusation     there acquitted, but the man who denied the heresy.
   preferred by two banished bishops of Gaul, Heros and        And how often it has happened in the history of the
   Lazarus, acting in concert with Jerome. The charges
   were unskillfully drawn up, and Pelagius was able to        church that heretics avail themselves of equivocations,
   avail himself of equivocations, and to condemn as folly,    of using terminology that permits more than  onemean-
   though not as heresy, the teachings of Coelestius,          ing! The apostle Paul refers exactly to this when he
   which were also his own. The synod, of which John of        writes in Eph. 4:14: "That we henceforth be no more
   Jerusalem was a member, did not go below the sur-           children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
   face of the question, nor in fact. understand it, but       every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and


208                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER


cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to de-                 for having aspired, in foolish, overcurious controver-
ceive." Literally, in this text, the apostle speaks of              sies, to know more than the Holy Scriptures. At the
heretics that they exercise sleight and cunning craft-              same time he bore emphatic testimony to the ortho-
iness, that, in cunning craftiness, they  emply deceit,             doxy of Pelagius and Coelestius, and described their
                                                                    chief opponents, Heros and Lazarus, as worthless
introducing into the church of God a method of error,               characters, whom he had visited with excommunica-
and drawing it up in such a way that it is difficult for            tion and deposition.      They in Rome, he says, could
the people of God to discern truth from error. They do              hardly refrain from tears, that such men, who so often
this deliberately.        Pelagius was guilty of the  same          mentioned the gratia Die and the adjutorium divinum,
hypocrisy.                                                          should have been condemned as heretics. Finally he
    Now the scene shifts once more to Rome. Writing                 entreated the bishops to submit themselves to the
on the position of the Roman Church and of the con-                 authority of the Roman see.
demnation of Pelagianism,  Schaff writes as follows                     This temporary favor of the bishop of Rome to-
(we understand, of course, that the "Roman Church"                  wards the Pelagian heresy is a, significant presage of
                                                                    the indulgence of later popes for Pelagianizing ten-
here does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church but                dencies, and of the papal condemnation of Jansenism
to the church at Rome in those early days of the New                (Jansen, born in 1585, because of his continuous read-
Dispensation):                                                      ing of the writings of Augustine, came to the conviction
          The question took another turn when it was brought        that the Roman Catholic theologians had departed from
    before the Roman see. Two North African synods, in              the doctrines of the primitive Church, and in 1621 he
    416, one at Carthage and one at Mileve (now Mela),              resolved to work for reform.  - H.V.).
    again condemned the Pelagian error, and communicated                The Africans were too sure of their cause, to yield
    their sentence to pope Innocent. A thirdand more con-           submission to so weak a judgment, which, moreover,
    fidential letter was addressed to him by five African           was in manifest conflict with that of Innocent (Rome
    bishops, of whom Augustine was one. Pelagius also               today teaches that the popes are and have always been
    sent him a letter and a confession of faith, which, how-        infallible.    How, then, could these 2 popes contradict
    ever, were not received in due time.                            each other? - H.V.). In a council at Carthage, in 417
          Innocent understood both the controversy and the          or 418, they protested, respectfully but decidedly,
    interests of the Roman see.            He commended the         against the decision of Zosimus, and gave him to un-
    Africans for having addressed themselves to the                 derstand that he was allowing himself to be greatly
    church of St. Peter, before which it was seemly that            deceived by the indefinite explanations of Coelestius.
    all the affairs of Christendom should be brought; he            In a general African council held at Carthage in 418,
    expressed his full agreement with the condemnation of           the bishops, over two hundred in number, defined their
    Pelagius, Coelestius, and their adherents; but he re-           opposition to the Pelagian errors, in eight (or nine)
    frained from giving judgment respecting the synod of            Canons, which are entirely conformable to the Augus-
    Diopolis .                                                      tinian view. They are in the following tenor:
          But soon afterwards (in 417) Innocent died, and was           1. Whosoever says, that Adam was created mortal,
    succeeded by Zosimus, who was apparently of Oriental            and would, even without sin, have -died by natural
    extraction (417-418). At this juncture, a letter from           necessity, let him be anathema.
       Pelagius to Innocent was received, in which he com-             2. Whoever rejects infant baptism, or denies orig-
    plained of having suffered wrong, and gave assurance of         inal sin in children, so that the baptismal formula,
    his orthodoxy.        Coelestius appeared personally in         "for the remission of sins," would have to be taken
    Rome, and succeeded by his written and oral explana-            not in a strict, but in a loose sense, let him be anath-
    tions to satisfy Zosimus. He, like Pelagius, demon-             ema.
    strated with great fulness his orthodoxy on points not              3. Whoever says, that in the kingdom of heaven,
       at all in question, represented the actually controverted    or elsewhere, there is a certain middle place, where
    points as unimportant questions of the schools, and             children dying without baptism live happy, while yet
    professed himself, if in error, to be corrected by the          without baptism they cannot enter into the kingdom of
    judgment of the Roman bishop.                                   heaven, i. e., into eternal life, let him be anathema
    We wish to pause here a moment. How character-                  (How striking this is! The Romish church of today
istic of heretics! Coelestius demonstrated with great               teaches this. Is it not striking that this current error
                                                                    of Rome should have been advanced by the Pelagians,
fulness his orthodoxy on points not at all in question!             by Pelagius and Coelestius? - H.V.).
This means, of course, that he evaded the question.                    The fourth canon condemns the doctrine that the
He declared that the points of controversy were un-                 justifying grace of God merely effects the forgiveness
important questions of the schools, not at all basic!               of sins already committed; and the remaining canons
And, in all humility, he declared himself ready, if in              condemn other superficial views of the grace of God
error, to be corrected by the judgment of the Roman                 and the sinfulness of man.
bishop! It is always the sleight of men and their cun-                 At the same time the Africans succeeded in pro-
ning craftiness which operate in all the activities of              curing from the emperor Honorius edicts against the
these heretics. And now we continue with the quota-                 Pelagians.
tion.                                                                  These things produced a change in the opinions of
                                                                    Zosimus, and about the middle of the year 418, he
          Zosimus, who evidently had no independent theolog-        issued an encyclical letter to all the. bishops of both
    ical opinipn whatever, now issued (417) to the North            East and West, pronouncing the anathema upon Pela-
    African bishops an encyclical letter accompanied by             gius and Coelestius (who had meanwhile left Rome),
    the documentary -evidence, censuring them for not               and declaring his concurrence With the decisions of the
    having investigated the matter more thoroughly, and             council of Carthage in the doctrine of the corruption


