                                                    - - ---- -__
                                    h e :                           -,
                              tandard

                                             earer

A   R E F 'O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



I N   T H I S   /SSUE~

                                           . ..'
         Meditation:           '
            Israel's Everlasting Salvation

         Editorial:  -
            Twentieth Century Tower of Babel

         Medicare and Medicaid and our Church Order
            (see: Feature)

         Scriptural Morality of Love
            (see: The Strength of Youth)




                                                     Volume XL VI / Number 9 / February 1, 1970


194                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


                           CONTENTS                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.

Meditation  -                                                               Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                  Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
   Israel's Everlasting Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194    Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                      Department Editors::.  Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                      Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
Editorial  -                                                          Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper,  Rev. Gise J.
   Twentieth Century Tower of Babel . . . . . . . .  .197             Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudanberg
                                                                      Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
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   Medicare and Medicaid in the Light of                              Church News Editor:       Mr. Donald Doezema
                                                                                                1904 Plymouth Terrace,  SE.
        Article 25 of the Church Order . . . . . . . . . .  .199                                Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506

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Meditation

                                Israel's Everlasting Sdvation
                                                       Prot H.C. Hoeksema

                 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed
              nor confounded world without end.
                                                                                                                   Isaiah 45.17

  Blessed portion!                                                    shall all of them be both ashamed and confounded.
  Neither ashamed nor confounded, world without They shall go to confusion. For there is no peace,
end!                                                                  saith my God, for the wicked.
  Idol-worshippers, all they who put their trust in                      But not Israel!
anything or anyone next to or instead of the God of                      They shall be saved!
Israel, the God or our salvation in Jesus Christ,  - they                Saved in Jehovah!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               195



  Saved with an everlasting salvation!                       Thus it shall be with all those who worship graven
  Blessed Israel!                                          images, who put their trust in them that are no gods.
                                                           But not with those who build their hope upon Jeho-
  Blessed assurance! Firm ground for unshakable con- vah! Not with the Israel of God! Ye, 0 people of
fidence!                                                   God, who know Him, who put your trust in Him,
  Ye, 0 people of God, shall neither be ashamed nor whose hope is in His holy Name, shall not be ashamed
confounded world without end! This is the Word of nor confounded world without end!
your God to you! It is the Word of the God Who saves         But there is also a positive implied in this negative.
you with an everlasting salvation. Never need you be         As we have already intimated, this Word of God has
concerned, therefore, that your hope is in vain. Those in view the hope of the children of God. They look
who do not have your God and His Word indeed have          for complete and everlasting salvation. Of this they
reason to fear and tremble, even when they utter loud testify. They do so in word: for they are ready also to
words of boasting and apparent confidence. For it          give an answer concerning the reason of the hope that
shall certainly be revealed that their hope was vain:      is in them, with meekness and fear. They do so in
they shall-go down to confusion. But not ye! Fear          deed: for it is on account of that hope that they are of
not! Only believe!                                         those of whom the world is not worthy, that they are
  To be ashamed and to be confounded are two sim-          of those who fight the good fight of faith and stand for
ilar ideas, each of which nevertheless has its distinct the cause of the Son of God. In that battle they often
emphasis. The first term is subjective. It points to a apparently go down to defeat. The world is apparently
feeling of deep disappointment which makes one blush victorious. In that fight they suffer much and must
with shame. Either that upon which we had fixed our endure reproach. Yea, they must even lay down their
hope turns out to be nothing but a figment of the life. But also then they still cry out to their enemies:
imagination, or that object of our hope turns out to be    "We, not you, have the victory. And the day of the
so unworthy and so far beneath our expectations that Lord is coming, the day of the Lord for Whom we look
it was not at all worthwhile hoping for, or it turns out and earnestly long, when it shall be fully revealed that
after all that the object upon which we had pinned our all the sufferings of this present time were not worthy
hope was not intended for us; and the result is that we to be compared with the glory which should be re-
are left ashamed. Thus, for example, in the sphere of vealed in us. The day is coming when it shall be
things natural, one may have a rich relative of whom revealed that we always did have the victory through
he expects a worthwhile gift or of whom he has reason Him that loved us!"
to think we will receive a large inheritance. He has         And what a dreadful shame and confusion it would
expected this. He has told others of it. But when the      entail if  no6 that hope should prove vain. Here we
time comes when he should receive the gift or inherit- risk~all, and give up everything, count it all but loss and
ance, he either receives nothing or he receives a mere dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
pittance. The result is that he returns homeward           Jesus our Lord. And presently stand shamefaced and
shamefacedly.                                              empty-handed, the object of the gleeful ridicule of all
  To be confounded is a little different. It really who ever opposed us and in the face of whose opposi-
expresses the idea of being  ridicuied and reproached tion we continued to bear testimony of the hope that
because your hope  Jhas not been realized at all. It was in us?
presents you as standing before others at the moment         But no!
when your hope is supposed to be realized, but as            God forbid!
being left empty-handed. And there stand those other         Not the most miserable and contemptible of all men
men, especially your enemies, those to whom you had shall  we.be, but the most blessed!
previously testified of your hope. From the very be-         Not reason for doubt and anxiety, for faintness and
ginning they did not believe your testimony. They weariness, for wavering and cowardice, for yielding to
raised their eyebrows when you spoke of it. They the blandishments of the wicked world, for defeatism
considered you crazy. They laughed at your hope. And in the heat of battle, is there. But there is every reason
now the moment comes when your hope should be for firm hope and strong assurance, for courage and
fulfilled, and' it stands exposed before all as a vain patience, for steadfastness and perseverance, every
hope. The enemies were right, and you were wrong. reason for continuing to take to ourselves the whole
The world and the devil witness your utter confusion, armor of God and to stand in the evil day!
They ridicule  `you and laugh at you and point the            For the -object of our hope is certain of fulfillment.
finger of scorn at you.  "Aha," they say, "he trusted in We shall not be ashamed `in the sense that there is
God! His hope was on a hereafter, on-pie-in-the-sky!       nothing to that hope, that wereceive nothing. On the
Look at him now! What did all his hope amount to?" contrary, it is absolutely certain. Israel shall be saved
  But this shall never be!                                 in the Lord!
  Not world without end!           -      -                  The object of our hope  ,is also more than  satisfac-


196                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



tory and worth our patient waiting. It will never be so       God, the city that hath foundations, whose builder and
that we shall be compelled to say that the prize is not       maker God is. And the nations of the Gentiles come
worth the gruelling race, that the crown is not worth         voluntarily, as drawn efficaciously by the Spirit of
all the trouble and suffering of the battle. It shall be      Jerusalem's King, in order to have a place in that
just the other way around. We shall experience the            Jerusalem. And by faith they say, "Surely God is in
truth that the suffering of this present time is not          thee; and there is none else, there is no God!"
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be              From that point of view, this Word of our God
revealed in us. We shall be so overwhelmed when that          carries to our souls an even stronger assurance than in
hope is finally attained that we shall confess, "The half     the old dispensation. For. principally and centrally
has not been told us!"                                        Jerusalem is already rebuilt, and Israel is already saved
   And  tti reward shall be complete and final and            with an everlasting salvation!
irrevocable! It shall be so great that all tears shall be       Yet this salvation waits for its final and full revela-
wiped from our eyes forever. We shall be saved with           tion in the future. Or rather, we wait for it. And
an everlasting salvation!                                     God's Word assures us of it.
                                                                Israel  shall  be saved with an everlasting salvation!
   Glorious salvation!                                          Now that salvation is not yet. Our life is still hid
   The prophetic viewpoint and perspective is that of         with Christ in God. Here on earth there are still many
the captivity in Babylon and the promise of the re-           of Israel who sojourn in Babylon as strangers in a
turn. Israel lies captive in a strange land. But in the       strange land. Others there are who are still spiritually
same prophetic vision the Lord raises up Cyrus in             in the power of Babylon and who must yet be called
righteousness, and will direct all his ways. He will          and converted and brought to the light of the know-
rebuild Jerusalem, and he shall let the captives go free.     ledge of Jehovah. Besides, the glory of our salvation is
And the nations of the Gentiles are pictured as coming        not yet revealed. We still bear the corruptible body of
in voluntary servitude to Israel. They shall acknow-          Babylon. Still we are often dominated by Babylon.
ledge that God is in Jerusalem, and that there is no          And that Jerusalem, the cause of the Son of God,
God like Him. And they shall bring their riches and           already has the victory does not become revealed, but
the fruits of their merchandise into the city of God.         is in many respects a hidden matter.
       This prophetic vision was also fulfilled literally.      The full revelation of that salvation lies in the
And that fulfillment was the first stage of that everlast-    future!
ing salvation. It stands in inseparable connection with         Then Babylon will go down to final and everlasting
that everlasting salvation in the full sense of the word.     defeat, and the everlasting revelation of Israel's salva-
It was a beginning of that salvation. It was part of          tion shall be realized to the full!
God's work of salvation, as is very plain from the fact         Glorious salvation!
that if that liberation from the captivity of Babylon           For it is salvation from the greatest conceivable evil,
had not taken place, so that Judah and the house of           from all evil! Freedom from the burden of guilt,
David had perished in Babylon, then there would have          freedom from the power of sin and corruption, free-
been no Christ, no cross, no resurrection, and no             dom from the dominion of the enemy, from the suffer-
everlasting salvation obtained and realized by Christ.        ing of this present time, from all that belongs to the
But as part of God's great work of salvation, it was at       corruptible, the weak, the dishonorable, the earthy!
the same time typical. It foreshadowed the wonder of            Everlasting salvation!
grace according to which the Israel of God would be             For the power of sin and death and corruption shall
freed forever from the Babylon'of this world and saved        nevermore enter there. The very thought of them, the
with an everlasting and far more glorious salvation.          very possibility of them, the very fear of them shall
And as a type, it was, after all, very imperfect and          forever disappear. There shall be no night there! We
incomplete. It was indeed but a shadow of the higher          shall dwell with God forever! We shall be clothed with
salvation, not that salvation itself.                         complete righteousness, with holiness, with. light and
  But now the type has been fulfilled. It was fulfilled       knowledge, with life and glory. We shall have the
in Christ,  - in His incarnation, in His atoning suffering    everlasting victory! It shall appear then forever that
and death, in His resurrection and ascension and being        the cause of the Son of God is indeed the right cause,
seated at the right hand of the Father, in His being          always was the right cause, the cause of God!
made the quickening Spirit. And in Christ Jesus, the            What glory that will be!
revelation of the God of our salvation, Israel is saved
with an everlasting salvation. Mark you well, Israel is         D i v i n e   s a l v a t i o n !   -.
saved! Saved from the might of sin and death! Saved             Israel shall be saved in Jehovah!
from all the dominion of the power of Babylon!                  And who is like unto our God?
Jerusalem is established, now no longer as an earthly           The idol-worshippers shall be confounded. For their
city of wood and stone, but as the heavenly city of           idols are like unto themselves, poverty-stricken, utterly


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 197



without wisdom and strength to save. They are alto-          depended upon man, then the whole of that salvation
gether vanity. How then shall they be able to save?          would be vain. For a chain is no stronger than its
   But our God is in the heavens!                            weakest link; and a human link is weak indeed, woe-
   He is Jehovah, the I AM THAT I AM!                        fully weak and undependable.
   Self-sufficient is He, and as such the only rich One,        But from beginning to end Israel's salvation is in
the overflowing Fount of all goodness and blessing!          Jehovah!
Infinitely rich is He in wisdom and righteousness and           In Jehovah, and therefore of Him!
grace and life and glory. There is in Him a treasure to         And therefore infinitely rich and glorious, so rich
which there is no end!                                       that God Himself is not and shall not be ashamed to  be.
   The only God is He! The unchangeable Jehovah, the         called our God!. And if our God is not ashamed, how
faithful God of the covenant, is He from eternity. He        then shall we ever be ashamed or confounded world
never forsakes the work of His own hands, therefore.         without end?
And the' All-mighty and All-wise is He, so that you             Certain and firm is that salvation! For Jehovah is
may depend upon it that His work is never hindered or        the Mighty and the Faithful One. He shall surely finish
prevented by anyone or anything. Yea, all things must        the work that He .has begun in us! Certain and firm is
be subservient to our salvation.                             that salvation as the Rock on which it is founded! And
   Our salvation is  in Him!  Here is the ultimate ground    that Rock is Jehovah!
of its  certainity, 0 Christian pilgrim!                        B l e s s e d   s a l v a t i o n !   c
   It does not depend upon you or me or upon any                Blessed Israel!
man. There is nothing of man's will of man's might or           Blessed be God, the God and Father of our Lord
man's righteousness or man's accomplishment in it. If        Jesus Christ!
there were any link in the chain of that salvation that         World without end! Amen.


