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 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



`I IN THIS rssUE


        .Meditation:
           Lot Choosing The Plains

         Editorial:
           The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert

         Our Mission Activities

         Paul The Apostle To The Gentiles
           (see: The Lord Gave The Word)

                                                 Volume XL V/iVumbev 9/ Feb. I,1969


194                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                CONTENTS:                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
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       Lot Choosing The Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.

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Meditation

                           LOT CHOOSING THE PLAINS
                                                                        Rev. M. Shipper

                                                "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain
                                            of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before
                                             the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,- even as the
                                            garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou
                                            comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of
                                            Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated
                                             themselves the one from the other. " Genesis 13: 10,ll

       The herdmen of Abram and the herdmen of Lot had                                 As they were returning from Egypt to the land of
been quarreling!                                                                    Canaan!


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  195


  "And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I         that appealed to the eye of his flesh for its material
pray thee, between me and thee, and between my                beauty, for its potential wealth. This does not neces-
herdmen and thy  herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not          sarily mean that he chose the wickedness of the cities of
the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray          the plain. Does not the apostle Peter tell us that he
thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I        vexed his righteous soul with the filthy conversation of
will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand,    the wicked? (II Pet.2.:7).  Indeed, Lot was a child of God
then I will go to the left."                                  who presently would have to be delivered by fire from
  And Lot lifted up his eyes and chose all the plain of       the destruction of the cities. But when he made his
the Jordan!                                                   choice, all,this was farthest from his thought.
  The plain of the Jordan, a well-watered and fertile           The well-watered plain was typical of all the material
land. Once a year, in the springtime, the Jordan river        prosperity the world has to offer. There was no sign of
overflowed its `banks, the swift-flowing stream fed by        depression there. It was a material utopia. And at the
torrents flowing down from Mount Hermon in the                same time it served, in conjunction with the cities, a
north, carried with it a rich sediment of silt which it       type of the world that is always developing in the way
deposited over the whole land. Not only did the water         of destruction. Sodom is a picture of that world in the
of the Jordan tend to fertilize the soil and irrigate the     raw. Ezekiel so describes it. "Behold, this was the
land, but it also provided water for the numerous cattle      iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,  fumess of bread,
that Lot had obtained in his association with Abram.          and abundance of idleness was in her and in her
Because of its fertility the land was beautiful and lush.     daughters, neither did.she strengthen the hand of the
The text informs  us. that the land, before the destruc-      poor and needy. And they were haughty, and com-
tion of Sodom and Gomorrah, was comparable to Egypt           mitted abomination before me: therefore I took them
and even as the garden of. the Lord. The beauty of            away as I saw good." (Ezek.16: 49,50).
Egypt Lot had only recently witnessed with his own              Indeed, the object of Lot's choice was typical of the
eyes. Of the beauty of the garden of the Lord, that is        material world which is fast developing in sin and
the garden of Eden, Lot also undoubtedly had been well        corruption unto destruction!
informed. Tradition was most accurate in those days.            Motivated was he by carnal lust!
When you consider that Methuselah lived 243 years               That his eyes were lifted up so that he beheld all the
before Adam died, and `Noah lived 500 years as a              plain of Jordan was not in itself wrong.' That he even
contemporary with Methuselah, and until two years             considered in his mind the material possibilities the
before Abram was born, then the description of Eden           plain had to offer was also not wrong in itself. Should
could very easily have been transmitted to Lot. So            not the child of God see the world and analyze
beautiful was the Jordan plain that it was to Lot. more       discreetly all that that world has to offer? If he knows
beautiful than fertile Egypt, it reminded him of the          his calling, he does not walk through this world like the
beautiful garden in the land of Eden where the Lord           horse with old-fashioned blinders which could allow it
God had placed the parents of the whole human race            to see only that which was ahead of it, but not see what
before the curse of God settled over the earth because        was to the left or right. Nay, rather, he observes that
of man's sin. This was what Lot beheld as his eyes            world as it is, and properly assesses its worth. He will
scanned the plain of the Jordan to the east.                  even make use of that world, if he can bring it into the
  Moreover, because of the richness of the soil, pros-        service of his God. Then he does not serve Mammon,
perous communities` of cities were erected there, chief       but Mammon serves him. (Luke 16:9).
of which were Sodom and Gomorrah. As in modern                  But this is not what Lot did! His natural and burning
times cities' may arise over night where rich material        lust was fanned into a flame. And Lot chose the plains!
resources are discovered, so, no doubt, these cities            Lot must choose! All men must choose! Even the
toward which Lot looked had their reason for existence.       child of God must make a choice! But for him the
Centers they became of agriculture and commerce,              choice must always be antithetical, that is, he must
promoting every worldly enterprise.                           choose the good, while always rejecting the evil. The
  What natural man in his right mind would not choose         principle of the antithesis the Lord introduced for man
such a place in preference to the arid and rocky terrain      already in the garden of Eden when He placed man
where Abram now dwelt? Nay, rather, what child of             before the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good
God, such as Lot was, would not by natural inclination        and evil, and taught him thereby that man is not to live
prefer to live there? Even if his going there entailed        by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth
dwelling near the wicked cities of Sodom and                  out of the mouth of God. Before this antithesis Lot also
Gomorrah? For we read in verses 12 and 13: "And Lot           is placed, and it was his calling to choose to be obedient
dwelled in the cities of the plain, and `pitched his tent     to the Word of God and reject all that militated against
toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and            that Word.
sinners before the Lord exceedingly."                           But this child of God decided to set aside his
  Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan! He chose all         antithetical calling, and he chose bread alone! He passed


196                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


by, as it were with the wave of the hand, the things of          ebb.
God and His covenant, only to obtain as Esau a mess of             Lot beheld what his flesh wanted him to see, and the
pottage. He lifted up his eyes to behold all the plain of        sparkle of material gain so blinded his eyes that he could
Jordan, and then chose to journey to the east, and so            not see the things which are spiritual, and made his ears
separated himself from Abram.                                    so deaf that he could no longer hear the Word of God.
       What a sad commentary on an erstwhile congenial             So he departs from Abram, and breaks with the
and brotherly relation!                                          Church and all that that implies!
       But the sadness of this separation lay not only in the      He journeys to the east, pulling up his tent stakes! In
fact that here were brethren according to the flesh who          itself a beautiful picture of the child of God who is
were being pulled apart. It was much deeper than that.           called to be a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth, but
       Lot separated himself from Abram, the Church! Was         only to set up his tent in the camp of wickedness, yea,
it not with Abram that God had established His                   much worse, to get rid of his tent and every semblance
covenant? Was it not unto him and his seed that God              of a pilgrim only to purchase or build a house as a place
had given exceeding precious promises: "I will be thy            of permanent abode. (Gen. 19: 2-4).
God, ,and thou and thy seed after thee shall shall be My           Alas, dear reader, is not this exactly what many
people" - and, "Unto thee and thy seed after thee will I         children of God are doing today? Seeking material
give this land and thou shalt possess it forever?" And           prosperity because the pastures are green and lush, and
that seed was not merely his son Isaac, which was yet to         they desire a life of ease and pleasure, and choose not to
be born, but, according to the apostle to the Galatians,         live in tents in the arid and stony places where most
that seed was Christ, the Hope of everlasting salvation.         usually the Church of Christ is found? And is it not so
       Without hesitation Lot should have answered               that the doctrine of the antithesis, according to which
Abram's proposal to separate from each other, by                 the Church is to live in the world but never of it, is
saying: My dear brother, I agree with you that we                almost wholly forgotten, or even negated by another
should stop our fighting, and we should do everything in         philosophy that the Church ought to be some kind of a
our power to make our hostility to cease, but please do          salt that is going to make the rotten and putrid meat of
not ever suggest that I leave thee. I know that God has          the world better, or the philosophy that God in His
placed in thy loins the Hope of salvation, and for me to         so-called common grace makes the Sodomites good
get out of this land would be to separate myself really          people with whom the people of God may go arm in
from Christ and His Church, even from heaven itself.             arm? On the basis of this philosophy has not the Church
No, Abram, the very thought of leaving thee would                today lost her distinctive character, and given to her
bring me with grey hairs to the grave. Moreover, my              members the license to go hog-wild after the things
dear brother, don't you see that everywhere I would go,          which are below, so that they have no longer a desire for
there would be in that place no manifestation of the             the things which are above?
Church of God. Right here with thee is the only true               Now the story of Lot was not divinely included in the
manifestation of the Church. And of that manifestation           infallible Scriptures simply to tell us what happened to
I must be and forever remain a living member. How can            Lot. Rather, it was preserved for our instruction upon
you even suggest that I should separate myself from              whom the ends of the age have come. Nor was this story
thee? And what is more, Abram, if we should go                   preserved for us to simply teach us how far a child of
through with this thing, namely, to separate from one            God may go without being eternally lost. Rather, it was
another, and you give me the opportunity to choose, I            written that we may learn not to go in the direction Lot
might naturally be inclined to go to the plain of the            went. Indeed, Lot, the child of God, was saved, but it
Jordan because there is much grass and water there. But          was as by fire in the most literal sense of the word.
don't you see, Abram, that behind that temptation lies             Positively, this portion of Scripture teaches us to seek
the wicked cities? How could I ever leave the Church             not the things which are perishing, be they ever so
only for material reasons, and then hope to bring up my          intriguing and tempting; but the things which are above,
family the Lord will give me in that ungodly place? If I         which have abiding value; and to live antithetically, in
should go there and let my light shine, as I would, don't        loving obedience to the will of God, and hating that
you see that I would not last for a moment, they would           which is evil as God hates it. And surely not to separate
persecute me to the death. But what is more important,           ourselves from the purest manifestation of Christ's
how can light and darkness dwell together?                       Church, but abide in it as living members - even if by
       Such, indeed, would have been Lot's remonstrations        being faithful we shall be required for a time to live with
if.he had stood at the moment on a high spiritual plain.         Abram in the dry and rocky places.
But, alas? his faith was dim, and his spiritual life at a low


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    197


Editorials

                                              EDITOR'S NOTES
Pre-publication Sale. Accompanying this issue is a handy         In.the near future we also hope to present a report from
envelope to make it easy for you to take advantage of            our Theological School Committee.
the pre-publication sale of "Behold, He Cometh!" I                                        * *  *  * *
cannot recommend this thorough and beautiful                     In future issues, if you like to know what is coming, we
exposition of the Book of Revelation too highly. And             hope to present the department  Pages from the Past
therefore I urge you to send in your pre-publication             more frequently, so that our readers can maintain better
order promptly. Fill in the information in the flap of           continuity. The editor's docket for the near future has
the order-envelope, enclose your money, and mail your.           on it: More On The School-Aid Issue, Developments in
order today! If you wait until this February 1 issue is          the Netherlands, The Christian Reformed Church and
buried in your magazine rack, you will forget. And if            Kuitert's Views, The Lost Art of Expository Preaching.
you forget, you will regret!                                     These, plus all our regular departments, should keep you
                                                                 among our interested and informed and  international
Of special interest  in  this issue is a report from our         (see Church News Dept.) readership.
Mission Committee. Be sure to read it. This is one of the                                 *****
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                  The Erring Views of Dr. H, M. Kuitert (12)
                                    An Evaluation of Kuitert's Dogmatical Views (Continued)