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         209


   of human nature, of baptism, and of grace. Whoever                the misfortunes of his party, and who elaborately con-
   refused to subscribe the encyclical, was to be de-                futed him.        Julian was the most learned, the most
   posed, banished from his church, and deprived of his              acute, and the most systematic of the Pelagians, and
   property.                                                         the most formidable opponent of Augustine; deserving
          Eighteen bishops of Italy refused to subscribe, and        respect -for his talents, his uprightness of life, and his
   were deposed. Several of these afterwards recanted,               immovable fidelity to his convictions, but unquestion-
   and were restored.'                                               ably censurable for excessive passion and overbearing
          The most distinguished one of them, however, the           pride.
   bishop Julian, of Eclanum, a small place near Capua in
   Campania, remained steadfast till his death, and in               The Lord willing, we will conclude this history of
   banishment vindicated his principles with great ability        the Pelagian controversy in our following article, and
   and zeal against Augustine, to whom he attributed all          then call attention to the Pelagian system.


    ALL AROUND  US-

                     Communist Infiltration

                             Another Plan for Birth Contro1

                                      Brighter Hopes for  Premillennialists

                                                    Decline of Worship in Russia

                                                                 Religion in Public Schools Under ,&tack

                                                      by  Pvof. H.  Hank0

   We offer the following article for what it is worth.              ganization within which other dedicated communists
It is quoted from the Old Faith Contender; and, while it             are at work.
is not documented, there is no reason to doubt its                           Merwin Hart, mad of the National Economic Coun-
truth.                                                               cil, warns, "If the American people value their free-
                                                                     dom of thought they will do well to regard with distrust
                                                                     every legislative proposal bearing the -`mental health'
          The World Health Organization and the World Fed-           label."
    eration for Mental Health are working closely together                   The Congressional Record for June 13, 1967, car-
    in a program involving legislation and propaganda at             ried two separate items on mental health introduced
    the national and world levels. If their plans are ef-            by Congressman Usher L. Burdick, from NorthDakota.
    fectual they will soon have a network of governmental            He gave a detailed description of the lobotomy opera-
    agencies, university chairs, mental institutions, train-         tion being used as a political weapon in Russia and
    ing centers, clinics, professional psychiatrists, and            now becoming popular in the United States. He states
    social workers  .which can control the thinking of the           in part:
    nation and the world.                                                    "It is estimated that 100,000 persons in the United
          Merwin Hart, directing head of the National Eco-           States have been subjected to this operation upon the
    nomic Council, describes the modern "mental health"              advice of some psychiatrist. This is murder per se.
    movement as a Marxist weapon wherewith to silence                It is another way of putting the patients to death under
    all opposition to Communism, and to remove from                  the advice of skilled psychiatrists. In the United States
    society those who resist the sovereignty of Inter-               a large percentage of the Psychiatrists are foreigners,
    national Communism.                                              most of them educated in Russia. The percentage runs
          In the idealogical war being waged for the minds            as high as SO%."
    of free men, a technique for compelling conformity in                    Another organization, "The Council of State Gov-
 L an individual's political beliefs and social attitudes            ernments" is seeking to get enacted in all State Con-
    has been worked out by the social scientists and is              stitutions, legislation which will allow them to seize
    already in operation.                                            people wherever found and place them in insane
          It masquerades under the misnomer "mental                   asylums.        Their legislation, called "Compact On
    health" . . . . .                                                Mental Health" prepares the programs for various
          This Communist apparatus is now entrenched in               Governors Conferences and already ten or more
    every state in the Union. It is backed by powerful in-            States have ratified their compact on mental health.
    fluences in the United States Department of Health,                      "We must work until religion is synonymous with
    Education and Welfare. It is supplemented by an im-              insanity" declares a secret manual of Communism.
    pressive array of national and international anthro-              "We must work until the officials of city, county and
    pologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and social                state governments will pounce on religious groups as
    planners in general, cooperating with world-wide or-              public enemies!"


