  The
+ STANDARD
  BEARER'
   A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





          This organization, which has already for a
       considerable time faithfully supported the
       above-named preachers, shall henceforth
       devote itself to this same task by this monthly
       magazine. The members feel that there must
       be a striving for the cause of the Lord not
       only against the enemies who stand outside
       their own church fellowship, but, under the
       present circumstances, no less against the
       enemy within the gates. Therefore they want
       men to raise the "standard" and instruct and
       lead the people of God in the strife which is
       inevitable and which must be fought. A need
       is felt for leadership in ecclesiastical ques-
       tions, points of doctrine, prevalent specula-
       tions, and the practical application in life of
       the principles out of which people live. And
       although they do not plan to limit themselves
       in this struggle to the publication of this
       periodical, nevertheless they want "The
      Standard Bearer" to lead the way in this diffi-
      cult strife.                         (See Page  52)




                               VOLUME L, NUMBER 3, NOVEMBER 1, 1973


50                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITA TION

                                 Our Defense In Distress

                                                    Rev. M. Schippev

              "The Lord is good, a. strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in
              him. "
                                                                                                Nahum 1:7.


      Strange, indeed, is the place this text occupies in        Of Him the prophet declares: Good is Jehovah!
the context in which it is found, as well as in this             He is that, of course, first of all, in Himself!
entire book of prophecy.                                       Negatively this means that never can any evil be
      The prophet had received a vision of the Lord            found in Him. Were He to be searched out, which of
respecting the complete devastation of Nineveh. And            course is forever impossible, never could any
of this he unburdens himself as he speaks throughout           imperfection be discovered within His holy Being.
the book, of the manifestation of Jehovah's wrath as           Positively this implies that He is the perfect One, in
it shall be displayed overagainst this ancient kingdom.        Whom only good resides. Or, as the Word of God
The reader will remember that at one time, perhaps a           describes  Him throughout, He is the overflowing
hundred and fifty years before this, Nineveh had been          fountain of goodness. Shall there be any
spared through the preaching of the prophet Jonah.             manifestation of goodness, it must fmd its source in
At that time the people with their king had repented           Him. He is full of infinite perfections!
of the evil they had done, much to the chagrin of the            Jehovah's goodness is the sum of all His
Lord's prophet. They covered themselves with                   perfections! His goodness is His righteousness and
sackcloth and sat in ashes. And God saw their works,           holiness, His love and His mercy and grace.
that they turned from their evil way; and He repented
of the evil that He threatened to bring upon them.               Nor is there ever any conflict between these
But it was about a century and a half later when this          virtues, so that His mercy is opposed to His justice,
same kingdom made full its cup of iniquity, and the            and His love to His wrath. Rather, all His virtues are
Lord through the prophet Nahum now predicts the                one in Him, and therefore His righteousness is always
consuming devastation that He would bring upon                 a merciful righteousness, while His mercy is always a
them. The entire prophecy pronounces maledictions              righteous mercy. And when all His attributes are
upon Nineveh.                                                  added up, the sum total is His goodness.
      In the midst of this sentence of destruction you           It is this truth that receives the emphasis in the
find the words of our text, standing out as it were as         text. The original text expresses it this way:
a beacon of light towering over the black clouds of              Good is Jehovah!
judgment. Or, to describe it a little differently, as a
crest in the arc of the rainbow the text stands                  That Jehovah is good, means that He is
emblazoned, transcendent above the storm of God's              unchangeably good! Jehovah is the I  AiVI THAT I
wrath.                                                         AM! He is never in the process of becoming. He
                                                               always is what He was. There is no variableness, no
      No doubt the significance of the text in the light of    shadow cast by turning, in Him. Eternally He stands
the entire prophecy must be understood in the light            in the meridian of His own perfect Being. From
of the name of the prophet.                                    everlasting to everlasting He is God Who is good. He is
      Nahum, - means: consolation!                             eternally the overflowing Fountain of goodness Who,
      Not, you understand, with a view to the wicked           while He overflows with goodness, remains forever
who are about to be consumed in judgment; but for              full of goodness.
the righteous, who always are delivered from the                 Moreover, in that name Jehovah He is revealed as
wrath to come!                                                 the God of the everlasting covenant. It is the Name
      To them Jehovah is a strong hold in the day of           whereby He is particularly revealed to His people as
trouble!                                                       the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. To