                                                   Profi H. C. Hoeksema

Christ and Creation: A Weakness In Reformed                       some concessions. I conceded that Reformed theo-
Theology?                                                         logians do not always present a view which is in all
   In an earlier issue (Dec. 15) I promised to answer            respects satisfactory and that they do not develop
three questions in connection with Dr. Kuitert's severe           properly the riches of Scripture's presentation. In the
indictment that Reformed theology has been unable to              second place, I conceded that one can find some very
establish a proper connection between creation and                sterile dogmatics on this score, which is content to find
Christ, and his suggestion that this is due to the literal        the significance of creation in general in the fact that it
interpretation of the creation record. The first question         serves the revelation of God's glory, and which makes a
I have answered; and I have demonstrated, I believe,             rather mechanical distinction between God's work in
that as far as the main line of Reformed theology is              creation and His work in redemption. I also suggested
concerned his charge is not true. Moreover, I have               that some Reformed theologians who have a very strict
pointed out in detail that in  .our Protestant Reformed          and orthodox view of the Genesis record nevertheless
theology, as it was richly developed by the late Herman          fail properly to see the relation between Christ and
Hoeksema, we have long enjoyed a beautiful and                    creation in its full dimensions because they view Christ
Scriptural insight into this relationship.                       and His work of redemption as a kind of repair work
   The second question which I promised to consider              which became necessary when sin and the devil and
was this: if there is any failure among Reformed                 Adam's fall spoiled God's first work.
theologians to establish a proper connection between                Hence, there is a weakness on this score.
Christ and creation, is this due inherently to a weakness           However, it is an altogether different question
in the traditional conception of creation and of Genesis         whether this weakness is due to maintaining a literal
l-3, that is, due to a literal and historical understanding      interpretation of the creation account, as Dr. Kuitert
of the creation record?                                           suggests. This I deny categorically.
   In answer to this question, while I maintained that              First of all, let me point out that Dr. Kuitert neither
`Kuitert's blanket indictment of the Christian church in         proved nor attempted to prove this contention. He
general and of Reformed theology in particular is not            simply made a claim. With a wave of the hand he simply
true (and proved my contention), I nevertheless made             dismisses all of traditional theology as inadequate, as a


198                                             THE STANDARD'BEARER


failure; and he attempts to place the blame on a                his new paths are no more than extensions of the old.
so-called traditional view of creation. Now T would like           After that little excursion, let us return to the
to; sound a serious warning against this kind of thing. It      question.
seems to be the vogue in our times, not only in theology         And then I want to point out, in the second place,
but in virtually ,every sphere of thought and life, to be       that there is nothing in the so-called traditional doctrine
dissatisfied with the old, to be non-conformist, to             of creation-in-six-days as such which would make it
propound new and radical and upsetting ideas. This is           impossible to establish a connection between creation
true in `the realm of theology too. Sometimes one gets          and Christ. There is nothing  inherent  in that doctrine
the impression that these propounders of new and                which would prevent the establishment of such a
radical ideas take a certain delight in seeing.how much         connection. This is what Kuitert would have to show in
they can f`upset the apple cart.?' Scholarship is confused      order to prove his point. And indeed, if this could be
with being radical; freshness and development are               proved, then even apart from any exegetical questions,
confused with being different.  Oneis reminded of the           this would certainly be enough to call in question any
Athenians in the apostle  PauPs time, who spent their           dogmatics which clung to a literal understanding'of the
time-in nothing else than either to tell or to hear some        creation record. But what could there possibly be in the
new thing. The old and tried and true ideas, which have         so-called traditional doctrine of creation which would
long ago met the test -of Scripture and have stood the          prohibit viewing creation in connection with Christ?
test of time, are lightly thrown out. In fact, sometimes        Mark well, the question is not whether some theologians
the very fact. that something is traditional is sufficient      have in a measure failed on this score. The question is
reason- to condemn and reject it; and traditional views         not  even' whether at times theologians have been so
receive the blame for just about everything that is really      preoccupied with defending the doctrine of creation as
or imaginarily wrong in church and world.                       such that they failed to pay attention to this connection
   In one. of the Dutch papers I recently read a reference      and tended  to' isolate the doctrine of creation and
to "learned provo's." In the Netherlands the Provo's are        .separate it from the rest of dogmatics. This may have
-comparable to some of the youthful rebels found in our         happened upon occasion; and it is a mistake-too. But it
own country. in such, groups as the hippies and the             is the fault of theologians, not of their theology. My
yippies., They are rebellious and anti-social dissenters. In    answer is that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in
referring to the agitation by theologians from the Free         the doctrine of creation as such which lays it open to
University in the Dutch churches, this article states (I        Kuitert's indictment. There is nothing, theologically
translate):"As - learned - Provo's they put no stock in         considered. And historically, as I have already pointed
the ecclesiastical `establishment,' and they try to gain a      .out, it can be readily proved that Reformed theology
following for their new ideas. Of course, -in order             has seen and has even richly developed this connection.
presently, supported by their adherents, to turn the               But, in the third place, I can conceive of much more
`establishment' about in their own spirit." (Tot Vrijheid       cogent reasons why in some instances theologians have
Geroepen, November, 1968, page 2 12) This, I think, is a        failed to see and to develop the truth of this connection
rather apt description of today's rebel theologians and         between Christ and creation.
their tactics and goals. And they are bold and cocky and           First of all, I would suggest that the failure to view
conceited, and in only too many instances successful,           the whole of God's works in the light of His sovereign
usually because no one seems to have the courage to call        counsel and purpose, and especially in connection with
their bluff, lay down the law to them, and then proceed         His purpose of election and reprobation, has something
to enforce it. Now I am taking this little editorial            to do with the failure to see the connection between
excursion to warn against this kind of thing, especially        creation and Christ. I will leave out the question of
in the church and in the realm of theology. No one              supra- and infralapsarianism in this connection, although
deserves a medal, much less a hearing, merely for being a       I firmly believe that infralapsarianism leaves something
theological radical and upstart. Theology is not an             to be desired on this score. But the tendency to view the
adventure, and the church should not follow new ideas           work of Christ as a repair work in relation to a first
just for the sake of being adventuresome. It is grossly         work of God which was spoiled and marred through sin,
conceited to "pooh-pooh" and to question and cast               the tendency to view Christ and redemption as a divine
aspersions upon all that is traditional in theology, - for      second thought, or after-thought, - this tendency in its
the very simple and obvious reason that the church in           very nature eliminates the idea of an inherent con-
the past has enjoyed the guidance of the Spirit of truth,       nection between Christ and creation. It presupposes .that
Who has always led the church into all the truth. He,           if only God's first work, in Adam, had not been spoiled,
therefore, who would be inclined to reject something of         if only the so-called covenant of works had not failed,
the past must tread very carefully and must be certain          then Christ and His work of redemption would not have
that he is guided by the only safe road-map in blazing          been necessary. And this tendency to view Christ as a
new trails, that of the Scriptures. He must make very           divine after-thought is basically due to a failure to view
certain that he is not removing old land-marks, but that        the work of God, and the unity of that work, in the


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                    199


light of His sovereign and eternal counsel, and espe-            results for theology  of; any departure  .from or  de-
cially, I say again, in the light of His sovereign               emphasis of it. In any event, we may keep this in mind.
predestination. In other words, it is the old, old story         Perhaps in the future this connection will become more
that, election is the heart of the church and the heart of       c l e a r .
the truth. And also with regard to the doctrine of                  The second reason for this failure to connect Christ
creation, if the heart-beat of election is not clearly           and creation is rather closely connected with the first. It
discernible in it, you may depend on it that that                is the theory of common grace.                                                     I
doctrine will not be properly understood and main-                  I do not now have in mind fhe well-meant offer of
tained.                                                          the First Point of 1924. This is also a very serious error,
  And is it not more than passing strange that exactly           and I would never minimize its seriousness. It is
in the circle of this "knew theology" in the Netherlands         principally Arminian, not Reformed.
the tendency to deny and to reformulate the doctrine of             But I refer now to the theory of common grace in the
predestination is pery strong also? And is it not just           Kuyperian sense. Moreover, I do not now have in mind
possible that, consciously or sub-consciously, this very         the fact that the common grace. theory has -resulted in
denial of sovereign predestination is leading also to a          an attempted synthesis of worldly philosophy and
dissatisfaction with the so-caged traditional view of            Reformed theology, although this also  `enters  into the
creation, and that instead of going to the real dogmat-          picture very really. What I have in mind is that there is a
ical root of the problem, these theologians are dis-             theological  connection between the common grace
carding said doctrine of creation and trying to fill the         theory as Kuyper propounded it and the failure to teach
void with something new? And is it not possible that the         the unity of creation and the work of Christ.
real cure for all the theological ills which are plaguing           I am well aware that there are some who bristle at
Reformed churches, is a basic and vital and vigorous             every criticism of the common-grace theory. I am also
return to that central truth, that heart-truth, of God's         aware that some think that Protestant Reformed theol-
sovereign predestination? This I, for one, consider              ogy simply makes a general whipping-post of common
highly likely. Perhaps it is difficult at this stage to trace    grace. But as I view today's scene, I become more and
any overt connection between these things. And I                 more impressed with the far-reaching consequences, evil
certainly am not saying that this connection is con-             ones, of the common grace theory for all of doctrine
sciously and deliberately made. But I consider it highly         and life. I am convinced that these consequences are
likely, although it is not always easy actually to trace         much  m&e far-reaching than the fathers -of the theory
root-causes. I consider it likely in view of the unity of        ever dreamed they would be.
the truth. And I consider it likely in the light of the fact        The importance of this theory in our present dis-
that history has abundantly shown the centrality of the          cussion I will attempt to make clear next time, the Lord
truth of sovereign predestination and the devastating            willing.


All  Around  Us

                        A Sample of Current Seminary `Instruction
                        A New Foundation for the Free University
                                                  life in College
                                                      Pro5  H. Hanko

A SAMPLE OF CURRENT SEMINARY INSTRUC-                            Seminaries of the nation. One wonders in how many
TION                                                             Seminaries these views are being taught; and whether
  In the January  6  issue of  Luiheran   News appeared a        Reformed Seminaries are not also teaching these same
photographic copy of an article which had originally             ideas. Below follow scattered quotes from the article.
appeared in Lutherans-Alert a conservative ALC Luther-                       I   ( S t u d e n t - )  
an publication. In it was recorded thk reports of                                                         s e n t   t o   h i m   ( P r o f e s s o r
                                                                       -) to ask whether Satan really existed, and
students being instructed in Seminaries of the denomi-                 he said, "Well, let's go to the Bible and I'll see if I can
nation of what they are being taught. The quotations                   explain it to you." . . . He opened the Bible to the
give evidence of the apostasy of current Lutheranism                   passage where Jesus . . . was led into t-he wilderness to
and show the present teachings of higher critics in the                be tempted. He said, "Well, we can't really take this to