210                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                              quest of the lands in the Sinai Peninsula and West of
ANOTHER PLAN FOR BlRTH  COtiTROL                              the Jordan by Israeli armies the proof that their
   As. the population explosion continues to worry the        interpretations of Scripture are being fulfilled and
experts- in economics and `the medical and social             that presently Israel will occupy a special place in the
sciences, more and more outrageous plans are being            realization of God's purpose.
put forth to solve this problem.                                 These dreams are presently being bolstered by
   The latest, describedin an article in the Grand Ra-        repeated reports that preparations are under way
pids  Press  goes something like this. Proposed by a          for the erection of a new temple in Jerusalem. Israeli
certain Dr. Schockley, it would allow for the public          officials (including Foreign Minister Abba Eban) per-
to vote on what rate of population growth it wants.           sistently deny such reports; but the rumors continue
Upon the basis of this vote the Census Bureau would           unabated.
determine how many children each married couple                  According to Christianity Today the reports are as
could have and stay within the limits of the growth rate      follows:     Several years ago there was a story that a
which was approved. Certificates for that number of' complete temple prefabricated and destined for Jeru-
children would be issued to all married couples while         salem was seen at a port somewhere in Florida. Just
the women would be temporarily sterilized by some             prior to the war between Israel and the Arab nations
"time capsule contraceptives." When parents wanted            in June an advertisment appeared in the  Washington
a child, they would turn in one of their certificates and     Post which invited correspondence from people who
the contraceptive device would be removed. After the          were interested in helping build the Temple.        The
child was born the contraceptive device would be re-          Washington Post refused to reveal who the advertisers
inserted until the time another child was desired.            were. In August a missionary in Hong Kong reported
   If parents did not want any children or did not want       that "Israel government representatives have ordered
as many as they are allowed, the certificates could be        60,000 tons of finest Bedford stone from Bedford,
sold on the open market to people who wish more. The          Indiana, to be used in the erection of the Jerusalem
laws of supply and demand would determine the price           temple." Officials in Indiana claimed to know nothing
of the certificates' The result, it is hoped, would be        of the deal, but others insisted the report was true and
that only people who want and can afford children would       said that another article is being prepared which will
have them.                                                    verify this. The Hong Kong missionary also wrote that
   There would be a certain "quality control" also            "five hundred  railcar loads of stone from Bedford,
about this since it is Dr. Schockley's opinionthat "high      considered to be among the finest building stone in the
illegitimate ghetto birthrates have caused Negro gene-        world, are being freighted pre-cut to exact specifi-
tic potential for intelligence to drop five or more I.Q.      cations, and one consignment has already been dis-
points in the last four decades."                             patched to Israel.     Shipments are being handled by
   In this last statement is the hitch. There is no           Pier 26 in New York."        He also added that corner-
doubt about it but that any state controlled birthrate        stones for the third temple have been secretly in
wou1.d lead inevitably to eugenics. The state would           preparation for several years. He was of the opinion
very shortly not, simply demand the right to determine        that American Jews are mainly responsible for the
how. many children each couple would be permitted to          financial support of the project and that the two free-
have; but also which parents would- be permitted to           standing pillars for the new temple have already been
have children and which would not. And the purpose of         cast in bronze.
this `*would be to insure that-  only the most intelligent
parents would be permitted to have children to insure            Whatever truth there is to all this will be revealed
the production of intelligent children who can better         in good time.      But the excitement has caused some
serve the purposes of the state.                              split in the camp of premillennialists.       While all
   It ought not to be forgotten that fears of an over-        "pres" are agreed on the basic proposition that the
crowded earth are born, on the one hand, out of a de-         nation of Israel will be restored to Canaan and that
sire to control birth and, on the other hand, out of a        Christ will reign in Israel for 1000 years, there is
denial of the return of Christ. It is, of course, en-         consideiabie dispute on the question of when this will
tirely possible that, should the world go onindefinitely,     happen. It is most commonly believed among "pres"
there would indeed come a time when the world is              that the times of the Gentiles must first be fulfilled.
simply too crowded to support the population on it if         The end of these times will be marked by the rapture
certain birth control methods are not put into effect.        which will, in turn, be followed by seven years of
But the problem does not exist for those who believe          tribulation. Only then will the prophecies concerning
that Christ is coming again.                                  Israel be fulfilled. But the rapture and the tribulation
   Nor may. covenant parents permit the state to              are yet to come, and it is wondered how preparations
determine their individual  ,and important responsibility     can now already be going forward for the erection of a
to bring forth the covenant seed.                             temple in an established state of Israel so soon. This
BRIGHTER HOPES FOR PREMILLENNIAL ISTS                         has caused some "pres" to modify their position to
                                                              fit these events of history. But a modification of this
   Many premillennialists saw in the establishment of         nature strikes at the very heart of premillennialist
the nation of Israeli and in last summer's swift con-         theory which insists on a literal interpretation of the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         Zli


