                                  he



                                            earer


1 A   REl?ORMED   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E





     IN THIS ISSUE:


          Meditation: My Lord and My God

          Editorial: Covert Evolutionism

          Jamaica An Open Door

          love and the Neighbor's Name

          David and Abner



                                      Volume  XLIV/   Number  14  /  ApTi 15, 1968


      314                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                                   C O N T E N T S                                                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER
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 Meditation -
        My Lord and My God . . . . . ..*........................... 314                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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        Covert Evolutionism a.............................e.*.* 317                                          Bernard Woudenberg
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               MEDITATION-

                                                 My Lord and My God
                                                                                     by Rev.  J.  Kovteving

                                "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach  hithev thy  fingev,  and behold my hands; and reach
                     hither thy hand, and  thrust  it into  my  side; and be not faithless, but believing.                                                    And
                      Thomas answered and said  tinto  him, My Lord and  my  God."                                                            John  20:27,  28

        The resurrection of Jesus produced many changes.                                                  agony, His body bruised with welts and tom by nails.
        Little wonder that Thomas had difficulty believing                                                At His feet some soldiers idly gambled for His cloth-
 i      t     .                                                                                           ing, others joined the taunting multitude of Scribes and
        One moment we behold. Jesus groaning in bitter                                                    Pharisees saying, "He saved others, himself he cannot


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                 315


save. If thou be the King of Israel, let him now come      tomb of Jesus and shouted, "Come forth!" No man
down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He           rolled away the stone of the tomb to let Him out. On
trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will        the  contraryj  angels were commissioned by God to
have him; for he said, I am the Son of God." Matt.         come to the earth to roll away the stone to allow the
27:42,43. When the darkness of hell prevailed upon the     spectators to enter in and find the evidence that Jesus
cross, He cried out of His desolation, "My God, My         had already arisen. He had not come back to the earth
God, why hast thou forsaken me." But now is Christ         as the others had done. Rather, He had gone through
risen from the dead! What a change. That corruptible       the grave and lived beyond the grasp of that monster
body has put on incorruption, mortality hath been          death who comes to sting every mortal man.
swallowed up in victory. Suddenly He appears to the            He arose, that was the difference.
women and in regal power commands, "All hail!" He              His body was changed from mortal to immortal,
tenderly walks beside the travelers whose hearts burn      from corruption to incorruption. He was on the other
within them and unfolds to them the, Scriptures. The       side of the grave ready to ascend to His Father's
glory of it all is summed up in the words, "Peace be       house of many mansions. He had gone from death unto
unto you."                                                 life.
   His enemies were also affected by the resurrection.         This defies human imagination, for flesh and blood
   At the cross they congratulated themselves on a job     cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
well done. They had at last gotten rid of this rebel.          Thomas had a problem.
The Chief Priest and Elders gazed upon His naked               Under the providential direction of God, he had
form and heaped upon Him their utter contempt. They        missed the great unveiling.       Throughout the first
observed the sword wound that produced blood and           resurrection Sabbath, reports came to the upper room
water and sighed in relief. At last this bloody busi-      that Jesus had arisen from the dead. The first feeble
ness was over. But early on resurrection Sunday their      evidence came early in the morning after Mary had
anguish returned to them. The tomb which they had          detected trouble and left the company of the women to
so meticulously sealed by the decree of Pilate and         return immediately to the disciples to report the open
guarded so carefully by soldiers was rent open by          tomb. Her report, "They have stolen his body, and we
angels from heaven. The latter end had become worse        know not where they have laid him." Immediately
than the beginning. The tales of the frightened guards     Peter and John raced to the tomb, witnessed the grave
moved them to calculate hastily what action to take;       clothes and left convicted by the evidence.       While
bribery was the answer! They would fabricate a story       these disciples were away, the women informed the
that the disciples had come by night and stolen the        remaining ones that they had seen the risen Lord.
body. Money would produce that lie from the lips of        Soon their tale was confirmed by Mary who also had
the soldiers and the pressure of prestige would guar-      received such a visit in the garden. Toward evening
antee their safety before the governor. Defiant mock-      the travelers to Emmaus returned with the marvelous
ers have now become calculating liars.                     tidings that Christ had made Himself known unto them
   The resurrection made that change.                      in the breaking of bread. They were greeted.by  the
   It also affected the disciples.                         joyful song, "The Lord is risen indeed and hath ap-
   Heavy hearts had gone home that dark Friday. The        peared unto Simon." That same evening, while the
disciples had observed it all from a distance. Their       disciples were musing on these great wonders, the
Lord had been crucified. As the minutes passed into        door being closed, Jesus suddenly stood in their midst.
hours the reality began to numb their fevered brains.      He showed them His hands and feet, He ate broiled
How could this be? The Lord of Life had died at the        fish.,
hands of cruel men. The presence of the risen Lord             Thomas missed it all.
transformed them.      It took awhile, but when Jesus          His reaction? "Except I shall see in his hands the
breathed on them the Holy Spirit, they began to see        print of the nails and put my finger into the print of
the dawn arise taking away the hellish night of con-       the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not be-
fused unbelief.                                            lieve."
   It was all so wondrously strange.                           We don't know where Thomas was or why he wasn't
   Something like this had never happened before.          there with the other disciples. One thing is sure, God
   Unquestionably, they had observed the miraculous        wanted Thomas excluded. It was for our sakes.
work of Christ as He raised the dead to life. They              For Thomas seeing was believing.
knew the chronicles of the Old Testament which are             He wasn't convinced by what others told him, he had
replete with proof that the Lord of Heaven was also the    to see for himself.      We read of Thomas in three
Lord of life over death. Even Abraham believed that        specific instances.    The first was at the time Jesus
God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Elisha had      announced that He was going to  Bethany to raise
raised the son of the Shunammite from the dead. These      Lazarus from the dead. Thomas reacted by saying,
events excited the thoughts of many in Israel as they      "Let us go that we may die with Him." The second
were passed down in tradition from father to son. The      time involved the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
living Lazarus was adequate testimony of the power         Before going to Gethsemane Jesus told His disciples,
of Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.             "Let not your hearts be troubled, ye believe in God
   But this was different.      No one stood before the    believe also in me . . . e I will come again and receive


316                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also."           To this Thomas replied, "My Lord and my God!"
Thomas reacted to this by saying, "Lord we know not          Suddenly the dark veil of unbelief is rolled back.
whither thou goest, how can we know the way?" The            Now he could understand that Christ was Lord. He had
third event is that recorded in our text.                    indeed descended into the depth of death and hell and
   From this evidence we can easily understand the           now He had come forth triumphantly with a real body,
position Thomas took.       He wasn't pessimistic. He        the same one now glorified.
wasn't a naive doubter., He simply didn't believe any-           Thomas began to understand what Paul wrote later,
thing he couldn't touch, taste, smell, hear, and see.         "If Christ be not risen ye are yet in your sins." But
He was made captive to his senses.                           now is Christ risen from the dead! He is now the Lord
   He had to learn that faith is the substance of things     of life. Having satisfied the demands of the righteous
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.                  God and having purchased redemption for His own,
   God placed Thomas here in the midst of the glory          Thomas saw the Lordship of Christ.               He had con-
of the resurrection in order to silence the argument         quered all the foes, He had swallowed up death in
of  scientism, "Give us proof!" With this incident           victory.       "0 death where is thy sting, o grave thy
recorded in the infallible Scriptures God answers human      victory?. . . o Thanks be to God that giveth us the
skepticism with the response of the faith of Thomas,         victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."            In Christ
"My Lord and My God !"                                       we are freed from the tyrany of sin and death and
   The marvel of this event is that God comes to each        brought into the liberty of the children of God.
one of us in the way that we need Him. This was true             Hence Thomas added, "My Lord and  my  God."
for the women, agitated and perplexed He greeted them        Since Christ is Lord, His lordship is not apart from
with, "All hail!" Mary longed to have her Jesus back         nor in competition with God; rather His lordship is
in order that she might minister to His needs, so Jesus      to direct us to God that we and all His children may
said to her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended        abide under the shadow of His wings in perfect peace
unto my Father in heaven." The disciples were con-           for time and eternity.
fused and terrified and to them He said, "Peace be               Not just a Lord and a God, but my Lord and my God.
unto you.' ' He showed them the nail prints and they             The floodgates of peace swelled the heart of Thomas D
rejoiced. Peter was troubled at the thought of having        He saw the glorious truth, "Being justified by faith we
denied his Lord three times,' to Him Jesus rejoined,         have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
"Simon, Son of Jonas lovest  thou me more than these?"       He was raised for our justification.
After the third time he courageously answered not               You struggle with the problem that besieged the
simply, Lord I like you, but Lord, thou knowest all          troubled soul of Thomas? You find it difficult to be-
things, thou knowest that I love thee !                      lieve all the Scriptures tell us concerning the wonder
   And here we have Thomas who has to see in order           of God's work of salvation?           You are inclined to
to believe.                                                  question God's miracles and say with Thomas, "Un-
   For his sake Jesus returned the next Sunday.              less I see and touch I will not believe?"
   "Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my               "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have
hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my      believed."
side; and be not faithless, but believing."                     The evidence which Christ provided for Thomas
   How merciful of our Father in heaven.                     was convincing.
   He could have said to Thomas, because thou wouldst           What more need we? The resurrection is real,
not believe except thou didst see, I cannot use you, de-     God tells us so.
part from me, you are not worthy to be my disciple.             Let us say with the church of all ages, "My Lord
   No, Christ returned for the benefit of Thomas. He         and my God."
preached the unsearchable riches of His glory to him.           And therein we have the theme of our life that will
Christ produced the evidence which Thomas needed.            carry over into all eternity.


                                           Editor's Notes

                                                by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   Credit to whom cvediit is due! Through a slip-up on          Injlation   has hit the Stunduvd   Beaver!     Recently I
the part of our printer the authors of the several book      was informed by the Board of the Reformed Free
reviews which appeared in the April 1 issue were not         Publishing Association that printing costs have in-
mentioned with the reviews which they wrote. For your        creased in the amount of $75 per issue. This is not
information, Prof. H. Hanko wrote all of those reviews       the fault of -our printer, nor is this written to chide
except the first one, which was the responsibility of        him; it is due to the seemingly inevitable pressures
your editor.                                                 of inflation.     I have also been informed that for the
                         * * *                               time being there will be no increase in subscription


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   317


rates. Apparently our Board does not easily give up           read the Standuvd  Beaver, who appreciate it greatly;
the battle to hold the line against inflation. To succeed     and who would like to see its readershipextended. How
in this determination, however, the Board needs the           about some concrete proposals and some  forward-
continued loyal support of the various individuals,           looking action?
organizations, and churches which have always royally
subsidized the Standard  Beaver  by means of their gifts.                              * * *
Somehow there must be an increased income of $1575
per year. The Board depends on YOU to help meet the               Your attention is called to the contribution in this
added expense.                                                issue from our Mission Board about the open door in
   Meanwhile, I respectfully suggest the consideration        Jamaica.      If our churches are to "live along" with
of two steps toward improving the financial status of         respect to our mission endeavors, it is important that
our magazine. Step One is a modest increase in our            they be kept informed.        Undoubtedly the work in
subscription price.       I have no statistics, but it is     Jamaica will be an important subject of discussion and
several years since our price went up. It could hardly        decision at our coming Synod also. An article of this
be called a defeat in the battle against inflation to in-     kind should serve to bring home both the accomplish-
crease the price at long last. Besides, a comparison          ments and some of the acute problems of these labors,
with the rates of other periodicals will show that our        and thus serve as reason for thanksgiving to our God
Standard Beaver  has a low subscription price.  Tovch         but also as occasion for consecrated thinking as to
and  Trumpet, for example, offers ten issues at a price       further labors and as to solutions to some of the prob-
of $3.00 per year. Step Two is a concerted campaign           lems.
to increase the number of subscribers. This makes                                      * *  *
good sense financially speaking; for as the number of
subscribers increases, the law of diminishing costs              The annual staff meeting  will be less than two
comes into effect. But it also makes good sense from          months off when this issue appears. At that meeting
another, more important point of view, namely, that           plans are made for the coming volume-year, which
our  Stundavd   Beaver  has an important and clearly          begins with the October 1 issue. Your editor suggests
Reformed testimony to bear to the Reformed community          that all staff members devote some serious thought to
at large.      It is published not only for our Protestant    the question of changes which may be made in our
Reformed people but also for those outside our Prot-          magazine,  - that is, changes which are also improve-
estant Reformed Churches. Here is an area in which I          ments. Come to the staff meeting prepared! We also
would like to see definite steps taken to increase our        invite constructive suggestions from our readers.
readership.      I have been encouraged in this thought       Send such suggestions to the editor's address, and he
recently by non-Protestant Reformed brethren who              will present them to the staff for consideration.