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   51



His chosen people as to none other He is made known        wickedness of Nineveh and the guilt of Assyria rests
in this Name.                                              in the fact that this kingdom merited Jehovah's wrath
  Never should this goodness of Jehovah be                 when they emptied Jacob, and marred the vine
understood in the sense that it winks at sin. So some      branches of Israel. (Chap. 2~2).
have and still do conceive of His goodness. They              But the particular nature of Jehovah's goodness is
cannot conceive of a good God Who hates sin and the        positively expressed not only in the text, but also in
evil doer. Such a God they castigate as being a tyrant.    the ultimate deliverance of Jehovah's people from the
And though it may seem strange that in the midst of        hand of the wicked. "Behold upon the mountains the
prophecy, that speaks of divine vengeance and storms       feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
of judgment, we should read as we do in our text that      publisheth peace! 0 Judah, keep thy solemn feasts,
Jehovah is good; it should be clearly understood that      perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass
God reveals His wrath overagainst the wicked only          through thee; he is utterly cut off," (Chap. 1: 15).
because He is good. Were He to wink at sin, He would          Jehovah is to them a strong defense!
give evidence that He is unrighteous and unholy. And
such is His goodness also overagainst the sin of His          A strong hold in the day of trouble!
people. His wrath burns overagainst their sin and guilt       That there is a day of trouble for the wicked is
because He is good. The highest manifestation of this      evident from the entire prophecy as well as from all
goodness revealed in wrath overagainst their sin we        of Scripture. When the wicked shall call to the
see at the cross. Surely the good God did not wink at      mountains to cover them, when they could wish for
our sin, but saw to it that all our sin was paid for       annihilation so that they would not have to do with
when He emptied the vials of His holy wrath on the         Jehovah Who shall consume them in His wrath.
head of our Redeemer. There at the cross, mercy and          But there is also a day of trouble for the righteous!
truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed         It is not so that they are immune to trouble. Not so is
each other. There His goodness is displayed in His         it that they ride serenely above the storms of life.
justice, which demanded that our sins be atoned for;       God does not immediately whisk them out of the
while at the same time His goodness is displayed in        world to heaven when He saves them. Fact is, He
His mercy and grace, which prepared such a Saviour         brings them to heaven only after they walk a while as
Who did atone for our sins.                                strangers and pilgrims in the earth, and after they
  Nor should it ever be said that Jehovah's goodness       have been tried and tested in the crucible of
is common. Though He shows unto all men the truth          affliction. Because they are righteous in Christ, not
that He is good, when He causes His rain and sunshine      with their own righteousness, which is as filthy rags,
to fall on the evil and the good, never should the         they are reproached and maligned, persecuted and
wicked nor we conclude that Jehovah is good to the         killed all the day long. Also they, as well as the
wicked. He gives the wicked the good gifts of rain and     wicked, are often enveloped in the judgments God
sunshine in His wrath. As the Scriptures plentifully       sends upon the world, as righteous Lot was witness to
declare when the wicked prosper, it is that they may       the destruction of wicked Sodom. And when God
be destroyed forever. And His wrath is the                 could send upon Nineveh the storm of His wrath, the
manifestation of His holy self-love, whereby He            children of Jacob and Judah would see it. But here is
destroys all that is not in complete harmony with His      the good tidings upon the mountains that publisheth
holy Being. Verily, His goodness is always particular!     peace - 0 Judah, you must hear it. Jehovah our good
It is shown only unto His covenant people whom He          God is a strong hold in the day of trouble! In the
has chosen in Christ, known in love, and whom He           midst of the storm Jehovah will prove to be a hiding
purposes to make His covenant friend-servants.             place, a sheltered garrison, into which the righteous
  That this goodness of Jehovah is particular is           may flee and be safe; while the oppressor shall be
clearly expressed throughout the Word of God, but          vanquished. The day of trouble He makes to be the
also in this prophecy. As suggested above, that            day of His people's salvation. Surely, also then, it
goodness is negatively expressed in the fact that God      shall become evident that all things work together for
is righteous when He is about to destroy the wicked.       good unto them that love Him, who are called
This tone is set forth in the opening verses of this       a&or-ding to His purpose.
prophecy. "God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth;           For He knowth them that trust in Him!
the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take       0, yes, He knows them!
vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath
for his enemies." And again, "Behold, I am against           Not, you understand, because He saw beforehand
thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy     that we would put our trust in Him. Such
skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy      Arminianism is as wicked as the sin of Nineveh.
nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame." And the            Rather, He knows us in eternal, elective love. And


