                                    IIe



                                               earer


 A   R E F O R M E D   SEMI-MONTlkY  M A G A Z I N E                .i

                                                                                 .  .


IN THIS ISSUE                                                               :


   Meditation: Righteousness for the Hungry and Thirsty

  E d i t o r i a l s : A Call for Support!
                   Seminary Graduation


                   Report of  the' Synod of 1968  (see  All  Around  Us)


                   That Wonderful Gift of Memory  (continued)



                                                  Volume XLIV/Number  18 /July, 1968


4 1 0                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
                           CONTENTS                                          Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
Meditation  -                                                              Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
  Righteousness for The Hungry and Thirsty                                 Department Editors: Rev. David J. Engelsma, Mr. JohnM.Faber,
                                                           . . . . .410       Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C.
                        Rev. J. Kortering                                     Harbach, Rev. John A. Hey.?.,  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George
                                                                              C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,  Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,
Editorials -                                                                  Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
  A Call for Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -413       Bernard Woudenberg
                     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                  Editorial Office: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
  Seminary Graduation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 14                          1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                  Church News Editor: Mr. John M. Faber
Graduation Addresses -                                                                             1123 Cooper Ave., SE.
  The Joy of the Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41,5                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
                     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                  Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the
                                                                              contents of his own articles. Contributions of general interest
  The Centrality of the Word                                                  from our readers and questions for the Question-Box De-
   in the Labors of the Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .417             partment are welcome.- Contributions will be limited to
                                                                              approximately 300 words and must be neatly written or
                 Candidate Richard G. Moore                                   typewritten.     Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth
Contending for the Faith -                                                    of the month.       All communications relative to the contents
                                                                              should be sent to the editorial office.
  The Doctrine of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -418     Business Office:  Mr. James Dykstra, Bus. Mgr.
                        Rev. H. Veldman                                                         1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
In His Fear                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
  The Heart of the Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .420       Subscription Policy:  Subscription price, $5.00 per year.  Unless
                                                                              a definite request for discontinuance is received, it is assumed
                       Rev. John A. Heys                                      that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue without
A Cloud of Witnesses                                                          the formality of a renewal order and he will be billed for
                                                                              renewal. If you have a change of address, please notify the
  David Established in Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -423             Business Office as early as possible in order to avoid the
                      Rev. B. Woudenberg                                      inconvenience of delayed delivery. Include your Zip Code.
All Around Us                                                              Advertising Policy:  The Standard Bearer does not  .accept com-
                                                                              mercial advertising. of any kind. Announcements of church
  Report of the Synod of 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .425              and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy
                         Prof. H. Hanko                                       resolutions will be placed for a $2.00 fee. These should be
                                                                              sent to the Business Office and should be accompanied by the
Feature                                                                       $2.00 fee. Deadline for announcements is the 5th or the 20th
  That Wonderful Gift of Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . .428                  of the month, previous to publication on the 15th or the 1st
                         Rev. J. A. Heys                                      respectively.
News from our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .432          Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders
                                                                              for bound copies of the current volume; such orders are filled
                         Mr. J. M. Faber                                      as soon as possible after completion of a volume. A limited
                                                                              number of past volumes may be obtained through the Business
                                                                              Office.


Meditation
                 Righteousness For The Hungry And Thirsty
                                                              Rev. J. Kortering

                                          "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
                                         righteousness: for they shall be jilled.  " Mutt. 5: 6

  Righteousness!                                                           more, those who do are considered narrow minded,
  Do you hunger and thirst after it?                                       conceited do-gooders, non-conformists who think they
  There are not very many people who do. What's                            are better than everyone else.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     4111


  To be righteous, one has to be right, spiritually right.    that in their whole life they reflected the Creator. Their
   Quite naturally there are conflicting views as to what     heart was fried with holiness, their mind possessed the
this involves. If we cast about for an answer to the          true knowledge of their Creator and their will was
question what is spiritually right, we would surely           directed to do His will in complete righteousness. .Adam
become enmeshed in a labyrinth of human opinions.             and Eve did not have to be declared righteous by the
Strange as it may seem almost everyone claims to be an        Judge; they were made righteous and therefore enjoyed
expert on religion. It makes no difference what his           the perfect covenant life with God.
occupation may be, each has his own ideas. The                  This is, however, different for us. We are conceived
philosopher, the scientist, the educator, the production      and born in sin. We have no righteousness in ourselves;
worker, or the astronaut, each likes to dazzle his pride      we are corrupt and guilty. If we are to be brought into
by imagining that he has the answer to the world's ills.      the harmony of the covenant with God, God must
Each claims to know what man needs to get aiong well          declare us to be righteous. He is the Judge of heaven and
with his neighbor and that he has the secret code that        earth. His law determines the true state of any creature.
will unlock the door of the "Great Society."                  His own righteousness  ,demands  that His friends must
  They all lay claim to the "right" over against the          conform to His law for He is God.
"wrong."                                                        In the second place, the righteous God also .demands
  It's time we look upward.                                   that His creatures must conform to His law spiritually.
  Do we not read in Scripture, "The righteous Lord            More is required than that the Judge declare them to be
loveth righteousness and His countenance doth behold          legally just; it is also necessary that they be freed from
the upright?"                                                 the dominion of sin and the devil and be conformed to
  If there is any righteousness to be found among men,        His own image. Only then can the friendship of God
it must have a divine origin. God Himself is righteous        once again be expressed in all its sublime beauty.
and He is the standard of all righteousness.  .As the           The reason for this is obvious.  .The righteous God
highest and only good, He is perfectly consecrated to         demands that His friends forsake evil and walk in His
Himself. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. His    truth. God would deny His own righteousness  .if He
righteousness is rooted in His holiness,. for by it He        would enter into covenant communion with the wicked
maintains His holiness at all times. His own covenant life    while they continue to live in their ungodly way. God
is within the law of His holiness.. The Father, Son, and      has no covenant fellowship with the devil, he is His
Holy Spirit are consecrated to one another in perfect         adversary; so it is with all those who are born ,of their
friendship. All His works are in harmony with His             father the devil and continue in his way.
holiness; His decrees, creation, and providence all agree       Righteousness is the indispensable sphere for cove-
with His perfect Being, for in them He expresses hatred       nant life with God. Without it there can be no
for that which is evil and delight for that which is good.    friendship, with it there is perfect communion.
  God is not double minded, rather all His Being and            Christ tells us, "Blessed are the ones who hunger and
works are in perfect harmony. He does not have one            thirst after righteousness.?? It is obvious that He draws
standard for righteousness ,as it applies to Himself and      an analogy between the physical body and the spiritual
another for the creature. On the contrary, the righteous-     soul. Our bodies need food and drink. When this need is
ness ,which forms the basis of His own covenant life in       not supplied hunger and thirst results. Our physical
Himself also forms the basis for the covenant life with       bodies react to such a lack, a gnawing pain develops in
His people. For this reason we read, "The righteous           the stomach and our  ~throats become parched. If this
Lord loveth  .righteousness and His countenance doth          becomes acute because of total lack, one experiences
behold the  upright!" The same note is sounded by             the most agonizing sufferings on this side of the grave.
Peter, "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous       Such a one searches for food and drink and does not
and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of     find rest until he has done all possible to obtain it.
the Lord is against them that do evil."                         Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Is your
  Righteousness then, is to be right with God, to be in       soul empty and parched, since you desire to be a friend
harmony with Him                                              of God but you recognize that you have nothing that
  This involves in the first place a divine judgment by       can realize such a friendship? Do you long for the
God. This would not be necessary had not our first            righteousness that you do not have in yourself?
parents fallen into sin. For them, righteousness  ,was          Such a hungering and thirsting is. not a natural
inherent in their creation. God made them after His own       process. True it is that all men hunger and thirst from
image by fashioning Adam out of the dust of the ground        their inner being. By virtue of creation, every man
and breathing into His nostrils the breath of life so that    possesses a heart and soul which produces inner ap-
he became a living soul. He caused a deep sleep to come       petites which demand fulfillment. The spiritual quality
upon Adam, and out of his rib He fashioned a woman            of these however is sinful. The natural man is enmity
and gave her unto the man and they became one flesh.          against God and is not subject to the law of God neither
By this creation, God filled them with His own love, so       indeed can be. There rises out of the heart of every man


412                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


an inner desire to be great in the eyes of men. Natural        punishment due to His own elect on account of their
man hungers and thirsts after sinful pleasures, his god is     sins and thereby satisfied the just demands of the
his belly and he glories in his shame. To satisfy these        perfect Judge. By His active obedience He fulfilled all
appetites he builds vast  .palaces of sinful pleasure and      the divine law for us by loving the Father even unto
spends billions of dollars in drinking and merrymaking.        death.
   Since every man knows in his deepest heart that God           The proof of this is God's act of raising Christ from
exists, and that God demands obedience, man also               the dead. The righteous God declared that all those for
fabricates a synthetic form of righteousness. He desires       whom Christ died are surely righteous, since He imputed
to wallow in his spiritual filth while at the same time        to their account the benefits of Christ's death.
soothe his guilty conscience that God approves of it all.        Through the living Christ we are now filled with His
Hence, the natural man devises a clever scheme, he             righteousness.
glosses his immoral life with a veneer of  self-                 This is true in two ways.  .First, we learn of our
righteousness. He shows concern for his poor neighbor justification by the preaching of the gospel. As poor in
by organizing and supporting philanthropic organi-             spirit who mourn in the depth of meekness, we need not
zations that alleviate his suffering and supply his natural    wait until the judgment day to learn of our righteous-
needs. He clothes himself in an aura of dignity by ness in Christ.~ Christ comes to us and tells us this now.
outwardly conforming to the human code of ethics               We learn of this great joy from His Word, and therefore
determined by a "religious" society. He recognizes that        by faith are filled with the assurance that our sins are
the church serves a good purpose  `in society, so he           forgiven. Secondly, neither do we have to wait until we
piously dons his black suit or pert dress on Sunday and        arrive at the perfect manifestation of God's friendship in
parades to a place of worship. He returns home smuggly         the kingdom of heaven before we can enjoy the
complacent that after all, he is a pretty good person,         righteousness of Christ as a way of life. Principally this
surely not any worse than many others and a great deal         is also ours now by the preaching of the gospel. The
better than some.                                              living Christ imparts His righteousness to us by de-
   Jesus spoke these words in the hearing of the               livering us from the bondage of sin and death and
Pharisees who were of this caliber. He denounced them          renewing in us the image of God. By this mighty work
by calling them children of their father the devil.            of salvation, we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit to
   Let's place these words in their proper context. Three      live righteously already now. To be sure this is a small
beautitudes  preceed this one, the poor in spirit,             beginning, yet it is a principle beginning that is as sure as
mourners, and meek. The significance of this order is          God is righteous.
obvious.  ,The poor in spirit are  .the citizens of  the         Our text tells us that the hungering and thirsting ones
kingdom of heaven who recognize that spiritually they          are blessed because they shall be filled. To be filled with
are poor. They see themselves as God sees them. They           the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed a
recognize that God as the righteous Judge is not               reason for joy. By it we have what is necessary to. be a
satisfied with our "best,?' or our good intentions, or our     friend of God.
neighborly concern. God requires of every man that He             Blessed -joyful, are such hungering ones.
loves Him with all his heart, so 1, mind, and strength.           God is the object of that joy. He makes us truly
                                  "a.
God demands perfect obedience t His divine law. The            hungry and thirsty. He provides the menu of the
poor in spirit have the grace of God to see themselves as      righteousness of Jesus Christ. He fills us with the
wholly undone, as having violated that law on every            assurance that the benefits of Christ's work are really
point, as being worthy of God's righteous judgment.            ours. He liberates us from the tyranny of sin and death
  This brings us to the next step, mourners. The fact of       and causes us to seek our life out of ourselves in Jesus
our spiritual poverty stirs us and brings us to deepest        Christ.
grief; we long for God's friendship because -we have              We shall soon be more filled. Now we must yet
tasted already how sweet communion with God really             struggle against our own sin and self-righteousness.
is. The knowledge of sin presses sorely upon our               Soon we shall stand before the Judge and He will clothe
consciences, it separates us from God. In sin we reveal        us with the white robes of the righteousness of Jesus
ourselves as unfaithful children worthy to be dis-             Christ our Lord.
ciplined.                                                         Then we shall see more clearly the mercy and the love
  This grief brings one to humility, or meekness. We           of our God.
have nothing wherein to boast, we have no claim to any            Then our joy shall be complete.
of God's mercies. We hunger and thirst for righteousness          Blessed indeed!
that we cannot produce, that we cannot claim, we seek
it out of ourselves in Jesus Christ our Lord.
  All righteousness is in Christ. His suffering and death
on our behalf fulfilled all the divine requisites for our
being the friends  .of God. He passively bore the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   413




~
  E d i t o r i a l


                                    A Call  For  Support!

