                                    he

                             tandard


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



In This Issue:


         Meditation-

                  Living Christ's Life in the Flesh

         Editorial-

                  The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert (5)

         News  Feature-

                  Covenant Christian High School Dedication
                                                 (In Word and Photo)

         The  Y in Youth




                                                    Volume XL VfNumber  2/Ott.  15, 1968


 26                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                               CONTENTS:                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
Meditation -                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
       Living Christ's Life in the Flesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . -26            Editor-in-Chief: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

Editorials -                                                                      Department Editors:  Mr. John M. Faber, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                                     Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
       Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29       Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper,  Rev. Gise J.
       The Erring Views of Dr. Kuitert (5) . . . . . . . . . . .29                   Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
                                                                                  Editorial Office: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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       Varia...................................31
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 Meditation


                                               living Christ's Life In The Flesh
                                                                     Rev. M. Shipper


                                               "And the life which I now live ins the flesh I live by
                                           the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
                                           himself for me. "
                                                                                               Galatians 2: 20b

       The apostle Peter had defected and played the part of                      the apostles and elders, he had concluded with them
 a hypocrite!                                                                     that Christ was the end of the law to all who believe,
       While he was in Jerusalem and gathered there with                          whether of the Jews or the Gentiles. He confessed with


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER,                                                 27


them that the church of the new dispensation enjoyed a            Take special note of this name! It is the Saviour's
peculiar freedom which those of the old dispensation            official name. It refers to Him in His official capacity, as
could not and did not possess. He showed to the church          the Anointed Servant of God. It designates Him as the
that spiritually the distinction between Jew and Gentile        one who is both appointed and qualified by the Holy
no longer existed, and therefore he thought nothing of          Spirit to give life.
it to eat with the Gentiles.                                       Son of God!
  But when he came to Antioch he withdrew himself,                Mere man cannot give life. Not even Christ according
urging others, even Barnabas, to withdraw with him,             to His human nature. Man, also Christ according to His
refusing to eat with the Gentiles out of fear of them           human nature, is dependent on God for life. God only
who were of the circumcision. Evidently he advocated a          can and does give life, and He does it in and through His
return to the Old Testament ceremonies.                         Son. Jesus Himself said, "Even as the Father hath life in
  And Paul withstood Peter to the face before all the           Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in
church!                                                         Himself, and to give it to whomsoever He will." (John
  The apostle showed clearly how hypocritically Peter           5:26).
had acted. How on the one hand he purported to be                 Life - What is life?
justified by the work of Christ; while on the other, he           Like so many other concepts we so freely use yet find
encouraged the ceremonial rites - work righteousness.           so difficult to define, so is the concept - life. Even the
The apostle makes plain how the one simply excludes             dictionary gives no final satisfaction in defining what
the other. Either Christ is all our righteousness, and the      life essentially is. This does not mean, however, that we
works of the law are of no value; or, the law is still in       are entirely at a loss to observe some of its characteris-
force, and Christ has died in vain. Having Peter and            tics. For example, if we look at the organism the tree, it
those who dissembled with him in mind, Paul `declares           is easy to observe that the life of a tree is its constant
that if he believed both, and acted accordingly, he must        adaptation to the law in which this creature was created,
needs be a transgressor. This is what Peter was!                namely, the soil, and the air, in which it is  plante'd.
  No, says the apostle, the law has made me dead, in            Remove it from the soil and deprive it of air, and the
order that I should live unto God. That was the very            tree dies. The same is true, forexample, of the fish. The
purpose of the law  - that it should slay me. Through           law for the fish is the water. As long as the fish can
my inability to fulfil it, I know my misery and death.          constantly adapt itself to that law which was created for
Thus the law was as a school-master leading me to Christ        this creature it is said to live. Remove the fish from the
and through Him to God and life. I am crucified with            water and it dies.
Christ, and .because I am become one plant with Him; I            Though it may be a little more difficult to define the
also now live - because Christ lives in me.                     life of man, the rational-moral creature, because he is
  Hence, the life which I now live in the flesh I live by       more than an animal, nevertheless also here the principle
the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave             applies. Man may be said to possess a two-fold nature;
Himself for me!                                                 on the one hand there is the earthly aspect in which like
  The text may very well be understood in the figure of         the animal he must constantly adapt himself to the law
a circle with its parts. There is first of all the              of his creation, the soil and air, to live. He must have
circumference; then the radius, i.e., the line drawn from       bread to eat and water to drink and air to breathe. But
the center to the circumference; and then there is the          man was so created that he cannot live by bread alone.
center of the circle. If one were to determine the              He is more than an animal. He is a  rational-moral-
circumference, geometry has posited the theorem  -              spiritual being, who was created to stand in the law of
radius squared times Pi (3.1416) equals circumference.          God: the law that dictates: Thou shalt love Me with all
Paul is speaking in the text about the circumference of         thine heart and mind and soul and strength. In one
his life - it is in his flesh. To reckon what that life must    word, man was created in the image of God. So long as
be, you must take into consideration the radius, that is,       man abode in that law he lived. As soon as he removed
faith of the Son of God, and the center where the radius        himself from that law he died. Now the natural man is
begins, namely, the life of Christ which is in the center       born spiritually dead. Physically and naturally he lives as
of my life. So we have: Living Christ's life in our flesh!      long as he breathes air, eats bread, and drinks water.
  Notice, first of all, then the source of this life!           Spiritually, however, he is unable to adapt himself to
  Paul makes special emphasis in the first part of the          the law of the love of God. He is therefore spiritually
verse 20 that: Christ liveth in me!                             dead.
  "Nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in            Here is the miracle of grace! God recreates those
me!"                                                            whom He has chosen, not only restoring to them the life
  Here it is plain that the apostle lives, yet the life he      man originally possessed before the fall, but raising it up
lives is not his but Christ's, which lives in him. So the       to eternal, heavenly life in and .through His Son, Who is
source of his life is Christ!                                   called. in the Scriptures not only the Prince of life, but
  C h r i s t !                                                 also the expressed image of the Father. So that the elect


28                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


of God are recreated into the image of Christ. They                         That is, the body of this flesh, this mortal flesh
possess in principle the life of regeneration, resurrection              wherewith I come into contact with the world, this
life  - life that can never end. So that they not only                   present evil world in which I am called to be as of the
know God but love Him with all their hearts. "This is                    party of the living God.
eternal life, that they may know thee the only true God                     That flesh that never willeth any good thing! That
and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." (John  17:3).                      never wants to go to heaven, that always delights in that
United to Christ so perfectly are they that when He was                  which is sinful, that always causes me grief, that never
crucified they were crucified, when He died they.died,                   wants to do the will of God! That flesh also has its town
when He arose they arose, when He ascended up on high                    will, and still often brings me into subjection to the evil.
they ascended, and in Christ they now live in heavenly                   Hence, as the same apostle expresses it in his epistle to
places. As the apostle expresses it, "I am crucified with                the Romans: "I find then a law, that, when I would do
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in             good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of
me."                                                                     God after the inward man: But I see another law in my
        The Source of my life is the Son of God!                         members, warring against the law of my mind, and
        Who loved me!                                                    bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
        Who gave Himself for me!                                         my members. 0 wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:
        Constantly adapted to Him I live!                                21-24a).
        He is the center of my life!                                        Nevertheless I live!
      But how does that life become manifest? How does it                   And the life I live in the flesh is the life of the Son of
appear in the circumference of my life as I live it in the               God!
flesh in the midst of the world?                                            And this life I live by faith!
      The apostle now points to the radius, that is, the line               Victorious life it is, because it is born of God! `"For
drawn from the center to the circumference, when he                      whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and
says: "I live by the faith of the Son of God."                           this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
      Faith! A certain, assured, spiritual knowledge; and a              faith." (I John 5:4).
hearty confidence!                                                          Thus what is essentially invisible becomes visible in
      Not my hand that clings to Christ! But God's gift,                 my life as I live it in the body of this flesh which would
and God's power, uniting me so perfectly to the Son of                   not have it so. It must become manifest that Christ lives
God that His life dwells in me consciously. And it lies in               in me and that the life I really possess proceeds from the
the nature of this faith that it gives nothing, it does not               Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
contribute; but only receives. It feeds on the Son of                       He saved me in order that I might live unto Him. And
God as He is revealed in the Scriptures, the gospel of our               if it is He Who lives in me, my life must surely become
salvation.                                                               manifest as Christ-like!
      Faith - God's means to unite me to Christ in Whom                     He Who loved me so much that He gave Himself for
is all my salvation, grounding me in the life of                         me to the shameful and bitter death of the cross, cannot
regeneration, and worked in me by His Word and Spirit.                   rest until I shall be perfectly like Him!
      Faith  - my means to consciously appropriate that                     In principle this already becomes manifest as I walk
life of Christ the Son of God. That life of Christ does                  by faith which proceeds from Him and of which He is
not flow to me, as water through a conduit; but I                        the Author and Finisher, and which is seen even as I
subjectively and consciously appropriate it with an                      walk in the flesh in the present evil world.
assured and spiritual knowledge and hearty confidence                       By and by, when I shall walk no longer in the body
in such a way that I taste that life of Christ, the Son of               of this sinful flesh, but in the glorious body of the
the living God, and live out of that life while I live in the            resurrection, He shall behold me in the perfection of his
flesh in the present evil world.                                         likeness.
      Thus the life of  Ch&i becomes manifested in the                      That will be glory for me!
circumference!                                                              For you, too, my reader?
      Which I now live in the flesh!                                         Say Amen, and Amen!




              How, then, does one obtain this assurance of election and calling? I would answer this question as follows. First
              of all, it must be emphasized that also this assurance is a gift of grace, and that it can only rest on the Word of
              God addressed to us. Only God can assure us of our salvation. On nothing less dare we base our assurance. But
              how does God speak to us? Always through the Scriptures. Apart from the Word of the gospel there is no Word
              of God to us. Hence, if we would make our calling and election sure, we must surely give diligence to read and
              study the Scriptures, and to attend to the Word of God prea'ched.- H. Hoeksema, The Wonder of Grace, "p. 120


I                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   29


I      Editorials
                                            E d i t o r 's   N o t e s


       Back business. I failed to make mention in the             expanded student body, and, I am sure, will infect you
     previous issue that the department The Lord Gave The         with some of the enthusiasm and thankfulness which
     Word will be appearing from time to time in the current      has already infected us who are directly connected with
     volume. The Rev. R. Decker contributed a guest article       "our school."
     in the last issue for this department; but we are happy
     to report also that the regular department editor, Rev.                               * *  h
     C. Hanko, hopes to fill this rubric in the future. The
     next article will appear in the November  1 issue. You         News feature. We are happy to present in this issue a
     may also await with anticipation a surprise new rubric       special news feature concerning the dedication of
     from Rev. Hanko's pen which will appear from time to         Covenant Christian High School. That was a thrilling
     time.                                                        occasion, and more than one of us went homeward after
                             *  *  *                              that dedication with tears of joy in his eyes. By this
                                                                  means we want to share the occasion with you. It was a
       New department.  As you read this issue, you will          highlight! Our thanks to Dr. Monsma for his report, to
     discover a new department designed especially for            Rev. Veldman for furnishing his address, and to Mr.
     covenant youth, under the heading, "The Strength of          Seymour Beiboer for his fine pictures.
     Youth." The Rev. J. Kortering has switched from his                                   *  *  *
     co-editorship of the Meditation department to this new
     rubric. The purpose of this new department is emphati-         Reasons for sanctified optimism. I want to conclude
     cally not to compete with Beacon Lights. We are of the       these notes on this note. Sometimes, especially when
     opinion that our youth should become accustomed to           occasionally notes of malcontented criticism and even
     reading the  Standard Bearer  in addition to their own       calamity-howling are sounded by a few, with whom the
     magazine. This new department is an added incentive to       wish is frequently father to the thought, we allow
     do so. Parents, encourage your young people.                 ourselves to be tempted into accentuating the negative,
                                                                  and thus to be led even into the slough of despond. But
                             *  *  *                              as I ponder some of the items mentioned above and
                                                                  some of the material appearing in this issue, it strikes me
       Seminary report.  In my dual capacity as editor and        that there is abundant reason for a healthy, sanctified
     seminary instructor, I cannot refrain from a bit of          optimism, as well as for a renewal of zeal and vigor for
     partiality to the seminary. Be sure to read the "Semi-       the task. The Lord is greatly blessing us! All thanks and
     nary Report" in this issue. It introduces our greatly        praise to Him!