200                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


       mean what it says; it's in symbols . . . . He really                 protests written to oppose the move of Ezra and
       wasn't led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God. He              Nehemiah to separate the Jewish community from the
       just went there by Himself because, you know, He was                 heathen population . . . . All Hebrew writings in the
       having trouble understanding whether He was God or                   Bible received their final form after the. exile. The
       man . . . . So He fasted up there and then He started                story of the burning furnace with Shadrack, Meshack
       thinking, and you know how you can talk to yourself.                 and Abednego was a folktale, along with the many
       You can say, `Well, do I want to do it or don't I want               others. If Daniel was written when he says it was, then
       to do it?`, and that sort of thing when you're                       the Bible would be magic . . . .
       wondering about some action that is about to be done                     Professor             stated . . . "All prophecies of
       in your life. So He said to Himself, `Well, am I the Son             the Old Testament weren't fulfilled; there is actually
       of God, or am I not the Son of God? He kind of had a                 the possibility that the New Testament writers, in their
       mental battle; there would come a Bible verse that                   zeal to see the Old Testament prophecies fulfiied in
       would say, `If you are the Son of God, throw yourself                Jesus Christ were actually writing down these refer-
       down from the top of the pinnacle of the synagogue                   ences to the Old Testament just to fulfill these Old
       and the angels will carry you up and won't let you                   Testament prophecies. We really can't know that these
       strike your foot on the ground.' Then He would say                   were historically fulfiied; there is no way to prove it."
       something else; He would use another Bible passage to                When Student                  asked him, Vhy couldn't
       off-set that and say, `Well, that isn't right.' "                    these prophets prophecy 500 years in advance things
          . . . They talked about the Bible being a myth,                   that were going to happen, by the Spirit .of God?", the
       especially the Pentateuch as having a lot of mytho-                  Professor replied, "If it is true that they could do this,
       logical references and myth involved . . . .                         they must have looked into their crystal balls or had a
          He (Professor               ) summarized (the idea of a           set of playing cards, or something; it would have been
       myth) with a statement from C. H. Dodd, "A myth                      like a Gypsy; it would have been spiritualistic and
       concerns not what happened; a myth concerns what                     mystic, and the Word of God condemns that!"
       happens." This, he said, made it simple to understand                    . . . The New Testament is not historically correct; it
       what God had really said in the Pentateuch: "God is                  is not history, but theology completely influenced by
       still creating and man is still falling. It's what happens,          later developments. Whole meanings of Christian proc-
       not what happened. Adam, therefore, was simply the                   lamation come from the vindication of Jesus. We're
       first man to fall and ever since then we've had one                  using the Gospels for a purpose they weren't intended
       more fall of Adam as each person comes along and                     for . . . .
       falls on his own; and so it's possible for a person to be                Professor            stated in class "We can't take
       perfect as they are born, and then as they grow up                   everything in the New Testament as the Word of God;
       they fall just like the first Adam.                                  we have to take some things as Peter's idea of what
          "This mythological business," (the professors) said,              God said, and Paul's idea of what God said, and so
        "could be compared to the Epic of Gilgamesh, which                  forth." . . . Student               said, "Well, how do
       also speaks about a serpent, evils, the flood and other              you know that the Koran isn't also the Word of God?"
       archeological things that happened . . . . I found (the              and he replied, "I can't be; in fact the Koran may have
       student said) that it gave me a completely new attitude              some of the Word of God in it."
       toward how the Bible was put together, an under-                   This is just a sampling  of what happens when the
        standing of the Word of God. I found out that the               Bible is rejected as the infallibly inspired Word of God.
        Bible wasn't such a significant writing after all; it was       At last everything in Scripture is questioned. It is
       just another form that had been written down at the              subjected to the superior and scrutinizing power of
        same time in history as many other myths, therefore,            man's reason. And it is rejected. The result is that even
       it just didn't hold water! . . .                                 the Koran of the Mohammedans has the Word of God in
          According to Prof.                  , Genesis l-l 1 is not
       history, which is a narrative of interpretative events:          it. Presumably the same is true of the writings of
       there is little or no archeological evidence for it being        Confucius and Plato. But the people of God have no
       historically factual. It can't be verified. It's not a saga;     firm rock on which to base their hope.
       it's not a fable, with the exception of the portion              A NEW FOUNDATION FOR THE FREE  VN.IVER-
       which tells about Eve and the serpent; that's a fable.           SITY
       It's not a fairy tale; it's not legend, with the exception         In various periodicals especially from the Netherlands
       of Genesis 6 to 9 where the flood account is recorded;           and Dutch immigrant groups comes news of a discussion
       this idea came from the Mesopotamian people while                underway in the Free University to change the basis.
       the Jews were in Babylonian captivity . . . . The Tower          The idea is to change the Reformed basis of the
       of Babel was a story taken as a legend; there are many           University to a generally Christian basis. This means,
       towers like this all over the place in the Mesopotamian
       area . . . .                                                     evidently, (although the specific changes under dis-
          Professor                        according to Student         cussion have not been published) that the purpose is to
                       , ascribed the awesome holiness of Isaiah's      take from the basis of the University those elements
       description of God as coming from an Oriental                    which mark the school as standing in the Reformed
       conception that the King is able to cut off your head            branch of the Protestant and Calvinistic Reformation
       . . . . The  B,ooks of Jonah and Ruth were actually              and give to it a basis which will attract people from


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   201


every branch of the Reformation including Lutherans,           country alone. Almost three-fourths of the nation's
Remonstrants and others. From the discussions which            daily newspapers carry horoscopes along with millions
have appeared up to this point it seems as if the idea is      of magazines.
also to strike down any differences between the                  The idea of astrology is that the twelve signs of the
Gereformeerde Kerken and the Hervormde Kerken and              zodiac determine the personality of those born under
give the University a true ecumenical flavor. One              their influence. And that various movements of the stars
wonders if those who are advocating these changes have         and the planets affect life to such an extent that a study
their eyes also on Roman Catholics. Surely they too are        of these movements can be used to predict religious and
"generally Christian".                                         secular affairs in the lives of individuals.
  In a sense, there is something honest about all this.          An interesting side-light was the prediction of the
The recent liberal tendencies in Scriptural studies and        nation's leading astrologer that Jackie Kennedy would
theology among the members of the faculty of the Free          never re-marry. When she did, the astrologer responded
University indicate that already the University has            with the words: "The marriage is obscure. It is not a
drifted into a "generally Christian" position in ,distinc-     love marriage, but something else. Many factors are
tion from a Reformed position. The trouble is that this        involved: the collapse of the Kennedy family; her own
generally Christian position is, today, outright modern-       power of love, the fact that she was somewhat rejected
ism. A change in the basis, however, would only be             in the United States and the shattering effect of the
honest recognition of what  ' has, in fact, actually           assassination of Robert Kennedy."
happened.                                                        At any rate, the interesting feature of it all is that as
   But a change in the basis would be acknowledgment of        our country becomes more and more scientific and
the fact that the Free University is longer.  officially       relies more and more on the authority of human reason
Reformed. It has deliberately thrown aside its Reformed        and objective  ~reality, so also appears this strange
heritage and has abandoned all that it has stood for in        anomaly: the country becomes increasingly super-
the past. Any kind of return to sound Reformed                 stitious. Some explain the current interest in astrology
instruction and any possibility of a "house-cleaning" in       as a "strong approach to God." Others speak of it. as a
the University would be forever impossible.                    "decadent game played by a corrupt society." One
  One wonders what the position of the Gereformeerde           leading psychologist speaks of astrology as a refuge.
Kerken would be overagainst the University should this         "When concrete day-to-day life becomes increasingly
change be made. After all, in a unique sense, the Free         harder, people turn to the occult forces. Once a
University is the University of the  Gereformeerde             horoscope .has been cast, the `inner world' is settled for
Kerken.  There the future leaders of the Church are            a while. Astrology takes the load off people. They are
trained. There the ministers who serve the pulpits in the      sharing their fate with outside forces."
Gereformeerde Kerken receive their preparatory instruc-          Astrology is idolatry. When men do not put their
tion. Will the Gereformeerde Kerken have the strength          trust in the living God they turn to superstition and put
to sever its relations with the Free? Or will the Free         their trust in foolish  id.ols just as the heathen did. We
alter officially the character of the denomination which       have not outgrown the idolatry of  Baa1 and Ashtaroth.
it serves? From this perspective, it looks like the latter     Astrology is of Satan. It must be feared by God's people
possibility is more certain. The present leaders in the        as they value the salvation of their souls.
Gereformeerde Kerken  (and they seem to have their               The other article in  Newsweek  had to do with the
hands firmly on the reins of power) are alumni of the          fact that "College students have gone to pot." Evidences
Free. They were trained in a University which for some         of its wide-spread use are plentiful. Many students make
time now has not been Reformed. They surely will exert         their living by selling marijuana. On many campuses, as
this "generally Christian" influence in the denomination       high as 50% of the student body admit to having tried
as well.                                                       it. In some schools the kitchens of the dorms are used to
LIFE IN COLLEGE                                                prepare marijuana for use. The drug has become a
   In two recent articles in Newsweek present trends in        unique Christmas present which college students send to
college life were discussed. These articles had nothing to     each other with season's greetings. While many college
do with the hippies, yippies, college rebels, members of       administrators acknowledge that the use of the drug has
the free speech movement, or anything of this sort.            reached almost epidemic proportions, what is especially
These articles had to do with something far more               disconcerting is the fact that marijuana smoking has
insidious. The first article dealt with the growing            become socially acceptable in many parts of the
influence of astrology among college students. Interest        country. There was a time not so long ago when use of
in astrology is not limited to college students, of course.    drugs and dope waslimited to a few who did their evil
But increasingly the followers of horoscopes are to be         work in private. They were frowned on by the majority
found among youth of this age group. It is estimated           of people. This is rapidly changing. Drug use is
that there are some 10 million "hard-core adherents"           becoming a status symbol. It is no longer condemned in
with another 40 million who dabble in t8e stars in this        colleges, in homes and among many social groups. It is


2 o i                                           THE  STANDARD  BEARER


becoming as acceptable as social .drinking. How rapidly         -of the tower of Babel: "And now nothing -will be
are the morals of this ,country breaking down. One. is          restrained from them, which they have imagined to do,"
reminded of the words of God at the time of the building        Gen. 11:6.


In  His  Fear  .-                    "

                                A Song in the Heart-CONT.
                                                   Rev. John A. Heys

    You have a heart murmur.                                    or sing. The heart has a song in it, even as the
    Let it be stated to every reader of these lines that he     murmuring brook sings its constant song of praise to
has a heart murmur.                                             God.
    This is not a physician's diagnosis of a physical             It does make a great deal of difference what song is in
condition. It may or it may not be true in that sense           the heart. -There will be a heart murmur, but what does
that you have a heart murmur. With most of the readers          it say within us? Is it a murmur of joyful praise to God?
of these lines this undoubtedly is not true. With those         Or is it a growl and grumble of dissatisfaction? David,
among whom it may be true it still does not mean that           the author of the 19th Psalm, has a heart murmur or
they have anything about which to worry, and that this          song of praise. His natural eye has seen the heavens and
condition indicates future heart trouble or heart failure       the heavenly bodies of the firmament. And the glory of
due to that murmur.                                             God which they declare - for thus he begins the Psalm,
    But it is Scripture's testimony that every man,             "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
woman and child that dwells upon the face of this earth,        firmament showeth forth His handiwork" - has been
or ever breathed the air of this globe, has a heart             reflected by his regenerated and sanctified soul to cause
murmur. Even then Scripture does not say that this is a         a song of the glory of God to dwell in his heart.
spiritual affliction, but Holy Writ simply states it as a       Likewise has he seen, with his spiritual eye, the beauty
spiritual reality. The statement is found in Psalm 19:24,       of God's Word. And this causes a second stanza to that
where our English translation (The Authorized or King           song in his sanctified  and  regenerated heart to be
James Version) employs a different word. In that                present.
translation we read, "Let the words of my mouth, and              With and in the natural man the opposite is true. He
the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight,          sees the glory of the creature. He speaks of the beauty
0 Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." We can read it           of the heavens and of the vastness of the firmament.
another way, and we prefer to read it that way, wherein         And his heart murmurs with a proud song of what man
it becomes, "Let the words of my mouth, and the                 will do and how he will conquer this outer space. He
murmuring of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, 0            sees no glory of God, but he does see a challenge to get
Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." The root                   glory for himself. God's Word and God's law he curses,
meaning of the verb is "to murmur."                             and he has in his heart nothing but a song of the lust of
    We take the liberty, however, to change that still          man's flesh. He murmurs after the baser things of life.
further to, "let . . . the song (or.the singing) of my heart    On the one hand he reaches ever upward toward the
be acceptable to Thee, 0 Lord, my strength, and my              moon; and on the other hand he rushes to the depths of
redeemer." For the word is used that way, as to the             filth and immorality. His murmur in his heart is not
idea, in Psalm 35:28 and Psalm 71: 24. In both verses we        acceptable in the sight of God. He has a serious heart
find this expression, "My tongue shall speak of Thy             condition which will bring him to the torments of hell.
righteousness." But in the setting of Psalm 35 there is         And his mouth therefore spouts forth cursing and
added, "And of Thy praise all the day long."`In Psalm           blasphemies instead of songs of praise and blessings to
71 the connection is that of the preceding verse, where         his Creator and God. These go together even as the
the psalmist says, "My lips shall greatly rejoice when I        Psalm indicates. The words of our mouths are accept-
sing unto thee." Psalm 35 in its preceding verse had said,      able in God's sight only when the murmuring of our
"Let them shout for joy and be glad." The setting of            hearts is acceptable in His sight. That murmur produces
both texts then is that of a joyful heart that does not         the words. The song in the heart determines the song on
simply say a few nice words but sings God's praises. The        the lips. And when men hypocritically sing the songs of
murmuring of the heart of the regenerated and re-               God's praise, this too is due to the fact that the heart
deemed child of God is a song of God's praise surging           murmurs with hatred of the living God. And God Who
through that heart and moving the lips to either speak          hears that murmur judges the words of the lips in the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    203
                                                                      .