                                                         Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema


        After long and careful consideration of the hard facts      to emphasize that under this budget the Board has no
     of economics, the Board of the R.F.P.A. has come to            funds to engage in advertising and publicity or to send
     the conclusion that a price increase is necessary for our      the witness of our magazine to those outside our present
     Standard Bearer.  Hence, effective September 1, the            readership whom they would very much like to reach.
     subscription price will go up to $7.00 per year.               The latter is a very necessary work, not only because
        In explanation of this increase, and at-the request of      this results in an increased number of subscribers, but
     the Board, I will call attention to some of the facts. I       also and especially because the  Standard Bearer  has
     will not weary you with a long list of statistics which are    always had and still has one of its chief purposes in
     probably uninteresting and meaningless except to those         reaching as many as possible with its distinctively
     immediately concerned with the business affairs of our         Reformed witness. In fact, this is more than ever our
     magazine. But. I will furnish some information which           calling in this day of galloping apostasy!
     anyone can readily understand. These facts are as                But I do not feel that it is necessary to argue the case.
     follows:                                                       For, in the first place, the facts are plain; and the costs
        11 The last price-increase took place 10 years ago. In      must be met. Anyone can see this. And, in the second
     view of the inflationary trend of our times, it is             place, I have every confidence that our subscribers, who
     therefore not surprising that our price must go up. It is      have always faithfully and royally supported our maga-
     rather surprising that for ten years there was no              zine, will continue to do so, and that if only they are
     increase. The policy of the Board has been to "hold the        informed of the need, they will meet that need, and will
     line." But the time has come when a price-increase is          do so gladly. Hence, as editor and. in behalf of the
     necessary in order to meet our costs and maintain a            Board, I am calling for your support!
     balanced budget.                                                 What can you do?
       21 As of January 1, 1968 our publication costs                 For one thing, you  c;111 simply wait until your
     increased $75 per issue, for a total of $1575.00 per           personal subscription comes due, and pay the increased
     year. What does this mean in terms of the individual           rate. If all our readers do this and at the same time
     subscription? It means that while in 1967 the actual           continue their gifts, the budget will be met and we will
     cost per subscription was $11.50, this year the actual         continue as we are.
     cost per subscription is $13.35. Lacking 15 cents, this          For another, you could take advantage of the advance
     accounts completely for the $2.00 increase in our              announcement of the date of the price-increase and
     subscription rate.                                             extend your subscription now for a year or two at the
       31 From the above figures, you will also see that our        old rate of $5.00 per year. This is perfectly legal. And
     subscription price by no means pays the actual cost per        the Board will welcome it because of the immediate
     subscription. Where must the' rest come from? From             cash boost this will furnish.
     subsidy in the form of gifts and collections. And the            But there is a better way. And I urge you to consider
     Board has concluded that it is unrealistic to expect that      it seriously and to follow it. Let me explain.
     the increased costs will be met by increased gifts and           Right now, let every subscriber send in. $10 to cover
     collections alone, which would mean that less than half        the price of a one-year renewal for himself and a
     of the costs would be met by subscriptions.                    one-year gift subscription. You say, perhaps, that you
       41 The Standard Bearer is still a real bargain to any        do not know anyone to whom you would send a gift
     subscriber. The $7.00 per year breaks down to less than        subscription. That is no obstacle whatsoever. The Board
     35 cents per copy and less than 1% cents per page. And         can obtain hundreds of names of people outside our
     that for the most informative and the most instructive         churches to whom they would love to send the Standard
     and most soundly Reformed magazine on the market!              Bearer. But the Board needs the money to do this. You
       51 Even with the price-increase, we must maintain            furnish the $5.00 for a gift to an unknown beneficiary,
     the same level of gifts in order to break even. And I wish     and the Board will, take care that our magazine reaches


414                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


him. The Board can obtain names of concerned persons          said before, the actual cost per subscription decreases as
in all areas of our country who ought to be introduced        the number of subscriptions increases. Here is an
to our  Standard Bearer,  and who, once they receive a        untapped potential in meeting expenses. If all of our
gift subscription, will in many cases become permanent        approximately 900 subscribers would underwrite the
subscribers and readers of our magazine and come under        cost of just one gift subscription, our total subscription
the sound and helpful influence of its Reformed               list would go up to about 1800! Do you realize what the
witness.                                                      result could be? It could mean that the price-increase
  What are the advantages of this plan?                       would either be reduced or eliminated completely! Let
  First, and chiefly, this, that in this way we will be       it be understood, however, that this is only possible if
achieving our purpose to send forth our testimony. We         hundreds of our present subscribers follow this sugges-
have approximately 900 paying subscribers at present. If      tion.
every subscriber would follow my suggestion, we would           Elsewhere in this issue you will find a subscription
reach approximately 9.00 more people with our Re-             blank for your convenience. Use it today!
formed witness. Think of it! For just $5.00 you can be          Let your support come not in a trickle, but in a
actively engaged in this witness for a whole year! Think      mighty avalanche! Show the Board that the  price-
of what that one five-dollar bill can accomplish!             increase is not necessary!
  Secondly; there is this practical advantage. As I have





                                      Editorial



                                             SEMINARY GRADUATION


                                                                       Pro5  H.C. Hoeksema


       Mr. Richard G. Moore



  In the midst of the busy grind of Synod, the                by the Rector, who spoke on "The Joy of the
graduation program of our Protestant Reformed Theo-           Ministry." This address, in expanded form, will be
logical School constitutes a pleasant interlude. It repre-    found following this article. The. other was a brief
sents achievement, - for the graduate, but also for the       address by Candidate Moore on the subject, "The
faculty, and for our churches. The Lord has given us          Centrality of the Word in the Labors of the Minister."
another candidate for the ministry in our churches.           Candidate Moore's speech is also published in this issue.
  This year the young man who joined the select circle        Audience singing and special numbers by the Hope
of graduates of our seminary was Mr. Richard G. Moore,        Heralds rounded out the program, which reached its
who came to our school from the congregation of               climax in the presentation of a hard-earned diploma to
Forbes, N.D. We extend our congratulations to him, and        the candidate.
pray that in due time the Lord may give him a place in           Again the Lord has given us abundant reason for
the ministry in one of our congregations.                     thanksgiving with respect to our Seminary and its place
  The evening's program, held in the auditorium of            among our churches. There will not be another graduate
First Church, was led by the president of the Theo-           now for some years. But may "our school" continue to
logical School Committee, the Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers.           have a large place in the hearts of our people and in
There were two brief addresses in the program. One was        their prayers.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                4'15




                                 The Joy of the Ministry

                                                   Proft H. C. Hoeksema


Mr. Chairman, Graduate Moore, Members of the Theo-              the presence of opposition and difficulties and strife,
logical School Committee, Fathers and Brethren of the           which may always arise in the church militant, and
Synod, and Brethren and Sisters gathered with usi               which may frequently constitute a severe test and trial
  By personal experience and by observation, I know             for a pastor, especially when he is confronted by `such
that there are times in the life of a minister of the Word      difficulties for the first time in his ministry. There is
- and especially in the life of a youthful and new and          nothing more wearing, more wearisome, more draining
inexperienced minister of the Word - when his outlook           of energy and zeal, than prolonged difficulties within
tends to become gloomy, when his attitude becomes               one's congregation, whether they be in the form of
pessimistic, when his spirit becomes dejected, and when         opposition to the pastor or  in. the form of trouble
his zeal for the cause and for the labor wanes.                 among the members mutually. Even for the veteran
  There may be various occasions and reasons for such           minister such difficulties frequently constitute a severe
an attitude of pessimism and such dejection of spirit. In       trial and may be the occasion of a marked loss of
part, it may be a somewhat natural reaction. Periods of         courage and of zest for his labors. But  -again,  .when a
vibrant enthusiasm and zeal are rather naturally fol-           youthful minister for the first time must face such a
lowed by a decline into gloom and pessimism. And                battle-test, it seems sometimes that he is awakened to
again, especially the youthful minister who has just set        the stark realities of ecclesiastical life in the church
out upon the labors of the ministry may find himself            militant with a jolt, even though theoretically he knew
beset by this problem. He begins his labors with zeal and       all along that he was called to labor in the midst of an
enthusiasm, and perhaps with a bit of unrealistic               imperfect church. Thus a crisis is precipitated in his
idealism. Perhaps he expects that his enthusiasm will be        ministry. And, though first he may even react. with
contagious, that it will meet with immediate and like           courage and resoluteness, not infrequently his reaction
response on the part of his congregation; perhaps he has        may change to one of gloomy pessimism. He becomes
intentions of "setting the church aflame." But his              disillusioned and disenchanted. The preparation and
congregation, he forgets, is not new and is not just            delivery of sermons becomes a heavy chore rather than a
setting out upon its course. And when the youthful              pleasure; pastoral calls become a burden rather than a
minister discovers, to his dismay and chagrin, that his         delight; the lengthy wranglings of a consistory meeting
enthusiasm does not kindle a like response, but that the        he comes to dread. Perhaps he has moments when he
work of the ministry is a matter of steady, plodding            rues the day that he accepted the call to congregation X,
labors and long-term and not always immediately visible         and he wishes that he were out of the ministry or that
results, that there are disappointments as well as              he might receive a call elsewhere.
pleasures, he becomes disheartened, gloomy, dejected.             For more than one reason, therefore, it is well that
His spirit faints, and his zeal wanes. Partly, in some          our attention be called to this subject of the "Joy of the
instances, such pessimism may be induced by a rather            Ministry" and to the calling to rejoice in the ministry
matter-of-fact attitude on the part of a congregation and       which the Lord has given to His church, and particularly
consistory who, while they may be appreciative, do not          to those who serve or purpose to serve as ministers of
readily express that appreciation and fail to realize that      His Word. In the first place, there is the reason that the
there are times when a minister of the gospel, especially       Word of God always presents such a joy as the proper
a youthful one, is in need of words of encouragement            stance, the proper attitude, of the minister of the
and appreciation. One congregation differs from another         gospel. If you look at a chapter like II Corinthians 4,
in this regard, even as one minister differs from another       which our chairman read this evening, you may well
in his need of such expressions of encouragement.               conclude that the apostle Paul had plenty of reasons to
Moreover, congregations may well keep this in mind;             be gloomy and dejected. Yet he says, "Therefore seeing
and elders may well remember that in a sense they must          we have this ministry, . . . we faint not!" That is simply
serve as the pastor's pastor. But at the moment I am            a negative way of stating that he rejoiced in this
merely pointing to this as a possible factor in a minister's    ministry. And this is the current thought of Scripture
pessimism and dejection of spirit. Yet a. third occasion        and  the. consistent example of all the apostles. They
for weariness of spirit and waning zeal on the part of a        rejoiced in the ministry which the Lord gave them. In
minister 2 and who has not known such times - may be            the second place, there' is the reason that the Lord does


