                                         he

                                   tandard

                                                 earer

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


~
  I N   T H I S   I S S U E


          Meditation:

              Engraved On His Hands

          Confronted By The Same Issues - Sequel

              (Editorial)

          Seminary Building Drive Report

          More On Key `73

              (All Around Us)





                                                    Volume XL VIII/Number 20 / September I,19 72


458                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


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

                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, inc.
                                                                                           Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
Meditation -                                                                   Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema
  Engraved On His Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458 Department Editors::.  Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                               Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay
Editorials -                                                                   Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev.  Gise  J.
  Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 1 Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
  Confronted By The Same                                                       Editorial  Officer   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
       Issues - Sequel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .461                      1842 Plymouth Terrace,  SE.
                                                                                                 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
  New Zealand, Geelong,                                                        Church News Editor:       Mr. Donald Doezema
       andOrthodoxy.........................
                                                                          2                              1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                         Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
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Meditation
                              Engraved On His Hands
                                                                 Rev. M. Schipper
                                   `Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. . . "
                                                                                                                                   Isaiah 49: 16a.

  A word of comfort directed to Zion!                                          and my Lord hath forgotten me."
  To Zion, enveloped in the darkness of captivity in                               To which Zion the Lord responds: "Can a woman
Babylon!                                                                       forget her sucking child, that she should not have
  Where the Word of God had come to the captives                               compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may
through the prophet,  - "Sing, 0 heavens; and be                               forget, yet will I not forget thee."
joyful, 0 earth; and break forth into singing, 0                                   "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my
mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people,                             hand . . .!"
and will have mercy upon his afflicted."                                           To dejected, downcast, hopeless children of God,
  But where Zion said, "The Lord hath forsaken me,                             this Word of God comes!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     459


  A solid Word of comfort!                                 this so when the image represents a father or mother, a
  "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands!" wife or husband, or perhaps a little infant we dandled
  And, as it was seven or eight centuries before Christ upon the knee. Such a picture is dear to us, and we
came; so it is now, twenty centuries after He came - would not part with it for any price. It is a priceless
the people of God need comfort!                            treasure.
  In the midst of the world steeped in sin, in the           So also, only in a far more real sense, God has an
world that increases in iniquity, where sin and death image of His people upon the palms of His hands. He
still abound; in the world wherein it often appears that does not have it stashed away somewhere in a closet,
all things are against the people of God; wherein the nor does He put it in a place where only casually He
very generations of the believers which are called the may look at it. But He has it in a most prominent
church of God deteriorate, amalgamate and go hand in place. It is near to Him as His hands. It is fixed upon
hand with the world; wherein the child of God finds it His very Person. It can never be lost out of sight. We
increasingly difficult to maintain his own spiritual are always consciously before Him.
equilibrium and  ,distinctiveness   - in that world the      Perhaps you ask the question: But is that image an
true people of God often succumb to gloominess and exact likeness of what I really am? Does that image
fear. In that world, too, they are required to bear the which God has on His hands look precisely like me?
reproaches and shame of the cross of Christ they are         And the answer is an unequivocal: Yes! It is the
expected to carry; but to them come also in the exact portrait of you and me. We look exactly as we
providence of God sufferings of this present time. are inscribed upon His hands.
They see their dear ones snatched away; they feel the        Oh, you say, how terrible! A picture of me as I am
gnawing pains of disease; and the night of this present by nature? My image as I am now, a sinner, a
time often appears to have no end. And in the throes murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a liar? Is it a picture of
of despondency they often cry out, as did the remnant me in my corruption, with all the lines of depravity
in Babylon: "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my marked all over my body, with death working in me,
Lord hath forgotten me." They need comfort!                with all my filthy stains, and all my dirty garments?
  And no more reassuring Word can be given to them           Stop, 0 child of God!
than that which is spoken here to the captives, "I have      Ask no more foolish questions!
graven thee upon the palms of my hands!"                     You are thinking only in terms of that which is
  You understand, of course, that the Lord here earthly. You are thinking of image-making only in
through the prophet speaks to His people in terms of terms of the modern camera, with its ability to take
human language not only, but in terms of human your picture precisely as you appear before its lens.
faculties. That is the only language and the only way When you ask the above questions, you are thinking
they can comprehend what God is saying to them. We only of what you look like after the fall of man in
know from His Word that God is Spirit, and that they Paradise. You are conceiving of yourself only as you
who worship. Him must worship Him in Spirit and in are by nature, but apart from grace.
truth; and that can only mean that God Who is                To be sure, if that were the image God has on His
essentially Spirit has no hands such as you and I have. hands, there would be ample occasion for fright. If
Yet He condescends to the level of our perception to that constituted the image God retains of us, then I for
speak to us even concerning Himself in the conceptions one could not rest day or night. Then all I could
of human life. So that the expression, "the hands of possibly expect from Him would be the dispensations
the Lord," is a figurative expression, signifying that of His holy wrath.
which is very near to Him, and closely connected to          For God never changes! He remains eternally
His very Person. When He says, therefore, "I have righteous, holy, and good. And He maintains Himself
graven thee upon the palms of my hands," He means in all His glorious virtues. Then surely all I could ever
to convey to us the-truth that we are very near to Him. expect would be the continual outpouring of His holy
He has an image of us inscribed upon His Person, and hot displeasure. For God is angry with the wicked
according to which He sees us continually before Him. every day, and the curse of the Lord abides in the
  We also have images, pictures of loved ones, which house of the ungodly. And if my image is that of a
we cherish; pictures of those of whom we hold fond wicked, corrupt, ungodly sinner, then surely He will
recollections. We set them in the most prominent not leave me alone, but He must needs afflict me
places in our homes, where we cannot help but see because of my sins, both my original as well as my
them often. Most generally does the picture appear actual sins. If the prophet had come with such a word
more fonder to us when it represents the likeness of a to the despondent captives, he could in no sense ease
dear one who is far distant from us, or of one who has their suffering, nor would he set them straight in their
been removed from us by the hand of death. Oh, how mistaken notion that the Lord had forsaken and
we cherish their images! One glance at them brings forgotten them. He would only aggravate their
back to our memories fond relationships. Especially is distresses, and make himself an object of reproach.


460                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


And if that is the way we must explain this Word of must be then that He does so only as He sees us
God to you, beloved, then you would have much perfected in Christ. Oh, indeed, God loved us when we
reason to rebel against this Word of God.                      were sinners, and in due time Christ died for the
                                                               ungodly. And even as we are in the midst of all our sin
   But in no sense of the word may this Word of God and corruption, the infinite bowels of God's mercy
thus be interpreted!                                           yearn after us. But it is because He always sees us
   God does indeed have a perfect image of His people according to the perfect image of His Son. He sees us
inscribed upon the palms of His hands, but it is not the always, too, as we shall become perfect in Christ. That
image of us as we are by nature. Rather, (thanks be to we are now, in spite of all our sin and corruption, -
His holy Name) it is the image of us as we are in Christ. perfect in Christ! So we shall be also in the day of
It is the perfect image as we are perfect in Him. It is Christ  - we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be
our picture as we are, without sin, without corruption, transformed into His perfect image. But God sees us as
as we are holy and righteous in our Redeemer. As we always were and forever shall be - in the beauty of
Christ, the Only Begotten, is righteous, holy, glorious, holiness. That image can never be destroyed. We are
most beautiful; so we are the perfection of beauty as deeply engraven  by that counsel of His decrees in the
                                                                   _--.     _
we are engraven  on God's hands.                               hands of His love.
  That image is the original image of Zion which God             What an abiding comfort!
has eternally known in love. From before the                     Comfort it was also for the children of Zion caught
foundation of the world God has not only determined up in the bondage of Babylon.
upon the image of Zion, but He also sees Zion                    Surely, the children of Zion will have to retract the
according to that perfect image. Eternally He has in accusations they made while disconsolate in the throes
love chosen Zion in Christ. Fact is, He never sees us of captivity. Then they charged that the Lord had
apart from Christ. In Christ He sees us as redeemed, forsaken them and had forgotten His people. Zion
cleansed, and holy. In Christ He beholds us redeemed must know that Jehovah, their God, could never forget
through the way of sin and grace, and presented them whom He had sovereignly foreknown, and
without spot or wrinkle in the assembly of the elect in engraven in the palms of His hands. Believing Zion will
life eternal. In Christ we appear before Him in the hear the message of the prophet and be greatly
perfection of beauty. So God sees us eternally. That is comforted. Indeed, the heavens may sing, and the
the image which is  engraven  upon the palms of His earth may rejoice: for the Lord hath comforted His
hands.                                                         people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. Even in
                                                               the midst of the dark night of their captivity, Zion
  That we are engraven on His hands, is also a figure          may be jubilant with praise; for the Lord loves His
of speech. It signifies that we are so permanently people, and will redeem them, perfecting them
etched that the image can never be erased or blotted           according to the image He has of them in His hands.
out. Our photographs, though they may last a long
time when they are properly cared for, may fade and              No different is it for the people of God today!
lose their original lustre and beauty. Then, too,                That is, for that people who are enveloped in the
because we are subject to change, and through age and darkness of this present evil world, and to whom it
illness and many other reasons, we find that it is often appears that the Lord tarries too long in the
necessary to take successive pictures to keep up with realization of His promise to return quickly. That is,
the exact likeness. Not so is it with the image which for that people who often become weary in their battle
God has engraven  upon His hands.                              against sin and darkness, and complain that their God
                                                               has forsaken them. That is, for that people who pine
  That word "engraven" is a beautiful word, pregnant away upon beds of affliction, or are required to bear a
with deep thought. It comes from a word which means cross that often seems too heavy to carry.
literally; to decree or ordain. It points us, therefore, to      Let them find the only true consolation that can lift
God's counsel, according to which He eternally                 them up in the words of this text.
determines and ordains all things, and therefore also
our image. In the counsel of His decrees He eternally            Not much comfort is it for them to know that some
wills a people perfected and made righteous and holy time the present night of darkness will pass away.
in Christ Jesus. And as it were by the steel point of His      Though it may give some relief to know that the
counsel He engraves them upon the palms of His troubles will not last forever, they have no real
hands. So also He loves them and they are the objects easement of their present pain.
of His affection. Never could He love them as dirty,             But nothing gives more comfort than to know that
filthy, hell-bound sinners. We have a righteous God,           the faithful covenant Jehovah holds us in the hallow of
beloved, Who loves righteousness, and militates against        His hands, and that He Who never sleeps, beholds us as
all evil. Shall that God love us, while we are sinners, it we really are, precious in His sight!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          461


Editorial

                                           Editor's Notes
                                                     ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

Deadlines for Announcements. Our Business Manager               issue. We all  - Seminary professors, students,
asked me to give a gentle reminder that the deadlines           Theological School Committee, and Churches - may
for announcements are the 1st and the 15th of the               be greatly encouraged by this report. Forward in faith!
month. By those dates all announcements must be in
his hands (and please do not send them to the Editor)                                        ***
if they are to be placed in the following issue of our R.F.P.A. Annual Meeting. Elsewhere in this issue our
magazine. And while I am making reminders, may I                annual meeting is announced. A special plea is going
remind my fellow staff members that vacation is over,           out to our younger men to attend and to join. I take
and that all copy must be in my hands on the 1st and            this opportunity to urge that ALL our men join hands
the 15th of each month,  one month before                       in this work. Our R.F.P.A. and  Standard Beaver  not
publication?  Your cooperation will help me to meet             only have a great and large work to do; but also,
my deadlines!                                                   especially of late, the responses to our literature have
                            ***                                 been increasing and  &e encouraging  - perhaps,
Be Sure To Read the highly encouraging report on the            exciting  is the word. The R.F.P.A. needs and invites
Seminary Building Fund Drive which appears in this              your active support!


