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



I N   THIS  ISSUE


     Meditation:
        Mary's Babe A Contradicted Sign

     Editorials:
        The Crisis In The Gereformeerde Kerken
        Full Circle?

     All Around Us:
        Creation and Evolution. in California Schools
       Proof for Evolution

     Candid Camera on Thanksgiving 1970

                                               Volume XLVII J Number 5 /December 1, 1971


98  _                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


                           CONTENTS:                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
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  Mary's Babe A Contradicted Sign . , . . . . . . . . . .  .98                              Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                               Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  H. C.  tfoeksema
Editorials  -                                                                  Department Editors:: Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
  The Crisis In the  Geveformeerde  Kevken . . . . . . 10 1                    Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys. Rev. Jay
                                                                               Kortering. Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper,  Rev. Gise  J.
  Full Circle? . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102    Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg

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Meditation

                            Mary's Babe A Contradicted Sign
                                                                 Rev. M. Shipper

              "`Behold, this child is set for the fall arzd rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which
              shall be spoken against;. . . that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. "
                                                                                                                      Luke  2:34b, 35b.


  Nunc Dimittis!                                                                   Now  lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace,  ac-
  Now  lettest  Thou depart!                                                   cording to Thy Word: for mine eyes have seen Thy
   The first two words in the Latin version of the Song salvation! This said he when he beheld the Wonder,
of Simeon! Simeon's swan-song  - that which he sang Mary's Babe, resting in his arms, when he beheld the
before he folded up his feet into the bed and yielded object of his waiting hope, and he was ready to depart
up the ghost.                                                                  with the peace that passeth all understanding in his


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             99



h e a r t .                                                shadow over the pathway of time that was before him.
  Strange but wonderful scene it was that took place And never would there be any signs after Him, had he
in the temple at Jerusalem, when Mary's Babe, accord- not come into the world.
ing to the custom was presented unto the Lord, when          And since signs are also wonders, He is also the cen-
aged Simeon, who was about ready to disappear from tral Wonder of the grace of God!
the stage of things called earthly, but who was sus-         His Name is Wonderful!
tained and kept from descending into the grave only          All He is and does is wonderful!
by the power of hope and the promise of the Holy             He is the sign which wicked king Ahaz refused to
Spirit -- that he should not die until he had seen with ask for, but which God nevertheless would give unto
his eyes the Lord's Christ. Holding in his arms what him in spite of his refusal.
appears unto all but a mere babe and nothing more,           A Babe!
only a few weeks old, weak and helpless. Yet with his        Born of a virgin!
eyes raised to heaven, and complete satisfaction             God in the flesh, Immanuel!
written all over his face, Simeon, the aged, utters          Wonderful in His birth! Amazing in His wisdom!
words which have since remained the song of the be- Marvelous in His works and words! Men would marvel
lieving church, and which is still often sung at at the gracious words He would speak. Men were con-
Christmastide:                                             founded by the wonders of His death and resurrection.
         "Now I can leave this world," he cried;           In His death He works the signs of darkness and earth-
                  "Behold, thy servant dies!               quake, splitting the rocks and opening the graves. In
           I've seen thy great salvation, Lord,            His resurrection, He appears in the sign of Jonas, the
              And close my peaceful eyes."                 prophet. And when He comes again in the Spirit, He is
                                                           accompanied by signs of rushing wind and flaming
           "This is the light prepared to shine            tongues. And finally, when He comes in the Parousia,
                  Upon the Gentiles lands;                 He will appear in the sign of the Son of Man.
           Thine Israel's glory and their hope,              Indeed, wonderful Sign!
              To break their slavish bands."                 A Sign which shall be spoken against, contradicted!
                                                             Set by God in the very center of all history that all
               Jesus! the vision of thy face               may see Him! Born He was to be noticed. Though
               Hath overpow'ring charms!                   conceived in the womb of an obscure virgin in a town
         Scarce shall I feel death's cold embrace,         of ill-fame, though born in a lowly cattle stall as it
                  If Christ be in my arms.                 were on the periphery of the world and in a world
  All the hope of a gray-haired man fixed on a mere where men  had1 no room for Him, the heavens must
Babe!                                                      break and shining messengers must appear to make
  Now  Lettest  Thou Thy servant depart!                  known to lowly, frightened shepherds as they watched
  And turning to the Babe's mother, he said, after he their flocks by night His glorious advent and the sign
had pronounced a blessing, and had seen the Lord's of His lowly entrance into our world: "Behold, I bring
salvation: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall people. For unto you is born this day in the city of
be spoken against. . .  ."                                 David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this
                                                          shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the Babe
  Wonderful sign!                                         wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
  Sign of the Babe!                                       Moreover, the lowly advent is accompanied by the
  How often God made known His will and good wonder star that must arise out of Jacob inviting the
pleasure through signs all through the dispensation representatives of the nations afar off to come and to
now passed. Often accompanied by the spoken Word worship him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and
of revelation the signs were intended to confirm the myrrh. And the theologians of that time, though they
truth of His Word. Think, for instance, of the sign of had no personal interest in the Babe, are forced to
the rainbow. The Lord had spoken unto Noah that He open the Scriptures and inform the tyrannical king of
would not again destroy the earth with a flood, and He the Jews that according to the Scriptures His birth is,
commanded Noah and his seed to multiply and according to prophecy, in Bethlehem, the smallest
replenish the earth, and He gave to Noah the sign of among the tribes of Israel. And soon He becomes
the rainbow as a symbol of the truth that His covenant famous, so that all the world is attracted to Him. Phari-
would be sure. And with many other signs did the sees,  Sadducees, publicans; wise and prudent, but also
Lord confirm His judgments, commandments, and the babes; Pilate,  Herod, the daughters of Jerusalem,
promises unto His people. But all of the signs together soldiers, and disciples  - all must see this Sign, so that
find their center in the sign of the Babe. Never would even in His death a superscription must appear over His
there have been signs before Him, had He not cast His head in letters of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, that all


100                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



may read it.                                                perfectly evident that He is righteous when He does so.
  Indeed, a Sign set by God that all may take notice!       And when He exalts the righteous, those who know
  A Sign to be contradicted!                                they have no righteousness of their own, but they have
  Not only does the Sign speak in all He says and does the righteousness of grace instilled in their hearts, who
- when He declares: "I am He that should come into are the babes in Christ, who are condemned with
the world, the revelation of the God of Salvation;" "I Christ by the world, who suffer all the day long for
am Christ of the Most High;" "I am anointed to be           their righteousness  - when God purposes to take them
Lord over all;" "I am the Rod that shall break down all into the glory of the house of His covenant forever, it
the works of darkness, and overcome the world;" "I must become perfectly evident that He is justified
am the way, the truth, and the life;" "Come unto Me,        when He does so.
therefore, and I will give you rest."
  But the people  tiho see the Sign must also speak!          And this purpose of God is always realized!
They must respond. In the presence of the Sign they           The Sign is effectual!
cannot remain silent. They must believe on Him, or            The Sign which shall be spoken against, and which
reject Him. So they will worship before Him and bring shall reveal the thoughts of many hearts, is also for the
their gifts, or they will attempt to choke out of Him fall and rising of many; yea, to all to whom it is
His life. They must praise Him, or express their anath- presented.
emas. They must say He is good, or that He has a devil.       Not, we must understand, does the Word of God
They must sing His hosannas and exclaim: "Blessed is here refer to the same persons. This would be quite
He that  cometh in the name of the Lord;" or they           impossible. The one who through the Sign rises again,
must cry out: "Crucify Him, crucify Him." Small and i.e., is raised from the dead, does not first fall because
great, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, scribes and        of the same Sign. And he that falls because he comes
fishermen, wise and babes  - all must see Him and into contact with this Sign, never rises again  - he falls
express their verdict, answering the question: "What irrevocably. The word "again" which appears in the
think ye of the Christ, whose Son is He?"                   translation must not confuse us. We may therefore
                                                            read the text thus: "This child is set for the fall and
  That the thoughts of many hearts may be un-               the resurrection of many." Nor does the "fall" here
covered!                                                    refer to a fall into sin. Those that fall by this Sign are
  That is God's purpose in the Sign!                        fallen in sin, and when they are confronted by the Sign
  God is not satisfied merely to know the thoughts of they stumble over Him and fall into eternal condemna-
the head. This Sign dbes not present itself to men as a tion. Thus it would be with many in Israel.
mere intellectual problem. It is not merely an object of      The falling and rising, therefore, refer to the eternal
philosophical contemplation. Though it is true that destiny of those upon whom the Sign takes effect. The
men have speculated about Him. Many are the treatises fall refers to eternal condemnation. The sin of the
that have been written. 0, how they have speculated         wicked outside of Christ must become exceeding sin-
about His virgin birth, His real manhood and true ful. Their iniquity, their depravity, must be clearly
deity, His atoning death, and the wonder of His resur- exposed when God judges them worthy of eternal
rection. Volumes have been written about this Sign by hell-fire; and He is perfectly justified when He sends
friend and foe  - but these are merely the thoughts of them into everlasting darkness where there is  weeping
                                                                                                                   --  -
the head.                                                   and gnashing of teeth.
  God would uncover the hearts! He presses you and            On the other hand, the rising refers to eternal resur-
me, and all men until all reveal the thoughts of their rection life. We must remember that the Sign is also
hearts. The heart is deep. Out of it are all the issues of God's power unto salvation. Through this power many
life. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The shall rise again. Having died, they are raised from the
thoughts of the heart reveal the condition of the heart, dead. They are quickened by the voice of the Sign
and bring to light the ethical worth of men. And when unto newness of life. Because of the power of the Sign
all men are confronted by God  with the Sign of the in them, death can have no dominion over them.
Babe, they reveal their hearts. The wicked, that his          Indeed, a mighty, working Sign!
heart is desperately wicked. The righteous, is impelled       Respecting many in Israel! It must become clearly
to cry out: 0 God, be merciful to me, the sinner!           revealed that they are not all Israel that is called Israel.
  But why does God set the Babe for a sign!                 It is in Israel where the rejection of the Sign first ap-
  The ultimate answer must be  - the theodicy; that is, pears, because it was in the midst of Israel where the
that God may be justified when He judges. When He Sign first appears. But there is no reason to limit the
judges and condemns the wicked, when He purposes to antipathy, the falling, and the rising only in Israel.
cast the wise and prudent, the great and noble, those When the Sign is raised up on the cross of Calvary, the
righteous in themselves, those white-washed  sepul- whole world stands before Him and is affected. And so
chres, into hell and eternal desolation, it must beome it is always.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   101



  Always there are souls that are prostrated by the perdition.
Sign, and who cry out for the mercy of God, and                Serious Sign!
whom God raises up by the power of the Sign to  ever-          Demanding your and my answer!
lasting heights of glory. And always there are souls that      What will ye do with Christ, the Son of God?
rebel yet more and more when they are confronted by            The answer of grace is: Thanks be unto God for His
the Sign, and God is justified when He casts them into unspeakable Gift!