416                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


not want gloomy and grumbling and dissatisfied ser-              inspires him and motivates him in all his labors in the
vants, but cheerful and content and willing ministers.           midst of the church, so that he labors not out of a sense
Such an attitude of gloom and dejection is wrong! And,           of compulsion, not out of a feelingthat his ministry is a
in the third place, quite understandably, one's outlook          forced and well-nigh unbearable burden, but with
and attitude very soon affect his labors and the quality         willingness and devotion, with zeal and confidence' and
of his labors and the faithfulness of his labors in various      faithfulness.
ways. This is the very real practical reason.                       All this implies and includes what belongs to the
   For all these reasons, then, we may profitably                Christian joy generally. We must remember that Scrip-
consider "The Joy of the Ministry."                              ture also speaks frequently of this joy and of the calling
                                                                 of the child .of God to rejoice always. And this joy is
The Nature of the Minister's Joy                                 implied in and presupposed in this joy of the ministry.
   It is not easy to define.joy. It is perhaps easier to feel    This Christian joy implies a full and clear knowledge of
it, .to know it by experience, than to define it. But let us     the riches of salvation in Christ: the forgiveness of sins,
attempt to analyse the idea and mention some of the              righteousness, holiness, peace, eternal life and glory, and
elements of real, spiritual joy and rejoicing.                   the knowledge that all things work together for good to
   In the first place, of course, joy is the very opposite       them that love God, who. are the called according to His
of a gloomy, dejected, morbid, languishing attitude and          purpose. It implies an assured possession and personal
outlook. The latter may be in some instances acute and           appropriation of these riches of salvation in Christ.
temporary. A minister of the gospel, as any child of             Moreover, it presupposes a walk in sanctification of life:
God, may experience times of spiritual darkness. Such            for in the ways of sin and of the world it is impossible
times of spiritual darkness may be due to some sin which         to have that assured and personal possession of the
he has committed in his ministry or in his personal life,        riches of salvation in Christ Jesus, and it is impossible to
a sin in which he persists for a time and is unwilling to        rejoice in the Lord. This means, therefore, that the
confess and forsake. Or, as I already suggested, it may          minister of the Word must be  spiritual.  He must be a
be due to some stress, due to opposition and strife and          spiritually-minded man.
trouble. At such times, either because a minister                  But in particular the joy of the ministry implies
misunderstands and loses sight of the realities of the sin       several elements. In the first place, it implies a full and
and imperfection of the church militant and of his               clear knowledge on the part of the minister that God
calling in the midst of that church, or because he has the       through the Lord Christ has called him to be a minister
personal, spiritual difficulty that he cannot, for a time        of the Word. Without this, the joy of the ministry is
blend his will with the will of the Lord, he may pass            impossible. In the second place, it implies a full and
through a period of very acute, though temporary,                clear knowledge and conviction with respect to the
spiritual darkness. Sometimes, however, such an attitude         message which the minister is commissioned to bring.
of gloom may be chronic and rather permanent, so that            Without this also, the true joy of the ministry is
a minister of the Word can never fully and freely                impossible. For how shall an ambassador of Christ
appropriate and serve with gladness in his calling as            rejoice in his ministry unless he knows and is convicted
ambassador of Christ. Usually in such instances, I think,        of his message and of the fact that the message he brings
the problem is connected with a deeper problem, that of          is indeed the message of his Sender? In the third place,
such a minister's doubt and lack of personal assurance as        to rejoice in one's ministry presupposes an assured and
a child of God. Needless to say, such doubt and gloom,           personal appropriation and confidence of one's calling
such a morbid state in which a minister never or hardly          and of the fact that it indeed pleases the Lord Christ to
ever rejoices, assumes its worst form when. it is                use him for the gathering and upbuilding of His church.
systematically defended as if it were really the normal          And all this, in the fourth place, presupposes a walk in
state.                                                           obedience to that calling and a willingness to be used by
  In the second place, and positively, this joy of the           the Lord for His great work of church-gathering.
ministry certainly means that the minister is filled with          It ought to be evident that such joy is only "in the
gladness of heart and mind because of his calling and his        Lord." Even as this is true of the joy of the children of
place in the midst of the church and in the labors of the        God in general, so it is true specifically of the joy of the
cause of Christ. It includes,. too, that he manifests this       ministry. Such joy cannot be founded on anything
joy. This joy is the underlying and fundamental attitude         outside of the Lord. Outside of Christ we lie in the
and outlook of his ministry. The manifestation of this           midst of death; and therefore outside of Christ we have
joy takes place, first of all, before the Lord, so ,that the     nothing in which to rejoice and nothing of which to
minister acknowledges it and speaks of it before Him:            boast whatsoever. There is no real joy possible outside
his joy becomes manifest in the expression of thank-             of our Lord Jesus Christ. True joy, also the true joy of
fulness to the Lord. But it also follows, secondly, that         the ministry, is only on the ground of the blood and
this manifestation of joy finds expression in the midst          merits of Christ and only on the ground of the work of
of the church and in the minister's labors. This joy             His grace.                                   (To be continued)


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     417




                             The Centrality of The Word

                                                      in the

                                    Labors of the Minister

                                             Candidate Richard G. Moore


Mr. Chairman, Brethren of the School Committee,.               historically realized in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Brethren of the Synod, Professors, Brethren and Sisters        promised Seed. And it is the Word which was com-
in the Lord:                                                   municated through revelation and divine inspiration to
  It. is with an' exceeding joy in my heart, with a deep       the minds of men, who were directed infallibly to set'it
consciousness of' the wonder of God's grace, and with          forth in the, Scriptures.
thanksgiving to the God of all grace that I, as a graduate       Hence, the Word to which we refer is not the word of
of the Protestant Reformed Seminary, address you.              man, in whole or in part. There are words of man, but
While I was attending our Seminary, one truth often            man always speaks of himself. So speaking, man and his
emphasized was that the Word must always occupy a              word always exalt man above God and over against God.
position of centrality in the labors of the minister. It is    The word of man is a lie; it is rooted in devilish pride..
for this reason that from the three possible topics              However, the Word of which we speak is God's Word
assigned me I chose to speak on, "The Centrality of the        in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. This Word does
Word in the Labors of the Minister."                           not exalt man, but teaches that we are sinners. It
  This is an important and timely topic today. It is true      convicts us of sin, and teaches that of ourselves we are
that one might ask: why a speech on this topic?-Isn't          worthy only of condemnation! Yet this Word does not
this a very obvious truth, one which is not questioned?        leave us in the state of condemnation, but assures us of
However, more and more today the Word is being                 our righteousness by grace and through the cross of our
placed in the background in the labor of the ministry.         Lord. And it teaches that Christ alone is the Bread of
  This unnatural and wicked de-emphasis of the Word            life, Who nourishes us unto the eternal life of glory.
in the labors of the ministry can be clearly seen today.       This Word is the authoritative gospel of salvation by
The Word itself is being brought to nought. Even in the        grace alone!
most conservative circles the infallible inspiration of the      That this Word is essential to the labor of the minister
Scriptures is being denied, in order to leave room for         is evident from the minister's task as one who is called by
man and his labor. The period-theory of the creation           God in Christ. In this connection, Jesus tells Peter at the
week is but one example of this. Further, the lack of          time of his restoration, as recorded for us in John 21,
regard for the Word is also evident in other ways.             that he must feed the sheep. The minister is called to
Sermons are limited to fifteen minutes, while external         feed the flock of Christ! This means that the minister
liturgical practice grows. Catechism instruction is  de-       must in all of his labor bring to the flock that which
emphasized to the point that it is almost non-existent.        nourishes unto life. And Jesus Christ is the Bread of life!
And family visitation, where it is maintained, has             The minister must always come to the flock of Christ
degenerated to the point where it is' either a social          with Christ, the Word Incarnate.
function or a secular guidance service. Thus, it is              Secondly, the calling of the minister implies that it
obvious from these examples, as well as from many              belongs to the minister's task to guard, to keep,, to guide
others which we could mention, that the Word is losing         the flock of Christ in the face of that which would lead
its position of centrality in the labors of the minister.      them away from the knowledge of God in Christ.
This is a wicked tendency: for the Word is essential in        Sometimes this requires the minister to lead the flock in
the labor of the ministry. Let us take a few moments,          opposing error from without. He must guard and
therefore, to.consider why this is true.                       develop the doctrine of the truth as it is set forth in the
  In doing this, we must understand, first of all, that        Scriptures. He must point out the error in that which is
the Word is the Word of God! It is the revelation of the       presented to the flock as truth. Sometimes this calling
God of our salvation. That Word is God's Word with             requires the minister to guard the flock  ,from error
respect to all things that are in His counsel. It is the       within. This includes reproof, rebuke, and exhortation,
Word God has eternally in mind. This Word was                  as we read in II Tim. 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in


 418                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


 season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all                 be subservient to the Word of his.Sender. Therefore he
 longsuffering and doctrine." In all of his  labprs,  bgth                cannot bring the philosophy of man to the pulpit. He
 negatively and positively, .it is the minister's calling to             may not rely upon worldly psychology in his pastoral
 guide the flock unto growth in the knowledge of God in                  labors. He may not de-emphasize. catechetical instruc-
 Christ. For, "This is life eternal, that they might know                 tion. But rather, it is the minister's solemn calling to
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou                      bring the Word of Christ to the flock in all of his labors.
hast sent." John 17: 3.                                                   First, this means that he must make that Word the
   But how is all this possible? How can the minister                    center of all his personal life. Secondly, the minister
 feed the sheep and lead them into the knowledge of                      must exegete that `Word in preparing for his labor as
God? Where does he get the ability? With what                            minister of the flock of Christ. And, thirdly, when he
authority can the minister, who is an imperfect sinner,                  comes to the flock, he must be able to say: "Thus saith
reprove the flock of Christ? The answer to all of these                  the Lord!"
questions is that he is an officebearer called of Christ,                    only then is it possible for the minister to fulfill his
and that to him has been entrusted Christ's Word. He                     calling to feed the sheep. For then he comes with the
therefore represents Christ; and he comes in Christ's                    very Word of the God of our salvation. And the minister
authority. Hence, he has a very real and serious                         may be assured that by maintaining the centrality of the
responsibility to rely solely upon his Sender, the Chief                 Word in all of his labors, Christ by His Spirit will convict
Shepherd.                                                                of sin, will lead to the cross, and will impart to His
   This means that the minister in all of his labors must                sheep knowledge unto life eternal.




Contending for the Faith


                                        THE- DOCTRINE OF SIN

                                       T h e   S e c o n d   P e r i o d   -  2 5 0 - 7 3 0   A . D .