            Confronted By The Same Issues - Sequel
  Perhaps our readers will recall that in our March 1               15/g/71,  this appointment of Dr. Woudstra differs
issue we made the point that the Reformed Churches                  from a normal appointment in that he comes to us
in New Zealand, which support the Theological College               as a professor on loan from the CRBFM, which
in Geelong, Australia, might soon be confronted by the              undertakes to pay the costs of transport for him and
same issues which they faced in connection with the                 his family to Australia, and to continue to support
doctrinal errors of Dr. K. Runia. We suggested that this            him fmancially for the duration of bis term of service
might be the case in connection with some views                     with the College.
                                                                       However, the main reason why we are writing to
expressed in a sermon by Dr. S. Woudstra, the                       you here about Dr. Woudstra is on account of
designated replacement for Dr. G. van Groningen at                  criticisms of a recent. sermon preached by him in the
Geelong, (March 1 issue, pp. 243, ff.).                             Borculo Christian Reformed Church, of which he is
  To the credit of some in New Zealand, `this matter                presently associate-pastor, and of which Dr. van
was brought to the attention of the Board of Directors              Groningen was pastor before his departure for
of Geelong (called in the quotations below the Board                Australia.
of Directors of the Association for a Christian                        We quote from a letter received from the Far-East.
University). In the  Reformed Journal,  the official                Secretary of the CRBFM  (Christian Reformed Board
paper of the Reformed Churches of the Presbyteries of               of Foreign Missions):
Auckland and Wellington, a report of the Board of                      "The pastor of the Borculo Church, in response to
Directors is published. This report is in the form of a             the criticism of one member of the church, requested
                                                                    the elders to hear the recording of the sermon once
letter addressed to the Sessions (consistories) of the              again. The elders then met to discuss the criticism of
churches in New Zealand. We quote that part of their                the sermon. Their judgement was that the sermon was
letter which concerns the views of Dr. S. Woudstra:                 edifying, and that there was nothing in the sermon
    1. re Dr. S. Woudstra: There still seems to be some             which they judged heretical.
    misunderstanding on the part of some members                       "They further appointed a committee to admonish
    concerning the appointment of Dr. Woudstra. This                the brother who made the criticism for failure to
    appointment was made by the Board of Foreign                    bring his objection to the personal attention of Dr.
    Missions of the Christian Reformed Church of                    Woudstra, for failure to discuss his objection with the
    America, in response to our urgent plea for assistance          consistory, and for circulating the tape as he did.
    in the form of a replacement. for Dr. G. Van                       ". . . Dr. Woudstra is aware that these charges had
    Groningen in the department of Old Testament.                   been made. He informed me that the Association of
       As previously stated in our circular letter of               Christian Reformed Laymen- (which publish a


462                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


       semi-secret Newsletter) had also published something        criticism. The  Standard Bearer  is not interested in
       critical of a few sentences from this sermon. In both       ,credit, but in issues.
       these instances the presentation of the material has           3) It is evident that the Board does not enter into
       been judged as utterly unfair . . . If precedents are of    the issues whatsoever. Instead, the Board of Directors
       any significance, I believe I can say that -the             hides behind some second-hand testimony from the
       committee will consider the consistory judgement to
       be adequate and final."                                     Borculo Church without even checking and testing the
          (We refrain from commenting on Prof. H.                  accuracy of that testimony.
       Hoeksema's criticism of Dr. Woudstra's sermon, as it           4) It is evident that the Board of Directors has not
       appeared in the Standard Bearer of 1st May `72).            at all changed its attitude since they were confronted
  In connection with the above statement of the by similar issues in the case of Dr. K. Runia. Also then
Board of Directors of Geelong we make the following - although there was detailed protest against Runia's
comments:                                                          views  - the issues were glossed over. And now the
   1) While we do not know the precise form in which Board was confronted by the same issues, only this
this matter was brought to the Board of Directors, it is time in the case of a professor-on-loan and even before
evident that the Board was made aware of the he had arrived. To make matters worse, in this case the
criticisms of Dr. Woudstra's sermon. And undoubtedly, issues concern one who is to occupy the Chair of Old
if they had been so minded, the Board could have had Testament studies! And the professor-designate for the
access to all the material, including the sermon-tape Old Testament department literally states: 1) That he
itself, and could - and should - have made their own does not know precisely what the infallibility of
judgment. After all, the Board is responsible for the Scripture means. 2) That he does not know the
instruction and the orthodoxy of the instructors at correct interpretation of Genesis l-l 1. 3) That the Old                      1
Geelong - even of instructors who are loaned by the Testament teaches that God is changeable. The issues                          1
Christian Reformed Board of Foreign Missions. In could hardly be clearer. And they could hardly be
other words, it is the responsibility of the Board of more crucial. One can only conclude that the Board of
Directors to decide whether or not the loan is Directors is not sufficiently concerned about the
acceptable.                                                        orthodoxy of their College and of the future ministers
   2) We "refrain from commenting" on the Board's in Australasia even to make a thorough investigation.                           ~
refraining from comment on the  Standard Bearer's They would prefer to use the whitewash brush!


                    New Zealand, Geelong, and Orthodoxy

  But there is more to this sequel.                                position. Will they now allow Dr. Woudstra to teach on
  Involved, as we have pointed out before, are the behalf of their churches, or will they not?
Reformed Churches of New Zealand as supporting                        That is the issue.
churches of Geelong College. They were involved in                    Geelong, unless it does an about-face on this matter,
the Runia matter, but they declined to exercise any is accepting Woudstra as their Old Testament professor
doctrinal discipline in that matter. Meanwhile they in spite of his literally heretical statements. That seems
officially re-affirmed the doctrine of Scriptural to be settled.
infallibility (as summarized in the confessions) and the              But what will the New Zealand Churches do now?
historicity of the details of Genesis 1-3. This statement Will they enforce their decision, repudiate Woudstra's
also included the maintenance of the doctrine of teachings or professions of ignorance, and therefore
election and reprobation as taught by the Canons. withdraw their support of Geelong? Or will they also
Moreover, they took the stand that they "require gloss over the matter, hide behind the "explanation"
anyone who speaks  .or writes, teaches, preaches, or of the Board of Directors of Geelong, and thus back
counsels on behalf of these churches to do so in down from their avowed adherence to the confessions?
accordance with this statement."                                      One voice of dissatisfaction with the statement by
  Now, since Geelong is officially supported by the the Board of Directors is already being heard. The Rev.
New Zealand Reformed Churches, the teaching of Dr. G.H.W. Kroon, of Wellington, writes in the same issue
S. Woudstra also comes - albeit somewhat indirectly - of the Reformed Journal:
under this pronouncement of their Synod: And                              It is on the request of the Board of the Association
therefore, in view of the statement of the Board of                    for a Christian University in Geelong (Vie.) that we
Directors of Geelong, the Reformed Churches of New                     reprint its letter that was sent to the sessions of our
Zealand are very actually confronted by the issue of                   churches on the 15th of May 1972.
maintaining or not maintaining their officially declared                  From this letter it is evident that the Board has


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            463


    been in correspondence with the Far East Secretary              with the nature and extent of the authority of God's
    of the Christian Reformed Board of Foreign Mission              Word. The main thrust of this report is that the Bible
    (CRBFM)  only. Seemingly there has been no direct               has only authority in regard to the redemptive events.
    contact on the matters involved with Borculo session            This report. is being met by great opposition.
    nor with Dr. S. Woudstra himself, otherwise the                  (Opposition which, for the most  @art,  "fnzled."
    Board would have informed us.                                    H.C.H.)
       The College Board does not go into the subject                   The Editor of the Outlook (Torch and Trumpet)
    matter itself in its letter to the Sessions. Seemingly it        rightly put the question.  "what about the other
    agrees with the pronouncement of Borculo Session                 events?" For this report I also refer to the letter to
    that the sermon was edifying and not heretical. The              the Editor of the Banner by Rev. R. J. Venema
    Board however has taken into consideration the                   (formerly of Lunedin and Bucklands Beach) and
    circumstances under which this sermon was preached,              reprinted elsewhere in tb.is issue.
    and has discussed the statements made in the sermon.                The Christian Reformed Church in the USA has
    The Board must have been disturbed seeing it took up             also been involved in a discussion on the extent of the
    contact with the CRBFM, but the answer from the                  atonement of Christ. These things together with the
    Far East Secretary that Borculo session had cleared             family circumstances of Dr. Sierd Woudstra (which
    the sermon was seemingly enough reason for the                   are well known to us all) are the circumstances under
    Board to inform our sessions that no further                     which the sermon was preached. These circumstances
    attention to the matter is required. It should be clear          must be taken into considerationwhen we now look
    by now that the clearance by a session, presbytery or            at. the passages quoted from the sermon. Some have
    a Synod for that matter does not necessarily mean                argued that the whole sermon should be considered,
    that the matter has been cleared.                                but this argument does not hold because the
       Take e.g. the  Baarda/Hegger case. Rev. Hegger                statements cannot have been taken out of context
    complained to Synod through the ecclesiastical                   and they speak for themselves.
    channels of the church about Baarda's book, which is
    regarded as in conflict with Bible and confession. Yet         At this point the Rev. Kroon quotes the passages
    Rev. Hegger was reprimanded by the Dutch Synod               from Dr. Woudstra's sermon which were quoted in our
    and Baarda cleared. Here a faithful minister who             March 1 issue. Then he goes on to say: "We would like
    followed the ecclesiastical way in regard to this public     to comment on the statements. In doing so we refrain
    book was reprimanded for not following Mt. 18                from commenting on or taking into consideration any
    which by the way refers to personal matters.                 criticism frqm any other quarter, just like the Board of
  As we see it, the Rev. Kroon has  20/20 vision on the College states in its letter to the sessions." Again,
this issue. He himself is not prepared to accept the we will not comment on this refraining from comment
say-so of the Far East Secretary of the Chr. Ref. Board on what we wrote. We are interested in issues. And the
of Foreign Missions, nor of the Borculo Cons&tory.  He Rev. Kroon sees the issues. For after quoting the stand
understands clearly that the mere statement of a of the 1971 Synod of the Reformed Churches of New
consistory, of a  classis, or even of a synod does not Zealand to which we  already referred and which we
necessarily settle things.                                       also quoted in our March 1 editorial, he goes on to
  Moreover, the Rev. Kroon has understanding of the point out:
times. He seems to be well aware of the seriousness of
the issues involved in the Woudstra matter, and of the                  But Dr. Woudstra maintains  not  to know the
                                                                     correct interpretation of the first eleven chapters of
fact that in these times those issues ought not to be                Genesis. Further comment would be superfluous.
glossed over. For he writes:                                           In regard to the question of how great is the love
       We would like to inform our readers as to the                 of God, we must keep in mind that this has been a
    circumstances under which the sermon was preached.              point of argument (limited atonement) in the
       The -Churches of Reformed persuasion are at. the              Christian Reformed Church for some time. But again,
    moment involved in a most serious discussion, which             Dr. Woudstra does not know the answer. (Small
    deals with our basic belief, namely the extent and              wonder! The Christian Reformed Synod did not
    nature of the authority of Holy Scripture. This in              know the answer either: they once knew it, but they
    itself gives already reason to be alarmed and                   lost it principally in 1924. Hence, all they could say
    concerned because it shows that the last remnant of             was that Prof. Dekker's doctrine of universal
    the Reformation is no longer sure as to the absolute            atonement was "ambiguous and abstract." H.C.H.)
    and final authority of Scripture even though everyone              Yet, we can say and describe how great God's love
    proclaims this to be true, yet in fact puts immediately         is. It is infinite. It is so great that God loved the world
    a question mark behind it. (But, Rev. Kroon, you will           so much that He gave His only begotten Son. that
    have to exclude the Protestant Reformed Churches                whosoever believes in Him (the elect., limited
    from this accusation. H.C.H.)                                   atonement) should not perish but have everlasting
       The Christian Reformed Church in the USA is                  life. So John  3116  does adequately convey the
    plagued with the same issues as the Reformed                    greatness of God's love. (Sound language! H.C.H.)
    Churches in the Netherlands. This month there is a                 As far as the infallibility of God's Word is
    report. coming up at its Synod (report 36) which deals          concerned, Dr. Woudstra does state that God's Word