                   The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. .Kuitert (5)

                                                     ProJ: H. C Hoeksema


     Evaluation of Kuitert's View of Scripture  (continued)       concerns the fact that the Dutch professor has  suc-
       Before continuing with, this part of the evaluation of     ceeded well in setting the journalistic kettle aboiling. All
     Dr. Kuitert's erring views, I must insert a note. It         the journals are having their say about the Kuitert


30                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


matter. Since the last issue of the Standard Bearer went            bogged down inextricably in the mire of criticism, a
to press, the Banner has carried a significant article by           criticism which inevitably will strike at the very author-
Dr. Kuitert himself, as well as editorial comments by the           ity and infallibility of the inspired Scriptures. And
Rev. Vander Ploeg; and the  Reformed Journal  (July-                fearing this consequence,  - and let it be said: quite
August issue, which, however, appeared tardily toward               properly fearing it, - they sought a solution. Here is
the end of September) has joined the fray on Kuitert's              another point on which Kuitert is correct in his
side, as might be expected, with an article from the pen            judgment of much traditional theology. The solution
of Lewis Smedes. Earlier such papers as  Torch and                  which they chose was to keep this so-called human
Trumpet, Church and Nation,  the  Reflector,  and Cal-              factor as small as possible. Mark you well, they
vinist Contact,  as well as  De  Wachter,.  carried articles        conceded a human factor; but they minimized it, tried
about these matters. Much of what is being written I am             to keep it as small as possible.
covering in the course of the present series of articles;             Now what is the result of this situation?
but there are several items which, in my opinion,                     In the first place, it becomes evident that the
demand special attention. To the latter I hope to return            difference between Kuitert and many of his opponents
after I have finished the current evaluation. The reader            is, in a sense,  only one of degree.  It becomes a
will have to be a bit patient, therefore; for there is              difference of  emphasis.  Traditional theology in many
simply too much of significance about this important                instances concedes that there is this "human factor" in
issue either to pass it by or to treat immediately.                 Scripture. Rightly or wrongly, with good intentions or
Meanwhile, I will try to complete my current evaluation             evil intentions or without at all giving account to
first.                                                              themselves of their terminology, they speak of a human
      My second point of criticism with respect to Dr.              element, of a human factor of some kind, thus
Kuitert's view of Scripture concerns his heavy emphasis             conceding what to Kuitert is a key point. They strive to
upon the merits of his view with respect to the so-called           keep this human factor very small. They probably insist,
human factor, or human element, in Scripture.                       - Kuitert will say: quite inconsistently,  - that this in
      In this connection, let us bear in mind what the              no wise means that the Bible is not the infallibly
professor said. He claimed, in the first place, that his            inspired Word of God and that it is not in its totality the
interpretation of Genesis takes the human element in                Word of God and not a mixture. They devise such
Scripture into account. Secondly, he accused what he                terminology as "Primary Author" and "secondary
called the "traditional view" of not doing justice to this          authors" in order to express somehow their recognition
"human factor" in Scripture. And thirdly, he claimed                of this human element, and in order at the same time to
that orthodoxy, not knowing what to do with this                    minimize it and keep it as small as possible. But
human factor, and being somewhat afraid of its implica-             meanwhile Kuitert has them "over a barrel." He has
tions, always wanted to keep it as small as possible.               found a stick with which to hit a dog, so to speak. That
      What must be said of these ideas?                             stick is this human element which they concede is
      In the first place, I believe that this is one of the most    present in Scripture. And seemingly Kuitert quite
important elements not only in Kuitert's position, but              justifiably strikes them with it when he says, "Ah, but
also in all the discussion and debate that is currently             you do not do justice to that human element! You
raging about the doctrine of Holy Scripture. It probably            concede that it is present; but you are afraid of it and
is  the determining factor with respect to the questions            are not prepared to accept the consequences of its
concerning the inspiration and authority and infallibility          presence. I also recognize this human factor. But I want
of Scripture. For here the whole subject of what is                 to do full justice to it. I am not afraid of it, and I do not
called "organic inspiration" is involved.                           think we ought to be afraid of it. In fact, it has been a
      In the second place, I believe that exactly at this           weak point in our Reformed presentation that we have
point Prof. Kuitert, - L would judge: quite knowingly,              not done justice to this human factor in the past. And
- hit upon the weak spot in the armor of many of his                now I, with my version of the Genesis account, make
opponents. Mark you well, I do not say the weak spot in             bold to say that I am doing justice to this human
the orthodox view, but the weak spot in the armor of                element."Thus the whole debate becomes one about
many of his opponents. By this I am implying that                   emphasis, one of percentages. Both hold to the same
many of his opponents do not hold strictly, and                     basic equation: the divine factor plus. the human factor
possibly do not fully understand, this doctrine of                  equals the Bible. The difference concerns the size of the
organic inspiration. Dr. Kuitert recognizes that they, as           two elements. Is that divine factor 99% and the human
well as he, speak of a "human element" and a "human                 factor  I%? Or is the human factor possibly as great as
factor" in Holy Scripture. He recognizes, - correctly, in           50% contributing an equal part to the total, Scripture?
my opinion, - that in many instances traditional                    Put thus, however, it is evident that Dr. Kuitert seems to
Reformed theology does not quite know what to do                    have a point. And can one not discern in some of the
with this human element. They are not a little afraid of            opposition to Kuitert a note of anguish on the part of
it. They feel that here is a point at which one can get             those who are being whipped by this stick? Let them


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                31



make this human element as small as they will, let them         That would indeed be rationalistic, although, let me add
reduce it to one-tenth of one per cent, Dr. Kuitert can        immediately, every child of God can see immediately
still say, "Ah, but you concede to me that there is this        that the foundations are destroyed when the certainty
human factor in Scripture, do you not?" And he can              afforded by the infallible Scriptures is taken away. No,
argue, "Come, now, give this human factor its due place.        the child of God is confronted by the claim of Scripture
Be honorable!"                                                  itself: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All
   Yet, in the second place, given these alternatives, even     Scripture is God-breathed." To him that means this:
in this situation I would have to cast my lot with the          God breathed, and the result was the Word of God
traditional theologians. On the one hand, every grain of        written. Those Scriptures are God's product, not man's.
reason within me tells me that, granted the above               However much you want to talk about so-called
situation, Kuitert is right: the logic is compelling. Yet,      secondary authors and about a human element, the faith
on the other hand, every intuition of faith impels a child      of the child of God, based upon Scripture itself, always
of God to maintain that Scripture is solely the Word of         comes back spontaneously to that one, all-important
God written, that it is infallible, that its authority is       fact: the Bible is the Word of God written.
absolute. And when those who concede a so-called                  Nevertheless, in the third place, I do not believe that
human element, be it ever so small, nevertheless oppose         this is the full answer to Kuitert and others. I do not
Kuitert and, be it with apparent inconsistency, maintain        believe that this is the full answer, or that it is an
-that the Scriptures are not a mixture, but solely and in       effective answer, to his argumentation concerning the
their entirety the inerrant Word of God, the believer by        so-called human factor. After all, there is something
every impulse of his spiritual life wants to hold and does      compelling about Kuitert's logic, or, at least, the implied
hold with those who hold to the infallible Scriptures as        logic of Kuitert's position, namely, that if you concede
being the Word of God without any admixture of a                a human element, the only quarrel can be about the size
word of man. The child of God does so not because he            of that human element, not about the question whether
is afraid of making a concession. He does so not, as has        Kuitert denies Scripture. I believe that the answer lies in
been suggested, out of the mere motivation of a desire          the direction of a proper understanding of what is called
for certainty. It is not this alleged certainty-structure       organic inspiration.  To this I shall devote my next
which forms the basis of our faith concerning Scripture.        editorial on this subject, D.V.


All Around Us


                                                        Varia

                                                       Prof H. Hanko



   Gradually a rather large number of interesting news                  with the alleged slaying of the honky cop is justifiable
 items has accumulated on my desk. Each one individual-                 homicide, in the same sense that police are allowed to
 ly calls for little comment, if any. They tend, generally,             kill black people and call it justifiable homicide.
 to show the direction of the church today in these evil          This statement was approved by Rev. Channing
 times. We offer them here to our readers,                      Phillips, a negro minister, who received nearly 70 votes
   Christian  News has a rubric in its paper entitled           for the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago.
 "Turret of the Times". We are indebted to this paper for         -Dr. Robert C. Dodds, the director of ecumenical
 the following items:                                           affairs of the National Council of Churches recently
   -Last July two white policemen were shot, one                went on record as favoring a general church member-
 fatally, when  they attempted to arrest a negro robbery        ship. He wrote:
 suspect. A negro organization called Black United Front                  My thesis can be put quite simply: that the day has
 unanimotisly  hissed a resolution which defends this                   arrived to declare the existence of a general church
 murder of  pblicemen  ,as justifiable homicide. The             membership. This means that, if you become a
 resolution reads:                                                      Christian, other Christians acknowledge that Jiou are
                                                                        fully a Christian. It is unrealistic, of course, to expect
        Be it resolved that:                                            all Christians to accept such a principle at the start.
        The methods of self-defense by the family charged               There will be inevitable regional and ideological