                                                T h e   P e l a g i a n   C o n t r o v e r s y

                                                  The  Au.gustinian System


                                                             Rev. H. Veldman



   In our preceding article we called attention  Jo                           tation of the last part of Romans 5: 12 in our
Augustine's view of original sin and the origin of the                        preceding article - H.V.). For he also hangs the whole
human soul. We concluded the article with a brief                             fate of the human race on a transcendental act of
discussion of the three views of the origin of the human                      freedom, lying beyond our temporal consciousness;
soul, known as Traducianism, Creationism and  Pre-                            though, it is true, he places this act in the beginning of
existentianism.                                                               earthly history, and ascribes it to the one general
   As to Augustine's view with respect to these three                         ancestor, while Origen transfers it into a previous
views of the origin of the human soul, Schaff writes as                       world, and views it as an act of each individual soul.
follows (History of the Christian Church, Vol.  Iii,                             But between creationism and traducianism Augus-
                                                                              tine wavers, because the Scriptures do not expressly
83 l-832):                                                                    decide. He wishes to keep both the continuous creative
          "Augustine emphatically rejects the doctrine of                     activity of God and the organic union of body and
        pre-existence, without considering that his own theory                soul.
        of a generic pre-existence and apostasy .of all men in                   Augustine regards this whole question as belonging
        Adam is really liable `to similar objections (we have                 to science and the schools, not to faith and the church,
        already called attention to Augustine's faulty interpre-              and makes a confession of ignorance which, in a man


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            419


    of his speculative genius, involves great self-denial.            Let us pause here a moment. According to Schaff,
    "Where the Scripture," he says, "renders no certain             Augustine taught that even in the life of the most
    testimony, human inquiry must beware of deciding                abandoned men there are some good works. Now we
    one way or the other. If it were necessary to salvation         would never maintain that there are some good works in
    to know anything concerning it, Scripture would have
    said more."                                                     the  wicked as apart from the regenerating grace of God.
  The undersigned wonders to what extent  Augustine                 However, this is a far cry from the teaching of the Three
believed in the theory of pre-existentianism. It is true            Points of 1924, that the unregenerate are able to do
that he reads the last part of Romans 5: 12 as reading:             what is good in the  sight of the Lord. For Augustine
"in whom all have sinned," due to his slight knowledge              also taught that these works avail nothing to salvation,
of the original Greek. Augustine, therefore, relied upon            and that they are not truly good inasmuch as they
the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible. It is also         proceed from the turbid source of selfishness. -One may
true that this interpretation of that last part of Romans           certainly conclude from this quotation of Schaff that all
5: 12 cannot possibly be maintained, and that it must               that Augustine taught was that the wicked do some
read: "because all have sinned." However, it is certainly           good only in the natural sense of the word, but that this
true that Augustine hangs the entire "fate" of the                  "good" is surely not good in the sight of the Lord.
human race upon that one sin of Adam, whereas Origen                  We now continue with this quotation from Schaff:
transfers it into a previous world, and views it as an act                   Faith is the root, and love the motive, of all truly
of each individual soul. Besides, Augustine, in  his                    good actions, and this love is shed abroad in our hearts
doctrine of the fall of man, starts with the idea of the                by the Holy Ghost. "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin;"
                                                                        -
organic                                                                       this certainly verifies what we stated in the
            unity of the human race, and with the profound              preceding paragraph - H.V. Before the time of Christ,
parallel of Paul between the first and the second Adam.                 therefore, all virtues were either, like the virtues of the
He does not view the first man as merely an individual,                  Old Testament saints, who hoped in the same Christ in
but as the progenitor and representative of the whole                   whom we believe, consciously or unconsciously, Chris-
human race, standing to natural mankind in the same                     tian; or else seeming virtues, destitute of the  pure
relation as that of Christ to redeemed and regenerate                   motive and the right aim. Lust of renown and lust of
mankind. According to Augustine, the history of the fall                 dominion were the fundamental traits of the old
has universal significance; in Adam human nature fell,                  Romans, which  fast `gave birth to those virtues of
and therefore all are conceived and born in sin who have                self-devotion to freedom and country, so glorious in
inherited that nature from him. Is it possible that                     the eyes of men; but which afterwards, when with the
Augustine exposed himself to the theory of  pre-                        destruction of Carthage all manner of moral corruption
existentianism because he stumbled over Romans 5: 12,                   poured in, begot the Roman vices.
                                                                             This view of heathen or natural morality as a
and this because of a faulty Latin translation of that                  specious form of vice, though true to a large extent, is
text in the Vulgate? Fact is, this church father based his              nevertheless an unjust extreme, which Augustine him-
conception of original sin not only upon Romans 5 : 12,                 self cannot consistently sustain. Even he was forced to
but also upon such passages such as Gen. 8: 21, Ps. 5 1;                admit important moral differences among the heathen:
7, John 3: 6, 1 Cor. 7: 14 and Eph. 2: 3.                               between, for example, a Fabricius, of incorruptible
  Schaff sums up the Augustinian doctrine of sin as                     integrity, and the traitor Catiline; and though he
follows, Vol. III, 841-843:                                             merely defines this difference negatively, as a greater
       To sum up the Augustinian doctrine of sin: This                  and less degree of sin and guilt, yet this itself involves
    fearful power is universal; it rules the species, as well as        the positive concession, that Fabricius stands nearer
    individuals; it has its seat in the moral character of the          the position of Christian morality, and that there exists
    will, reaches thence to the particular actions, and from            at least reZa@ve goodness among the heathen. More-
    them reacts again upon the will; and it subjects every              over, he cannot deny, that there were before Christ,
    man, without exception, to the punitive justice of                  not only among the Israelites, but also `among the
    God. Yet the corruption is not so great as to alter the             Gentiles, God-fearing souls, such as Melchisedec and
    substance of man, and make him incapable of redemp-                 Job,  true Israelites, not according to the flesh, but
    tion, The denial of man's capacity for redemption is                according to the spirit, whom God by the secret
    the Manichaean error, and the opposite extreme to the               workings of His Spirit drew to Himself even without
    Pelagian denial of the need of redemption. "That is                 baptism and the external means of grace. So the
    still good," says Augustine, "which bewails lost good;              Alexandrian fathers saw scattered rays of the Logos in
    for had not something good remained in our nature,                  the dark night of heathenism; only they were far from
    there would be no grief over lost good for punish-                  discriminating so sharply between what was Christian
    ment." Even in the hearts of the heathen the law of                 and what was not Christian.
    God is not wholly obliterated, and even in the life of                   All human boasting is therefore excluded, man is
    the most abandoned men there are some good works.                   sick, sick unto death out of Christ, but he is capable of
    But these avail nothing to salvation. They are not truly            health; and the worse the sickness, the greater is the
    good, because they proceed from the turbid source of                physician, the more powerful is the remedy  - re-
    selfishness.                                                        deeming grace.


420                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


  From the above quotation of Schaff we may safely           the remedial principle. The doctrine of grace is thus
conclude the emphasis which Augustine placed upon the        only the positive counterpart of the doctrine of sin.
corruption of the natural man. It appears from this          And, in the second place, he reasons downward from
quotation that Schaff would defend the proposition           above; that is, from his conception of the all-working,
that the natural man is not wholly corrupt. He declares      all-penetrating presence of God in natural life, and much
that there exists at least some relative goodness among      more in the spiritual. While Pelagius deisticalIy (Deism is
the heathen, that Fabricius stands nearer the position of    the heresy that separates God from the world, whereas
Christian morality than other heathens. It is not our        Pantheism is the heresy that identifies God with the
purpose at this time to refute this in the light of          world) severs God and the world after the creation, and
Scripture and our Confessions. But the fact that Schaff      places man on an independent footing, Augustine, even
criticizes Augustine on this point surely points con-        before this Pelagian controversy, was, `through his
clusively toward the fact that Augustine maintained the      speculative genius and the earnest experience of his life,
utter depravity of the sinner as apart from Christ. In       deeply penetrated with a sense of the absolute depen-
fact, he declares that the view of heathen or natural        dence of the creature on the Creator, in whom we live,
morality as a specious form of vice, though true to a        and move, and have our being. One may say that what
large extent, as set forth by Augustine, is an unjust        we call Augustinianism was not a reaction against
extreme which Augustine himself would not be able to         Pelagianism, but that Pelagianism was a reaction against
sustain consistently.                                        the views of Augustine. It is true that Augustine's views
                                                             on sin and grace, freedom and predestination, were not
AUGUSTINE'S DOCTHNE OF REDEEMING GRACE                       what they afterward came to be. But what is commonly
  How different is Augustine's conception of grace           known today as the Augustinian views on sin and grace
from that of Pelagius! Augustine experienced personally      had certainly ripened in the soul of this church father
this power of the living God. The grace of God had been      before the Pelagian controversy. Neither did Augustine
experienced by  him as a living, saving power of the         cater to the pantheistic conception of identifying God
alone blessed God. Augustine, writes Schaff, reaches his     with the world. His impression of the immanence of
peculiar doctrine of redeeming grace in two ways. First      God in the world has nothing pantheistic; it does not
he reasons upwards from below, by the law of contrast;       tempt him to deny the transcendence of God and his
that is, from his view of the utter incompetency of the      absolute independence of the world. Guided by the
unregenerated man to do good (notice, the  utter             Holy Scriptures,  .he maintains the true mean between
incompetency of the unregenerated man to do good -           deism and pantheism. The Lord willing, we will con-
H.V.). The greater the corruption, the mightier must be      tinue with this in our following article.





In His Fear



                             The Heart of The Matter

                                                 Rev. John A. Heys



  With His divine finger God touched an extremely            thereby He expressed the very heart of the matter of sin
tender spot when He cut the tenth commandment into           against the neighbour.
the solid granite of the second table of the law. For          The tenth commandment might seem to hang on the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     421


end of the law and to serve merely the purpose of             coveteousness.  She coveted that which is God's and can
fulfilling the number ten to make the law an even             be His alone. And- therefore in a sense the very first
number of commandments. After we have heard the               commandment also forbids us to covet. Only this time it
preceding powerful precepts that punctuated our peace-        insists that we may not covet that which is God's. It
ful frame of mind with stacatto stabbings into our souls,     forbids us to rob God in our thoughts of any of His
convicting us of the evil that is in us, this last            &w.
commandment seems weak, mild and somewhat as a                  Although the tenth commandment does not speak of
safeguard, a final word that might take care of every         this covetousness but instead of coveting what is the
situation not covered by the other five of this second        neighbour's, we get to the heart of the matter of sin - of
table of the law. This especially becomes the case when       all sin - when we consider that first coveting of Adam
we come to the "..nor anything that is thy neighbour's."      and Eve. And we get to the heart of all sin against the
That general "anything" seems to cover matters quite          neighbour when we consider the evil covetousness that
well, and we can stop there as far as commanding is           found' its place in our hearts, when we began to covet
concerned.                                                    that which is God's alone. We say, "evil covetousness"
  But let no man deceive you in that respect. And             because all covetousness is not evil. To covet is to desire.
instead let us say, "Last but not least," when we refer to    And we were created to desire. We can as much stop
this tenth commandment. That it is last we cannot             coveting as we can stop breathing. And it can be as
deny. That it is least we may not maintain. Rather is its     sinful to cease to covet as it is to voluntarily seek to
position at the end of the law a sign of its importance.      cease to breathe. We will covet in the new Jerusalem,
We do, indeed, get to the heart of the matter here in this    and one of the blessings of that new Jerusalem is to be
last commandment.                                             able to covet all that which is truly good. Does not Paul
  The first commandment has its place because it is the       exhort us in I Corinthians 12:3 l? "But covet earnestly
basic commandment. All the sins forbidden in the nine         the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent
commandments that follow are due to the fact that man         way." Again in I Corinthians 14:39 he writes, "Where-
commits this sin of having another god before Jehovah.        fore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to
And if we truly keep this first commandment, we will          speak with tongues." But it is coveting that which God
keep all the other nine. When we break this first             has given to the neighbour that is sinful. And, if you
commandment, we do so in the nine ways pointed out            will, it is also evil coveting when we desire something
by the commandments that follow. The breaking of the          equal and similar to that which is the neighbour's to
first commandment comes to manifestation in breaking          keep our status symbol and to keep up with the Joneses.
one or more of the nine that follow. Whenever we sin            Behind all covetousness  ,that is sinful is sinful dis-
we always break the first commandment. It is because          content and dissatisfaction. A man covets that which he
we have another god in place of Jehovah that we make          does not have. When he has it he no longer needs to
idols to worship, and reject the truth as God has given it    covet it. He still desires it and does not throw it away,
to us in His Word. It is because we have another god          but coveting is desiring in the sense of being zealous -
before Him that we dare to take His name in vain and          this is also Paul's word in the two texts quoted above -
desecrate His sabbath. As Paul writes to the Philippians,     for that which we do not have. Those who have not the
"Their god is their belly." Well, then, on God's day we       gift of prophecy Paul tells to covet it. And he speaks of
will serve our god and seek the lust of the flesh;...         coveting the best gifts which as yet are not possessed.
Because we do not recognize Jehovah as God alone, we          Need we add here that there is also a righteous
will deal with His creature, the neighbour, as we please.     discontent and dissatisfaction? The psalmist declares in
And we will be a god unto ourselves. Let it be pointed        Psalm 17 that he will not be satisfied until he awakes
out Satan enticed Adam and Eve exactly to raise up            with God's likeness. He does not, you understand, mean
another god before Jehovah. He made them believe that         that likeness wherewith Satan tempted man. Adam and
he pointed out the way for them to become gods                Eve were like God when Satan tempted them to become
themselves. And under that lie man has lived ever since.      like God. They were created in His image and were
He has shelved Jehovah. He has assumed God's place            righteous as He is righteous. They were holy as He is
and claims the right to decide for himself what is good       holy. They had true knowledge and wisdom as He has
and what is evil. Never forget that every time that we        true knowledge and wisdom. And as He loves Himself,
sin, we say that we have a right to decide what is good       they loved God. Satan deceived them into thinking that
and what is evil. Not only do we say then that we have        they could be like God in His sovereign right to demand
the right, but we act as though `we have that right. And      and determine their conduct. Having become like the
the power of love in man was turned away from the             devil - and I say it reverently, we do look like the devil -
only God and inward to man himself, his own flesh and         we certainly today as regenerated children of God
now sinful self. Satan's very first approach was to seek      cannot and may not be satisfied until we are perfectly
to move man to covet God's position.' And Eve's first sin     righteous  .and holy and have true knowledge and
was not the eating of the forbidden fruit but that of         wisdom and a heart full of the love of God.