464                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


       is infallible, yet does not know what it precisely                 Dr. S. Woudstra will be most welcome in our midst
       means.                                                          as long as he is willing to teach in conformity with
          But we do;don't  we? It is the Truth. It. is God's           the infallible Word of God and in conformity with
       own Word. It is absolutely reliable and absolutely              the summary of it as we have it in our Confessional
       trustworthy from beginning to end, one can trust it             Standards.
       completely and have full confidence in it.                         We expect the Board to see to it and make proper
  And also in regard to the second quotation from Dr.                  investigations in its own behalf.
Woudstra's sermon., the Rev. Kroon insists that we
must state that God does not change.                                 This conclusion I characterized as weak. Why?
  In all this, we say again, the,Rev. Kroon has 20/20                In the first place, because, as Rev. Kroon himself has
vision. He speaks sound language.                                  pointed out, Dr. Woudstra has by his literal statements
                                                                   made it plain that he is not in conformity with the
  B u t   t h e r e   a r e   t w o   t h i n g s   w h i c h   w e   c a n n o t infallible Word of God and in conformity with the
understand, in view of this sound language.                        summary of it as we have it in our Confessional
  The first is this: why did not the Rev. Kroon insist Standards. The Rev. Kroon may not welcome Dr.
upon doctrinal discipline in the Runia matter in 1971, Woudstra UNLESS and UNTIL he retracts those
when the same issues were very clearly at stake?
  The second is this: why does the Rev. Kroon statements and gives full satisfaction as to his
                                                                   conformity with the confessions.
conclude his otherwise good comments so weakly? For
he concludes as follows:                                             In the second place, because the Board has already
          We must come to the conclusion that the future           refused to make proper investigations in its  own-
       professor of Old Testament at the College has many          behalf, as Rev.  Ki-oon also pointed out. So the Rev.
       questions and problems, which indeed raises the             K.roon's expectation on this score is vain. He should
       question why the Board has taken no further action          have demanded that the Board reconsider, and that it
       than to inquire from the Far East Secretary of the          now do what it failed to do previously in the case of
       CFiBFM.                                                     Dr. Woudstra.
          It is of course true that the College Board is             In the third place, because it is now the Reformed
       dependent on the Christian Reformed Church Synod            Churches of New Zealand, not the Board of Directors,
       via thk CRBFM  for the loan of Dr. Woudstra and the         who are directly confronted by the issue of
       financial matters involved, but that. does not take the     maintaining their declared position, and therefore, of
       responsibility of the Board away in regard  to the          refusing to accept Dr. Woudstra and to support
       acceptance of the appointment.
          Neither does it take away the responsibility of the      Geelong in its acceptance of him; or of repudiating
       Board for going into the subject matter itself and          their adopted position and of accepting Woudstra and
       taking up personal contact with the future professor.       supporting Geelong. It is either . . . or! The Rev. K.roon
          In this day and age where the whole Reformed             should have concluded by calling upon the Reformed
       community is thrown into turmoil around the basic           Churches of New Zealand officially to face up to this
       question: What is the extent and nature of the              issue. And he would do well not only to do this, but to
       authority of God's Word? we desire teachers, be they        initiate action by way of his own Session and
       professors, ministers or elders who give straight           Presbytery to implement the decision of 197 1 and to
       forward answers with no buts and ifs.                       refuse  su.pport to Geelong or acceptance of its
          The Board of the College is responsible for its task.    graduates as long as Geelong accepts Dr. Woudstra.
       We do know that the Board desires to maintain a               To postpone taking a stand and to say that Dr.
       sound Reformed position. Well the Board ought to
       show it. In case the Board has worked under pressure        Woudstra must be and will be watched from now on
       of the financial consequences let it be known that          will be  fatal. The Rev. Kroon ought to know this, in
       many, if not all in our denominations, are quite            view of his apparently rather thorough acquaintance
       willing to raise an additional amount of money to           with events in the Netherlands.
       maintain a sound, straight forward Reformed chair of          Or is it, perhaps, too late already - in view of the
       Old Testament at. the College.                              Runia debacle?


Question Box
                                   About Infant Baptism
                                                         Prof H. C Hoeksema
  In our August issue I began to  .answer some                     quoting arguments raised by a Baptist Minister, I saved
questions concerning the grounds of infant baptism.                for this issue. Let me repeat the question to refresh our
The first question raised- by my questioner, who was               memories: "His point of argument was as follows:


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               465


during the Old Testament institution of the Passover, the Passover-Lord's Supper relation to the Circumci-
the young children were instructed to partake of the sion-Baptism relation. Circumcision and Baptism both
institution, and when they asked their fathers, `Why do involve infants who cannot even begin to ask, "What
we observe this ceremony?' the fathers were to teach does this ceremony mean?" The Passover included
them about their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, children, but, remember, such children as were able to
Exodus  12:24-27. We believe that in the new ask about and to receive instruction in the meaning of
dispensation the institution of the Lord's Supper has that feast. Now we are not informed in the Old Testa-
taken the place of the Passover, and yet only believers ment how old children were, or had to be, before they
are allowed to partake of the Sacrament and not their participated in the Passover and would raise this
children (as in the Passover). Because ONLY believers question. But certainly, they had reached "the years of
are to partake of the elements of the Lord's Supper, so discretion." They were no infants; they were not even
also ONLY believers are to receive the sign of the toddlers. The very question and the possibility of
covenant. In other words, although `. . . God formerly understanding an answer presuppose this. And we
commanded them to be circumcised, which was a seal know from later history that at the time of Jesus'
of the covenant, and of the righteousness of faith. . .' earthly sojourn the boys were not taken to the
now, because the infants are excluded from the Lord's Passover at Jerusalem until they were twelve years old,
table, so are they to be excluded from this `seal of the and that this was preparatory to their being admitted
covenant.' "                                            to the congregation at the age of thirteen. But  -
  This is indeed an interesting, though entirely whatever the age  - you certainly cannot draw a
specious, argument. Why? There are several reasons parallel and thus destroy the argument in favor of
why this argument is not valid.                         infant baptism in this way, for the simple reason that
  First of all, and most importantly, there is a false there is a vast difference between infants and children.
disjunction here between believers and children            In the second place, I do not believe that one can
(infants). I alluded to this in my remarks about the draw a strict parallel between the Passover and the
relation between baptism and circumcision, (cf. August Lord's Supper, as is presupposed in this argument. It is
issue). But this is extremely important. The Baptist true that the institution of the Lord's Supper has taken
claims that we must baptize only believers. We reply the place of the Passover as a whole. But it is not true
that we do baptize believers when we baptize infants. that the Lord's Supper is in every respect and detail
We do so just as surely as he baptizes believers when he the New Testament replacement and fulfillment of the
baptizes adults. He will argue that many infants who Passover. In fact, there is not even the similarity to a
are baptized later prove to be no children of God, but sacrament in the Passover which you find, according to
are lost. On this same basis, however, the Baptist Scripture, in Circumcision: Scripture literally calls
cannot baptize adults: for he cannot be sure that all Circumcision a "seal of the righteousness of faith,"
professing adults are believers either; some, even many, Rom. 4: 11. I point this out because this also implies
may be hypocrites and false confessors. But above all, that one cannot  expect  that all children should be
the Baptist has to make the same argument against admitted to the Lord's Supper as they were to the
infant circumcision as against infant baptism. But if he Passover. In the case of Baptism you may expect all
does so, he is in flagrant contradiction of Scripture, infants of believers to be baptized, even as all infants
which directly commanded that the seed of Abraham of the covenant were circumcised. But in the case of
be  circumcized in infancy. We must remember, the Lord's Supper you may not expect this (and then
therefore, that it is organically true of infants of make an argument against infant baptism out of the
believers that "they as well as the adult are included in fact that they are not), because there is not a full
the covenant and church of God" and that parallel between the Lord's Supper and the Passover.
"redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the       In the third place, children  are  admitted to the
Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them Lord's Supper. However, the question of admission is
no less than to the adult," and that therefore "they not determined by the question as such whether they
must by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also are children or adults. The criterion is a spiritual one.
admitted into the Christian church," (Heidelberg Fundamentally, we may briefly state this criterion in
Catechism, Qu. and A. 74).                              the question: are they able to discern the Lord's body?
  But what about this argument from the idea of the The church has differed in the past as to how old a
Passover?                                                child must be in order to do this; and the church has
  In the first place, it should be rememberd that this differed as to how this standard is to be applied. In our
discussion revolving about the relation of the Passover churches adolescent children are admitted when they
and the' Lord's Supper involves children, not infants. are able to make and do make profession of their faith,
This is an important difference, so important that it at whatever age that may be. John Calvin at one time
destroys the whole argument raised by this Baptist proposed that this could be at the age of ten, after
minister. For it means that he cannot argue back from thorough catechizing. Later the age was set at fourteen


 466                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


in his Ecclesiastical Ordinances.  But it is surely not are passive. Even infants can be and are incorporated
 correct to say that children are not admitted to the into the covenant. Hence, infants ought also to be
 Lord's Supper. In fact, I will go a step farther. Children baptized. The Lord's Supper, however, is the
 are also admitted in a measure and as members of their sacrament of our continuance in, nourishment in, and
 families even before they actually partake of the enjoyment of the fellowship of God's covenant. In this
 Supper's elements: this is the reason why they ought we are conscious and active. We eat and drink. We
to be and are present with their parents when the discern  the Lord's  body.  This presupposes  a  conscious
 Lord's Supper is celebrated and why we do not and and active faith on the part of those who partake,
 ought not leave them at home at that occasion.                  In conclusion, therefore, I maintain that the
   Finally, all of the above stands in close connection argument raised by this  Baptist  mirkter to  my
 with the difference between the two sacraments. questioner is not a valid argument against baptism of
 Baptism is the sacrament of our incorporation into the infants.
 covenant and church of God. In this incorporation we


              Seminary Building Drive Report
                                                   AUGUST IO,1972

   "Praise the Lord!" The cry we often associate with          in cash and pledges, the Theological School Committee
an over-exuberance in certain religious circles. But we        could begin building (about $68,250). In order to raise
can not help but express ourselves in this way, too,           the total sum, we asked an average contribution of
concerning the drive for funds for a new seminary              $150.00 per family  - if necessary, to be paid over a
building.                                                      period of five years ($30.00 per year). We suggested
   We frankly confess that we were of little faith as this     that our unmarried working young people also help in
project began. The Theological School Committee has            this worthy endeavor - since they have a vital interest
believed for a long time that a Seminary Building was          in the future of the ministry of the Word in our
essential. Not only are present quarters inadequate and        Churches. And frankly, the response so far is
hardly attractive; not only was the Seminary and its           overwhelming. We'll give you the figures. Half of our
faithful professors worthy of far better facilities than       churches have sent in the reports on their last drives
we had been giving them; but also present quarters do          (including reports from most of our larger churches.)
not meet the requirements and regulations of the state To date, we have in cash and pledges: $64,278. Of this
for a school building. Yet when the project of a new           total, $10,412 was contributed before the most recent
building was first proposed, there was expressed doubt,        personal-contact drive. The last drive, therefore, has
questions, and  .even serious objections. With much            raised a total so far of $53,866  - with eight or nine
trepidation, and considerable doubts ourselves about           more of our churches to report. Of the nine reporting
its success, we initiated a drive for funds (in harmony        churches, the following was given:
with the decision of the Synod of 1968). Frankly,
some of us would have been surprised but pleased if                             Doon: $3,555
only  half  of the needed funds were raised. And our                            Edger-ton: $474
early fears seemed only too well-founded when funds                             Grand Rapids:
began only to trickle in - so that after a year we had                            First: $12,640
less than $7,000.                                                                 Hope: $13,810
   But God put to shame our own lack of faith. After                              Southeast: $6,180
the recent concerted drive for funds, and although all                          Holland: $4,730
of our churches have not yet reported, we can inform                            Hudsonville: $9,192
you that God has so moved the hearts of our people                              Isabel: $1,450
that they gave with such generosity, and obviously                              Kalamazoo: $1,685
often sacrificially, that our goal will be almost                We would also note the following:
attained. It is still difficult for us to believe - but the      1, That many of our families in all of our churches
figures speak for themselves.                                  contributed in the first letter drive we conducted.
   The projected cost of our Seminary building These contributions are  not  reflected in the church
(including land and furnishings), a figure approved by drives listed above. The above represents only the
our 1972 Synod, is about $105,000. Synod also amount raised in the most recent drive.
decided that when 65% of the total needed was raised             2. That Pella, as we earlier reported, was the first of.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              467