Editorial

                      Twentieth Century Tower of Babel
                                               Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema

  .To the observant Christian whose sanctified judg-         boasting and vainglory connected with these exploits.
ment is guided, by the infallible rule of the Word of        One is literally bombarded with this boasting through
God and whose discernment is sensitized by the Spirit        all the media, especially, of course, at those times
of Christ Whose testimony that Word is, there are            when the Astronauts are making their journeys and
many phenomena of our times which remind him that            when they return to earth, until he becomes nauseated.
the Scriptures. are being fulfilled before his very eyes,    "We will do this; and we can do that, and we are
that the end of all things is at hand, and that the signs    planning this achievement," etc., etc. It is all man,
of the coming of the Lord, the precursory signs, are         man, man. And when the first. moon explorers had
multiplying as we approach that end.                         safely returned to earth, the boast was uttered, "We
  Thus it is, for example, with today's space exploits.      can do everything and anything now!"  Did- it not
  That it is a tremendous technological accomplish-          remind you of what the Lord said when He came down
ment that men can venture into the far reaches of the        to see the city and the tower which the children of
firmament, that they can achieve a pin-point landing         men built at Babel, "Behold, the people is one, and
on the moon, that they can explore the moon and              they have all one language; and this they begin to do:
make it the object of their scientific inquiry, and that     and now nothing will be restrained from them which
they can safely return to earth and bring with them          they have imagined to do?"
samples of moon rocks, no one will deny. One can but           Not only so, but boastful and vainglorious Man
marvel at the powers which God has given to man and          succeeds!  Sometimes it is only with difficulty that one
the degree to which he can succeed in subduing his           can stifle the wish that the Righteous Judge of heaven
environment even now, while he has but remnants of           and earth would blow into the plans and strivings of
natural light.                                               these boasters and bring their towering pride crashing
  But there are other aspects to which we should not         down in disaster. But this may not be; it must wait
be blind.                                                    until. the day that the crooked shall be made straight.
  One of these aspects is the tremendous amount of           Man  .succeeds.  And I believe we may expect him to


198                                            THE STANDARD  .BEARER



succeed. We must not look for many failures, but              "opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
rather for increasing success. Man  must  succeed. For God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in
under the sovereign government of Him Who sitteth             the temple of God,  shewing  himself that he is God."
upon the throne and under the sovereign direction of II Thessalonians 2: 4.
the Lamb Who is able to open the book with its seven            No, this does not mean that we have reached the
seals, Man must achieve the goal described in Revela- point in history of the final manifestation of the Anti-
tion  13:4: "And they worshipped the dragon which christ. There are yet many things to be accomplished
gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the            before that point is reached. For one thing, unity
beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able        among the nations has not yet been achieved, the unity
to make war with him?" For until that goal is reached,        that is an indispensable characteristic of the  anti-
the end of all things cannot be attained.                     Christian dominion. Nor does it mean that the  space-
  In the third place, one can begin to understand a program is the sole facet of American life which is
little of the possibility of all the world wondering after    subservient to antichristian strivings. It is only one
the beast when he observes what a tremendous impact           facet among many; but viewed properly, it and its
the success of the lunar flights had upon men through-        spectacular successes constitute clear evidence -of the
out the world. By means of television and radio the           character of our times and clear evidence of the ten-
whole world was kept informed of these flights; and           dency of the age.
especially at the time of the first lunar landing almost         Yes,. we are moving, moving rapidly toward the  en.d
the whole world was watching and listening. And when          of all things. On the stage of history is emerging the im-
the astronauts triumphantly toured the world, they            age of the beast having seven heads and ten.horns, and
were almost everywhere greeted with receptions such upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the
as other world figures do not receive. The popular            name of blasphemy,  - the picture of the beast with
acclaim was almost unbounded.                                 one of his heads as it were wounded to death, but with
  Nor must we be deceived by the fact that a religious        his deadly would healed. (Revelation 13: l-3) As the
tint is sometimes given to these exploits. There are          Rev. H. Hoeksema puts it in his "Behold, He Cometh!"
those who can become very excited about the fact that         (pp. 456-457): "Hence, there is but one thing in past
passages of Scripture are read from space. And they           history which can be indicated by this scar on one of
can institute campaigns to guarantee that more of this        the heads of the beast. It is the attempt in the days of
shall take place, or they can campaign to have Genesis mighty Nimrod and the building of the tower of Babel
1: 1 engraved on a postage stamp commemorating the to establish a universal world-power. Also then it was
Apollo moon-flight. But be not deceived. For, in the          to be a combination, rahter than the dominion of one
first place, how hypocritical it is to read Genesis 1" individual or group. They planned to form a mighty
from space, but at the same time refuse to accept the         federation, a mighty league, with a common center in
testimony of Genesis concerning the origin of the the city and tower, with common aims and purposes.
universe. Yet this is exactly what is being done.  The. But then it received the death-stroke for a time. That
folly of ungodly science is manifested in the fact that       death-stroke consisted in the confusion of tongues and
"science" expects to "learn" about the "origin" of the the consequent separation into nations with their na-
moon from these explorations; and that same folly is tional' differences and aspirations and the resulting
compounded when scientists try to calculate the age of wars and strifes. But that death-stroke is now healed.
the moon by means of the samples of moon rock that            After many an individual power has made the attempt
they have obtained, and then in their "wisdom" that to gain the world-power and to obtain control of the
knows not God talk about some samples that are 4.6            whole earth, the nations have finally come to the
billion years old and some that are 4.4 billion years         conclusion that the way of combination is the only
old. 0 the folly of unbelief! But, in the second place, way. National differences have been overcome; na-
we must not expect that all these strivings to achieve        tional aspirations have now been combined into the
the Kingdom of Man will be without religious tints. We aspiration of all. No more world wars, no more strife
must not even merely expect that they shall have a tint and competition, but a great world-wide empire, in-
of religion in general. We must rather expect that they cluding all nations and comprehending them  .a11 under
shall have an anti-Christian character. That is, they         one-head, has now been realized. The death-stroke has
must not only be opposed to Christ; but. they must' been healed, and what was prevented in the days of
stand in the service of an opposing Christ, a  pseudo- Nimrod now is accomplished."
Christ. They must have a form of godliness without the          Thus we view current events.
power thereof. The kingdom of Antichrist shall com-             But how does the world, the antichristian world,
bine the forces of the ungodly world-power and the and the false church view those same events?
false church. Its picture is presented in the picture of        They view them'in the same light, though with the
the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth       opposite spiritual motivation.
in Revelation 13. The Man of Sin, the son of perdition,          Of this I was strikingly reminded  whkn I listened,


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      199



via radio, to the welcome for the astronauts (Neil                scattered people, a broken family. Today let us com-
Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins) at their mit ourselves-to ensuring a `giant leap for mankind' by
triumphal entry into the City of Chicago. At that guaranteeing that we will use our fullest resources, our
occasion there was a parade (as in all our large cities, noblest qualities, our best men, to enlarge liberty and
coast to coast) which ended with a  ceiemony at Chi-              extend justice. We have begun a new history, the age of
cago's Civic Center. At that ceremony, John Cardinal the family of man. What then is man? `Little less than
Cody, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, delivered an the angels,' the Psalmist said, `crowned with glory and
"invocation." Through correspondence conducted by honor . . . Lord over the work of your hands. Yahweh,
one of my students I have obtained a transcript of his our Lord, how great is your name throughout the
invocation from the Office of the Archbishop. Permit earth.' (Ps. 8)"
me to  -quote it:                                                    There you have  it:. even the pseudo-Christian world
   "To the age-old question, `What is man that you views the twentieth century in terms of a rebuilding of
should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you              the Tower of Babel!
should care for him?' (Ps.  S), we are gathered today to             Perhaps the  only thing that is surprising about this is
proclaim an answer, 0 Lord our God. We celebrate the that it came from the lips of a Roman Catholic Cardi-
fact that he is an inquisitive and inventive creature,            nal. For usually the Roman Catholic clergy are a bit
gifted with insight and courage, capable of working               careful to preserve their peculiar Roman Catholic dis-
with his brother in unison, undaunted by challenges               tinctiveness. But even the latter has changed rapidly in
and grave responsibilities.                                       recent times. The underlying humanism  - antichristian
   "Today we proclaim that we are proud to share the humanism  - of the old Roman Catholic Pelagianism
family name of "Man" with Neil Armstrong, Edwin                   and Semi-Pelagianism is coming into its own. Our re-
Aldrin and Michael Collins `who have traveled the                 forming fathers of the 16th century were after all
paths of the stars and explored the work of your                  basically correct when they viewed Rome and its pope
hands.' (Ps. 8)                                                   in terms of the Antichrist.
  "Today we pray that the wonder of a walk on the                 But let me conclude this editorial with the point
moon will indeed be more than `one small step for a               made at its beginning. The end of all things is at hand!
man.' Joined together as we watched a brave step to               And if the world itself views current events in terms of
the moon's  surface,fulfilling the labors and dreams and          the rebuilding  .of the Tower of Babel, the healing of
sacrifices of so many, the family -of  m&i became in-             the deadly wound of the beast of Rev. 13, how much
creasingly aware of the links binding us on this small more ought the child of God to do so!
spaceship we call  earth;-                                           Be not deceived!
  "Once before, men built a tower, `reaching to the                  Discern  the times!
heavens," but the end result was a Babel of confusion, a             And redeem the time!


Feature

                              Medicare  and Medicaid -in the light of
                                  Article 25 of the Church Order
                                                        Profi H. Hanko

        IMroductory Note: The contents of this article were delivered as a speech td the Off&bearers' Conference on
        January 6, 1970. The article is prepared from a tape recording of the speech with only slight modification. The
        article of. the Church Order referred to in the title deals with the.work of the deacons.
               .
   The subject of Medicare and Medicaid  & only part of           icare and Medicaid. I propose to address your attention
a far broader problem which involves the work of the              to the broader problem.
deacons. The problem is esgentially this: Our federal                This is not by any `means the first time that this
government through various programs of aid to the  problem   has  been  discussed   among  US  -  in  our  dea-
poor has encroached upon the work of the deacons.                 conates or even in  our Officebearers' Conference. But
The result of this has been that the office of deacons in         as far as I know there has not been very much work
the Church has suffered and, in some instances, has all           done along the lines of  coming to a solution to this
but ceased to function. The question is much broader              problem; and I am firmly convinced that the time has
therefore, than the  mere  rightness or wrongness of  Med-        come to apply ourselves to  thiS problem and come to