        EDITQRIALS-

                               Covert Evolutionism

                                               by Prof. H.  C. Hoeksema

   Recently there came to my attention from a friend          and in Reformed and Christian Reformed circles;
and reader of our Standard Beaver  a printed leaflet by       because, moreover, our own young people are exposed
Prof. Donald Wilson of Calvin College. The leaflet            to this kind of teaching at high school and at college
bears the deceptive title: "God's Revelation  - Scripture     level; and because there is a deceptive line of reasoning
and Nature." I call this title deceptive because actually     exemplified in this leaflet, which sometimes causes
the leaflet is nothing but a plea for the heresy of           our young people to waver, the Standard Beaver will
evolutionism and for tolerance toward what has come to        examine critically the position set forth in this essay.
be called `"theistic evolutionism." It is a plea for a        Incidentally, I recall that the last Christian Reformed
kind of peaceful co-existence between those who hold          Synod rejected the proposal of a study committee on
to creation-faith and those who hold to evolutionism          creation and evolution on the ground that there was no
under the guise of a belief in creation.                      specific case `in which the Scriptural and confessional
   Because this continues to be an issue in Reformed          teaching was denied. Well, if there are those who are
churches, both here and in the Netherlands; because it        minded to present a specific case, here is evidence;
has sometimes been questioned whether concrete in-            and I have no doubt that more such evidence could be
stances of evolutionistic teachings and of tolerance and      uncovered.
sympathy toward evolutionism exist in Calvin College             The essay under discussion begins by introducing


 318                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


 a change in problematics.  It calls attention to the fact       plain is that the Bible is normative  for our science.
that whereas formerly the question was generally                 What he utterly fails to make plain is that it is impos-
 asked, "Which are you going to choose? Creation or              sible rightly to read God's book of creation except in
evolution?" and was asked in a way that "implied the             the light of Holy Scripture. What he utterly fails to
 choices were mutually exclusive," now "an increasing            point out is that no one can ever arrive at true science
 number of evangelical Christians are beginning to take          (or, if you will: true understanding of God's revelation
 a second look at these questions and to ask themselves          in nature) except as guided by and in the light of God's
 "Are Creation and evolution really diametrically op-            infallible Word. Moreover, there is an implicit denial
posed?" There is a subtle argument here: the argu-               of the perspicuity of Scripture.          For what a sad
ment of the weight of an increasing number of evangel-           commentary on one's estimate of God's Word it is
ical Christians who are beginning to question the old            when one simply says in one breath that his science
 and tried and definite stand against evolutionism. Along        and his understanding of Scripture are both imperfect
with this argument a favorite ploy is used: ask ques-            and incomplete!
tions, teach men to question matters which have long                This same implicit attack upon Scripture becomes
been settled for the church, and thus create doubts in           evident later in the essay, when the author raises the
the minds of men.                                                question: "Doesn't Genesis teach us how and when God
    This I call a devilish method. It is the method of           created the world?"
the devil's question to Eve, "Yea, hath God said...?"               What is the author's response? Does he give a
    Then follows the essay's only and very limited               clear-cut answer, whether affirmative or negative? I
 attempt. to treat the subject expressed in the title, that      would at least have respect for one who came out in
of God's revelation in Scripture and in nature. Let me           the open with a negative answer though I would, of
quote it:                                        .               course, violently disagree with him. But what do we
        And what about the question, "What are you going         get instead? We get evasiveness: neither a Yes nor a
    to believe - the Bible or science?" The first thing for      No. We get ambiguity that is certainly far worse than
    us to remember is that both nature and Scripture are         any alleged ambiguity of Harold Dekker. We get the
  revelations from God.          Consequently they do not        old, worn-out argument that it is all a matter of inter-
    contradict one another. If they appear to do so it is        pretation, as though the Bible, God's Holy -Scripture,
    because our understanding  of these revelations is           is so dark and so dense and soutterly incomprehensible
    inaccurate, not because the revelations themselves
    contradict one another.      We call our understanding       that it is impossible to arrive at a conclusive under-
    of nature, science.        Since we are imperfect, our       standing of it. Just listen to this:
    "science" is imperfect, but so, on the other hand, is              Even here evangelical Christians have differences
    our understanding of Scripture.      It is true that the        of opinion. Some believe that the days were 24-hour
    Bible is infallible, but our understanding of it is not.        periods, others believe them to be long periods of
    So again when the question is asked, "Which are you             time, Some believe that the days of Genesis 1 refer
    going to believe - the Bible or science?" one must              to days of Creation; others believe they refer to days
    reply, "I believe both God's revelation in nature and           of revelation, that is, the days in the life of Moses.
    His revelation in Scripture, but I admit that my under-         Some believe that there was only one creation; others,
    standing of both is imperfect and incomplete."                  two creations separated by a gap of time with the days
                                                                    of Genesis 1 referring, to the second creation. Some
    Now what is wrong with the above?                               insist upon interpreting Genesis 1 very literally;
    There are many things wrong. There is no exposi-                others emphasize the hynmodic or liturgical structure
tion of the idea of revelation. There is no maintenance             of this passage. Each of these interpretations has its
of the unity of God's revelation. There is no explanation           strong points and some problems as well. unfortu-
of the relation between God's revelation in Scripture               nately, Christians have so emphasized our areas of
, and in nature ( correctly: in the works of His hands).            disagreement that we have neglected our great areas
There is no definition of science. There is no dis-                 of agreement.
tinction made between believing and unbelieving science;            I am not going to enter into the entire question of
true science ,and false science. There is an unqualified         the days of creation, nor into the various methods of
equating of the imperfection of our science and the              so-called interpretation of Genesis 1. These subjects
imperfection of our understanding of the Bible. And              have been often treated in the Standard Beaver. I may
notice that finally there is an evading of the question,         also refer the reader to my booklet, "In the Beginning
"Which are you going to believe  - the Bible or                  God..." for a rather detailed treatment of these sub-
science?" The author does not answer this question,              jects. My point now is merely that one who writes SO
but evades it.                                                   evasively and so obviously halts between two opinions
    But what is basically wrong here?                            has a very poor Bible. Still worse, he has a very poor
    Analyse this paragraph carefully and you will dis-           God, One Who cannot even make His own Word clear
cover that it is an attack on Scripture. To be sure, the         to puny little man!
author asserts that he believes both God's revelation               What is the result of such an impoverished view of
in nature and His revelation in Scripture.            He even    Scripture? I am reminded of Scripture's own words
asserts that the Bible is infallible. But he neverthe:           about "ever learning and never coming to the knowl-
less denies the sufficiency of Scripture (Article 7,             edge of the truth."        It is this idea-that is really
Confession of Faith). For what he utterlyfails to make           expressed in the concluding words of the author's


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     319


essay: "We should seek new insight into both God's                    Notice again: creation is vaguely equated withGod's
revelations in nature and Scripture but at the same                being "intimately involved in bringing the world into
time realize that the final answers may still be beyond            existence and that, apart from God, it would have no
our grasp."                                                        existence."
       Now what is the result of such a low view of                   Compare this, if you will, with any statement which
Scripture as far as creation-faith is concerned?                   the Bible makes about creation.
       First of all, belief in the God and Father of our              And thus, finally, the way is prepared for the theory,
Lord Jesus Christ deteriorates into a general and                  presented in this essay only in subtle question form,
vague and vapid "Supernaturalism," whatever that may               which substitutes evolution for creation by pouring a
be.       After all, even the Mohammedan believes in               different content into the Biblical term and concept of
"Supernaturalism." But this is what the author pre-                creation. Creation comes to mean then the divine em-
sents:                                                             ployment of  evolutionary processes.     Here is the pre-
          The basic question then that separates the Christian     sentation of this idea:
       from the non-Christian is Supernaturalism vs. some                The question being asked today in evangelical aca-
       form of non-supernaturalism. Supernaturalism implies           demic circles is not, "Which do we choose - Creation
       a believe in the God of the Bible who is intimately            or evolution?" but rather it is, "To what extent could
       involved in the origin and operation of the world and          God have used evolutionary processes to bring about
       man. Some of the fo ms of non-supernaturalism are              His Creation?"
       atheism, agnosticism, and skepticism.         Here our
       stand is definite. We believe that there is no satis-          Thus, covertly the evolutionary theory is introduced
       factory explanation for the world and man except that       under the guise of creation-faith.
       a personal God created and preserves them.                     In this manner the meaning of almost any Biblical
       But, secondly, do not be deceived into thinking that        term or concept can be twisted about until it comes to
the author after all believes in creation.                         denote its very opposite.
       His Creator is only a God Who is somehow vaguely               In this same manner the evolutionary hypothesis, for
"intimately involved in the origin and operation of the            example, can also be applied to the doctrine of Christ's
world and man." But let him speak further:                         second coming and the truth of the consummation of all
                                                                   things. The "question" then becomes: to what extent
          By saying that we believe that God is the Creator,
       we reject any idea that the world has had eternal co-       will God employ evolutionary processes to bring about
       existence with God, or that it is the result of chance,     the second creation and the final state of things? And
       or the product of an unknown force. We mean that God        by this sleight of hand the worst post-millennialism of
       was intimately involved in bringing the world into          the social-gospellers can be smuggled into the church
       existence and that, apart from God, it would have no        in the name of the Christian faith.
       existence.                                                     Beware!


  FROM  OUR  MISSION   BOARD-


                                 Jamaica An Open  Door

                                                       by Rev. J.  Kovteving


       What's being done in Jamaica?                                  Since the terminology "open door" is derived from
       This question is being raised very often nowadays           the letter to the church of Philadelphia, we should
both by our office bearers and our congregations. It is            examine a moment the implications of this designation.
a good question; it should be raised and by all means              Christ knew the works of this church; they consisted
demands an answer.                                                 in being faithful to her calling to give testimony to
       Jamaica is an open door.                                    those that were round about her. In her official min-
       It is a joy to be part of a church that has an open         istry she sounded forth the true preaching, and her
door.                                                              members were moved by the Spirit so that they gave
       Thus it was in Philadelphia when the Spirit spoke testimony of it in their dealings with others in the city.
to her, "I know thy works: behold I have set before                To be sure this brought opposition, for "those of the
thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou                synagogue of Satan" had opposed them. Yet Christ
hast a little strength, and hast kept my word and hast             reminded this church, "these things saith he that is
not denied my name," Rev.  3:8.              Philadelphia was      holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he
commended for her lively witness.                                  that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no