our churches to meet the original goal in the first drive contributed to this cause, to help us now that our goal
of $100.00 per family.                                      may be fully met. Some, we know, can not assist
  3. That the above figures in at least one instance financially. Those who can, whose heart the Lord
represents even  more than  a $150.00 per family moves, are asked to give soon - either through their
contribution.                                               consistorial treasurer, or directly to our Seminary
  4. When the remaining churches report, we ought to Building Fund treasurer: Mr. R. Teitsma; 1659
be rather close to the total amount needed  - and far Shangrai-La Drive, S.E.; Grand Rapids, Michigan
above the- 65% Synod required before we could begin 49508. We thank God that our Seminary building
construction.                                               shall, in harmony with His will, soon be a reality. But
  Is it any wonder that our hearts are overwhelmed - we do earnestly desire that each of our families has a
and we cry, "Praise the Lord!"? We will attempt to part in making this building a reality.
report later the grand totals of the fund drive - and we      One final word of appreciation and thanks to our
will try to keep you informed on the progress of the hard-working secretary of the Theological School
new Seminary building. The Theological School Committee  and  treasurer of the Seminary Building
Committee has appointed a special committee of four Fund: Mr. R. Teitsma. He has been doing more than
Grand Rapids' area businessmen and contractors to his share of work for our Seminary, and we do greatly
recommend a new site for the Seminary building and appreciate his labors.
to give recommendations on the final plans for the
building.                                                                  For the Theological School Committee,
  We would also urge those who have not yet                                           Rev. G. Van Baren, president


The Day of Shadows

                      The  Viper% Brood Strikes
                                                Rev. John A. Heys

  Although we cannot read the heart, and are in no Abel's rebuke of Cain was a righteous deed, and Cain's
position to do as they did, John the Baptist (Matthew response was wicked. The rebuke that Abel gave was
3: 7) and Jesus (Matthew 12: 34) called the unbelieving one that was given in brotherly love. He had concern
Scribes and Pharisees a "generation of vipers." And the for Cain's spiritual wellbeing. Cain's snarl at God, "Am
idea, of course, is that they were the seed of the I my brother's keeper?" revealed a complete lack of
serpent, children of the devil, that old Serpent and love for God and his brother. It revealed that, though
Satan, as he is called in Revelation 20:2.                  his hand brought a sacrifice, his heart was not right
  Cain, after a period of behaving outwardly as though with God. And it manifests so clearly that relationship
he were also the seed of the woman manifested himself between the two tables of the law. One cannot hate
to be of the Viper's brood. That there was no love in God without sooner or later revealing that one has no
his heart for God became evident not only in his love for the neighbour as well. And one who loves God
hatred for his brother, Abel, but even before that in his will reveal a love for the neighbour. With Abel there
worship of a god which he had raised up for himself.        was no question as to whether he was his brother's
Abel built an altar to God and humbly sought pardon spiritual keeper or not. In love he came quickly with a
in the way of the shedding of blood. Cain sought no word whereby he sought to set Cain on the right
pardon but favour by his works, giving up some of the       course.
fruits of the ground, which he had acquired at such an        Somehow, we know not exactly how, God revealed
expense of backbreaking toil.                               to both of these brothers that He was pleased with
  As one who' is of the Viper's brood he struck the Abel's offering and sorely displeased with Cain's. Men's
death blow to the seed of the woman. He struck with imagination often runs wild in such Biblical accounts,
swift and cruel hatred. John tells us that he slew his      and they try to make the story live for a child by
brother because his works were evil and his brother's introducing elements which corrupt rather than
were righteous. And this does not simply refer to the instruct. Children are deceived into thinking that the
fact that Abel's offering was the kind that God had smoke of Cain's offering went down to the ground
taught man to bring, and was therefore right in His while Abel's arose majestically to the sky. It may be
sight, while Cain's was one of his own invention and questioned very seriously, however, whether at this
the product of his sinful pride, but it also means that stage man even knew how to build a fire and to light a


468                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


sacrificial altar. That may have come later by the             The evil of Cain is pointed out. He is told that his
ingenuity of  TubalCain, the instructor of every             calling is to fight this monster of sin that lies crouching
artiticer in brass and iron. Far more in harmony with at the door and to rule it, rather than let it rule him.
Scripture itself would be the position that God sent There is a rebuke here. There is instruction in the way
fire down from heaven to consume Abel's offering, of righteousness, but there is no offer of salvation
while leaving Cain's wholly untouched. It was, at any whatsoever.
rate, something God did that revealed His pleasure and         Cain is told what his calling is. He must rule over sin
displeasure. But even then, though He did do this at and not let sin rule him. Sin desired to devour him, but
Mt. Carmel with Elijah's offering, we have no word as Cain is to desire that it be driven from his door and be
to how God showed His reaction to the two offerings. put in a cage where it can trouble him no more. In
  One truth that is quite evident is that both Cain and brief what God tells Cain is that he must fight this
.Abel knew that God was pleased with Abel's offering wickedness within him. And there is not one word or
and displeased with Cams. God made it plain to Cain letter even of suggestion of an offer of salvation. That
that He had no respect at all for his offering. And Abel comes only through the cross of Christ, the Lamb of
could read it on Cain's countenance, even if there were God which taketh away the sin of the world, the Lamb
no other sign given by God.                                  that Cain by his sacrifice had despised, and Whom he
  It is not clear from the account whether God spoke refused to confess. And God tells Cain, "I simply will
audibly to Cain so that Abel heard it as well, or even, not bless you outside of Christ. If you walk the wrong
whether verses 6 and 7 are God's word through Abel. way, Cain, do not become angry with ME, but with
We do read in the next verse that Cain talked with yourself! Sin lieth at YOUR door, not mine. Do not
Abel after this word of God came to him. However, accuse Me of being unfair when I accept your brother's
literally we read that the Lord spoke to Cain; and in offering when he is walking in the right way. Do not
that day there was nothing unusual about that. After expect me, Cain, to walk two ways: with you in your
Abel was dead, God spoke directly to Cain and asked way of evil and unbelief, and with Abel in his way of
him where his brother was. Directly God spoke to Cain righteousness. Do not expect Me, Cain, to walk in any
of his punishment as a fugitive and vagabond. So that other way than the way of righteousness. Put your
God did speak even to this reprobate in direct speech; anger away by recognizing the sin that you are
and verses 6 and 7 no doubt are such direct speech. following. Rule over that sin by a desire to serve Me, as
God does have a message for the Viper's brood as well I instructed you through your father and mother, and
as for the seed of the woman.                                as your brother, Abel, has done."
  That message is "If thou doest well, shalt thou not          "And Cain talked with Abel."
be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the      How full of significance are those words. God has
door. And unto thee shall his desire be, and thou shalt ceased speaking to him after giving him a serious
rule over him." And this message is no "well-meant warning. And the anger in Cain was becoming more
offer of salvation" to the Viper's brood. Having by furious. He would not fight that monster of sin out
sovereign decree divided the whole human race into there at the door. He opened the door to let him in.
two seeds, God does not offer to the seed of the His desire was for that sin, rather than to rule it and
serpent a salvation dependent upon works. Cain is not lock it up so that it would not leap upon him to rule
presented with a condition which, if he will fulfill it, him in the way of destruction. Seeing, then, this
will bring him the blessings of God's covenant.              representative of the living God, Whose Word had only
  No, we must understand this in the light of what hardened him rather than brought him on his knees in
God Himself first reveals in Genesis  4:5; "And Cain repentance, Cain began to speak with his brother who
was very wroth, and his countenance fell." Wroth with had been accepted by God.
God, mind you! The sin was not Cain's, according to            They had words together. Abel's were, as we
his thinking as one who is of the Viper's brood. No, suggested before, those of one deeply concerned with
the evil was on God's part because He had no respect his brother's spiritual wellbeing. He urged Cain to
for all this hard work and this "goodness" on Cain's listen to what God said and to turn from his evil way.
part to give up the pleasure of his fruit in order to He maintained the justice of God and in doing so
offer it to God. In that context God maintains His own accused Cain of unrighteousness. One cannot do
righteousness. Over against Cain's unspoken but otherwise. Either God is righteous, or the sinner. You
implied charge of God's unjust dealings with him, so cannot serve God and mammon. But you cannot say
that the sinner becomes wroth with God because He God is right and Cain is also right. You have to choose.
will not enjoy the evil of that sinner, God declares His You have to say either that God is right in refusing to
own righteousness, pointing out to Cain that if he had have respect for the sinful deeds of men, or you have
done well, God in all righteousness surely would have to say that the sinful deeds of men must receive God's
accepted him. It is not God who is not doing well. It is respect; and then you say that God is unrighteous. You
Cain. And when we do well, God does not do evil.             have to say that God has a perfect right to tell His


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  469


creature how He must be worshipped; or you have to               The Viper's brood, which John the Baptist and Jesus
say that the creature has that right; and God sins when       called such by name, talked with The Seed of the
He does not bless that creature who "does his own             Woman; and in that same anger of Cain they took Him
thing" in regard to the worship of God.                       and nailed Him to an accursed tree. Abel's blood was a
  Many churches  - and individuals in the church  -           picture of far more precious blood that would be shed.
who today want to do their thing, want to pray to God            And today Cain is still talking with Abel. The more
as they see fit, rearrange and change their form of           purely, therefore, that Abel defines the truth and
worship to satisfy the fleshly cries of men, better listen    opposes the heretic in his corruptions of the truth, the
once to Abel, and not ridicule him, for he spoke God's        closer Abel will be to feel the blow of Cain. The false
Word. They better listen to God who alone can tell            church does not want to be told that sin lieth at the
man how He must be worshipped and can be                      door. She wants to be applauded for her social
worshipped.                                                   achievements and numerical growth. She wants to
                                                              open the door and let sin rule her. Dare to point out to
  Abel lost his life for it.                                  her that she corrupts God's Word and is endangering
  And this is not only quite characteristic of what           her whole constituency, and you will find not only
men who lift themselves up in pride against the living        that she is wroth with God, but with you for being a
God do, but also prophetic of what we may expect in           representative of a righteous God Who will not bless in
the future. For Cain is going to talk to Abel again.          the way of sin. And soon enough she will manage to
Cains have talked with Abels through the ages, and            obtain the mark of the beast to bury you in the sand,
murdered them because they maintained God's cause             continuing to defend herself and claiming to be
and said: Repent!                                             worshipping God.