32                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


       holdouts. But the norm-at least, let us say, among the            by the court-because of one key point in the law: the
       ten churches which now comprise the Consultation on               books are given to the students and not to the schools.
       Church Union and the Roman Catholic Church and                       It is possible that this principle might be expanded in
       the Lutheran Church in America-will be that anyone                such a way that far more aid could be given to private
       who belongs to one belongs to all. Thus, if you should
       become a member of the Methodist Church, you                      schools from the coffers of government if the aid was
       would become simultaneously a full member of the                  given directly to students and not to the school itself. In
       African Episcopal Church Zion, the Roman Catholic                 some areas suggestions have already been made that
        Church, the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal            certain amounts of money be given directly to parents
       Church.                                                           with children in private schools to aid them in tuition
      Imagine if this would some day become compulsory                   payments.
for. all churches-as well it could. That would mean that                    If it is true that this is a successful dodge of the
our Churches would have to receive at the communion                      implications of the First Amendment, it still would be
table anyone who was affiliated with any other church                    the kind of aid which we should never accept. Just as
in the whole country. Presumably, to refuse, would                       long as the money comes from the public funds and is
open one to the charge of narrowness, bigotry and lack                   provided by governments, so long does the danger
of love for one's fellow Christian.                                      remain that government aid is a first step towards
      -In the  Standard  Beaver  of a couple of months ago               government control. This is the way it is. We might as
we discussed in this column what was being done with                     well honestly face it from the outset. Then we will not
poverty funds in the First Presbyterian Church of                        be tempted to shirk our own responsibilities and seek
Chicago. Rev. James E. Fry is minister there. Under his                  financial relief from a secular government which is
leadership the funds have been used to promote gang                      intent on making all schools serve the atheistic purposes
activities. Recent investigations have uncovered over one                of the state.
thousand separate acts of fraud in this poverty program.                                              * * *
Gang members, who are supposed to be rehabilitated                          The United Church of Canada is considering a new
through these poverty funds were repeatedly guilty of                    creed intended to replace the ancient Apostolic Con-
fraudulently signing checks and using government funds                   fession. It reads as follows:
for their own personal purposes. The activities of Rev.                          Man is not alone; he lives in God's world.
Fry have received the complete approval of the Chicago                           We believe in God: Who has created and is creating,
presbytery to which Fry's church belongs.                                     Who has come in the trueMan, Jesus, to reconcile and
      -The number of Roman Catholic priests resigning                         renew, Who works within us and among us by His
from the priesthood is growing. The figures complied,                         Spirit.
                                                                                 We trust Him.
while incomplete, list 463 men who have resigned in the                          He calls us to be His Church: to celebrate His
United States since the first of the year. This is usually                    presence, to love and serve others, to seek justice and
considered to be only a part of the total number which                        resist evil.
is not known. Since January of 1966 the known number                             We proclaim His Kingdom.
is 1,174.                                                                        In life, in death, in life beyond death, He is with us.
      -A methodist minister has recently written:                                We are not alone; we believe in God.
          Extramarital sexual communication harms marriage                 It has been objected that the creed is so bland and
        no more than does extramarital verbal communication.             colorless that anyone can accept it. It does not speak of
        It is time we freed our understanding of marriage from           the Virgin Birth of Christ, His divinity, His resurrection,
        its property-rights attitude. It is time a number of our         the atonement or any other fundamental of the Chris-
        penal laws were revised. It is time we updated our               tian faith.
        sexual ethics to a level that enriches human life.                 A leading spokesman of the United Church of Canada
      This is situation ethics with a vengeance.
                               -*  * *                                   readily admits this but approves of it nonetheless. His
                                                                         description is: "I think it's poetic. It's short, it's suitable
      Although the decision was taken last June, it is of                for liturgical use. But it's basically a non-Christian
special importance now that school has opened. Last                      creed. I'm very radical in my theology at the moment, I
June the United States Supreme Court ruled that the                      could accept it, but I don't think the Church should."
program which provides textbooks paid for out of
public funds for parochial and private school children is                                             * *  *
constitutional. A law was made in New York in 1965                         It was a mess in Chicago at the time of the
which requires public schools to lend up to fifteen                      Democratic National Convention. Strange it is though,
dollars worth of textbooks each year to each pupil in                    that practically all the news media took the side of the
grades seven through twelve of private schools. This law                 hippies,  yippies, anarchists, rebels, draft dissenters and
was challenged but the Court ruled that it did not                       those looking to Chicago for their protest, while
violate the First Amendment because it did not consti-                   charging the police with brutality, police state suppres-
tute state support of religion. This position was taken                  sion and every manner of excess. The sympathies of the


                                                      THE  STANDMiD  BEARER                                                         33


nation and of the world have been, quite obviously,                 His first argument is concerning the need to support
with the lawbreakers. This is difficult to believe. But it        our government in pressing the war because of the
is sadly true.                                                    allegiance we owe  to these God-ordained authorities.
  Now some wings of the Church have weighed in with               (He admits the possibility of selective conscientious
their analysis of the situation. It is as we would expect.        objection to individual wars, but thinks the difficulty of
  The president of the National Council of Churches               an individual determining all the facts makes this a
and the President of the Synagogue Council of America             doubtful choice for the Christian). The injunction of
issued a joint statement. It reads (we quote from the             Romans 13 is clear: we must obey those who bear the
Presbyterian Journal):                                            sword.
       Our nation is both shocked and humiliated by the             We have no quarrel with this at all and, in fact, find
     demonstration of police brutality which took place in        this principle determinative also in the present conflict
     the city of Chicago. This is the `get tough' policy          in Vietnam. Our boys must go because the government
     which some persons in and out of public office have          tells them to do this. Even John the Baptist did not tell
     been advocating. It is in direct conflict with our           the soldiers of Rome's legions to become conscientious
     Judeo-Christian beliefs. The time has come for those
     who believe in the laws of God to rise up and demand         objectors when they quizzed  him as to their responsi-
     an end to this `get tough' approach to the social issues     bilities towards the coming kingdom of heaven. Though
     of our day. If we do not turn our backs on such pagan        they fought in an army bent on world conquest they
     practices, we are going to be living`in a police state       were to remain in the army, "do violence to no man,
     instead of a nation ruled by the concepts of freedom         neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your
     and justice.                                                 wages."
   The statement was sent to Mayor Richard Daley, his               Meeter's second argument is not quite as persuasive.
police superintendent, the president and vice president           He justly points out that their is a sad contradiction in
of the United States.                                             American policy towards the war. With one hand we
   Staff members of the University Christian Movement             send our troops to fight the Viet Gong, while with the
which is connected with the National Council of                   other hand we restrain our soldiers from fighting all out
Churches wired Mayor Daley:                                       for victory, the meanwhile supplying the enemy with a
       We urge you in the name of God and common                  great deal of desperately needed war supplies. But when
     humanity to end the abrasive provocation and physical        he finds in our battle with the Viet Cong a holy crusade
     brutality of your policemen and militia against in-          against ungodly communism, we must disagree. Meeter
     nocent bystanders and idealistic American young              writes:
     people and members of the news media who are                            There is a time for war; what our hand finds to do,
     honestly trying to report on the Democratic Conven-              therefore-not for the anti-Christian idol of Com-
     tion.                                                            munism, but for Jesus Christ the King, in whom all
  When those who enforce the laws of the land are                     things hold together (see Col. I)-let us do it, in God's
roundly criticized and those who flaunt these laws are                name, with our might! And in Vietnam where we are
encouraged and complimented for their courage we have                 the defenders of human rights against,  God-
fallen on evil days.                                                  blaspheming, man-despising Communism, we must
                                                                      move forward in Christ, single-mindedly, courageously,
                                                                      and swiftly so that terrorism soon may cease, so that
                                                                      peace and freedom may be possible, and so that the
THE MORAL PROBLEM OF THE VIETNAM WAR                                   Satanic savagery and Christ-denying horror of Com-
  Perhaps no other war in history has been opposed by                 munism may, by God's grace, be contained.
the populace as much as the United States war in                             What we need most urgently, however, is a nation of
Vietnam. It has produced an army of dissenters, a                     Christ-believing persons faithfully reading God's Word,
                                                                      confessing their sins, and pertitioning the triune God
presidential candidate who came close to winning his                  in firm conviction that He will answer and bless the
party's nomination, on a platform of opposition to the                people that turns to him in their need . . . .
war, a crowd of youth who burn draft cards and refuse               It is not in Meeter's assertion that Communism is
to serve, a campaign issue of considerable importance             atheistic that we find our disagreement. It is not even in
and a deeply divided nation.                                      the implication that the war in Vietnam is perhaps a
  When the Church speaks out on the moral aspects of              defensive battle to preserve America from Communistic
the Vietnam war the liberal wing of the Church is flatly          control that we have our problem. It is rather in the
opposed to it and constantly urges the government to              insistence that this is a holy war, a part of the calling of
get out while the conservative wing urges pressing the            the Church to advance the kingdom of Christ, a battle
war to a successful conclusion.                                   of God against Satan, a march under the banner of the
  In the  Banner  of September 20 Merle Meeter, an                cross to put to flight the armies of darkness that we
articulate professor from Dordt College, adds his                 have our problems. It is too much like making the
opinion to the many already given. He gives complete              armies of this country representative of all that is right
and unconditional support to the war.                             and good, fighting the battles of the kingdom of heaven.


34                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


True, Meeter expresses the conviction that America              While Meeter would no doubt emphatically deny that he
needs some repentance; and he earnestly desires this as         is post-millennial and while we would readily believe
well. But Scripture gives us no reason to make America          that he does not want to be post-millennial, the danger
representative of Christ's cause and no basis for the           is too great to be ignored. Any implicit or explicit
expectation that America, as a nation, shall become "a          identification of America as the cause of Christ and of
nation whose God is the Lord".                                  the Vietnam war as a holy crusade has in it the seeds of
      The grave danger of the position which Meeter takes       post-millennialism. It is something which the Church
is a postmillennial conception of the kingdom of Christ.        must condemn with vehemence.


ln His Fear



                                           Bending The Twig

                                                   Rev. John A. Heys



      Last time we called your attention to the fact that as    that already has a spiritual direction written upon it in
the twig is bent, the tree will grow.                           bold letters, we will not be able to perform our task of
      In this installment we would call your attention to       training and of teaching them. We have a lesson to learn
the bending of that twig.                                       ourselves.
      For a twig can be bent, and a childcan be taught.           Nor does it mean that this child sins by imitation and
      This does not mean that the child comes into this         will follow any example you may give him, both the
world with a soul that is a clean slate and that you can        good and the evil. He will imitate you in your sins.
write upon it what you will. His soul has something             Because he is already bent in that direction he will
indelibly written on it the moment of birth, and that           rejoice in your example and soon show himself to be a
which is written there is written in bold letters: HATE         "chip off the old block." But he does not sin merely by
GOD! David declares in Psalm 5 1: 5, "Behold I was              imitation. And he certainly does not bend in the
shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive           direction of the glory of God by imitation. Our
me." And by this he does not mean to point to sin on            modern marvel and dangerous invention, TV, cer-
the part of his mother. He does not mean that it was            tainly can and does suggest sins of which the present
sinful for his mother to conceive and bring forth this          generation has not yet thought and sets an awful
man child. He is speaking of himself. What was shapen           example for others' to copy. We, as believers and as
in his mother's womb was a SINNER. What she received            sanctified pilgrims, can show our children by our
and what grew into a man child was a sinful seed. Listen        walk, the way in which they are to go. But they
also to Psalm 58:3 where David repeats the thought and          will neither follow the world's corruption by mere
emphasizes it, "The wicked are estranged from the               imitation; nor will they walk in our sanctified foot-
womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking          steps by mere imitation. They must be born again
lies." He is not speaking of the aged who learned to sin.       and be guided by `the Holy Spirit with divine power.
From the moment of birth we sin, because we come                "Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A
into this world with hatred against the living God! It is       corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence all
for that reason that New Testament testimony has it             the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have
that we are "dead in trespasses and sin." We are born           derived corruption from their original parents, not by
spiritually dead and are in need of being born again            imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the
before we can even see the kingdom of heaven, much              propagation of a vicious nature." Thus speaks our
less want it and enter into it. Confer Ephesians 2: 1 and       confession in Canons III and IV. Article 2. And thus
John 3:3. The twig is already bent when you receive it          also speaks the Word of God in Romans 8:7, "For the
and the pattern of its life is set. Actually, therefore,        carnal mind (This is the mind of the flesh, the mind
what we are called to do is to unbend, to bend in a             wherewith we are born) is enmity against God: ,for it is
different direction. But unless we take hold of that basic      not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
truth that our children come into this world with a soul        Here you have it plainly that written on that soul at