320                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


man openeth." The church must not be discouraged                 It is becoming more and more apparent to the Com-
in her work, God will surely cause His will to be done        mittee that we stand at an important juncture as far as
through her and therefore she must press on with an           our work in Jamaica is concerned. The spiritual well
eye fixed to the "crown."                                     being of the churches there demands that we put forth
   It is noteworthy that Philadelphia was small, "Thou        a more concerted effort to increase our work on the
hast a little strength." This tells us that we need not       field.
be "big" in order to witness. The little persecuted              One important step in this direction was taken at
church that is preserved throughout history is in fact        our meeting of February 14. At that time we adopted
the only church that can and does witness.                    a long range plan for Jamaica.
   We must not forget that the open door is of God!               Attaining top priority in the set of directives was
True it is that the church must use every means to            the need to increase our work by personal contact
find a "field of labor." Yet through the means of this        through men in the field itself. This involves different
searching, God directs His church to such a place             aspects.      In the broadest sense we should give cpn-
where there is a willingness to hear and respond to           sideration to calling a man to the office of missionary
the ministry of the church. This is true of Jamaica.          to work exclusively in Jamaica. In the past our calling
God has directed us to Jamaica and has placed before          of a missionary through First Church has never
us the needs of the people there.                             specified where such a man should work. The Mission
   And what are we doing about it?                            Committeee and eventually Synod will be giving con-
   Looking back, we can say with gratitude to God that        sideration to this aspect of the calling. In a more
we have made a good beginning.            We have laid the    limited sense it is recognized that until such a man can
foundation, which is the preaching of the Word of God.        be sent to Jamaica to labor full-time, something has
It is the truth of- the Scriptures that has drawn us to       to be provided in the interim. Here we face different
the Jamaican churches and they to us. This becomes so         alternatives, either requesting a congregation to re-
obvious to all who have any dealing with these people.        lease their minister for a shorter time (a few months)
It is a fact that they desire to learn more about the         or for a longer period (from one half to an entire year).
Scriptures and have the confidence that we bring to           It stands to reason: the longer the stay on the island
them the truths of the Word of God. This has occa-            the more effective the work.
sioned the open door.                                            Personal contact assumes top priority for different
   Provision for the spiritual needs has been given in        reasons. Any instruction can best be given by sitting
different forms. At three different times during the          down and discussing the material together. Corre-
past years a minister and elder labored on the island         spondence, even via tape recorder, is a long and diffi-
for different lengths of time. Besides this we have           cult process. The brethren that are engaged in this
been instructing the ministers and some of the elders         work know all too well this fact. Besides this, any
via written correspondence courses accompanied by a           re-organization into four main congregations, if this
discussion recorded on tape.          This has been done      is finally approved by the congregations there, will
covering the Old Testament and, presently, the New            require personal supervision to make this change as
Testament. Every week the Reformed Witness Hour               smooth and orderly as possible. We know that there
is being sent to them by tape recording.                      is need for the eventual construction of government
   These efforts have been directed primarily to the          approved church buildings in these central locations.
ministers of the churches.           When our emissaries      If we have a man on the field, - and from this point of
labored there, they preached to the congregations to          view it need not be a minister, - he can supervise the
be sure, but their weekly time was spent mostly in            purchase of material and the actual construction of
schooling the ministers, giving them basic instruction these churches.             The entire aspect of meeting the
in how to use the Bible concordance, making sermon            material needs of these people revolves around some-
outlines, order of worship, and preaching. This in-           one being there and giving them assistance in the name
struction is being well received and progress is being        of Christ.      If we have someone on the island at the
made daily.                                                   time the used clothing would arrive, such a one could
   In order to do this work, however, one needs cer-          inform the customs officers that it is intended for
tain tools and materials. Psalters and Bibles have            distribution among the poor and thus we could be sure
been sent to the different churches enabling the people       of gaining entrance duty-free. The distribution could
to have these for worship. The ministers have been            be done according to the individual needs of the people
provided with concordances, sample sermon outlines,           without partiality, since it would be handled by one that
study materials, tape recorders and tape, and also            is not directly involved. By such personal contact the
copies of our own printed material such as Stunduvd           people who are in need of the mercies of Christ, who
Beavers, Beacon Lights,        Sunday School materials,       require medical attention and who are special objects
pamphlets, etc.     Money has been sent to them to            of charity can be provided for properly..
facilitate the return of tapes and correspondence.               If we take a long range view, we also stand before
   Some money has been spent on their building im-            the need for training young men for the ministry in
provements, although most of this is still in the plan-       the Jamaican churches.          The present ministerial
ning stage. When our brethren labored in their midst,         leaders are advanced in age, and younger men are
assistance was given to help with some of the specific        naturally more receptive to training. Hence, our long
needs of the sick and poor.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  321


range plan calls for the -training of two young men of       transistory radios; a project that could well be taken
the island for the ministry. This can be done either         on by our Sunday Schools or other groups.
by the personal instruction of a missionary working             Specific details on much of this will be worked out
on the island or by taking him to this country and           before Synod and thus presented to Synod for con-
training him in our present grade school along with          sideration and decision.
special training on the side. There presently is such a         From some of these observations, it is hoped that
young man, Uriah Benz  who is 15 years old and               our people will begin to realize that God has given to
earnestly desires to come to the states to study for the     us an open door in Jamaica. We stand very really
ministry in order that be can return to the island to        before the calling of God what are we going to do with
labor amongst the churches there. His aged father is         the brethren and sisters there who have so many
failing in health but prays daily that his son may be        needs.     As we begin to build upon past labors, we
trained somehow for the ministry. This young man             realize only too acutely that God calls us to answer
feels he is called and seeks a way to be trained to that     His call, "Come over and help us." God has given to
end. We have to give sincere consideration to such a         `us such a rich heritage of the truth, and others cry
young man.                                                   out for us to share it with them. God has blessed us
   There are other things that have to be considered         materially; just look at our beautiful church buildings
in our planning. The members of the churches desire          and our nicely furnished houses.       And what are we
to learn the Psalter numbers but are hampered by             going to do for those who seek our help to care for
their inability to either read the words or the music.       them who are too poor to care for the sick in their
Already an offer was received from the Hope Heralds          own midst?
to provide tapes of their singing Psalter numbers in            We have but one answer, we will do all that God
such a way that they can be used in leading the Jamai-       enables us to do. We have made a beginning, we must
cans in their singing. They are presently taking this        continue to expand in this work. True, we do not have
project as their own and are raising money for this          much; we "have a little strength." God calls us to
work.                                                        expend even this little strength upon the needs of His
    Since much contact which we have with the Jamai-         people who cry daily for help. Surely there must be
cans is via tape recordings, investigation should be         some in our midst who feel compelled to go to Jamaica
made into the latest portable tape recorders that are        to work; surely there must be some who will give of
on the market, which are reasonably priced, easy to          their time and wealth to meet the needs of these fellow
handle since they have cassette tapes, and have battery      believers. There have been in the past; we must trust
and A.C. connections, a thing which must be consid-          in God that He will provide these needs in the future.
ered since all these groups do not have electricity. The        How comforting to the church to hear the words
Jamaica committee is also investigating the possi-           directed to the church of Philadelphia, "I have given
bility of broadcasting our Reformed Witness Hour over        to thee an open door, and no man can shut it. "
a radio station on the island. If this could be arranged,       May God give us ears to hear what the Spirit saith
there would be need for providing the people with tiny       unto the churches.


 IN  HIS  FEAR-


              Love  atid the Neighbor's Name

                                                 by Rev. J. A. Heys

   In the ninth commandment, and thus at the end of          name unless we know who that neighbour is? And unto
the law, we find mention of the neighbour for the first      whom must we show love? Is it not to that neighbour
time in that law.                                            in his name?     But the words of Jesus urge us to go
   The first four' commandments speak literally of           more deeply into the matter and to have another ap-
God. The fifth makes mention of father and mother.           proach.    You will recall that a certain lawyer once
Six, seven and eight are quite general in their brief,       tried to tempt Jesus with the question,       "Master,
forceful commands. But nine and ten make mention             what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And when
literally of the neighbour.                                  Jesus told him to love God with all his heart, his soul,
   We would, in the treatment of the matter of Love          his mind and, his strength and to love his neighbour
and the, Neighbour's Name, be inclined at once to try        as himself, he asked the question, willing to justify
to determine who that neighbour is. That makes good          himself, "And who is my neighbour?" Jesus then told
sense apparently. How can we speak of the neigbbour's        the parable of the Merciful Samaritan and applied it


322                                        THESTANDARDBEARER


with the question, "Which now of these three, thinkest         By the name of the person we mean the revelation
thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among thieves?"      of his person.    The person stands before us in his
The lawyer answered, "He that shewed mercy on him."         name. Mention the name of a man, and you touch his
Whereupon Jesus said unto him, "Go, and do thou like-       person, you refer to a person, you call the attention
wise." The plain thrust of Jesus' words is that we are      of others to a definite person. We sometimes use the
to ask ourselves  the question, "Whose neighbour am         word name also in the sense of reputation. A man may
I?" From a practical point of view that must be our         have a good name or a bad name. And then we mean a
approach to the problem. All too quickly we assume          good reputation or an evil one. We need but mention
the position of the lawyer in order to try to escape        a person's name in connection with a sin, and we have
our obligation. It removes it a little farther from us      attached sin to that person.     Now, there are times
to ask the question as to who is our neighbour. It          when we have to do that. The judge in the courtroom
brings it at our own feet and presents us with our own      must point out the guilty party by name. He does not
calling more forcefully to ask the question as to whose     simply pronounce that a crime has been committed,
neighbour we are.                                           but he designates the culprit by the use of his name.
   We are neighbour, then, to every man, woman and          However, then that man does not get a bad name. He
child whom we may meet in one way or another. We            had that name and deserved that name because of his
may meet them personally and physically upon the            deed. The judge simply declares that justice demands
street as the priest, the levite and the Samaritan. We      that this name be known for the protection of the
may meet them upon the printed page or over the phone,      innocent and the punishment of the guilty.
the radio or television.     Their needs may be made           When the law, then, says that we may not bear false
known to us by the sight of our eyes, by the sound in       witness against the neighbour, it means that we may
our ears, by the doleful cry or by the touching letter.     not give him a bad name. Under NO circumstances
They may stand before us in their names only, or they       may we give him a bad name. He may have one - and
may stand physically before us. They may be there in        do we all not have one before God?-but that bad name
their names by the printed page or spoken word. And         must not be due to the fact that we have borne false
the telephone makes such a convenient means of gossip       witness against him. When I say, IVe may not give him
and lengthens the back fence to stretch it across city      a bad name, I mean, we as neighbours. The judge in
limits and state lines, if not continents, to ruin the      the court room, the elders in the consistory room, the
neighbour's name.     Of course, the written letter is      parent in the home stand in a different relation to the
also such a powerful tool for widening the scope of         one accused of sin than a neighbour does to a neighbour.
backbiting and slander, of gossip and character assas-      Sin must be reported to the authorities, and thus a
sination.    Therefore we are neighbour to so many          potentially evil name must be given. We say potentially
people, because today we can get in contact with so         evil because there are times when we must leave the
many people near and far.                                   possibility that the accused can defend himself and is
   Our neighbour is the man next to us; and we are          not worthy of that evil name, which from our point of
neighbours to those who are next to us. We are neigh-       view seems just and which we report in concern for
bours to every man that crosses our path and to every       truth and righteousness. This does not mean that you
man whose life's pathway we cross. However, he is           quickly rush a matter to the consistory or to the
neighbour to us and we are neighbour to him as long         earthly judge. You can sin against the neighbour that
as we can remember him. We may have met him but             way.    We better be very sure of our facts before we
for a few moments, and we may never see him again           witness anything ag@zst  the neighbour, whether it is
or even hear of him again. But that does not mean that      true or false witness.     We better be sure when we
we may speak evil of him just because he is no longer       witness against him that we speak a true witness, and
on the scene. Death does not even take away the fact. that means that we investigate thoroughly and do not
that he was our neighbour. Wemaynot after the neigh-        act upon some gossip we heard from a neighbour and
bour's decease speak the evil against him that we did       which has presented us with only one side of the
not dare to do in his lifetime, anymore than we may do      matter. But it is possible that we are ourselves eye-
so about him in his absence, whenwe did not dare in his     witnesses of a matter that looks all wrong to us, or
presence.                                                   which we deem to be a sin against us, that the ruling
   A man has a name in this life; but we can sin            body, having sifted-the evidence and having heard the
against him after he is dead, if we bear false witness      explanation of the accused, finds not to have been a sin
against him in gossip, backbiting, slander and the like.    after all.
We do not hurt him, as we could while he is alive. But         To prevent such a false witness the witness ought
we sin against him nevertheless and against his family      first to contact the party against whom he plans to
as well that is still living.    And, of course, we sin     witness. The explanation given to him might remove
against God when we speak evil of the departed,             the offence  or, if a private sin, obtain the confession
whether they be saints or sinners. Exactly because          that would make reporting and witnessing to the au-
when a man dies his soul is still in existence (and he      thorities unnecessary, and in fact wrong. Aminister is
is not like the beast whose soul is in its blood and is     seen at one o'clock in the morning riding with a strange
destroyed when its blood is shed) he still is a person;     woman ! His consistory ought to know that! And Sun-
and when we misuse his name, we do sin.                     day we celebrate the Lord's Supper!' How can that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    323