Contending for the Faith

    The Doctrine of Atonement (Reformation Period)
                                                 Rev. H. Veldmun

  How the gates of hell attempted to destroy the              governments in the midst of the world. This was also
Church of God and of Christ shortly after Christ's            the charge hurled at our Lord Jesus Christ. And,
resurrection from the death and His ascension into            principally, this is the accusation hurled at the Cause
heaven! Think of the efforts of the godless leaders of        of God throughout the ages; and it will surely reach its
the people, the Sanhedrists, as they first threatened the     greatest fulfillment at the end of the ages, in the days
disciples by word of mouth and then commanded                 of the antichrist. The persecutions suffered by the
them to be beaten, and this for no other reason than          followers of the Man of Sorrows, as endured, e. g., in
that they had spoken and witnessed of Jesus Christ of the arena in Rome, are surely familiar to all of us!
Nazareth, Whom they had crucified and slain, declaring           Greater, however, was the suffering heaped upon the
of Him that He, the crucified and glorified Lord, had         flock of the Lord in the days of the Reformation. It
healed the impotent beggar who sat daily in the gate has been said that the affliction visited upon the
of the temple.1 Think of Paul who had one                     faithful people of the Lord in those days was at least
all-controlling passion: to destroy this cause of Jesus       five times greater than in the days of the Roman
Christ of Nazareth. This apostle may have done this in        emperors. And all this will reach its climax in the days
ignorance, but it is surely true that the gates of hell       immediately prior to the coming of the Son of Man
were operating through this learned man of Tarsus.            upon the clouds of heaven. Of those days it is written
Think of all the sufferings which Paul was compelled in the Scripture that they will be shortened for the
to suffer for the name of Jesus, listed by the apostle in     sake of the elect.
2 Cor. 11: 22-28. Did not all the apostles suffer                How comforting is the truth that the Lord always
martyrdom, with the exception of the apostle John?            gathers His Church! It is only in the light of this truth
  How the gates of hell sought to destroy the Church          that we may believe that the Lord will also realize His
of God in the second and third century, called "The           purpose in the future. The Arminian cannot have this
Heroic Age"! The people of the Lord were called an            comfort. He can never say that the Lord's church shall
impossible people, and the Church of God was                  be gathered. We understand, of course, that there can
regarded as a menace to all society and civil                 never be any certainty upon the basis of free will. A


470                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


chain is never stronger than its weakest link. If the contributed his part to this salvation, no man would
salvation of a sinner be dependent upon the free will of have been saved. It is true that, according to the
a sinner, one can never have the assurance either that Remonstrant, the Lord prepared this salvation. This
any individual sinner will be saved or that the Church       heavenly Host prepared the meal. But, in the work of
of God will be gathered and completed throughout the saving the sinner, God offers this salvation to all who
ages. However, if the Lord Himself accomplishes His hear the gospel. And it is the sinner who accepts this
counsel, who will be able to prevent or frustrate it?        offer, who agrees to be saved. And without this
   What is the result of this, according to this ninth concurring will of the sinner the Lord is not able to
article? Well, in the first place, in connection with the save a single soul. As the undersigned heard Billy
blessed truth that the elect are always gathered-in due Graham say once: if man does nothing, God cannot do
time  - which, we understand, is God's time  - this anything for him. Isn't this a terrible presentation.
applies, first of all, to this present time. The Lord takes And, in the second place, notice that the fathers, in
care of it that His elect are always gathered, so that       this ninth article, say of this Bridegroom that He laid
there is always a true church on earth and in the midst down His life upon the cross for His people. Again
of the world. This, of course, takes place, on the one they speak of the cross as the foundation of our
hand, through the mission work of the church as salvation. And this, too, is truly Reformed and
performed among the heathens. Of course, we must Scriptural. The cross of Christ is the foundation of our
understand that also this is determined by the will of salvation. According to the Arminian, the efficacy of
the Lord, and that as stated by the fathers in Article 3     Calvary depends upon the free will of the sinner. As far
of Head I of our Canons. But this gathering of the           as the Arminian is concerned, the possibility exists
church also occurs when the church backslides and that, although Christ died upon the cross for sinners,
becomes the false church. The Lord sees to it that           none would be saved. But the fathers of Dordt must
reformations always occur in the midst of the church.        have nothing of this. They present the cross as the
We cannot, of course, call attention to this in detail.      foundation of our salvation. The cross does not save us
But we do well to understand that this, too, is the because we believe, but we believe because the cross
work of the Lord. It is He Who always gathers His elect has saved us. All our salvation rests upon and in the
people again. The Word of God abounds in this truth,         cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, Who delivered
in the Old as well as in the New Testament.                  Him for us all (the elect) will surely with Him freely
That the elect are always gathered in due time also          give us all things. Then, upon the cross of Jesus Christ,
applies to the final gathering of all the elect in           our Lord, our salvation was settled once and for all.
everlasting glory. Then the body of our Lord Jesus           This is the comforting truth of the atonement of Him
Christ will be complete. Then all who belong to'that         Whom we confess to be our Saviour, our Bridegroom
body of Christ, as according to God's election, shall        Who laid down His life for His bride!
have been gathered together. Not one shall be missing          When we discuss the Rejection of Errors which the
in that day. It is surely not necessary to emphasize that    fathers add to each head of the Canons, we do well to
this is exclusively the work of the Lord. How foolish it     bear in mind that these errors, as stated by our fathers
is for man to try to gather the church of God. He            in these articles, are not necessarily admitted by the
spends millions of dollars to win souls for Christ, hires    Arminian. He will probably raise his hands in holy
untold singers and orchestras, etc. What folly! What         horror when confronted with the accusation that he is
nonsense to go through all this trouble `to win souls!       guilty of these heresies. There is a Dutch saying that
Man cannot win souls anyway. This is exclusively the         the heretic "kemt niet met de klompen  aan." This
work of the Lord. The Lord does not need all this            means that he does not approach us wearing wooden
assistance. He gathers His church through His Word           shoes. He does not approach so that we are aware of
and Spirit.                                                  his coming. He approaches stealthily. He hides his
  And the glorious task of that church is: to love their     heresy underneath a cloak of the truth. He deceives the
Saviour and to serve and to praise Him. This, too, we        church of the Lord. Those are always his tactics. The
read in this ninth article of this head of our Canons.       apostle Paul speaks of this in Eph. 4: 14, and we quote:
For He loved them as a bridegroom his bride, and laid        "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to
down His life for them on the cross. How true it is that     and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
this can be confessed truly and sincerely only by the        by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
Reformed Christian! The Remonstrant cannot really            they lie in wait to deceive." What a severe, cutting, but
say this. In the first place, only the Reformed child  of    trueindictment the apostle here hurls at the heretics.
God can confess that the people will praise their            Imagine! He speaks of the "sleight of men." This word
Saviour. After all, according to the Remonstrant, he         "sleight" means literally: to play with dice. This means
contributed something to his salvation. He cannot            that the heretic is a gambler. He "plays" with the
ascribe all the glory to the Lord. Man did something,        Church of God! He gambles with the truth to seek his
too. And what man did is vital. Fact is, had man not         own aims. And, employing the sleight of men, he


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   471


resorts to cunning craftiness. Literally, we read in this     revelations of the Word of God. But he surely does not
passage that he employs cunning craftiness unto a interpret those truths in the Scriptural sense of the
system of error. He uses cunning craftiness which is          word.
designed to set up a system of error. He is wickedly            Do we understand the implication of this? How
clever. He concocts a system of error which is designed       important it is that we remain distinctive in the full
to deceive the people of the Lord. The Arminians were         sense of the. word! To recognize the wolf in sheep's
guilty of this. This is evident from their Five Points of     clothing demands on our part the power of keen and
the Remonstrants. Some of these articles are drawn up         spiritual discernment. How difficult. it is to recognize
in such a way that it is difficult to discern truth from      him! How important that we be constantly on the
error. And the heretic does this deliberately. He knows       alert, "on our toes." Sometimes we may hear the
that the people of God love the truth. So, he does not        complaint of those who say that we are too distinctive
reveal himself in his true identity. He is really a wolf      in our preaching and teaching. They claim that all that
but he comes in sheep's clothing. He approaches you as        is necessary is that we preach and teach positively the
a friend. He, although deliberately distorting the truth,     Word of God. They lament and bemoan it when the
comes to you as near to the truth as possible. How true       preaching is distinctive. How sad it would be should we
this is today! The modernist makes use of terms which         heed this outcry of some! The Scriptures, however,
are derived from the Word of God. He speaks of the            declare that we must divide the Word of God rightly.
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His              The Word of God declares that we must no more be
coming again to set up His eternal kingdom. He also           children, tossed to and fro and carried about with
speaks of sin and grace. But he lays a meaning into           every wind of doctrine. The Word of the Lord
those terms which is completely foreign to the                demands on our part an unceasing vigilance, that we
meaning of the Word of God. This is also true of the          must constantly be on the alert. And our Church Order
Arminian. He speaks of election and reprobation and           demands it of us, as when we read in Art. 55: "To
will appear horrified should you accuse of denying            ward off false doctrines and errors that multiply
these Scriptural truths. He speaks of atonement and           exceedingly through heretical writings, the Ministers
will accuse you of misrepresentation should you lay it        and Elders shall use the means of teaching, of
to his charge that he denied this fundamental truth. He       refutation, or warning, and of admonition, as well in
tells you that the sinner is saved by grace and that faith    the Ministry of the Word, as in Christian teaching and
is a gift of God and will denounce any effort on your         family-visiting." May our churches ever remain faithful
part to accuse him of .the error of denying these             unto that end!



From Holy Writ

              Exposition Of Ephesians 5: 15-21 (can't.)

                                                   Rev. G.Lubbers

BE YE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT  (Eph.                      that one is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks with
5:18b)                                                        tongues. And in such speaking with tongues we have
  Not all students of the Bible will agree as to what is      the rock-bottom assurance and guarantee that one is
meant with the Scriptural injunction "be ye filled            redeemed and surely saved.
with the Spirit." There is a false mysticism which              In view of this rather perverted understanding of
makes being filled with the Spirit the shibboleth of          what is meant with, "be ye filled with the Spirit," we
what constitutes a Christian; it is the special criterion     do well to carefully study what Paul means here in the
of what is to be considered the earmark of true               text; we must know the mind of the Spirit here. We
spirituality. This is true of all the Holiness Groups; we     may begin by pointing out that in the Greek text for
find it in Pentecostal Churches and their affiliates; as      "Be ye filled" is a present, imperative, passive verb. The
the outgrowth of John Wesley's teaching concerning            present tense indicates that the being filled is never
the "second benefit." This latter refers to such an           fully finished; constantly the believers need to be filled
influx of the Holy Spirit that the believer now               with a new supply of the Spirit. Next, we should notice
instantaneously becomes sanctified, even as he was            that the passive voice indicates that as far as the being
thus justified once and for all by faith. And then the        filled is concerned this is not the act and initiative of
infallible evidence of such attained sanctity must be man, but of God himself. The filling with the Spirit is