                                                    THE  STbrN'DARD  BEARER                                              35



birth are those words, "HATE GOD!" For that mind is              Early training is extremely .important. First impressions
enmity against `God and is not clean to receive either the       go deep and are not easily changed. The mind of the
love of God or the enmity of God, depending on the               little child. is tremendously receptive. That child knows
example that, you and I set for it. It IS bent, and it is        nothing. But he is born with a mind that can receive a
bent in the direction of enmity against God. Once again,         fantastic amount of knowledge about himself and the
the child will imitate and readily accept your evils which       world in which he lives. To his dying day he. will be
you display before his eyes. But he also has the power           adding to the facts that he learns. And by words you
to invent his own and to go way beyond what you show             can cause his thinking to go in a definite direction. Train
him. Adam showed Cain no murder of man, not even                 him as a child, and, when he is a man, others will not
killing of beasts of the field, with the exception of the        turn him from that way he was taught to walk in the
lamb for sacrificial purposes. And there is definitely in        days of his early youth. Let the church train him in its
the world today a development of sin. We are not                 doctrinal position, and then when he is a man, the waves
merely imitating the sins of Adam's day. We are not              of other doctrines may sweep over him but will not
practicing only the sins of the world before the flood.          sweep him away. He has been bent in a doctrinal
We. have gone on to invent many new phases and aspects           direction, and in that way he will grow.
of sin; and we will do so until the man of sin is                  You have expectations? There are those reared in
produced who will boldly set himself up and say that he          Roman Catholic doctrine who will embrace Protestant-
is God, according to II Thessalonians 2:3 and 4. The Old         ism in days after their youth. There are men and women
Testament Scriptures declare the same development of             of Protestant persuasion who were taught to see the
sin. Psalm 106:29 declares, "Thus they provoked Him              Roman Catholic Church as the false church and its
to anger with their inventions: and the plague break in          doctrines as inventions of men who will forsake their
upon them." The 39th verse of the same Psalm declares,           early instruction to embrace the doctrines of the Pope.
"Thus were they defiled with their own works, and                This, as we pointed out last time, is due to the fact that
went a whoring with their own inventions." Finally let           they did not receive that instruction, and although as
Ecclesiastes 7:29 also be quoted, for there we read, "Lo,        little children or as youths,they passionately defended it
this have I found, that God made man upright: but they           because father and mother did, their hearts craved
have sought out many inventions." You can teach a                something else. And when they found that something
child new tricks, because his soul is a spiritual vicious        else. they responded to embrace it. They had not yet
one that hates God from birth; but he is also capable of         "formed the hard fibers "that will set the tree for life.
inventing his own sins and of developing in sin.                 And it may be that to defend themselves in an evil walk
  Implied in Proverbs  22:6, "Train up a child in the            they will embrace that which formerly they condemned
way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not           rather than to condemn their own practices. It shows
depart from it," is the fact that you can bend a twig and        the way in which they were bent and that for a time was
can teach a- child and thereby train him. You cannot             covered by other acts. The principle stands, however,
bend a twig too far. Some twigs bend more easily than            that in the way that they have been trained, truly
others. Some will crack off much more quickly than               trained, they will continue to go and nothing shall move
others. They are not equally pliable. But all can to a           them to depart from it. This holds true of doctrine. It
degree be bent. And our calling is to train them to the          holds true of the walk of life.
utmost of our power and to be serious about it. It ought            And we train them by the words which we speak. If
to be our chief concern with our children. We ought,             we are to get at their hearts we will have to approach
also, therefore, to be very careful to whom we entrust           them through their minds. Satan knew that and by his
them for bending.                                                lying words succeeded in turning man from a spiritual
  There are those who would cut the cord that ties               direction of glorifying God to a way that sought that
them in a new direction and not only advocate for them           glory of God for self. Adam came forth from the hand
a return but actually return them to the natural bent of         of God a fully trained man. And to depart somewhat
their natural hearts and minds. It must not be a bending         from the figure and to contradict it, Adam was created
and unbending. It must not be that for a few hours they          so that he stood upright, bent neither to the right nor to
are bent in the direction of God's glory only to be freed        the left, neither forward nor backward but so that all his
for the next hours or the rest of the'day to follow the          being was directed to the glory of God. He looked
way of their flesh. It is a twenty-four hour matter. So it       directly upward to God and the stream of all his
is, if you want the tree to grow in a particular direction.      thinking, willing and acting was directly toward God. It
You cannot release the tension on that twig in some              was Satan who then succeeded in bending the twig in
false pity or compassion for the twig. You have to tie it        the way of the flesh to seek at every turn to rob God of
and keep it there until the hard fibers have been formed         His glory.
that will hold it in that position.                                 Words are powerful. Truly the pen is mightier than
  The Roman Catholic Church is quite correct when it             the sword. And the Word of God is so infinitely more
states, "Give me the `child, and you can have the man."          powerful than the word of man to bend us back again to


36                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


an upright position to stand in the proper relation to              then He uses us to bend the twig that He has made
God. And that Word is so wonderful to tie us in that                pliable. Our children are born in the way that they
position so that we do not droop and flop back to the               should not go. And it takes the grace of God and the
sin-seeking, God-dishonouring position wherein we are               power of His Spirit to give them a new life, and thus
born. It is not our words that train the child and bring            that which can be bent upright, and then confirms them
him to an upright position. It is the Word of God as                in that position by our instruction and training.
applied by the power of the Spirit of Christ. We are the              And remember that a spoiled child reveals a spoiled
tools, but God is the One Who must speak and bend our           parent. It certainly is tragic to see a parent bent by a
wills by His Word and Spirit.                                       sobbing, tantrum-throwing, rebellious child. A man bent
      Of course there must be that which is pliable, if we      over so that his finger tips touch the ground is in no
are to be bent all the way from death to life, from sin to      position to bend a drooping sunflower to an upright
righteousness. Only the reborn child of God can be              position. He will have to stand up in a perpendicular
bent. The Word will only harden the twig that has not           position himself. And an upright walk of the parent is
received the life of Christ. We do not melt that heart by       essential for bending the twig so that it faces God with
our words, nor by our preaching of God's Word. It is He         all its being. We must walk in His fear in order to train
that must renew the heart through regeneration; and             our children in His fear.



                                  West Michigan Readers!
                                            Plan To Attend
                                                              The
                        R E F O R M A T I O N   R A L L Y
                                                              on
                             Tuesday evening, October 29, 8 P.M.

                                                         at the

                                   First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids
                                   Speaker: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                   Subject: The Heart-Beat of the Reformation




News Features

                      Dedication, Covenant Christian High School

                                                     Dr. D. Monsma


      Although Covenant Christian High opened its doors             Thursday, September 19, 1968. Tours of the grounds
September 4, the milestone of dedication took place                 and building started at 7 P.M. and resumed after the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     37


program to continue until  9:30 P.M. Neighbors and                  and classrooms as Mr. Petersen led us through Psalter
friends were invited as well as all our supporters from             No. 53 and 276 accompanied by Mrs. C. Lubbers. What
this area. Crowd estimates ranged from 600 to 750                   a thrill to hear such enthusiastic singing! The board had
people who had braved the rain to make this occasion a              planned that this program be held in the parking lots,
heart-warming experience for all of us.                             but rain made this impossible. You can immagine the
  Covenant's Choir, directed by Mr. Roland Petersen,                congestion of this large crowd in the halls of our
opened the program with "Oh Come, Let Us Sing Onto                  eight-room high school.
The Lord." Their outstanding singing quickly quieted                    Rev. H. Veldman, the speaker of the evening,
the crowds in the halls and drew visitors from class-               addressed all of us on the need to dedicate ourselves as
rooms so that all could witness the dedication. This                parents, teachers and students to the task of sound
occasion had been a dream of our leaders as long as                 Christian Instruction at our Covenant Christian High
thirty-five years ago, but the development of our grade             School. The importance of our new facility, then, is that
schools took  presidence and a high school was all but              it be used for this purpose. Therefore we do not
forgotten. But in 1959 this dream of our own High                   dedicate a building but rather ourselves to its proper
School began to grow into reality. Progress was slow at             use.
first because most of our people expressed a "wait and                  After our choir thrilled us by singing "Be Joyful In
see" attitude. After land was purchased and the first               The Lord" and No. 114 from the Psalter Rev G.
major Financial drive was successful our base of support            Lubbers gave thanks to our Covenant God for his
doubled and redoubled until this year we could  ,erect              unspeakable blessings as evidenced by this occasion.
this building, hire a staff and enroll students.                        Visitors continued their inspection of the classrooms,
  Rev. M.  Schipper opened the meeting with prayer                  each containing many special features and displays, until
after board president, Dr. Dwight Monsma had read                   after 10 P.M. The Ladies Circle served coffee and rolls
Proverbs 6: l-l 3. Voices of song rang through the halls            all evening to make this occasion a social success.





                     Dedicatory Address: REASONS FOR JOY

                                                     Rev. H. Veldman





                                                       Two outsifde views.


  Mr. Chairman, teachers, students and friends of our                here with our hearts and souls filled with joy because
Covenant High School:                                                the goal of our hopes has now been realized.  (Our
  I am very glad to have the honour of being on your                 prayers and dreams have been answered and fulfilled!
program this evening. It affords me great pleasure to                We give thanks to our faithful covenant God.
speak to you tonight, to take part in this program,                     The time allotted me this evening is too short to
dedicating our own covenant high school. After years of .- convey congratulations to all those who have worked so
waiting exactly for this glorious hour, we are assembled             hard and diligently to bring this wonderful project to


38                                               THESTANDARD  BEfiRER


fruition. I will leave that to others. Mine is the privilege
to. make a few dedicatory remarks upon this joyous
occasion.
      We are assembled here this evening to dedicate,  -
what? What shall we dedicate? Shall we dedicate this
building? Shall we dedicate another high school build-
ing? Do we tonight join the ranks of those who have
erected buildings for the purpose of secondary educa-
tion? If so, your hopes and joys can easily be dampened
somewhat. .It is true that= we have a beautiful building
here. We are surely all delighted with it. But then I will
hasten to add that there are other beautiful high school
buildings, surely exceeding our own in beauty. Besides,
it is now as yet incomplete; our program for secondary          Part of the audience which was standing in the three wings of the halls.
education is not yet finished: we still lack the twelfth
grade. And if we are assembled here tonight merely to
dedicate a building, then we have only begun. Then we
should plan, not only with respect `to the possible
expansion of our present teaching quarters, but also to
create other and larger facilities, such as a beautiful
gymnasium and athletic field, so that our athletic teams
will be able to compete with other teams and bring
additional glory to our Covenant High School. Is this
the purpose of our dedication program this evening? Are
we gathered here to join forces with others? Indeed not!
We have not built this school to add to other existing
high schools; we have not established this institution of
learning to affiliate with others in the cause of second-
ary education. We are here tonight because, by the grace                    The Choir and Director-Principal R. Petersen.
of our God, we have resolved and determined to stand
alone in the cause of secondary education!
      We are gathered here tonight to dedicate,  - what?
And then permit me to express myself, your sentiments
and mine, this way: We are gathered here, in all thankful
humility, and awed by its tremendous responsibility, to
dedicate ourselves to the cause of Protestant Reformed
Secondary Education! That fills our hearts and minds
tonight!
      We have reasons for joy. I give you three reasons.
First, and let me emphasize this immediately: we have
entrusted to our care the youth of our churches,
approximately between the ages of thirteen to eighteen!
What a wonderful time  is. youth! Much can be said
about this time of a person's life: its impetuousness, its
delight in dreaming about the future, its boldness and
strength, not being afraid to face any enemy, but also its
characteristic to overestimate its own powers and
therefore also characteristic of underestimating those of
the enemy. That is youth. But I wish to single out one
of its characteristics, undoubtedly its most important.
Youth is that formative period in a person's life, in
which that person begins to find himself, becomes
concerned with who and what he or she is, and what his
calling in life will be according to the gifts and talents
the Lord has given him. A child lives mainly in the
present, day by day. But the youth trains his. sights                The Language-Lab, with Teacher D. Korhorn at the controls.