Editoria  Is

               The Crisis In The Ger.eformeerde  Kerken

                                               ProJ: H, C. Hoeksema

   The General Synod of the  Gereformeerde Kevken, the following characterization of the crisis (translation
which has almost become a continuing body through mine) : "For we are deeply convinced that the scrip-
its bad habit of recessing and reconvening, was sched- tural character of our churches is being assailed, and
uled to reconvene in the month of October in order to        that, if things continue thus, another gospel will be
deal with some 200 protests on its agenda, dealing for proclaimed in our churches, a gospel of which Paul
the most part with the doctrinal departures which have says that it is accursed, even though it be preached by
come to be known by the name "the new theology." an angel from heaven."
Those who have followed our occasional reports on the          In detail, such matters as the historicity of Adam
ecclesiastical situation in the Netherlands will know and Eve; the order of creation, fall, and grace; the denial
that for a long time already all has not been well in the that death is the punishment of sin; the error of deny-
Dutch churches and that there has been an increasing ing that the coming of Christ belongs to the hereafter
conservative-liberal polarization there. It seems as and teaching that His coming belongs to this present
though the churches have been moving from crisis to time and this present world; the denial of everlasting
crisis, and each time moving farther in an apostate punishment; the denial that Jesus was aware that He
direction. There is hardly an issue of the Dutch paper, was the Christ in the sense that the church later con-
Waavlzeid  en Eenheid,  which does not carry some `new fessed Him to be; the denial of the relevance of the
ill tidings about the utterances of some theologian or question concerning our only comfort  ,in life and
the false ecumenical tendencies of some congregation.        death; the denial of the relevance of the doctrine of
  But it would almost appear that the present crisis justification by faith; and even the denial of the virgin
must somehow be the last of the series.                      birth and the resurrection of Christ;  - such matters are
   First of all, it appears that the doctrinal issues by     at issue, according to reports.
which the Synod is confronted are not doctrinal issues         It is plain, therefore, that unless the Synod takes a
which are peculiar to the Reformed faith (such as, for clear-cut and firm stand on the basis of the Word of
example, sovereign predestination and the covenant of God, the  Gerefovmeerde  Kevken  will indeed have lost
grace), but issues which may be characterized as their evangelical character even in the broadest sense of
broadly fundamentalist. In the broadest sense, it the term.
seems, the question has become whether the  Gere-              In the second place, it is highly doubtful whether
formeerde  Kerken  are going to remain at all evangelical the tide of liberalism will be stopped. For one thing
or whether they are going to turn officially in the the Dutch. Synods generally in recent years and the
direction of liberalism.                                     current Synod in particular have not distinguished
  This is plain from the nature of the issues them- themselves by their strong and clear-cut stands on any
selves.                                                      issues. For another, it is contrary to the lesson of
  It is well-known, for example, that one of the under- history that when once the church has  prdeeeded so
lying issues is that of the doctrine of Holy Scripture, far down the path of apostasy, she  eirer returns as a
its inspiration and authority. This was emphasized by denomination. When things have reached such a sad
Dr. M. J. Arntzen, of the Netherlands, in a recent lec- estate, there simply is not the doctrinal and spiritual
ture in Grand Rapids. It is also emphasized in an strength and will to return; besides, the numerical
earnest letter of appeal directed to the Synod jointly strength at this stage has  .long been on the side of
by the Society of the Concerned and the Press Associa- liberalism and apostasy. It is simply too late for the
tion "Waarheid en Eenheid." In this letter one finds Gereformeerde Kerken  to return to the Reformed  faith:


102                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



in purity; and unless they return, and  return all the           Meanwhile, there is a lesson in this situation for the
way, they will inevitably go over the brink. It would          churches in this country, both Reformed and Presby-
seem that the only hope of reformation in the Nether-          terian. The lesson is that those who hope to preserve
lands is that of reformation by separation.                    the Reformed faith for themselves and their genera-
   In the third place, I, for one, sincerely hope that the     tions must not make the grave mistake of waiting too
General Synod will not take one of those miserable,            long and of fostering a vain hope that they can  reform
two-faced decisions which will only serve to prolong a         the church from within. The effect of such delay is
tenuous external unity, a decision which throws a sop          usually detrimental. And perhaps the greatest detri-
to the conservatives while it really justifies and pro-        ment is that while the older generation may succeed in
tects the apostates. According to my observations, the         holding fast the faith, their children and their chil-
movement of the concerned is none too strong as it is:         dren's children through the delay and hesitation of
And perhaps the memory of past ecclesiastical miseries         their elders are lost for the faith. I am frequently re-
already serves as a deterrent to reformation by separa-        minded of a statement which the late Prof. Ophoff
tion. Nor does the conservative movement appear to be          made rather often in connection with departures from
very strong numerically. And therefore the best cathar-        the faith or failure to follow up the calling to reforma-
tic  - unless the General Synod wants to return to the         tion. "Remember," he said, "when you take a step,
old paths  - would be a show-down decision. I am               you take that step not only for yourselves, but for
afraid that unless the crisis is soon reached and passed,      your children and your children's children!"
all hope will be gone.                                           That is indeed a thought to ponder!
   Time will tell.



                                                Full Circle?
   Many of our readers have either read or read about a        which he condemned  the bananer  from beginning to end
publication of, the Calvin College  Chimes  staff called       in no uncertain terms as sinful and publicly offensive.
the bananer.  This diabolically clever and devilishly          In fact, as I think back, it seems to me that this was
humorous little publication was in every respect  - in         one of the most outspoken editorials to come from
appearance and format and contents  - a wicked lam-            Rev. Vander Ploeg's pen during his career as editor of
poon, or parody of  The Banner.  It was, in fact,  so          The Banner. In his article he criticized the Communica-
much like the latter in appearance that one could easi-        tions Board of the Calvin Faculty and Student Senate,
ly pick it up for  The Banner,  only to discover when he       as well' as the Calvin College Faculty as a whole, for
began to read that it could not possibly be the weekly         their extremely mild official reaction and for their fail-
magazine of the Christian Reformed Church. It mock-            ure to express themselves about "the wickedness of
ed shamelessly the Christian Reformed Church, calling          this thing and the grievous sin against the Lord." He
it throughout "the Philistine Rewarmed Crutch." It             also criticized the Calvin Board of Trustees for "the
mocked Scripture and  The Banner's  use of Scripture. It       meekness and the mildness of (their) reprimand, when
mocked morality and apparently what it deemed to be            the need for a stem rebuke is so obviously in order" as
the church's attitude toward morality. In fact, it mock-       being hardly virtuous in view of the seriousness of the
ed virtually every department in  The Banner  and many         situation. Moreover, he proposed that  Chimes  should
a phenomenon in the Christian Reformed denomina-               either no longer be college subsidized, or that if it is to
tion.                                                          continue to be subsidized, there should be insistence
   It is not my intention to give a full review and de-        upon a "distinctively Christian student newspaper."
tailed criticism of this diabolical little publication. In     And he asked for "full assurance that such a climate is
fact, it had not been my intention to react to it edito-       being provided at Calvin College as to encourage, fos-
rially whatsoever. Nor will I do so now. However, the          ter, and produce literary writing that is in keeping with
reactions to this lampoon have now turned virtually            the purpose of our church school and not at  cross-
full circle, from indignant condemnation to qualified          purposes with it."
approval. This I deem to be more serious than the                A little later (cf.  The Banner,  June 26) Dr. Wm.
original publication of  the bananer  itself. And to these     Spoelhof responded in an "Open Letter From Dr.
reactions I wish to react editorially: for they are signif-    William Spoelhof To The Editor," in which he express-
icant.                                                         ed his reactions both to Rev. Vander Ploeg's editorial,
  First of all, in the June 19 issue of  The Banner,           and, inevitably,  to the bananer.  To say the least, Presi-
Editor John Vander Ploeg (now retired) responded in            dent Spoelhof's reactions were very much milder than
righteous indignation by means of a lengthy editorial in       those of Editor Vander Ploeg, and even mildly  apolo-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   103



getic and defensive of  the bananer.  He "urged (Rev.     said of  the bananer,  "I found it more instructive than
Vander Ploeg) to overlook the thoughtlessness of offensive."
youth in order to uncover whatever thoughtfulness            If  ,the latter report is accurate  - and it has met with
there might be associated with their venture." He does no contradiction on the part of Dr. De Koster  - it is
not specify this "thoughtfulness," but only assumes its .evident that official reaction to  the bananer  has now
presence. This writer could detect much "thoughtful- come almost, if not completely, full circle. It has pro-
ness". and also many thoughts  - all of them evil. Dr. ceeded from righteous and indignant condemnation to
Spoelhof, moreover, was prompted by concern for any qualified approval. It has proceeded from "devilish," to
ill effects which Rev. Vander Ploeg's adverse publicity "more instructive than offensive."
would have on youth's reaction to the church. This           What is  The Standard Bearer's  opinion and reaction
writer cannot understand how calling sin by its right to all this?
name could be responsible for ill effects, however.          In the first place, I wish to make it crystal clear that
President Spoelhof, further, attempted  to. minimize we c&not rejoice in or gloat over the appearance of
the seriousness of. the thing by claiming that it had to the bananer  or the reactions thereto. On the contrary,
be judged from "a college campus orientation."' All in we share fully the Rev. Vander Ploeg's righteous indig-
all, he practically denied the sinfulness of the whole nation and his forthright condemnation. There was
thing, as is plain from the following language:           very much in the contents of  the bananer  which was
  "The students attempted a parody. Such a thing is morally reprehensible. And as far as its method is con-
always a dangerous venture, for it can be greeted either cerned, even though as Dr. De Koster suggested,  the
with pleasure and profit or with anger and annoyance. barzaner  may have put the finger on some sore inconsis-
If one accentuates the hyperbole of a parody, anger tencies in the Christian Reformed Church, the method
and annoyance will prevail. This need not be the read- of a satirical and sarcastic and wholly destructive lam-
ing, however. (One feels constrained to remark here poon is altogether ungodly, unworthy of a Christian. It
that Rev.  VanderPloeg did not accentuate the hyperbole, is a blot on the name of the Christian Reformed
but only called attention to its wicked mockery. HCH)     Church and its college that its sons and daughters of
  "Undoubtedly, the students did not give thought to college age respond and are allowed to-respond to
the feelings of those they might offend. I do not de- mother church, whatever her faults may be, in such a
fend them for this, nor for their improprieties. (Is fashion as this.
"improprieties" a euphemism for "sins"? HCH) But I           In the second place, we agree with the Rev. Vander
cannot accept your ascription of unchristian motives Ploeg's request "for full assurance that such a climate
and devilish work to the students who were involved. is being provided at Calvin College as to encourage,
It is this kind of reading of their work to which I foster, and produce literary writing that is in keeping
object."                                                  with the purpose of our church school." In fact, we
  The fact of the matter is, however, that the Rev. would go further. We would suggest that  the bananer  is
Vander Ploeg evidently read  the bananer  in all its ob- not an isolated student prank, but that it is a reflection
jectivity (and gave proof of it in his editorial). The of a bad atmosphere at the college and of bad tenden-
problem was not in Editor Vander Ploeg's "reading," cies in the instruction. If  the bananer  were an isolated
but in the material which he read.                        symptom, we would not draw this conclusion. But to
  Since that "Open Letter" of June 26 no more has anyone who follows the college scene, it is evident that
been written about the subject in  The Banner.            the latter is not the case. There is abundant evidence
  But now apparently reaction to  the bananer  has that the sharp lines of the antithesis are steadily being
come almost full circle. For the new editor of  The erased. I would even suggest that investigation would
Banner,  Dr. Lester De Koster evidently does not share reveal some of the same mocking attitude about the
the righteous indignation of his predecessor, the Rev. "Dutch, white, middle-class, Christian Reformed ghet-
Vander Ploeg. Nor apparently does he share Dr. to mind" on the part of instructors, would reveal that
Spoelhof's minimizing of  the bananer  and his tendency there are faculty advocates of radical liturgical revision-
to excuse it as student thoughtlessness. Dr. De Koster ism, would reveal that there are  faculy advocates of the
has not expressed himself on the subject in  The Banner social gospel and of social activism of the Father
thus far. However,  Chimes  (Oct. 2, 1970) gives a report Groppi type. Perhaps students give more radical
on the third of a series of four  ,lectures delivered by expression to these ideas than do their mentors  - this is
Editor De Koster at the  Oakdile Park Christian Re- the tendency of students, to go farther than their
formed Church of Grand Rapids. It reports that Dr. De teachers. But I do not believe that students pull these
Koster characterized parts of  The Banner  as "unfor- ideas out of their own hats, so to speak. And if I were
tunate" and deserving of "reproof." But he character- asked what the root of this increasing blotting out of
ized most of the publication as containing "extremely the lines of the antithesis might be, my answer is: com-
perceptive analyses" of inconsistencies in the Christian mon grace and its debilitating effects!
Reformed denomination. And he is reported to have            In the third place, it seems to me that Dr. De


104                                                      THE  STANDAh  BEARER



Koster, the new editor of  The Banner,  who is apparent- share the instruction, rather than the offense, of  the
ly deeply concerned about the unity and unification bananev,  and to the end that the inconsistencies may
of the Christian Reformed Church, would do well to be corrected. Moreover, if Rev. Vander Ploeg's  con-
foster that unity by sharing with the churches the  - demnation was incorrect, Dr. De Koster should make
"extremely perceptive analyses" of Christian Reformed correction in the same editorial columns in which his
inconsistencies, to the end that the churches may predecessor wrote.