200                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



some solution. And that rather quickly.                      Anyone who is poor according to the standard of
   In preparation for this speech I obtained a large         poverty set by the government can apply for Medicaid.
mass of material from Washington which explains the          It is limited to medical payments. It is intended to
Medicare and Medicaid programs. This material, num-          supplement Medicare by paying that part of Medicare
bering in the hundreds of pages, I will not attempt to       which ordinarily the individuals pays, in the event that
give to you this evening. What did strike me very            he cannot. pay it. It is intended to pay additional
forcibly as I was wading through the material was the        medical and dental expenses not covered by Medicare.
fact that when the government enters into a program          It is a welfare program which is intended to help the
of benevolence, the program becomes unbelieveably            needy in the land. The Medicare Program is adminis-
complicated. It was especially the contrast between          tered by the Federal Government through the Social
these complex government programs, which require             Security Office. The Medicaid Program, however, al-
the acumen and training of a lawyer to understand,           though administered in part by the Federal Govern-
and the simplicity of the work of the deacons. I was ment, is administered not through the Social Security
reminded of the statement of Solomon in Proverbs:            Office, but through the Department of Health, Educa-
"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."                tion and `Welfare. Medicaid is a joint venture of the
                                                             Federal Government, State Governments, and local
A DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDICARE AND                            governments. The money which pays for the Medicaid
MEDICAID PROGRAMS                                            program comes out of regular tax dollars.
   Medicare and Medicaid are two entirely distinct pro-
grams. They are only indirectly related to each other.       THE PLACE OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONS  lN
   The Medicare program consists of two distinct parts.      THE CHURCH
These two parts are usually designated Part A and Part          It is not my purpose to discuss the office of deacons
B. Part A of Medicare is a hospital insurance program.       in an exhaustive way. It is rather my purpose to discuss
It is for people over 65 years old. It is hospital insur-    this important office in the Church from the viewpoint
ance  for, retired people who draw social security bene-     of its importance in the Church. This involves an
fits. It is an insurance program which is financed by        aspect of the office which is often forgotten among us.
means of the social security program itself. In other           To get at this aspect  pf the office, it is necessary to
words, one pays his premiums in his regular social           discuss briefly the general principles of the rule of
security payments. These payments are usually in-            Christ over His Church. This may not immediately
cluded in the social security payments. It is intended       appear to you to be directly connected with the work
to cover most of hospital costs when those who are           o,f deacons, but is closely related to our subject none-
retired must enter a hospital for treatment or surgery.      theless.
It also covers post-hospital costs in some instances,           We must proceed from the principle that Christ is
with some limitations, and what is called post-hospital      the chief and only Officebearer in His Church. This
home health care. This is care for a patient in a rest       principle, among many other things, certainly implies
home or in his own home when the care requires               that when we speak of the fact that Christ is the chief
f u l l - t i m e   n u r s i n g .                          and only  ,Officebearer in His Church we are referring
   Part B of Medicare is Medical Insurance. It too is for    particularly to the fact that Christ is the  King  of His
people who are retired; but it is financed somewhat          Church. It is obvious, of course, that Christ is also
differently than Part A. It is financed, not through the     Prophet and Priest. Yet these three are only aspects of
Social Security Program, but by means of the payment         the one office which Christ holds. These three aspects
of premiums. Those who are insured under Part B of of Christ's office are reflected in the Church in such a
the Medicare Program are insured by means of pre-            way that the aspect of prophet is reflected in the
miums. These premiums are only paid in part by the           Churchly office of minister, the aspect of priest is
person insured. At present the premium is $8.00 a            reflected in the Churchly office of deacon, and the
month. The insured pays $4.00 while the other $4.00          aspect of king is reflected in the Churchly office of
is paid by the federal government. As far as I can           elder. But the fact is nonetheless that in this one office
determine, the $4.00 of the premium paid by the              which Christ holds, with its three aspects, the central
government comes out of tax monies and is therefore          feature of that office is that Christ is the  King  of His
in the nature of a welfare program in part. This part of     Church. He is the King of His Church because of the
the program covers most of physicians' services, most        fact that at the time of-His exaltation, after He had
of medical services and supplies and most of out-            finished His work on earth, His exaltation consisted in
patient hospital services.                                   His being seated at the right hand of God where all
   The Medicaid program, on the other hand, is alto-         authority was given to Him. This rule of Christ over
gether different. It is simply a welfare program. It is      His Church is a rule of grace. Christ rules over His
available to anyone who belongs to that group of             Church by saving His Church. Christ rules over His
people known euphemistically  as low-income people.          Church in such a way that, by the power of His


                                              THE STANDARD BEAKER                                                    201



redeeming cross, He makes His people humble and               responsibility for the needs of His people that is re-
obedient, faithful and fit citizens of His own ever-          flected in the office of deacon. The deacons in their
lasting kingdom. It is this rule of Christ, gracious and      work in the Church come to the people of God to
saving, which is reflected in the offices in the Church.      teach them and to show them concretely that their
Christ exercises His Lordship over His Church through         heave.nly King is a very merciful King, a King Who is
the offices which He has instituted.                          filled with tender compassion for all of their needs; A
  I submit that therefore the key point in a consider-        King Who loves them, provides for them and will
ation of these three offices in the Church is that all of     abundantly satisfy them out of His own fulness. This is
them are offices in which the officebearers  nlle. That       uniquely the reflection of the rule of Christ in the
point must be underscored. The officebearers are all in       office of deacons.
positions of authority. In these positions of authority,        There are a couple of very important truths which
the officebearers rule. This is why the chief office in       follow from this principle. In the first place, the impli-
the Church is the office of elder, the office of govern-      cation is that Christ Himself sees to it that the office of
ment. This is not to say that the offices of minister and     deacon will always be able to function in the Church.
deacon are sub-offices. But the right to rule is princi-      Or, to state the matter differently, Christ Himself
pally in the office of elder. This is why our form of         purposely sees to it that there are always poor in the
church government is sometimes called  presbyterian           Church. When Matthew 26 was read at the beginning
church government. It is a church government which            of our meeting, we noticed that the Lord answers the
emphasizes the office of elder. This is why our  Chwch        objection of Judas who complained that the ointment
Order  makes clear that the office of elder has the with which Jesus had been anointed could have been
government over the other offices. To the office of sold and the money given to the poor, by saying: "The
elder is committed the responsibility for the faithful        poor ye have always with you." Now, these words of
preaching of the Word and the responsibility for the          the Lord are not merely a statement of fact. He is not
supervision of the work of deacons. The elders must           predicting with accuracy that this is going to be the
supervise the other offices.                                  situation in the Church in the future. Nor is the Lord
  Nevertheless, both the office of minister and the           making a threat that the Church will always have poor.
office of deacon is an office of rule. The rule of Christ     The  ,idea is rather that the Lord is promising the
is effected through all three offices. That which             Church that one of the blessings which He will person-
uniquely characterizes the office of deacon and the           ally give to the Church is the fact that they will always
deacons' rule in the congregation is this: the office of have poor. This is a promise.` And it is a promise
deacon reflects the fact that the rule of Christ over His because (and this is the second implication) it is of
people is a  benevolent  rule. Christ is not the kind of critical  im'portance  for the welfare of the Church that
King over His Church Who simply makes laws for His            the office of deacon functions. If the office of deacon
Church and Who sees to it that these laws are exe-            does not function, there is in the Church of Christ part
cuted. But Christ  is the kind of King Who rules over of the rule of Christ missing. And that is bad  - bad for
His people in grace, in mercy., in compassion, in love,       the Church. When the office of deacon does not func-
in tender regard for their needs. This is true, of course,    tion, the Church suffers and she loses some of her
of any Christian monarch in an earthly sense. A  God-         spiritual vitality. The Church loses some of the bles-
fearing king who rules over a nation of people is not sings which would be hers if the office of deacon was
simply interested in making laws for this nation and in       an active, functioning office.
executing these laws. But he is the kind of a king who          This cannot be stressed enough. The office of dea-
has the welfare of his subjects in His mind and heart         con is not something in the Church which is created
constantly. And as their king he assumes the responsi- for emergency and. which is called to function only at
bility for the care of all the needs of the people within     given intervals in the history of the Church. The office
his realm. Christ is eminently such a king over His           is not extraneous, added because sometimes situations
people. He rules not as a dictator or a tyrant. He rules      arise which make it advisable to have such an office. It
benevolently,  in. love and mercy and compassion. He          is not an office which is not essential to the life of the
rules in such a way that He assumes all the responsibil-      Church. Nothing could be  ,farther from `the truth.
ities for the needs of His people and abundantly pro-         Rather, the rule of Christ over the people of God is
vides for all these needs out of the fulness of His grace.    complete only when the office of deacon is a function-
All these tender attributes of His loving rule are re- ing office. The Church which has no functioning  dia-
vealed in the cross itself, where Christ gave Himself and     conate is a Church which suffers. It is from this princi-
gave His own'life in order that through the blood of ple that we must proceed as we consider this problem.
His own cross His people might be redeemed and their            The fact that some of our deacons complain today
sins atoned for.                                              that there are no poor and that therefore they have no
  Now it is precisely this aspect of Christ's rule, that      work to do is not the fault of Christ. Christ will see to
Christ is a benevolent king, a king who assumes the it personally that always there are poor in the Church.


202                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



It is necessary for the Church's welfare.                   suffered. The fault does not lie with the deacons. The
                                                            government has made some of its programs mandatory.
THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PROBLEM                              Our people oftentimes seem to be much more willing
  The problem is briefly that the government has            to go to the government for assistance that to the
taken upon itself work which rightly belongs to the         office of mercy. But our Churches suffer on account of
deacons. It has done this in a variety of programs such     it. It is in the nature of the case that this will be. When
as-old-age assistance, unemployment compensation, aid       that aspect of the rule of Christ is not reflected in the
for the needy, etc.                                         Church, the Church will suffer spiritually. She will lose
  We must not misunderstand the. matter. We must            her spiritual  vitality..This  is evident alone from the fact
not fault the government for this. There is something       that we have lost the meaning of true Christian giving,
inevitable about these government programs. This is         of the principle that it is more blessed to give than to
due to the apostasy of the Church. The Church does          receive. There is, for example, in the office of believers
not take care of its poor and so the government has to      a reflection of the benevolent rule of Christ in that the
do this. The government's interference in this area is,     believers mutually assist one another fulfilling the in-
to a considerable extent, the fault of the Church when junction of Paul: "Bear ye one another's burdens".
the Church apostatizes. The offices in the Church cease     How much of that is there these days? A certain child
to function faithfully. And someone has to take care        of God may have staggering financial obligations for
of these poor, and so the government does this. The         medical expenses and the other people of God may
government is not entirely to blame. If there is one        face the question: "Does he need some help?" But
point where the government must be criticized it is at      they quickly answer: "He has probably hospitalization.
this point: some of these programs of government            All his bills are paid. And we have our hands filled with
assistance are made mandatory. This is wrong. The           our own financial obligations." And soon the thought
result of it has been that the government has, begin-       is gone.
ning with Roosevelt's New Deal, entered more and              Where the principles of Christian giving are lost, the
more into the area of benevolence. It is benevolence by     Church suffers: not only those who receive, but those
whatever name you have called it. And these programs        who give. The result is that the communion of the
of the government encroach upon the office of dea-          saints is weakened when the people of God no longer
cons in the Church. This has come on bit by bit. We         bear one another's burdens. The Church as a whole
may be sure of one thing, however, that, as time goes       suffers and her spiritual strength dissipates. Many
on, these programs will increase rather than diminish.      troubles can easily flow forth from this.
There is no possibility of the government backing away        From another point of view, the government itself
from these programs helping the indigent and needy.         has, with its programs, found another tool to use in its
Rather there is every indication that these programs        destruction of the Church. This too ought to be em-
will be expanded until they cover every area of life.       phasized. It is not my contention that the government
The aim is security from "the womb to the tomb".            is consciously, deliberately, at the present moment set
What was always the work of the Church has now              upon a path of destroying the Church  - at least, not in
become the work of the government. Our government           this land. But we must reckon with the fact that the
is supposedly founded on the principle of separation        government is principally hostile to the cause of God
between Church and State. But at least in this vital        and to the Church of Christ. It is a tool in the hands of
area the lines of separation have become blurred and,       Satan. And the ultimate aim of Satan is never for a
in some instances, obliterated.                             moment forgotten by the prince of darkness. That aim
  Some of the results of this are. the problems which       is the destruction of the Church. One front on which
we face tonight. For one thing, the result has been that    we are called to fight the battle of faith in the preser-
the office of deacon has been weakened, and, I firmly       vation of the Church is in the defense of the office of
believe, is on the verge of being destroyed. It is a        deacon. We have done precious little about it. It is only
well-known fact that in our own congregations there         a- matter of time, as the government erodes the pre-
are deacons who have nothing to do in their office of cious office of deacon, that more and more the govern-
deacons. We must understand of course, that the only        ment will put its blood-stained hands into the affairs of
true work of `deacons is benevolence. Deacons may           the Church until the Church is under complete govern-
take General Fund collections, count the money and ment control. The office of deacon is vulnerable in this
pay the bills. But this is not the work of the office.      respect. If it should be destroyed, an important seg-
The one work which deacons are called to their office       ment of the Church will be destroyed. We are playing
to perform is the work of benevolence. And the fact is      with fire. The day is not far off when Anti-Christ shall
that there are deacons who have not done anything manifest itself and the full fury of a hostile world
with respect to this office. This is not true in all our power' will be turned against the Church. Shall it be
congregations, but it is true in many of them.              said of us that we have let the government in  - bit by
  And the result of this is that our Churches have          bit  - because we have permitted one important office