422                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


  But sinful coveting is dissatisfaction with God and             It is covetousness that leads to disobedience of the
discontent before Him. And this again accentuates the           authorities. It is because we covet a freedom that we
truth that whenever we sin, we break the  fast -com-            may not have, because God has placed men over us, that
mandment. For discontent before God and dissatis-               manifests itself in violations of the law. The child wants
faction with His works and coveting His position is             to go his own way. The rebel wants what is forbidden.
shelving Him as God to place ourselvks on His throne. In        And this desire for what one does not have produces
fact it amounts to inner dictating to the living God and        riots, rebellion, disobedience and lawlessness among
telling Him how to run His universe. We may not dare to         men. A covetous eye sees the possessions of the
say that to His face. But the thought of it dwells in our       neighbour and stimulates murderous thoughts in order
hearts as we are by nature. Paul speaks in Philippians of       to get them. Therefore it is that the commandments
Christ not even thinking the robbery to be equal with           forbids us to covet the neighbour's house. The same is
God. The idea is not in Philippians  2:6 that  - as the         true with his wife; and adultery is letting that covetous-
translation has it - He did not think that it was robbery       ness come to practice. Or when it is fornication between
to be equal with God since as to His Person He is the           the unmarried, it is due to coveting that which God has
Sqn of God and is essentially God. But the idea is that         thus far been pleased to keep from one. Theft and
even the thought of being God's equal never dwelt in            murder go hand in hand so often, as we pointed out
His human nature. He had no desire to sin in that way,          before. So do adultery and murder. And adultery is a
and therefore in no way whatsoever. Adam thought not            form of theft. But bebind them is covetousness. And the
that robbery until Satan whispered it in his ear through        tongue so readily wags because we covet the honor and
Eve. Adam came into this world perfectly content and            the high position of the neighbour which we want.
satisfied that God should be God alone and to be His              When we look around us we see civil disobedience,
friend-servant. Adam was quite content to stand in the          murder, adultery, theft and deceit. But we ought also to
reflection of God's glory and to shine with it as a             look inwardly; and then we will see covetousness as the
spiritual diamond. Adam did not even think of be-               very heart of the matter. If we can will only what God
coming a sun to shine with his own light. With the true         wills for us; if we can wait for Him to provide; if we can
knowledge wherewith he was created he knew that he              abide in perfect contentment without earthly lot; we
was only a creature and a servant of the Creator. The           will keep the five commandments that precede this
thought of being anything else was not there and would          tenth pronouncement of God's will for the rational-
never originate in his heart. Satan had to come with it in      moral creature. Out of the heart are the issues of life.
the lie spoken by the mouth of the serpent. Then Adam           And the psalmist in Psalm 15 declares that the man who
swallowed it and embraced it for the whole human race.          shall abide in God's tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill
And so today we all are born with that thought not only         walks uprightly and worketh righteousness. ,But we must
but are born with the desire and intent to pursue that          not stop there. He adds very significantly that such
thought with every power and faculty and opportunity            speak the truth in their hearts. And unless that heart
that we receive. Christ did not; and when Satan tried -         speaks the truth so that it is pure of covetousness, there
notably  in the temptation in the wilderness  - to get          will be no walking uprightly or working of righteous-
Him to entertain the thought, He drove Satan away with          ness. The hands of the clock will not tell the correct
the pronouncement that God is God and that we must              time, if the mechanism behind those hands and that face
worship Him alone and not dethrone Him by seeking to            is not in good working order. Our walk, our speech, our
satisfy our flesh.                                              actions will not be pleasing in God's sight and be
  Can you not see then why Paul writes, "Let this mind          according to His law unless we speak the truth in the
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in        heart. The heart of the clock must speak the truth, if
the form of God, thought not the robbery to be equal            the hands and face are to declare it unto us. Your and
with God." Unless our thinking is pure of such thoughts         my hearts must be free from coveting God's glory, if we
of robbery we cannot keep any one of God's command-             are to keep the first table of the law. But our hearts
ments. And is it not plain that behind all of the first five    must also be free from coveting what is the neighbour's,
commandments in the second table of the law so often            if we are to keep the second table of the law.
lies covetousness?

       Order Your Copy 0% The BookleB
                      "The Five mints  0
                                        Enclose $1, and send your order to:        Rev. M. Schipper
                                                                                   1543 Cambridge, S.E.
                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


                                                     THE  STAN'DAR6 BEARER                                                     423



A Cloud of Witnesses


                         DAVID ESTABLISHED IN JERUSALEM

                                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg

           And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto            So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of
         the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake    David, And David built around about from Mill0 and
         unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind        inward.
         and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking,       And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD
         David cannot come in hither.                               God of hosts was with him.
           Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion:                                        II Samuel 5:6,7,9,10
         and the same is the city of David. . . .

  David, being the warrior he was, had often noted in               should be in itself a type and a picture of God's greatest
his many travels-throughout the land of Israel one city             fulfillment of grace, the place at which He would dwell
more wonderfully fortified than any other. This city                in living communion with  His children  - the type of
was the city of Jerusalem, and so strong were its                   that new city in which He will dwell forever in living
fortifications that, except for a very short time in the            communion of life with His people.
early history of the judges, .it had remained securely in             Perhaps in the eyes of the world it can not be
the hands of the Jebusites. Neither the children of Israel          anything other than a note of irony to recognize that
nor any other invading force had ever again been able to            already here Jerusalem, the City of Peace, could not be
break the defenses of the city.                                     established unto its purpose without the fighting of a
  Actually, the city already then had had a long and                great battle. And that, of course, was only the be-
lustrous history. This was the city of Salem, meaning               ginning, for, from the days of David on, never has there
Peace, over which Melchizedek, the King of Righteous-               been a city anywhere over which so many wars have
ness,  .had reigned in the days of Abram.  We, know                 been fought and so much blood has been shed. But to
nothing at all about the preceding history of that city             those whose .discemment runs deeper, however, it is not
nor of yhat followed through the years when Israel was              strange at all. The city of God is by -its very nature
in Egypt. Just there, for a short moment upon the stage             antithetically related to this world of sin. It can only be
of history, the curtain of silence was drawn aside to               established and endure through constant strife with the
grant us a glimpse of that man who served as king and               powers of Satan which seek to overthrow it, even as its
priest of that great City in the name of Almighty God.              final and true king, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace
Yet as brief as the glimpse is (Gen. 14:  l&20), being              Himself, acknowledged that He could only bring a
king and priest of that chosen city in the name of God              sword to this world. It is only in the battle with this
was sufficient to establish him forever as one of the               world and sin that true peace can ever be obtained.
most beautiful foretypes of Christ in the Old Testament               The battle for which David now had to prepare,
(see Hebrews 7).                                                    however, was not an easy one. It was not just a matter
  It is not surprising, therefore, that David, being fully          of going out upon a field and engaging the Jebusites in
aware of all this, should come upon the idea of taking              battle. If this was all that was required, it would have
this city and establishing it as the center of life in the          been an easy matter, for the Jebusites had but  ti small
nation of Israel. Although it is not recorded for us, it is         force of men and any well organized army could well
likely that he consulted with God concerning this plan,             have defeated them in an open struggle. The difficulty
for at this point in his life David was most strongly               was with the city Jerusalem itself. Built asit was with its
aware of his utter dependence upon God in every move                wall straight up from the sides of a steep hill, the city
that he took. He consulted with God concerning all of               was simply inaccessible. It was a frustrating situation
his other battles, and no doubt he did here too. And the            just to be camped against the city and to try to figure
answer he then received was surely immediately encour-              out how one might take it. All around the city were hills
aging, for this city had been ordained by God from                  much higher than those upon which the city was built,
eternity and the hills built up as they were from the               but they were too far away for any projectile of any
beginning of time exactly with the purpose that this city           kind to be thrown across the valley. In the midst of
might be established not only as the site for some of the           these hills were those hills upon which Jerusalem rested
most important events of all world history, but that it             with walls so straight and smooth that there was no