Book of Revelation. And this literal interpretation has      RELIGION IN PUBLIC  SCflOOLS   U2l;cDER  ATTACK
to be abandoned if the restoration of Israel is to pre-                                        ,_
cede the rapture and the seven years of tribulation.            There is unrelenting pressure to destroy the last
But then there is no reason why the literal interpreta-      vestiges of religion from the public school system.
tion of the 1000 years has to be maintained. This is         The same issue of the  Pvesbytevian   Jownal  quoted
but another instance of the hopeless vagaries of pre-        above refers to a report and quotes it extensively in
millennialistic thought.                                     which the Civil Liberties Union is taking another pot-
                                                             shot at religious practices in the public school system.
DE CL INE OF WORSHIP IN R USSLA                              We quote the article.
   The Pvesbytevian  Joumal  quotes the Religious News             The New Mexico Civil Liberties Union has issued a
Service in proof of the fact that religion is on the            statement opposing "sectarian observances" of reli-
decline in Soviet Russia. It has long been asserted by          gious holidays, "especially Christmas," in the public
the Soviet Union that complete freedom of religion ex-          schools.                                      ?
ists in countries under communist domination. But it               "We urge that district school boards, superin-
has long been proved by others that, while perhaps              tendents, principals, teachers, and parents use their
                                                                best efforts to avoid such practices," the statement
there is no overt persecution against the church. as a          said.
whole (although many individuals are surely persecuted             "In particular, highly sectarian scenes should be
and imprisoned), nevertheless there are all kinds of            avoided. Symbols which are primayily religious and
ploys being used to surpress religion. Children are             which represent deep emotional associations should be
early indoctrinated in the atheism of communism.                used with care in the public schools."
State ceremonies are substituted for religious rites.              The Union noted that "long-established and widely-
People who faithfully attend church are discriminated           accepted practices exist in New Mexico which con-
against and find it difficult if not impossible to obtain       stitute an infusion of religion into the public schools.
jobs, to buy the necessities of life, to acquire adequate       One of the practices which has become embedded in
housing, etc.     Apparently the Russians are to some           community tradition is the use of programs in the
                                                                public school to mark the various holiday seasons."
extent successful.     For there has been a marked                 "Although some write off Christmas and Easter as
decline in church worship and a corresponding rise              folklore  and- mythology, most Americans hold that
in atheism. This is especially true among the youth.            these holidays are Christian in origin and inpractice,"
 We have no doubt there is considerable truth in all            the statement continued. "However much one believes
this.     The people of God are suffering for Christ's          those holidays should be devoutly observed, their
sake behind the iron curtain and we ought to remember           celebration in the public schools may constitute a
them in our prayers. Two things must be remembered              program of indoctrination to be opposed by those
however. One: God will not allow His people to be led           devoted to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitu-
astray no matter what the pressures of persecution.             tion."
Two: the atheism of communist Russia, while some-                  The New Mexico group also observed: "Our courts
                                                                have been explicit in ruling that the constitutionality of
what more forthright and open, differs little from the          a specific act involving religion in the public schools
practical atheism to be found in our own country and            is not affected by the fact that the majority of individ-
even in the church - a practical atheism which could            uals in a given community happen to approve or con-
easily become persecution.                                      done the act or practice in question."



         FROM  OUR MISSION  BOARD-


                            Our Mission Activities

                                                by Rev.  J.  Kovteving

    The Church of Christ frequently muses upon the           assuring him that His work in gathering His church
words of the Prophet Zechariah, "For who hath de-            was not by might nor by power' but by the Spirit. The
spised the day of small things?" Zech. 4~10. In the          servants of the Lord had to be reminded that no op-
setting in which they were first spoken, Zerubbabel          position would make it impossible for God to complete
had laid the foundation of the rebuilt temple, but the       His Work; the temple would surely be built and the
completion of the project seemed impossible. In dis-         people of God preserved unto everlasting life.
couragement, Zerubbabel had gone to Zechariah for an            Frequently we are tempted to make a carnal com-
explanation. The Word of the Lord came to the prophet        parison between the work of God in His church and the


212                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


seeming progress made by the devil and his hordes in          aries we have, how large our mission budget may be,
the world. Whenever we judge causes bytheir external          how many stations over which we broadcast, or how
manifestations and equate bigness with success, we            many millions of pamphlets we publish. First of all,
inevitably despise the day of small things. This is           our concern is to be faithful to the truths of the Word
particularly true when we bring to mind that the true         of God as these are preserved for us in our Reformed
success of the church is not to be judged on the basis        confessions; and being faithful to these, we must use
of externals; rather it is truly successful only when         properly our money, our time, our energy in serving
that success is divinely approved and thrives under           God. This is our privilege in the midst of increasing
the blessing of almighty God.                                 apostasy and decay.
       Sometimes. we are tempted to complain about our            For the past 12 years, there has been a congrega-
mission activities and say that they do not amount to         tion in Pella, Iowa, consisting of about 6 souls. They
much. Many who are not members of our churches,               felt more than most of us the "day of small things."
but take a passing interest, look at our mission work         Nevertheless, they pressed on; they had taped and
and brashly conclude, "The Protestant Reformed                reading services in the house and in the American
Churches don't believe in missions." Sometimes we             Legion Hall. Ministers from time to time went there
Protestant Reformed people have this thrown our way           on Classical appointment. Rev. Lubbers worked there
so often that we are even tempted to agree, or at least       as missionary for about 2 years. It appears that the
look the other way and somewhat apologize for our             seeds of the Word sown over these years are bearing
feeble efforts.                                               fruit.    Prof. Hoeksema delivered a Reformation Day
   The true blessedness of mission work in the church         lecture at the chapel of Central College on Nov. 9 to an
is rooted in its quality. By quality we obviously mean        audience of about 150 people. At the Sunday afternoon
mission work that conforms to the purpose of God as           service on the following Sunday about 50 people gath-
given to us in the Bible. Quality includes the proper         ered with the faithful few. As follow up the Mission Com-
message proclaimed, that it agrees with the Word of           mittee decided to respond favorably to the request of
God in all its purity; but it also includes methods used      Pella Consistory that more work be done, and re-
in pursuing the proclamation: there are right methods         quested Rev. Schipper to labor in Pella for about 2
and wrong methods as indicated in the Scripture. We           weeks in December.        By preaching, lecturing, and
can be sure that in the measure that this quality is          visiting with people in the area, it became evident that
compromised or forsaken, the quantity of missionwork          there is increasing interest in this community. Rev.
will increase.      If we only change our message or          Schipper lectured on Ezekiel 33:ll to approximately
method and make it less offensive to the natural man          28 souls and about the same number were present both
and more appealing to human pride, we will gain a             Sunday afternoons'for  the services. The Mission Com-
larger listening audience, more people will show in-          mittee has decided to request Southeast church to re-
terest in our mission work, more will join our                lease Rev. Schipper for 4 Sundays, Feb. 18 - March
churches, we will then have more money and increas-           10, in order that he may continue his labors in Pella.
ing means to do much more mission work.                       Arrangements are also being made that more Classical
       But, if we conscientiously hold, to the quality of     supply be provided and lectures given. Surely it is
mission work as it is given to us in the Word of God,         good for us to remember these labors inour congrega-
we must reckon with the fact that our mission work            tional prayers, that if it be the Lord's will the witness
will,from outward points of view remain small; in fact,       of the truth may continue in the Pella area for genera-
it may even become impossible for us to do mission            tions following. Here we have the opportunity to bear
work in the formal sense of the word. We are living in        one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
the last days, and these are constituted as the "day of           In almost all the areas in which we have churches,
small things." We strive to preach from our pulpits           the Reformed Witness Hour is broadcast every Sunday.
the whole counsel of God as this relates to our doctrine      Of this number, five are being sponsored by the Mis-
and life. We proclaim this through the radio, we pub-         sion Committee, the latest addition being in Loveland,
lish this in our churchpapers, we write this in pamphlet      Colorado. Scarcely does one realize the minute de-
-form. The great theme is the sovereignty of our -God.        tails and hours of work that go into this phase of our
The fact. is that in our day, there are few people who        mission witness. This is not only true for the speak-
care to hear this message. Our churches are small in          ers, the vocal talent, the announcers whose voices are
numbers, our seminary is as small as it can, get, our         aired, but no less for the silent hands that work behind
financial backing _ is marginal, ,our man-power is taxed      the scene. The Radio Committee of First Church is
to the full. Are we going to despise this? Are we go-         composed of members who are willing to work. They
ing to forsake the Scripturally revealed way and sell         take care of all phases of the broadcast which include
our birth-right for a mess of "pseudo-ecumenical" the details of programming, correspondence, printing
pottage? Are.we going to say that our mission work is         and mailing of copies of the broadcast, finances, con-
so small we might as well forget it.? Our answer must         tracts, and the actual engineering involved in pro-
be a two-fold negative one: we will hold to the truth         ducing the tape.s.     If one would try to add up all the
once delivered unto the saints, and- press on in our          man-hours involved in producing one broadcast, I'm
calling to speak .it forth to the ends of the earth. It is    sure we would be more appreciative of the finished
not,. first of all, a question as. to how many mission-       product Q    These faithful workers deserve the thanks