                                                       THESTANDARD  BEARER                                                          39


                                                                  truths and principles even into our seminary, should the
                                                                  Lord call them into the ministry of the Word of God in
                                                                  our churches. I ask you: Is that worthwhile? Shall we'
                                                                  give thanks to our covenant God for that? What a
                                                                  marvelous and tremendously highly responsible calling
                                                                  to train the youth for their place in the world and in the
                                                                  midst of the church!
                                                                     Secondly, what do we offer these young people in
                                                                  this Covenant High School? That, after all, is a very
                                                                  important question. If we have nothing special, distinc-
                                                                  tive to offer and teach them, is it not rather absurd to
                                                                  have erected this building? Then all we did was to add
                                                                  to the already now many existing high school buildings.
                                                                  Do we have something distinctive to give them? We
                                                                  have! We shall instruct them in the glorious heritage of
                                                                  the struggling Church of God throughout the ages, join
                   A view of the Science Room.                    ranks with those who believe that God is God and He
                                                                  alone! He is and must be God in all the courses offered
                                                                  in this institution of learning! He alone is God worthy
                                                                  to be served and praised, also antithetically in the midst
                                                                  of the world. He is God Who made us, Who recreated  us,
                                                                  having redeemed  us  through the blood of His Son upon
                                                                  the cross. Who calls, and He alone. by the irresistible
                                                                  and sovereign power of His Spirit and Word to be a
                                                                  people unto Himself, unto the praise of the glory of His
                                                                  Name. "Soli Deo Gloria,"  - alone to God the glory;
                                                                  always we must see His glory, His greatness as the God
                                                                  of our salvation, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Is that
                                                                  worthwhile? Is there anything higher than the glory of
                                                                  our covenant God? In fact, is there anything that can
                                                                  possibly be compared to it? But I must hasten to speak
                                                                  also of the awesome responsibility involved. Do 
                          The Library  -                                                                                     you  and
                                                                  I feel and sense the tremendousness of this calling, that
                                                                  we train our youth in  the  t r u t h   t h a t   G o d   i s   t h e
                                                                  Incomparable One, that we are called to see Him and
                                                                  His majesty in the Scriptures but also through the
                                                                  Scriptures in all His works and ways? Embracing this
                                                                  task, shall we, then, not embrace it with profound
                                                                  humility, with fear and trembling, and with the prayer
                                                                  upon our lips: 0, Lord. before we dedicate ourselves,
                                                                  dedicate Thou  us  unto this high and wonderful calling!
                                                                  To be in the service of Him Who alone is worthy of all
                                                                  praise and adoration is truly an awesome calling;  t!llere
                                                                  can be nothing higher!
                                                                     I have one more reason for joy.  UsualIy we say: last
                                                                  but not least. Am I permitted now to say: last and also
                                                                  least? This third reason for our joy is also great, but it is
      Judging from appearances, the History and Typing Room.      least only when compared with the other two. I could
                                                                  name our school board and others who have worked so
upo!l the future, God's calling for him in the midst of           diligently and faithfully unto the fulfilment of our
t.he church and also in the midst of the world. In the            hopes and prayers. But I will single out one particular
realm of secondary education, we have our wonderful               group. I refer now to our teaching staff. After all. a
youth under our wings;  we have the glorious calling to           school is constituted of its teaching personnel; they are
prepare them, distinctively, for their place in the world         the school! And I surely believe with all my heart that
and in the churches we love! And this means that now,             the Lord has given us a staff of competent. devoted,
beginning in the kindergarten, our children and young             consecrated teachers who have assumed their responsi-
people can be instructed in our Protestant Reformed               bility in humility and prayerfully. To  you. teachers in


40                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


our Covenant High School, I say: may God be with you
and bless you  ang direct you in all your labors and
difficulties. May the Lord strengthen all of us, dedicate
us all anew, so that we, in answer to His grace, may say:
Lord, our faithful covenant God, to Thee we give
thanks, and give us grace to be faithful and true to the
calling whereunto Thou hast called us. May He lead us
and direct us and continue to seal and confirm us in His
covenant, unto the glory of His alone blessed Name! I
thank you.
                                                                        Some elderly "students" in the All-Purpose Room.




The Strength of  Youth-


                                           The Y in Youth

                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


      I'm for youth!                                           The youth today are in a sorry state!
      Not just any youth.                                      But wait a minute.
      Covenant youth.                                          This is the Rubicon that we better not cross.
      Generalization is the Rubicon that exposes the wary      Generalization!
adult to the rampageous emotions of youth. We are              Are all young people this way?
inclined to classify all young adults into one kingdom,        No doubt young people play an important role in
one phyla, one class, one order, one family, and even        American life. Their influence is being felt in every
one genus and species. Little wonder they kick up their      quarter. Business and industry have been quick to
heels.                                                       respond to the potential of our affluent youth. Fads
      Sometimes we like to stimulate our fantasies by        come and go, yet in their wake the cash registers bulge
asking such perverse questions as, what is the typical       some $12 billion. With this spending power, youth
teen-ager like, how can we describe the average young        determine a great part of the market. Everything from
person. For some reason most adults wax loquacious           the mini-car to the mini-pencil has  its origin in the
and       offer a virtual soliloquy, using the kind of       mirii-skirt.  Now its mini, maxi, and midi. Politicians dare
adjectives that make young adults wince: they're pam-        not overlook the flare of youth, but make a direct
pered, indulged, coddled, and as a result are brash,         appeal to young Democrats and young Republicans,
irresponsible, immoral, rambunctious, flamboyant, and        urging them to hit the campaign trail with them. The
who knows what. The young punks are the ones stirring        world of music and art is molded by the demands of
up trouble in our country, they're the instigators of        youth. Even the educational systems of our country are
riots, demonstrations, and acts of public unrest. Aren't     revised according to the students standards.
they seen burning their draft cards, lying down on the         It's understandable that young people have this kind
streets blocking traffic, frequenting the flop houses in     of power, since over 40% of our  200,000,000  popula-
the seamy sections of our cities, lushing at their           tion are under 21 years of age. For our statistical age
psychedelic "shows," tapping their dirty toes to the         this says a great deal.
beat emitting from frenzied loudspeakers? Don't we             Riding the crest of so much popularity, it is inevitable
amble down our urban jungles and recoil at these shaggy      that one segment revolts. Entirely skeptical of the
specimens of humanity that crawl out at us, their            "establishment," referring to those who in some way
youthful gender undiscernible? Not only are they             control the present, government officials, educators,
entwined in the back seats of their Barracuda, Cougar,       church leaders, business leaders, a small minority reacts
or Mustang, but their libido drives them shamelessly to      to this situation. Their reaction is one big NO!  Ratlner
public parks and beaches.                                    than be "victimized" by a ruthless world that takes


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  41


advantage of them, they grow long hair, refuse to wear        machine, but rather that it shall remain small and
tidy frocks, strum guitars and sing "their own" songs,        persecuted and that her glory is not in size, but in her
lift their spirits with their own "acid," protest every-      calling to maintain the truth of the Word of God.
thing that comes their way, and defy any restriction             Scripture recognizes that young people tend to be
that may be imposed upon them by the establishment.           brash and forsake good advice. Recall the event in
They are a law unto themselves. They are sophisticated        Rehoboam's life. As a young king he sought the counsel
bums refusing to be cast into an adult mold, they are         of the aged who advised him to lighten the taxes
determined to make their own. So they reduce all of life      imposed upon them by Solomon. He also sought the
to its simplistic form, "love not hate."                      counsel of the young men who advised him to deal
  As is usually the case, the naughty boys get all the        roughly by saying, "My little finger shall be thicker than
attention. This is just what they want. The result is that    my father's loins and now whereas my father did lade
they seek more attention and become naughtier. While          you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my
our TV cameras grind away and our presses print page          father chastized you with whips, but I will chastize you
after page of sordid detail, the revolting minority of        with scorpions," I Kings 12: 10, 11. Rehoboam heeded
youth become intoxicated with their brash defiance and        the advice of the young and the result was the split in
realize that by joining efforts they really can influence     the kingdom. Hence Paul counsels young Timothy, "But
society, at least to some degree. If anarchy is the only      continue thou in the things thou hast learned and hast
way to free the individual from a regimental society, so      been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned
let it be. Black militants and white militants find a         them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy
common cause: the revolution of society.                      scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto
  Most of us sit on the sidelines shaking.                    salvation through faith in Christ Jesus," II Tim. 3: 14,
  Our inclination is to blame youth,  all  youth. We          15. Covenant young people realize that even though
piously erect our "straw man" and proceed to lecture          they are inclined to imagine that they are so intelligent
him, sermonize him, lacerate him with bitter condemna-        that they can sit in judgment over all history, including
tions, warn him, cajole him to change.                        that of the church, yet this too must be put down and
  True, we admit that all youth of the world are not          the church's present position evaluated in the light of
filthy rebels who selfishly sacrifice law and order on the    the Scriptures which alone can make us wise.
altar of personal idealism. There are thousands who join        Paul understood human nature and instructed Tim-
the "establishment" in seeking the same goals for the         othy to, "flee also youthful lusts; but follow righteous-
ideal society, a world free from war, poverty, disease,       ness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the
and ignorance. They are willing to see the present in the     Lord out of a pure heart," II Tim.  2:22. Covenant
light of history, work within the framework of our            youth are not instructed to live in a vacuum, rather they
present institutions, and `through education and reform       alone have the privilege to turn by grace away from evil
strive to bring about change, needed change.                  in order that they may direct their strength to that
  Yet we must distinguish "covenant youth" from               which is good. Listen, "I have written unto you, young
"youth." Covenant youth are different from all other          men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God
young adults in the world. True it is that by nature they     abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one,"
have much in common. This explains undoubtedly the            I John 2:ll.
human inclination to generalize and place them all in           No, one's youth is not something to be hated or
one class. Yet covenant youth are different.                  scorned. "Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an
  The Word of God recognizes that young adults are            example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
forward looking. No one is more concerned about the           charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity," I Tim. 4: 12.
future than youth. This stands to reason, since the aged      Consequently the Psalmist harmonizes, "Both young
have finished their course and look beyond the grave,         men, and maidens, let them praise the name of the
children look at the present, but young adults plan for       Lord; for his name alone is excellent, his glory is above
their future labors here. There is however, a striking        the earth and heaven," Ps. 148: 12, 13.
difference between the planning of worldly youth and            Covenant youth have a unique and wonderful place in
covenant youth. The viewpoint is different. We read in        the church.
Acts  2:17, "your sons and your daughters shall                 The purpose of this new rubric is two-fold.
prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your          First, it is to try to help young people understand
old men shall dream dreams." This forward look is             themselves. This goal is by no means easy, for covenant
occasioned by the outpouring of the Spirit. This makes        young people are many sided. They have a human
the difference in covenant young people. Both prophecy        nature conceived and born in sin. They have moreover
and vision are united by the presence of the Holy Spirit.     the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the principle of the
Then they understand that according to the Scripture,         new man. From the vantage point of faith, our covenant
the future of the church is not some grandiose position       young people face many difficulties. The conflict and
of influence brought about by a complicated ecumenical        tension of faith broods within them. They know all too