light of that song in- the heart.                              has been replaced with a new murmur. The old song of
  It.is essential then that we.have a song of praise in our    the flesh has been replaced by .a song of salvation and of
hearts. And it is also revealing when we have other songs      the Spirit. That is the wonder of regeneration. It is
on our lips. Likewise is it true that our songs reveal our     mentioned also in Psalm 40:3, "And He hath put a new
belief concerning the living God. When we freely and           song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." David
repeatedly sing songs that are a perversion of the truth       says it again in Psalm 144: 9 and 10 among many other
concerning God, we reveal that our hearts do not know          passages in the Psalms, "I will sing a new song unto
the truth of God's Word or else despise it. Then there is      Thee, 0 God; upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten
a dangerous heart murmur within us, and we need a              strings will I sing praise to Thee. It is He that giveth
spiritual heart transplant. Tragic it is when we defend        salvation unto `kings; who delivereth David His servant
such heart murmurings that direct the praise and glory         from the hurtful sword."
to man and that express disgust and irritation at His            Mention is made here in these passages of salvation
Word and law.                                                  and of a song because of that salvation. The murmur in
  .That does not mean that unless we sing a song that is       the heart, then, is a new murmur ,because of a new work
a versification of the Word of God we reveal that there        of God in that heart. The song of unbelief, the song of
is something spiritually wrong with our hearts. Then           hatred against the living God, the song of rebellion, the
there is something wrong with these hearts also when we        self-seeking song has been replaced with a new song of
compose our own prayers and do not make a versifica-           praise to God for salvation which is full and free. This
tion of those found on the pages of Holy Writ. But it          song is so different from the one taught Adam and Eve
certainly does mean that our songs and prayers must be         by that viper, whose poison was under his lips. Romans
based solidly upon what the Scriptures declare. When           3: 13. Satan became our choirmaster. He picked out our
we deviate from that line in our songs or in our prayers       song and approached us with it in the garden. He taught
and praise the creature, or express desires contrary to        its words not only but got us to receive it into our
God's law, it means that there is a wrong murmur in the        hearts. And every child born in this w.orld has that song
heart. It means that we have a serious heart ailment.          of rebellion and of hatred against the living God issuing
  It is then important for our personal life; it is            forth from his heart to move his lips to songs of the
important for our home and family life; and it is              flesh. But God put enmity in the hearts of His own
important for our church life and its worship that our         against Satan, his. children and his ways and thereby
hearts murmur as David's does in this Psalm so that our        gave us a new song in our hearts, one of praise to God:
lips perform works acceptable in God's sight. This             the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Truly~ we have a
means, then, that we will need the pure preaching of the       new song, an entirely new song. The rhythm is new; the
Word and sound instruction for our children. It means          harmony is new; the words are new; for the Composer,
that those who preach and teach in our midst and               the Choir Director and the heart are all new.
before our children must be men whose heart's murmur             This song is new also in the sense that it is one that
is the truth. And it means that God must give us a heart       Adam and Eve could not sing before the fall. A song of
that can receive that truth in love and that is under the      praise they could raise to God on high. They could sing
influence of His Spirit  of, truth. It may mean that we        of the heavens and their declaration of God's glory, of
have to discard not only some of our songs which we            the firmament showing forth His handiwork. But they
have been singing personally, in our homes and in our          could not sing of salvation, for they knew no such thing,
churches, but also that .we have to clean out that heart       nor could they comprehend it. But in the way of the fall.
of old beliefs and preferences. And if we love God, we         and the salvation begun by God within them very
will be glad to examine what we have been singing with         shortly thereafter, they could sing a new song, an
our lips to see whether these words actually express the       entirely new song. For now they could sing of God's
murmur of our regenerated hearts and render to God             grace! That song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song of
the praise we want to give Him, or whether they deny           grace! And we ought to go through our hymn books and
Him that glory which the speechless heavens yet do             search our hearts to see whether our song is one of
declare.                                                       works. If so, it is not a song of God's praise, and it is not
   Then, too, a living and growing child of God will add       a new song. It is the old song of the devil, the old song
new stanzas to the song of his heart. Of course the Word       of Adam and Eve with their fig-leaf-apron works.
of God has something to say about this. The psalmists          Arminianism and Pelagianism are not that new song
make mention of this fact. The psalmist of Psalm 96            which God has put in our mouths. Satan put that one
speaks of a new song when he urges us, "0 sing unto the        there by putting it in our hearts to be our natural heart
Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing        murmur. The new song is a song of praise to God.
unto the Lord, bless His name; shew forth His salvation          Away then with our `songs that present a helpless
from day to day." Psalm 96:  1,2. As is evident from           though willing Saviour, Who goes away disappointed
these words, the psalmist means the song of salvation          because we did not work and did not let the Almighty
when he speaks of a new song. The old heart murmur             (?) have His way and was frustrated by a speck of dust!


204                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


Away with all songs that place man and his will before               revelations of God's grace add new stanzas to that song
the Christ and His will and power. Sing a new song, the              in the heart. New mercies produce richer harmonies of
one that extols that Christ for His power, grace, wisdom             that song of the redeemed. And that is why, when all
and a love that will not let us go.                                  this weary night of sin and death is over and the mists
  But we may also add stanzas to that song of salvation.             are rolled away, our song shall be full; and we will sing a
And it is to this that the psalmist refers in Psalm 40:3.            new song that was impossible in such richness in this
He had stated in verse 1 and 2 that he waited patiently              life. For we shall sing with Christ as fully taught by Him
for the Lord. His patience was rewarded, for God                     and as fully controlled by His Spirit. The old murmur
inclined to hear his cry and brought him up out of a                 will be gone completely; and our lips shall speak pure
horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and He set his feet              praise. We shall sing in His fear. For we shall then stand
upon a rock and established his goings. That gave him a              in holy awe and reverence before Him Who is the theme
new song. New blessings bring new songs of praise. `New              of our song.


Contending  for  the  Faith

                                         THE DOCTRIN-E OF SIN
                                         T H E   THIRD  PERIQD  -  730-1517  A . D .
                                                      jl  G O T T S C H A L K

                                                          Rev. H. Veldman

   Compromise decisions, always the result of being                       merited damnation. (incidentally,  this is also the
afraid to maintain the Scriptural truth of God's absolute                 infralapsarian position -H.V.)
sovereignty, are never conducive to the welfare and real                     (4) God has unalterably predestinated the impeni-
peace of the church of God. At the synod of Chiersy,                      tent and persistent sinner to everlasting punishment,
849, Gottschalk had been. condemned as an incorrigible                    but not to sin,  which is the guilt of man and
                                                                          condemned by God. (this, too, is the infralapsarian
heretic, deposed from the priesthood, publicly scourged                   position; the infralapsarian begins, in the counsel of
for obstinacy, compelled to bum his books, and shut up                    God, with the fact of sin and the corruption of the
in prison. However, at the synod of Valence, 855, in                      whole human race -H.V.)
opposition to Hincmar and the four chapters of the                           (5) Christ died only for the elect.
synod of Chiersy, the main positions of the Augustinian                      Gottschalk is also charged by his opponents with
system were endorsed, although with such qualifications                   slighting the church and the sacraments, and confining
and distinctions as seemed necessary to save the holiness                 the effect of baptism and the eucharist to the elect.
of God and the moral responsibility of man. But the                       This would be consistent with his theory. He is said to
synod of Langres, 859, although repeating the doctrinal                   have agreed with his friend Ratramnus in rejecting the
canons of Valence, omitted the censure of the four                        doctrine of transubstantiation.  Augnstin certainly did
chapters of Chiersy, and thus prepared the way for a                      not teach transubstantiation, but he checked the
                                                                          logical tendency of Predestinarianisrn by the Catholic
compromise.                                                            - doctrine of baptismal regeneration, and of the visible
  In connection with the doctrine of an ABSOLUTE                          historical church as the media&ix of salvation.
AND TWO-FOLD PREDESTINATION, Schaff has yet                             So, Gottschalk is accused of confining the effect of
the following:                                                       baptism and the eucharist to the elect! What else can
         We may briefly state the system of the Augustinian          possibly be true? Of course, the spiritual effect and
       school in the following propositions:                         benefit of the sacraments is limited only to the elect.
         (1) All men are sinners, and justly condemned in            Besides, we teach and maintain that this is  also. the
       consequence of Adam's fall.                                   positive purpose of the Lord. Grace is not general, and
         (2) Man in the natural state has no freedom of
       choice, but is a slave of sin. (This, however, was            this also applies to the sacraments. Secondly, although
       qualified by Remigius and the Synod of Valence in the         Augustin taught that the visible historical church is the
       direction of Semi-Pelagianism.                                mediatrix of salvation, this must not be understood as if
         (3) God out of free grace elected from eternity and         that church father taught, as the Roman Catholic
       unalterably a part of mankind to holiness and salva-          Church would maintain, that this visible historical
       tion, and is the author of all their good deeds; while        church is to be identified with the present day Roman
       He leaves the-rest in His incrutable  counsel to their        Catholic church.


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         205


  A second contending theory on Predestination is the                     those whom He by grace predestinated unto life
doctrine of a CONDITIONAL and SINGLE' PRE-                                eternal; others He left by a just judgment in the mass
DESTINATION. Concerning this doctrine,  Schaff  his                       of perdition, foreknowing that they would perish, but
the following, Vol. IV, 534 ff:                                           not foreordaining them to perdition, though He
       Rabanus and Hincmar, who agreed in theology as                     foreordained eternal punishment for them. This is
    well as in unchristian conduct towards  Gottschalk,                   Augustinian, but weakened in the last ellause.
    claimed to be Augustinians, but were at heart Semi-                      (2) We lost the freedom of will through the fall of
    Pelagians, and struck a middle course, retaining the                  the first man, and regained it again through Christ.
    Augustiuiau premises, but avoiding the logical con-                   This chapter, however, is so vaguely worded that it
    sequences. Foreknowledge is a necessary attribute of                  may be understood in a Semi-Pelagian as well as in an
    the omniscient mind of God, and differs from fore-                    Augustinian sense.
    ordination or predestination (praed$@atio), which is                     (3) God  Almighty would have all men without
    an attribute of His omnipotent will. The former may                   exception to be saved, although not aJI are actually
    exist witbout the latter, but not the latter without the              saved. Salvation is a free gift of grace; perdition is the
    former. Foreknowledge is absolute, and embraces all                   desert of those who persist in sin.
    things and all men, good and bad; foreordination is                      (4) Jesus Christ died for all men past, present and
    conditioned by foreknowledge, and refers only to                      future, though not alI are redeemed by the niystery of
    what is good. God foreknew sin from eternity, but did                 His passion, owing to their unbelief. (we recognize, of
    not predestinate it; and so He foreknew the sinner, but               course, in this statement the heresy of Prof. H. Dekker
    did not predestinate them to sin or death; they are                   of our present day -H.V.)
    simply foreknown, not predestiued.  There is therefore                   The last two propositions are not Augustinian, but
    no double predestination, but only one predestination                 catholic, and are the connecting link between the
    which coincides with election to-eternal life. The fill               catholic orthodoxy arid the Semi-Pelagian heresy.
    of Adam with its consequences falls under the idea of                   Hincmar defended these propositions against the
    divine permission. God sincerely intends to save all                  objections of Remigius and the Synod of Valence, in
    men without distinction, and Christ shed HYis blood for               two books on Predestination and Free Will (between
    all; if any are lost, they have to blame themselves.                  856 and 863). The first is lost, the second is preserved.
                                                                          It is very prolix and repetitious, and marks no real
   This is interesting. So, foreknowledge is a necessary                  progress. He made several historical blunders, and
attribute of the omniscient mind of God, and differs                      quoted freely from the pseudo-Augustinian Hypom-
from foreordination or predestination, which is an                        mesticon, which he thought presented Augustin's later
attribute of His omnipotent will. Foreknowledge is                        and better views.
absolute, embraces all things and all men, good and bad;                    The two parties came to a sort of agreement at the
foreordination is conditioned by foreknowledge, and                       National Synod of France held at Toucy, near Toul, in
refers only to what is good. In His foreknowledge God                     October, 860, in presence of the Emperor, Charles the
                                                                          Bald, King Lothaire II, and Charles of Provence, and
saw beforehand the sinner; but did not predestine him                     the bishops of fourteen ecclesiastical provinces.
to sin OR DEATH. God sincerely intends to save all                        Hincmar was the leading man, and composed the
men without distinction, and Christ shed His blood for                    synodical letter. He still maintained his four prop-
all. However, this is not the Scriptural presentation of                  ositions, but cleared himself of the suspicion of
God's foreknowledge. According to the Word of God,                        Semi-Pelagianism. The first part of the synodical letter,
God's foreknowledge is not simply a seeing beforehand,                    addressed to all the faithful, gives a summary of
but the eternal knowledge of the Lord that has                            Christian doctrine, and asserts that nothing can happen
sovereignly determined all things from before the                         in heaven and earth without the will or permission of
foundation of the world. And, of course, to teach that                    God; that He would have all men to be saved and none
God's foreknowledge has not pre-determined the death                      lost; that He did not deprive man after the fall of free
of the sinner, leads to the heresy that Christ died for all               will, but heals and supports it by grace; that Christ
                                                                          died on the cross for all men; that in the end all the
men. Hence, the denial of God's absolute two-fold                         predestinated  who are now scattered in the  massa
predestination, election and reprobation must lead to                     perditionis,  will be gathered into the fulness of the
the denial of the particular character of the suffering                   eternal church in heaven.
and death- of Christ. And we also see this in our present                   Here ended the controversy. It was a defeat of
day and age.                                                              predestinarianism in its rigorous form and a substantial
       Hincmar secured the confirmation of his views by                   victory of Semi-Augustinianism, which is  almost
    the Synod of Chiersy, held in presence of the                         identical with Semi-Pelagianism, except that it gives
    Emperor, Charles the Bald, 853. It adopted four                       greater prominence to divine grace.
    propositions:                                                           Practically, even this difference disappeared. The
       (1) God Almighty made man free from sin, en-                       mediaeval church needed the doctrine of free will and
     dowed him with reason and the liberty of choice, and                 of universal call, as a basis for maintaining the moral
    placed him in Paradise. Man, by the abuse of this                     responsibility, the guilt and merit of man, and as a
    liberty, sinned, and the whole race became a mass of                  support to the sacerdotal and sacramental mediation
    perdition. Out of this massa  perditionis God elected                 of salvation; while the strict predestinarian system,


206                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
 ._.