52                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



that love He demonstrates most clearly in the death             this love fills their hearts with assurance that He
and resurrection of our Saviour. That love He sheds             knows them in distinction from the wicked, and that
abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of Christ. And in            He will save them unto the uttermost.
response to that love, we, who are His people, love
Him, and put our trust in Him. One will not put his                   When the indignation of the Lord shall come as a
trust and confidence in one whom he does not know               storm of judgment upon Nineveh, they whom good
in love, and of whom he is not sure that that one               Jehovah knows in love will flee unto Him,  - the
knows him in love.                                              Strong Hold in the day of trouble.
      So it is also in the text, - they that put their trust          In Him they, that trust in Him, have a safe retreat!
in Jehovah, Who is good, have tasted His goodness.
His love has been shed abroad in their hearts. And                    Indeed, He is our defense in distress!



                            The Standard Bearer
                                In Retrospect  (2)
                                              Profi H. Hanko

      The first issue of "The Standard Bearer" appeared         was written by Rev. Henry Danhof, one of the first
October 1, 1924. It was, from many points of view,              editors and a minister who, along with Revs.
an historic moment. It was the fruit of the labors of a         Hoeksema and Ophoff, was deposed from office in
group of men determined to set forth and develop the            the Christian Reformed Church for his refusal to
truth of the Word of God. It was occasioned                     subscribe to the three points of common grace. He
especially by the "common grace" controversy which              was minister at the time in a Christian Reformed
a short time after the first issue appeared, gave rise to       congregation in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
the Protestant Reformed Churches.
      In this first issue an article appears which was                It is interesting to note, as one reads this article,
                                                                that, although "The Standard Bearer" has indeed
intended to introduce "The Standard Bearer" to its              undergone many changes in format  - something
readers. But, more than that, it sets forth the positive        which Rev. Danhof suggested might be necessary - it
purpose for publishing a separate periodical - which            has not, up to the present, changed in its original
could only have been one more paper among many                  purpose and goal. For this we may be thankful.
others; and it speaks of the direction' "The Standard
Bearer" intended to take in the future. This article                  The article follows in a translation from the Dutch.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                         H Duizhof

      In "For The Sake of Right and Truth", the latest          and the manner in which they hoped to work.
brochure of the ministers Danhof and Hoeksema, the              Conscious of all that, we now consider it sufficient to
writers quite extensively expressed themselves                  give a short introduction pf "The Standard Bearer" of
concerning their plan for the publication of a                  the "Reformed Free Publishing Association" to our
monthly magazine. In this pamphlet the specific                 reading public.
conditions and certain serious events are also included
which gave them the occasion to seek for a periodical                 In "For The Sake of Right and Truth," the latest
in which they would be able to develop their                    brochure of the ministers Danhof and Hoeksema, the
thoughts unhindered and use this means to enlighten             writers quite extensively expressed themselves
others. At that time they also drew attention to the            concerning their plan for the publication of a
principles from which they determined to proceed in             monthly magazine. In this pamphlet the specific
such a paper, as well as the purpose they had in mind,          conditions and certain serious events are also included