man serve?       And so the consistory is alerted and         pentance as soon as possible.
witness is brought against him.          Had he been ap-          Gossip, slander, backbiting are seeking revenge
proached first, he could have explained the whole             and are sinning against the one who sinned against us.
matter away to the satisfaction of this "witness."            All these reveal a heart that is itself not right with the
This was simply a former parishioner passing through,         offender. And all these, therefore, also reveal a heart
who had requested his assistance in transporting her          that is not right with God. "Vengeance is Mine, I will
from one depot in a strange, large city to another            recompense, saith the Lord. "Hebrews 10:30. But we
depot, from the airport to the bus depot or the like.         deny Him this right when .we gossip and slander and
0, it was true witness in as far as the fact goes that        backbite. We are going to beat Him to it. We are not
he was seen with that woman. But a false construction         satisfied with His slow justice and are not content to
was placed upon it and it was a witness against his           wait for the judgment day. We want revenge in this
good name unjustly. We better be sure of our facts,           life.    We want to get even, rather than to get a con-
and that means, surely, that we contact the neighbour         fession, and conversion.
against whom we intend to witness or believe that we              The same is true of a public sin when there is
must witness.      What seems to us a potentially bad         gossip, backbiting and slander.        When we witness
name may not be such after all. And then we will ob-          against a neighbour whose sin is known far and wide
tain the name of not dealing with the neighbour in love.      already, and we do our best to see to it that others
   The ninth commandment implies the right to wit-            also know about it, we sin against God and that neigh-
ness. But we insist then-that it must be witness before       bour.     For a few more to know about it will not now
the proper parties. If it is a private sin, one must first    make it more difficult for him to confess. In fact he
bring it to the attention of the one who has offended. He     may know absolutely nothing about your backbiting and
has a right to that.      And, if it is a private sin, no     gossip. And yet it is asinagainst him and against God.,
ecclesiastical body will listen to it, unless the offended    For it is not an act of love to that sinner. True as the
has first labored with the offender. But how much             witness may be, so that in self-righteous defence you
more evil to witness against the neighbour to those who       may deny slander, it still is not love that speaks of
are not in authority and thus not in a God-ordained           one's evil to a neighbour. That must be done only to
position to pass judgment in the case. It may be true         the authorities; and, we must add, to the pyopev au-
witness. It may even be a very grievous evil that has         thorities, to those who have direct rule over that indi-
been committed. But it is not love to witness of it in        vidual in that particular case of sin. If we speak with
a wider circle than that of the offended and offender         each other of the sin of another, our heart is not right
and any other eyewitnesses of the deed. The reason            towards that object of our speech. In His fear we will
for this is obvious. We must do all in our power to           not want to bear any witness against any man to a
deliver from that sin. We must not want that neigh-           neighbour that will cause that man's name to become
bour to continue in his sin any longer. But, therefore,       evil. Love does not rejoice in sin or in relating sin to
we must not make it hard for him to confess and to            another. Love will do that only to the proper author-
turn from his evil way by exposing it to more eyes and        ities for the sake of the salvation of that individual.
to more ears. The more public we make the matter,             All other reporting, spreading to neighboum  is sin as
the more difficult we make it for the offender. Love          well as the sin that is being spread by this .gossip,
does not want to make it harder but to bring to re-           backbiting or slander.


FROM  HOLY  WRIT-

                          The Book Of Hebrews
                                                 by Rev. G.  Lubbers


NOT MILK BUT SOLID FOOD (Hebrews 6:1-3)                       tion. Not once more must the word of the beginning of
   As far as the time is concerned the readers should         Christ be preached to them and learned by them. Per-
already be teachers of others. But, alas, they are as         haps the "beginning of Christ" refers to the funda-
those who must again be taught the first principles of        mental explanation of the fulfilment of the Messianic
the oracles of God. They have not yet attained unto           promises in Jesus Christ. These are the rudiments
"perfection." They are not yet "teleioon," that is,           of the Christian life which are implied in the teachings
full grown men and women in Christ, who have come             of Christ.    These lie in the realm of the subjective
to spiritual maturity. They must not go backwards but         experience. But there is also the deeper background
forwards in their understanding of the truth in Christ!       and divine purpose in this redemption in Christ which
   The latter they have failed to do!                         must be studied and believed so that we may press on
   This means that they must not again lay the founda-        to perfection. The former are the "milk" diet, and the


 324                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


 latter is the "solid food" diet, respectively for "babes"     Christ to come, and the New Testament Baptism as the
 and for the "matured" Christian.                              washing of regeneration in Christ's blood. At any rate
    The milk diet is continually concerned with what           this is  known to be one of the  "fundamentalia" in the
the catechumens had learned and been taught. These             Jewish synagogue. This quite likely took in the entire
truths are indeed the "foundation" and are necessary.          spectrum of the feast days and the special occasions
 However, when once the foundation has been laid, we           A great deal of time is absorbed in the teaching con-
 do not lay it again. Then we must build upon this sub-        cerning baptisms. This all belongs to the rudiments.
 structure the further instruction in the faith, and thus      This is not solid food, but milk.
 continue in the hope, firm to the end. Only when we              But what must we say about the meaning of the
 continue to grow can we be firm to the end!                   rite "laying on of hands" which is here mentioned.
    First of all in this "milk diet" is the foundation of      There are various passages in the New Testament
 "repentance from dead works." The genitive case               where the  rite in question is referred to. A brief but
 "foundation of repentance" is the genitive of identity.       instructive article can be found on this rite and custom
 Repentance is the foundation in the life of the Chris-        of the  imposition of hands from the pen of Dr. James
 tian. That is the beginning. The term "metanoia" is           Orr in the  Intevnational   Stanhvd  Bible  Encyclopaedia,
 really an after-thought. It is a complete change of the       Vol. II, page 1335. Writes Dr. Orr, in part,
 entire conscious life as it proceeds from the heart. It
 is a new and basic attitude of love for God and for our
 neighbor and a hatred for sin and godly sorrow that                    The act or the ceremony of the imposition of hands
 we. have sinned against God. It is positively true joy           appears in the OT in various connections: in the act
 in God and that through Christ, with a delight to do the         of blessing  (Gen.  48:14 ff); in the ritual of sacrifice
will of God after the inward man. What a solid founda-            (hands of the offerer laid on the head of the victim,
tion of new life in the reborn elect child of God!                Ex. 29: 10.15, 19: Lev.  1:4;  3:2,8,13;  4:4, 24, 29;  8:14;
    That is repentance.                                           16:21);  in witness-bearing in capital offenses (Lev.
                             It is repentance from dead           24: 14)    The tribe of Levi was set apart by solemn
works a It is leaving these dead works, whether they              imposition of hands (Num.  8:lO); Moses appointed
be those of the legalistic Pharisee or of the moralistic          Joshua to be his successor by a simular act (Num. 27:
 Greek. It is really a turning away from dead works to            18,23; Dt.  34:9). The idea in these cases varies with
 serve the living God. It is basically a fruit of God's           the purpose of the act. The primary idea seems to be
 renewal of the mind whereby we are transformed.                  that of conveyance or transference (cf. Lev.  16:21),
This is a basic transformation from darkness into                 but, conjoined with this, in certain instances, are the
 God's marvelous light. (Romans 12:1, 2; I Peter 2~9)             ideas of identification and of devotion to God.
Dead works are works which are devoid of love and                       In the NT Jesus laid hands on the little children
godliness. This is basic. It is the foundation: repent-           (Mt. 19:  13,15)  and on the sick (Mt.  9:18;   Mk.  6:s etc.)
                                                                  and the apostles laid hands on those whom they
 ance from dead works of a conscience which is not                baptized that they might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts
 cleansed from sin.                                               8:17,  19;  19:6) and in healing (Acts  12:17).  Specially
    This cleansing from dead works, by repentance, is             the imposition of hands was used in the setting apart
the counterpart and fruit of "faith in God." Without              of persons to a particular office or work in the church.
this "faith" it is impossible to please God. Faith is             This is noticed as taking place in the appointment of
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of                the Seven (Acts 6:6) in the sending out of Barnabas and
things not seen. (H b
                       e rews 11:l) This is faith in God,         Saul (Acts  13:3)  at the ordination of Timothy (I Tim.
His Word and Promise in Christ Jesus, a drawing                   4:14;  II Tim. 1:6), but though not directly mentioned, it
near in true faith to the throne of grace. It is walking          seems likely that it accompanied all acts of ordina-
                                                                  tion of presbyters and deacons (Cf. I Tim.  5:22; Heb.
in the new and living way, the blood-sprinkled way in             6:2). The presbyters could hardly convey what they
Christ Jesus. These are the basic matters which we                had not themselves received (I Tim.  1:14).  Here again
learn as the "beginning" in Christ.                               the fundamental idea is communication. The act of
    Closely connected with the forgoing is the "teach-            laying on of hands was accompanied by prayer (Acts
ing of baptisms."! Perhaps the phrase here in ques-               6:6;  8:15;   13:3),  and the blessing sought was imparted
tion does not refer to a simple teaching of the meaning           by God Himself. No ground is afforded by this sym-
of Christian baptism, the New Testament sacrament.                bolical action for a sacrament of `orders.'
The plural seems to point in a different direction.
 "Baptisms." Calvin interprets the plural as referring            From the foregoing it is rather clear that the
to the "solemn rites, or the stated days of baptizing."        "laying on of hands" here referred to was a symbo.lical
He would interpret phrases "doctrine of baptisms,              act in connection with the ordination of office bearers
laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal       in the church. This, too, belongs to the rudiments.
judgment" in apposition to "repentance from dead               This, too, was one of the matters which belonged to
works  and faith in God." In  other words, if one con-         the matters which are for those not exercised in the
tinues in the first principles of Christ thenthe subjects      word.      It belonged to the simple instruction of the
in  which  we will ever continue are:           doctrine of    catechumens in the church. It is denominated "milk"
baptisms, etc. These teachings of baptism perhaps are          and not "solid food." It is for babes!
the instruction concerning the difference between the             Furthermore, the writer speaks also of the articles
old Testament `"washings" as looking toward the                of "resurrection of the dead" and "eternal judgment."


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    325


Now these are really important articles of faith.              to take note of these warnings in this book of Hebrews
However, when once learned we must not return to               (See Hebrews  10:26-30)       In these warnings we are
them and relearn them, but we must press on. This              dealing with the "means of grace," that is, with the
was taught to the most simple catechumens, prior to            preaching of the Word as it is accompanied by the
their public confession of faith. But the readers are          operation of the Holy Spirit. God has connected in His
far past this as "for the time!"                               wisdom these warnings and the grace of obedience and
   Hence, the readers must leave behind these teach-           the doing the will of Him as our sovereign Lord. And
ings and be "borne along" to perfection. This per-             we would tempt God in the church if we were to
fection in Christ,. the fuller understanding of the             separate these two, which He has in his wisdom joined
counsel of God in relation to the King-Priesthood of           together!       (Confer Canons of Dort, III, IV Heads of
Christ, the writer will set forth. He cannot wait till          Doctrine, Article 17)
the audience and readers are ready to receive it, and              Preaching of the Gospel is such that it is the power
are no longer dull of hearing. Hence, he writes, "And           of God in those who are saved. This power (dunumis)
this we shall do, if indeed God permit." For the                is such that it reveals itself in bringing forth faith in
writer knows that the outcome and fruitfulness of his          the elect.      Thus the elect have revealed to them the
writing depends solely upon the will of God. Man can            righteousness of God out of faith unto faith. There is
water, and he can plant; but the increase is of the Lord.      nothing which can stand in the way of this power. It is
And so the writer will indeed give the marvelous and           the power of God. (Romans  1:16, 17) It ever is the
profound interpretation of the priesthood after the             almighty and omnipresent power of God which makes
order of Melchizedek, the Son of God of whom David             the dead alive, and calls the things which are not as
had written "Thou are a priest forever after the order         though they were. (Romans 4:17) Thus Abraham, the
of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:4)                                 father of believers, was empowered in faith. There
                        Hebrews 6:4-8                          was nothing impossible with God. (Luke 1:37; Gen.
                    (Read From Own Bible)                       18:14)
                                                                   Yet, here in the text under consideration, the teach-
THE PERIL OF APOSTACY CITED AS A WARNING                       ing is that there are certain cases where something is
(Hebrews  6:4-8)                                               "impossible" (adunutos) under the means of grace. It
   The writer states here a great warning which                is impossible to "renew" those who were once en-
should shock the reader to his senses, including you           lightened and who fell away; it is impossible for such
and me. He is warning the Hebrew Christians against            to be renewed unto repentance.
being spiritual dullards, and exciting them to be borne            We may not know exactly how to interpret this text.
on to perfection.       Such warnings form a necessary         Forsooth  it is a knotty text exegetically. However, we
part of the preaching.         This we have repeatedly         do know that this was written for.our  warning that we
noticed here in this letter to the Hebrews. (Compare           shall give heed to the Word and press on unto spiritual
Hebrews 4:7-4:13)        We shall have further occasion        maturity in Christ Jesus.