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  213

of all of us, and may the importance of this work spur        the committee feels that the best way to supply this
them on.        The Mission Committee is interested in        need is by conducting used clothing drives throughout
searching out ways in which the broadcast can be used         our churches. and seeking ways to ship this to Jamaica
most effectively. Even though we do not have a large          most .economically.      Appeals will soon be made for
budget for this work, we desire to use it properly and        used summer clothing.
efficiently.    This involves consideration of how long to       We were informed that First Church, the calling
broadcast over a certain station, how do we appraise          church for a missionary, had extended the call to Rev.
the effectiveness of any given broadcast, how can             G. Lubbers and that the Lord had laid it upon his
radio be used to reach out into areas in which we do not      heart to decline this call. The need for a full-time
have churches, etc.       Perhaps in a future article we      man to labor in the area of domesticmissions remains.
will be able to share some observations, as for ex-           We trust that God will provide us with men to labor in
ample how to judge. the response we receive from our          the ministry of the gospel both in the local congrega-
present broadcasts.                                           tions and in the mission field. The call goes forth to
    If there is any field in which theMission  Committee      our young men that they prayerfully consider this need
feels the impact of the "day of little things" it is          of the church.     While we as churches wait for this
Jamaica.        The Lord has provided for us this "open       supply, we will undoubtedly have to work together by
door"; but so frequently it seems that it is only a&          sharing our ministers with vacant churches and also
because of our limited means with which to work. Our          sharing them in the work of missions, lest we despise
fellow ministers and congregations there deeply ap-           the day of small things.
preciate all that we do for them. Expressions of such           Much work has gone into making the necessaryprep-
appreciation are received for the work that Rev. C.           aration for the mailing of the pamphlet of Prof. H. C.
Hanko is now doing in instructing them through the            Hoeksema in which he offers a critique on the recent
correspondence course on the New Testament. Mr. H.            decision of the Synod of the Christian ReformedChurch
Vander Wal prepares for mailing the tapes and ma-             taken in the Dekker case. Names of interested parties
terials of this course.      Both of these brethren give      from all areas of the country have been placed on
much for this work and are dedicated to the task.             envelopes.    The only thing still remaining is for the
Evidence of the fruits of this work can be seen in the        printer to finish his work on the pamphlet. This he
development in the truth by those who receive it.             has promised to do in the near future.
    The Mission Committee is also advising the                   In order to cut down on expenses, it was decided
churches there as to how to proceed with the con-             not to print the Reformation Day Lecture of Prof.
solidating into 4 or 5 larger congregations. The many         Hoeksema, but rather to make it available on tape for
small congregations will soon be given opportunity to         all that might be interested. Since most people have
express themselves on the idea and whether they would         access to a tape recorder, it was felt that this would
favor such a move. In our dealings with the churches          satisfy the need. This will be of special interest to
there, we recognize that we do not simply tell them           groups of people that meet in their homes in various
what to do, rather we seek to guide them and lend             parts of the country who have expressed their interest
assistance in what we judge to be best for them. The          in the lecture and will be able to enjoy it "live" on
problems that are connected with such a move are              tape. If you are interested in a copy of the Reforma-
many and will have to be faced as time goes on.               tion Day lecture, "450 years.. . 0 And Then?" simply
    Rev. Heys has investigated the "duty" on the im-          contact the chairman of publications, Rev. M. Schipper,
port of used clothing to the island. It appears that the      1543 Cambridge, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506,
customs officer determines the amount of duty at the          and he will be glad to supply you with this material for
time of importation; he examines the contents and then the cost of the tape (approximately $2.50).
affixes the duty. It is impossible to know in advance
just what the duty would be on any given shipment. The           Even though we are living in the day of small
higher the value judged, the higher, of course, is the        things, yet we may be thankful to God for the rich
duty. With this information, the committee decided to         blessings He has given us as churches and the privi-
request Southeast consistory to make arrangements for         lege we have in sharing these blessings with others
a clothing drive in the Grand Rapids area. There is no        who with us are' concerned for the truththat God is God
question about the need of the people in Jamaica and          alone.