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 203



to fade away into governmental control? So serious is         we do well to give consideration.
this problem.                                                   The office of deacons, we have noticed, is essentially
  Because the problem is so serious we cannot delay in the office of ruling in  the Church. It reflects the rule of
solving it. Something has got to be done.                     Christ as that rule is merciful. It reflects the merciful
                                                              rule of Christ over the  whole  Church, not a segment of
PRELIMlNAR Y CONSIDERATIONS TO WARDS A. the Church. The deacons, insofar as they also rule in
SOL UTION                                                     the Church, rule over the whole Church. We must not
  I do not claim to have all the answers tonight to           take the position that the responsibility of the deacons
these difficult problems.                                     is limited to the few people in the Church who are
  If I had my own way, I would like best for the              poor. This is not  .the case. The minister who rules
Churches to do away with every single form of govern- through the preaching, rules over the whole congre-
ment aid. There are some religious groups who do this.        gation'. The elders do the same. This is no less true of
It is objected by our own people sometimes that if we the deacon. His responsibility is the whole congre-
would ever do this, we would not be able to take care         gation, not a fraction of it.
of our own poor. We would be unable to supply all                The force and power of that rule in every office is
their needs. I cannot buy this. We may have to make the Word of God itself. That is the only power of the
considerable financial adjustment in our lives and re- rule of all officebearers. There is no other power than
evaluate our true needs. But when Christ puts poor in that. This is because Christ is the chief and only
the Church, He will see to it  als-o that there are the Officebearer, and the Word of the Scriptures is the
means to care-for them. It is incredible that He would        Word of Christ. Always the officebearers in their rule
not. Are our doubts concerning our ability to do this         have nothing else to do but bring the Word of Christ.
only an indication of the fact that we have forgotten That is their power, their force, their authority. That is
what Christian giving is?                                     the whole thrust of their office. To step outside of the
  But this ideal is  perhaps impossible at this point. We     Word of Christ is simply to abrogate their office and to
are already in the practice too deeply to extricate           cease to function in their office. It is to do harm rather
ourselves completely. And it is for this reason that it is    than good in the sheepfold of Christ So also the rule of
impossible to condemn out of hand the Medicare Pro-           the deacons. Their calling is to bring the Word of God.
gram. It is part of the Social Security Program to            They are called, indeed, to bring financial aid to the
which almost all of our people belong. And there is           poor. But they use this financial aid in the Church to
some validity to the argument that we pay into it; and        call the attention of the people of God to the fact that
thus have every right to  recieve from it. And it is not at Christ is their King Who graciously and tenderly pro-
all clear that Social Security is  per  se wrong. But it      vides for their needs. He does this spiritually and
appears clear that somewhere along the line, (maybe it        p h y s i c a l l y .
is impossible to determine precisely when or where),            But this must not be limited to the poor. The
but somewhere, for the very welfare of the Church             deacons have a calling with respect to the whole con-
over which God has placed us, we are going to have to         gregation. The whole congregatiori must be taught that
draw the line. We are going to have to say: Up to here        Christ rules mercifully over His people. The deacons
and no further we will permit the government to               must reflect this not only by distributing alms, but
intrude in our affairs  - come what may. The welfare          they must do this also by pointing out to the people of
of the Church of Christ is at stake. What frightens me        God that to give alms is possible only because those who
so is the fact that these important principles we have give have first of all experienced themselves the depths
sacrificed bit by bit, little by little. And the danger is    of the mercy of Christ., In giving and in receiving there
very real that when the time comes (if it is not here         is in the Church the display of the mercy of Christ.
already) to draw the line, we will lack the spiritual and       Concretely I suggest the following be done.
moral courage and discretion to be able to draw it and          First of all, it is incumbent upon our diaconates to
will, consequently, be entangled inescapably in the evil      spend time at their deacons' meetings discussing these
entanglements of total government control. We had             problems; and particularly to discuss these government
better be very sure that we still retain the moral,           programs one by one as they come up. They must
spiritual courage to draw those lines where they have         study them and come to conclusions about them. In
to be drawn and when they have to be drawn; for the           their own diaconates and under the supervision of the
time is coming, beyond any doubt, that we must draw           elders they must do this.
them.                                                           In the second place, the deacons must do this in
  We can, no doubt, begin to draw that line at Medi-          cooperation with the diaconates of their sister congre-
caid. While Medicare is part of the Social Security           gations. It is not possible for me to spell out how best
Program, Medicaid is a complete welfare program. This         this can be done. There are several ways. One is by
is out. Our people should not be a part of it.                means of correspondence. Another is by means of
  But the problem is broader. To this broader problem         deacons' conferences. There is, however, a certain  dan-


204                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



ger in deacons' conferences. That danger is that these                There are several ways in which this can be accomp-
meetings become an additional ecclesiastical assembly              lished.
in the Church. Perhaps the best way and the proper                     First of all is the obvious way of bringing these
way is through our own ecclesiastical assemblies. It               problems to the attention of our people through the
seems that the time is ripe for our ecclesiastical assem-          preaching of the Word and the labors of the elders.
blies to give consideration to matters of our deacons  -           Perhaps our elders could devote their family visitation
something which is seldom done. Our elders do not do               to a discussion of these matters. Our ministers could
much  beybnd receiving a monthly financial report. Our             preach about them.
classes do little along these lines simply because no                 Secondly, these matters ought to be discussed in the
matters concerning benevolence ever come to them.                  forum of public debate. It would be well if articles
Our Synod seldom has on its agenda matters pertaining              appeared from time to time in our  Standard Bearer  -
to the office of deacons. The time is ripe for our                 articles written also by our deacons, in which these
ecclesiastical assemblies to set aside time in their ses-          matters are discussed. The deacons must wrestle with
sions to discuss these problems.                                   these problems.
  Of course, these assemblies cannot discuss these                    Thirdly, this. must be done through private contacts
problems by pulling the problems out of the air. The               in the congregations. They must, of course, limit them-
problems must come via the deacons who bring them                  selves to their own office and discuss only matters that
the ecclesiastical way of overture. The time has come              belong to their office. But this can easily be done.
to do this. Our assemblies have got to consider the                   This implies that they must instruct the people
important question of the office of deacon and its                 concerning these government programs and point out
preservation in the Church of Christ. I suggest our                their dangers. They must encourage the people of God
deacons do this.                                                   to seek their aid from the office which Christ has
  One word of caution. Do not simply dump problems                 ordained for this very purpose in the Church. They.
on the ecclesiastical assemblies. Do not come with the             must be shown that there is no shame attached to
question of Medicare and ask our assemblies to solve it.           seeking aid from Christ; that indeed the shame is to be
The deacons must study these problems themselves                   found in running to the government for assistance.
and thoroughly consider them in the light of Scripture                This implies also that the deacons must seek out the
and our Church Order. They must present our assem-                 poor. They must  not wait for the poor to come to
blies with reports that are precise and complete, so               them. Christ does not wait for us to come to Him.
that our assemblies can give consideration to these                They must reflect this also as they serve the Lord
matters and provide the way for our deacons to labor               Christ. They must take the initiative before the  govem-
throughout our Churches with a common goal and in -. ment gets their hands on the people of God or before
unity of purpose.                                                  the people of God are found in the lines of government
  In the third place, our deacons have got to get these            welfare.
things which we are discussing across to their own                    The people of God must be abundantly shown that
congregations. The responsibility of deacons extends               as they. themselves have drunk deeply of the cup of
to all in the congregation. Our Church Order also                  Christ's mercy, they must reflect the mercy shown to
speaks of this when it enjoins our deacons to make the             them in bearing one another's burdens in the Church
congregation aware of the needs in the Church. It does             and so fulfill the law of Christ and enrich the com-
IJot seem to me to be stretching the point to interpret            munion of the saints.
this to mean that the congregation be instructed in the               On the whole, it is my experience, that the people
whole nature and purpose of the office of deacons;                 of God are more ready to give to the cause of Christian
that the congregation be made aware of these problems              mercy than any other cause. But they must be shown
which arise and threaten the welfare of the Church of              the need. I am convinced that in these days of afflu-
Christ. Our people  bust themselves come to solutions              ence there will be no lack to supply all the needs of
to these problems. -Not the simple solutions of going to           God's people. But the need must be shown.
a hostile world power to receive aid in time of need.                 I have not spoken of the needs of God's poor
But the solutions to the problems of protecting and                outside our Churches. Nor need I do this. You know
preserving the office of mercy against the encroach-               the principles. I am concerned about the dangers
ments of government. Our people need instruction                   within our own fellowship.
along these lines. They must recognize that the threat                If we shrug off the problem, ignore it and easily
of Anti-Christ is very real. They must understand that             forget it, we do so to our own spiritual detriment. The
the Church is suffering harm because the office of                 time has come to do something. May God give us this
deacons is in danger of spiritual atrophy.                         grace.
          "So the Christian who is consecrated by his faith does good works, but the works do not make him holier or
       more Christian, for that is the work of faith alone. And if a man were not first a believer and a Christian, all his
       works would amount to nothing and would be truly wicked and damnable sins."                  - Martin Luther


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      205



The Strength of Youth

                    A Scriptural Morality of love
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering

  Enoch walked with God.                                    retained the basic requirements for friendship, viz.
  The believer of our generation does no less.              love. Man, however, is now unable to fulfill them.
  You see him poring over his books, applying him-          Since fallen man has lost the image of God and has
self to his calling as a student. You see him on his        become spiritually the opposite, he hates God, is con-
knees in the barracks, oblivious of the jeers of his        secrated to the service of sin and the devil (death), and
"buddies". You walk past a young couple in the coffee       delights in doing the opposite of what God requires. As
shop, you hear them fervently discussing the will of        a fallen sinner, man is not fit for covenant friendship
God for their lives. You ring the door-bell of the home     with God, Rom. 5 : 18. Natural man does  rzot walk with
of a young family and are greeted by the staccato of        God.
the piano accompanying untrained voices blended in            Into this picture, Christ appears. The sovereignty of
strained harmony. He can be detected not only by his        God extends into the eternal good-pleasure of His
presence in the house of God, but more particularly by      counsel. By the decree of election God willed to glo-
the condition in which he arrives and what effect the       rify His name by the salvation of His people in Christ.
Word has on him when he leaves.                             God placed His righteous demands for covenant friend-
  Rare? Not if you care to look.                            ship upon Him. Since Christ was made the sin-bearer
  Dull? Not for those who walk with Him.                    for His people, these demands of God were placed
  Useless? Not for those who know the joy of the love       upon Him, and He bore the penalty for the sins of His
of God.                                                     people as an act of perfect love.
  The Word of  God.has  much to say about morality, a         This Christ did with His death on the cross, (Gal. 4:
true morality of love. As we take a brief look, let's       4,5). The sovereign God did not change His demands
remind ourselves that in order to walk with God, we         for covenant friendship; He transferred these demands
must let God speak, listen to His Word, and believe,        to One Who was able to fulfill them on our behalf. By
"My hand thou holdest in thy own, to keep me near           His death and resurrection, Jesus established the basis
thy side".                                                  for covenant life with God by removing the guilt of
  Then our walk is everlasting.                             our sins and fulfilling the perfect law of love.
                                                              In applying the benefits of His death to us, Christ
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY AND THE LAW OF LOVE                       enables us to enter into this covenant friendship. By
  As covenant youth we have come to appreciate the          nature we are outside the sphere of the covenant;
sovereignty of God as it is related to our lives. Since     therefore our nature must become changed. Christ
God alone  is the giver of life,  ,first by creation and    received the authority to do this when He arose,
subsequently by providential direction, He alone has        (Matt. 28: 18). He received the power to do this when
the authority and power to determine the basis for          God gave to Him the Holy Spirit by Whom He  delivefs
covenantal friendship. If a man is to walk with God, he     His people from sin and translates them into the cove-
has to be in harmony with God, he has to meet God's         nant, (Acts  2:33).
demands for friendship. Since the covenant friendship         This Christ does through the gospel. By the message
that God extends to man is a reflection of His own          of the gospel the sinner is confronted with God's
covenant life which He enjoys in Himself as triune          sovereign demands for covenant friendship. The sinner
God, these demands are very high, none other than           is commanded to turn from his evil way, to believe in
perfect love of God. God provided man with these            Christ as the only source of righteousness with God,
qualifications by virtue of His creating him in His own     and to live according to the law of God. The gospel
image. Adam and Eve possessed a heart filled with the       makes plain that the exalted Christ makes His demands
love of God and thereby was consecrated to the service      upon the sinner that we love God and our neighbor
of God. They had minds that retained the true knowl-        perfectly, (Matt.  22.37-39). There is no sphere of life
edge of God, and they were created with wills that          that escapes these demands. The hearts of rulers are in
inclined them to perform the righteousness of God.          His hands, (Prov. 8: 15); citizens  are. called to obey
Because of this they were able to walk with God when        rulers, (Rom. 13: 1);  the, church must do the work of
He  came to them in the cool of the day.                    C h r i s t ,   ( M a t t .   16:19); He instructs fathers and
  The fall into sin did not change this basic rela-         mothers, (I Peter 3: l-7); He places His demands upon
tionship of God as sovereign and man as servant. God        children, (Eph. 6:1-3); He tells laborers their duty,.