472                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


God's work; it is His divine energy. He works in us            artificial as all that; it is  the. profound fruit of the
both to will and to do of  His good pleasure. This is          Spirit working sanctification in our hearts, so that we
quite in line with the teaching of Paul in Ephesians           love God, His law and precepts from the heart; it is that
4:23 "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and we do not only begin to live according to some of
that ye put on the new man, which after God is                 God's commandments, but according to all of them!
created in righteousness and true holiness." Also here         This is evident from the strong contrast drawn here by
the "renewal" is the act of God; man is wholly passive         Paul in this text: be not drunk with wine . . . but be
as far as the renewal is concerned. This renewal affects       filled with the Spirit.
the entire inner man: mind, heart and soul. It is not
only a renewal of the soul, the feelings, the aspirations;     THE TONGUE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE
it refers also to the renewal of the mind  (nous),  yea,       SPIRIT (Eph. 5:19)
the renewal of the spirit of the mind. "What is to be             From the abundance of the heart the mouth
renewed is not merely the outward habits, a mode of            speaketh. God places the fruit of the Spirit upon our
life; not merely transient tempers or dispositions but         lips. It is the continual sacrifice of thanksgiving. It is
the interior principle of life, which lies back of all of      the perpetual sacrifice to God. God takes coals of fire
this" (Hodge, Commentary on Ephesians).                        from the altar and purifies the lips of Isaiah. (Isaiah 6)
  And still there is one thing more about this verb in         And when this happens we have an exalted and
the Greek text, translated "filled with the Spirit," to        uplifting speech. This is not the song of the drunkard; it
notice. We must notice the imperative mood here                is the song of the Spirit-filled saint.
employed. It tells the believer to do something. When             Paul is not inventive when he connects the
he has been gifted with the Spirit of Christ, and lives in     "speaking" in Psalms and hymn and "spiritual songs"
the Spirit, he must also walk in the Spirit. (Gal. 5: 25)      with being filled with the Holy Spirit. Fact is, that the
Rigidly and exactly we must walk in the Spirit within          text is such in the Greek that the "speaking to
the entire compass of our life, according to every             yourselves" is presented as being continuous action,
commandment. It is evident that the exhortation to be          contemporaneous with the being filled with the Spirit.
filled with the Spirit points in this latter direction.        The speaking is the fruit of the Spirit constantly. And
There is such a spiritual reality as to "yield ourselves to    this fruit must be constantly upon the lips of the
the Spirit." This is the putting on of the new man due         congregation. And these spirit-filled saints must
to being "renewed in the spirit of the mind." Thus the         "speak" in psalms and hymns and spiritual odes. Why?
Canons of Dort teach "Whereupon the will thus                  Because a Spirit-filled saint must speak language which
renewed, is not only actuated and influenced by God,           is God-breathed; he will need to sing only that which is
but in consequence of this influence,  becomes itself itself given by the Spirit in the Scriptures. These psalms
active (I underscore).    Wherefore also, man is himself and spiritual odes are themselves given by inspiration
rightly said to believe and repent by virtue of the grace      of God. There is not an iota of man in them; they
received." (III, IV, 12 b)                                     could never have risen in the heart of man. They are
  To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, refers to           given by revelation and inspiration of God. This calls
being controlled by and placing ourselves under the            for thorough instruction in the meaning of the psalms,
control of the Holy Spirit. Thus we read that Jesus was hymns and spiritual songs. They must be studied in the
filled with the Spirit . . . and was led of the Spirit into    light of their historical situation and their prophetical
the wilderness" (Luke 4: 1) We read that Stephen was a         meaning, as they all point to the necessity of the Christ
man, "full of the Holy Ghost," and that the church             to suffer in order to enter into his glory! They speak of
chose "Stephen, a man full of the Holy Ghost." (Acts           the suffering of Christ (Ps. 22) and of the Pentecostal
6:3, 5) It is also affirmed of Barnabas that he was a          glory in the great congregation. (Ps. 22) They sing of
man, "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." (Acts              the resurrection of Christ; (Ps. 16) and they sing of his
11: 24) In the present instance here in Ephesians 5 : 18b      ascension to heaven; (Ps. 47 and 68) and they jubilate
it seems that Paul is referring to that operation ofthe        concerning Christ's sitting at the right hand of God;
Spirit whereby we are inwardly sanctified and uplifted,        (Ps. 110 and Ps. 2) and they speak of Christ's return to
and through whom we ourselves ought to be inspired judge the quick and the dead! (Ex. 15: 20, 21, the
and urged on to a higher purpose, joyful courage, more         Psalm of Miriam).
profound insight and spiritual uplifting of the soul.            No, the apostle Paul does not speak here of a
  It is quite evident from the numerous instances in           distinction of the Old Testament psalm and the New
Scripture which speak of the being "full of the Holy           Testament hymns and songs; Paul is looking at the Old
Ghost" that we must not think of this in a physical            Testament ~psalms from various viewpoints. It is rather
sense like water filling a pail; neither must we think as      climactic that he says last of all "spiritual songs." That
if the Spirit would only fill us with a certain type of is what all the psalms are. One must be filled with the
excitable enthusiasm, often under the artificial stimulus      Spirit of .Christ to truly sing the psalms, the songs of
of mass psychology. This is not so superficial and             Zion.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 473


  How must we speak in these spiritual songs?                our schools, whether they be the primary grades or
  Certainly not by a few artificial and loud babbling in whether in the high school. Let our churches and schools
a makebelieve gift of tongues. God forbid! Here is instruct also in the meaning of the psalms. Such is also
speech that edifies that is enjoined by the apostle in the call of the hour here in Jamaica on the mission
the church of Ephesus.                                       field!
  Does not Paul speak here concerning teaching? It is           Only thus, when we are thoroughly instructed in the
first of all a matter of doctrine, which is the important meaning of the Scriptures shall we be filled with the
thing in the singing in the church. How well the enemy Spirit and our tongues be placed under the guidance of
of the truth knows this! Is this not the tactic of all the the Spirit. Only thus will the  fruit  of the Spirit be
Arminians? Is this not that practice of the Pentecostal upon our lips.
enthusiasm with its emphasis on singing. Yes, it is
singing, but it is singing which inculcates and prolongs GIVING THANKS IN CHRIST'S NAME
erroneous and heretical teaching. Do not the                    There is a close relationship between speaking in the
revolutionary groups in the political world use singing power of the Holy Spirit, teaching and exhorting with
as a means for their propaganda; is the same not true Psalms and spiritual Songs, and the giving of thanks to
of the modem-day attempt in the church world to God, the Father. The latter is perhaps the acme of the
insinuate false doctrine to the church with its siren former. Giving thanks really means that we are full of
songs which are un Biblical in their content, lacking the thoughts of God. A little study of the term
the prophetic word which shines more and more unto "thanks" when compared with the Dutch  "danken"
the perfect day? Our speaking, in contrast, must be which in turn we compare with the German
that of teaching; it must be the sound doctrine; it must "gedanken" which mean: thoughts. We have but to
be a return to the law and the prophets; else there is no    compare this with the old English "thunk" which
dawn to us.                                                  means "think" in past tense. We see, do we not, that
  This teaching must be a definite "instruction," a the idea of thankfulness means: to be brimful of
putting in mind of the things of the Scriptures and of thoughts for and of God in Christ. It is a very full
the Christian faith. The speaking must not be simply sacrifice which will thus result. God will be the end of
an unfolding of the mystery of godliness, but it must all our thoughts. Him we will worship with our praises
be a compelling to the obedience of Christ. And this and thanksgiving. It will be particularly as "Father"
must be done in "all wisdom." What a wisdom of that we will worship him. Does not the apostle begin
heaven it requires to teach in the church of God. It is this letter with "Blessed be the God and Father of our
only by means of the Holy Spirit that we can thus Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
speak, teach and instruct. Such teaching is necessary in blessings in heavenly places"? (Eph. 1: 3)
every Protestant Reformed Church, in our seminary,



Sketches on Jamaica Mission

                            - A Presbyterial Form
                                    of Government?
                                                 By Rev. G. Lubbers

  It should be borne in mind, that, when the heard of the Rev. J.E. Frame from  Lucea; Jamaica.
Protestant `Reformed Churches began their work in The latter was affiliated with  The Evangelistic
Jamaica, they did not begin to work where no one had Churches, headed by a certain Dr. Hopkins from the
preached the gospel of Christ; they began to work in a U.S.A. A third minister, the Rev. S. E. ~Ruddock  was
rather established and accepted form of church-life. It not affiliated with any church; he was a rather
is now some ten years ago that we first contacted these self-proclaimed preacher in the regions of Porter
churches through a certain Rev. Moraly from England Mountain in the Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica.
who was the "bishop" of the Bible Holiness Churches.            Now each of these ministers was the "minister" of
The Rev. Clinton Elliott, who visited our country and various churches in the island. Hence, there was a
churches two years ago, was affiliated with the certain status quo when we arrived. I am informed that
aforenamed Rev. Moraly. Some of our readers have our emissaries first contacted the Rev. Frame who at


474                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


that time was ministering in several churches: Lucea,           frequent in these churches. The elder was under
Waterworks, Shrewsbury and Latium. Later, contact               pressure, whereas he did not have fellow-elders to
was made with the Rev. Elliott who resided on the               support him. And the dangers of one-man rule were
eastern end of the island at Islington. We remember the         sometimes in evidence - either no rule at all, or there
rather glowing reports which were brought back, the             were symptoms of tyranny. Besides, when a knotty
pictures shown by the elder emissaries, and also by the         question arose in the church it was convenient to call a
ministers whom we sent to Jamaica. These reports                meeting of the congregation (mostly women) to decide
were not really reporting in depth, to my settled               the issue.
judgment and conviction; they hardly could represent              Then, too, these churches had no connection with
a rather clear and concise picture of the confused              each other in an ecclesiastical sense. They were good
situation. For Rev. Elliott was minister in the                 neighbors as churches; often where respective elders
following churches on the island: Islington, Hope Hill,         were friends they would join services for a Sunday,
Santa Cruz, Belmont, Lacovia, Northampton, Cave                 suspending the services in their own church. On that
Mountain, Grange Hill, Port Maria. A large assortment           Sunday the children could drift and shift for
of churches to be sure; they were scattered over the            themselves. And the churches of Rev. Elliott, take an
island, tucked away in inland roads and sometimes               example, did not know each other; for he had churches
high on some hill to which a mountain path leads.               in the far-eastern end as well as in the extreme-western
Obviously, our emissaries did not have the time to visit        end of the island. They had this in common, after our
all these churches; they could not gauge the condition          arrival, that they had one Missionary who visited all
in each church during their short and intermittent              the churches; they also were hearing a different
visits. I am told that representatives of Rev. Elliott's        message from their ministers. Some loved it; others did
churches travelled across the island, to the eastern end        not, and they left either in groups or as individuals.
of the Island, in Islington to come and hear our Rev.             A meeting has been held on April 5, 1972 and
C. Hanko preach on John 10:27, "My sheep hear my                another meeting on May 23,1972 to face this question
voice, and I know them, and they follow me." As                 of Church-government, and thus to come to the root
could be expected, these people believed this word;             of the difficulties and confusion. The first of these
but this was hardly enough evidence and instruction to          meetings was of the Trustees-elect of the contemplated
warrant them to leave the Bible Holiness Churches to            "`Incorporation of Churches," the latter meeting was a
become Protestant Reformed Churches in Jamaica. I               representation of all the churches by one elder each
am told that Rev. C. Hanko told them to wait a year,            and of the three ministers. Concerning this meeting I
and then we would see next year. But the Rev. Elliott           can write a very gratifying report. The decisions taken,
avows to have said, "There is only one truth; this is it." if        executed with conscientious godliness                and
And the people said, "If minister says it is good, it           determination, have far-reaching implications for the
must be." It was a rather implicit faith.                       future. Here follow the decisions, taken at this
       However, the question may be asked: what form            meeting:
of church-government did they adhere to? Was it                    1. The matter of whether an elder could become
Congregational, Episcopal or Presbyterial? It is                a minister was decided as follows: "Elder Wright and
difficult to give a clear-cut answer to this question. It is    Elder  Spence moved and supported a motion which
almost certain that none of these groups ever faced any         would inform all the churches that elders would not be
of these questions and asked: what form will the Lord           permitted to become ministers because this would
have us to maintain in His church? Perhaps one might            destroy the cause of the school in Lacovia." The
say that their form of government "just  growed" like           motion passed without a dissenting vote.
Topsy. And, yet, there is a form of government, a
certain pattern in evidence. Historically the English             2. The relationship between the ministers and their
Episcopal Church was strong on the entire island. And           churches was discussed; it was the understanding that
the churches seemed to have been born under the                 the relationship- between the ministers in the island and
direction of a "leader," and "elder." In most churches their `flocks should be placed in a proper presbyterial
there were more than one deacon, but one elder. He form of government; that a distinction must be made
was the ruling elder, he was also the preacher,                 between the  teaching-elder  and the  ruling-elders  in
sometimes for bad or for worse. At other times such an          the church. This discussion resulted in the following
elder did the best he could in teaching Sunday School,          decisions:
reading the Bible with his comments and observations.                a. It was decided that henceforth those churches
But as might be expected, in a rather strong                    which  cannot  have more than one elder will be
matriarchal home-life, certain women pushed                     considered as having the status of a Mission Station.
themselves forward as the "Church-mother" who                   Obviously this means that many "churches" will come
claimed to have "received the Holy Ghost." This under the direct control of the Missionary; it will also
phenomenon is now not general, but was rather                   be an incentive for those churches, who, either through


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     475


 ignorance or neglect, have but one elder, to work to                It will require time and patience, firmness and tact,
 rectify the situation.                                            to bring this all about. However, these decisions were
      b. It was also decided that the ministers must be            not coerced; they were entirely voluntary. Fact is, that
 properly called and installed in office in their                  I told them to wait with deciding for at least three
 respective churches. Obviously, this decision has the             months. However, I was assured that they understood
 result that, without being installed in certain churches,         what they were doing, and that they called to proceed
 they cannot claim churches which are not churches;               `in the name of the Lord.
 nor can they claim to be a minister in a church without             Thus we have the rudiments  .of a Presbyterial form
"~being  called and installed. And the churches, in turn,          of government according to the Scriptures. May the
 cannot simply dismiss their minister at their own whim            King of His church bless these our efforts  a&d the
 and fancy and then seek for another minister.                     decisions taken to His glory. He will have decency and
 Unfaithful ministers will also need to come under                 order in His church!
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction.