All Around Us

              Creation and Evolution in California Schools
                                               Proof for Evolution
                                                              Prot H. Hanko

CREATION AND EVOLUTION IN CALIFORNIA                                 wants both taught as possible explanations of the
SCHOOLS                                                              origin of the world. It wants both examined and the
  The question has recently come up in the California pros and cons of both taught in the classroom.  And it
public school system whether it is a violation of the                wants both taught because in the opinion of the State
First Amendment to the Constitution of this country                  Board, the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
to teach creation in science classes of the school                   But it wants creation taught from a scientific view-
system. The history of this controversy dates back to                point, not a Biblical viewpoint.
about a year ago. At that time a committee presented                   It is not surprising that many scientists objected
a report which contained guidelines for teaching                     strenuously to the inclusion of creationism in science
science. This report was referred back to the com-                   teaching. One noted scientist, obviously quite angry,
mittee by the State Board of Education because several wrote:
members of the State Board objected to the fact that                           Should a scientific course on reproduction also
evolution alone was supported in the report as an ex-                    mention the stork theory? Did it require the Apollo
planation for origins. The new report was changed in                     11 mission to prove the moon is not made of green
such a way that the possibility of teaching both evolu-                  cheese?
tionistic theories of origins and special creationism                          If creation is taught in science classes we might as
would be permitted in science classes. The pertinent                     well also teach that the earth is flat, that the sun
paragraphs read:                                                         passes around the earth, and that the cause of disease
          All scientific evidence to date concerning the origin          is evil spirits pervading the body.
       of life implies at least a dualism or the necessity to          But the big question which is at present being dis-
       use . several theories to fully explain relationships         cussed is whether such teaching would violate the First
       between established date points. This dualism is not          Amendment of the Constitution. The Argument is
       -unique to tliis field of study but is also appropriate in    clear enough. If creationism is taught in the science
       other scientific disciplines such as the physics of light.    classes of the public school system, then a particular
          While the Bible and other philosophic treatises also       religion is taught. And this violates the principle of
       mention creation, science has independently postu-            church-state separation and the constitutional pro-
       lated the various theories of creation. Therefore crea-
       tion in scientific terms is not a religious or philoso-       hibition respecting the establishment of religion. The
       $hic belief. Also note that creation and evolution            courts of the land have spoken clearly on the matter:
       theories are not necessarily mutual exclusives. Some          there is to be no religion taught in the public school
       of the scientific data (e.g. the regular absence of           system.
       transitional forms) may be best explained by a crea-            There is something a little bit silly about this part of
       tion theory while other data (e.g. transmutation of           the argument. It is presumably true that if creationism
       species) substantiate a process of evolution.                 were taught in the public schools this would indeed
  (The quotes in this article are from  Liberty                      constitute the teaching of religion. But what is so often
magazine.)                                                           conveniently forgotten is the fact that evolutionism is
  The idea behind- this revision is clear. The State                 also a religion. It is a false religion, to be sure. But it is
Board of Education -wants both evolutionism and crea-                a religion for all that. It is a religion in the first place
tionism taught in the science classes of the school. It              because it has something to say about God.  Evolu-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            105



tionism denies God, of course. But this is saying some- fall back upon the completely unproveable theory of
thing about Him nonetheless. It is denying His exist- the spontaneous generation of life. This is weak and
ence. It is a religion in the second place because it is      silly. And there is almost no hope that at any time in
dealing with matters which are beyond the reach of the future science will succeed in creating this deepest
scientific investigation. It is quite obviously a fact that principle which pervades all living creatures.
while scientific technique can study various parts of            But the answer of the State Board goes farther than
the creation and can even study changes in the creation this. It asserts that the truth of creation as an explana-
it cannot, with its present tools and by means of its tion for the origin of the universe can be taught in the
developed techniques study how the creation came              existing public schools without violating the First
into being. When it makes statements about the subject Amendment if only it is taught from purely scientific
of origins, it is simply engaging in speculation and viewpoints. One who explains this position writes:
guessing; it is establishing conclusions without the least           Although it is clear that mention or discussion of
bit of scientific evidence. In the third place, evolu-             an event in both the Bible and in a public science
tionism is a religion because evolutionism does not               class is not grounds for claiming that religion is being
simply discuss even the matter of origins as an abstract          taught in public schools, the way this material is pre-
question. The theory of evolution speaks on any                   sented in the classroom is significant. If the teacher
number of other subjects which are religious in                   uses the Bible as his source of information and at-
                                                                  tempts to persuade his students of certain beliefs con-
character. The theory of evolution has its own answers            cerning God and religion there could be valid
to the question of what man is  - whether created as              criticism based on constitutional grounds. However, if
image bearer or descendant of the ape; of what sin is  -          Creation is presented solely from scientific evidence,
whether vestiges of animal ancestry or rebellion against          without using the Bible as the source of information
God; of what ethics is all about  - whether the prevail-           and without any attempt at religious indoctrination,
ing opinion of the majority or the keeping of the law              inclusion of Creation would not be a conflict of
of God; of where this creation is going  - whether to an           church and state.
everlasting future of this present world or the judg-          The point is that creation must be taught from
ment of the second coming of Christ. All these are            purely scientific viewpoints. It must therefore be
religious questions  - n o   m a t t e r   h o w   t h e y   a r e taught only insofar as it is ascertainable from the in-
answered. And when educators say that by teaching vestigations of science and an object of study by means
evolution they are keeping religion out of the class-         of the scientific method. In this way, it is maintained,
room, this is so much nonsense  - and they know it.           it will be isolated from all beliefs in God and all
What has been put in the classroom is a false religion,       matters of religion.
an apostate religion, a religion which denies God, but a         One wonders what such a doctrine of creation
religion nonetheless. It is impossible to have neutrality     would be. What kind of doctrine of creation will be
in religion in the classroom as it is impossible to be        taught if God is not mentioned as the Author of
neutral in any area of life.                                  creation? If the investigation is carried on only by the
  Nevertheless, the State Board of California ap-             scientific method, the miraculous is automatically
parently feels the force of the objection and is very         ruled out. If creation is taught in isolation from the
afraid of putting any kind of religion in the science         rest of the truth of Scripture and distinct from the
course. It has answered this objection in a very inter-       particular ethics which Scripture teaches and bases
esting way. It has asserted, first of all, that the theory upon the creation ordinance, does one even have a
of evolution is not really proved. There are especially       doctrine of creation left? Quite obviously not. The
three areas, according to the State Board where this is       attempt is utterly futile. It smacks of some kind of
true.. First of all the record of paleontology has been an    wicked compromise between the truth and the lie. And
extremely inconclusive record. There is no evidence in. such a compromise is always a devil's compromise with
all the present fossils which have been found that there      the devil the victor. How can the truth of God as re-
is any development from lower forms of life to higher         vealed in the Scriptures be made compatible with the
forms. Secondly, the whole study of genetics has led to       evil inventions of men's minds when the two are abso-
only one conclusion: that any change brought about            lutely mutually exclusive and are constantly at war
by interbreeding and genetic experimentation is always with each other? How can the scientific method, when
change within a kind. Never has man been able to              divorced from Scripture and faith be a means of learn-
demonstrate that genetic change results in another ing the truth of God? The result is bound to be an-
species. Never has any scientist been able to force one       other invention of evil.
species into another. Even though there have been                The Scriptures are insistent on the point that the
many new breeds of dogs created, a dog is still a dog.        truth of creation as well as the truth as a whole is
And there is nothing known which can make a dog               known only through the Word of God and can be re-
anything else but a dog. In the third place, never has        ceived only by faith. "Through faith we understand
science been able to create life. Always evolution must that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so


106                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



that things which are seen were not  .made of things least the "behavior patterns" of men evolved from
which do appear." Hebrews  11:3.                                   animals and quite possibly man himself evolved from
   As pious as all this may sound let us beware of animal life.
compromise which destroys the truth of God's Word.                        Well, the experiment consisted in this: These two
PROOF FOR  EVOL-UTION?                                             very learned scientists spent a whole week in the bush
   As we noticed in the above article, scientists who              of Africa attempting to kill animals and rodents with
accept the theory of evolution accept it in the light  of- their bare hands after stalking them on foot. They did
the fact that there does not exist one iota of proof for not actually kill any animals. They simply marked up
the transmutation of species. Aware of this fact,                  what would have been kills if they had actually  fol-
learned scientists will go to absurd lengths to establish lowed through in killing. They had a base camp where
their theory nonetheless and search about in the most              a full-fledged meal was cooked for them daily and  ser-
unlikely places for some evidence of their pet ideas.              ved along with chilled beer.
  in an article which appeared in a recent issue of                       The results of their experiments confirmed beyond
Newsweek  there is a remarkable example of this. The argument that earlier forms of human" life, but a small
article is very learned and is supposed to set forth some          step removed from animal life, actually did live this
remarkable proof for the evolutionistic thesis.                    way and acquired their supply of food by killing
  The article begins with these startling words:                   animals and living from their carcases. They also
       - Except for religious fundamentalists, few people          proved that two or more men working together were
       any longer question the proposition that man and            more successful in acquiring food than one individual.
       apes have a common ancestor. But enormous gaps                     Now, really. Does a reputable magazine have to
       remain in the knowledge of just how man evolved             devote a fair share of its magazine to such inanities?
       into what he is today. How, for instance, did the           Have these scientists accomplished such astounding
       human descendants of the nonpredatory, vegetarian           things by doing what they did? Is  this  what has  re-
       apes turn into predatory, steakchomping carnivores          sulted in "a radical new theory"? And now do we have
       of modern times? In an attempt to answer that ques-         support for the evolution of man's social system and
       tion, two scientists have now come forward with a
       radical new theory - and to suppo~?  it, they cite the      perhaps even the evolution of man himself? How silly
       results of an experiment in atavism worthy of Tarzan        can one get?
       of the Apes.                                                       And yet of stuff such as this the theory of evolution
  One looks forward to a very profound discussion of is constructed. Paul says in I Corinthians: "Hath not
an elaborate experiment that was subsequently carried God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"
on and which leaves us with irrefutable proof that at


Come Ye Apart... And Rest A While

                       Candid Carnera on Thanksgiving 1970
                                                           Rev. C. Hanko

  The church service is well under way. Mr.  Richman               it.
occupies his usual place in the audience. These Thanks-                   That fellow can talk. He has a steady income, free
giving services, he thinks, are pretty much routine, not           rent of the parsonage, retirement pension for himself
much different from the Sunday services, actually                  and his family when he cannot work any more.
quite drab and lifeless.                                                  I had better stifle this yawn that is coming up; it
  He listens while the minister reads the text and be-             doesn't look too well to those round about me. The
gins his sermon. And then after a bit his mind wanders.            service is just about over anyway, and then to the car,
The stock market has been very unsteady. Unemploy-                 and home.
ment seems on the increase in the country, especially                     Yes, that car. It is really only a year old and still in
now with the soldiers returning from Viet  Nam; This               good shape. Maybe I had better put it on the market. I
unrest in the Middle East creates a lot of uncertainty.            would like a better one anyway.
Real problems all of these.                                               Ah, now the service is finished. Dinner will soon be
  The minister is saying something about being thank-             ready.
ful in everything. Wonder if this is the same sermon he
preached a year ago with a different text placed over                     Mrs. Grateful also came to church this morning with