206                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



(Col.  3:22). On page after page, the Scriptures warn        LOVE AND OBEDIENCE
from evil and exhort unto faithful obedience. The               So far we have considered the standard for moral
sovereign God makes His demands of perfect love              evaluation. God Himself is the final judge on right or
known. In the keeping of them there is great reward,         wrong. His standard is set forth in, His Word. This is
to live apart from them is death.                            communicated to us through the Scriptures. We have
                                                             this standard and are obligated to walk according to it.
THE UNCHANGEABLE CHARACTER OF TRUE                              How is it possible for us to observe the law of love?
MORALITY                                                     Man apart from Christ hates God and therefore also
   From the above, we conclude that the character of         hates His demands. How is it that we not only receive
morality is always the same. Perhaps you react to the        the law of God, but delight to walk in it? The answer is
foregoing and say, "That's  all nice for the people who      that God gives us His love. Christ not only fulfilled the
walked with God during Bible times, but our day is so        demands of the law and rescued us from the punish-
much different. How can a morality given to a handful        ment of death and hell, but Christ also gives us the
of people, mostly Jews and dwelling in Palestine, be         inmost desire to love God and to do His will. Accord-
determinative for me, a product of the "Now Gener-           ing to Rom. 5 : 5 the love of God is shed abroad in our
ation?" We have an entirely different situation today        hearts. By regeneration we are engrafted into Christ
compared to Bible times. We have the products of the         and abide in Him, (John  15:4). Abiding in Christ in-
industrial revolution, we live in our scientific age, we     cluding two things: believing in Him, (John  6:28,29),
walk on the moon, our moral problems are different.          and living a new life, (Phil.  1:2 1). By this union with
How can a first century morality govern the twentieth?       Christ we die unto sin, (I Peter  2:25), and become alive
   The answer is that God does not change. His de-           unto Christ, (Gal.  2:20).
mands for covenant friendship are always the same               The test of all true love is obedience. Christ calls us,
because God is always the same, (Mal. 3 :6).                 "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden
   As covenant youth we apply this principle to the          and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
area of doctrine. God's Word is God's revelation  con-       learn of me: for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye
.cerning the truth of Himself, of Christ, and of our         shall find rest unto your souls, (Matt.  11:28-30)." The
relation to Him. This never changes because God never        burden that Christ gives us is that we walk in the will
changes. Thus Jeremiah said, "Thus saith the Lord,           of God, serving Him. This burden is light because it is a
stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths,     love burden placed upon us by Christ. To attain unto
where is the good way, and walk therein and ye shall         this burden, we must take Christ's yoke which is,
find rest for your souls, (Jer. 6 :  16)" Paul emphasized    "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." The
the same thing, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and         proof of love is one's willingness to be a humble
hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether       servant, doing the will of God, that God may be
by word or our epistle, (II Thess. 2:  15)." What God        glorified in all.
revealed to Abraham was also believed by Moses. What            This proves that the world's idea of love is all wrong,
David believed was also received by Isaiah. The New          It is selfish. For the children of God, however, love is a
Testament saints read the account of the Old Testa-          willingness to deny oneself, take up his cross, and
ment and believed what God revealed. Christ Himself          follow Jesus. True love which has its source in God
quoted the prophets and writings, and bridges the two        does not express itself as walking in the fear of God
Testaments together. The  .early church confessed their      simply for the sake of self, a note too often sounded
faith in what is known as "The Apostles' Creed." God         by modern evangelism, e.g. Billy Graham and com-
has blessed His church with statements of belief that        pany. Rather it has as its object God,  that.He may be
continue to be banners of truth, not in competition          acknowledged as the only fountain of all good.
with the Bible, but as expressions of the truth of God's
Word.                                                        LOVE AND LIBERTY
   This same principle-  applie; to present day morals.         Depraved man appears to be so free, yet he is a poor
God doesn't give one set of morals to His people for slave of sin. He may try to quiet his conscience that ac-
one generation and then alter them or amend them for cuses him (Rom. 1:  32), by denying the law of God and
another generation. God's requirements for covenant          the unchangeable character of God's love, yet his end is
life are unchangeable even as He is. The moral law of destruction.                "But unto them that are contentious,
the Old Testament was not cast aside; Christ sum-            and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
marized it and applied it to the church of the new           indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon
dispensation. The epistles contain exhortations and          every soul of man that doeth evil, (Rom.  2:8,9)." The
warnings which were given in the authority of Christ.        drunk's body is broken with disease; the free love gen-
Hence, "And if any man obey not our word by this             eration is plagued with venereal disease; the drug addict
epistle, note that man, and have no company with him,        takes a bad trip; the pot smokers, rebels and licentious
that he may be ashamed, (II Thess. 3 :  14)."                bring destruction upon their own heads. Their cities


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       207



become rat traps both literally and figuratively. All          that the burden is light. Gladly we count ourselves as
this because the curse of the Lord is in the house of the      nothing in the service of God. What blessed rest for us
wicked, (Prov. 3: 33).                                         when we end the day by confessing our sins and being
  As covenant youth we are freed  from such folly by a         assured that God will forgive us and help us to over-
power that enables us to walk in the ways of the Lord.         come them.
We look at the wretched mess of the world and confess             With this love of God in our hearts we don't envy
that by the love of God we have been spared that               the world; above all, we don't walk with the world or
misery and tragedy. It is the love of God that delivers        try to imitate them. No, we receive God's Word and
us from the tyranny of our own sinful nature and               respond in childlike faith, "Speak Lord, for thy servant
infuses new qualities into our heart and lives, so that        heareth."
we begin to live in the joy of the covenant fellowship            Then we walk with God each day.
with God. When we wear the yoke of Christ, we realize             Then we walk with Him eternally, (I Tim.  4:7,8).



Contending  for  the  Faith

                                     THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                           PROTESTANT DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                         ACCORDING TO CALVIN (conclusion)

                                                       Rev. H. Veldman

  There cannot possibly be any doubt as to the posi-.               To us, who do not contentedly submit to be stripped
tion of Calvin' on the doctrine of sin. Over against all            of the acuteness of our reason, which we esteem our
pelagianism, he maintains original guilt and also original          most valuable endowment, this appears too harsh;
pollution or corruption. He certainly sets forth the                but in the estimation of the Holy Spirit, Who knows
Scriptural doctrine that sin came into this world                   that all the thoughts of the wisest of men are vain,
through the sin of Adam, the head of the human race.                and Who plainly pronounces every imagination of the
He  speaks of the human  inind or reason and of the                 human heart to be only evil, such a representation is
                                                                    consistent with the strictest truth. If whatever our
human will, and maintains that both are completely                  mind conceives, agitates, undertakes, and performs,
dominated by the power of iniquity. As far as the                   be invariably evil, how can we entertain a thought of
freedom of the will is concerned, he has principally no             undertaking anything acceptable to' God, by Whom
objection to the term, provided that it be understood               nothing is accepted but' holiness and righteousness?
in the sense that the sinner does what he does volun-               Thus it is evident that the reason of our mind,
tarily and not by constraint.  And this, of course, is              whithersoever it turns, is unhappily obnoxious to
true. The sinner always remains ,a free moral agent,                vanity. David was conscious to himself of this imbe-
who sins, not because he is forced to sin,, but because             cility, when he prayed that understanding might be
he  walks in ways of iniquity freely, voluntarily.  This,           given him, to enable him rightly to learn the com-
of course,  establishes his responsibility.  But, speaking          mandments of the Lord. For his desire to obtain a
of the freedom of the will, Calvin remarks or asks the              new understanding implies the total insufficiency of
question: but what  end.could it answer to decorate a               his own. And this he does not once, but almost ten
                                                                    times in one Psalm he repeats the same petition - a
thing so diminutive with a title so superb? Although                repetition indicating the greatness of the necessity
not condemning the term, freedom of the will, princi-               which urges him thus to pray.
pally, he is extremely reluctant to use it because man is
always inclined to use the expression as emphasizing              What an indictment against the natural man is this
man's sovereignty over his owri mind and will and that          quotation of the  Genevan  Reformer! What a descrip-
the sinner is able by his  inntite power to incline himself    tion of the reality and the power of sin! The question
to whatever he pleases. And Calvin considers this dan-         is asked whether all our industry, perspicacity, under-
ger to be very great.                                           standing  and care are so depraved that we cannot
  In concluding what we would say about Calvin's                conceive or meditate anything that is right in the sight
doctrine of sin, we wish to submit to our readers one           of the Lord. And Calvin answers by saying that to us
niore quotation, II, 2, 25:                                    who do not contentedly submit to be stripped of the
       Are' all our industry, perspicacity, understanding,      acuteness of our reason this appears too harsh, but that
    and care so depraved, that we cannot conceive or           in the estimation of the Holy Spirit, Who knows that
    meditate anything that is' right in the sight of God?      all the thoughts of the wisest of men are vain, and Who