 All Around Us
                                                     More on Key `73
                                                           Pro8 H. Hanko
   Key `73 is an interdenominational program to reach                       Inasmuch as the program, organizational makeup
 all  .the people in North America with the Gospel by                  and personnel of KEY `73 completely ignore the
 1973. We have reported on this program in past issues.                above teaching of Scripture in the name of
 We have a couple of other related matters to report in                evangelism; and
 this issue of  The Standard Bearer.                                        Inasmuch as the Executive Committee of KEY `73
   We have obtained a copy of the pledge which some                    includes leaders from apostate denominations; and
 participants in this program have been asked to make.                      Inasmuch as KEY `73 "proposes to raise an
It reads as follows:                                                   overarching Christian canopy in both Canada and the
        1. We pledge our spiritual gifts and resources to              United States under which all denominations,
     establish evangelism as a priority and set specific               congregations and Christian groups may concentrate
     evangelism goals for which we will pray, plan and                 on evangelism during the year 1973," and
     work.                                                                  Since KEY `73 leaders emphasize that it is a
        2. We pledge to be open to the Lordship of Christ              "smorgasbord of ideas" in which "each church or
     and to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we analyze              group may choose the precise form or extent of its
     our Church fellowship by using the Thrust Booklet                 participation" and that "varieties in evangelistic
     "Called To Serve" and set goals for the future.                   expression are anticipated" thus opening the door to
        3. We pledge to discover, rediscover and                       confusion about the cent&message of evangelism;
     emphasize the Biblical teachings of the purpose of                     BE IT RESOLVED: That we, the messengers to
     our redeemed community in the changing world and                  the annual meeting of  the General Association of
     local communities in which God has placed us.                     Regular Baptist Churches, meeting in San Diego,
   This is so far removed from all that is Scriptural and              California, this 30th day of June, 1972, go on record
                                                                       as being thoroughly opposed to any ecumenical
 Reformed that it scarcely needs any comment.                          evangelism which seeks to proniote unscriptural
   In contrast to this,  Christian News  carried a                     cooperation without regard to the doctrinal position
resolution passed by unanimous vote by the annual                      of the participants; and
meeting of the General Association of Regular Baptist                       BE IT FURTHER  RESOLVED: That. we warn otir
Churches which reads as follows:                                      people of the confusion which wjll result. from a KEY
        Since  .the Word of God enjoins believers to                   `73 program that allows the presence of liberals,
     "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether            Roman Catholics and others whose social gospel or
     they are of God: because many false prophets are                  sacramental gospel is not the gospel of Christ; and
     gone out into the world" (I John 4: 1); and,                           BE IT RESOLVED: That we urge our pastors to
        Since the Scriptures clearly warn: "Whosoever                 boldly proclaim the message of Galatians  1:8: "But
     transgresseth,  and abideth not in the doctrine of               though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
     Christ, bath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine            gospel unto you than that which we have preached
     of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If               unto you, let him be accursed."
     there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,                  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That. we urge our
     receive him not into your house, neither bid him God             pastors and people to faithfully, fervently and daily
     speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker             reach the lost of our communities with the gospel of
     of his evil deeds" (II John 9-11);  and                          Christ in a program of evangelism that honors the full


476                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


       intent of  the Great Commission and insures  the                purity of the local New Testament Church.

                                                   An Interesting Poll
  In  Affirm,  a conservative publication of a group in                 4) Do you tend to
the Lutheran Church  - Missouri Synod, we ran across                       see all Protestant      (L) 
                                                                                                   (C)      72     71 
                                                                                                           60 28 10 55     4:
                                                                           religions as equally
the following very interesting results of a poll taken                     good? (Yes)
among Lutherans. To understand the chart, the reader                 It is interesting to note that the Wisconsin Lutherans
must know that "L"  = Laity, "C"  = Clergy, LCA  =                 are by far the most conservative body among
Lutheran Church of America,- "ALC"  = American                     Lutherans in this country. But it is also interesting to
Lutheran Church, "LCMS"  = Lutheran Church  -                      note that there are differences at rather key points.
Missouri Synod, and "WELS"  = Wisconsin Evangelical                Among all but the Wisconsin Synod Lutherans the
Lutheran Synod."                                                   laity are more conservative than the clergy in the first
                                                                   two questions and less conservative in the last two
                                    LCA ALC LCMS         WELS      questions. But among Wisconsin Synod Lutherans the
        1) The Bible is the    (L) 29 35 62 77                     clergy are, throughout, more conservative than the
          Word of God in       (c) 10 19 74             100        laity. It is also interesting that among the laity there
          all its parts.                                           are only small percentages of people that reject the
        2) Only those who      (L) 56 58 75 84                     heresies of  Arminianism and  Pelagianism.  While the
          believe in Jesus     (C) 43 52 84              100
          Christ as their                                          clergy in the  MiSsouri Synod Church and Wisconsin
          Savior can go to                                         Synod Church generally believe the doctrines of
          heaven (agree)                                           sovereign grace, the laity do not. This is rather
        3) Man plays no        u-2 14                              surprising and shows to what extent Arminiansim has
          part inhis own       (C) 22     ::    :;        92;
          salvation                                                gained a foothold in the thinking of the people in these
           (agreeing)                                              denominations,

                                   Some Interesting Notes on Music
   A long time ago already a very interesting and                       the Genevan melodies were forged from the popular
instructive article appeared in  The Banner  under the                  tunes of the day. Although  you will read this in all
title "A Church Musician's Credo" which was written                     the encyclopedias, even music encyclopedias,  and
by Howard Slenk, Professor of music at Calvin College.                  find it in the writings of great men like Albert
   We cannot quote the whole article in these columns,                  Schweitzer, there is not a scrap of musical evidence to
                                                                        support it. About a century ago, a French writer,
nor even the interesting parts. But a few quotes are                    Gretiu Douen, illustrated some similarities between a
nonetheless worthwhile repeating.                                       few Genevan melodies and some French chansons. The
   In connection with "rock music" the author writes                    similarities are limited to short groups of notes here
among other things:                                                     and there, and can more easily be described as
          Since I believe that the meaning of music lies in its         idiomatic coincidences than as direct borrowings.
       relationship to our bodies and minds as they move                Pierre  F'idox,  the Swiss authority on the music of
       through time, I believe  that rock has very clear                Calvinism, has shown conclusively that the Genevan
       extra-musical meanings. I believe that the insistent,            melodies are fashioned much more after Gregorian
       overpowering beat is a  csll to an immediate and                 chant than after French chansons. Altbougb  it is true
       intense motor response to  the music,  and  that  the            that a few Lutheran chorales, such as "0 Sacred
       extra-musical meaning of this strong stimulus is                 Head, Now Wounded," are adaptations of tunes first
       movement witbout purpose, action without thought.                used for secular words,  this borrowing process
       I also believe that the obsessive repetition of melody           involves only a very small part of the total Lutheran
       and harmony has a similar anti-intellectual meaning.             repertoire. It should no longer be used as a
       All three of  these elements of rock, plus  the                  justification for  the use of popular music or folk
       ear-splitting volume at which they must occur, have              music in church.
       convinced me of the basically sensuous, sometimes              He concludes with the words:
       hypnotic, meaning and effect of this music. The                     To conclude, I would like to stress again that we
       musical meaning of rock, not to mention the social               consider music as music. So often we listen only to
       effect, does indeed have moral implications.                     the words, or we remind ourselves of the sincerity of
   In connection with the insistence by many that the                   the performer, and never give a thought to the music
Genevan  tunes are often adaptations of secular songs,                  itself. Music has meaning,  universal  meaning because
Slenk writes:                                                           of its resemblance to  the motion and actions of
        Here I insist on layiug to rest the old myth that               human life, and particular meaning because of the


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          477


         individual cultural experiences each listener brings to       language to be religious. But it must be honest in its
         the music he hears.                                            meaning as music, not a campfire ditty or a dance-hall
            Both types of meaning reinforce the claim that              tune or a barbershop arrangement or an operatic aria
         there are different kinds of music. There is dance             parading,as church mu&
         music for use in dance halls. There is folk music for            If we believe that man may rise to  -the
         use at work, at play, and around the campfire. There           contemplation of-the divine through his senses, then
         is rock music for use as . . . There is theater music,         we will also believe that through his senses, man may
         beer-hall music, and concert-hall music.                       sink to the exploitation of the carnal. I believe that
            And there is church music! It does not have to be           music has this twofold power.
         old to be .good. It does not have to be played on the        To this we respond with a hearty "Amen."
         organ to be acceptable. It need not use  ,archaic

                                                     Calvin on Worship
1      The loud pleas for liturgical change which are being             to Christ, are these; viz., not to frame any new
     made in the church world today are  subiect for                    worship of God for themselves at random, and after
     contemplation.      Such contemplation took- up a                  their  own pleasure, but to know  that- the only
     considerable amount of my time the other day as I was              legitimate worship is that which he himself approved
     reading  John Calvin's reply to Cardinal Sadolet. Our              from the beginning. For we maintain, what the sacred
     readers probably know that when Calvin was ousted                  oracle declared, that obedience is more excellent than
     from Geneva, Cardinal Sadolet thought he saw a good                any sacrifice, (I Sam. xv. 22.) In short, we train them
     opportunity to woo the citizens of Geneva back to the              by every means, to be contented with the one rule of
                                                                        worship which they have received from his mouth,
     Roman Catholic fold. He addressed a letter to these                and bid adieu to all fictitious worship." (This is taken
     citizens to accomplish this purpose.                               from the Beverridge translation, p. 34.)
       In a very masterful work, Calvin answered the                  Calvin insists here that that worship only is proper
     Cardinal and defended eloquently the Reformation.              which is in obedience to the demands of God. One
       Among other things, Sadolet had said in his letter:          could wish that those who claim to be Calvinists and
     "Nothing (is) more  perilous to our salvation than a           yet holler so loudly for liturgical change which is
     preposterous and perverse worship of God." To this             founded upon the fads of the times rather than upon
     Calvin responded with the following:                           God's Word would pay a little more attention to what
            The primary rudiments, by which we are wont to          Calvin himself wrote.
         train to piety those whom we wish to gain as disciples


     Book Reviews

                          Christian Perspectives On Sex And Marriage

     CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON SEX AND                              concerning the institution of marriage, the meaning of
MARRIAGE,  by William Fitch; Wm. B.  Eerdmans                       marriage, the purpose of marriage, etc. When these
     Publishing Co., 1971; $2.95 (paper). (Reviewed by principles of Scripture are not dealt with, one gets a
     Prof. H. Hanko)                                                book which is a kind of moral homily which in the
      There is a flood of books about sex and marriage long  run is not of much use to anyone.
     pouring from the religious press these days. This is not        The book is written in question and answer form. It
     in itself bad. There is a need for sound Biblical is, however, too explicit at certain points to be
     literature in this field because the devil and the world recommended to young people. The author tends to
     are working overtime to corrupt the institution of forget that Paul speaks of the fact that "it is a shame
     marriage and the most sacred of life's relationships.          even to speak of those things which are done of (the
     But to find good books is not so easy.                         wicked) in secret." Eph. 5: 12. There is altogether too
      This one too falls rather far short of the mark. The          much emphasis placed upon the sexual aspect of
     main difficulty with most books in this field, and with marriage  - as if this is really the only important part
     this one as well, is that they do not spend sufficient of married life. We are still waiting for a book which
     time on the principles of Scripture in these areas. For can safely and heartily be recommended to parents and
     example, there is almost nothing in this book young people as a Scriptural guide in this area of life.