424                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


known way to scale them. This was the strength of the          David and for the nation both for good and for evil.
Jebusite fortress and they knew it. Always they kept           Perhaps the most serious effect of all, however, was
their city well stocked with provisions which would last       more David's fault than Joab's. As time came on David
them through the longest siege, while special aquaducts        trusted in that man so completely that he tended more
had been tunneled through the hills themselves to the          and more to turn over responsibilities to him which he
flowing fountains in the valleys below, so that even           should have cared for himself, and to neglect one's own
water was no problem. Secure in their fortified city, the      personal responsibilities can only lead to results that are
Jebusites taunted the army of Israel, "Except thou take        not good.
away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in              As for David, the conquest of Jerusalem opened up to
hither." And what they said was only too true, the blind       him possibilities of an entirely new dimension. Here in
and the lame were sufficient to guard the tops of their        the ancient city of Melchizedek, he saw the possibility
walls, for no one would ever be able to scale them.            of establishing a city beautiful and strong, dedicated
  David, however, was a true tactician. Realizing that         completely to the service of Jehovah, Israel's God. As
the city could not be taken by the ordinary methods of         time went on it would become ever more the preoccupa-
attack, he began to search around in his mind for other        tion of his life, and of  his children, too, until finally
plans of attack. Thus it was that suddenly he hit upon         Jerusalem would become that city of which the Psalmist
the well known fact of this city's extraordinary water         would sing:
supply. The clever system of tunnels reaching down             Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
from-the heart of the city `into the bosom of the earth          in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
where the  .water founts flowed was one of the basic           Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion,
reasons' for, the city's strength and one of which the           on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. . :.
Jebusites often made their boast. The thought of David         Walk about Zion, and go round.about her:
was that, if the city was obtaining water from flowing           tell the towers thereof.
fountains, these same fountains must be emptying               Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her places:
themselves also into the valley. It left the possibility         that ye may tell it to the generation following.
open that they might be able to find. these fountains          For this God is our God for ever and ever:         .
and so find an entrance into the city through the very           he will be our guide even unto death.
heart of the earth. Thus it was that he called his warriors                                                  Psalm 4&l, 2, 12-14
together and said, "Whosoever getteth up to the gutter,
and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind,            Before David could begin to engage in this work,
that are hated of David's soul, he shall be  chief and         however, there were many other things which had to be
captain."                                                      cared for first,. and not the least of these was the
How long the search continued, we do not know, for             securing of his land against the enemies that surrounded
each and every flow of water into the valley had to be         it on every side.
carefully examined. Once again it was Joab, perhaps               Chief among all of the enemies of Israel for many
demoted to the ranks since his slaying of Abner, but           years had been the Philistines. David knew them well.
calculating and daring still, who found the entrance.          Not only had he fought many battles against them
What was required we can only imagine. It may well             beginning with his battle with Goliath, but he had also
have been that he had to wade through dark caverns             lived among them as an ally and a friend. Nevertheless,
filled with water or even to swim into water filled caves      it was they that made the first move. No sooner had
with no promise that he would ever be able to get out          they heard that all of Israel had united behind David
again. Nevertheless, in the end he found it, that              than they came in force against him, supposing, perhaps,
underground cavern in the heart of the earth from              that as yet he was sure to be unprepared and an easy
which the Jebusites were getting their water. Once it          victim.
was found, all that remained was for him to wait for              The fact was that David was quite unprepared for an
nightfall and under the cover of darkness crawl through        engagement of this dimension, and so he withdrew his
the gutters of tunnels which led into the heart of the         forces until he could better inquire of the Lord as to his
city. Once inside, it was no doubt a simple matter either      future actions. But the Philistines only pressed farther
to throw open the unguarded gates or to thrown down            into his land; and when David inquired, "Shall I go up
ropes from the walls, giving entrance to the whole force       to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine
of David.                                                      hand?" the answer came back, "Go up, for I will
  For Joab it meant that once again he was restored to         doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand."
full favor, His boldness and daring had always been of            The battle was short and the victory came easily to
the kind that David most  .admired, and now with full          David even though he was greatly outnumbered by the
heart he willingly restored Joab to his former position        enemy. In fact, so hasty was the retreat of the
of power and influence over the army. It was a move            Philistines that they left their gods behind them which
which in the future would have tremendous effects for          David burned in a great fire as a sign of his disdain.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     425


There David said also in a short verse; "The LORD hath           behind them, and come upon them over against the
broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the                 mulberry trees. And let it be, when thou hearest the
breach of waters," marking no doubt the fact that his            sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that
force had driven right through the center of the                 then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD
Philistine army. Accordingly he named the place of               go out before thee to smite the host of the Phihstines."
battle Baalperazim.                                              All that was needed this time was that he should cut off
  Still the Philistiiies  were not satisfied, or perhaps they    the retreat of the Philistine army while the Lord wouId
felt that if they were ever to be successful against David,      stir the hearts of the enemy to fear, to flight, and to
it had to be soon before he was completely organized.            destruction. The battle was still the Lord's, and in David
But again David inquired of God and the answer was               all would come to know it.
given, "Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass



All Around Us

                            Report of the Synod of 1968

                                                      Pro8 H. Hank0


GENERAL REMARKS                                                  Synod. While this made for gruelling  days and a certain
  We were deeply impressed with the synod of 1968.               weariness now, that it is all over, I am of the opinion
Not simply because there is something very wonderful             that when Synod is confronted with a large amount of
about our ministers and elders gathering from all parts          work, this is good. It gives Synod a proper amount of
of the country and the denomination to ponder and                time to ponder without undue haste the pressing
deliberate upon the problems of our churches, but also           problems of the Agenda, while not extending Synod
because the Synod was a manifestation of the basic               over too many days and putting the pressure of
healthiness of the churches  - a healthiness which can           deadlines upon the delegates.
only be ours by the continued blessings of God. There              It was equally impressive that the elders contributed
were serious problems with which Synod had to deal.              readily and constructively to the discussions and to the
The delegates were very conscious of the fact that we            final adoption of decisions. This was not a ministers'
labor as imperfect servants in an imperfect church. But          Synod. This is as it ought to be. The office of elders in
there could be no doubt by those present that God has            the  .church came to its own on this broadest  .eccle-
wonderfully blessed us and preserved us in His cause in          siastical assembly. And, judging from the part that the
these troubled times.                                            elders took in the discussions and deliberations, the only
  The first day of Synod was under the cloud of the              conclusion one can come to is that the Lord has blessed
assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy - a shocking             our congregations with elders who are very able to
reminder of the evil of our times in which the church is         function in their offices, who are deeply devoted to the
called to live. There was a deep awareness in Synod of           truth and to the cause of our churches, and who
the growing apostasy of the church world. And it was             sincerely and with all their hearts desire to see this cause
with one eye fixed upon current events that Synod felt           prosper. This, to me, is extremely encouraging.
the urgency of her calling, made her decisions, and
looked ahead to the work of the church.                          THE PRELIMINARY MEETINGS
  Although subjective impressions of Synod are some-               Synod began with the usual pre-synodical prayer
what arbitrary, nevertheless it is no exaggeration to say        service held in the auditorium of the calling church -
that Synod worked hard and long hours to do the work             First Church in Grand Rapids. Rev. C. Hanko preached
assigned to it with a proper amount of deliberation              on II Timothy 2: 19: "Nevertheless the foundation of
blended with due speed. The sessions were longer than            God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth
any we have had in this reporter's memory. All meetings          them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the
began at 8:00 instead of the customary 9:00 and lasted           name of Christ  .depart from iniquity." If any of our
till after 5:00 in the afternoon. Most, if not all, of           people wonder whether it is worth their while to
Synod's members were busy every night of the week                purchase an Acts of Synod, be assured that the inclusion
with committee work and other affairs related to                 of this sermon in the  Acts  alone makes the price of


426                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


$1.00 worthwhile. Rev. Hanko assured those who were             labors at home are not lagging. We do not know what
present and the delegates of Synod that it is impossible        work the Lord will call us to perform in this area in the
that the cause  of. God fail when the certainty of that         next year, but our churches must be prepared to face
foundation is rooted in eternal election itself. He             this calling and bend their energies to the work that is
pointed out that the assurance that we belong to that           sure to come.
cause is to be found in our desire to depart from                 Jamaica was discussed at length. A great deal of work
iniquity. This sermon was comforting and inspiring, an          has already been done on the island. Several times in the
altogether proper keynote with which to begin Synod.            past men have been sent to the people there to labor
  On Wednesday Synod met briefly to choose .officers            with them for periods of six to eight weeks. Revs. Heys
and appoint committees of pre-advice among whom the             and C. Hanko have, over the past year, been sending
work was divided. Rev. J. Heys was chosen as president;         lessons for instruction to these people in Old and New
Rev. M. Schipper as Vice-president; Revs. D. Engelsma           Testament History (stressing the doctrinal truths con-
and J. Kortering as clerks. A word of thanks ought to be        tained in this history) to teach them the beauty of the
expressed publicly for the capable leadership of Rev.           Word of God. As many as 60 people have participated in
Heys on the floor of Synod. With a deft hand, with              these study programs. Radio tapes are regularly sent to
firmness when it was needed, with sufficient flexibility        the island by the Radio Committee of First Church.
so that the rules of procedure did not obstruct Synod's         Tape recorders are used on the island both for the
work, with the able assistance of Rev. Schipper, Rev.           playing of the radio tapes and the playing of lessons for
Heys guided Synod through her deliberations and                 Bible History courses. Our people have donated Bibles,
labors. The spirit that prevailed, the hard work of the         Psalters and clothing to help them.
delegates, the dispatch of the business, was due in large         But Synod was not satisfied with what has, up till
measure to his capable leadership.                              now, been done. Once again four collections per year
                                                                will be taken to aid in their building program. And there
MISSIilN MATTERS                                                are other matters of finance. It is expensive to send a
       We cannot, in this report, touch upon all the work of minister and elder for a short time. But this was not the
Synod nor give even a resume of every item into which main concern. Synod was not satisfied with these labors
 Synod entered. We shall deal only with the larger because the men who have themselves been there
matters. Our people are urged to purchase a copy of the unanimously report that what is needed is concentrated
Acts.  when they become available and learn for them- and continuous work by a man who can work full time
selves of the work Synod did.                                   among God's people there. Considering this, Synod took
       Mission matters occupied a large place in Synod's the momentous step of instructing the Consistory of
 discussions and deliberations.                                 First Church to call a full-time missionary to labor on
       Our churches face today a two-fold calling in the area Jamaica. This is, most emphatically, a "first" in the
 of missions. On the one hand, it has been clear for some history of our churches. It is the first time that our
 time that the Lord has opened to us a door on the island churches will send a man outside the  .bounds of the
 of Jamaica. On the other hand, we have an increasingly Reformed church world to work in the spread of the
 urgent calling within our own land to speak to a church gospel. Synod was convinced that only in this way
 world moving rapidly in the direction of total apostasy would we be faithful to our responsibilities to those
 from the truth of the gospel. It is becoming increasingly who have so long pleaded with us: "Come over and help
 clear that the Lord has preserved His people in many us."
 denominations while these denominations officially                It is apparent, I think, and ought to be apparent to all
 pursue the vain dreams of evil men. It is becoming our people that this is going to involve sacrifice. This is
 increasingly clear that, under the pressures of wicked true in more than one sense. There is going to be an
 ecumenicity, the churches who care not for doctrine increased financial burden that will have to be borne by
 pursue their empty dreams of a one-world church, but           our people. It will involve the financial support of full
 that many faithful want no part of such a cynical time work in Jamaica as well .and the financial support
 sacrifice of the truth. And all this points to the pressing    of the labors which must be performed on the home
 urgency of the faithful to seek each other and join front. But it was remarked more than once on Synod
 hands in the cause of Christ.                                  that if our churches look ahead to the future and
       To both these matters Synod gave its attention. A expand their labors as God has called us to perform
 tremendous amount of work is being done on the them, our people will respond with the support which is
 "home-front" by' our local congregations in their in- needed. We live in times of affluence, and it ought to be
 dividual church-extension programs. The importance of a joyful privilege rather than a burden to support the
 our radio ministry in this area of work also came to           work that so sorely needs doing.
 Synod's attention. And the work of lecturing, of our              But (and, perhaps more importantly) our people will
 Standard Bearer, of our ministers sent to various areas be called to sacrifice in another way. Our ministers will
 by the Mission Committee all demonstrate that the be called away from their pulpits more often even than