208                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



plainly pronounces every imagination of the human            being able to do civil good. But we should notice that
heart to be evil, such a representation is consistent the Second Point declares that sin has been restrained
with the strictest truth. And he also declares that, if in the life of the individual. This means that the
whatever our mind conceives, agitates, undertakes and natural man is not wholly corrupt. Point II is therefore
performs be invariably evil, we can never entertain a necessary to understand Point III. Point II is basic for
thought of undertaking anything acceptable to God!           Point III. And when we read in Point III that the
This is plain language. The  Genevan  Reformer surely unregenerate is able to do civil good, the meaning is
maintained the power of sin in the absolute sense of that in things civil, the things of this life, the natural
the word.                                                    man is able to do many things that are good in the
                                                             sight of the Lord. Was it not said in those days of 1924
ACCORDING TO THE REFORMED CONFESSIONS                        that the natural man often puts to shame the child of
  We conclude our. treatment of the doctrine of sin by the Lord. Now it is surely true that the child of God
calling attention to what our reformed symbols have to commits much that is evil in the sight of God. But it
say on this subject. And we refer to the Heidelberg can never be true that the child of the world can ever
Catechism, the Belgic Confession or Thirty Seven Ar- put a child of God to shame. So, the meaning and
ticles and the Canons of Dordt.                              implications of Points II and III are obvious. These
  The Christian Reformed Church, in its Three Points declarations of 1924 simply teach that the natural man
of 1924, declared itself  a&o with respect to the doc- can do much that is pleasing to the Lord; they are a
trine of sin. POINT II reads: "Relative to the second denial of the truth that man, without the renewing of
point, which is concerned with the restraint of sin in       the heart, is wholly dead in sins and in trespasses; they
the life of the individual man and in the community,         are a denial of'the Scriptural truth of utter and com-
the Synod declares that there is such a restraint of sin plete depravity. And, of course, the synod was com-
according to Scripture `and the Confession. This is          pelled to express this, once it had declared Point I. If
evident from the citations from Scripture and from the the preaching of the gospel is to be an offer of salva-
Netherland Confession, Artt. 13 and 36, which teach tion, then one must also declare that that sinner is able
that God by the general operations of His Spirit, with- to accept that offer of salvation. To present the gospel
out renewing the heart of man,  .restrains  the unim-        as an offer of salvation and teach that the sinner is
peded breaking out of sin, by which human life in            dead in sins and in trespasses would constitute a hope-
society remains possible; while it is also evident` from     less contradiction. How can anything be offered to one
the quotations from Reformed writers of the most             who is dead? How can I be sincere  when offering
flourishing period of Reformed theology, that from           something to one who is dead, when I know that it is
ancient times our Reformed fathers were of the same impossible for him to accept it? And now we come to
opinion." And POINT III reads: "Relative to  the third the question: what do our reformed symbols say about
point, which is concerned with the question of civil this power of sin?
righteousness as performed by the unregenerate, synod          First of all, we will consult our Heidelberg Cate-
declares that according  to Scripture and the Confes-        chism. As one might expect, the doctrine of sin is
sions the unregenerate, though incapable of doing any mentioned in the Heidelberg Catechism already in its
saving good, can do civil good. This is evident from the first. part which treats man's misery. After declaring
quotations from Scripture and from the Canons of that we know our misery out of the law of God, and
Dordrecht, III, IV, 4, and from the Netherland Confes-       having answered the question what the law of God
sion, Art. 36, which teach that God without renewing requires of us by quoting the word of Christ in Matt.
the heart so influences man that he is able to  perform      22:37-40,  that we must love the Lord  -our God with
civil good; while it also appears from the citations from    all our heart and mind and soul  and strength and our
Reformed writers of the most flourishing period of neighbor as ourselves, the Catechism asks the question:
Reformed Theology, that our Reformed Fathers from            "Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?" And the
ancient times were of the same opinion."                     answer of the Heidelberger then reads: "In no wise; for
  Is it not an unbelievable thing that a Church can          I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor."
declare itself in this vein? Surely, if a child of God       This is a very striking answer. The answer  itseif is
understands anything at all, it is that all that he does of striking. When we read that "we are prone by nature to
himself, without the renewing of the heart, is  etiil and    hate God and my neighbor," this, of course does not
only evil continually. And we must not misunderstand mean that we are merely inclined to hate God and the
these statements of 1924. It is not the question             neighbor, that we do have inclinations and leanings in
whether the natural man is able to do natural good.          that direction, that we hate the Lord now and then but
Naturally, he may be able to do many things well. One not always, and that this applies particularly to my
need not be a child of God to be able to bake good           attitude toward my neighbor. The Comon Grace the-
bread, be a successful farmer, etc. The Third Point          ory would have us believe that it is especially in civil
speaks of not being able to do any saving `good, of things, and therefore in my relationships with my


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              209



neighbor that I am able by nature to do much good in in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 2 we read
the sight of the Lord. That this is not the meaning of that the sinner cannot keep "these things" perfectly.
the Catechism is clear from Question and Answer 8 What things? The things of the law of God, as stated
where we read that we are incapable of doing any good by Christ in Matt.  22:37-40. Before we conclude this
and are inclined to all evil. When, however, we read article and continue with this Lord's Day in our fol-
that we "are prone by nature to hate God and my lowing article, we would call attention to one more
neighbor," then we must understand that this is the matter in connection with  thjs fifth question and an-
inclination of my entire nature, that we are "prone by swer. We read that we are prone by nature to hate God
nature" to hate the Lord and my neighbor. And my and the neighbor. Notice, please, that this hating of
nature begins in, has its source' in the heart. So, the God and of the neighbor belong together. We either
meaning of the Catechism is that my entire nature is love God and then also the neighbor  or we hate `God
always in the-direction of the hatred of God and of the and then also the neighbor. It is only in the love of
neighbor. Always, by nature, I hate the Lord and my God that we can love the neighbor. Arid if we hate
neighbor. And this is completely in harmony with the God it is impossible to love the neighbor. The theory
Word as recorded in Romans 8:6-8: "For to be car- of Common Grace also suffers shipwreck upon this
nally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is truth. It is simply not true that, although the sinner
life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity cannot perform saving good, he is able to please the
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, Lord in things civil. It is simply not true that, although
neither indeed can be. So that they that are in the flesh the sinner cannot love God, he is able to love the
cannot please God." Here, in Romans  8:7 we read that neighbor. It is either-or.
the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. And


In His  Fear

                    A WORD TO COVENANT YOUTH
                                                  (continued)

                                              Rev. John A. Heys

  Now, while you are strong and life is sweet,  Cov- -Jesus Christ is knowing Him as our Saviour or  Re-
enant Youth, remember your Creator!                      deemer.
  Thus the Word of God comes to you from the pen           Apart from Christ we can only know God as Cre-
of Solomon.    And Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12: 1 does ator; and all creation reveals Him as Creator. In the
not say, Remember now thy Redeemer in the days of Word, in Christ the Crucified One, we learn to know
thy youth. This, "however, is not because you need not Him as our Redeemer. There certainly is, then, a dis-
remember God as your Redeemer in Christ. This was tinction between knowing God as Creator and as Re-
your calling already as a little child. That is why we deemer. We, as believing children of God know Him in
taught you to pray for the forgiveness of your sins.     both capacities. The unbeliever can only know Him as
That is why we trained you in seeking salvation, and Creator. And I do not simply mean know about Him as
why we stressed before you that your greatest and Creator. I mean know Him as Creator. This knowledge
basic need is salvation. You have the world before they will have in hell, even though now they may deny
you. It stands there with all it allurements and attrac- Him as their Creator. But the source of our knowledge
tions. Your flesh cries out for what it contains. And of God in these two capacities differs. We know Him as
you seem to think now that you need that world, Creator in the book of creation. We know Him as
cannot live without it, must have it for joy and life. Redeemer in the book of Scripture. We know Him as
But we taught you in  the,home, from the pulpit, in the Creator in what He speaks through His works in cre-
catechism class that precious above all things is "The ation. We know Him as Redeemer in what He speaks
knowledge of the true God through Jesus Christ Whom through His Son, Who came in our flesh, and of Whom
He hath sent." Even before this you were placed be- the Scriptures constantly testify from Genesis 1
fore the calling to commit to memory, in answer to the through Revelation 22. Therefore  wheti  w`e speak of
question, "What is your only comfort in-  life and remembering Him as our Creator, tie are  certatily
death?" thk  beatitiful statement, "That we belong to speaking'  bf  .something quite distinct from what we
our faithful  Saviour  Jesus Christ." You realize, of refer to when we speak of remembering Him as our
course, that knowing the one true God in or through Redeemer.


210.                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



   But you were also taught that to have this only           goods, His royal priesthood that has the calling to
comfort in life and in death, we must have a threefold       dedicate itself and all things in constant service of love
knowledge: that of our misery, that of our redemp-           before the living God. And it is in the way of remem-
tion, and that of how to express our gratitude to God        bering all this that you will come to the awareness of
for this deliverance from that misery. Without knowing       how miserable you are spiritually, or, if you will, what
your sickness and disease, you will not know any need        a miserably great failure  you,are!
of the physician or medication. Without knowing our            If there is no Creator to Whom you must give service
spiritual misery, we know no need of redemption and          and ultimately an answer for every thought, desire, and
are in no position to be taught about God as our             deed, you can have no knowledge of misery as such a
Redeemer.                                                    failure in things spiritual. Rule Him out,. and all you
   However, the point at this time is that. without          need concern yourself about is avoiding the wrath of
knowing God as our Creator, we cannot know that              man. And since man cannot read your heart and mind,
misery. It is only as you remember your Creator that         you can get away with a lot. Since man has his breath
you can and will remember your misery and so seek            in his nostrils, and will one day lose it, you can get
Him as your Redeemer. Understand well that your              away from his wrath. Rule out this Creator, and you
misery, as  `you were taught, is not the disappointments     can dream of making a heaven on earth, of conquering
and sufferings that may already have been your lot in        death, and of a day here on this earth when men will
these days of your youth. Instead it is this awful           be able to do as they please and not suffer for it. As
condition that you are prone by nature to hate God           long as you escape the wrath of man, perform what
and the neighbour; that you find yourself incapable of       your heart desires in a way that man does not detect,
keeping the law of God; that you find, because the new       you have it made; and instead of misery you have joy
life of Christ has been given you through a rebirth, that    and pleasure.
you are always doing the evil that you know is wrong           Is it not exactly because men rule out this Creator
and do not want to do, and find it so hard and               that they have prepared for you so many ways of
impossible of yourself to do what your new life tells        covering up what we and you call and know to be sin?
you must be done and wants to do.                            If there is no Creator Who will call you into account
  How could you ever have this knowledge, if you do          before His judgment seat, the Pill will allow you to
not remember God as your Creator? The very reason            escape any shame before men and inconvenience for
why the ungodly do not have this knowledge of misery         yourself. If there is no Creator Who reads your hearts
and have no consciousness of needing the Redeemer is         and minds, there are hundreds of dishonest business
that they do not remember their Creator. Rule Him            practices to fatten your bank account, as  youbegin to
out, and you have nothing but the new morality which         try to establish yourself financially. Forget, instead of
says that you are foolish to have qualms about sin.          remember, your Creator, and why should you not
For, rule Him out and there is no sin. All you have left     covet that which your neighbour has? God then did
is crime against man, foolish acts, deeds of violence,       not give it to him instead of to you; and all is fair in
social misdeeds, bad conduct, man's inhumanity to            war, love and business. Forget, rather than remember,
man, and the like. Rule God out as your Creator, and         that One created all and possesses all and rules through
you can follow your heart. Do what gives you pleasure        men; and you need keep the traffic laws only as long as
and joy, for we are here `for such a short time; and we      there is a safety patrol car in the vicinity, or  .you are
pass through this life only once! Then the only misery. reasonably sure that radar is working. And again, men
you will know is that you have not obtained the              have helped you in that`respect also, so that you can
pleasure here below that you crave, that you have lost       buy a device that will tell you whether or not radar is
some material and temporal possessions and suffered          in use. So, if that Creator is not there, why should you
some earthly pain or grief.                                  not do what you please? If you need only answer to
  Consider that remembering God as your Creator              men, you might just be able to find the right answer.
means that you remember that He brought you and all          You, modern, covenant youth, have received such a
creation into being. It means, therefore, that you are       better, more highly developed education and training
HIS, that you walk on HIS earth, breathe HIS air, eat. in natural matters than we. You might just have the
and drink HIS food and water, use HIS creatures every        answer. That is, if this Creator actually does not exist.
moment. of your life, and are constantly touching,           But what keeps the child of God in the way and on the
tasting, smelling, seeing and hearing that which is HIS!     narrow path, when no. man is watching, no man is
It means that YOU belong to Him as His possession,           there to demand an answer, is that he remembers his
He made you, and you are His to do with as He                Creator and is desirous of pleasing Him.
pleases. All things were made by  ,Him, and He has  a-       And if it was necessary for Solomon to write to
right to demand of you that you use it all in- service       youth in his day and to counsel them to remember
before Him. To remember Him as your Creator means            their Creator, what about you today? In Solomon's
that you remember that you are a steward of His              day Evolutionism, and certainly its great-grand child of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      211