THE  CHURCH  AT  WORSHIP-
                        "0 worship the Lovd in the beauty of holiness."
                                                              Psalm  96:9a

                                         Worship Order
                                               by Rev. G.  Van@n  Berg

   As far as is known to undersigned, our Protestant           taining to the churches in common" and, therefore, a
Reformed Churches have never officially considered             matter that Article 30 of the Church Order authorizes
the matter of adopting a unified order of worship.             synod to decide or is it something that belongs strictly
Although we do have various synodically adopted                to the jurisdiction of the autonomy of each individual
liturgical forms, we do not have a synodically pre-            church?        This matter is not as simple as it may at
scribed form of worship.                                       first appear.      One might claim that of all the things
   If this matter should ever be brought to the synod          that the churches have in common, nothing is more
in the form of an overture, there are two important            common than their worship and, therefore, it unques-
questions that will have to be faced.         The first is     tionably falls within the province of synod to decide
whether or not, according to the Church Order, this            this. Those who favor this position might also attempt
matter properly belongs to the synod to decide. Is it          to bolster their stand by uncharitably accusing those
something that falls into the category of "things per-         who dissent of being congregationalistic. But are we


   326                                           THESTANDARDBEARER


  not somewhat begging the question? Before- we can              mother church. Since 1857, the date of the origin of
  surrender this matter to the province of the synod, it         the Christian Reformed Church, there had been in use
  must be established that a uniform order of worship in         what we will call the "old Order of Worship." This
  a given denomination of churches is necessary. De-             Order had never been officially adopted, but simply
  sirability for a certain thing is not to be confused with      had rhe sanction of time and usage. It was very much
  necessity. Any overture requesting the synod to deal           like the Order of Worship that is used in most of our
  with this matter would have to show that it is man-            churches today.
  datory that all our churches worship according to the             In 1916 the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church
  same established order. Only if this is done may the           took up the matter of the improvement of the liturgy.
  synod determine for all the churches what that order           One of the motives for entering upon this liturgical
  is to be. If this cannot be done and it must be granted        task was the desire for a uniform liturgy. As the
  that there is rhe possibility and allowability of a            synod embarked upon this work, two important things
  variety of worship orders in the churches, the synod           must be directed to our attention. The first is that it
 -would have no jurisdiction to act. Should the synod do         was never questioned that the establishment of a uni-
  so nevertheless, it is not difficult to see that this would    form liturgy is the ecclesiastical prerogative of the
  be but one step in the direction of a synodically-             synod.       Failure to determine this question first be-
  controlled church.         One by one the rights of the        came the occasion, as we shall see presently, of much
individual churches could be taken away. The basic               trouble later. Secondly, the synod did not move hastily
  problem then is: "Is worship and the order of worship          in this task. The various committees of synod worked
  a local affair or a denominational affair?" To ascribe         for twelve years and it was not until 1928 before the
  to synod the right to tell each church how it may wor-         synod adopted what we will call the ."new Order of
  ship would be, in my opinion, going too far. If synod          Worship."
  would assume this prerogative, it could also conceiv-             When this was done in 1928, protests were im-
  ably tell the church whether worship services were to          mediately registered by two Classes (Hudson and
  be held in the morning, afternoon or evening; the time         Pacific).       Already in 1920 when a changed Order of
  and length of the services; etc.                               Worship was proposed which was virtually the same as
      Let us assume, however, that all of the churches           the one finally adopted in 1928, some of the churches
  would agree that a unified order of worshipis desirable        objected and urged liturgical congregationalism. It is
 ; and, therefore, agree to have the synod adopt such a          claimed that they did so, not because they had turned
f o r m .     Then there is a second problem that must be        congregational in principle, but for the simple reason
  faced; a problem which now must be faced by each               that the congregational or consistorial determination
  consistory individually.       The problem is already an       of the liturgy afforded an easy escape from a liturgy
  important and difficult one when limited by local con-         (Synodical)  that was not agreeable to them. It is inter-
  siderations but it becomes many times magnified when           esting to note, however, that when the protests came
  broadened to denominational scope. It is the problem           after the synod of 1928, they were not directed against
  of what that worship-order shall be? What is to be             the  synodical establishment of a liturgy but rather
  included and excluded from our worship-order? Must             against certain alleged objectionable features of the
  the service begin with a prayer, a song, a confession,         Worship-Order that had been adopted. Thus it ap-
  or some other way? Must the congregation stand or              pears that even those churches that objected did
  sit when singing? Likewise this same question may be           nevertheless concede the right of synod to establish
  applied to praying. When is the proper time in wor-            the liturgy.
  ship to read the Scriptures? Should the service end             In spite of this, however, synod did an about-face.
  with the benediction or should the closing benediction         In 1930 she repudiated this position. Article 117 of
  be followed with the singing of rhe doxology? At what          the Acts of Synod reads: "It is not to be sustained
  point in the service should the offerings be received          upon the grounds of Scripture and Church Order that
  and should this be done during congregational singing          it lies within the jurisdiction of Synod to prescribe a
  or in silence? To these many more questions could be           specific order of worship and to enforce its introduc-
  added and it can hardly be expected that all the               tion into the churches. Neither Scripture nor Church
  churches would agree on all these intricate points.            Order produce warrant for such action." Upon the
  Neither is this necessary because, as we wrote in our          advice of its pre-advisory committee, Synod decided
  last article, the important thing is not the chronological     to yecommend  a liturgy to the churches, but to leave
  order but rather whether all the elements introduced           its introduction to the discretion of each local church.
  in our worship are contributory to the objective of            It is argued that it is "the right of the local consis-
  worship.        For this reason, too, it is preferable that    tories to consult the best interests of their churches
  these things be regulated consistorially rather than           with respect to the introduction of an Order of Wor-
  synodically.                                                   ship" and this right synod intends to recognize. And
      Our churches have no synodically prescribed form           then the synod further declared "that an open way is
  of worship. As we wrote, this matter has never been            left for synod to employ means to advise and educate
  before our synod, but it might be of interest to our           our churches with a view to reaching as great a
  readers that, at the time of the origin of our churches,       measure of uniformity as is possible and practicable."
  this matter was very much under consideration in our              The same synod of 1930 changed somewhat the


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      327


adopted Order of Worship of 1928 and then recom-            it is certainly not our intention to say and neither do
mended this "Newest Order" to the churches., Synod          we want to leave the impression that we think one
"urged the consistories not to make any changes in          particular form is better than others or that all others
their public worship other than those included in the       are wrong. The order of worship cannot and should
Order adopted by Synod and impresses upon the con-          not be stereotyped. There are many factors that enter .
sistories the fact that denominational unity and loyalty    in and influence the choice of every church. Among
require that all the churches shall conform to what-        these are such things as traditional background and
ever decisions touching this matter have been taken,        geography. If, therefore, a synod were going to adopt
unless they shall be proved to be contrary to God's         a particular form and impose it upon all the churches,
Word; and further insists that consistories should re-      it is very questionable whether a suitable form could
frain from introducing them by independent action,          be found that would answer to the particular needs of
but make known their desires through the regular            churches in different localities and with different
channels ." Though great power of persuasiveness,           historical and traditional background. It is very pos-
urging and insistence is employed by the synod, the         sible that through the imposition of such a worship-
fact nevertheless remains that no church is obliged         order more damage than anything else would be done.
to adopt Synod's Model Liturgy. Whether all of the             Another factor that must be considered and which
churches in the process of time came around to con-         may also be regarded as an argument against a synod-
forming with synod's desire so that there is a uniform      ically imposed unified worship-order is the advisability
order of worship in the Christian Reformed Church           of allowing for periodic changes in the form of wor-
today, I am not prepared to say. Neither do I know          ship.    The order of worship ought to have a certain
whether this matter came up again at later synods and       amount of flexibility and not be absolutely stereotyped.
whether there is in usage in the churches today a form      By fixing all the parts of worship into a certain mold we
of worship of a later date. This is not our present         tend to become traditionalistic in the bad sense of the
concern.    Our interest in this matter centers in the      word. We then begin to do what we do in our worship
question of  synodical jurisdiction because, if the         out of custom or form and fail to realize the spiritual
matter of a uniform Worship-Order ever comes up in. significance of these acts.              We become so attached
our churches, it is hoped that before any liturgical        to a certain form that we begin to think that any de-
changes are made, recommended or imposed, this              viation from it is per se heresy. By allowing changes
matter is thoroughly explored and decided on the basis      in the order of worship from time to time we avoid
of the Word of God.                                         some of this and are kept more alert to the more im-
                                                            portant matters that concern the essence of worship.
   Perhaps in our churches the anticipated difficulty          In this same line we should remember  notto oppose
of obtaining a uniform order of worship is not as acute     change just because it is different. The mere fact that
as we think it is. Maybe our churches already are           our fathers did a certain thing a certain way for a
more uniform in this respect than we suspect. We            number of years does not mean that this is the only
have no way of knowing this because to date we have         way it can be rightly done. And although all change is
received word from only two of our churches as to           not necessarily improvement, we must be open-minded
what order of worship they use and, as we wrote             enough to consider the possibility that it might be. Any
before, this can hardly serve as a basis for com-           change that will truly enhance our worship and enable
parison. Certainly we cannot draw any denominational        us in some richer way to give expression to our praise
conclusions from this scant evidence.                       of God ought to be welcomed. Such improvements in
   On the other hand, it may also be that the form of       worship are much easier to enact when these things
worship employed by our various churches is more            are regulated by each consistory than they would be if
diversified than we realize. If this should be the case,    the matter of worship were synodically controlled. _



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328                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 A  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES-

                                     David and Abner

                                                  by .Rev. B.  Woudenbevg


                   And  Abner  sent  messengers  to David on his  behalf,  saying, Whose is the land? saying
               also, Make thy league with  me,  and, behold,  my  hand shall be with thee, to  bving about all
               Israel  unto thee.                                                              II  Samuel  3:12

   There was something within him that would not                which could not but strike Saul's son Ishbosheth to the
allow David to try to bring all of Israel under his own         quick.       In that day there was no higher symbol of
rule by the use of force.            Even after the decisive    royalty in all of its greatness than in the harem which
victory of his men over Abner's Gibeon, David would             only a king was able to possess. The larger the harem
not press his advantage. Those of the people who re-            and the more highly born its members the greater was
mained with Ishbosheth were also Israelites, and he             the reputation of the king; it was the highest and most
could not attack his own brethren. The result was that          prized symbol of his office. Thus, when a king died,
years passed by with nothing more than small but                what happened to his harem was one of the most telling
frequent skirmishes that could not in themselves turn           indications of the respect with which his memory was
the tide one way or the other. Nevertheless, through            maintained.      If the harem was kept intact and un-
it all one thing was becoming evident. David was be-            violated, it was an indication of highest respect for a
coming stronger and stronger at the expense of the              deceased king by his successor. If, in turn, a king's
side of Abner and Ishbosheth.                                   successor would take his harem to himself and use it
   To no one was this latter state of affairs more              at will, it was a way of saying that he was greater and
evident than to Abner, the power behind the throne of           more powerful than his predecessor. While again, if a
Ishbosheth.     His whole plan of approach had been built       king's harem was allowed to be broken up and used at
in the anticipation that he gradually would be able to          will by men of lesser position and status, it was an
solidify the loyalty of Israel behind him until finally         open mockery scorning the reputation of that king and
he would be able to overcome David and then dispose             his memory in the land which once he ruled. There
of Ishbosheth. But Abner was no fool, and when it be-           was no more cutting blow at the reputation of a fallen
came evident that, he was gradually losing out, he              king that could be given.        Thus when Abner openly
recognized that fact. It was only Ishbosethwho did not.         entered and violated the harem of king Saul, it was no
Weak in mind as he was in body, Ishbosheth continued            mere act of thoughtless lust, it was an open ridicule
to act not only as though he were sure to win out               of the fallen king and of the inability of his son to
against David in the end but as though he were himself          protect and keep the reputation of his father.
self-sufficient in his rule over Israel without any real            There was something plaintive about the response
need of Abner.                                                  of Ishbosheth to this stinging action on the part of
   Abner had been quite conscious of the weakness and           Abner.       If he were king indeed and in his own right,
folly of Ishbosheth, of course, from the very first; but        there was no question about what he should do. Such
as long as he had been able to believe that someday he          an offense demanded the penalty of death. But Ish-
would be able to dispose of Ishbosheth and take over            bosheth was helpless before the power of Abner and he
himself, he was able to endure it. Now, however, it             knew it. The most he could muster the courage to do
was becoming evident that it was David who was grow-            was to approach the offending captain with a sort of
ing in strength and influence, and not he himself. In           plaintive rebuke in his voice as he said, "Wherefore
the realization of his failure, the blundering pre-             hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine'?"
sumptions of Ishbosheth were more than he could en-                 It was, however, all that Abner wanted. As weak as
dure. Within him there began to grow a bitter resent-           the rebuke was in its coming, he felt that it was suf-
ment that wanted to expose the hopeless, helpless               ficient occasion for him to shout back as though in
weakness of this man for what it was. He wanted to              righteous indignation, "Am I a dog's head, which
hurt him and thereby bring their now futile relation-           against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house
ship to a head.                                                 of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends,
   What Abner finally did hit at was one of the most            and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that
tender, sensitive areas of royal life. He entered into          thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this
what remained of the harem of king Saul, and taking             woman?       So do God to Abner, and more also, except
one of Saul's former concubines, Rizpah by name, he             as the LORD hath sworn to David, even so I do to him;
lay with her. It was a cruel, mean, humiliating blow            to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    329