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   107



        her family. She woke up this morning with a song in for proper storage. This year was the  .summer of the
        her heart:                                                      drought. The grain crop was fair, but the corn  had-
         How good it is to thank the Lord,                              turned yellow already by the end of August. But I
                And praise to Thee, Most High, accord,                  shouldn't complain. Things could be worse.
         To show Thy love with morning light,                             I must remember the three points of the sermon. My
                 And tell Thy faithfulness each night;                  husband likes to ask me about them on the way home.
         Yea, good it is Thy praise to sing,                              The minister is bringing Jesus and the cross into this
                And all our sweetest music bring.                       sermon. On Thanksgiving! That makes it sound almost
                Now she bows her head in silent prayer for the like Sunday.
        minister, but no less for herself.                                Yes, I really have much to be thankful for today. I'll
                 "God is good," she thought, as she looked about put aside the many things that keep coming up, the
        her, first at her husband and then at her healthy, grow- unpleasant things, for which I certainly am not-thank-
        ing family. So much has happened through the years ful. 1'11 concentrate on the pleasant things. I don't
         since she and her husband had stood at the altar and want to spoil the day.
        vowed to each other before God: "For better, for                  Now he is up to his second point. -He is speaking.
        worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and health; to about all things working together for good.
        love and to cherish, `till death us do part." There had           Nice that the relatives can  -come  today. So glad to
        been  times when it was hard to suppress the thought, have them over. Yes, there will be twelve of us around
         "I never imagined that it would be this bad." And yet, the table this noon. Wonder if that won't be .a bit
        God had always made all things well and taught them             crowded. Set up another table?
        many valuable lessons.                                            John is nodding a bit. I won't nudge him. Poor man,
                Yes, there were still problems, -- growing children he is so tired, and he did get to bed late last night: He
        bring bigger problems every day. But she is even grate- is a good husband, I'll say that for him.  _
        ful that the Lord had entrusted this responsibility to            Now the third point. This is always short, so we'll
        her. And she is sure that the Lord will dissolve all her soon be going home. And there are just dozens of
        problems as morning mist before the rising sun.                 things that must be done before the company  comes:
                Wholeheartedly she joins the congregation in singing
        praise to God. A thrill passes through her soul as her            Out near the front of the church sits Mr.  Deacon-
        voice mingles in harmony with all the rest. Young and aid. He looks lonely out there by himself. A year ago
         old, men and women, all together tell of their Maker's his wife was still with him; now he is all alone. She was
        love and Fatherly care.                                         all he had of kith or kin.
                How easy it is to pray along with the minister. She       He looks at the empty spot next to him and
        imagines her prayer joined with all the rest and arising breathes a sigh of thanksgiving. She was a good wife,
        as smoke from the altar before the face of God.                 always patient in her suffering, always patient with his
                What an unusual text for Thanksgiving: "Thanks be many faults. Now she is rejoicing before the throne!
        unto God for His unspeakable gift."                             How wonderful that must be. Heaven seems a bit
                The minister wants the word  Gift  capitalized, as closer now that she has gone to join Christ in His glory.
        referring to Christ in Whom all fulness of blessedness            Realizing even now his own sins and unworthiness,
        dwells even for us forever. How carefully He outlines he attentively keeps his eye on the minister. He is
        this beautiful truth. How clearly she sees it.                  carried along to the cross, to Christ in heaven. His soul
                She hopes that her husband is enjoying this service rejoices as the minister speaks of Christ bestowing
        as much as she is. Her thoughts wander a moment to upon us all His merited grace and all His benefits. How
        the children, and her lips form a faint smile as she sees       wonderful it is to be a son of God, righteous in God's
        them attentively listening. How much do those little Beloved, and heir of salvation. If  .that God is for us,
        minds grasp of this great mystery of salvation?                 how can ever anything at all in this vale of tears be
                She looks up with surprise that the time has flown against us? Truly, God is  good  to Israel, to all who are
        so fast. But her heart rejoices in God, her Savior, also of a clean heart. And after all the weary night is past, I
        today.                                                          shall awake in Thee, to behold . . . Thee!
               Mrs. Ne'er-do-well sits a short distance from Mrs.         Occasionally he catches himself nodding  in- agree- --
        Grateful. They nodded to each other as she came in              ment. He breathed the prayer: "Bless the Lord,  9 my
        church, barely on time. They are not exactly friends,           soul, and forget not all His benefits."
       but they do pass as acquaintances.                                 Yes, Reverend, how wonderful those Scriptures are!
       :;..::.,Mrs.  Ne'er$o-well  .remembers  that it is Thanks- Fountains of living waters flow from them upon a dry
:;.;, ..;:, .-. .."`:
;;f:T:gy+qg.  She  ":tells: -herself as she sits there that she         and thirsty soil. How they lift our hearts from depths
 ~;~~~?$t$<ally  has much to be thankful for. True, the corn of despair to heights of hope and Glory!
 ,~~;.croij  was. not so good. this year. Last year they had a            A little that the righteous hold is better far than . . .
 "bumper crop,. but what a time they had to dry it out                  any other thing. For they have GOD.


108                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


In His Fear

                      The Standard Bearer In His Fear
                                                  (Conclusion)

                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys


  This does not mean that knowing Him in that salva-        thus would not need to fear Him. In the heresy of
tion which is in Christ we now dare to sin against Him.     Arminianism God is brought down to man's level, and
Faith does not give us the courage to sin against  OUI      even below man to be begging this  creature for the
God, Whom we know is a consuming fire.  Instead.this        opportunity to show how great and good He is. And
fear of the Lord causes us to run to the cross to find      the fruits of that "common grace" today is a love of
refuge underneath it. The man who knows and believes        God for everyone head for head, and an atonement
the awfully destructive power of electricity and the        that is universal. These again  resdlt in a frustrated God
perfect safety of the insulation on the wire does not,      who finds himself obliged to change from love to
because he believes in the safety of that insulation,       hatred and unable to accomplish that which he wills to
now dare to touch that bare wire. Neither does the          do. These certainly whittle down the majesty and wear
child of God who knows this refuge and safety in            down the respect for such a God. These, although they
Christ now dare to sin against the Holy One. In fact he     say, as far as the sound of the words is concerned,
appreciates this safety in Christ exactly because he        "How good Thou art!  " actually say, as far as the mean-
knows this Holy One in His dread majesty. He is not         ing is concerned, "0, God, Thou art not so great!"
afraid that this unchangeable God will go back on His         But in His goodness God did raise up men in that
promises, and that He will'pluck out of Christ, the true    period, when these heresies were conceived and born,
Vine, that which He had engrafted into Him. But he is       who still saw Him in His majesty and loved  iHim
deathly afraid of walking  apart from Christ.  And that     therein as the Holy One. They organized the RFPA in
is what he does when he walks in sin.                       order to publish pamphlets and booklets to hold forth
  Now through the ages there have been men who              the truth concerning this majestic God. And in process
were not afraid to manufacture and teach doctrines          of time they decided to publish the  Standard Bearer,
that were designed to whittle this majestic God down        that there might be a more regular and wider distri-
and to rob Him of some of His glory. All false doctrine     bution of the truth of the greatness and goodness of
does that in one way or another and to one degree or        our God. And in His fear our magazine had its birth.
another, as you know. And through the ages there have         It was not published then to air the views of a man.
been those who accepted these evil teachings, defended      It was not published to add to the number of religious
them and boldly proclaimed them. And just prior to          magazines, or so that we as churches might have an
the appearance of the  Standard Bearer  such false doc-     organ of our own. It was published to instruct others
trines were also accepted, defended and proclaimed in       about this majesty of our God and to maintain and
what is called the "Reformed Community."  Armi-             develop the truth of the true greatness and goodness of
nianism was there. Pelagianism, Modernism and Liber-        our God. And by God's grace it still does that today
alism had their places. And a new and subtle form of        with various departments or rubrics, each in its own
Arminianism and Pelagianism appeared under the              sphere and way, showing the majesty of our God and
name, "Common Grace." I say subtle, because it seems        declaring: "God ALL, man nothing except that which
to be the fear of the Lord in that it also seemingly        God was pleased to make him be.  Soli Deo Gloria!"
says, "0, God, how good Thou art!" And yet it is an
attack upon God's majesty, because it maintains an                          II. Written In His Fear
offer of salvation to all who hear the preaching of the       Now through the ages since its birth that  Standard
gospel. And a God Who offers, invites and pleads with       Bearer  has stood in need of men who would write in
you to let Him save you is a God Who is bound to fail       His fear. The RFPA is the Reformed Free  Publishing
in some of His attempts instead of being sovereign in       Association. And a publishing association needs writ-
all His works; and He will be no longer an unchange-        ings and writers whose works can be published. These
able God, but one Who will find Himself forced to           may be writers of the past who wrote in His fear. But
change, over against that creature that He cannot           they must also be men who write about current prob-
persuade. You see, we have here the same lie of para-       lems and whose writings are relevant. A publishing
dise only in a new form. Then Satan deceived man to         association which has no writers with works worthy of
believe that he could climb up to God's position, and       publication is a publishing association that is out of


                                               THESTANDARD BEARER                                                      109



  business.                                                    revamp the unsatisfactory copy, burn the midnight oil,
    But a publication association that would publish in        give up social engagements, do research, and pound the
  His fear and has a staff of writers that have not this       typewriter at fifteen day intervals to produce copy for
  fear of God, or will not write in it but for the exalta-     the  Standard Bearer.  Why? Because they are impelled
  tion of the flesh of man, finds itself in a tragic situa-    by the fear of the Lord, and not because you or any
  tion. And when it finds that its writers are beginning to    man compels them. And only the fear of the Lord will
  write void of that fear of God it must dismiss them at       keep them writing in His fear.
  once. A  Reformed  Free Publication Association must            We must remember that. And we must remember
  not sail under a false flag and publish that which is        that it all depends upon the grace of Him Whom we
~ unreformed. The Reformed Faith is the faith that             fear. For forty-six years the  Standard Bearer  has up-
  maintains this transcendent majesty of God; and the          held the Reformed Faith and said on every page, "0,
  Reformed Faith has for its theme, "0, God, how great         God, how great Thou art!" During that time magazines
  Thou art!" The Reformed Free Publication Associa-            have come and gone. Magazines that were in existence
  tion must therefore publish only that which is Re-           before the birth of the  Standard  .Bearer  have filled
  formed, and it must stay  free from everything else          their pages with man and his "majesty," and presented
  (even though this is not the meaning of the word Free        a God who stoops before the creature and can be dis-
  in the name). And it must free itself, rid itself of any     appointed by him, a frustratable and a frustrated God!
  writer who will write one word that detracts from this       But we can also go that way; and we will go that way,
  majesty of God.                                              unless the grace of God keeps us in His fear.
    The writers, therefore, also will have to be filled          It behooves you and all the readers, therefore, to
  with that fear of the Lord to be impelled by it to           pray for these writers and not to assume that they
  write, in order to display this majesty of our God.          cannot err, defect, or change. It is, you know, quite
  They are, you know, a staff of fearless men, that is,        easy to criticize these writers as being too long-winded,
  fearless before men. They write faithfully and often         too deep, not practical enough and the like. But, if you
  voluminously, not because they are afraid of you, the        have not prayed for them, do not criticize them. If you
  association, or of you, the Board of the association.        have not brought them up to the throne of grace, do
  They are not even answerable to you. Let me point out        not bring them down to your judgment bar.
  to you the fact that you do not even appoint them,             This is not a time to boast, and this speech is not
  either as an association directly, or through your           meant to be in praise of men. For that is exactly con-
  Board. Maybe that ought to be changed. I am not              trary to the fear of the Lord which sees the majesty of
  ready to say at the moment. Let me also point out to         God and man's utter dependency upon Him for all
  you that little line that is seldom read by those who        things. The fear of the Lord says, "In Him we live and
  begin to read either with the Meditation or (more            move and have all of our physical but also all of our
  likely) with the News from our Churches., I mean on          spiritual being.  ' Therefore, pray to the God Whom we
  the inside of the front page before the Meditation:          fear that He may keep the writers in His fear to pro-
  "Editorial Policy: Every editor is solely responsible for    vide the association with material worth publishing and
  the contents of his own article." That gives him free-       the readers with that which truly is edifying.
  dom, but also reveals that unless he has the fear of the
  Lord in his heart, he is not going to write that which                         III. Read in His Fear
  the RFPA can publish.                                          We come now to you as a reader as well as a member
    Again, these writers have no fear either for the           of the association. And, truly, all efforts fail, if the
  threats of the Editor-in-Chief that he will publish two      Standard Bearer  is not read in His fear. Perhaps, in
  blank sheets with the name of the editor of that de-         passing, I might shorten that last sentence before I
  partment, if he fails to send in copy. They know that        continue. All efforts fail, if the  Standard Bearer  is not
  you, the association, through your Board will not            read! It will give the RFPA some financial support, if
  allow such a waste of space, the cost of printing also       you subscribe and do not read what it publishes. You
  being what it is today. Nor do they fear the staff that      may give the mailman some beneficial exercise by con-
  does appoint them each year. What is there to fear?          tinuing your subscription. But unless you read what
  Loss of a place on the editorial staff is no financial       has been published, the association's goal is not
 loss. Once again, although that is not the meaning of         reached, the toil of the writers is in vain, and you
 the name, "Reformed  Free Publishing Association,"            yourself will receive no blessing from these efforts. To
 the work is done free of charge, without any salary or        me it makes no difference whether you begin reading
 remuneration. In fact there would be gain to being put        from the back page to the front page, or from the Medi-
 off the staff in a saving of paper, typewriter wear and       tation to the Church News. Interest in our churches is
 tear,.and postage.                                            good and commendable, and in His fear will be there.
    Yet, they continue to write year in and year out,          But read, by all means read!
 and often tear up a whole article and start over, or            And then read in His fear. Read in order that you