 Theistic Evolution, with its more subtle approach to           very small  - or even tremendously large original cell  -
 the matter, had not yet lifted their proud heads. Their        and then there is nothing more in the whole universe
 spirit of atheism was there. The seed of these evils was       to add to it, that this original cell is still going to grow
 already in the soil; but the plant had not  yet made           bigger and bigger and is going to undergo changes?
 itself visible by pushing up through the ground into           There must have been some cold or heat then besides
 sunlight. The time was not ripe for this; the moisture         that original cell; and who created that heat and/or
 and heat required for its appearance above the soil had        cold? Along what truly scientific processes can it be
 not come in sufficient abundance for this stage of the         shown today that combining a whole series of inferior
 development of sin. But YOU face these evils today. `items you are going to get a superior product? Will a
 And even Theistic Evolution  - it is evolution, by its         ;combination of all the poetic attempts of students in
~ very name, is it not? - hurls at you a lot of monkey [high school and college and university together ever
 business: Man evolved from the monkey. Instead of /produce one beautiful poem like that of the men
 remembering the God Who created all `creatures in              !acclaimed by the world for their beauty of thought
 orders, the one a step above the other, the monkey and iand expression? Will a combination of all the parts of
 ape is remembered as producing a superior descendant.          <hundred and hundreds of Model T Fords even produce
 Strange, is it not, that this "superior descendant" is so /a. Lincoln or Cadillac ? And that intelligence that man
 proud of his inferior forebears, while this inferior beast `has, his ability to reason, how could all the "minds" of
 is not at all proud of`his "superior descendant." But so       all the apes in the world, or that ever lived in the
 it is nevertheless.                                            world, elevate themselves to man's level?
    You just remember your Creator in the midst of all            Forget the nonsense of the world. Remember your
 this nonsense that is so very unscientific rather than         Creator. We plan to say more of this next time, the
 scientific. Where in all the realm of true science is there    Lord willing. But I write to you Covenant Youth; and
 any evidence at all that there is actual change from one       you can and will remember your Creator, because He
 species to another? And if the whole universe began            remembers His covenant. Nevertheless we have the
 with one little cell of some kind, how does this kind of calling to furnish you Covenant Youth with instruc-
 "science" that produces Evolutionism explain the               tions and exhortations. And we purpose to alert you
 origin of that little cell? How does it explain according by means of Solomon's words of wisdom to walk in
 to true scientific procedures that when you have one           His fear now in the days of your youth.



                              Come Ye Apart... And Rest A While

                                                      Rev. C. Hanko

    As I am writing this we are still in the old year. By          It is quite commonly agreed that we are living in a
 the time that you read it we will already have passed          time of universal upheaval and revolution.
 into the new year.                                                The people in the ghettos cry for something new.
    Three hundred and sixty days have come and gone.            The students in the universities clamor for the new.
 Much of what has happened in the past year is already          Everyone wants to do his own "thing" in his own way.
 forgotten; much more will fade from memory before              In general, it seems that every one is weary of the old
 very long. Yet every moment of every day is become a           "establishment," and wants something different with-
 part of the record of God, waiting to be revealed in           out actually knowing what he wants.
 that Great Day when the Great White Throne is set up              Some cry for restitution for past offences, as do the
 and we shall all be called to give account of the deeds        Negroes throughout the country and the Indians on
 done in the body. There is something very final about          Alcatraz. Some want a better distribution of wealth,
 that, for what is written is written, and absolutely           pinning their hopes on prosperity as a solution to all
 nothing changes that.                                          the world's ills.
                          x  *  * a                                Even the church is in unrest. Especially the younger
    Our present day world is glad to turn its back to the       generation opposes the church institute with its
 old and look forward to the new.                               offices, its preaching of the Word as the'chief means of
    You will say that this has always been the case, and        grace, and its form of worship. They clamor for no one
 I agree. Yet there is a difference. The cry for change is      knows just what, but it must be different, it must
 louder now than ever. The old is vehemently con-               appeal, it must create an `experience,' or `turn one on..'
 demned and rejected; eagerly every one-(almost every-            But obviously God is not in all their thoughts and
 one, anyway) looks for a "better" tomorrow.                    ,His Word is not their guide.


212                                                TH.E STANDARD BEARER


                          *  *  *  *                                by the Holy Spirit in the heart, can grasp and appro-
  Now Scripture has spoken of the new as long as                    priate it!
there was a written Word, referring back even to the                                            **:*x
dawn of creation. Does no one take note of that?                       And now let us turn to II Corinthians  5 : 17, "There-
  God reminds  US of this very thing in the prophecy of             fore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
Isaiah. He says: Behold, the former things are come to              things are passed away; behold, all things are become
pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring new."
forth I tell you of them" (Isaiah  42:9).                              Scripture refers here to regeneration. For the child
  Before I say anything about this, please`notice the               of God all things have been made new. He is a new
verse preceding this wonderful announcement. There                  creature in Christ, engrafted into Christ, to draw His
we read: "I am the Lord (Jehovah): That is My Name!                 life from Christ. With a new heart he sees through
Ana My glory will I not give to  anothei-, neither My               spiritual eyes, hears through spiritual ears, and speaks
praise to graven images."                                           through a spiritual mouth, revealing in word as well as
  These former things that God mentions as already in deed that for him all things have become new.
having come to pass refer to all His mighty works that              Although his sins are as scarlet, he knows that  he is
He accomplished in bringing salvation in the old dis- righteous and sinless in Christ.. Although by nature he
pensation. There was the deliverance of Noah and his is still so depraved that he is incapable of `any good and
family by the flood. There  was the deliverance from                inclined to all evil, yet he is a saint in Christ, belonging
the bondage of Egypt.' There was the deliverance from               to that holy people whose God is Jehovah. He. is
Babylon, which Isaiah had already anticipated in His friend-servant of God, a member of the Royal priest-
prophecy. But all these were but pictures (types) of hood of believers.
the GREAT deliverance that was still to come.                          No one can express that better than by joining in
  The coming of Christ is the big new thing in history.             with the writer of Psalm  34:3-6:
  This promise is repeated in chapter 43, verse 19:                    "0 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His
"Behold, I will, do a new thing; now it  shall spring Name together.
forth; shall ye know it?"                                              I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered
  That new thing was the birth of the Savior. That is me from all my fears.
something new! It makes an end of the old and intro-                   They looked untd Him, and were lightened: and
duces that which is eternally new. Who ever heard the               their faces were not ashamed.
like of it? Jesus born of  a virgin. Life from death. The              This  poor' man cried, and the Lord heard him, and
clean born from the unclean. Total defeat of all the saved him out of all his troubles."
powers of darkness  - sin, Satan, world, death, and the                                         * *  * *
grave. Eternal victory unto life everlasting in a new and And finally, will you turn to Revelation  21:5?
perfect heavenly creation.                                             "And He that sat upon the throne said:
  From that birth of Jesus, as wonderful as it is in                   `Behold, I make all things new.'
itself, follows the Cross and THE Resurrection. A new                  That brings us face to face with the new creation.
thing! God was in Christ bringing reconciliation for the That gives us a glimpse of the holy city, the new
sins  df His people by that one and  .only perfect sacri- Jerusalem, the church, coming down from heaven,
fice of His dear Son for our sins. A new thing: Christ prepared as a bride for her husband.
arose from the dead to live and reign forever as Head                  That is  the new covenant fully realized in intimate
of His Church and Lord over the whole universe.                     fellowship of friendship between God and His people
  That was the beginning of the new creation breaking in Chiist, there where all is new.
forth in a world of death, which soon must pass away.                  We  &and amazed. Eye hath not seen, and ear hath
  That is new for us in the sense that now we are not heard. It is even scornfully rejected by the fondest
crucified with Christ, risen with Him, and set at God's of human imaginations. But God reveals it  tq those
right hand in the heavens with Him. (If you question whom He loves. He gives them-the eye of faith to see,
that last statemenf, please look up Ephesians  2:5, 6.) and the ear of faith to hear the heavenly mystery.
  This is so completely new that only faith, wrought                   For that is all NEW.
           Let the consistory labor to create and maintain in the congregation the proper conviction that catechism-
        attendance is both a sacred obligation and a great privilege and blessing.
           And let the members of the Church feel this obligation and act accordingly. There is a tendency, always, but
        especially in our day, to consider the hour that is set aside for catechetical instruction as an hour that may easily
        be set aside for other activities. There are so many different activities of societies and clubs, so many programs,
        games, .meetings,  entertainments, socials, that it seems almost impossible to attend catechism regularly. But the
        trouble is that catechumens  begin to consider the catechism-hour as theirs. They can do with it as they please.
        But this is an erroneous notion. Catechism-attendance, for those that have not as yet confessed their faith, is an
        obligation. Nqt to attend is sin. And as a people, as parents and children and young people, we ought to take
        care that we do not lose this proper conception of catechetical instruction.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 213


 A  Cloud of Witnesses                                          .

                       David's  Spiritwal Development
                                                Rev. B. Woudenberg

             Althohgh  my house be not so;yet he hath made with me a?1 everlasting covenant, ordered
           in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he made it not
           to grow.
                                                                                             II Samuel 23 : 5

   In examining the spiritual life of David there is one     terrible sins. How could it be that one who had lived so
great problem that finally confronts a person, a prob-       close to God could fall so low, and remain there it
lem of sanctification. As David became older he              seems without ever being restored to the innocence of
seemed to slip backward instead of progressing; he           his youth again? It is a troublesome thing.
seemed to become more sinful rather than less. One             When we come to the close of the record of David's
begins to wonder whether or not something didn't go          life in II Samuel, there are two Psalms of David which
wrong, and, if so, what.                                     bring out very vividly the contrast in his life.
   There can be little question but that David was a           The first of these is found. in II Samuel 22 and is
man who lived very closely with God. All of the Psalms       called a song of thanksgiving. Although it appears at
give testimony to this. Here are the outpourings of a        the close of the record of David's life, it evidently was
heart that was very closely attuned to the Lord of           not written then  :but much earlier, possibly at the time
heaven and earth. Moreoever, they also testify to the        when he had completed his conquest of the heathen
closeness with which God looked upon David, such as          nations and immediately before the sin with  Bath-
in Psalm 89, "I have made a covenant with my chosen,         sheba. Certainly the exuberant and confident tone of
I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I          the Psalm would seem to bear this out.
establish. for ever, and build up thy throne in -all           The first portion of the Psalm, verses 2-4, forms a
generations. Selah." From that day forth the people of       beautiful introduction basing David's faith and con-
God were often identified as the children of David.          fidence upon God, "The LORD is my rock, and my
And the real importance of David within the over-all         fortress, and `my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him
covenant purpose was brought when Jesus was intro-           will I trust: he is my shield, and the born of my
duced as the Son of David. This remained one of His          salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour;
chief designations, giving an honor to David com-            thou savest me from violence. I will call on the LORD,
pletely beyond all compare.                                  who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from
   With this position of honor accredited to David we        mine enemies."
have very little difficulty as long as we remain with our      The second portion, verses 5-19, is a joyful look
general impressions of him. We remember David as the         backward at the danger which had confronted David in
young shepherd boy faithfully caring for his sheep           his life and the wondrous deliverances which God had
regardless of what danger confronted him in their            wrought in answer to his prayers. "When the waves of
behalf; we remember him as the simple young man              death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made
valiant in battle against a warrior like Goliath and         me afraid; the sorrows of hell compassed me about; the
many others too because he trusted in God to keep            snares of death prevented me; in my distress I called
him; we remember him as the guileless young leader           upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did
who would not lift his hand against the Lord's a-            hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter
nointed even when he was unjustly hunted and  per-2          into his ears . . . He sent from above, he took me, he
secuted by him; we remember David as the great king          drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from
who waited to take his throne until the Lord had             my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for
prepared the way for him because he would not pursue         they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the
his own personal ambitions; and then we remember the         day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay."
many songs which he wrote and sang, songs which even           The third portion, w. 20-30, gives expression to the
yet today quicken the hearts of the people of God and        basis upon which -David's confidence rested. He put it
serve to draw them closer into that secret walk with         thus, "The LORD rewarded me according to my right-
God that David knew so very well. But that is not the        eousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath
whole story. There is that other-part too, the closing       he recompensed. For I have kept the ways of the
portion of king David's life, tainted with. all kinds of     LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my