to set up the throne of David over Israel and over           he even went further and sent another messenger to
Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba." As an argument           Ishbosheth with this message, "Deliver me my wife
what Abner said was quite spurious; but to him it            Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred fore-
didn't matter. He was looking for an excuse to free          skins of the Philistines."
himself from this futile alliance, and this was .enough.        For Abner, of course, there was nothing to be lost
Because Ishbosheth had dared to rebuke him, he was           by taking Michal from her present husband and re-
now free to practice treachery, or at least, so his          storing her to David. Quickly he sent the command
conscience would allow him to think.                         that she should be brought to him. Meanwhile, he
   Before the onrush of Abner's shouting, Ishbosheth         called together all of the elders of Israel and said to
was stunned into silence. Cowering he retreated and          them, "Ye sought for David in times past to be king
never dared speak to Abner a word of reproof again.          over you: now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken
Being the coward that he was, he could only stand by         of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I
and observe all that was soon to follow in anguished         will save my people Israel out of the hand of the
silence.                                                     Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies."
   But as far as Abner was concerned, he now felt            Abner was a clever man and a shrewd manipulator of
himself free. Quickly he called a messenger to him           people. Even as before he had been effective in con-
and sent him off to David with this message, "Whose          vincing the people that they should remain with Ish-
is the land? Make thy league with me, and, behold,           bosheth instead of joining with David, now he was
my hand shall be with thee, to bring about all Israel        equally effective in telling them to do what had evi-
unto thee."                                                  dently been their first desire. In fact, even the tribe of
   There was one thing about David from which he             Benjamin, the tribe from which Saul had come and
could not seem to escape, that was, a feeling of deep        naturally the most loyal tolhis family, he convinced
respect for all those whom he had always looked up           that it would be best to join&@ in uniting with David.
to as his elders.     Abner was one of these. He had            It was a small but impressive company of twenty
already been an important man in Saul's army when            men that finally accompanied Abner to Hebron where
David had first come to be a part of it at the battle of     David was. They were a cross section of the kingdom
the valley of Elah, even though he was not then yet as       of Israel and representative of how effective Abner
all-powerful as he had come to be later on. From that        could be in gathering the people behind him. Only one
day on, David had come to look upon him with a feeling       thing marred their journey as they went on their way.
of utmost respect. When now, therefore, there came           With them Abner was bringing Michal just as David
to him a message from Abner offering to join forces          had demanded; but her second husband was too at-
with him and work together, David was unable to dis-         tached to her to let her go. He followed behind the
cern the dubious motive that was behind it, and he           company weeping and would not desist until Abner
saw no reason to refuse what Abner offered.                  himself turned to threaten his life.
   Nevertheless, there was one reservation which                Even more impressive than this, however, was the
David held deep in his soul before any resolution could      welcome with which David received them. To them
be arrived at. David too realized the great symbolic         was given a reception with a great feast as though they
importance which a king's harem held for him in that         had always been the greatest of friends. David could
day.    In fact, he had himself begun to multiply unto       not look upon a fellow member of the nation of Israel
himself many more wives than was good for him or             as anything but a brother regardless of how they had
his kingdom or his family. Surely David should have          treated him in the past. Even though Abner had been
known both from his knowledge of the law of God and          the center of Saul's plot to pursue him and destroy
of the history of Israel that a multiplicity of wives had    him among the hills of Judea, this same man he was
never brought less than misery to those who took them.       willing to receive with the highest honor a man could
But David was a man of his age with all of the weak-         receive, sharing a feast at the table of the king.
nesses of a man. Already he had begun to multiply un-
to himself many more wives than -was good, and so he            Abner was overjoyed with the reception he re-
would continue to do so in the future. He only was           ceived, for he could see visions of himself becoming
bowing to the values of his age which marked many            as important in the kingdom of David as he had been
wives as a sign of power and prestige. Moreover,             in the kingdom of Saul, only now the kingdom and the
there was one great humiliation in regard to his wives       honor would be even greater than it had ever been un-
which he could never forget. Michal, his first wife and      der Saul. Confident and joyful, he stood before David
the daughter of Saul, had been taken after he fled from      and spoke, "I will arise and go, and will gather all
the royal palace and given to another man. It had been       Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a
Saul's way of belittling him, and it had hurt. Now           league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all
before he would consider any peace with Abner and            that thine heart desireth."
Ishbosheth, this would have to be corrected. Thus he            Returning without a word of reproach from a man
answered Abner, "Well, I will make a leaguewith thee:        whom he had persecuted relentlessly, it looked as though
but one thing I require of thee, that is, Thou shalt not     once again all things were working in Abner's direction.
see my face, except thou first bring Michal Saul's           What he hadn't figured, however, was the ways of a
daughter, when thou comest  to see my face." In fact,        man as clever as himself, David's captain Joab. `.


    330'                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                             -.


       CONTENDING   FOR  THE  FAITH-

                                        The Doctrine of Sin
                                        The Second Period  - 250-730 AD

                                              The Pelagian Controversy

                                              The Augustinian System



                                                          by Rev.  H. Veldman


       Calling attention to the truth as set forth by                 experience of human sin and divine grace.          This
    Augustine in connection with the doctrine of sin, we              classical autobiography, which every theological stu-
    would make two preliminary observations.            First of      dent should read, is of universal application, and in it
    all, we have already called attention to the life of this         every Christian may bewail his own wanderings,
                                                                      despair of himself, throw himself unconditionally into
    church father, to his walk in sin and in immorality and           the arms of God, and lay hold upon unmerited grace.
    his calling out of darkness into God's marvellous light.          Augustine had in his own life passed through all the
    Pelagius did not experience  this mighty transformation           earlier stages of the history of the church, and had
    by the grace of God.      It does not surprise us, there-         overcome in theory and in practice the heresy of
    fore, that Augustine, in harmony with this transforma-            Manichaeism, before its opposite, Pelagianism , ap-
    tion out of darkness into the Lord's marvellous light,            peared.     By his theological refutation of this latter
    entertains a deep and profound conception of sin and of           heresy, and by his clear development of the Biblical
    the grace of God. This is to be  expecred.  And, second-          anthropology, he has won the noblest and most lasting
    ly, the late Rev. H. Hoeksema writes in his notes on              renown.     As in the events recorded in his Confessions
    the history of doctrine, that Augustine is also noted             he gives views of the evangelical doctrines of sin and
                                                                      of grace, so in the doctrines of his anti-Pelagian
    for  his conception of God's sovereign predestination.            writings he sets forth his personal experience.  He
    To  this we will call attention later. But also  this lies        teaches nothing which he had not felt..       In him the
    in the very nature of the case. The truths of utter and           philosopher and the living Christian are everywhere
    total depravity and of God's sovereign predestination             fused.     His loftiest metaphysical speculation passes
    are inseparably connected and related. If the sinner              unconsciously into adoration.     The living aroma of
    be not totally depraved, is able of himself to choose             personal experience imparts to his views a double
    the good and to accept the gospel  - and the arminian             interest, and an irresistible attraction for all earnest
    always presents the gospel as an offer of salvation  -            minds.
    then he plays a decisive part and role in his salvation,             Yet his system was not always precisely the same;
    and God is not sovereign. But if the sinner be wholly             it became perfect only through personal conflict and
                                                                      practical tests.    Many of his earlier views  - e.g.,
    dead in sins and in trespasses, is unable to do any               respecting the freedom of choice, and respecting
    good, to do anything in his own behalf, then the power            faith as a work of man  - he himself abandoned in his
    that saves  him, from the beginning even to the end, is           Retractations; and hence he is by no means to be taken
    always the Lord's.      And then it also must follow that         as an infallible guide.       He holds, moreover,  the
*-` the Lord, Who alone begins and finishes this work of              evangelical doctrines of sin and grace not in the Prot-
    salvation, begins and finishes it in whomsoever He                estant sense, but, like his faithful disciples, the
    pleases to save. Complete and total depravity and the             Jansenists, in connection with the sacramental and
    Lord's sovereign predestination are always inseparably            strict churchly system of Catholicism; he taught the
    connected and related.                                            necessity of baptismal regeneration and the damnation
                                                                      of all unbaptized children, and identified justification
       Introducing  this subject (the Augustinian System),            in substance withsanctification, though he made sancti-
    Philip  Schaff, in  his History of the Christian Church,          fication throughout a work of free grace, and not of
    Vol. III, 816-817, writes as follows:                             human merit (we must bear in mind that when we read
            Augustine (354-430) had already in his Confessions,       here of Catholicism, this does not mean `Catholicism in
       in the year 400, ten years before the commencement of          the Roman Catholic sense of the word  - H.V.). It
       the Pelagian controversy, set forth his deep and rich          remains the exclusive prerogative of the inspired


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           331


   apostles to stand above the circumstances of their time,          was of such a nature that it also involved the possibility
   and never, in combating one error, to fall into its               of error, sin and death  - H.V.).
   opposite.    Nevertheless, Augustine is the brightest             Also, according to Schaff, Augustine makes the im-
   star in the constellation of the church fathers, and
   diffuses his light through the darkest periods of the          portant distinction between the possibility of not sinning
   middle ages, and among Catholics and Protestants               and the impossibility of sinning. Concerning this he
   alike, even to this day.                                       writes as follows:
      His anthropology may be exhibited under the three                  The former (the possibility of not sinning- H.V.) is
   stages of the religious development of mankind, the               conditional or potential freedom from sin, which may
   status  integdatis, the  status  cowuptionis,   and the           turn into its opposite, the bondage of sin. This belonged
   status  yedemptionis,   the states of integrity, corruption       to man before the fall. The latter is the absolute
   and of redemption.                                                freedom from sin or the perfected holiness, which
                                                                     belongs to God, to the holy angels who have acceptably
                                                                     passed their probation, and to the redeemed saints in
THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF MAN                                           heaven.
                                                                         In like manner he distinguishes between absolute
   First of all, in distinction from the Pelagian con-.               and relative immortality.        The former is the im-
ception,  Augustine's conception of paradise is vastly               possibility of dying, founded upon the impossibility of
higher and involves a far deeper fall and a far more                  sinning; an attribute of God and of the saints after the
glorious manifestation of redeeming grace. According                  resurrection. The latter is the bare pre-conformation
to Philip Schaff, the first state of man resembles the               for immortality, and implies the opposite possibility of
state of the blessed in heaven, though it differs from               death. This was the immortality of Adam before the
                                                                     fall, and if he had persevered, it would have passed
that final state as the undeveloped germ from the                     into the impossibility of dying; but it was lost by sin.
perfect fruit. He, Schaff, expresses this as follows:                (this is an interesting statement. Augustine speaks of
                                                                      an absolute immortality, although he also speaks of a
       According to Augustine, man came from the hand                 relative immortality. We believe that immortality is
   of his Maker, his genuine masterpiece, without the                not simply to be confused with an endless existence,
   slightest fault.      He possessed freedom, to do good;           but that it belongs to the life of the resurrection.
   reason, to know God; and the grace of God. But by                  Augustine seems to have taught this also  - H.V.).
   this grace Augustine (not happy in the choice of his                  FREEDOM, also, Augustine holds to be an original
   term) means only the general supernatural assistance               endowment of man; but he distinguishes different kinds
   indispensable to a creature, that he may persevere in              of it, and different degrees of its development, which
   good.    The relation of man to God was that of joyful            we must observe, or we should charge him with  self-
   and perfect obedience.       The  rela.tion of the body to         contradiction.
   the soul was the same.         The flesh did not yet lust             By freedom Augustine understands, in the first
   against the spirit; both were in perfect harmony, and             place, simply  spontaneity  or  self-activity,  as opposed
   the flesh was wholly subject to the spirit. "Tempted               to action under external constraint or from animal
   and assailed (of himself by no strife against) himself,            instinct.    Both sin and holiness are  voluntary,  that is,
   Adam enjoyed in that place the blessedness of peace                acts of the will, not motions of natural necessity. This
   with himself."        To this inward state, the outward           freedom belongs at all times and essentially to the
   corresponded.       The paradise was not only spiritual,           human will, even in the sinful state (in which the will
   but also visible and material, without heat or cold,               is, strictly speaking, self-willed); it is the necessary
   without weariness or excitement, without sickness,                 condition of guilt and punishment, of merit and reward.
   pains, or defects of any kind.                                     In this view no thinking man can deny freedom, without
   However, according to Schaff, Augustine's concep-                  destroying the responsibility and the moral nature of
tion of the original paradise was that it was only                    man.      An involuntary will is as bald a self-contra-
relatively perfect, perfect in its kind.           He writes:         diction as an unintelligent intelligence.
                                                                         A second form of freedom is the  liberum  aubitvium,
      It was perfect as a child may be a perfect child,               of freedom of choice. Like Pelagius  he,ascribes free-
   while he is destined to become a man; or as the seed               dom of choice to the first man before the fall. God
   fulfils its idea as seed, though it has yet to become a            created man with the double capacity of sinning or not
   tree. God alone is immutable and absolutelygood; man               sinning, forbidding the former and commanding the
   is subject to development in time, and therefore to                latter. But Augustine differs from Pelagius in viewing
   change. The primal gifts were bestowedonman simply                 Adam not as poised in entire indifference between good
   as powers, to be developed in either one of two ways.              and evil, obedience and disobedience, but as having a
   Adam could go straight forward, develop himself                    positive constitutional tendency to the good, yet in-
   harmoniously in untroubled unity with God, and thus                volving, at the same time, a possibility of sinning.
   gradually attain his final perfection; or he could fall            Besides, Augustine, in the interest of grace and of true
   away, engender evil by abuse of his free will, and                 freedom, disparages the freedom of choice, and limits
   develop himself through discords and contradictions.               it to the beginning, the transient state of probation.
   It was graciously made possible (to this expression,               This relative indecision cannot be at all predicated of
   "graciously made possible," we would object  - H.V.)               God or the angels, of the saints or of sinners.  (Pela-
   that his mind should become incapable of error, his                gius, we know, teaches that the sinner retains this
   will, of sin, his body, of death; and by a normal                  freedom of choice; he is inherently good and can choose
   growth this possibility would have become actual. But              the good.      Augustine, however, maintains that this
  this was mere possibility, involving, in the nature of              freedom of choice applies only to Adam before his
  the case, the opposite possibility of error, sin, and               fall; since his fall, man no longer has this freedom of
   death (hence, according to Augustine,  Adam's creation             choice, to be able to choose the good  - H.V.).