 110                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 may learn to know this God in His majesty more fully        conduct the necessary research, to outline and type
 and richly. If you approach the magazine to see who is      out and proofread. And it certainly is true that "The
 being attacked this time, or to find out  what  is being    husbandman that laboureth must be the first partaker
 condemned, you are not going to receive a blessing out      of the fruits." Therefore the writers obtain more bene-
 of the reading. But if you read in order to meet this       fit from their writings than the reader. Yet the reader
 God in His majesty and to be filled with a loving rever-    will be partaker of the fruits in the measure that he
 ence and awe before Him, you will go away saying, "0,       reads thoughtfully and carefully.
 God, how great and good Thou art!" You will go away           And, by all means, reading in His fear means that
 ascribing all the glory to Him.                             the fear of the Lord rules us in our reading. This means
   Reading it in His fear will also work within you the      that we will reject all that which in any way detracts
desire to have your children know this God as He truly       from the transcendent glory of our God and attributes
 is, and will move you to recommend the articles of the      anything to man, regardless of who writes the article.
 Standard Bearer  to them. They read and study heavier We must not write- in fear of men. We must not read
 material than this in high school. Begin early in their     either in fear of men but in the fear of the Lord. It is
 teens by giving them those articles which you are sure      not in His fear to defend a man, a congregation, or a,
 they can digest. And get them in the habit of reading       denomination that to any degree by its teachings
 the pages of the  Standard Bearer.  If ever there was a     brings our majestic God down the smallest step from!
 time when they needed to see the God of all majesty,        His transcendent glory.
 it is now. Amid all the philosophies that are so subtle       I do not advocate critical reading in the sense of:
 and numerous today, they need a standard bearer,            being a fault-finder. But reading in His fear means that`
 something to which they can look and turn for  guid-        the reading public that know this God in His majesty
ante. and instruction. They need the standard that           of transcendency will also be on guard to keep the
 bears the inscription: IN HIS FEAR.                         RFPA publishing that which ascribes all the glory to
   Let me suggest then, in conclusion, that you have a       God and will point out any departure that may have.
 set time for your reading. There are those widows,          been published. I repeat, if you do not bring them to
 shut-ins, and retired individuals, who are.home when        the throne of grace, do not bring the writers, and the
 the mailman delivers the  Standard Bearer,  and who tell    association, before the bar of your judgment. But if  5
 me that' they sit down and read it from cover to cover,     prayerfully you have approached the matter, and be-  `,
and later on reread it. Now all do not have that time.       lieve that-you have found written and published that !
 There are also those who when they get home from            which is not in His fear, be sure first of all that your
 work ask-whether the  Standard Bearer  came, and if it      position ascribes all the glory to God, and then  by.all
 did, sit down after the evening meal and read it            means take the steps to correct in His fear.
 through. If you can, by all means do so. But usually          If we are walking in His  fear'and  we wish to publish
 one is tired from the day's toil and is not in the best     a magazine in His fear, we will welcome all advice and
 condition for thoughtful reading. It is better, then, to    corrections from those who in His fear present them.
 set aside a period of the Sabbath to read slowly and        For the fear of the Lord produces the fear of the Lord.
 thoughtfully that which you did not find time to read       And when you have a publishing association, writers
 the day that it was delivered to your home.                 and a reading public all living  inHis fear, you have a
    Reading in His fear means reading it thoughtfully        force that Satan fears; and  `a force that has no fear of
 and carefully. It may take you only ten to fifteen          Satan and his hosts; and a force that not only knows
 minutes to read an article that took all day to plan, to    God in love, but which God knows in love.


 F e a t u r e

                    The Concern of the Reformation for
                              Christian Education (3)
                                                 Rev. David Engelsma

    Luther suggested that there were two main purposes         By the first was meant the spiritual welfare of the
 for educating the children of believers, a "spiritual" Church and the spiritual welfare of the child himself.
 purpose and a "temporal" purpose.                           The welfare of the Church requires-an educated  min-


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         111



istry. Those that will be the theologians and preachers this relationship in his commentary on Lord's Day 38
in the Church must be learned in the languages, not             of the Heidelberg Catechism:
only their own native tongue, but also the original                 Indeed, when in the church of God the preaching of
languages of Holy Scripture, Hebrew and Greek. And                  the truth goes forth, there must not only be someone
because so much of theology has been written in Latin,              who speaks, but there must also be those who hear.
they must also know the Latin language. Both for de-             and this hearing is impossible  &at  niet) unless the
fending the faith against the heretics and for the posi-            hearers, from youth on, are established in the paths
tive work of the ministry of the gospel, especially, the            of truth. Hearing in the church is not merely a listen-
expounding of the Word, the young men who aspire to                 ing.but  a being able to follow what is spoken; a gene-
the ministry must be well educated.                                 trating with the entire consciousness into that which
                                                                    one hears; and also spiritually to "live along" with the
       In proportion then as we value the gospel, let us            preacher. Now, this is impossible, if our children are
    zealously hold to the languages. For it was not with-           educated "heathenishly" and then once a Sunday are
    out purpose that God caused his Scriptures to be set            placed in an entirely different  world of thoughts.
    down in these two languages alone  - the Old Testa-             Such an unprepared faculty of hearing hears sounds,
    ment in Hebrew, the New in Greek. And Let us be                 but understands nothing. . . . For the right blossom-
    sure of this: we will not long preserve the gospel with-        ing of the preaching it is, therefore, not only neces-
    out the languages. The languages are the sheath in              sary that there be schools where the preachers learn
    which this sword of the Spirit (Eph.  6:17) is con-             to preach, but, likewise, schools. where the hearers
    tained; they are the casket in which this jewel is              learn. to hear.  (B  Vote, Vol IV. My translation from
    enshrined . . .                                                 the Dutch - DE).
                           ("To  theCouncilmen of Germany")
Luther's idea was that all of the children would be               The Reformation cried out for the establishment of
given several years of schooling and that those young           Christian Schools. One reason was its desire that all the
men who showed themselves to be capable and who ,children be  abIe to read the Scriptures and to carry out
inclined to the ministry would go on to more advanced           the spiritual duties they had from God with regard to
education.                                                      the truth of those Scriptures. This concern for the
  But the "spiritual" purpose of education was  no1             Christian education of all of the children of believers
limited to those boys who would become ministers. It had a profound, theological motivation.
was the contention of Luther that every child must be             First, it reflected the Reformation's fundamental
educated, at least,  .for several years. Also girls must go     belief that God had given Holy Scripture into the
to school.                                                      hands of every believer, for every believer to read, to
    And would to God that every town and a girls' school        understand, to confess, and to teach to others (especi-
    also, in which the girls were taught the Gospel for an      ally, to his own children). It never was important to
    hour each day . . .                                         the Roman Catholic Church, and still is not today, that
              ("An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility")      her members read the Bible. According to Rome, it is
    In like manner, a girl can surely find time enough to       enough that the member be joined to the Church Insti-
    attend school for an hour a day . . .                       tute, that he use the sacraments, especially, the
                       ("To the Councilmen of Germany")         Eucharist, and that he believe what the Church. tells
The insistence of the Reformation that every child is           him, simply on the authority of the Church itself.
to be educated was something new. Prior to the Refor-           Rome even has a teaching that it is sufficient for a man
mation, only some of the boys received any schooling, to have "implicit faith," that is, that he have a disposi-
while the girls were almost entirely deprived. of an            tion to believe whatever the Church holds as truth,
education. The Reformation desired this universal               although actually he is ignorant of the truth, having no
education of all boys and all girls because it desired          idea what it may be. Therefore, it did not trouble the
their spiritual welfare. As children of believers, they         Church institute just prior to the Reformation that
must all be able to read the Scriptures, in the Church, many of the members were totally ignorant of Scrip-
to confess their faith intelligently, and to instruct their     ture and were even unable to read it. The Reformation,
own children in  time,to come. Without schools, these however, restored Scripture to its central place in the
basic requirements would be severely hampered or life of the Church and of every believer. It called on
rendered completely impossible. Living as they were in          each man, woman and child to read, understand, de-
the midst of widespread illiteracy, the Reformers saw fend and confess the truth of  Scripture. Schools,
the evil consequences of this ignorance for the basic           naturally, have an important place in seeing to it that
callings of every believer.                                     all the children of believers have the ability to work
  There is a relationship, a close and important rela-          with the Scriptures.
tionship. between the school and the Church, and                  Secondly, the concern of the Reformation for the
between education and one's spiritual welfare. The              education of all the children stemmed from the Refor-
Reformation saw this at once. The great Dutch Re- mation's teaching of the priesthood of all believers.
formed theologian, Dr. Abraham Kuyper, explained                Prior to the Reformation, the corrupted Church  con-


112                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



cerned itself only with the education of the priests.          consecrate himself and all his family, possessions and
Only they had vital work to do in the Church. The              laljor to God in thankful love. Education, if it be
Reformation grasped the truth of Scripture that all            Christian, serves to equip all believers for this priestly
believers (girls included) are priests. As a priest, each      calling. This leads us into what the Reformation  con-
belierer has vital work to do in the Church and also in        sidered the second purpose of education, namely, the
his daily life in God's world. Essentially, his work is to     "temporal" purpose.                    (to be continued)


From Holy Writ

                  Exposition of the last Part of Hebrews
                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers

INTRODUCTORY OBSER  VATIONS ON Hebrews THE ENTIRE ARGUMENT SUMMED UP IN ONE
10:19,  13.2s.                                                 GRAND STATEMENT (Hebrews IO:19-21).
  We now come to our reflection upon the last part of            The writer here looks back upon all that which he
the book of Hebrews. We might call it the practical,           has thus far shown to be the truth of the Gospel from
exhortative part. This entire section begins with a brief      the Holy Scriptures. This is the entire thrust of all he
statement of the chief thrust of the entire epistle. The       has thus far written. Two things he had shown and
believing Hebrews must not attempt to go back to the           which he here briefly states. 1. We have freedom (bold-
shadows and types of the Old Testament Dispensation,           ness) to enter the holiest by the  blQod of Jesus. 2. We
which really helped no one as pertaining to the con-           have a great High Priest over the house of God, Jesus.
science, but must press on in the new and living way             These are two pivotal truths and realities upon
which is prepared for us by the blood of Jesus Christ!         which we can lean as upon the Rock of Ages.
  In a general way it may be said that this entire re-           Yes, we have freedom to enter into the holiest. We
maining part is controlled by the spiritual realities of have this as a continuous and abiding possession. The
faith, hope  and  love.  Even a superficial reading of the     term  boldness  is not to be interpreted as reckless
text here in question (Hebrews 10: 19-25) will prove           daring, but rather that we need not have any misgivings
abundantly that the readers are urged to walk in faith,        whether we indeed may come into so holy a place as
hope and love. The exhortations are: 1. To  draw nigh          the very presence of God, where the angels cover their
in full assurance of faith. 2. To  hold fast  in unwavering    faces. Sinners that we are, evil consciences that we
hope. (Vs. 23) 3. To  give heed  unto each other unto          have because of our sins, yet we may "draw nigh." We
the sharpening of love, knowing that the day of the            need not stand afar off, but may come with uncovered
Lord is drawing nigh. There is truth in the observation        faces and behold the glory of the Lord.
of one commentator, that the remainder of the book               For this is a boldness to draw nigh  in the blood  of'
of Hebrews is the working out of this threefold theme,         Jesus.  This is the blood which he shed for us at
and in that very order. It should be obvious that the          Calvary. He did this  once in the end of the ages.
entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews speaks of the               (Hebrews  9:7, 26,  27,28) Never need another sacrifice
nature and power of faith in the lives of all the Old          for sins be brought. For where there is remission of sin
Testament saints. Chapter twelve deals with the life of no more sacrifice for sin need to be brought.
hope  .as it clings to Christ the Author and Finisher of       (Hebrews 10: 18) And so we  have,  as a rightful posses-
our faith, even unto the shaking of both heaven and            sion and claim, access to God. We have the right to be
earth in order to bring in an unmovable inheritance.           called the children of God. We can come to the throne
And the last chapter of this book refers to the theme          of grace and find help in the time of need.
of love, love for the brother and for the stranger,            (Hebrews 4: 14-16)
which is the evident token of a living faith and hope in         The writer adds the second glorious reality. We have
Christ Jesus.                                                  a great priest over the house of God. We may be cer-
  And this book ends with a prayer and benediction             tain that this -`house" of God is not merely a building,
resting in the work and mercies of God through Christ,         made with hands as it was in the Old Testament with
the great Shepherd of the sheep, and with an appeal            the temple. The writer to the Hebrews referred to this
that this book, which has been written in a few words,         question of the "house of God" in Hebrews 3 : 1-6.
be read carefully considering the compass of the sub-          Here the writer teaches us that in the Old Testament
ject treated.                                                  tabernacle Moses was merely a servant, be it then a