214  ..                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



God. . . . Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me                snow."
according to my righteousness; according to my clean-              This complete change in attitude comes out further
ness in his eye sight."                                          in the second Psalm. recorded toward the close of II
  Finally, the last part of the Psalm, verses 2 l-5  1; cites    Samuel. It is introduced as "the last words of David"
many instances of the way in which the Lord had been             and may well have been the last thought that he was
with him, as this, "Thou hast enlarged my steps under            able to express when the weakness of death was begin-
me; so that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine            ning to close in on him. The shortness of the Psalm
enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again                would seem to indicate this; but it did not mean that
until I had consumed them. And I have consumed                   the thoughts within it were not rich'and deep. Surely it
them, and wounded them, that they could not arise:               is one of the most moving Psalms of his life:
yea, they-are fallen under my feet . . .  .'
  Taking this Psalm as a whole, the one portion of it              The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word
which is of greatest interest is the third. At first                  was in my tongue.
thought it might seem that this part of the Psalm is               The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to
much too presumptuous and boastful, much too self-                    me,
righteous throughout. But on further thought, we can               He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
surely be much more charitable in our judgment of                     fear of God.
David than this. Surely he did not intend to say with              And he shall be as the light of the morning, when
this that he was free from all sin and completely                     the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds;
without guilt in the sight of God. What he was simply              As the tender grass springing out of the earth by
doing was affirming the fact that thus far in his life he             clear shining after rain.
had followed in the way that a believing child of God              Although my house be not so  .with God; yet he hath
ought to walk and there was no gross transgression                    made me an everlasting  convenant,
which any could accuse him of. The appeal of David                 Ordered in all things, and sure:
here was not greatly different than that of old Samuel             For this is all my salvation, and all my desire,
some years before when he stood before the people                  Shall he not make it to grow?
and challenged them, I Samuel  12:3, "Behold, here I               The striking thing in this Psalm is the sudden re-
am: witness against me before the LORD, and before versal of thought which takes place in the middle of its
his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have           thought. David begins by drawing out the beauty of
I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I                   the kingly office, comparing it to the light of the
oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe            morning with all of its beauty. But then suddenly he
to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it to           stops in the realization that this has no longer been
you. . . . The LORD is witness against you-, and his true of his reign, "My house is not so with God." He
anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found             had sinned and corrupted his reign again and again over
ought in my hand."                                               many years. He was no longer the successful ruler that
  When, therefore, David set forth the principle,                he had once been, and in which he had once made his
"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful,              boast. It left him but one thing to plead, "Yet he hath
and with the upright man thou will shew thyself up- made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
right. With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and            things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my
with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury," as           desire. Shall he not make it to grow?" All that David
he does here in this portion of the Psalm, he is not             has left upon which to rest his confidence is the
claiming for himself any perfection or freedom from              faithfulness of the covenant of God. It was that cov-
all taint of sin; he is merely recognizing the principle         enant which gave to him the assurance that some day a
that those who walk in love and faithfulness before              son would be born unto him who would fulfill the
God are those who shall know His fellowship and                  beauty of the office which he had not been able to
blessing in his life.                                            realize himself.
  The thing to note, however, is that this was the last            Here also is the significance of the latter part of
time during his life that David could write such a               David's life: Surely it is a disappointment when we
Psalm. Soon thereafter his life was to change so rad-            evaluate it according to his works. In our love for this
ically that David would never be able to claim again             man of God we could wish that he had kept himself
that righteousness of which he `so freely speaks here.           from the taint of all that sin, we might wish that he
Henceforth he would become the Psalmist who would                would have gone on to greater and more wonderful
write, as he did in Psalm 5 1, "I acknowledge my                 works; but the will of God was other. In David's youth
transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. . . . Be-          he had learned much of the wonder and faithfulness of
hold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my                God. He had lived in this love and been blest. But one
mother conceive me. . . . Purge me with hyssop, and I            thing David did not fully appreciate, and that was his
shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than              depravity and sinfulness. Thus it was that God guided


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                215



his way into deeper and more difficult trials before
which at times he could not stand. He whose life had
shone so beautifully with childlike innocence and                   I
righteousness became one  ,of history's chief examples
as to how far a child of God can fall into sin.
  Before David's sins of his latter days we grieve, for
sin is always sad to God's people; but we can also
appreciate the wisdom of God even in this. Further-                      l Applicable to GolIege Tuition
more, even in his sin David did not go down in defeat.
He turned unto the Lord in repentance, he cried upon
his mercy, he rested his confidence upon His covenant
faithfulness. In very fact, this latter beauty, the beauty
of humble repentance and dependence, is far greater                      Il Prospective P.R. Ministers
                                                                                 & Teachers may apply                                 I
than that which shone forth in his youth.
                                                                         I l Apply before May 1st
                        NOTICE!!!
  A Public Lecture will be given Feb. 6, 1970, at 8:00                     l Obtain blanks from your- I
P.M. in the Calvin Christian High  Schooi Auditorium,
located at 3750  Ivanrest Ave., S.W., Grandville, Michi-                         YJ Society secretary
gan. Rev. Herman Veldman, pastor of the Hudsonville                                   -or your Pastor
Protestant  .Reformed Church will speak on the topic  -
"God's Love, Not Common, But Particular." Make
your plans now to attend! Enjoy a profitable evening,                      I ' Sponsored by the Protestant
listening to The Word of God.                                                      Reformed Scholarship Fund
                                  The Protestant Reformed                          a n d   t h e   F e d e r a t i o n   B o a r d
                                         Lecture Committee
                                     Otto Kamminga, Sec'y.





            War upon God? In Russia, you say?
            0, thou hypocrite!
            Why look right through the beam in thine own eye to pick out the mote that is in thy brother's eye?
            You look with horror at conditions in Russia? And you disdain the man that sells Bolshevistic propaganda on
         the streets of your cities? You will tremble at the thaught that the spirit of Russia will invade our own country
         and you stand aghast at the antireligious spirit and its work in the far-away land of Sovietism?
            You do well.
            But know, too, that modernism and atheism do not really differ; that the wise man of this age may take
         away the God of Scripture and reject the foolishness of the cross; but that before long the masses will also
         attack the idol they themselves attempt to substitute for this God of His Word and will demolish it.!
            Our modern critics of the Bible are they who introduce Bolshevism in our land!
                                                                                           The Stindard  Bearer, VII, p. 460


216                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


                                   News From Our Churches

                      Report of  Classis East                            broadcast our radio program at 8 A.M., Sundays, be-
January  7,197O                           At Southeast Church            ginning January 4. Some 170 letters of information
   Rev. J.A. Heys, who presided over the October, 1969 Classis,          were sent out in advance to area residents who, accord-
led in the opening devotions.                                            ing to "sources", would likely be interested.
   All the churches of  Classis  East were represented by two                And the Church Extension committee of Oak Lawn
delegates each.                                                          has recently printed nine pamphlets. For distribution
   After the  Classis was declared properly constituted, the Rev.        they have a mailing list of. 200 names. One of their
J. Kortering presided, while Rev. Heys recorded the minutes.             p a m p h l e t s   i s   b e i n g   u s e d   b y   o u r   L o v e l a n d   C h u r c h .
   The brethren R. Teitsma and J. Boone served on the Finance            From that church's bulletin we read, "Pamphlets on
Committee, and brother P. Knott was appointed to thank the               `The Christian Witness over against the Labor Unions'
ladies of Southeast Church for their excellent catering.  Classis
West, and the Churches of  .Southwest  and Holland requested             are available in the bulletin rack. These are written by
pulpit supply. The committee of Revs. Van  Baren and Harbach             Rev. C. Hanko, and have been published by the Church
and elder D. Dykstra prepared the following schedule which               Extension Committee of our Oak Lawn Church. If you
Classis   a d o p t e d :                                                can distribute a copy; take an extra one."
   RANDOLPH - Feb. 1 - Van Baren Feb. 15 - Kortering Mar.                    The Sunday School Mission Publishing Society of
15  - Kortering Mar. 22  - Veldman Apr. 5  - Harbach. SOUTH-             First Church in Grand Rapids is in the process of
WEST  - Jan. 18  - Harbach Jan. 25  - Kortering Feb. 1  -' publishing nine new pamphlets. Some of these are
Schipper. HOLLAND  - Feb.  1  - Harbach Feb. 15  - Veldman               presently being written, others are already at the
Feb. 22  - Schipper Mar. 1  - Harbach Mar. 15  - Schipper Mar.: 22  -    printer. The subjects, in case you're interested (and we
Van Baren Apr. 5 - Schipper.                                             hope you are), include union membership, movie and
   The Consistory of South Holland expressed in a letter its             T.V., creation, infallibility of Scripture, Missions, situa-
gratitude for the help of  Classis East during their long vacancy.       tion ethics, the marks of the Church, church union,
  The Consistory of Isabel inquired of  Classis East re taking of
collections in our churches. A protestant who came to the July           and a new one on "Why Protestant Reformed".
and October Classes with documents notified  Classis of his                  Well, that doesn't leave a whole lot of space for new
appeal to Synod.                                                         news. But, then, there wasn't much, anyway. We could
   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema who visited  Classis was given an advi-           pass along information concerning calls extended by
sory vote.                                                               our churches without pastors. Rev. D. Engelsma has
   Subsidy requests from Holland an-d Kalamazoo are being sent           received the call from Randolph, Rev. H. Veldman
on to Synod with Classis' approval.                                      from  Doon, and Rev. C. Hanko from Hull.
   A Consistory requested the increase of censure of one of the              We learned the following concerning the Sunday
members of its church which Classis gra.nted.                            School schedule at Southwest Church: `Since the
   Classis voted for synodical delegates as follows: MINISTERS:          majority of parents are in favor. of following the sug-
PRIMI:  Kortering, Schipper, Van  Baren,  Veldman. SECUNDI:
Harbach, Heys, Lubbers. ELDERS:  PRIMI:  T. Engelsma, D.                 gestion of the teachers that we have Sunday School
Langeland, H. Meulenberg, R. Teitsma. SECUNDI: D. Dykstra,               during the summer months, the Sunday School will
J.M. Faber, D. Kooienga, J.H. Kortering. Revs. Schipper and              postpone its meetings until May, and will meet, D.V.,
Harbach were re-elected Delegates ad examina,  primus and                from May through September. We intend to try this
secundus, respectively.                                                  out for .a year, as we believe the children, especially
   The questions of Art. 41 of the Church Order were asked of            those of school age, will benefit  ..from it. The first
each consistory and answered satisfactorily.                             meeting will be May 3." We understand that Southeast
   Classis decided to meet next time, D.V., April 1, 1770 in             Church has adopted this same plan, beginning this year
Hudsonville.                                                             also.
   Rev. Kortering expressed his appreciation of Classis' coopera-            By the  .time this appears in print, Rev. Lubbers'
tion during this meeting. Rev. H. Veldman offered the closing            work in Jamaica should be finished. During his last
prayer of thanksgiving.                           M. Schipper, S.C.      several weeks in that country he was assisted by Mr. H.
                                 l *e                                    Meulenberg from First Church in Grand Rapids. Mr.
   Several items of our January 1 news had to omitted                    Meulenberg was mandated by the Mission Committee
at the printer's shop because the undersigned was "five                  to go to Jamaica for that purpose  - to give assistance
inches too long-winded." We'd like to resurrect those                    to Rev. Lubbers, and later on to Rev. Heys, partic-
for this issue  - at the beginning this time. The items                  ularly in the organizational aspect of their work.
mentioned were concerning the church extension work                          The office bearers' conference for present and past
of several of our churches. One of those was Southeast                   office bearers in the Grand Rapids area was held on
Church of Grand Rapids which has taken on the rather                     January 6 at Southeast Church. Prof. H. Hanko spoke
ambitious project of adding another station for our                      on the subject "May we accept government aid such as
radio broadcast. This one is station WLVP, 102.3 on                      medicare and  medicade."
the FM dial, in Franklin, New Jersey. This station will                                                                                                   D.R.D.