332                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL  AROUND   US-

                      The Proof Of It All
                                    Campus Evangelism
                                                      Separating Presbyterians

                                                   by Prof. H. HANK0

THE PROOF OF IT ALL                                               This is, of course, not a direct interference of the
   It has been repeatedly argued in the            Standavd    government itself in an institution to which is given
Beavev that for anyone of our schools to accept federal        federal aid.     But the implications are obvious and
aid would inevitably result in some form of government         identical. Supposing that there would be a court case
control of education. There is sufficient evidence that        on the issue - which is not an impossibility. Such a
this is true. But some people, for whatever motives,           court case would have far-reaching implications. If the
remain unconvinced.       Nevertheless the evidence is         courts should decide that any school receiving federal
growing and leaves the point beyond dispute.                   funds is, to that extent, a publicly supported institution,
   In church-related colleges such as Hope College             that school would naturally fall under the rulings of the
(related to the Reformed Church in America and located         Supreme Court and would have to abandon all semblance
in Holland, Michigan) and Calvin College in Grand              of religious education.
Rapids it is required of all students that they attend            The trouble is that it is quite possible that Hope
chapel exercises twice a week. In the March 16, 1968           College's very existence as a college is dependent upon
edition of the Grand Rapids Press an item appeared             these government funds. It is quite possible that the
concerning the problems which Hope College is now              college cannot continue if these funds are cut off. The
facing because they receive federal aid. Ninety-nine           only alternative then is to abandon the teaching of any
students have not fulfilled their chapel requirements          religion.
in the second semester.        They are currently being           And this could happen to any school receiving
treated for this, with the possibility of suspension           government aid.       Any time the ACLU would want to
from school.                                                   bring a case to court against a school receiving public
   But the West Michigan Chapter of the American               money but teaching religion, it would seem to have a
Civil Liberties Union has entered the picture. How             strong case.     And federal funds are like a narcotic:
they were brought into the matter (whether by direct           once dependent upon them it is impossible to abandon
request by some disobedient student or students) is not        them.
related in the Press article. But they have been asked            Cannot those who are so eager to obtain funds for
to investigate whether this rule on compulsory chapel          Christian Schools see these dangers? They become
attendance does not violate the constitutional separa-         increasingly clear. And yet the clamor, far from being
tion of church and state. And the issue is precisely           muted, continues unabated.
that Hope College receives federal and state funds.
   In a telling quote from the chairman of the ACLU's          CAMPUS EVANGELISM
Church and State Committee the Press says:
                                                                  A reader of the Stan.&vd Bearer  sent me a tract
       (Hope's acceptance of public monies to carry outits     which had been distributed on the campus of Rutgers
   programs) raises a serious question as to the propriety     University which was evidently intended to be a means
   of its compulsory religious practices. It would appear
   that the college cannot have it both ways. It must          of carrying on campus evangelism. It was written by
   decide whether it will be a private or a quasi-public       Lon Woodrum,  entitled "AS The Manner Of Some Is"
   institution. It is our hope that a meeting with college     and has a picture of a hippy on the front cover. Its
   officials will assist the college in facing up to its       aim, quite obviously, is to bring the gospel to hippies.
   responsibilities under its present changing circum-         Since our correspondent asked to have the pamphlet
   stances.                                                    commented on, we quote it here in full.
   The point is that the ACLU Board takes the position                  I was engaged in conversation with my cynical
that because Hope College receives federal and state              beatnik friend, Harry Angover, when Spinoza Jones,
funds it has become at least partly a publicly-supported           a one-time beatnik, dropped in.    Harry was giving
                                                                  me the business about why he didn't attend church,
institution. If this is so, then the college cannot insist         coming up with the old excuses and tossing in a few
on compulsory chapel exercises in the light of recent             new ones.
Supreme Court rulings which specify that no religious                   "Too many hypocrites!" muttered Harry. Cold,
exercises may be pe-rformed in public institutions.               like zero. A man in the pulpit less excited about his


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER                                                            333


 product than the TV huckster crying that relief is just          same. I attend an eternal institution! Recall what the
  a gulp away. Men making like bums snoozing on park              Founder said  - "The gates of hell shall not prevail
 benches. Money1 All they want is the old spondulix!              against it." Consider, only one institution on earth is
 First Church of the Mausoleum! Dead Men's bones. . ."            eternal!      Only one shall survive the last crackup.
     "Friend," said Spin Jones, "I at one time indulged           Marriage? Nix! Marriages are not made in heaven,
 in such nonsensical diatribes. But I latched on to the           but on earth. They are for this world only; Jesus said
 light.      You give with excuses why you. don't go to           so.     Consider any other institution you will. All must
  church. Attend me while I give with excuses why I do            go. Even the earth must go, and the moon, when the
 go!"                                                             sun makes his supernova. Science says it, man! Only
     "Doubtless I have heard them, one and sundry,"               the church shall survive the last big goings on. Believe
said Harry.                                                       me. Shall I flee an institution destined for--?"
     "Its not like you haven't heard them; it's like                     "A pressing engagement presses me," said Harry,
  you've never heard them from me! Worshipping is                 edging toward the door. Perhaps, at another period..."
 for man  - the fool has said in his heart there is no                   "Knock on the door of my pad," said Spin, "or
  God.      Where shall he worship? In the beer tavern?           invite me to knock on the door of yours. We have
  Watching TV? Barbecuing hamburgers? Watching the                scarcely launched this dialogue regarding excuses
 ponies make you a pauper? Sitting at a card table?"              for staying away from church or attending same. Nor
     "The vernal wood," grumbled Harry, "the grassy               have we called in the firepower from the old book.
  slope, what's wrong with them, man?"                            Like in Hebrews, where it says like this: `Forsake
     "Vernal woods, grassy slopes, bubbling brooks,               not the assembling of yourselves together, as the
 meadow larks - all are very fine. Friend, have you               manner of some is."'
  considered the ineptitude of a bobolink to grapple with                Harry, at the door, turned.       "It's not like I'm
  theological truths, or even with the social Gospel?             utterly hardheaded. It's like I have to be utterly con-
  That great teacher who talked about ravens and lilies           vinced."
  and rainbows called the temple his father's house, and                 Harry went out and Spinoza Jones turned to me,
  said it was a house of prayer."                                 and said, "It's not like I like to argue. It's like I don't
     "Prayers I have heard that were pretty dull,                 like to hear a man giving with excuses for not attending
  chum," said Harry.                                              the Lord's house!"
     "Consider also: like what is the finest institution                 Friend, have you been making with some excuses
 on this wandering island in the sky? Empires waxed               like Harry? Well, let's knock it off and be a bit honest.
  and waned, the church moved on. Man, the church                 Give it a fair try.
 would have folded up ages ago, the sloppy way it's run,                 I think you'll find the church has a lot to offer for
 if it hadn't been charged with divinity! Try running a           a guy's life who really means business with Jesus
 business as the church is run and where are you? And             Christ.
 why does the church not fold? Because of the Founder,                   Do you read me?
 friend!     It's his church, not yours, not mine. `Upon          Presumably  this is an attempt to make the gospel
 this rock I will build my church.' And attend me fur-
 ther:      the church is the only institution he founded.     relevant  - something one hears a great deal about
 You are reading me?"                                          today.      The trouble is (and this is almost inevitable)
     "I am reading you, chum. But I am not close to            that in making the gospel "relevant" the gospel itself
  conversion."                                                 is lost. The pitch in the pamphlet is low-key. No  high
     "It's not like I'm asking your conversion. It's           pressure salesmanship.          It is really only intended to
 like I'm giving with my excuses for attending church.         persuade one to try attending church. Nothing more
 The church is the only institution to which the Master        than this is asked of the reader. And this, in itself is
 promised the dynamic of the Holy Spirit. He didn't            quite meaningless.           There are thousands who attend
 promise this power to the American Medical Associa-           church with some regularity who are farther from the
 tion, the Manufacturers Association, the labor unions,        kingdom than the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day.
 the Democratic or Republican Parties. The church is
 still the best institution on this gob of stuff called        Nor are the reasons given for attending church very
 earth.      With all its faults and failures, and they are    persuasive:       the church is, after all, quite an amazing
 multitudinous."                                               institution with some remarkable features about it;
     "You can say that repeatedly," growled Harry.             the church will probably do you some good  - there are
     "Indubitably, friend. But when my TV makes like           advantages of a personal kind to be gained from going.
 crazy, I call for an electrician. Have you any idea how       After all, the  Scripturzlly  sanctioned reasonfor attend-
 many phony electricians I've met with? But they are           ing church is the divine injunction to worship Jehovah
 not all masquerading! Some of them can fix this TV            in the company of  His people. But this will include a
 thing, man! -And, observe how many phoney politicians         lot more than a general appeal to attend some church.
 rise up.     Still, come election time I grab a ballot. I     It will surely mean that our solemn obligation is to
 believe in democracy like mad. Behold, how many               seek out the people of God and find that church where
 phoney wives men take unto themselves! Yet shall we           the truth of Scripture is preached in all its purity.
 eschew matrimony? Shall we burn the church because               But however all this may be, it is the language
 it houses a few phonies, friend?"                             which I find particularly distasteful. I am fully aware
    Harry wagged his head, "Words, words.. .  ."               of the fact that the gospel has  .to be brought in language
     ,,I make not words, amigo; somebody else made             which is understandable  to man.            But this is not the
 them, I use them. Words express truth  - facts. We            point.      The language of the pamphlet is racy, slangy
 speak of the church, and my excuses for attending             and the type of speech used by a segment of our society