~                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      113



     faithful servant in all God's house. But Moses was not         of sins, and truly seeks to draw nigh to God. The heart
     the builder of the house. Nor was his place that of the        must be true. The heart determines. Only a  true  heart
     Son of God in the house, but merely that of a servant.         is a believing heart. With the heart we believe unto
     But Christ, the Son who is Jesus, He is the builder of .salvation.  Only a true heart has full assurance. Full
     all things, of the house of God. And the house which           assurance means that all doubt and misgivings as to our
     Christ builds is not one of worldly stones, of this crea-      having the right to draw nigh to God have been taken
     tion, but it is made of spiritual stones. And these            away! Thus in full assurance  .we let ourselves rest in the
     stones are the holy nation, the royal priesthood, called       great and rich mercies of God.
     out of darkness into God's marvelous light. And over             None of us has a true heart as we are  by nature.
     this house of God, the church of the living God, Christ        Shall we have a true heart then we need a "sprinkled
     is the great High Priest. He is the Head of the church;        conscience." We then need by faith to appropriate the
     He ever lives to pray for the church. He asks the Lord,        blood of Christ. It means that we look at all of our
     God Omnipotent,  to apply his merits to us, so that we         sins, our present inclination to sin even now, and that
     may be atoned, covered with his blood.                         we believe that the verdict of God is that we are
       For this Jesus has made a new and living way for us          righteous before God in Christ and an heir of ever-
     into the holiest of God, into His very presence. This          lasting life. The Spirit of Christ applies this so to our
     way is called "new," whereas in the Old Testament              heart that our conscience no longer condemns us. We
     Dispensation there was not such a way. The entire              stand in God's court'and are free from sin and guilt.
     testimony of the Holy Spirit was that the way into the           This is the pure water with which we are sprinkled.
     holiest was not yet opened (manifested) while the first        Surely this is the "pure water" of which the prophet
     temple stood. But now the veil has been rent. At the           Ezekiel writes  (36:25-28) "Then will I sprinkle clean
     very moment that Jesus' flesh was rent, and Christ             water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your
     passed through his own flesh into the Most Holy place          filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A
     of heaven itself for us, the veil in the symbolical,           new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
     parabolical temple rent in twain from top to bottom.           put within you, and I will take away the stony heart
     The way is opened unto God. Only unbelief denies               out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
     this. It is the unbelief which will not enter into the rest    And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to
     of God.                                                        walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments
       That has been the grand testimony of the letter to           and do them.  "
     the Hebrews up till this point, and this becomes the             It is quite clear from this passage of Ezekiel, to
     great reason for us to be reconciled to God. Here we           which the writer of the Hebrews refers, that this water
     have the great theme: God was in Christ reconciling            which is pure water, is none other than the cleansing
     the world unto Himself, not imputing their sins unto           power of the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ. Here is
     them. Wherefore, as ambassadors of God, we beseech             no reference to any "holy water" which man may
     you in Christ's Name: be ye reconciled to God. For he          devise and make. Here is a cleansing which gives a new
     who knew no sin, hath God made sin for us, that we heart, a new spirit, so that we now will walk in the way
     might be made righteousness of God in Him!                     of God's commandments and in His judgments.
       Such is the entire argument of the grace of God in             Having thus been cleansed we are the house of God!
     the Gospel in a nut-shell.                                       Thus we are those who can draw nigh in the full
                                                                    assurance of faith. For then the new covenant, which
     IN THE FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH (Hebrews the Lord will make in the latter days, has been estab-
     10:22)                                                         lished in our hearts.
       He that comes to God must believe that He is and
     that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.         HOLDING FAST THE CONFESSION OF OUR HOPE
     (Hebrews 1  1:6) For without faith it is impossible to         WITHOUT WA VERING (Hebrews 10:23)
     please God! Unbelieving Israel could not enter into the          Here the writer exhorts "Let us hold fast the confes-
     promised rest because of their unbelief. Therefore their sion of the hope without wavering, for he is faithful
     carcasses were strewn in the wilderness along the route        who hath promised."
     of their journeyings and wanderings.                             Here, too, is an admoniton in which the writer in-
       Yes, we must draw near in faith, in humble trust,            cludes himself. He will submit to the Word of the Gos-
     that there is forgiveness of sins for me, everlasting          pel in obedience with his hearers. This is supreme
     righteousness and eternal life, merely for the sake of spiritual pedagogy. The term to "hold fast" means to
     Christ's merits on the Cross. That is the faith here           hold down, to hold thoroughly. This is a tremendous
     spoken of. It is a faith whereby we appropriate all the        spiritual activity of mind, heart, soul and strength. This
     merits of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.         is a battle against all doubt and temptation, particu-
     This faith is here described as a faith from a true heart.     larly, when we suffer for the cause of the Son of God
     Such a true heart is not false; it truly seeks forgiveness in the world and it seems that His coming is delayed,


114                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



and the full fulfilment of His promises tarry. It may        promises. And these promises are fulfilled in no way
then seem that the Lord is slack. Then it requires much      by us. We can do nothing toward their realization. God
strength of patience to continue in the battle. The foes     alone fulfils His own promise. Thus did Abraham wait
are strong and numerous; their attacks are fierce and        in patience and much longsuffering, and received the
incessant, with a hellish persistence. It is then that we    promise in hope. And thus we are to wait in patience,
must "confess" our hope, give an account of the hope         without wavering. We must not in our holding on to
that is in us. The "hope" here is the blessed return of      the confession lean away from it. We must be inflexi-
the Son of God as the Author and Finisher of our             ble in the battle.
faith.                                                         And if we are inflexible we will say: God, who has
  Now this confession we must hold. It is really,            promised the fulfillment of all His covenant words, is
centrally, the confession that God will fulfil all His       faithful.


Qu estion Box

   About Marriage Regulations For Priests in Leviticus
                                               Prof: H. C. Hoelcsema

  This question comes from a Grand Rapids reader:            widow; but they might not marry anyone who had
Dear Editor:                                                 violated the seventh commandment. We may also note
  "Recently we were reading at the table from the            that with respect to both the  priests  and the high priest
book of Leviticus; and as we were reading from the           the reason for these regulations lies in their holiness
21st chapter, verses 7, 13, and 14, I noticed something      unto the Lord. This is stated with respect to the priests
that I had never noticed before.                             in verse 7. And with respect to the high priest, this is
  "These verses speak of the laws of marriage for the        clear from the context. The anointing oil of his God is
priests. They may marry a virgin, but not a widow, nor       upon him, vs. 12. And in vs. 15 we read, "Neither shall
one that is put away from her husband. And then they         he profane his seed among his people: for I the Lord
state the reason why they may not take these partic-         do sanctify him."
ular women to wife, namely, because they (the priests)         It is obvious, therefore,  that the reason given for
are holy.                                                    these regulations is the holiness of the priests and of the
  "Why is the reason given, and what does it mean in         high priest. But the question is:  why  is this reason
this context? Is it  ,implied that the other Israelites      given? What does this reason mean in this particular
could marry a divorced woman?                                context. In other words, what is the connection be-
                                    "Yours in the Lord," tween the observance of these regulations concerning
                                                             priestly marriage and priestly holiness?
Reply                                                          In answer to this question, I would point out, in the
  The passages in question are as follows. In Lev. 21:       first place, that there is both a typical-ceremonial
7 we find regulations concerning the marriage of the         aspect and a real-moral aspect involved in these regula-
ordinary priests: "They shall not take a wife that is a      tions. This is plain, first of all, when you read the
whore, or profane (a fallen woman, probably any un-          regulations stated in these verses in their context. This
married woman who has at any time known another              entire chapter, as well as chapter 22, contains many
man, HCH); neither shall they take a woman put away          regulations of a ceremonial-typical nature. Thus,  .for
from her husband: for he is holy unto his God." In           example, a priest might not defile himself (make him-
verses 13 and 14 there are regulations concerning the        self ceremonially unclean) for the dead among his
marriage of the high priest only:  `$And he shall take a     relatives, with certain exceptions; and the high priest
wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman,         might not defile himself for any dead body, even of his
or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he    nearest relatives. Thus also, in the last part of chapter
shall take a virgin of his own people to wife." We may       21 there is an entire list of prohibitions as far as
notice, therefore, that the regulations for the marriage     priestly personnel are concerned: no one who was de-
of the high priest were more stringent than the regula-      formed or who had even a slight physical blemish
tions for the marriage of the ordinary priests. The high     might function in the priestly office. And in chapter
priest might only marry a strict virgin; he was not even     22 there are regulations concerning the ceremonial
allowed to marry a widow. The priests would be  per:         cleanness and uncleanness of the priests, and prohibi-
mitted, under the regulations of verse 7, to marry a         tions in case of uncleanness against serving in the


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            115



 sanctuary. Some of these regulations even extended to                               ment which was symbolic of the defilement of sin. A
 a priest's daughter under certain circumstances.                                    priest, therefore, might not marry a woman who had
    In the second place, we may also distinquish between                             b&en defiled by knowing another man because cere-
 the ceremonial element and the moral element in these                               monially this would imply that the priest himself
 regulations for marriage. It is plain, for example, that                            would become defiled. And this was so strict in the
 there is no violation of the seventh commandment as                                 case of the high priest that he was required to take as a
 such, and therefore nothing immoral, in the marriage                                wife only one who was strictly a virgin. Not only might
 of a widow. The marriage relationship between such a                                he not take a woman who had been a harlot and who
 woman and her first husband has been dissolved by the                               had been defiled thus by another man. Not only might
 only factor which can dissolve any marriage, death.                                 he not take a woman who had at any time known
 She is therefore an unmarried woman, eligible, as far as                            another man outside of the marriage bond. But the
 the seventh commandment is concerned, to be                                         high priest might not even for ceremonial reasons take
 married. In such a case, therefore, the regulation was                              for his wife one who had known another man within
 ceremonial, not moral. But when in these verses the                                 the bond of marriage, but whose first husband had
 priest is prohibited to marry a woman put away from                                 died.
 her husband, there is not merely a ceremonial rule in-                                As far as any deeper reason is concerned, I would
 volved, but also a moral principle, which, if violated,                             suggest, in the first place, that it may be connected
 w o u l d   i n v o l v e   a   v i o l a t i o n   o f   t h e   s e v e n t h     with the peculiar position of the members of the tribe
 commandment.                                                                        of Levi. They were, you will recall, consecrated to the
    The same distinction between that which is cere-                                 service of the Lord in Israel in lieu of, or as substitutes
 monial and that which is moral is made in the book of for,  all  the firstborn among Israel. And as such substi-
 Leviticus with respect to holiness. There was such a                                tutes they must be without defilement and without
 thing as a ceremonial holiness. One can find many                                   blemish  - even as the proper sacrifice was a lamb with-
 regulations, both for the priests and for the common                                out blemish. In the second place, I would point you to
 people in Israel, which were purely ceremonial and                                  the fact that the priests were typical of the High Priest,
 which did not as such involve any moral principle.                                  our Lord Jesus Christ, who is described in Hebrews
 Thus, for example, there were laws of clean and unclean                             7:26 as being "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
 animals. There was nothing sinful as such in the eating                             sinners, and made higher than the heavens." Of the
 of pork; but ceremonially the hog was an unclean                                    holy and undefiled character of the real High priest the
 animal and might not be eaten by the Israelites. So                                 holiness and undefiled character of the Old Testament
 also, there is nothing sinful as such in being a leper.                             priesthood was typical.
 But a leper was ceremonially unclean and excluded                                     There is one more question added here: "Is it im-
 from the congregation of Israel. Now the priests, and                               plied that the other Israelites could marry a divorced
 particularly, the high priest, because of their special                             woman?" My answer to this question is negative. The
 typical position were called to be holy both ceremoni-                              text here simply says nothing about this matter. And
 ally and in the moral sense of the word in a special                                the mere fact that it states in verse 7 that a priest
 way. That holiness involved, positively, complete con-                              might not marry a woman put away from her husband
 secration to the service of the Lord; and, negatively, it                           certainly does not imply that ordinary Israelites were
 involved separation from all the defilement of sin. And                             permitted to do so. This is not a legitimate conclusion.
 evidently the ceremonial regulations with respect to                                Nor do the  S,criptures at any point lend approval to
 the marriage of the priests saw in the fact that a certain                          such an action. The remarriage of divorced persons is
 woman had known another man an element of  defile-                                  prohibited in Scripture.