478                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                                 Earth's Most Challenging Mysteries

EARTH'S MOST CHALLENGING MYSTERIES,  by deal of original material in his book as well. To his
Reginald Daly; Baker Book House, 1972; 403 pp.,               credit, he explains evolutionism in terms of unbelief
$3.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko]                   and discusses the fact that evolution is a religion and
                                                              poses a problem for those who maintain that no
   There are more and more books appearing on the religion may be taught in the public school system of
market which are efforts to explain various scientific this country.
phenomena in the light of six-day creation and a
universal flood. This book is one such effort. These            There are some weaknesses in the book. He seems to
efforts are to be applauded, for there is indeed a great reject the Carbon-14 method of dating at some points,
deal of work which can and ought to be done in this           but to accept it at other points where it serves his
field.                                                        purpose. He is too definite and dogmatic about ante-
   The author, who has taught in a number of colleges         deluvian conditions and events and stretches one's
and universities, discusses various problems in               credibility a bit in his interpretation of how the flood
especially the fields of geology and paleontology. His explains various geological phenomena. He gives too
purpose is to show the foolishness of the explanations much value to pagan myths of the flood even to the
which are offered by geologists who are committed to          point of using them to help explain the miracle of the
evolution. The book is very interesting and profitable        flood. (Cf. pp. 337,338.)
in this respect. It demonstrates rather vividly that            We believe that all scientific data can be explained in
evolutionism is often contradictory; that evolutionists terms of the flood and the work of creation in six
disagree, sometimes violently, among themselves in days. But it is not always easy to describe precisely
their efforts to explain various phenomena; that how God performed all these works in their details.
mostly their explanations are very poor and inadequate Some is admittedly speculation. For example, the
interpretations of scientific data in these fields.           author accepts as true the so-called "canopy theory" as
   The author discusses such problems as the origin of an interpretation of sudden climatic changes.
life, the existence of large fossil beds, the formation of      If the book is read carefully, it can be of profit to
coal, the problem of ocean canyons, deltas and other those who are interested in this whole question. And
under-ocean phenomena.                                        we wish to encourage those who engage in this work so
   While the author uses the works of Rehwinkel, that the study of God's creation can be advanced and
Morris and Whitcomb  rather extensively, he has a great knowledge increased in true science.

                                        The Bible: God's Word
THE BIBLE: GOD'S WORD, by  Tenis Van Kooten;                  God's Word, and of its absolute authority. Especially
Baker Book House, 1972; 231 pp., $2.95 (paper) delightful is the author's constant and repeated
[reviewed by ProJ: H. Hank01                                  emphasis on Scripture itself as the sole determinative
                                                              rule for our doctrine of Scripture.
   The purpose of this fine book is presented in the            What is of special value is the author's treatment of
Preface: "This little book is presented as a guide in the these topics in the light of many modern errors which
study of the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and have risen both in the field of unbelieving higher
to assist in the evaluation of the `new interpretation' of criticism and within the Reformed Churches. He
the Bible and its results. The self-testimony of the explains and exposes the errors of such men as
Bible is the point of reference in determining what the Bultmann, Robinson, Kuitert and others. And he does
Bible is. The new interpretation (the new hermeneutic) this in such a way that those who are not trained in
and its results will be viewed in the light of the nature     textual criticism can easily understand what he writes.
of God's self-revelation as given in the Bible. The It is a book which can be read with profit by anyone
approach throughout is evangelical: the Bible is including our young people. Another advantage of the
received as the Word of God."                                 book is the author's extensive use of quotations from
   This purpose is admirably fulfilled. The author those who have, in the past, and who today defend the
treats of such subjects as "What is the Bible?", ."The        infallible inspiration of God's Word.
Inspiration of the Bible", The Authority of the Bible",         The book is written partly with a view to its use in
"The Bible is Infallible", "The Canon of the Bible",          study groups, discussion groups and societies, It has a
"Archeology and the Bible", "The Bible and Miracles",         number of interesting and worthwhile questions
etc.. The book. is a vigorous defense of the verbal           appended to each chapter for study and discussion.
inspiration of Scripture, of the complete infallibility of We heartily recommend the book to all our readers.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    4i9


SEMXNARY REGISTRATIONAND CONVOCATION                                                      NOTICE
  The Theological School of the Protestant Reformed              Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
Churches will begin its new term on Wednesday,                 will meet on September 6, 1972 in Hull, Iowa, at 8:30
September 6, the Lord willing.                                 A.M., the Lord willing.
  All students (seminary and pre-seminary) should                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
report for registration at 9 A.M.
  The PUBLIC CONVOCATION will be at our
Southwest Protestant Reformed Church at 8 o'clock in             HOPE PROTESTANT REFORMED CHRTSTI. SCHOOL
the evening, D.V. Prof. H. Hanko will give the                             25TH ANNIVERSARY BOOKLET
convocation address. All our people are cordially                These  .interesting and informative booklets, which
invited to join us on this occasion.                           include pictures and the history of the school, are
  We commend the Seminary to the prayers of our available for $1.25 each. Please send your order to
people and churches.                                           Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School Booklet
                               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, Rector    1545 Wilson Avenue S.W.
                                                               Grand{ Rapids, Michigan 49504


             RESOLUTION OFSYMPATHY                                                  ANNIVERSAR Y

  The Ladies Society and the Men's Society of The                On September 9, 1972, our parents,
South Holland Protestant Reformed Church express                         MR. AND MRS. HARRY ZWAK
their sympathy to the family of                                will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We
                 MR. ALEX MIEDEMA,                             thank our Covenant God for preserving them for each
who at the age of 85 years passed from his earthly             other and for us these many years. Our prayers are for
home to live everlastingly with Christ.                        His continued blessing on them throughout their
  May our Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved with            earthly walk.
His Word. "For we know that if our earthly house of                                                  Their children,
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of                                       Mr. and Mrs. Otto Kamminga
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the                                              Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burt
heavens." (II Cor. 5: 1).                                                                            and 11 grandchildren
                                  Rev. Robert Decker,`Pres.
                                   Mrs. John Busker, Sec'y.
                                 Mr. Mike Van Baren, Sec'y.                           NOTICE!!!
                                                                 The Annual Membership Meeting of The Reformed
                                                               Free Publishing Association will be held, the Lord
                                                               willing, on Thursday evening, September 28, at 8 P.M.
              WEDDING ANNIVERSAR Y                             in the Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Our speaker
  On September 9, 1972, the Lord willing, our                  at this important meeting will be our Editor in Chief,
beloved parents,                                               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema. Prof. Hoeksema promised that
                                                               his speech  - entitled  THE STANDARD BEARER
       REV. AND MRS. HERMAN VELDMAN                            AND FOREIGN CONTACTS  - will  be limited to a
will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                 twenty minute synopsis. The  ,board urges  ALL
  We thank our Heavenly Father for preserving them             members to be present. A special appeal is made to the
for each other and for their covenant love and                 YO'mG  MEN  of our congregations to attend this
guidance they have given us. Our prayer is that God will       meeting and become acquainted with this important
continue to bless them in their remaining pilgrimage           kingdom activity.
together.                                                                                     The Board of the R.F.P.A.
  We deem it a privilege that our father was able to                                                        G. Bol, Sec'y.
proclaim God's Word during these past forty years.

                                       Their children,                                    NOTICE!
                             Mr. and Mrs. Cornie Den Ouden       The correct address of the CATECHISM BOOK
                                Mr. and Mrs. Jack Van Dyke     DISTRIBUTING COMMITTEE SECRETARY is: MR.
                                  Mr. and Mrs. Jon Huisken     SEYMOUR BEIBOER, 2193 CLYDE PARK AVE.,
                                       and 10 grandchildren    S.W., GRAND RAPIDS, MI. 49509.


 THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064                                                                     pig-&q
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


480                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                News From Our Churches
  Of keen interest, no doubt, is news concerning the         Consolation  booklet likewise lends itself to wide
calls which have been extended during the past               usage. The thinking of the Evangelism Committee is
months. For that reason, it's not likely that many of that this booklet can be used in making pastoral sick
our readers will learn of these calls for the first time     calls, visiting the bereaved, and other pastoral uses. It
through the Standard Bearer news column. But we'll           can also be supplied to local funeral homes to be
report them, nevertheless. Rev. Lanting declined the         placed on their lamp tables in the visiting rooms or it
call from Hope Church (Grand Rapids). Candidate W.           can be placed in doctors' offices, in hospital waiting
Bekkering, who received calls from both Forbes and rooms and at bedsides, and in the homes for the
Randolph, has accepted the call from the latter.             aged. . . . The booklet is also suitable for personal
Candidate M. Kamps received and accepted the call            distribution to friends, neighbors, and relatives."
from Redlands, California. Rev. Woudenberg has                  It is the desire of the Evangelism Committee that
declined the call extended to him from Hope Church           there be wider distribution than can be achieved by
(Grand Rapids) to serve as home missionary. And Rev.         "the immediate work of our local South Holland
Engelsma has declined the call to become third               congregation." To that end, the committee is "willing
professor in our Seminary. That call has therefore been      to send each of our congregations the quantity they
extended to the synodically chosen first alternate, Rev.     desire, free of charge. A free-will gift to the work of
Kortering, of our Hull Church.                               our Evangelism Committee will be gratefully received."
                         **ic$*                                 Incidentally, cassette tapes of the Pentecostalism
  Some time ago we included, in this column,                 lecture are also available, at a cost of $2.00 each. For
information concerning various projects of the               the tape and/or the pamphlets, write to:
Evangelism Committee of our South Holland
congregation. The expressed aim of this committee was             The Evangelism Committee
that it "be diligent in the dissemination of the truth            South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
with which He has singularly blessed us." That it has              165 11 South Park Avenue
indeed been such, is evident, we think, from the work              South Holland, Illinois 60473
which has been done. Several recent speeches have                                     ****
been printed in pamphlet form and distributed, as a            From our Business Manager we have the following
result of their efforts. Perhaps you have seen "Shall        contribution, which is, typically, as interesting as it is
There Be Reformation No More?" - a pamphlet made informative:
from Rev. Van Baren's 1971 Reformation Day address             "Facts and figures are always of interest. Here are a
in South Holland. Another has been made of the few of each, which might prove of interest to the
speech by Prof. Hanko which dealt with the film arts.        readers and the subscribers of our Standard  Bearer.
  There are, however, a couple of recent publications          "Of all the names appearing in the telephone books
which deserve special attention. One is entitled "Pen- and the city directories of our country, the name
tecostalism, in the Light of The Word," which you may        SMITH  is perhaps the most common. However, this
recognize as the title of the lecture given by Rev. Decker fact is not found to be true in regard to the names
in Holland last spring. The other is a pamphlet contain-     appearing on the `subscription list' of  thestandard
ingmeditations which appeared on the bulletins of First Bearer. Only one -just one single SMITH, is found on I
Church during the war years of 1941-l 946. The               our mailing list! That one is SMITH, JAKE, of Ward,
meditations, written by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, were,          South Dakota. Rather, the name  KUIPER  appears
according to the Foreword "published in this Booklet         most often  - in fact 19  KUIPERS  subscribe to our
as a testimony of the marvelous grace of God in Jesus        paper.  DE VRIES  runs a close second, with 18;
Christ which alone is able to sustain God's children in      DYKSTRA  third, with 17; and the LUBBERS  and the
times of sickness, old age, sorrow, poverty, distress and    VAN BARENS follow with 13 each. (Incidentally, Mr.
affliction."                                                 `News Editor,' the  DOEZEMAS  outnumber the
  Of primary importance, certainly, is the contents of       VANDER WALS  by 7 to 4, even after a VANDER
these pamphlets; but we could mention in passing that        WAAL, residing in Natal, South Africa, is included.)
a striking feature of both booklets is the attractiveness      But regardless of the name  - whether it be a
of the covers. For the intended use of these pamphlets,      SMITH,  a KUIPER, or  DE VRIES - the board of the
their appearance is no doubt of some importance, too.        REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION is
But, to return to the contents, it's the opinion of the      indeed thankful to send the truth of God's Infallible
committee that both pamphlets "should have universal         Word to each and every subscriber and reader of this
appeal; the  Pentecostalism  booklet speaks to one of Distinctively Reformed Publication  - The Standard
the issues plaguing the church world today, the              Bearer. "                                              D.D.