             334                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

            which lives in constant rebellion against all authority.              has taught doctrines as mentioned hereafter and which
            To adopt this kind of language as a vehicle for con-                  are clearly doctrinal errors.. . .
            veying the truth of Scripture borders on making basic                    (a) The denial of the supernatural and therefore of
            concessions to the principles of those who have de-                   the Christian doctrine of a transcendent Creator God.
                                                                                     (b) The denial of Holy Scripture as the revelation
I           veloped it.                                                           of God, in written form, by the inspiration of the Holy
                But more. It is so often forgotten that the God of                Spirit.
            the Scriptures revealed in Jesus Christ is transcend-                    (c)  The denial of the deity and of the supernatural
            ently glorious and holy.           Before His face even the           power of Christ.
             angels cover their faces. The profane tendencies of                     (d) The denial that Christ was raised from the
            our times are to make all that is holy, common; all                   dead, leaving the tomb empty.
          _ that is glorious, stained with the evil of our times; all                (e) The denial of a life to come.
            that is transcendent, earthly. It is a profane spirit, a           The reply of Principal Geering was:
     -       profanity among men which will not go unpunished.
             Ought not the very language by which the glorious                        Underlying the remarks of my accusers is the
            truth of God is conveyed communicate some sense of                    premise that faith consists of the holding of certain
                                                                                  beliefs. I do not hold this premise, and draw a fairly
            the greatness of Him Who dwells in the highest heav-                  clear distinction between faith, and a set of beliefs.
             ens ? Ought not even the language in which the gospel                    Faith is not primarily what you find in creeds,
             is preached serve to, inspire awe and reverence in                   confessions and books of theology.        Faith is what
             those who hear it? Does the slangy, guttery language                 exists in people. Christian faith is the response of
             of a hippy culture provide a proper medium to convey                 the whole person to the Word of God that comes to him
             the transcendence of the glory of God? It seems too                  from the Christian heritage.
             degrading. Anyone "converted by such an appeal opens                     Together with a great many others in the church
             himself to the inevitable question:            "Converted to         I cannot agree with this view (that the subordinate
             what ?"       We tell our students in school when they               standards constitute an adequate functional rule where-
                                                                                  with to measure a minister's doctrinal belief, and
             preach that the holiness of the Word of God demands                  assess whether he is properly keeping his vows or not)
             the best possible use of language. Nothing less will do.             although in constitutional theory it may seem un-
                The impression left with me by this pamphlet is                   answerable.
             that when the church attempts to adopt the methodology               It is evident from all this double-talk that Geering
             of the world the church inevitably makes a fool of                has not denied the correctness of the charges brought
             herself  - in her own eyes and in the eyes of those               against him. He justifies himself with the utterly con-
             whom she is trying to reach.                                      tradictory and nonsensical statement that faith is not
                                                                               what one believes but how one responds to Scripture -
             SEPARATING  PRESBYTERfiNS                                         whatever that may be.
                                                                                  But the charges were dismissed and evidently the
                    We have reported in the column before of the               position of  Geering was approved by the General
             heresy trials which have recently took place in the               Assembly of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church.
             Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. A recent issue                   As a footnote Chvistianity  Today pointed out that
             of the  R.E.S.  Newsletter carried excerpts of the                some are leaving the church in New Zealand because
             charges which were brought against Principal L. G.                of these decisions. But other evangelical Presbyterian
             Geering and his response. The charges read in part:               Churches have not come to the rescue of these people
                       It is an offence  to teach doctrines contrary to the    who have left. The result is, much to the chagrin of
                    Bible as interpreted by the subordinate standards and      many, that the I.C.C.C. of Dr. Carl McIntyre has
                    the Declaratory Act of the Church. Principal Geering       stepped in to fill the vacuum and threatens to pull the
                    has.. . been guilty of grave impropriety of conduct and    separatist movements into its own "radical" orbit.



                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

                The Junior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the First Prot-                The Young Peoples' Society of the Hudsonville
             estant Reformed Church extends its sincere sympathy               Prot. Ref. Church of Hudsonville, Michigan hereby
             to Mr. and Mrs. William Oomkes in the recent loss of              expresses its sympathy to one of its members, Sheryl
             her mother,                                                       Schut, in the loss of her mother
                                MRS. HERMAN DE VRIES                                              MRS. CHRIS SCHUT
                    May the Lord grant to them comfort with His word              "And God shall wipe away all tears from their
             and Spirit. Ps. 73:26 "My flesh and heart faileth, but            eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
             God is the strength of my heart and my portion for-               nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for
             ever."                                                            the former things are-pas? away." Revelation 20:4.
                                                Rev. G. Van Baren, Pres.                                       -Karen Lubbers, Secretary
                                                Mrs. Gordon Vink, Sec'y.


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           335



              BOOK  REVIEWS-

                                                                Assen 1926

                                                            by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

      ASSEN 1926; J. H. Kok, Uitgeversmij,          It is not my intention to criticize the       and the official position of the church
      Kampen, The Netherlands;  31 pages;           recent synodical decision at this time;       in the past is nullified, as in the case
      price, f  1,25                                it is well-known that the  Standard           of Assen 1926. And then, in order to
                                                    Beaver  looks with complete disfavor          calm people's fears and still the dis-
t         This Dutch-language booklet is the        upon that decision. Perhaps at a later        turbed ecclesiastical waters a booklet
      Report Concerning the Doctrinal Dec-          date I will offer criticism  .of the con-     is published whose evident intent is to
      laration  "Assen  1926" to the `General       tents of this booklet.                        present a bad decision as a good one,
      Synod of Amsterdam 1967. Readers                 It is interesting and disturbing to        to apply a "coat of whitewash" as it
      of the Standard Beaver  will recall that      note the ecclesiastical method by             were, and to hoodwink the people. By
      the Reformed Churches of the Nether-          which the Reformed heritage in the            this method the Gerefovmeevde Kevken
      lands recently withdrew the decisions         Netherlands is gradually (or rapidly?)        will fast lose what Reformed character
      of 1926 in the so-called Geelkerken           being destroyed. First some leaders           they have left. I can well understand
      Case. These decisions concerned the           (usually from Amsterdam and Kampen)           that cries are being raised in the
      question of the literal historicity of        begin to present divergent views and          Netherlands for reformation, and that
      the Scriptural record concerning para-        to agitate against the adopted position       it is claimed that this reformation
      dise, the trees, and the serpent incon-       of the churches. Next the matter is           must come from the laity because it
      nection with heresy charges brought           officially brought to the General Synod,      will never come from the doctors.
      against Dr. Geelkerken in 1926. Now           and a study committee is appointed,           And churches in this country may well
      the decisions are no longer binding,          usually consisting of several doctors         take warning,  - before it is too late.
      and the door is open to any and every         of theology, and this committee comes              Again, for those able to read Dutch
      interpretation, supposedly within the         with      a liberal report. Then this         and who are interested inlearningwhat
      confines of the Reformed confessions.         liberal position is adopted by the Synod      is taking place in the Netherlands, I
                                                                                                  recommend this booklet.




                           The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School is  inneed  of a principal for the  1968-
                        1969 school year. If you wish to be considered for this position, please contact:
                                                                                    Mr. Clare Kuiper
                                                                                    2450 Boulevard Dr., S.W.
                                                                                    Wyoming, Michigan 49509
                                                                                    Phone: 534-0098



                               CALL TO SYNOD                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

         By decision of the last Synod, the Consistory of the                    The Ladies and Men's Societies of the First Prot- j
      First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,                       estant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan herewith
      Michigan  potifies  the churches that the 1968 Synod will               express their sincere sympathy to their fellow mem-
      convene on Wednesday, June 5, 9:00 A.M. in the above                    bers, Mr. and Mrs. J. Van Kampen and their family, in
      mentioned `church, D.V.                                                 their recent sorrow of bereavement of Mrs. Van
         The  Pre-synodical  service will be held on Tuesday,                 Kampen's father,
      June 4, at 8:00 P.M. at First Church. Rev. C. Hanko                                   MR. PLEUNE ROOBOL
      is scheduled to deliver the sermon.                                        May our covenant God comfort with His Word and
         Synodical  delegates are requested to gather with                    Spirit in the assurance that "All things work together
     1 the consistory before the service.                                     for good to them that love God." Romans 8:28
         Those in need of lodging are asked to contact' James                                              Rev. John A. Heys, Pres.
      Heys, 1432 Giddings Ave., SE., Grand Rapids, Michi-                                                 Mrs. B. Windemuller, Sec'y.
      gan, 49504; telephone GL 2-5781.                                                                    Mr. E. Cammenga, Sec'y.
                                          Consistory of First Prot-
                                           estant Reformed Church
                                           Rev. G. Van Baren, Pres.
                                           James Heys,  Clerk


336                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                      NEWS   FROM  OUR  CHURCHES-
                                        March 11, 1968                C. Hanko, G. Lanting and  G.  Vanden Berg.
                                        Loveland, Colorado            Elders: G. Broekhouse, E. Gritters, H. Huisken
Report of the meeting of Classis West held in South                   and P. A. Poortenga. Alternates - Ministers: R.
Holland, Illinois on March 6, 1968                                    Decker, D. Kuiper and B. Woudenberg. Elders:
   Classis West met in South Holland, Illinois on                     R o Bruinsma, F. Schwarz,  Andrew Vanden Top
March  6  for one day. All of the twelve churches in                  and C. C. Van Soelen.
Classis West were represented; a total of twenty one             The next meeting of Classis West will be held in
delegates attended the meeting. Rev.  R. Decker pre-          Edgerton, Minnesota on September 4, 1968, Lord will-
sided over this Classis.                                      ing.
   Classis dealt with the problem of the vacancies in                                       David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
the West. It heard reports from two committees which                                        Classis West
are to distribute reading and taped sermons as the
need for them arises. Both committees have a supply                                    *  *  Q
of sermons on hand. The Taped Sermon Committee is
the consistory of the South Holland Church; the secre-           On Sunday Morning, March 24, in First Church of _
tary of the Reading Sermon Committee is Mr. G.                Grand Rapids, "the minister and rulers of the church
Broekhouse, Box 393, 341 Maple St. W., Edgerton,              of God, being assembled in the name and authority of
Minn. 56128.     Classis assigned the ministers in the        our Lord Jesus Christ" under the disagreeable neces-
West the task of writing more sermons for reading.            sity of being further grieved for members of their con-
South Holland, Hull, Pella,  Isabel and Forbes requested      gregation, came to the "last remedy" of excom-
classical appointments.          The latter four churches     municating the impenitent "to the end that they might
asked for an increase in appointments.  Classis granted       not put the whole body of the church in danger, and
these requests, which means that the appointments of          that God's name might npt be blasphemed." Let every
the ministers in the West are increased and that              one of us, besides those who heard the Form read that
Classis East is asked to give substantial assistance to       morning, "take warning by this and such like ex-
the West.                                                     amples; to fear the Lord and diligently take heed unto
   On the Agenda were a protest and two overtures.            himself, if he thinketh that he standeth, lest he fall, but
Classis decided not to sustain the protest of a brother       having fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus
against a previous decision of  Classis.          It did      Christ, together with all faithful Christians remain
adopt an overture that the sermon preached by a               steadfast to the end, and so obtain eternal salvation."
candidate in the classical exam be a full sermon, and
that the candidate preach this sermon in a special
worship service of the church that hosts the Classis.            The Beacon Lights Hymnsing drew a capacity crowd
When such an occasion arises, the special worship             in Hudsonville Church March 17.               With Mrs. Bert
service is to be held the evening before  Classis is          Maring at the organ, Mary Ann Holstege at the piano,
scheduled to convene.         The other overture requests     and Mr. Clare Kuiper on the director's stand, those in
Synod to express definitely the `mandate of the Liturgy       attendance enjoyed the "sing" immensely. Mr. Kuiper
Committee of Synod.           Classis decided to send this    chose all the songs from the Psalter featuring the
overture to Synod with its approval.                          praises of God the Creator and Sustainer of the uni-
   A consistory asked and received  Classis' advice           verse, especially as the Lifegiver of the plants which
to proceed with the discipline of an impenitent mem-          provide the food for mankind. Special numbers includ-
ber.                                                          ed a male quartet from Adams St. School staff, a
   Classis heard the annual report of the Church              cornet duet by John Knoper and Larry Looyenga, and
Visitors, Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. G. Lanting. It con-          a thrilling organ solo by Mrs. Bernie Lubbers which
sidered subsidy requests. And it did the necessary            was. a variation of "Master the Tempest is Raging."
voting. Results of the voting were as follows:                Without straining the imagination one could hear the
   1) Classical Committee  - Rev. R. Decker for a             thunder of the approaching storm, the wind whistling
        three year term and Elder H. Huisken for a one        through the rigging of the ship in which the Master lay
        year term.                                            fast asleep, and the still calm called down upon the
 . 2) Delegates ad examina - Rev. G. Vanden Berg as           lake by the aroused Jesus, "master of ocean and earth
        a  primus delegate for a three year term and          and skies." Kalamazoo's church scheduled a vesper
        Rev. B. Woudenberg as a secundus delegate for         service to allow Rev. and Mrs. Harbach to join their
        a three year term.                                    young people at the hymnsing. It was an evening of
   3) Church Visitors  - Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. G.            praise and fellowship giving encouragement to the staff
        Vanden Berg for a one year term.                      of Beacon Lights to plan the next one.
   4) Delegates to Synod - Ministers: D. Engelsma,               . 0 . see you in church                            J.M.F.