              Why Does Not Classis Proclaim Prayer Days?

    F r o m   N o r t h w e s t   I o w a   c o m e s   t h e   f o l l o w i n g    hold a special day of prayer in time of great calamities,
 question:                                                                           war, pestilence, etc.?               "Yours in Christ,
 "Dear Prof. Hoeksema,                                                                                                        Martha Society"
     "The Martha Society of the  Doon Prot. Ref. Church Reply
 has a question for the Question Box and would appre-
 ciate an answer in the Standard Bearer.                                               Article 66 of our Church Order reads as follows: "In
    "The question is: Doesn't  classis ever feel it is  neces-                       time of war, pestilence, national calamities, and other
1 sary according to Article 66 of our Church Order to                                great afflictions, the pressure of which is felt  through-


116                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



out the churches, it is fitting that the  classis proclaim a     situation which led them to proclaim such days of
day of prayer."                                                  prayer. There was something spontaneous here. These
  In answer to this question, I would say, in the first          days of prayer were not simply mechanically pro-
place, that  never  is a long time; but as far as I know, in     claimed when some consistory of  classis happened to
the history of our churches thus far, no  classis has ever       think it would be a nice idea to have a day of prayer.
called such a day of prayer as is referred to in Article         But the proclaiming of such days arose out of the
66. In the second place, I suppose we may assume that            bosom of the churches and out of a sense of real need
from a subjective point of view the reason for this is           to find refuge and solace in the fellowship of their
that  classis has never felt it necessary to do so. It is        God. In the same connection, I would suggest that
another question, of course, whether there have been             there is something of a deep spirituality reflected in
occasions when it would have been proper to proclaim             the fact that the church would assemble for an entire
such a day of prayer. But I would not want to assume             day as described above,  - a spirituality that is largely
that a  classis has upon occasion felt it necessary, but         absent in the church today, when it is sometimes diffi-
then failed to do so.                                            cult to get the congregation together for an  hour-and-
  Although  Doon's Martha Society does not inquire               a-half service on the annual day of prayer.
about this, I will try to shed a bit of light on the               In the second place, I would call your attention to
meaning of this article of our Church Order and on its           the circumstances spelled out in this article. The article
possible place in our ecclesiastical life. It so happens speaks of a time of war, pestilence, national calamities,
that I was recently asked to speak on this subject; and          and other great afflictions. It is rather striking that
so I have the fruits of my study at hand.                        although this might be covered by the expression,
  Without repeating all that I said in that speech, let          "other great afflictions," t&e article as we now have it
me call your attention to a few significant elements.            in our Church Order no longer mentions persecution
       In the first place, this entire matter of special days    specifically. This was included in the original article as
of prayer (originally: days of fasting and prayer) has           it was adopted by the Synod of Dordrecht,  1618-`19.
had a history. Originally the Reformed churches                  But I would especially have you note that according to
tended to shy away from such special days of prayer:             Article 66 the  classis must not merely proclaim a day
not, of course, because they saw no good in days of              of prayer in time of war, pestilence, etc. This is not the
prayer and fasting or because they considered them               concern of the article, The concern is expressed in the
principally wrong, but partly because of the abuses              words, "the pressure of which is felt throughout the
which had arisen in connection with such special days            churches." Hence, the article refers to the great calami-
in the Roman Catholic Church which they had just                 ties which God in His providence sends and which
left. In the early history of the Reformed churches              greatly affect the churches  - either directly, as is the
days of fasting and prayer were set aside at first only          case in a time of persecution, or simply by reason of
when the congregation was going to call a minister of the fact that the church is still in the midst of the
the Word. Later, particularly in the unsettled days of           world, lives on this earth, in this country, and is there-
the Dutch war for independence from Spanish rule,                fore automatically affected by whatever calamities
days which were also times of persecution at the hand            God sends upon this country or parts of it. Notice,
of the Spanish Roman Catholic might, such days of                too, that the article does not refer to some passing
fasting and prayer were set aside because of the pres-           crisis, some brief calamity, but to calamities which are
sure of war, pestilence, persecution, and national               of heavy and far-reaching effect and scope: the pres-
calamities. I think it is rather significant to note, too,       sure of them is felt  throughout  the churches.
that these days of prayer and fasting were not only                There is, therefore, a certain spiritual attitude pre-
called at very serious occasions, but that they were             supposed in this article, an attitude which is necessary
celebrated in a very serious manner. They did not                both to proclaim and to conduct such a day of prayer.
simply call a brief prayer service in the evening  - such        That attitude is not a carnal, this-worldly attitude, not
as we have today, for example, on our annual Day of              one in which the lines of demarcation between church
Prayer (Article 67) but they would designate an entire           and world, between believer and unbeliever, between
day during the week on which they refrained from                 the spiritual and the carnal, are of no account. But it is
food and drink, on which there would be preaching of             an attitude according to which the church and the peo-
the Word twice, and along with this prayers of suppli-           ple of God are spiritually minded, deeply concerned
cation -and thanksgiving, and, between the sermons,              about the church and its welfare and preservation, and
Scripture readings of one or another appropriate pas-            in which they see the calamities of this present time as
sage from the Old and New Testaments. In other                   coming from the hand of their Father in heaven. There
words, the church at such an occasion would literally            is, I think, a striking contrast between the spirit
have an entire  day  of prayer and fasting. I would also         evinced in this article and the spirit of much that calls
suggest that the manner in which they celebrated such            itself church today. There is much concern today
a day also reflects something of the seriousness `of the         among the churches about the world, about the ills of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     117



society and of the nation at large, about social reform,     calamity. But, in the first place, there is a recognition
much concern about the church's outreach toward so-          here that these calamities come to us from the gover-
ciety, etc. But there is very little concern about the       ning and loving hand of our Father in heaven, from
church herself and her needs. But this article of our        Him Who loves us for Christ's sake. And it should be
Church Order expresses concern for the  church.  This is     the first spiritual instinct of the church and of the
the only concern which the church has with respect to        people of God in time of stress to turn to their Father
the various calamities mentioned: "the pressure of           in heaven. To whom else should they turn? In the
which is felt throughout the churches!" And as an ex-        second place, the purpose is that the church and the
ample of this concern, I would point you to the times        people of God may confess their  dependehce upon
when these days of prayer originated among our               Him, may express and seek the grace of submission to
fathers. They were times of war and persecution, when        God's will, and grace to seek the things that are above,
the very existence of the churches and the very life of      - for example, in time of persecution grace to perse-
the people of God were at stake. They were times             vere and to remain faithful. In the third place, the
when entire congregations would be separated from            church gathers for prayer under such circumstances be-
the fellowship of the other churches, or when they           cause her concern is -the preservation of God's church
would be forced temporarily to disband because of            and God's saints in the midst of the calamities of this
persecution, and even to form refugee churches in            present time. Her need is to cast her burden upon the
other cities and other countries!                            Lord.
  In the third place, it should be evident that the pur-        Perhaps it is true that at this state in history Article
pose of such days of prayer is not that which is so          66 of our Church Order is somewhat of a dead letter; it
often associated with days of prayer in our times. In        is temporarily out of use. Yet I do not feel that we
some circles it has become a habit to go along with the      should throw out an article of this kind. Perhaps the
national proclamation of days of prayer,  - days of          day will come in the not too distant future which will
prayer, for example, for world peace. Our churches do        be similar to the day when this article was first given a
not and should not go along with such ideas because          place in our Church Order, a day when in the face of
the principle is wrong. Days of prayer are meant for         calamities, in persecution, and under the heavy hand of
the  church,  the church which alone can pray, not for       God the churches will again be impelled and spiritually
the nation at large. They are not called for carnal ends,    inclined to proclaim, not a service, but an entire day of
such as world peace. Their purpose is not a petition for     fasting and prayer, when the church will experience
mere material relief. The idea is not that when the          that "the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the
Lord sends calamity, the church hurries to the throne        righteous  rumieth into it and is safe."
of grace to importune the Lord kindly to undo the


Contending for the Faith
                             The Doctrine of Atonement
                                       SECOND PERIOD - 254-730 A. D.

                                                 Rev. H. Veldman

  In our preceding article we noted that, according to       a clear and concise definition of the truth was always
Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church,        occasioned by winds of heresy. And the cross of our
Vol. II, 583  f.f., the apostolic scriptures everywhere      Lord Jesus Christ was not a fundamental issue during
bear witness of the salvation wrought through Christ,        those early days.
but that it required time for the profound ideas of a          Philip Schaff remarks, and this is also substantiated
Paul and a John to come up clearly to the view of the        by Dr. H. Bavinck, that the negative part of the doc-
church. It is true that the church lived from the first      trine of the atonement, the subjection of the devil, the
on the atoning sacrifice of Christ, that the cross ruled     prince of the kingdom of sin and death, was naturally
all Christian thought and conduct and fed the spirit of      most dwelt on in the patristic period, on account of
martyrdom, but the primitive church teachers lived           the existing conflict of Christianity with heathenism,
more in the thankful enjoyment of redemption than in         which was regarded as wholly ruled by Satan and
logical reflection upon it. Careful definition and sound     demons. According to Hagenbach, in his History of
analysis concerning the cross of Christ and its meaning      Doctrines, the doctrine of the devil occupied during this
were lacking in the early days of the New Dispensa-          period (this second period, 254-730) a prominent place
tion. And this is understandable. That the church gave       in Soteriology, inasmuch as GREGORY OF NYSSA


118                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


and other theologians still maintained the notion pre-                            in a very real sense of the word a bondage of the
viously held, that God defrauded the devil by a dis-                              Lord, in complete harmony with His justice and right-
honest exchange. Of this conception of Georgory of                                eousness  - H.V.) And again, how can we satisfac-
Nyssa, Hagenbach writes as follows (Vol. I, 346):                                 torily explain it,  that the Father delighted in the
          Gregory of Nyssa. The train of his argument is as                       blood of the only begotten Son?  since He did not
       follows: Men have become slaves of the devil by sin.                       even accept  the offer of Isaac, but substituted the
       Jesus offered himself to the devil as the ransom which                     sacrifice of a ram in the place of a rational being? It is
       should release all others. The crafty devil assented,                      not then evident that the Father received the ransom,
       because he cared more for the  ooze Jesus, so much                         not because He demanded or needed it, but on ac-
       superior to them, than for all the rest. But, notwith-                     count of the Divine economy, and because man is to
       standing his craft, he was deceived, since he could not                    be sanctified by the incarnation of God; that having
       retain Jesus in his power. It was, as it were, a decep-                    subdued the tyrant, He might deliver and reconcile us
       tion on the part of God, that Jesus veiled his Divine                      to Himself by the intercession of His Son?
       nature, which the devil would have feared, by means                      However, this Gregory of Nazianzum was, neverthe-
       of his humanity, and thus deceived the devil by the                    less, disposed to admit some artifice  ori the part of
       appearance of flesh. -But Gregory allows such a decep-                 Christ in the contest in which He conquered Satan. "It
       tion according to the jus talionis  (just retaliation - H.             consisted in this, that Christ assumed the form of man,
       V.); the devil had first deceived men, for the purpose                 in consequence of which the devil thought that he had
       of seducing them;  but the design of God in deceiving                  only to do with a being like ourselves, while the-power
       the devil was a good one, viz., to redeem mankind.                     and glory of the Godhead dwelt in him."
       (Gregory's arguments look very much like the  well-
       known maxim, "that the end sanctifies the means.")                       In the above quotations, Christ's death is identified
       This dramatic representation of the subject includes,                  with a ransom. This is surely proper. We also read that
       however, that other more profound idea, carried out                    this ransom was not paid out to the devil. And, of
       with much  ingentiity in many of the wondrous                          course, this, too, is correct. Now the question is asked
       legends of the middle ages, that the devil, notwith-                   whether it was paid to the Father, and also whether
       standing his subtility, is at last outwitted by the wis-               the Father needed it. And, although Gregory writes
       dom of God, and appears in the comparison as a                         that the Father did not need this ransom price of the
       stupid devil.                                                          blood of His Son, yet the Scriptures surely teach us
  Of course,  this  view of Gregory of Nyssa hardly                           that this ransom was demanded by the justice and
needs any refutation. We understand, of course, that                          righteousness of the Lord.
the Lord would not resort to deception to outwit the                            Although the idea of Gregory of Nyssa, that God
devil. To  save and redeem His own, God did not have                          defrauded.  the devil by a dishonest exchange, was
to resort to trickery  and deception in order to outwit                       opposed in this form by Gregory of Nazianzum, yet it
the devil, but the living God must redeem  and save His                       prevailed for some time under different modifications.
own in a way which would be in complete harmony                               In support of this Hagenbach has the following:
with His adorable and unchangeable justice and                                      The doctrine received an essential modification in
righteousness.                                                                    the statement of Augustine (De Trin. XIII.), that the
  Hagenbach continues and writes that this idea of                                devil, who had overstepped his power, was conquered
Gregory of Nyssa and others was opposed by                                        in the struggle. He had overstepped his power in this,
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUM, although it prevailed                                       that he thought he could treat the sinless Jesus as a
for some time under differnet modifications. Of this                              slave, like the other sons of Adam, which last, in fact,
opposition by Gregory of Nazianzum, this writer has                               belonged to him as prisoners, according to the rights
the following (Gregory has the following):                                        of war. Now, too, he lost the right to the latter, so far
          We were under the dominion of the wicked one,                           as they belong to Christ. (This, too, according to
       inasmuch as we were sold unto sin and exchanged                            Gieseler, was the view of Hilary of Poitiers, Leo the
       pleasure for vileness. If it now be true that a ransom                     Great, and Gregory the Great. Another representation
       is always paid who is in the possession of the thing                       was this  - redemption was the result of a conflict in
       for which it is due, I would ask, to whom was it paid                      which Jesus conquered the devil. He conquered him
       in this case? and for what reason? Perhaps to Satan                        so far as this, that the devil could not seduce him to
       himself? But it would be a burning shame to think so.                      commit the least sin; by this victory he made amends
       For in that case the robber had not only received                          for the defeat suffered in Adam, and thus broke the
       jkom  God,  but- God himself (in Christ) as a ransom                       dominion which the devil had on the ground of this
       a n d   a n   e x c e e d i n g l y   g r e a t   recompence of his        defeat. This view is found in Hilary, Leo the Great,
       tyranny . . . . Or is it paid to the Father Himself? But                   Gregory the  Great, and, among the Greeks in
       in the first place it might be asked, how could that                       Theodoretus).
       be, since God did not hold us in bondage? (I assume                      Also, in this second period of the Church in the New
       the meaning is that, whereas the devil reigns over us,                 Dispensation, the idea of a penalty endured on the part
       spiritually, and we are therefore slaves of the devil,                 of God gained the preponderance, after its advocacy
       God, in that sense, did not hold us in bondage. We                     by Athanasius, the renowned church father who
       understand, of course, that our bondage in sin is also                 opposed Arius. According to this idea, God had  threat-