  : which unalterably determines -the eternal fate of every           the observation that, while churchly  .and sacerdotal
 I  soul by a pre-temporal or ante-mundane decree,                    Semi-Augustinianism or covert Semi-Pelagianism
         seemed in its lqgical consequences to neutralize the         triumphed in France, where Hincmar had the last word
         appeal to the conscience of-the sinner, to cut off the       in the controversy, it was not ecumenically sanctioned.
         powerful inducement of merit and reward, to limit the        Pope Nicholas, dissatisfied with Hincmar on hierarchical
   . ef&acy of the ,sacraments to thk elect, and to weaken
         the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.                        grounds had some sympathy for  ,Gottschalk, and is
 1' With this we must agree. The forces of  predestil                 reported to have approved the  "Augustinian canons of
narianism,"in its rigorous form had certainly suffered a              the Synods of Valence and Langres in regard to a
defeat, and the forces of Semi-Augustinianism,  prac-                 "two-fold predestination" and the limitation of the
tically identical with Semi-Pelagianism, had won the                  .atonement. And thus the door was left open within the
victory. And this need not surprise us. The-maintaining               Catholic church itself for a revival of strict  Augus-
of the absolute sovereignty of God must aiways take                   tinianism, and this took place on a grand scale in the
place only with the greatest. difficulty. We see it also in           sixteenth century.
our present day. However, Schaff ends this.sectipn with


The  `Lords  Gave  The  Word,.  .  .  .  .
 `. .t ``..                              The History of Missions
   .               *: Paul The .Apostle To The Gentiles
        : .         :                                         Rev. C. Hanko

 Any discussion of mission work in the early church                   martyrdom of Stephen became the occasion for a
after Pentecost `must necessarily include some reference              widespread persecution of the church, in which Saul
to the apostle Paul.                                                  took a very active part, always "kicking against the
    Concerning his early youth he tells us, "I verily am a            pricks," as he tried to convince himself that he was
Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, (a citizen of no mean                 doing God an honor. Zeal can be very wrong when its
city), but brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet            motive is wrong, as the apostle humbly confessed later.
of Gamaliel, circumcized the eighth day, of the stock of              Willful ignorance of the truth of the Scriptures and
Israel,  of. the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the                   proud unbelief made him "think verily within himself
Hebrews; -as touching the law, a Pharisee." Acts 22:3;                that he ought to do many things against the name of
Phil. 3:s.                                                            Jesus of Nazareth." Acts 29: 9. With remorseful allusions
    Saul's parents belonged to the Jews of the dispersion,            to the past Paul refers to himself as a blasphemer, and a
so that he had personal and intimate acquaintance with                persecutor, and injurious," and therefore always con-
the  ,gentiles. His father had obtained the rights of a               sidered himself as "the least of the apostles, and not
Roman citizen, so that Paul was a free-born citizen,                  worthy to be an apostle, "because I persecuted the
which was later to his advantage. Even though Saul was                church of God." I Tim. 1: 13; I Cor. 15:9.
brought up in a. gentile environment, his parents were                  In Acts 9 we are told of Saul's conversion and call to
Jews according to all the traditions of the elders. They              the apostleship. While on his way to Damascus, "still
taught their son the trade of tentmaking, but they also               breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the
sent him to Jerusalem to be taught "according to the                  disciples of Jesus," the Lord appeared to him. But let
perfect manner of the law of the fathers." Acts 22:3. He              the apostle tell it in his own words, as he told it to
was an outstanding student of the law, superior to his                Agrippa, "At midday, 0 king, I saw in the way a light
fellow-students, because of his great zeal for the                    from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining
traditions of the past. Gal. 1: 14. He also proudly                   round about me and them which journeyed with me.
maintained those traditions, living after the strictest sect          And when we were fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
of the Pharisees, and could boast that he was blameless               speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue,
as touching the righteousness which is in the law. Acts               Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee
2 6:4-6; Phil.  3:6. He was present at the stoning of                 to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou,
Stephen, not as a mere by-stander, but as one who                     Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
understood all that Stephen believed, and therefore was               But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared
"consenting unto his death." Acts  7:58,  8:l. The                    unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    207


a witness both of these things which thou .hast seen, and      on to another city. The&churches that were organized
of  .those  things in the which I will.appear unto thee;       wery likely very small at the outset, and the opposition
delivering thee from the people, and from the gentiles,        from Jew and-gentile was very bitter, yet Paul carried on
unto whom~ now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to         with the confidence that "as many as were ordained to
turn them from-darkness to light, and from the power           eternal life believed." Acts  13:48. He knew  that'not
of Satan unto ,God, that they may receive forgiveness of       man, but Christ gathers `His church. by His Word and
sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified          Spirit. It was Paul's privilege to be Christ's instrument in
by faith that is in me." Acts 26: 13-l 8..                     the work. John 10: 16; Acts 2:47. After spending a short
  After spending some time in Arabia where he received         time in the area of Lystra and Derbe, and experiencing
instruction through visions and revelations from the           for the first time an attempt"to  take his life, the apostle
Lord, Saul returned to Tarsus to await the call of Christ      retraced his steps to Antio,ch of Pisidia, and then on to
to enter into his ministry. By. this time he,had acquired      Perga and Attalia, to return to rep,ort on their,labors to
the threefold requisite of the apostleship: He had seen        the calling church at Antioch:of Syria.
the risen Lord; he had been personally called of Christ         Paul's second missionary journey is often considered
to witness in His name; and he had received the Holy           the most important of all from the point of view of the
Spirit to speak and write the infallible Word of God.          new field that was reached. Barnabas did not  .accom-
The Lord did not keep Saul waiting very long, for soon         pany him on this journey., because .of a disagreement
Barnabas came from Antioch to seek his assistance in           about John Mark. Paul did not `want to take John Mark
the work that was being carried on there.                      with them, evidently because he had faltered on the first
  Antioch in Syria was the third largest city of the,          journey. Barnabas insisted on taking him along. And so
Roman empire with about a half million inhabitants. A          the ways of those two men parted. Barnabas carried on
large congregation arose there consisting of both Jews         the work by going with John Mark to the island of
and gentiles. This church God chose as the new center          Cyprus. Paul took Silas, also. referred to as Silvanus,
for mission labors. To this church came the mandate            with him to visit the churches that had been established
from the Holy Spirit, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul           in Asia Minor. At a later date John Mark did join Paul in
for the work whereunto I have called them." -Acts 13: 2.       the labors, since the apostle writes concerning him, that
The church immediately responded by ordaining these            he is "profitable to me for the ministry." II Tim. 4: 11.
men with the laying on of hands, and sent them forth in        After visiting and strengthening the churches that had
the ministry of Christ.                                        already been established, Paul had intended to continue
  Thus Barnabas and Saul start out on what is known as         his labors in a broader area of Asia Minor. But wherever
Paul's first missionary journey. They were accompanied         he went he was prevented from laboring there by the
by John Mark, but before long he turned back, possibly         Holy Spirit. Christ had something else in mind for the
because of the bitter opposition that they met. Al-            apostle, but did not immediately reveal that to him.
though it is impossible to enter into all the details of       Evidently Paul had to learn to trust  ,the guidance of
this first journey, there are certain things that should be    Christ in all his labors. Thus the apostle found himself at
noted. One soon notices that at the outset Barnabas is         Troas, the far extremity in the northwest of Asia Minor,
mentioned first, but soon Saul becomes the main                as it were, without a field of labor. There he received
speaker and Barnabas falls in the background. God used         the vision of the Macedonian man, saying, `Come over
Barnabas to introduce Paul into the work, even to the          and help us."
extent that they began their labors on the island where          I must pause here a moment to point out that
Barnabas was acquainted, since it had been his former          Timothy had joined Paul and Silas already at Lystra.
home. But Paul is the apostle, and Barnabas proves to be       This spiritual son of the apostle proved to be a faithful
his able assistant. It is also evident that the apostle        servant in the ministry for many years. Luke also joined
changed his Hebrew name Saul into Paul, the Greek              Paul and his companions at Troas. It is always interest-
form, since he will be laboring mainly among the               ing when reading the Book of Acts to notice how Luke
gentiles who spoke the Greek. And then it also strikes         makes his presence known by that significant "we." As
our attention that Paul and Barnabas begin with the            the author of the book he can show that he joined the
Jews., They enter, whereever possible, the Jewish syna-        company of the apostle by inserting that "we," and
gogue first. After the Jews have taken their stand for or      dropping it again when his other duties call him away.
against the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul feels justified to    Acts 16:10-13; 20:.5,6;  27:l.
turn to the gentiles. This practice was followed through-        In Macedonia Paul labored mainly in  Philippi and
out his ministry. From Cyprus Paul and Barnabas                Thessalonica. This was the first mission work on the
proceed to the mainland of Asia Minor, beginning in the        mainland of Europe. At Philippi, as you know, Paul saw
center of that area. They go from Perga to Antioch of          positive fruit on his labors in the conversion particularly
Pisidia, and from there to Lystra and Derbe, establishing      of Lydia and of the jailer. In both  Philippi  and
churches as they go. When the opposition became too            Thessalonica churches were established. From there Paul
severe for profitable labor in a certain place they moved      was forced by opposition to go to Berea, from Berea to


208                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


Athens; and from Athens he went to Corinth, where he             Even during his imprisonment in Jerusalem and
spent a year and half in intensive labor. At one time          Caesarea, during his voyage and shipwreck, and during
when his courage faltered, the Lord encouraged him to          his `stay iri Rome as a prisoner for the gospel, the apostle
remain there because He had many elect that had to be          did not cease to preach and to write concerning the
gathered in. Acts 18: 10. Making a short stop at, Ephesus      glorious gospel of Jesus Christ entrusted to him.
with the promise to return, if the Lord willed, the              A few concluding remarks:
apostle hastened to Caesarea and thence to Antio'ch, the         We have been able to touch only briefly on the vast
calling church.                                                amount of work that was accomplished in a few short
  Paul's third journey covered approximately the same          years. The Book of Acts tells us far more that can be
area as the second, except that he went almost directly        read with the keenest interest.
to Ephesus, as he had promised. He spent three years             Paul had learned, as he also taught the churches, that
there, 2 "serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and      "through much suffering we must enter into the
with many tears, and temptations which befell me by            kingdom." His main opposition came from his own
the lying in wait of the Jews," and "have not shunned          kinsmen according to the flesh, and yet there was far
to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Acts              more that he suffered for the faith. As he tells it: "Of
20:  19,27. It was evidently during his stay at Ephesus        the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
that the churches mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 of             Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice
Revelation were organized, referred to often as the            I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in
seven `churches of Asia Minor. During this time' he also       the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
wrote his epistle to the Galatians and the first epistle to    perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in
the Corinthians, bearing upon his heart "the care of all       perils  b,y the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in
the churches." II Cor. 11:28. From Ephesus Paul went           the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
into Macedonia, and even down into Corinth, where he           brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in  watchings
spent the winter. On these visits he was collecting gifts      often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
`for the needy in Jerusalem, and he also found time to         nakedness. II Cor. 11: 24-27.
write his epistle to the Romans and Second Corinthians.          But what a change was wrought through his ministry
It was as he was returning that the Holy Spiritinformed        by the Lord. Churches were organized, elders and
him that suffering and bonds awaited him at Jerusalem.         deacons ordained, believers were strengthened in the
Therefore his visits became a final farewell which was         faith. The small mustard seed of the upper room at
indeed difficult, but the apostle was ready not only to        Pentecost had grown into a large tree. And that by the
suffer imprisonment, but also to die for the faith of the      power of Christ Who gathers His church by His Word
gospel.                                                        and Spirit.