42                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


well what Paul experienced, "The good that I would I           present a rebuttal, the cold winds of wrath soon blow
do not, the evil that I would not that I do . . . . 0          and the drive is covered more deeply.
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the            When covenant youth ask questions, there must be
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ           opportunity for answers. Since covenant youth are a
our Lord," Rom. 7: 19-25. This tension produces that           very special kind of youth, the answers must be of a like
frustrating WHY! Youth asks why to every way of life.          variety, very special, based upon the Word of God.
This is their right; as they face the future they want to        Since the undersigned has consented to edit this
be certain that their belief and basic position is not         rubric specifically directed to our covenant youth, we
merely fashion, but true faith!                                would like to hear from our young people. Is there
      Hence the Y in youth is why. This demands an             anything in particular that you would like to have
answer.                                                        considered? Any problem that has been weighing on
      The second purpose is that of helping parents and        your mind? And of course if parents would like to offer
adults to understand young people. All too often we            questions which have been of some difficulty, the way is
like to dismiss the queries of youth impatiently, much         open!
like we push snow out of the driveway. If the questions          While you are reading this rubric, just keep turning
are too "deep" we're frustrated and hope that in time          the pages.
they will melt away. If our youth insist on an answer,           That's another reason, we like our young people to
we buldoze our way through, sometimes burying them             read the Standard Bearer.
beneath a pile of big words, meaningless phrases, and            You can't blame the "establishment" for trying, can
patent answers. If youth dares to dig himself out and          you?



From Our School Committee-


                                          Seminary Report

                                                      Mr. J. M. Faber


      Our Theological School held its Opening Exercises        under sound and thoroughly reformed influence during
Sept. 5 with seven young aspirants to the ministry, two        their pre-seminary years. The second benefit gained, if
professors, and three delegates from the School Com-           all goes well, would be the fact that they would be able
mittee present.                                                to graduate one year earlier than if they would complete
      The fact that there were seven young men on hand to      their work at college, which would alleviate our present
enter our Seminary probably takes some explanation.            minister shortage sooner.
Last summer our Synod decided to enter pre-seminary               Opening Day was a joyous occasion for professors
students in our school in order to keep our prospective        and committee members alike. To see seven eager faces
ministers under the influence of our teaching while at         around the tables instead of one or two, as in years gone
college. The faculty had persuaded the School Com-             by, gave a needed lift to the whole assembly. Instead of
mittee, which in turn assured the Synod that our two           being alone at all classroom activities, our seminarian,
professors would be able to give this college education        Rodney Miersma, was flanked by six pre-seminary
in the pre-seminary subjects. Synod realized that this         students who will share many of his subjects and
would mean a very heavy work-load for the two                  classroom discussions. The Rector, Prof. H.C.  Hoek-
professors, but it was evident that they were eager for it,    sema, opened the occasion with devotions, reading the
This eagerness was patently contagious, for six college        second chapter of Paul's second letter to Timothy. The
students expressed their intense desire to acquire the         fifteenth verse of this chapter was singled out for  ithe
balance of the college education in our seminary.              basis of his brief address, and it served so admirably to
Synod's decision was influenced by the recognition of          convey an admonition to our prospective ministers, as it
two distinct advantages to be had by accepting this plan.      originally did to Timothy. The Rector read this passage
The first, and chief, advantage being that our young           from the English version for the benefit of those who
men would be under our instruction, and therefore'             were not conversant with the Greek, but then treated


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   43


the original language version to fully explain its richness     giving for the evidence of God's grace upon us and a
of flavor.                                                      petition for a continuance of His favor on our Seminary
  The verse, "Study thyself to be approved unto God, a          in the future. Yea, verily, our school was. off to a good
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly                 start !
dividing the word of truth", was treated in an exposi-             The Theological School Committee has the full
tory way, giving the young men a first lesson in this art       responsibility of the Seminary upon its shoulders, and
which they are striving to master. The professor told           carries this responsibility to the Throne of Grace from
them that they must be diligent (make haste) to study;          whence all blessing flow. But the committee desires to
they must hurry to apply themselves to their work, not          share this responsibility with the membership of all our
to put it off, but to use their talents, their time, their      churches. We crave that a constant remembering of the
means, to the best of their ability. Further, that the          needs of our students may rise up to heaven from each
reason for this diligence lay in the fact that they must        of our pulpits, our consistory meetings, our societies,
be ready in the Judgment Day to present themselves              our family worship devotions, and from our bedtime
before God as having been approved; as having met the           prayer sessions. In order to make such intercessions
test; and as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.          more intelligently it may be well to make you a little
Their mentor then warned them that the motif of entire          better acquainted with these would-be ministers, who
education must be, not first of all to be approved of           really are the property of us all. They are ozu students!
their professors, nor of the churches, (although this is all       Rodney Miersma is our lone seminary student, with a
involved) but, "before the face of God." The implica-           three-year course of studies laid out for him. He is
tion of this admonition, the speaker told them, was that        married and lives at 1008  Worden St. S.E. in Grand
a student could be less than diligent; he could be lazy,;       Rapids,  Mich. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Henry
he could waste his time; because his instructors would          Miersma of Rock Rapids, Iowa, and are members of our
not be able to watch him at his home work; but the              Doon Church. Rodney was baptized in our  Edgerton
sober fact is that God, before Whose face they must be          church and remained there until coming to Doon some
approved, knows all.                                            three years ago. He has completed his pre-seminary
  The Rector went on to explain that the element                training at Dordt College, and has embarked on his last
"word of truth" referred to Christ, Who is the Truth,           stint of formal education. Needless to say, he is happy
according to His own testimony. He is the revelation of         to have the fellowship of several underclassmen in his
the God of our salvation, which revelation is set forth in      quest for the training designed to prepare him for what
the Holy Scriptures which shall be the subject of their         is probably the highest calling among men.
studies. The speaker further said that the activity of            Marvin Kamps is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Kamps,
"rightly dividing" was literally a "cutting straight," and      Sr. of Hudsonville,  Mich. He was baptized in our
involved an exposition of the Word of God which allows          Creston Church and is now married, the father of three
for no deviation; it means cutting straight in Dogmatics,       children. Marv has completed two years of pre-seminary
hermeneutics, homiletics and all the rest of the studies        training at Calvin College, has now enrolled in our
of a serious minded seminarian. The professor, in the           school with the prospect of graduating after four years,
name of the faculty and the Theological School Com-             then to stand ready to be called to labor in our
mittee, said that it was their prayer that this word of the     churches.
Apostle to Timothy might be the motto of the student               Ron Van Overloop, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Van
body throughout their school years, and their work in           Overloop  of Hudsonville, was baptized in Hudsonville
the ministry at the completion of their schooling.              some nineteen years ago and has been a member thereof
  Prof. H. Hanko then stood before the neophytes and            ever since. He, too, has had two years at Calvin College
re-iterated the sentiments expressed by his colleague,          and expects to take up his labors in our churches after a
and promised the young men that they would do all in            four-year drilling in the courses set up for him which
their power to make their work, though arduous, to be           will serve to make him a fit instrument in the hands of
enjoyable to them. His welcome, too, was warm and               the King of His Church to be an under-shepherd in the
friendly and met with like response. It was very plain to       flock of Christ.
see that faculty and students were genuinely glad to see          Wayne Bekkering is the only one of the seven
one another, and were anticipating the year with                students who was not born and reared in a Protestant
undimmed pleasure.                                              Reformed home. His baptism was in a Reformed
  Rev. Van  Baren, of the School Committee, then                church, and he received his early training there for eight
spoke briefly to the students, expressing his best wishes       years. The next ten of his formative years were in a
and encouraging them to find many thirty-hour days in           Methodist church, but the following six years again
which to meet the requirements of their instructors,            found him in a Reformed communion. The last two
which, to this observer, might be necessary if the first        years his membership had been in a local Chr. Ref.
assignments were a barometer of the future. Rev. Van            Church. His religious training, in his own estimation,
Baren closed this convocation with a prayer of thanks-          was scant and very sketchy, entirely unlike that of his


44                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


fellow enrollees in our school. His first contact with our    sema, is the seventh on this list of prospective ministers
people came through a fellow laborer at his work who          in our denomination. He has been raised in an environ-
gave him pamphlets and other material which opened            ment most probable to encourage a young man to strive
his eyes to many of the fundamental truths of Scripture       for the ministry. To be a son and a grandson of a
formerly denied him. He remembers that it came as a           minister should arouse one to an alertness for the call to
distinct shock to him to learn that God does not love         be likewise occupied in his life work. Whereas the other
everybody as it had been told him in his childhood. He        six may look to the future somewhat starry eyed, Mark
has had the equivalent of three years in college, the last    knows that the lines do not always fall in pleasant places
two at Calvin. At college he became acquainted with           for the head of the manse. Faithful ministers of God's
one of our young men - Mar-v Kamps - and through his          word share with the prophets of old the heartaches and
influence began to appreciate the Protestant Reformed         disappointments attending their labors in God's vine-
awareness of the absolute sovereignty of God, and the         yard. But then this student, with experiences unlike his
expository preaching practices in our churches. He is         colleagues', also knows that God's grace is sufficient to
now a member of our Southwest Church. Wayne is 25,            His servants in all their way. Mark, like Ed Lotterman,
married, and has one child. His graduation date is a long     has had one year at Calvin and is looking ahead to 1973,
hard four years in the future, but he is eagerly              if the Lord tarries.
anticipating the way of preparation towards this goal.          As you probably know, our school has been housed
      Jim Slopsema is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Slopsema,    in one of the basement rooms of First Church. But
Jr.; with his parents is a member of Southeast Church         because of this year's increased enrollment, and the
where he was baptized and instructed in his religious         different scheduling of classes involved in combination
training. His academic history includes three years of        pre-sem. and seminary courses, another room had to be
college, the last two at Calvin. 1972 is the magic number     utilized. First Church supplied this necessary addition
in his planning, for his prescribed course of study which     adjacent to the original one. The new room will have to
has been `laid out for him by the faculty is also the four    serve multiple duties: serving the school as well as
year span of diligent enterprise of attaining the material    societies and committee meetings. The chalk board,
and necessary grades to pass the test required of             tables and chairs were purchased by the school com-
ministers who labor in our denomination.                      mittee and are intended to be moved to the seminary
      Ed Lotterman, nineteen year old son of Mr. and Mrs.     building when it materializes.
Don Lotterman of our Southwest Church, was born,                The Theological School Committee commends these
baptized and raised right there and his membership is in      seven earnest young men to your highest esteem,
that church today. He is one year behind the above            remembering the admonition of the Apostle Paul to give
mentioned students in that he has had but one year at         double honor to those who labor in the word and
Calvin. He, with his colleagues, has joyfully placed his      doctrine, although theirs is yet in the preparatory stage.
roots in our seminary, his to be a stiff course of study      And their word to you is that of the same apostle as he
for the next five years.                                      said to the Thessalonians, "Brethren, pray for us."
      Mark Hoeksema, son of Prof. and Mrs. H.C.  Hoek-