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    119



 ened to punish transgressors with death, and thus               race with Christ as its head. Christ ascended the cross
 could not but fulfill His threatening. But, on the              and has taken me with Him; He nailed my sin to that
 other hand, it was not in accordance with the character         cross. God became man, and died, that we might live;
 of God, that rational beings, to whom He had im-                we have died with Him, to be purified; we are raised
 ported His own Spirit (Logos) should fall from their            from the dead, since we have died with Him; we are
 first state in consequence of an imposition practiced           glorified with Him, because we have risen with Him
 upon them by the devil. This was quite as  contr.ary to         from the grave. It is true that the sentiment was also
 the goodness of God as it would have been contrary to           expressed that Christ -suffered and died for the entire
 His justice and veracity not to punish the transgressor         human race. However, the fathers did not`enter into
 (Here the premises of the later theory of Anselm!).             this question in a thorough sense of the word. That
 When the Logos perceived that nothing but death                 would come later. It would come when the enemies of
 could save-man from ruin, He assumed a human body,              the truth would compel the church of Christ to give a
 because the Logos Himself, i.e., the immortal Son of            careful analysis and definition of the cross of Calvary.
 God, could not die. He offered his human nature as a            Indeed, when we say that we died, were buried, raised
 sacrifice for all, and fulfilled the law by His death. By       from the dead and glorified  when- Christ died, was
 it He also destroyed the power of the devil. The                buried, raised from the dead and glorified, we must
 reasoning was thus: God threatened death to man as a            come to the Scriptural truth that our Lord Jesus Christ
 penalty for disobedience; this threat could not be              suffered and died only for His own; otherwise these
unfulfilled, if God be true; but, on the other hand,             expressions simply do not make any sense. But to this
 God's love to man forbade the destruction of all men.           we will call attention in later articles.
 And so the Lord adopted the expedient of allowing                                                                                  ,
 Jesus to die instead of man, so that both His truth and                        RESOLUTION OFSYMPATHY
 His love might be inviolate. It seems to me that this
 presentation could easily lead to what was later de-              The Mothers' Circle of the Hope Protestant Re-
veloped and known as the governmental theory of the              formed Christian School of Grand Rapids, Michigan
 death of Christ.                                                mourns the loss of a faithful member,
   According to Hagenbach, we also find the subjective                          MRS. HENRIETTA KALSBEEK  _
mode of regarding the death of Christ. This includes             whom the Lord took home on the 21st of October,
not only the ethical (in which the death of Christ is            1970 and hereby express their heartfelt sympathy to
viewed as a pattern for our imitation), but also the             the husband, Mr. John Kalsbeek, and to the children.
typical and symbolical (mystical), reposing upon the               May the rich promises of spiritual blessedness found
idea of an intimate connection of the whole human                in the Word of God give Christian hope and comfort.
race with Christ as its head. In support of this, he                                          Mrs. Jacob Kuiper, Sr., Pres.
quotes Gregory of Nazianzum as follows:                                                        Mrs. Gerald Cnossen, Sec'y.
       He has ascended the cross, and taken me with Him,
     to nail my sin on  it,.to triumph over the serpent, to                     RESOLUTION OFSYMPATHY
     sanctify the tree, to overcome lust, to lead Adam to          The Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hope Protestant
     salvation, and to restore the fallen image of God. . . .    Reformed Church extends sympathy to its members,
     God became man, and died, that we might live: we
     have died with Him, to be purified; we are raised           Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kalsbeek in the recent death of
     from the dead with Him, since we have died with             his mother,
     Him; we are glorified with Him, because we have risen                   MRS. HENRIETTA KALSBEEK,
     with Him, from the grave.                                   whom the Lord took home on October 21, 19.70.
   In this above quotation of Gregory of Nazianzum                 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
we hear and read expressions that we know to be                  saints."                                       (Psalm  116:15).
Scriptural and are dear to our hearts. Of course, I refer                                                     Fred  Hanko, Pres.
to the idea of an intimate connection of the human                                                Mrs. Jon Huisken, Sec'y.


                                    News From Our Churches

               REPORT OF  CLASSIS EAST                           Kortering to Hull, the Rev. Harbach was also in
   Rev. M. Schipper presided over the opening  devo-             Jamaica, and the Rev. Veldman was ill. All the
tions, and declared the  Classis properly constituted.           churches, however, were represented by two delegates
Noticeably absent from the October meeting were the              each.
 Revs. Lubber, Kortering, Harbach, and Veldman. The                The Rev. G. Van  Baren, following the order of  rota-
Rev. Lubbers having moved to Jamaica, the Rev.                   tion, presided, while the Rev. Schipper recorded the


THE STANDARD BEARER
           P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


120                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



minutes.                                                              Elder T. Engelsma closed the session with thanks-
  Elders C. Kuiper and A. Rau served on the Finance                giving.                                     M. Schipper, S. C.
Committee, and brother A. Elzinga was appointed to                                              *****
thank the ladies of Southeast Church for their excel-                 From the bulletin of our church in Holland, Michi-
lent catering.                                                     gan, we learn that the pastor of that congregation, Rev.
  The Stated Clerk gave his report re correspondence,              Heys, received the call from  Doon's  congregation. And
and the Classical Committee reported on its activities.            after Rev. Engelsma declined their call, the congrega-
       Requests for classical appointments appeared on the tion of Southwest Church made a new trio, consisting
a g e n d a   f r o m   Classis  W e s t   f o r   t h e   c h u r c h e s   o f of Rev. J. Heys, Rev. R. Moore, and Rev. H. Veldman.
Randolph, Oak Lawn, and  Doon; and from Hope and                                               *****
Southwest in  Classis East. Rev. J.A. Heys, Elders T.                 In glancing over the November church bulletins, one
Engelsma and G. Bouwkamp were appointed to ar-                      can hardly help but be impressed by the topics of dis-
range a classical appointment schedule which was later             cussion for after-recess-programs in our various soci-
adopted as follows:                                                eties. We'll pass on a few  - "The Peace Symbol," at a
SOUTHWEST  - Nov. 1  - H. Veldman, Nov. 8  - (morn)                Young People's Society; "The Nature of Regenera-
       R. C. Harbach, Nov. 22  - (morn) H. Veldman, Dec.           tion," at a Men's Society; "What attitude should we as
       13  - (eve) G. Van  Baren, Jan. 3  - (morn) R. C.           Christians take towards pollution?" at a Mr. and Mrs.
  Harbach.                                                         Society  ; "Should We Accept Medicaid," at a Ladies
HOPE  - Nov. 8  - (eve) R. C. Harbach, Nov. 22  - (eve)             Society; "May we patronize stores which are open on
  H. Veldman, Dec. 13  - (morn) G. Van  Baren, Jan. 3  -            Sunday", at a different Ladies Society. Interesting as
       (eve) R. C. Harbach.                                        those topics must certainly have been, they are not the
OAK LAWN  - Nov. 1  -  M.: Schipper, Nov. 15  - G. Van             prime attraction at society meetings. This point was
       Baren, Nov. 22  - J. A. Heys, Dec. 13  - M. Schipper emphasized by way of the Following October bulletin
RANDOLPH  - Oct. 18  - G. Van  Baren, Nov. 1  - J.A.                announcement in Southwest Church: "We would like
       Heys, Nov. 22  - M. Schipper, Dec. 6  - R. C. Harbach,      to urge all of the members of the congregation to at-
       Dec. 20  - J. A. Heys.                                      tend their respective societies. Remember that the
DOON  - Dec. 27 and Jan. 3  - H. Veldman.                          living member of the church must also be nourished in
       Rev. J. A. Heys was requested to preside while the           discussion of God's Holy Word. If you are not now a
matter of an appeal was treated in closed session.                 member of one of the societies, we urge you to join
       A committee of pre-advice was appointed to study            now."
the appeal: Revs. M. Schipper, J. A. Heys, Elders H.                   Since we're dealing with societies, anyway, we could
Kuiper and D. Engelsma, to report to a continued                    mention that Rev. Heys spoke at the Mr. and Mrs.
meeting on Nov. 4, 1970.                                            League Meeting on October 23 at Grand Rapids Hope
       Rev. H. Veldman was chosen to the Classical Com- Church. He Spoke on the topic, "Training our youth in
mittee to fill the unexpired term of Rev. J. Kortering.             covenant distinctiveness." The message was, in the
       The term of Rev. M. Schipper as Stated Clerk having          opinion of this writer, of exceptional value; so we'd
expired, he requested  Classis to be relieved of this duty          like to give a short report of it, for the benefit of those
after fifteen years of service.  Classis decided to appoint who could not attend. But, thanks, to the  Classis
a committee to advise on whether the Stated Clerk                   Report in this issue, we'll have to reserve that till next
might` not be a lay-man and to propose a nomination.                time.                      *****
The committee to report to the Nov. 4th meeting:
committee: Rev. H. Veldman and Elder H. Kuiper.                        It seems that Rev. Heys is in demand, lately, as a
       Classis decided to hold its next regular meeting             speaker. He was asked to conduct the October 26
January 6, 1971, D. V., In Hope Church. Questions of                "Morning Meditation" program on WHTC.
Art. 41 of the Church Order were asked and answered                                            * * * * *
satisfactorily.                                                        The latest pamphlet published by the Sunday
       On the continued meeting of Nov. 4th the reports of School Mission Publishing Society is one entitled, "The
the committees of pre-advice were treated.                          Infallibility of Holy Scripture," written by Rev. R.
       Classis voted for a new Stated Clerk, and Mr. Jon            Harbach, pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed
Juisken of our Hope Church was chosen. The chairman                 Church. It makes a worthwhile addition to a pamphlet
expressed in the name of  Classis appreciation to Rev.              rack, should your church happen to have one. The
M. Schipper for the many years of service as Stated                 address of the above mentioned Society is:  P-0. Box
Clerk.                                                              1230, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 4950 1.                       D.D.