A  Cloud  of  Witnesses

                                    ABSALOM'S RETURN
                                                  Rev. B. Woudenberg

                                  Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the
                               king's heart was toward Absalom.
                                  And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise
                               woman, and said unto her, I. pray thee, feign thyself to
                                be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and
                               anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had
                               a long time mourned for the dead:
                                  And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto
                               him, So Joab put the words in her mouth. . .
                                  And the king said unto Joab, Rehold now, I .have done
                               this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom
                               again.                                II Samuel 14:1-3,21

   David fell short in a way only too common to the            was not able to evaluate and discipline his own children.
children of God. Like Eli and Samuel before him, he            When it came to other people and to other people's


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   209


 children, he was hardly to be excelled in this respect;      he found it impossible to forget that this beloved child
 but with his own he failed badly. The result of this was     of his was gone away into exile and could not be
 his gross m+.-evaluation  of his son Absalom.                returned. It was worse than if the child were dead, just
    Absalom had always been a much more dearly loved          to know that he was living and yet could not be
 child to David than Amnon had ever been. Judging from        regained. The whole of three years passed by and the
 what we know of  Amnon he was probably always a              sorrow of David was not abated.
 crude and rough child, one who offended almost                 It was Joab, always the man of action, who finally
 everyone he met, including even his own parents.             determined that something had to be done for the sake
 Absalom was different. He had many characteristics that      of the sanity of David and for the sake of the nation.
 to this day `would commend him. He was a child of rare         Carefully as always, and with as much attention as
 and unusual beauty to begin with. But in addition, he        though he were planning a major military campaign,
 had a quick and clever mind, a personal warmth that          Joab laid his plan.
 attracted people on all levels to him, he possessed a          Well known to him in the city of Tekoah was a
 self-confidence about him that was contagious and            woman whom he summoned to help him in his scheme.
 attractive to many, besides the fact that he was willing     She was an extremely clever woman, warm of person-
 to go to any extreme, even in dishonesty, to establish       ality and attractive, with a peculiar ability to tell a story
 himself in the favor of any that he wished to impress.       in a most convincing way, a good actress we would say in
 These characteristics David had detected from the            our day. It was particularly this latter ability which Joab
 child's earliest years, so -that he loved to have Absalom    needed to bring across his  ,plan. For the sake of the
 with him whenever he could. What he refused to take          nation, he thought, he had to convince David that it was
 note of was that underneath Absalom was as hard and          quite permissible to bypass his convictions of justice and
 ruthless as Amnon, and even more so. But David loved         merely listen to the longings of his heart If this could
 the child and his heart went out to him as it did to         be done, David's joy would return, and the strength of
 hardly any other person.                                     their nation would be retained.
    It was Joab, keen and perceptive man that he was,           Thus it was that on a certain day, having been
 who first detected the real situation and its importance.    thoroughly instructed by Joab, the wise woman of
 It was evident to all that the slaying of  Amnon had         Tekoah presented herself in the court of the king.
thrown David into a fit of deep depression. This was a        Evidently it was the custom in those days, that if there
 serious matter, particularly as Joab saw it. He realized     was any one in the kingdom who was in the need of
 full well that the tremendous successfulness of David as     judgment or redress for some wrong or protection from
 a leader and king was to be found in his radiant             some enemy, he might enter the royal court on certain
 enthusiasm and spiritual warmth which attracted the          days and lay his case before the king. Thus this woman
 best element in Israel and solidified them in a united       also came in the pretense of being a widow, the mother
 nation behind David. To his mind it was a crisis of most     of two sons, and the case as she presented it was as
 serious proportions if David would not soon come out         follows. Approaching the throne of the king, she did the
 of this fit of dark depression that hung heavy about him     proper obeisance, and said, "Help, 0 king." And the
 and seemed to drain the strength from his royal life.        king  s.aid unto her. "What aileth thee?" and she
 Moreover, `Joab understood also the real reason for          answered, "I am indeed a widow woman, and mine
 David's mental depression. It was not that he was            husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons, and
 mourning, as many might think, for his slain son and         they two strove together in the field, and there was
 heir to the throne, Amnon. It wasn't even that he felt so    none to part them, but the one smote the other, and
 much the shame of this great scandal that had marred         slew him. And, behold, the whole family is risen against
 the reputation of his family. No doubt he felt these         thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote
 things too, but by far the overwhelming burden for him       his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his
 was the fact that his favorite son Absalom was gone          brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir
 from his presence and would in all likelihood never          also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and
 return. This was more than even David's strength of          shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder
 character could bear.                                        upon the earth."
    It was not that it had been unnecessary for Absalom         It was a difficult case which the woman presented;
 to have fled. It had been. David was too much a man of       Joab had designed it. so. Here again was a case, in all
 law and justice to have left such an outright act of         probability, of outright murder, although it was vaguely
 murder to go unpunished even if it was his favorite son      enough presented so as not to be necessarily and
 who had done this. Absalom himself had realized this         disgustingly so. Meanwhile, overagainst this was an
 and wisely had taken himself to his mother's family in       appeal to one of the dearest principles in Israel, the need
 Geshur. But, at the same time, it was not that the           to maintain the name of every family in Israel as far as
 feelings of David's heart agreed with the verdict of his     possible on into the future promise of the nation. But
 mind. He loved his son Absalom as he did no other, and       this was not the whole story: the appeal to the principle


2.10                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


of inheritance in the future of Israel was only a               ever saith ought unto thee, bring him to,me, and he shall
bolstering point to maintain and strengthen the over-           not touch thee any more."
whelming factor in this case, the love of a parent for her        The point was now gained, and the courage of the
child which simply could not let him go no matter what          woman was sufficient to be able to move in still further
his sin.                                           _            even to bringing the king's own personal practice into
       Behind this, of course, was all of the calculating       question. Rather than turning to leave, she went on to
cleverness of Joab's mind. He knew that what kept               say, "I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy
David from recalling Absalom was his utter dedication           God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of
to justice regardless of personal consideration. So `deep       blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son."
was this commitment that, if Joab would have gone to            She was determined first to drive. the point which she
argue the  pointy -directly with  .David, he would have         had established home; and she did, for David replied,
gotten nowhere. But Joab also knew that David as a              "As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son
man of strong intellect was one who abhorred all                fall to the earth." So she proceeded, "Let thine
contradiction, particularly in his own life. Thus, if in a      handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord
parallel case, Joab could get David to decree that justice.     the king." Again he answered, "Say on", and she did,
might be bypassed in consideration for the love of a            saying, "Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing
mother and her dedication to the future of Israel, then         against the peoole of God? for the king doth speak this
he would have a point of leverage upon which he could           thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not
argue that David, for the sake of consistency, ought to         fetch home again his banished. For we must needs die,
be willing to do the same in his own case.                      and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be
 "'                                                             gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person:
       Likewise, the fictitious case which the woman of         yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not
Tekoah presented was cleverly designed. Its parallel to         expelled from him. Now therefore that I am come to
the- case of David's  `was there,. although not too             speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because
evidently so. As with David, this woman's case con-             the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said,
cerned a son who had killed his brother in a manner             I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king
demanding punishment; and as with David, there was an           will perform the request of his handmaid. For the king
overwhelming flow of parental love which sought to              will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the
have the punishment canceled. The difference was that           man that would destroy me and my son together out of
in this instance the need. for punishment was not quite         the inheritance of God. Then thine handmaid said, The
so .-clearly established, while the love of the parent had      word of the lord the king shall now be comfortable: for
more reason  to--demand consideration. It was like a            as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern
clever debater's trick, one only too often used to assault      good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be
the principles of God's law. If through the presentation        with thee."
of a most difficult case, it can be established that justice
does not always rule, that by moving on step by step the          At last David came to see through what it was that
importance of following justice can be destroyed corn:          was happening. Quickly he said to the woman, "Hide
p`letely.                                                       not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee.
                                                                Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?"
       David felt immediately upon hearing this case that
there was a most difficult point involved. Accordingly,           Again all the cleverness of this woman was called
his first impulse was to go carefully and take time to          upon. Carefully she explained, "As thy soul liveth, my
think the matter over. So he answered the woman with            lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the
an indefinite promise, "Go to thine house, and I will           left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for
give charge concerning thee."                                   thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words
                                                                in  the' mouth of thine handmaid: to fetch about this
       It was here where all the cleverness of this woman       form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing:
from Tekoah was called upon. To allow David to ponder
the case at length, and maybe even begin to investigate         and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an
details, would ruin the purpose of Joab completely. She         angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth."
had to move the king on to a quick and final decision.            If there was anger in David at the discovery of the
Accordingly she replied to the king, "My lord, 0 king,          fraud, it was overcome by the -open frankness of the
the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and            woman. Besides, David's heart cried out for the con-
the king and his throne be guiltless." It was a daring          clusion to which Joab was trying to lead him. Calling his
thing to do, to argue with the command of the king; but         captain to him, he said, "Behold now, I have done this
this was a woman of courage and of confidence in her            thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom
own appeal. But it was also effective. Drawn to the             again." It was a decision that both David and Joab
woman in sympathy, David gave in and said, "Whoso-              would live to severely regret.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       211


Mission Report                                                                                            -.          .
                                                                                                                ,-