From Holy Writ

                                            The Book Of Hebrews
                                                      Rev. G. Lubbers

                                          Hebrews 7:1-3 (Read from own Bible)


      The writer to the Hebrews is really not concerned       not  .be dullards to hear and to understand! (Hebrews
about Melchizedek as a person, but in the priesthood of       5:11-6:8)
Melchizedek. He is interested in this priesthood whereas        Let it be called to mind that the name Jesus means:
he is interested in "Jesus", who is the forerunner who        Jehovah saves, or Jehovah is salvation: for he it is that
has entered into the vail in our behalf. This Jesus abides    shall save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1: 21)
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Con-         Hence, we have strong consolation in this Jesus; we have
cerning this Melchizedek and his priesthood the writer        hope that reaches within the vail; we have an anchor of
has many hard and difficult things to say! Hence, let us      our souls both sure and steadfast! (Hebrews 6: 19, 20)


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       45


Our passage is immensely practical and meaningful for          and not a typical foreshadowing of a true human life.
`the life of `faith and hope in the world as we press on to    His priesthood is merely a symbol of right reason which
perfection.                                                    brings the man righteousness and joy through thoughts
   We must press toward the full assurance of hope to          of absolute truth. Others said of Melchizedek that his
the end!                                                       bringing forth "bread and wine" to Abraham indicated a
                                                               foreshowing of the bread and wine of the Lord's
THE HISTORICAL IDENTITY OF MELCHIZEDEK                         Supper. The allegorisists saw in Melchizedek a manifes-
(Genesis 14: 17-20; Hebrews 7: 1, 2)                           tation of the Holy Spirit. Origin, that marvel of Greek
   Strange as it may sound, it is yet an undeniable fact       learning, viewed Melchizedek as being an angel from
that the Bible as a whole speaks very little about the         heaven like unto Gabriel and Michael. Again, others
person called Melchizedek. In the entire Old Testament         view Melchizedek as being a Canaanitish prince, who
there are but two references to the man Melchizedek.           exercized priestly functions as did some earlier patri-
We read of Melchizedek in Genesis 14: 18 "And Melchi-          archs such as Abel,  Enoch, Noah and Job. The Jews
zedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and        identified him with Shem in the  Targums. And again,
he was the priest of the most High God." David writes          others interpret the phrase in Hebrews 7:3b "made like
of him in Psalm 110:4 where, as a prophet, he tells us         unto the Son of God, he remains a priest unchangeably"
what God said about Melchizedek, "The LORD hath                as referring to a human, Old Testament manifestation of
sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever          the Christ  - a Christophany. Then there were the
after the order of Melchizedek."                               Melchizedekians who looked at Melchizedek as being
   In both of these Old Testament Scriptures passages          higher than the Christ himself. This of course entailed a
the Holy Spirit tells us nothing about the man as man,         mere humanitarian view of Christ. And the late Dr.
but speaks to us about this man as a priest, his official      Kuyper viewed the priesthood of Melchizedek as some
capacity. And the emphasis falls upon the  order  of           remnant of the original priesthood of Aaron before the
Melchizedek's priesthood. That ought to be seen, and it        fall, due to the restraining influences of Common Grace!
will guard us against much false and useless speculation         In regard to this question as to who Melchizedek was
concerning the person of Melchizedek!                          as a man and a person we believe the following is to be
   For, indeed, nothing is stated as to the personal name      inferred from the text in Genesis 14: 17-20. In the first
of this man. Yet, in spite of this many attempts have          place, that he lived during the time of Abraham.
been made to try to identify this man, Many a guess has        Secondly, that he was a real king in earthly Salem,
been hazzarded; however, when all is said and done we          which is quite likely the present city of Jerusalem in the
have mere speculation and guesses!                             land of Canaan or the land of the Amorites. Perhaps he
   We believe that taking the Scriptures at face value         was an Amorite! Thirdly, that he met Abraham when
indicates that Melchizedek was a real man who lived at         Abraham has virtually conquered the world-powers of
the time of Abraham. Had he not been a man Abraham             Babylon. Abraham is heir of the world. He will reign in
could not have met him returning from the slaughter of         Christ over all the Cosmos. (Romans 4: 13) He, who
the kings. Hence, he lived not too many generations            stands at the pinnacle of all things, coming from the
from the time of the flood. He lived after the formation       slaughter of the kings, now will be blessed of one still
of the nations by the hand of the most High God. He            greater. And this one who is greater is the man
was a real man with a real father and mother, a man            Melchizedek, as he has a priestly office. It is after the
who was born and who died at a certain date. Only, and         first war recorded in Scripture, a battle between the heir
this should be carefully observed and noticed, there is        of the world and the great Babylon, that we meet with
nothing in all the sacred record which tells us anything       Melchizedek made like unto the Son of God.
of Melchizedek which .affords a biography!
   The Bible tells us something about the priest, and,         M E L C H I Z E D E K :   H I S   M E A N I N G F U L   NAA4E.
only in so far as it speaks of the priest, do we learn         (Hebrews 7 : 2)
something about the man. The cue to the proper                    Here we have one of the few instances where we have
understanding of Melchizedek is given us in Psalm              God's interpretation of a name. The writer of  Ecclesi-
 110:4. This ought to be evident from the repeated             astes asks: who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?
reference and quotation in Hebrews in the following            Surely it is the wise man who considers that a matter
passages: Hebrews  5:6, 10;  6:20, and also here in            must be interpreted, and that such interpretation is of
Hebrews 7: 1, 10, 11, 15, 17. Even the reference is to         the Lord! Repeatedly in the prophecy of Daniel we read
the priesthood.                                                that the "interpretation" is of the Lord. Who could tell
   To be sure, there are several conjectures as to who the     the interpretation of the Nebuchadnezzar's dream but
historical person of Melchizedek is. First of all there is     the God of heaven, the most high God? That is the
the Jewish philosopher Philo,  who denies that Melchi-         Lord's secret! He gives meaning to history and to each
zedek ever lived as a historical personage. According to       detail of it. And each man has a peculiar place and
Philo Melchizedek represents a philosophical allegory          meaning in it all. (Daniel 2:4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 16, 24 f-f.) And


46                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


who could interpret the meaning- of Daniel's night              righteousness of God which is through the faith of Jesus
visions upon his bed but God Himself? (Daniel 7: 16)            Christ. (Romans  3:21) Christ came to fulfill all right-
      We live in a day when the foundations are being           eousness. He came to make payment for our sins. He
destroyed. If the word of God is not denied outright, at        fulfills the law to the last jot and tittle. Here is the
least the methods of interpretation are such as to              proclamation of the sacrifice on the Cross. He, -the
corrupt all the meaning of Scripture so that it loses its       Christ, became to us from God wisdom, righteousness,
profitable to prepare the man of God unto every good            sanctification and thus complete redemption!
work, and to rob the Christian of his strong consolation.         Here is the King who is characterized as the one who
      If words have meaning then the Holy Ghost tells us        maintains righteousness in His dominion over all things.
here in these infallible Scriptures that God gave revela-       He hates iniquity. He loves righteousness and justice. His
tional content, explained, interpreted and exegeted             is a just distribution. In him we are justified and under
content to the name Melchizedek. The term "hermeene-            his dominion we have peace with God.
uomenos"  means: being interpreted. This means more               Such is God's covenantal rule in Christ in relationship
than: being translated. Surely, surely a literal translation    to His people. It is such overagainst all the enemies of
of the Hebrew into English of the term "Melchi-Zedek"           Israel, who in turn are first of all enemies of Christ and
means my king righteousness. However, a careful study           of God. (John 15: 17-l 9) Here God's covenantal rule is
of the term of this term and simular terms will show            such that we taste the sovereign mercy and love of the
that there is a definite interpretation of the name, which      king-priest in His kingdom.
only God can and does give in our language, so that we            For it ought to be observed that this King-Priest in
have an objective and valid meaning and interpretation.         Genesis 14: 17-20 has his royal throne in Salem. This
This we saw above was true of the dreams of Nebuchad-           place was quite likely what is later the city of Jerusalem.
nezzar and of the night-visions of Daniel. And this is          It is the city of peace. And this "peace" is not simply
true of many instances in Scripture. Cephas is by               that the enemies are destroyed, but it refers also to the
interpretation a  petra,  a rock. It refers to the  rocklike    peace which Christ gives us through his death and
quality and resolutelness of Peter's faith in Christ. (John     resurrection. He is our peace. (Ephesians 2: 14) He has
1:42) The child Jesus is called "Immanuel" which by             broken down the middle-wall of the partition, and so he
interpretation is: God with us. God was in Christ               came to preach peace both to those who are far and to
reconciling the world to himself, and He does not impute        those who are near. This peace is truly completeness of
our sins to us. He came to save His people from their           our life and joy and hope. This is the peace which is
sins! Such is the meaning of the name Immanuel. Such            ours within the vail because of the blood of sprinkling.
is its meaning in God's decree, and such is its meaning         And this city of Salem is a type and picture of the city
for us who believe the Gospel-story revealed to us in           four-square which has foundations, who builder and
this name, as the only name under heaven in which we            maker is God! This is according to the words of Jesus
must be saved!                                                  "My peace I give to you". (John 14:27)
      This name therefore refers to the Lord our righteous-        Of this king-priest office of Christ Melchizedek is a
ness. It is the righteousness manifested without law,           picture!
being testified of by the law and the prophets, even the          He is made like unto. the Son of God!