                                             RESQL  UTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Consistory and Congregation of the Eben-Ezer             "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
Protestant Reformed Church of Forbes, North Dakota            nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
express their sorrow and sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.             present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depth,
Alvin Rau and family in the death of their son and            nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
brother,                                                      from the love of God; which is in Christ Jesus our
                     STEVEN RAY RAU                           Lord." Romans  8:38-39.
 .It is. -our prayer that the God of all grace will com-                                         Milo De Wald, Clerk
fort and strengthen~them in their sorrow.


214                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


 THEM CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-
                       "0 worship the Lord in the `beauty of holiness."
                                                             Psalm  96:9a

                             The Theory of Worship
                                               by Rev. G.  Vandenkevg
   We have distinguished between religion and wor-                True worship, as the core of religious activity, can
ship. Likewise we, may distinguish between true and           only proceed from the regenerated heart. Out of the
false religion and true and false worship. All men            heart are the issues of life and when that heart, through
are religious by virtue of the fact that they have been the wonder of God's grace, is born from above, the
created in the image of God, but all men do not prac-         whole life of the child of God is principally centered in
tice. true religion. Likewise do all men worship, but it      worship, praise and service. Although that particular
would be gross prevarication to day that all men wor-         form of worship in which the child of God engages on
ship God in Spirit and in truth. It is simply a fact that     the Sabbath in God's house is extremely important, its
every human being has contact with his creator and            significance is never that it constitutes the extent or
with the witness of his creator in and through the            limitation of his worship. In the house of God he re-
things He has made. Furthermore, man cannot avoid             ceives instruction out of the Word, and this he intelli-
responding to this witness in all of his experiences.         gently and willingly applies to every sphere of his life
Every activity in which man engages is an ethical re-         in the world. Six days he labors in the fear of God,
sponse to something God has said to him, either in His        only to return again to appear before His Face to re-
providence or revelation. This response constitutes           ceive more instruction and direction in the way that
man's religion and in the broad sense of the word, his        he must go.         His worship is not spasmodic but per-
worship.      Religion and worship are not matters of petual.                His service of God is not periodic but con-
choice, but they are constitutionally and universally         tinuous  0                                        1
matters of necessity.                                             From all this it is evident that one's conception of
   Our readers understand that the depravity of man's         God determines his worship. The philosophy to which
nature makes him totally unable to favorably respond          men stand committed, either unconsciously or witting-
religiously and it renders man's external acts of wor-        ly, of necessity affects the actualization of the religious
ship an abomination in the sight of God. Obviously potentialities of the human soul. The Biblical state-
this is true with respect to the heathen of whom Paul         ment is fitting here: "As a man thinketh in his heart,
writes in Romans 1:21-25,                                     so is he." Although then there are many religions in
       I`D. o but became vain in their imaginations, and the world, there are but three fundamentally distinct
their foolish heart was darkened. Professing them-            views of God which are, viz. Theism, Deism and
selves to be wise, they became fools, and changed             Pantheism.
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made             We must acknowledge at least the possibility that,
like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted         unwittingly so perhaps, our practical life is more
beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave          religiously motivated by Deistic and Pantheistic con-
them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own         siderations than we are willing to admit. This is an
hearts, to .dishonor  their own bodies between them-          ever present danger.          It is not altogether removed
selves : Who changed the -truth of. God into a lie, and       either by subscription to Theistic Creeds, for all too
worshipped.  .and served the creature more than the           often we fail to apply the truths we confess to our lives
Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen."                       and thereby manifest a horrible inconsistency in prac-
                                                              tice and confession. God is very near when we gather in
   It may -be well to remember, however, that what is         worship in His house but in our daily practices we often
said here concerning the religious practices of the           give indication that we really think that He is pretty far
heathen-is. essentially' also true with respect to those      away.         It is easy to confessionally acknowledge that
who externally belong to the church but whose worship         "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the
proceeds from and is governed by that same depraved           world and they that dwell therein," but so often, in
flesh. Although the form of religious activity is visibly     fleshly greed, we live as though that earth and its
different from those things the pagans do, the essence        substance IS God. Too numerous to mention are the
-of it is the same: `Out of, the flesh proceeds nothing       applications -of this that can be made to the lives of the
but corruption, and- the form that this corruption as-        people of God.         Let us remember, as with Israel in
sumes is really quite irrelevant. Scripture does, how-        the Old Dispensation, such inconsistencies spoil our
ever, remind us that, due to other considerations which       worship and make it. displeasing unto the Lord. God
.we cannot enter into now, it will be more tole&ble in        does not want, and neither will He receive, a mixture
the' day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for of true and false worship, for He is a God of Truth.
the religious `zealots that inhabited Capernaum, where            Prof.  S. Volbeda describes these three views of
.many mighty works of Jesus had been performed.               God in the following quotation:


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 215


       Pantheism, in whatever form it is presented,                exactly "cheats life of its due?" Man-exactly makes
    negates the Scriptural and traditional distinction of the      his own god out of the things he can see and touch or
 Creator and the creature (cf.  Ram  1:25) and resolves            he removes his imaginary god. so far out of the world
    them into a simple, indivisible Being, however modally         of his experience that he has nothing to do with him in
    diversified. It makes no difference whether Pantheism.         his daily life. Thus life is cheated of the highest good:
    strikes out into an idealistic, materialistic, or spiri-
    tualistic direction. In all and every instance God and         fellowship with the living God.
    the world are identical essentially. If the metaphysi-            However, be this as it may, the point that the soul
    cal, ontological, distinction of God and the world is          needs what Jacob experienced at the ford of Jabbok: I
    denied, the basis of worship is so far forth destroyed.        have seen God face to face, is a worthy one. It brings
    Man, then, is no more distinct from the world in which         us once again to the very heart of religion, the essence
    he lives than is God from the world which he made.             of worship - the meeting of God with His people.
    Then the Kultur (work) and Cultus (worship) must be               In speaking of worship, the meeting of God with His
    identified. Again if man be identical with God, wor-           people, we cannot escape the problem of bridging the
    ship,  other than the bestowal of God's attention upon
    Himself,                                                       infinite chasm that separates God and man. Reference
                 is plainly out of the question. The decoy of
    worship, both private and public, is the inevitable con-       here is not to that proximity of God to man which is ex-
    sequence of the pantheistic bias of the modern mind as         pressed by His omnipresence but, understandably, we
    expressed not only in the current philosophy, but also         have in mind His intimate fellowship relation in which
    in the waxing Liberalism or Modernism of our times.            He dwells with man in covenant union. That relation--
       Deism, too, has no logical room for worship, be-            ship was violated by sin, which introduced a distance,
    cause it throws God and His world, man included, so            a separation, of a new kind, viz. spiritual estrange-
    far apart that though each retains his own identity            ment. This estrangement resulted on man's part from
    wholly unimpaired, the distance virtually becomes an           his aversion to God, and on God's part from His holy
    impassable chasm. Access of man to God is impossi-             abhorrence of sin and His righteous indignation against
    ble  because God, instead of coming out of His unap-
    proachable light (I Tim. 6:16) -and  His eternity (Isa.        it. Owing to thisestrangement, God, though still mani-
    57:15a) to man in .His condescending goodness (Isa.            festing His presence in the world, withdrew from spir-.
    57:15b) persistently remains in His lofty isolation.           itual fellowship with man. By going over to the side of
    Man can serve Him, in a measure, and glorify Him, in           Satan, God's arch-enemy, man put himself at the ser-
    a sense, but worship is out of the question. God's             vice of the evil one and could only abuse God's world
    Temple is perfectly inaccessible.          Pantheism and       and prostitute it to a use directly contradictory to
    Deism alike rob God of His due and deprive man of the          God's purpose with it. On this account man is neither
    greatest privilege his Maker has  beneficiently  bestowed      able nor willing to come into God's presence to wor--
    upon him. Both theories are diabolically calculated            ship and God will not receive him because all the labor
    to cut the very root of religion. For without Cultus
    (worship) Kultur (work) degenerates into an  anti-             of his hand is corrupt and unacceptable as a sacrifice
    Christian crusade against God and His Kingdom.                 of worship upon His holy altar.
       Theism holds to God's transcendence against Pan-               The bridge is gapped in Christ Who is Emmanuel,
    theism, and to His immanence, against Deism. It                God with us. Apart from Him there is no worship but
    honors the modicum of truth in each of the other               only an empty and, what is even worse, a corrupt form.
    philosophies, but sets both transcendence and im-              In Christ the everlasting covenant of God with His
    manence free from their deistic and pantheistic im-            people is established and a people is formed that. is
    plications, by construeing each with reference to the          "zealous unto good works." This people God forms
    other on the basis of the revelation of Scripture. Ac-         unto Himself and through His grace that bringeth sal-
    cordingly, theistic immanence does not preclude the
    disparateness of God and man on whose assumption               vation they are able to worship Him "in Spirit and in
    worship moves; and theistic transcendence does not             truth." That people inquires diligently in His temple
    negate the communion of God and man that is funda-             into the form, manner and content of worship, for
    mental to worship. (Liturgies,  Pg. 24)                        there is nothing in all the world of their experience
        Concluding this description, the professor then            that is comparable in importance to the worship of
    says: "It is not implied that false philosophy will ever       God. Christians, that is, those who are partakers of
    cheat life out of its dues altogether.' Pantheists and         the anointing of Christ, are the only ones who are able
    Deists, too, are not consistent as a rule, because the         to truly worship and because their worship is still 
    facts of life, i.e., man's ineradicable religious nature,                                                              SO
                                                                   much tainted with sin, it is necessary to be continually
    overrule the errors infecting the mind, to an extent.
    The strength of pantheism is its mystic glow and the           reminded of the things that pertain to the service of
    virtue of deism is its emphasis on morals. But nei-            God.
    ther mysticism nor moralism can acceptably serve as
    the surrogate of worship. The soul needs what Jacob
    experienced at the ford of Jabbok: I have seen God
    face to face. (Gen. 32:30, ~011. Ps. 63:1-3)                                           N O T I C E
    We are inclined to ask whether the professor                   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
thinks that a "theory diabolically calculated" can have            will convene on March 6, 1968, at 9:00 A.M., in the
virtue and whether he realizes that the nature of man,             Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois.
-thou-&-  `"eradically-  religious-j-?? is. so thoroughly satu-    The deadli.ne for material. for the Agenda is February 5.
rated with the pantheistic and  .deistic  lie that it                                   Rev.  David Engelsma, Stated Clerk


216                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                      N E W S   F R O M   O U R   CtiURCHES-

                                                Jan. 11, 1968    "God holds us responsible not only for what we do
  The January Office Bearers' Conference was held                know, but also for what we may know."
in Southeast Church and featured Rev. G. Lubbers as                                          *  d  *
speaker. The assigned topic was the question, "Can                  Rev. Elliott, one of our stalwart friends in Jamaica,
we accept the baptism of Roman Catholicism?" The                 writes that since they. now have more Psalters, both
question was answered in the affirmative by the speak-           young and old. are studying the Three Forms of Unity
er, who then very capably explained the origin of this           printed therein. They show much zeal in learning our
problem as being in the time when the Protestant Ref-            truth and are earnestly exploring it further.
ormation was gaining momentum and the continuing                                             * * *
forsaking of the mother church with its membership                  Rev. Decker is back in his pulpit in Dooti again
joining the Reformation churches. There was a dis-               after some weeks of rest and recuperation in Grand
appointing attendance at this conference which showed            Rapids .    Though his duties are still somewhat re-
the dwindling .interest  in these meetings. What is the          stricted, he preached two sermons on Sunday, and con-
matter?- Good speakers are giving good speeches;                 ducted a funeral service the day before - three days
that isn't it.     Are we being satiated with lectures?          after arriving home.
Five a year cannot -be too much. Are the subjects not                                        * * *
interesting to the office bearers, the workmen in the               Holland's prize member, 90-year-old Mrs. N.
Church of Christ? Probably we are not heeding the                Yonker, always attends church twice each Sunday; and
injunction of Scripture, "Study thyself to be approved           although she was also the victim of the flu bug, she
of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,                was again eagerly looking forward to church services
rightly dividing the Word of God."                               as soon as she could safely venture out. What a testi-
                          * * *                                  mony to some of us younger folk who so easily find an
       The Beacon Lights Staff has announced Feb. 18 to          excuse to stay home.
be the date of the next area-wide hymnsing to be held                                        * * *
in Southwest Church in Grand Rapids. Can they expect                Lynden's Jan. 7th bulletin noted that they have re-
you to mark this in your date book and take your Sun-            ceived a new family which had transferred their mem-
day evening company along?                 :                     bership from South Holland, Ill.       Needless to say,
                          * * *                                  a hearty welcome was extended this family which
       Do  you  know  that Loveland's manse houses a new         increased the total membership by 5%. Such joyous
arrival? Rev. and Mrs. Engelsma were blessed with                experiences are denied the members of large con-
the gift of .a baby daughter, born early in December.            gregations.
                          * * *                                                              *  * *
       Southwest's pastor was scheduled to spend his                Oak Lawn's Sunday School did not meet Dec. 25
classical appointment in Hull, Iowa Jan. 14 and 21,              because of the failure of the mail service todeliver
with the Seminary% providing the pulpit supply in Rev.           the papers on time. The Post Office's Seasonal rush
Lubbers' absence. Their Jan. 7 bulletin also announced           was evidently the cause. The Young People's Society
the consistory's newly appointed officers. The new               cancelled their meeting for that evening because of
clerk is Mr. J. Boone, 1319 Den Hartog, SW.; and the             the Hymn-Sing held in the auditorium.
treasurer is Mr. .P. Lotterman, 2141 Newport, SW.                                            *  * *
Both of these are in Wyoming, Mich. 49509.                          Lyndenys  Biblical. Doctrine Committee received a
                          * * ..*                                letter from Ann Arbor, where a medical student, a
       First Church's clerk is Mr. Jas. Hey&l432  Gidd-          member of Southwest Church resides. Mr. and Mrs.
ings Ave., S.E. 49507; and the treasurer is Mr. J.               Richard Kruezer related that they rely on The Standard
Vander Woude, 1133 Adams St., S.E. 49507. Southeast' Bearer, Beacon Lights and `the Study Sheets for their
officers are, Clerk: Mr. J. DeVries,  824 Evergreen,             spiritual nourishment. From Southwest's bulletin we
S.E; 49507; treasurer: Mr. Wm. Faber, 1340 Cam-                  learn that Mr. and Mrs.' Kruezer have moved to
bridge Blvd., S.E. 49506. All of these are listed in             Ethio,pia for a four-month internship. The congrega-
Grand Rapids, Mich.                                              tion was given their address that they might write to
                          * * *                                  their far-removed members.
       Oak Lawn's bulletin asked the adult membership                                        * *  *
to be faithful in attending the Adult Bible Study Society.          Classis East met for `1 l/2 days at Southeast Church
They are currently studying Paul's first letter to the           and adjourned for' one month to give time for the Study
Corinthians, and the after-recess discussion centers             Committees to report on the protests assigned them.
around the understanding of the Westminster Confes-              All other business was conducted, including the naming
sion.      It was probably coincidental that one of the          of Synodical  Delegates.
fillers at the bottom of the bulletin was this "quote,"             D 0 . see you in church                       J.M.F.