              .           OUR  IillSSiON ACTIVITIES  `-. .
                                                                                                                           :i
                                                 R e v .   J .   Korteving        '
                                                                                                          ._
  `Some time ago we informed our readers that approxi-               Deacon, Theophilus Davidson of the ., Fort Williams"
mately  $3,000.00 was deposited in Barcleys Bank in               church wrote, -"`We hope and trust that-God.may richly
Jamaica, an amount collected by our churches to be                bless you in all your labors and that we.may live by the
used for- the poor. Some of this amount was distributed           rules of the church and be obedient, that we may be
by Rev. Heys and Mr. Feenstra while they worked there.            able to receive all the benefits that you and the brethren
last summer. Distribution of. the balance however,                from the U.S.A. desire to give unto your poor- brethren
awaited further decision by the deacons of Hudsonville            in Jamaica."
in consultation with our emissaries.                                 The representative of the Santa Cruz church, Deacon.
   After prayerful consideration, Rev. Heys was in-               Binns wrote -an interesting letter. "Sincere greetings to
structed to write a letter and enclose a check for 40             you and the family also the brethren of. the Prot.
pounds or .$96.00  which was to be sent to each of the            Reformed faith of the  U.S:A. Pastor .Heys, the thanks
21 churches  .that are affiliated with the Protestant             that we the brethren in Jamaica and of the Santa Cruz
Reformed Churches of Jamaica.. These checks were                  church can give you is life everlasting, we cannot name
made payable to the minister and elder or deacon of the           the brethren name by name. But the good Lord knows
church. They were instructed to consider the needy in             the sincere prayer that has gone up to heaven for you
their congregations and use the money for the widows,             and your family. also the brethren of the Reformed
sick, or needy entrusted to their care.                           faith. Rev. Heys we have returned you many thanks for
  Nine of these churches have replied to date. We                 the wonderful donation that you have sent to us by
consider it proper to share some of the expressions of            Rev. Rudduck, he also take it to us and gave it, to us
gratitude for this help given in the name of Christ to those      tonight. Rev. Heys, we the brethren of the Santa Cruz
who are our brothers and sisters in the faith. Since all          church are very happy to have Rev. Rudduck in our
our people have contributed towards the poor in                  midst because God chose him to take over the church,
Jamaica, these expressions should likewise be forwarded           we can also see the difference in the church. Rev.
to all our readers.                                               Rudduck is a true man of God. One thing I can prove
  Rev. J. E. Frame of the congregation at Lucea                  for myself is that if the good Lord willing for you to
responded, "I have received all the moneys you send . . .         come back to Jamaica which we the brethren of Jamaica
I was to bring all the Deacons of the churches (5 of             Prot. Ref. Church would love to have, Rev. Heys, to live
them) to the Barcleys Bank here at Lucea to get the              in Jamaica with us. Dear Rev. Heys we pray that the
checks cashed, so then I had to go to each congregation           Lord from heaven will ever bless the Prot. Ref.' faith of
with the Deacons and Elders to discuss the matter how             America unto us, let us work in one love Pastor Heys,
the money should be divided. The money was divided                we are trying to have a rally in our church in Santa Cruz
among the poor, the sick, the orphans, and the widows.           in view of installing electric lights in the church. Our
They were very glad. I could remember seeing them                rally will be on the last Sunday of December, we need
hold up the money they received and say, thank God,              the lights badly, because the tilly lamp is giving plenty
thank God for the Prot. Ref. Church . . . . There is a           trouble and the light is so near the church as you know.
young man in one of the churches here in Jamaica                 Dear Pastor Heys, we are working very hard to build the
interested in getting in the ministry, his ambition is            Reformed faith in Jamaica, as strong as how it is in
good, and he is very much intelligent, what should I do          America. I know by the help of our soon coming Ring
about such a matter?"                                            He is going to give us what we are praying for. Rev.
  A brief excerpt from a letter received under the               Heys how health fails me, I decide in my mind to work
signature of Deacon Dahey of the Galloway church, "To            for Christ, I would also love to reach at that Pleasant
all the Ministers and Elders and Deacons of the Prot.            Place that He has gone to prepare for us all and I would
Ref. Churches in America. Thank God we the Elders                love to be there, but I know it calls to sincere work.
and Deacons of the Prot. Ref. Churches in Jamaica. We            May God's richest blessings be bestowed on you all."
are sending you all our greetings. Hoping the Lord's                 From Deacon  Spence  of Shrewsbury congregation
Blessing to all and our brethren say to tell thanks for           came this expression, "Sirs, we do highly appreciate your
what the Galloway Church has received, 40 pounds, and            kind hospitality in sending us this great help. We do take
we have shared it among the brethren in the church and           great pleasure by saying `thanks alot'. Although we were
every one says thanks for the help."                             a little doubtful to ask your help to us, we can see


212                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


where God's Word never fails. He said when we are in          not hampered without such a man. May God provide
need of help He will send us help from afar. Sir, this        the churches of Jamaica with the man of His choosing.
money was divided among widows, and the needy ones              5. Plans are being considered by the Jamaican sub-
that cannot work, those who the church has to bear            committee to send emissaries to the island prior to the
their burdens. We now close with the richest blessing of      next Synod: Details of this still have to be worked out.
God to you and a lot of thanks for your kind help to us         6. Often times the question is raised by societies and
all. "                                                        individuals concerning a specific need in Jamaica for
   Elder Leslie Johnson responded in behalf of the            which they can contribute money. There is of course
church of First Hill Lucea, "May I say happy greetings        the need for church buildings (this is being handled by
to you and Lady Heys. Also the brethren in Christ. In         our Synodical treasurer, C. Pastoor). Any specific use of
the precious name of Jesus, sir, thanks very much for         this money awaits a decision on securing the land, a
the money which you have sent to us. I have received 40       matter being taken under advisement with a retired
pounds from you through the hand of Rev. Frame. Sir, I        judge, Mr. Graham who lives in Kingston. The care of
and he went to the bank and got it changed then I             the poor constitutes a large and persistent need. This is
distributed it the best way I think. I gave to the sick       being handled by the Deacons of Hudsonville Church.
ones, the widows, and all who I see in great need. Sir,       There still is need for more Bibles Psalters that can be
we express our gratitude to you all in the name .of our       distributed to various churches. If it is desired that
Lord and Master and trusting that we will. live in the        money  be. designated for this purpose, contact Rev.
same faith and love until our soul is called."                Heys who knows where they can be sent. Finally, it was
   Finally, Elder Wright expressed thanks on behalf of        suggested that a fund be started for covering the cost of
the Reading Church, "Holy greetings to you and all the        educating future ministers. Attending high-school on the
brethren of the Prot. Ref. churches in America. We are        island requires more money than these young men have.
ever giving thanks to God for the Reformed faith which        Besides; it is possible that they could attend school in
brings the truth to us here in Jamaica . . .1 We divided      Kingston for some of their instruction in languages.
the 40 pounds as follows, to 3 sick, 4 pounds ten             Perhaps Sunday Schools could consider contributing to
shillings each, to five weak ones, 2 pounds 10 shillings      this fund or even Consistories designating the catechism
each, to other ten, 1 pound each, to other eight, 10          collections for this purpose.
shillings each. God bless the Mission Committee hoping          Work on the home front is also .progressing.
by the help of our God this Reformed truth goes                 First of all, the sub-committee on radio broadcasting
throughout the world." Elder  Sluece of Latium con-           is investigating the entire set-up of broadcasting. Of
cluded his word of appreciation by saying, "We pray           primary interest is the station WNAX of  Yankton.
that the Lord will bless every cheerful giver, hoping that    Synod decided to instruct the Mission Committee to
you will come to us in Jamaica soon by the help of the        investigate whether this station is a good investment. To
Good Lord."                                                   determine this the Consistories of Hull, Doon, Edgerton,
   We trust that these excerpts will encourage our            Isabel, and Forbes have been contacted for advice. This
people to remember the cause of benevolence in                investigation is of interest since the present set-up
Jamaica. Almost all money collected to date has been          absorbs the entire amount of money allocated by Synod
distributed.                                                  for radio work, thus preventing any addition of new
   The following items concerning Jamaica may be of           stations in "virgin" territory.
interest to our readers:                                        The Mission Committee decided to request Southwest
   1. The Standard Bearer is now being sent directly          Consistory to release Rev. Lubbers for work in Pella for
into the field. Rev. Frame receives 5 copies for              a six week period beginning in January. This is to be
distribution, likewise Rev. Ruddock 4 copies, while 16        followed D.V. by Rev. H. Veldman laboring there for
copies are sent directly to the readers on the island.        six weeks, Rev. C. Ha&o for the next six week period
   2. The Reformed Witness Hour tapes are being sent          and finally by Rev. D. Engelsma for the next six weeks.
to the ministers and replayed to certain congregations.       The idea is to have these brethren labor in a consecutive
   3. Rev. Heys is presently corresponding with the           period of time, thus allowing for preaching every
Ministry of Home Affairs concerning the required              Sunday, lectures during the week, catechism instruction
"work permit" for our emissaries who travel to the            for those who have children. The Lord is blessing this
island. Evidently there is no obstacle in securing them.      work, for also in Pella he adds daily to His church.
  4. First Church of Grand Rapids has been instructed           We conclude this report by expressing thanks to
to prepare a trio from the gross list submitted to them       God who lays it upon the hearts of our people to be
by the Mission Committee. The purpose for this is to          busy in this work. This task is demanding. It takes great
call a missionary to labor full time on the island. Since     resources to be able to do even a "little" in this vast
this is of interest to all our people, we should likewise     calling of bringing the truth to those who are outside
remember this need before the throne of grace in our          the sphere of our own church home. Yet, the King of
congregational prayers. The work is definitely limited if.    the Church provides for us. He gives our ministers the


                                                  THE  STANQARD  BEARER                                                   213


strength to give much time and energy to carry on this             selves. He places zeal within the hearts of all our people
work, both at home and abroad. He lays it upon the                 to  ,gladly contribute financially and prayerfully for this
hearts of our Consistories to release ministers in order           w o r k .
that they may focus their full attention on the needs of             May God so bless this work that His church is
these people; even their elders and deacons must bear              gathered and thereby His holy name glorified.
the additional burdens of the local`congregations them-


                    C O M E   Y E   A P A R T   a  .   .   - A N D   R E S T   A   WHILE

                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

   I will stand in my watch tower.                                   I will  &and upon my watch, and set me upon the
   I  .will be alert as I observe all that goes on round           tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me,
about me.                                                          and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Hab. 2`: 1.
   I will seek the solitude, the quiet of my tower to be              Speak, Lord! Hear my complaint and answer me. Yes,
alone with my God, to watch, to pray, and . . . to wait            reprove me according to all my doubts and unbelief.
for His answer.                                                       The answer was not long in coming.
   That was the intent of the prophet Habakkuk, as he                 It was a message, simple, yet pregnant with meaning:
informs us in the second chapter of his prophecy. Do               The just man shall live by his faith!
you care to join him there?
   Ominous times the people of God were experiencing.                 Life! Life in the midst of devastation, judgment,
                                                                   death! Survival under the righteous judgments of the
Judah, the only remaining evidence of God's church
upon the earth, had fallen into deep and grievous sins.            living God!
The prophet counts these sins off on his finger tips in               A promise of God to the just man. For the promise is
mournful lamentation: iniquity, perverseness, spoiling,            so very personal: The just man shall live. He shall live by
violence, strife, contention. It sounds as if he were              his faith.
speaking of the days of Noah before the flood. It even                While the wicked perish forever in their sins in
sounds like the evils reported in our daily papers                 torments of remorse and grinding of teeth, there is one
concerning this "Christian" nation.                                who can be assured of life. The just man will certainly
   A faithful remnant still cried to God, but there came           not perish with the unjust. God is from everlasting,
no promise of any reform that would bring improve-                 purer of eyes than that he should do evil.
ment in the sad state of affairs. Still worse, the Lord               But who is that just one? I?
spoke of that mighty power, Babylon, that was sweep-                 Habakkuk -must have felt as I do, and likely as you
ing as a mighty whirlwind across the land, leaving death           do. Before God's holy law no man is justified; and then
and devastation in its trail. Judah would fall victim to           certainly not I.
this power also because of all her abominations that                 Therefore the Lord gave him a vision. From the
cried to heaven for just judgment.                                 watch tower the prophet looked far out into the hazy
   Yes, the faithful remnant knew that ultimately also             future. He saw a Babe born of a virgin; the wonder of
this great world power must crumble in the dust before             wonders. He saw the shadow of a cross upon a lonely
the mighty Hand of the Most High. After all, the Lord              hill. And beyond that, a tomb that had been rent open
God Omnipotent reigneth, and what mere creature of                 and the Lord of Glory standing as the Just One before
the dust can vaunt himself before HIM, and live?                   God to receive the kingdom, power and glory from the
  But in the meantime, what will happen to the faithful            Father, even forever.
remnant and their children? Wouldst Thou, 0 Mighty                   And he felt himself one with Him; one by the
God destroy Thy church, Thy covenant people along                  mystical yet divinely established bond of living faith.
with the wicked? "Art not Thou from everlasting, 0                 One with Christ in His death, one with Him in His
Lord, my Holy One?" "Thou art of purer eyes than to                resurrection, one with Him in His righteousness, one
behold evil."
   It is the same familiar complaint that arises so often          with Him in His LIFE.
from the lips of God's saints throughout the ages:                   And he understood the word of the Lord: The just
                   I asked in fear and bitterness,                 man shall live.
                     Will God forsake me in distress?                He shall live by his faith.
                   Shall I His promise faithless find?               Go, tell it on the mountains. Let the runners read and
                     Has God forgotten to be kind?                 carry the message far and wide over hill and dale to the
                   Has He in anger hopelessly                      ends of the earth.
                     Removed His love and grace from me?             The Lord gave the Word. Great was the company of


214                                             THESTANDARD  BEARER


preachers. For it is the  same Word of the Lord that           children. . . . Although we lose homes and are im-
always finds the response of faith in the hearts of the        prisoned for Christ's sake,  - it can happen, you
believers of all ages.                                         know.. . .
  Although your sins be as scarlet, he that confesses            Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of
and forsakes his sins finds mercy.                             my salvation.
  Let those who hear it take courage, even in the                As humanly impossible as that may seem, the Word of
grimmest hours of history.                                     the Lord still says that the just man shall live by his
  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall       faith.
fruit be in the vines. . . . Although the days come when         Now. And afterwards the crown.
father  finds no work and mother has no food for the


                                                 Contribution
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema                                            Zeeland area. We have 5 daughters; and the oldest one
Editor,  The Standard bearer                                   (21 years old) said to me, "Are there any Christian boys
                                                               left?" Where, today, are the  Enochs, Jude 14, 15. I
Esteemed Brother in Christ:                                    know it, the Dutch says it so beautifully:
   After I lived almost 40 years in the Netherlands,                            Gods verborgen omgang vinden
excuse me when my writing is a mixture of Dutch and                             Zielen, daar Zijn vrees in woont;
English (I have taken the liberty of translating the                            `t Heilgeheim wordt aan Zijn vrinden,
Dutch expressions, HCH). You wrote in the last                                  Naar Zijn vreeverbond getoond.
Standard Bearer-that  comments are welcome on the                 (A Dutch  versification of Psalm 25: 14, "The secret
article of Prof. Meeter.                                       of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew
   I had the privilege that my parents had the financial       them his covenant.")
means to send me. to college; that gives one a broader            The Protestant Reformed pulpit is almost the only
view of life. For the average people Prof. Meeter's article    place where is preached yet "the faith once delivered to
is too "high." The average American is not interested in       the saints." The Protestant Reformed Seminary is
reading. Moreover, this article breathes a different spirit    almost a reproach to the so-called church world. I
than the  Standard Bearer  does. As far as I am                always maintain that, spiritually speaking, by the grace
acquainted with the different spirits in America, the          of God the teachers in our Prot. Ref. Seminary are
Standard Bearer is the only magazine that defends "the         higher than any church leaders from their shoulders and
faith once delivered to the saints." Prof. Meeter points       upward.
out the urgency of Christian literature, but as far as I          Election is the heart of the Reformed doctrine. The
can understand it, he failed to show the possibility.          Lord brought us back to the place where we hear not
Towards the end of his article he mentions Christian           only the message of the gospel (Berkouwer), but much
teaches and writers. And then I have a question. What          more the revelation of God in Christ, that Scripture is
about it, if there are almost no Christian teachers and        the written record of the Word of God, not the Word of
writers left? I don't know if Prof. Meeter will call this a    God in its total conception.
silly question. I shall try very briefly to defend my             In conclusion, I don't know if Prof. Meeter will
question. In Luke 12: 56 Christ tells us to discern the        endorse this all. I enjoy the Standard Bearer; but Prof.
signs of the times. And I am convinced that the times in       Meeter's article brings back to me memories from the
which we live are characterized by this: "upon us are          old country. I always maintain that the church is only as
the ends of the ages come." This is to be proved by            strong as their homes are. I always pray that Jehovah
many instances from the Bible. I will mention only one.        will bless our feeble efforts to instruct our children in
The white horse of Revelation 6 has almost finished his        the aforesaid doctrine. The Bible is an endless source.
course. For instance, Western Europe, once the cradle of       History always repeats itself. That Word of God was
Christianity, is falling bat into "modern heathendom."         already foolishness for the Greek, and is today still a
                            f
In the Netherlands th re is apostasy like the swift            stumblingblock for many in the so-called church world.
running down of waters: Hepp - Berkouwer - Kuitert.               And it is my prayer and I hope the prayer of many
   Gog and Magog are coming up from the four corners           that the teachers of the Prot. Ref. Seminary can write
of the earth. I know that the Lord figures with other          what Paul wrote to Timothy in I Tim, 1: 12-14. Then
dimensions than we small earthly creatures. Look at the        you will hear the Word of the Lord, "Well done, thou
so-called church world in this country. And then I read        good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy
my Bible again: II Thess. 2: 3; II Timothy 3: l-5; I Cor.      Lord."
 10: 7. Look at the development of science.                                               With Christian greetings,
   We have the privilege (?) to live in the "Calvinistic"                                 Herman Woltjer


                                                  THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                  215
                                                                                                                                        '

                                       BO0.K   R E V I E W S ,
                                                       ProJ:  H .   H a n k o

SPURGEON, HEIR OF THE PURITANS, by Ernest W.                          Synod's `Committee of Interchurch Relations. It is
Bacon; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968;.                     intended- to treat  ,the history of the ecumenical en-
184 pp., $3.95.                                                       deavors of the Reformed'Church  from the beginning of
  The author believed, it was time to write a new                     her history to today. Its purpose is adequately summed
biography of C. H.  Spurgeon in order to show how                     up in the foreword:
Spurgeon carried on the Puritan tradition..His purpose is                        This history is offered with the hope that aqpeople
to demonstrate that a return to Puritan theology as                        grow in an awareness of the interplay of events that
exemplified by the "Prince of Preachers" would cure                        have shaped their past, they may be more able to
most, if not all, of the ecclesiastical ills afflicting our                understand the interplay of events in which they must
modem age.                                                                 make their own decisions.
  The book is written by an admirer of Spurgeon. This                    The author is an unabashed proponent of Church
is also its weakness. There was no evil which Spurgeon                union - apparently on any kind of Church union. He is
could do. All is sunshine and light. The "Prince of the               pleased with the union of the Reformed Church in
Preachers" comes through in the book as a sinless saint.              foreign missions.- He rejoices in the membership of the
The adoration of Spurgeon becomes almost abject and                   Reformed Church in the National Council of Churches.
degenerates into pathos at times.                                     He bemoans the many times the Reformed Church has
  But the book is valuable' in that it shows the                      stayed away from organic union with other Church
connection between Spurgeon and earlier Puritan think-                bodies in this country. ,The failure of the Church. to
ers. I have found its chief value in the presentation of              enter into organic union with other denominations is, in
Spurgeon's theology. While the author has no criticism                the author's op.inion, to be explained by the fact that in
of this theology, it becomes apparent that Spurgeon was               the 18th Century there was a determination on the part
only mildly Calvinistic and surely not Reformed. In                   of the Church to preserve her Dutch language and
fact, it becomes increasingly apparent that Spurgeon did              heritage. A century later, when the Church was at last
not hold to the strict Calvinism of the earlier Puritans -            ready to take an`active role in American life a new wave
although the author denies this.                                      of Dutch immigration filled the Church with people
  That he was a tremendously influential preacher                     who were suspicious of  any. kind of union because of
cannot be denied. That he adapted his theology to                     the experiences of secession in the Netherlands. These
popular demand on occasion is equally evident.  The,                  people mostly settled in the Mid-west and were strong
author repeatedly classifies him as an "evangelical". This            enough to outvote the more ecumenically minded East.
is probably correct in the sense in which that term is                Harmelink finds this Western conservatism appalling. He
used today.                                                           hopes that the present merger proposals will go through;
  It is a book easy to read. It is interesting. It is a               should they fail, he fears the end of the Reformed
worthwhile addition to home and Church libraries.                     Church is near.
ECUMENISM AND THE REFORMED CHURCH, By                                    Members of the Christian Reformed Church will
Herman Harmelink III; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing                      probably not like his curt and sometimes disdainful
Co., 1968; 112 pp., $2.45 (paper).                                    treatment of them in the places they are mentioned.
  This book is the first volume in a projected series of                 Recommended to those who are interested in the
books dealing with the history of the Reformed Church                 ecumenical movement especially in the Reformed
in America. It is written by the chairman of the General              Church.

                   ANNOUNCEMENT                                                            ANNIVERSARY NOTICE
                                                                         On January 27, our beloved parents,
Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches                                     MR. & MRS. JOHN BLANKESPOOR
will meet on March 5, 1969, in South Holland,                            celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
Illinois, Lord willing, at 9:00 A.M. Material for the                    We are thankful to our Covenant Father for the
Agenda must be sent to the Stated Clerk thirty days                      blessings bestowed upon us and them these many
before Classis convenes. Delegates in need of lodging                    years. As they have in the past, may they in the rest
should inform the clerk of the South Holland                             of their days experience that: "The Lord is good: His
consistory of their need.                                                mercy is everlasting: and  His truth endureth to all
                                                                         generations."                                      Psalm 100:5
                                     Rev. David Engelsma                                      Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Blankespoor
                                                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. James Blankespoor
                                             Stated Clerk                                                        Five grandchildren
                                       Classis West                                                 Thirteen great-grand children.


216                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                     News From Our `Churches

                                           Jan. 14, 1969      Here is a "first" found in Hudsonville's bulletin: "The
  Upon the request of the Mission Committee  South-         newly organized Covenant Christian Booster Club will
w,est's Consistory has granted their pastor, Rev.           hold its first meeting in the High School on Thursday,
Lubbers, permission to labor for six Sundays in Pella,      Jan: 1 at 8 P.M. All men interested in becoming
Iowa. Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers' plan was to be gone from       members and giving the athletic department a boost are
home from Jan. 10 to Feb.  i 8. Rev. Veldman, of            invited to attend."
Hudsonville, was obtained to teach the two mid-week                                   ******
catechism classes on Tuesday evening, and the Elders
were assigned the Saturday classes.                           Department of confusion: We have three churches in
                      ******                                our denomination which go by the name, "Hope Prot.
                                                            Ref. Church." The first one, so named in 1925, has a
  Hudsonville's Mr. and Mrs. Society scheduled an           Grand Rapids mailing address, but is not in Grand
unusual after recess activity for theirJanuary 1 meeting    Rapids; the second is in Redlands, Calif. and the last one
L a-tour of the new Covenant Chr. High School.              is in Isabel, S Dakota. To avoid confusion this page calls
                                                            the Grand Rapids one "Hope Church", and identifies
                       *****lcL
                                -                           the other two by the name of their city. Clear?
  The Deacons of Hope Church remembered the                                           *****k*
Hoeksema Memorial Library of our Seminary with an
offering received at their New Years Day Service.             A Memphis, Tenn. minister wrote Rev. Woudenberg
                       *****St                              that his tapes are helping him in his ministry, and added,
                                                            "The sermons on `Human Depravity' and `The punish-
  Here are the names of some of the clerks of               ment on Sin' are two of the best I've ever heard." And a
consistories appointed for 1969: Southwest  - Jay           lady in Pompano Beach, Fla. writes to encourage Rev.
Boone, 1319 Den Hertog S.W. 49509; Southeast - R.           Woudenberg to continue sending her his pamphlets.
Teitsma, 1659 Shangrai La Dr. S.E. 49508; First - J. M.     Those travel from the northwest corner of our land to
Faber, 1123 Cooper S.E. 49507.                              the southeast corner!
                      ******                                                          ******
                                                              Lynden's Old and New Year services had to be
  A very interesting report from Mr. H. Vander Wal,         cancelled because of the weather (as were many -others)
business manager of the Standard Bearer, came to our        and the installation of office bearers had to be re-
desk this week and we would like to share with you          scheduled for Jan. 5.
some facts regarding the mailing list which we found to
be an eye-opener, The bulk of the mailing goes to our                              -******
own people in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, North
and South Dakotas, Minnesota, Washington and Califor-         The Young People's Federation Board sponsored a
nia, but our magazine also finds its way to thirty-one      toboggan party in the Grand Rapids area. Refreshments
other States, including Hawaii. New Jersey, alone,          and games were furnished by the Board but the
receives 18 copies each mailing. The amazing thing is       toboggans had to be furnished by the boarders.
that it reaches 14 Foreign Countries; 23 copies to                                    ******
Jamaica, 13 to the Netherlands, 19 to Canada, 7 to
England, 3 to India, 2 to New Zealand, 2 to Japan and         Southwest's Young People's Society, in their first
single copies to readers in Brazil, Germany, Hungary,       meeting of the year, featured an after-recess paper by
Switzerland, Tasmania, Nigeria, and South Africa. One       Karen Kuiper on, "What is the difference between
wonders how these folks came into contact with our          pastors and evangelists, and why was the latter omitted
publication and then deemed it worthwhile to subscribe      in the Protestant Reformed Churches?" No doubt that
to it. The Jamaican contact `we all understand, but         any of our pastors would claim to be one of that class of
wouldn't it be interesting to hear the answers to those     teachers in the early church next in rank after apostles
questions directly from the other 53 Foreign readers?       and prophets, but each one of our pastors would insist
This page would be an excellent spot for some news          that he is an evangelist, a preacher of Good Tidings.
from Hungary or Tasmania or any of the other far-off
mailings. We wonder how soon we could expect a              . . . . . . . . . . . . see you in church
response on this Feb. 1 st issue.                                                                              J.M.F.