                                       B O O K R E V I E W S


"2 History of Preaching, Vol.  1 (From the Apostolic            admirably, however; and at the same time has furnished
Fathers to the Great Reformers), " .E. C. Dargan; Baker         a book with much valuable information.
Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich. 5 77 pages (paperback              This is not to say, of course, that I would agree with
edition), $3.95.                                                every evaluation of the preachers and their preaching
                                                                which are mentioned in this book. Calvin, for example,
      This book dates from 1904 and comes from the pen          could be more sympathetically treated.
of the Professor of Homiletics at Southern Baptist                In spite of my personal aversion for paperbacks,
Theological Seminary.                                           especially when the  .books involved are worthwhile, I
      It is not an easy task to write.history interestingly;    recommend this volume as a good addition to the
and I would say that  a.history of preaching is not the         library of anyone interested in the study of homiletics..
easiest history to write. The author. has succeeded                                                                 H.C.H.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    47


"The Sermon, Its Homiletical Construction," R.C.H.             implied. It is vastly better to omit the text and the
Lenski; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids,  Mich.  314            promise it involves, than to be faithless to the text and
pages (paperback), $2.95                                       its promise." (p. 36)
  Some months ago I wrote that there were not very               Or let today's "relevant" preacher heed this warning:
many good books available in the field of homiletics.          "One of the fruits of the old vulgar Rationalism is that
Shortly thereafter I received two good ones for review.        its exponents grew expert in preaching anything from
This is one of them.                                           any text. Modern rationalism still cultivates this treach-
  The author is better known, perhaps, for his New             erous art to a considerable degree. Each text is
Testament commentaries. But he was for many years              seemingly rubber, and nobody can guess beforehand in
Professor of Languages and Theology at Capital Univer-         which direction the preacher will stretch it." (p. 37)
sity, Columbus, Ohio; and this volume came from his              There is many a preacher today who can find much
sixteen years of teaching Homiletics.                          valuable advice and instruction in this book.
  One does not expect Lenski  to be Reformed; he was a           This reprint is recommended.                     H.C.H.
Lutheran, and his Lutheran views shine through a book
of this kind also. Yet this is an orthodox textbook on         "Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical
Homiletics, not a plentiful item in a day when the art of      Literature, " John McClintock  and James Strong; Baker
preaching is largely an abandoned art. And while this          Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
reviewer certainly does not agree with all that is said          This is not a review, but an advance notice of a
about the homiletical construction of the sermon in this       worthwhile reprint by Baker Book House. And while I
volume, yet there are many valuable insights and               do not usually give such advance notices of publications,
suggestions and warnings in the book. As is stated in the      but limit this department to actual reviews; yet I
introduction, "Here is a useful tool for the student and       consider this undertaking of sufficient merit to notify
the preacher."                                                 all who are interested in valuable additions to their
  Here are a few tidbits to whet the appetite of the           libraries, so that they may obtain these volumes as they
would-be preacher:                                             come from the press.
  "The text is to be the real source from which the               "McClintock and Strong" is an old-time standard
substance of the sermon is drawn. Once this is fully           work which covers exhaustively the entire field of
settled, there will be no question about employing a           religious knowledge. I `have in my personal library an old
text and using it in the right way after it is selected.       IO-volume set. According to Baker's news release, this
Whatever else we may use in the sermon, . . . everything       reprint will be in a 12-volume  set, containing more than
must be amalgamated with the central contents of the           3 1,000 articles, more than 17 million words, covering
text. The thoughts furnished by the text are always            12, 490 double column pages. As you can imagine, there
`chief and supreme. Whatever leads away from these             is a wealth of information to be obtained from volumes
thoughts is unsuitable material." (pp.  10,ll)                 like these.
   "If one or two sentences are plucked from the Bible           Plans are to publish the 12 volumes at the rate of 4
and made to adorn a religious address, we have a mere          volumes per year, beginning with Volume One in
motto, not a text at all. To use mottoes of this kind means    September of this year. They will be priced at $14.95,
not only to lose the advantages of a text, it means some-      but there will be a special price of $12.95 for those who
thing worse. It amounts to a degradation of the Word of        subscribe to the entire set. The price may seem steep;
God. That Word in all, even its minutest parts, is not         but I would consider this a good investment; and it is a
intended for ornament, but as food for the soul." (p. 12)      bit less painful when you can pay for only one volume
   `Stick to the text! That means, Be faithful to it. By       at a time.
reading a text in the pulpit the preacher virtually               Congratulations to Baker Book House on this project!
promises that he will preach on that text. The pulpit is          These volumes will make a good addition to any
the last place in the world in which to break, or fail to      church library or any student's or minister's library.
redeem, a promise, even though that promise be only                                                                H.C.H.

                  ANNOUNCEMENT                                                     ANNOUNCEMENT
The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed                NOTICE: The Fall Mass Meeting of the Men's Societies
Church of Pella, Iowa expresses its sincere sympathy to        is to be held, the Lord willing, at the First Protestant
their fellow Officebearer, namely, Elder C. Van Der            Reformed Church of Grand Rapids on October 21, at 8
Molen, Sr., in the death of his beloved Wife: Hendrika         P.M. The Speaker will be Rev. M.  Schipper, who will
Van Der Molen, nee Stuursma, on September 23, 1968.            speak on the subject  - "The Racial Unrest of Our
We hope and trust in the Lord that our loss is her gain.       Time." Plan now to spend an enjoyable evening with us
                                          The Consistory,      at this meeting.
                            Cornelius C. Van Soelen, Clerk                                                 A. Rau, Sec'y.


            48                                                                   THE  STANQARD  BEARER

                                                          News From Our Churches
                   (Editor's Note. Our news editor is vacationing at the time of the news deadline. Besides, in his news files were these two classical reports which needed
                   publishing. The regular news of our churches will appear again next time, D.V. That is, provided you keep sending Mr. Faber the news.)
                                  REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST                                                            REPORT OF CLASSIS WEST
                                   July 3 - September 11, 1.968                                                held Sept. 4, 1'968, in-Edgerton,  Minn.
                                         at Southwest Church
                    Rev. J. Kortering, chairman of the April Classis, led in                          The twelve churches of Classis West were represented
                                                                                                   by twenty delegates. In attendance also were three
              the opening devotions. All the churches sent two
              delegates except Holland which sent one. Rev. J.A. Heys                              Synodical delegates from  Classis East, because of the
              being absent because of his work in Jamaica.                                         examination at this meeting of Classis West of minister-
                    Rev. M. Schipper, in the absence of Rev. G. Lubbers,                           elect Mr. R. Moore. Rev. D. Engelsma presided at this
              presided, and read the agendum. Two elders who                                       meeting; Rev. R. Decker served as secretary.
              appeared on Classis for the first time signed the Formula                               In response to the request of the consistory of the
              of Subscription, The minubes of the April - May Classis,                             Hope Church of Isabel, South Dakota, whose call Mr.
             .were read and the transcription approved. Elders J.                                  Moore accepted,  Classis examined the now Rev. R.
              Boone and J. Flikkema, Jr., were appointed to serve on                               Moore in the subjects required by the decisions ap-
              the finance committee. Elder D. Dykstra was appointed                                pended to Article 4 of the Church Order. A new
              to thank the ladies of Southwest Church for their                                    feature of this examination was that Mr. Moore preached
              excellent catering. .                                                                the required sermon (on Ephesians  2:8) the evening
                    The reports of the Stated Clerk and the Classical                              before  Classis in a special worship service of the
              Committee were received for information.                                             Edgerton congregation, which service the delegates to
                    Since the Church Visitors, due to the press of other                           Classis attended in a body. Classis approved Mr. Moore's
              labors, were unable to finish their work, they were given                            examination and, with the concurrence of the Synodical
              permission to report to the October Classis.                                         delegates, advised Isabel to proceed with his ordination.
                                                                                                   The joy of the occasion was increased by the fact that
                    A protest against a Consistory and an appeal from                              the way was now open for our Isabel congregation to
              decisions of another, along with the answer of one                                   receive their first minister since they were organized as a
              Consistory were received and read in executive session.                              Protestant Reformed congregation in 1960.
              This material was placed into. the hands of a committee                                 Forbes, Hull, Pella  ,and South Holland asked for
              of Pre-advice to be reported on at a later session of                                classical appointments.  Classis decided to request the
              Classis. Another protest against the report of another                               assistance of Classis East, which assistance would consist
              study committee of the May  Classis was also treated.                                of supplying South Holland entirely and of taking two,
              The committee of Pre-advice appointed was: the Revs.                                 two-week appointments to .Hull. The schedule adopted
              Veldman, Kortering, and Harbach, and the Elders J.H.                                 by Classis is as follows. Forbes: Ott 20&27-G. Lanting;
              Kortering and D. Dykstra.                                                            Nov 17&24-R. Moore;  Dee  1&8-D. Kuiper; Jan
                    Questions of Art. 41 of the Church Order were asked                            19&26-R. Decker; Feb 9&16-R. Moore; Mar 2&9-D.
              and answered satisfactorily. After the reading of the                                Engelsma. Hull: Sept 22&29-G. Vanden Berg; Ott 6-R.
             minutes  Classis adjourned until September 1 lth. Elder                               Decker; Ott 13-G. Lanting; Ott 27&Nov 3-Classis East;
             C. Doezema closed this session with prayer.                                           Nov 17&24-D. Engelsma; Dee 8-G. Lanting; Dee 29-G.
                                  Session - September 11, 1968                                   Lanting; Jan 5&12-R. Moore; Jan  26&Feb  2-Classis
                    After the devotions, roll call revealed several changes                      "East; Feb 16&23-D. Kuiper; Mar 2&9-C. Hanko. PeZZa:
             in delegation. Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, b)ing present,`was                             il Nov  17&24-G.  Vanden Berg;  Dee  1&8-R. Decker; Jan
             given an advisory vote. Mr. Rhine Lubbers replaced,Mr.                                12&l 9-D. Kuiper; Feb 9&16-G.  Vanden Berg; Mar
             J. Boone on the finance Committee.                            -                       2&9-B. Woudenberg.
                    Hudsonville Consistory requested pulpit  sup,ply for                              In addition to the appointments, the ministers of the
             the Sundays Rev. H. Veldman would be absent to work                                   West are to'write a reading sermon for use especially by
             in the Pella, Iowa area. Rev. J. Heys and Elders A. Rau                               the vacant churches.
             and Herman Kuiper prepared the following schedule                                        South Holland overtured  Classis to increase the
             which Classis adopted: Sept. 22 - Morning: G. Lubbers                                 amount in which elder delegates to  Classis may be
             Evening: R. C. Harbach; Sept. 29  - Morning: G. Van                                   reimbursed for lost wages from $10 to $20 per day.
             Baren Evening: J. A. Heys; Oct. 6  -' Morning: M.                                     Classis adopted the overture.
             Schipper Evening: Theological `School; Oct. 13  -                                        Classis granted Isabel's request that it be permitted to
             Morning: Theological School Evening: J. Kortering.                                    ask for collections in the churches of the West.  .The
                    The .matters for which Classis was recessed and were                           collections are intended to help Isabel purchase a home
             now to be treated were then considered and disposed of                                for their minister and his family. Classis also passed the
      '      with unanimous decision.                                                              request on to Classis East for their approval of Isabel's
1.          f  Classis had previously decided to  m-eet; D.V., next                                doing the same in the churches of the East.
           "3 time on October 2, 1968 at 9,A.M. in Hope Church.                                       The next meeting of  Classis West will be held, the
                   `At  +1:30  AIM.  `Classis  stood,-adjourned; and Rev. J.                       Lord willing, in South Holland on the first Wednesday
             Kortering closed our meeting with thanks to God.                                      .of March, 1969.
            -2,                                                      i.
L'  *                                                           ,          M. Schipper, S.C.                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk