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          427


now. to fill the need. One will have to go to Jamaica to     direction, although also this will take some time. It
labor there full time. But the ministers who remain will     might be worthwhile to consider the possibility of
have to labor outside their own congregations in various     making this a project to commemorate the 45th
endeavors here at home. If areas demand our attention        anniversary of our churches. More on these programs
and people cry for our help, we cannot neglect their         will appear in a future Seminary Newsletter.
calls on the home front but must be willing to share our
ministers with those who need them.                          ECUMENICAL MATTERS
   In .the meantime, Rev. J. Heys and Mr. T. Feenstra,         Two matters came to Synod's attention which can be
the Lord willing, will make a trip to Jamaica to carry on    included under the church's ecumenical calling.
the work until a man' can be sent. We commend these            The first is an invitation from the International
two brethren to the Lord as they soon depart the             Council of Christian Churches  ,of which Dr. Carl
mainland and earnestly beseech God's blessing upon           McIntyre is president, to attend the  .Seventh Plenary
them and the brethren and sisters they will visit.           Congress to be held August 14-25 at Cape May, New
                                                             Jersey. A similar invitation had come to us to attend the
 THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL MATTERS                                  Sixth Plenary Congress held in 1965 in Geneva, Switzer-
   As far removed as matters of the Theological School land. In 1965 the Synod decided "not to accept the
seem to be from the work of missions, it was, no doubt, invitation to the Sixth Plenary Congress of the ICCC"
in the consciousness of our urgent mission calling that on the grounds that "(1) One-third of the church's
 Synod took some far-reaching decisions with respect to membership in the ICCC comes from the Holiness
our Theological School.                                      Churches; (2) Many of the other member denominations
   Of most immediate importance for the moment is the are outside the pale of Calvinistic Protestantism." This
fact that our Synod had the privilege of examining Mr. year the Synod declined the invitation on the same
Richard Moore. Synod was very pleased with his grounds.
 examination and unanimously decided to declare him a          The second matter was  ,an invitation from the
candidate for the ministry in our churches. The gradua- Reformed Ecumenical Synod to attend their next
tion was held in First Church, Tuesday evening, June meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on August
 11. More details will appear in our  Standard Bearer 12-23. The Foreign Correspondence Committee had
concerning this matter. We commend him to the been instructed last year "to come with specific recom-
churches and look forward to an alleviation of our mendations with regard to what our churches' official
ministerial shortage.                                        relation to the R.E.S. is and should be in the future." In
   Synod decided on a large expansion of our Seminary response to this mandate the Committee had called
program. This has been discussed for a couple of years, attention to the basis of the RES pointing out that we
and `in 1968 Synod was ready to move ahead. The are in "full agreement with the Doctrinal Basis of the
Theological School Committee had, in the past  .few
months, done a tremendous amount of work in this area RES in so far as it refers to Scripture and the
and had come with a complete report to Synod which Confessions". But the committee added that we could
was adopted. The plan to go into  .effect will be the not agree with two points. The chief of the objections
beginnings of a pre-seminary program in which our centered in the statement of the Basis: "It  ,has to be
young men will be taught by our own school in their emphasized that only a wholehearted and consistent
college subjects as well as in the subjects of the regular return to this Scriptural truth, of which the Gospel of
seminary curriculum The plan will be put into effect Jesus Christ is the core and apex, can bring salvation to
only gradually. While it will, the Lord willing, begin this mankind and effectuate the so sorely needed renewal of
coming September, it will take more than five years the world." While our churches are invited to attend not
before all the necessary subjects are added. And, before as full participants but only as observers, nevertheless, it
the full program will be realized, another professor will is a rule of the RES that also the observers must sign the
have to be added to the Seminary faculty. But this is all basis and express agreement with it. The committee
for the future. The important matter is that the Synod made four observations in this connection which were
is looking ahead to the expansion of the Seminary adopted by Synod:
program and is making every effort to provide a                  Neither Scripture nor the confessions hold forth the
                                                                 hope of such a wholehearted and consistent return to
complete education for our ministers in our own                  the truth of Scripture of which this statement speaks.
institutions.
   Secondly, with respect to our Seminary, the Synod             Neither Scripture nor the confessions hold forth the
looked ahead to the need for other quarters. If the              expectation of a renewal of the world through such a
above program is to be completely effected, other                wholehearted and consistent return.
quarters will have to be provided eventually to have.            Neither Scripture nor the confessions speak of an
adequate facilities for instructing a number of students.        effectuating of either such a wholehearted and con-
A general plan was approved to proceed in this                   sistent return or of such a renewal of the world.


428                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


       On the contrary, Scripture and the confessions speak           their basis which we make. It would be a wonderful
       of the renewal of all things through the wonder of             thing if we could participate with the RES in this way.
       grace in our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the calling of the         There were many other items which came to Synod's
       church to be a witness of the light in the midst of the        attention for which we have to time or space here. In
       darkness of this present world, and to maintain and            conclusion therefore: Synod dealt patiently and with
       proclaim the truth of the gospel, in order that the
       church may be gathered and preserved, with a view to           obvious concern with the problems which at present
       the coming of our Lord and the realization of this             trouble us. Synod, with faith in the promises of God
       renewal of all things.                                         looked ahead to the future and, confident of our calling
                                                                      and of God's blessing, faced courageously the work that
  Yet it was believed that we ought not to turn our                   needs to be done in these days in which all things speak
backs upon the RES because of this. It was therefore                  so loudly of the nearness of the end.
decided to ask, the RES whether they would accept                        May God bless .what Synod did for the well-being of
`tobservers" from our churches with the reservations to               our churches.


Feature

                           That Wonderful Gift of  MemoryJ
                                                      (continued from June 1 issue)


                                                            Rev. J.A. Heys

  Having considered that memory is that power of the                   results of touching what is hot. You can assure that
mind whereby we have been enabled by God to receive                    child that the electric toaster is off and that it will not
into our minds, retain within them, and then recall a                  hurt him; but if he touched it and burned his finger, he
countless number of facts about a variety of objects, let              is going to remember that and shy away from the
us also consider what a wonderful gift it is by considering            unplugged toaster as well as the toaster that is plugged
the value that it has for us. And I can put it very bluntly            into the electric socket. But without memory we would
and state that without it our life would be nothing but a              never learn anything. Nothing that we saw, heard,
vegetable life. Everything we do as human beings                       smelled, touched, or tasted would make any impression
depends upon memory. What kind of work could we                        upon us. None of this would be stored away for future
perform without remembering tools and methods, to                      use.
say nothing of the object on which we are going to                        Life for us would be no richer than that of a cabbage
work? The most menial task requires memory. It is not                  plant. Even the animals have a reflection of memory.
simply the deep thinker, the scientist, the chemist with               Most of it, probably, is a matter of suggestion. But they
all his formulae, and the mathematician with his                       certainly receive facts into their brains. Dogs learn their
principles that needs to retain facts and to recall them.              names. They remember faces and smells. They re-
To sweep a floor you have to remember what a broom                     member sounds, and when you step on the porch, they
is. To wash dishes you will have to remember to put                    know the sound of your feet and will not bark a
water in the pan. And what would our family life be                    warning but a greeting. Without memory we would be
like, if we could not remember who our children were? I                far inferior to them And they can also dream. And in a
would fear for you ladies getting home tonight, if you                 limited way they can recall. Stories are told of dogs who
could not remember which way to go home, which                         grieved because ,their masters did not return. And that is
house was yours on which street, where the door was,                   possible only by an act of bringing to mind that master.
what key to use, and the like. We are constantly                       But a cabbage plant cannot do any of this; and we
depending upon some fact in the recesses of our minds                  would be no better without that wonderful gift.
for the next act which we perform.                                        With it life becomes very rich. We can, as we
  And even life itself requires knowledge and memory                   suggested a moment ago, relive our whole past, bring
of that knowledge. If we cannot remember what is good                  back time and time again for re-enjoyment some event
food and what is poison, we will not live long. If we do               of years ago. This is what enables people to speak of the
not remember that fire burns, we will suffer fatal burns               "good old times." Maybe we color things as we recall,
some day. A child learns by experience exactly because                 but the fact is there, that we can have present joy about
that child remembers. He remembers, for example,                       a past experience because of memory. The same, of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     429


course, is true with sad experiences and mistakes we          we can remember the God Who gave and can come
have made. But more of this presently. Because of             before His face with thanksgiving.
memory we are able' to be taught and to teach our               It stands to reason, then, that having this wonderful
children. Learning is really adding to the number of          gift, we also have a calling with it. That calling is
facts which we have already stored away in the mind.          certainly to make use of it. We must store away as much
And wisdom is the ability to sort them out and collect        truth as we can, and that means expose ourselves to it,
them for the successful attainment of a prescribed goal.      to see as much, hear as much, taste and smell as much,
  But what interests me, and, I am sure, you as well, is      and touch as much truth as we possibly can. You cannot
this wonderful gift in the sphere of the spiritual and in     recall what is  .not received and retained. This is
the area of our salvation. Without it there is no             extremely important also to remember in regard to our
salvation. Because without it there is no faith, hope, and    children. Not less doctrine and more of the world, but
love. Without memory we have no truth of God in our           .more and more doctrine they should receive, even as
minds to recall for trust and confidence in Him. Without      there is such a development of false ,doctrine that seeks
memory we have no promises of God kept in the mind            to find a place in those minds. And it stands to reason
to which we can cling and for which we can long. There        that to teach them facts of truth to remember, we have
is no longing without memory of the object which is           to know and remember them ourselves.
promised us. Without memory there is no one upon                Now Scripture points out to us two basic truths to
whom to fix our love. We cannot love a God Whom we            remember. First of all, although it is addressed to youth,
do not know. And we cannot know Him if the truth              it applies to us. Solomon says,  `!Remember now thy
concerning Him does not "stick" in our minds. Re-             Creator in the days of thy youth." That is basic. God is
member what we said a moment ago: Israel's sin is             the Creator of all, and all our thinking and acting must
summed up in those words, "They forgot the Lord their         revolve around that truth. Forget all this atheism and
God." This means that they did not love Him; and He           theistic evolution, and remember that God made you
was not in their hearts and minds in love. Therefore          and all the world in which you live. In all the matters of
they went against Him                                         your natural life remember that. Then you will realize
  And without faith, hope, and love there is no               that you and all that which you see, hear, smell, taste,
salvation. These .are part of our salvation and mean that     and touch is His as the Creator of all. And you will see
we do in love retain the knowledge of God as God; that        yourselves as His stewards and royal priesthood. Re-
we retain in our minds His promises, long for them, and       membering Him as our Creator is to remember His law
expect them to be fulfilled and comfort ourselves in          which as Creator He gives us and in fact expresses that
regard to them by recalling them; that God is in that         according to which He created us. Remembering that
mind as the object of our love and that we remember to        law we will be kept in a way that is pleasing in His sight.
keep His commandments. And, as Paul writes in                 Listen to a versification once again from Psalm 119:
Ephesians 2: 8, it is through faith that we are saved.             In danger oft and nigh to death,
Take faith away, and there is no hope: for faith is the            Thy law remembered is my aid;
subst.ance of things hoped for. Take faith away, and               The wicked seek my overthrow,
there is no love: for no man loves that which he does              Yet from Thy truth I have not strayed.
not believe exists.                                             Without remembering that law we do not remember
  Consider, too, that it is memory that makes you and         Him as Creator, and without remembering Him as
me capable of confessing our sins, of fleeing to the cross    Creator we will not walk in His commandments but
for forgiveness, of remembering those deeds whereby we        stray under the pressure of the ungodly. It cannot be
may express our gratitude to God for so great deliver-        stressed too strongly that we must know His command-
ance from such an awful misery.                               ments and remember them at all times, but especially in
  But now that we do have this gift of memory we can          times of stress and temptations. And in this instance
know the blessings of God's covenant. We can know our         remembering means having them consciously before us
sin and misery. We can know our way of deliverance. We        when we are tempted to do otherwise.
can know how to express gratitude to God. And when I            And we will slip. We are yet in the flesh with all its
say "know" I mean that we can draw from the                   lust, and therefore there is that second basic matter
storehouse of fact in our minds these truths to comfort,      which we are to remember. It is before us every Sunday
direct, and control us in all of our activities. Now we       when we congregate to worship. It is before you at this
can live in God's promises, review in our minds and           moment engraven  in the table of communion, "Do this
before our children the whole glorious truth from our         in remembrance of Me." We are to remember the
creation and fall unto life in the new Jerusalem, which       Creator, but also the Christ. We are to remember our
now already we can see because we remember what God           calling before the Creator, but also the cross of Christ.
said about it in His Word. In afflictions and persecu-        Then we will find comfort and peace for our souls. For
tions, in adversity of every sort we can comfort              us the "judgments of old" are the judgments based upon
ourselves in the truth which we remember. In prosperity       that cross; and therefore we can say more clearly and


430                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


with more consciousness of the beauty of it, "I                of today. We ought to be diligent in our study for our
remembered Thy judgments of old, 0 Lord; and have              societies, read our religious periodicals, attend our
comforted myself." Forget the Creator, and we will             worship services as often as possible, take time just to sit
walk in sin. But then forget the cross, and we will lose       down and reflect on God's promises and REMIND one
all comfort and confidence of God's covenant.                  another of them Reminding is an invaluable tool in
  And we better take time to make good use of this             remembering.
memory and teach our children, so that they have the              By this meditation and contemplating, by reviewing
truth to receive and retain and then recall for their          in our minds God's goodnesses by means of this
godly walk of life and comfort of salvation's promises.        wonderful power of memory, we will be able to say to
0, it is proper that we teach them the matters of their        our souls and to others, "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and
earthly life, but then in such a way that they know and        forget not all His benefits." Is that not an  awful thing,
remember their Creator. The fear of the Lord is the            to forget one of them? A thankful people is a people that
beginning of wisdom. Be sure that they get this, or            remembers the God of our salvation in Christ. And a
otherwise all their learning will serve to make them           truly joyful people is a people that remembers that
forget the Lord their God. It is either. . . or. Learning      God's memory is perfect and that He will therefore
serves to remember God, or it serves to cause us to            fulfill all His promises to us. _ We will be sure that Christ
forget Him and to go our own way.                              will return with salvation for us. We will be sure that He
  Let us also cultivate that memory. Use it, but develop       remembers that OUR names are written in the Lamb's
it as well. I know that youth is the time for study; and       book and that Christ has blotted out all of our guilt. In
then the mind is clearer and more receptive to learning.       the way of that wonderful gift of memory we will have
But while we have command yet of our mental powers,            something wonderful to hold on to in the dreadful days
we ought to commit more and more of the truth to               ahead; and with us it also shall be that we comfort
memory. We ought to have it at our mind's "fingertips"         ourselves and others by remembering and reminding .of
in order to defend the `truth in the midst of all the error    God's judgments of old.

                          NOTiCE                                                   ANNIVERSARY
  Following our normal publication schedule, the                 On July 5, 1968, our beloved parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Standard Bearer will appear only once per month during         John Knoper, hope to celebrate their 45th wedding
July and August.                                               anniversary.
                                                                 We, their children, are thankful to our covenant God
                                                               for sparing them for one another and for us these many
                                                               years.
                    ANNOUNCEMENT                                 Our prayer is that God may continue to bless them in
  Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will        the remaining  yeus of their pilgrimage.
meet, D.V., on Wednesday, July 3, 1968, at 9 A.M., in          Their grateful children:
the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                 Mr. and Mrs. G. Bouwkamp
Rapids, Michigan. Consistories will please take note of           Mr. and Mrs. D. Knoper
this in the appointment of their delegates.                       Prof. and Mrs. H. Hanko
                                        M. Schipper, S.C.           and 18 grandchildren
                                               -:

                                    CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

  All young men desiring to study for the ministry of             3. You must be a graduate from High School, being
the Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and              able to show that you have completed a one-year course
who have not already been pre-enrolled, are asked to           in History General and Church History, and that you
appear before the Theological School Committee on its          have completed the following College courses: Latin -
next meeting which will be held D.V. on Wednesday,             two years, Greek  - two years, German  - two years,
July 10, 1968 at 8:00 p.m. at the First Protestant             Dutch - two years, Philosophy - one year, Psychology -
Reformed Church of .Grand Rapids, Michigan.                    one year, Logic - one. semester.
  The qualifications requisite to enrollment are the              All correspondence relative to the. above announce-
following:                                                     ment should be sent to the undersigned:
       1. You must present a letter from your local  con-
sistory certifying that you are upright in walk and pure                 Secretary of the Theological School Committee
in doctrine.                                                             Rev. J. Kortering
   2. You must present a certificate of health, signed by                1.55 1 Wilson Ave., S.W.
a reputable physician.                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504


                                                   THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                 431


                 NdTICE OF CANDIDACY                                                  IN MEMORIAM
The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches,                 The Ladies Aid Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church,
having examined Seminarian Richard Moore, 119                  mourns the loss of a faithful member,
Fitzhugh S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, declares Mr.                                  MRS. F. PIPE, SR.
Moore to be a Candidate for the Ministry of the Word           whom the Lord called Home on June 4, 1968 at the age
and Sacraments in the Protestant Reformed Churches,            of 82 years. Ps. 84: 14 "For this God is our God forever
and eligible to receive a call on or after July 7, 1968.       and ever, He will be our guide even unto death."
         Stated Clerk of the Synod of the                                                         Mrs. T. Newhof, Sr., Pres.
         Protestant Reformed Churches                                                              Mrs. J. Newhouse, Sec'y.
         Rev. D.H. Kuiper


                                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian School needs 1 Junior          The Consistory of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
High Teacher for the 1968-69 School year. A teacher            Church expresses its sympathy to her pastor and family
that could fill a part-time position would also be             in the sudden death of his brother
considered. If you can fill this need, please contact:                         ANTHONYVANDENBERGE
                                                               whom the Lord removed suddenly and unexpectedly
   Mr. Clare Kuiper                                            from this earth on June 6, 1968. May the Lord comfort
    2450 Boulevard Dr., S.W.                                   the  .family and all that sorrow in this loss with His
    Wyoming, Michigan 49509                                    promise, "I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and
    Phone LE 4-0098                                            prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
                                                               you until myself; that where I am, there ye may be
                                                               also." John 14: 2, 3.
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   The ConsistoryJ. W. Regnerus, Clerk
The Mary-Martha Society of the Hope Protestant
Reformed Church of Redlands,  Calif., expresses their
sincere sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. C. Hanko,
and her family, in the loss of her mother,
                   MRS. ARIE GRIFFIOEN                                                       NOTICE!
II Timothy 4:8 - "Henceforth there is laid up for me a         The new Stated Clerk of the Protestant Reformed
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous          Churches is:
judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only,                   Rev. D. H. Kuiper
but unto all them also that love his appearing."                        225 Pierce Street
                             Mrs. Albert Karsemeyer, Sec'y.             Randolph, Wise. 53956


                                             S U B S C R I P T I O N   D R I V E

Enclosed find $-. For this amount, at the rate of $5 per subscription:
         -Please renew my own subscription for  - year(s).
         -Please send a gift subscription to the enclosed name and address.
         -Please send a gift subscription to a name and address of your choosing.
                                                               Gift subscription to:
Name                                                           Name
Street or R.F.D.                                               Street or R.F.D.
City                                                           City
State                                 Zip code                 State                                    Zip code
                               (Note: Mail this promptly to     The Standard Bearer,
           (offer void after September 1, 1968)                 1326 W. Butler Ave., SE,
                                                                Grand Rapids, Mich. 49507)


 432                                                THE S T A N D A R D   BEARER



                                     News From Our Churches

                                                        Report of Classis East
                                                   April 3,1968 - May 22,1968
                                                           At First Church.
   Rev. J.A. Heys led in the opening devotions, and by order of        pertinent .materia.l which could not be treated in April; and Cl&is
rotation was succeeded by Rev. J. Kortering.                           decided to meet again May 22, 1968 to hear and treat the report
   All the churches were represented by two delegates each. Much       of the committee. The Study Committee consisted of the Revs; J.
of the fnst part of this session was taken up with routine matters,    Kortering and R Harbach, and Elders H. Lubbers and D.
such as reading of the minutes, reports of the Stated Clerk and        Langeland.
Classical Committee,. appointment of a finance committee con-            Church Visitors were chosen, namely, Revs. M. Schipper and
sisting of Elders D. Langeland and R. Teitsma.                         H. Veldman, with Rev. G. Lubbers as alternate for both.
   Classis  honored a request from  Classis  West to help in the         Rev. G. Lubbers was chosen to succeed himself on the Classical
matter of their pulpit supply. A committee, consisting of Rev. G.      Committee.
Van Baren and Elders D. Meulenberg and P. Cnossen, prepared a            Mr. T.  Elzinga was appointed to thank the ladies of First
schedule which was later adopted as follows:                           Church for their excellent catering.
South Holland - Apr. 21 - R. Harbach Apr. 28 - G. Lubbers                The Questions of Article 41 of the Church Grder wereasked
May 5 - J. Kortering May 19 - H. Veldman May 26 - G. Van               and answered satisfactorily.  Classis decided to hold its next
Baren June 2 - M. Schipper June 9 - G. Lubbers June 23 T J.            regular meeting on Wednesday, July 3, 1968 at Southwest
Kortering June 30 - J. Heys July 7 - G. Van Baren July 21 - G.         Church.
Lubbers Aug. 4 - J. Heys Aug. 11 - H: Veldman Aug. 25 - M.               On the extended meeting, held May 22nd, some matters of
Schipper Sept. l- - G. Van Baren Septk 8 - M. Schipper Sept. 15        correspondence were called to the attention of  Classis  ,by the
- R Harbach Sept. 22 - J. Kortering.                                   Stated Clerk and filed for information.
                                                                         Holland requested Classis to supply them with pulpit supply
Hull - Apr. 28, May 5 - G. VanBaren June 23,30, July 7 - H.            while their pastor, subject to approval of Synod, would be
Veldman July 28, Aug. 4  2 M. Schipper Aug. 18; 25  - J.               laboring in Jamaica.  Classis  adopted the following additional
K o r t e r i n g .                                                    supply schedule: Holland - June 30 - M. Schipper July 7 - R.
Dahotas  - May 5, 12, 19 - J. Heys May 26, June 2, 9 - R.              Harbach July 14 - J. Kortering July 21 - G. Van Baren July 28
Harbach.                                                               - H. Veldman. Aug. 1 - G. Lubbers.
   The Classical Committee informed Classis that Rev. G. Lubbers         In closed session  Classis treated a study committee report
was sent to Hull for two Sundays in March. Classis  approved this      relative to two documents from one source and one from
action.                                                                another.
  In closed session Classis  read several protests and appeals. A        Classis .adjourned at approximately 4 P.M. on the afternoon of
committee of Pm-advice was appointed to study some of the              May 22nd.                                        M. Schipper, S.C.
                                                              *  *  .a *  *

   At this writing, Synod has completed the  examina-                     The Northwest Iowa Prot. Ref. Chr. School held its
tion of Seminarian R. Moore and has declared him a                     first Graduation Exercises May 24, 1968. The grad-
candidate for the ministry in our churches., A gruelling uating class-of five young people chose  Psalm 23 for
examination, lasting more than a day and a half,                       their class text and "The Lord is my Shepherd" as the
convinced the delegates that Student Moore has indeed                  class motto. Rev. R. Decker was the commencement
been well-instructed by the staff of our Seminary and                  speaker, who chose Ps. 23: 1 for the theme. Mr. Fred
has been unreservedly qualified to take his place among                Hanko opened the meeting with prayer, and Mr. E. Van
those ,who are to heed Christ's commission, "Feed my                   Egdom led in closing prayer. What a thrilling event that
sheep."                                                                must have been for everyone concerned, to reap the first- -~
                          *  * *  * *                                  fruits of their concerted efforts of the last few years!
   Synod's choice of meeting-place met with some                                                  *  *  * *  *
drawbacks. Due to the unceasing pounding overhead by                      From the area bulletins we lift the following:
the carpet-layers on the main floor of First Church, the               "Covenant Chr. High  School Drive goes over the top!
meeting was moved to Southeast Church temporarily `to                  The supporters of Covenant gave and pledged an
avoid distraction for examiner and student alike. After                amount slightly in excess of the  $38,164.00  goal.
this order of business was completed, the delegates again              Almost 100 men participated in the drive, which saw an
found shelter from the heat spell which plagued the area               increase  in the size of the gifts and the percentage of
in the comparative coolness of the basement rooms of                   participants." .
First Church. Due to the heavy load  .of business, the                    * * * see you in  churchl
delegates decided to lengthen their work day and hold                                                                             J.M.F.
sessions from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.