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               53


which gave them the occasion to seek for a periodical       shall join itself completely with what has been taught
in which they would be able to develop their                during the last years and published by the ministers
thoughts unhindered and use this means to enlighten         Hoeksema and Danhof. Already this first number
others. At that time they also drew attention to the        contains an historical survey of the events of recent
principles from which they determined to proceed in         days. History has been made. That history is of
such a paper, as well as the purpose they had in mind,      concern for our churches. It can even be very
and the manner in which they hoped to work.                 important for the future. Therefore we want to
Conscious of all that, we now consider it sufficient to     rescue this history from oblivion. And for the same
give a short introduction of "The Standard Bearer" of       reason we shall also from time to time, keep up to
the "Reformed Free Publishing Association" to our           date our history book. At the same time the present
reading public.                                             state of affairs can be ascertained from it. We desire
   This organization, which has already for a               that opponents as well as friends should be
considerable time faithfully supported the                  acquainted with the matter so that they may be able
above-named preachers, shall henceforth devote itself       knowingly to deal with matters. With that in mind,
to this same task by this monthly magazine. The             we also, at the beginning, make mention of the three
members feel that there must be a striving for the          points which the latest Synod assumed responsibility
cause of the Lord not only against the enemies who          for in the matter of common grace. It is better that
stand outside their own church fellowship, but, under       the pertinent discussion of the Synodical decisions
the present circumstances, no less against the enemy        stay out of this material for a short time. But the
within the gates. Therefore they want men to raise          right understanding of the matter is surely very
the "standard" and instruct and lead the people of          necessary so that men may know what was decided
God in the strife which is inevitable and which must        and that men may also know the shell from which the
be fought. A need is felt for leadership in                 final decision, as a proper kernel, at long last came to
ecclesiastical questions, points of doctrine, prevalent     light. We consider this necessary all the more because
speculations, and the practical application in life of      from less qualified quarters, especially in foreign
the principles out of which people live. And although       periodicals, matters are sometimes set forth in a very
they do not plan to limit themselves in this struggle       strange way. Even at the outset, we want to make
to the publication of this periodical, nevertheless they    perfectly clear that we do not intend to cling to the
want "The Standard Bearer" to lead the way in this          literal language of the synodical pronouncements so
difficult strife.                                           as to commit violence to the spirit of the decisions.
                                                            Our purpose is precisely the opposite. We shall linger
  Herewith the position of the editorial staff is           only briefly with the literal wording of the so called
sufficiently explained. The writers want to let God's       "three points." But we hope to set clearly before our
Word speak; they want to work in a reforming and            readers their real implications. Our viewpoint
progressive reformed spirit. They adhere to a               underwent no modification, and we gave no thought
Bible-believing, not philosophical, conception of the       to retreat. The editorial staff of this paper judges that
revelation of God. They are looking for the right           no Reformed man is able to sign these propositions of
emphasis of the will of the Lord along the entire line      Synod as long as they are unchanged according to
of all human activity` and Christian living. Not            their clear implications. Therefore they shall attempt
everything therefore, which has been set forth in           to understand rightly these decisions in their exact
history as Reformed doctrine shall easily and               sense so that after sufficient study, each and every
arbitrarily be considered Biblical. They do not             one will be able to treat the matter with awareness of
subscribe to every proposition of the fathers, not          his work and its consequences.
then, when the shadow of a wrong judgment falls on
the Confession of the churches. There is indeed               "The Standard Bearer" is in direct contact with
caution required. Yet the true welfare of the church        life. It cannot be ignored in discussion. The subjects
demands nevertheless, that the full light of the Word       which it treats lie too near the heart of God's people.
of God be made to shine on all things which bear a          The present day question touches above all our view
relation to the right concern for the truth of the Son      of God. That became evident already before the
of God; because we are children of God, we must be          Synod, but it came to light more clearly during the
irreproachable, and upright, without blame in the           Synodical gatherings. In everything- reports, speeches,
midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which         arguments  - this shone through. There were
we shine as light in the world, holding high the Word
of life. We must never cease from this. And for this        differences of viewpoint concerning God. Around
                                                            that central point however, related questions grouped
purpose the editorial staff of "The Standard Bearer"        themselves. These were questions concerning
seeks also to qualify the church of the Lord.               predestination, the idea of the covenant, the law of
  As far as contents are concerned, this periodical         the Lord, the temptation in Paradise, the cause of sin,


54                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



the depravity of men, the revelation of God's wrath,         of all, concerning the conception which God gives in
the operation of the curse, the development of evil,         His revelation and the view which we consequently
the freedom of man's will and his responsibility, the        must take. Then attention will be paid to the
showing of favor, the preaching of the gospel, the           historical development of revelation and the historical
works of the Spirit, deception, attack, fear, blinding,      significance of things. Meanwhile, we, at the same
savagery, hardening, perversion, in connection with          time and again and again, shall glance around us to
the works of the prince of darkness; the natural             pay attention to actual deeds and events. If the case
knowledge of God, the tradition of revelation, the           should arise that an important subject, after short
battle of all ages, the consciousness of independence,       discussion, should justify a more many-sided and
solidarity, alienation, disharmony; the experience of        systematic treatment, then that shall probably take
pain and grief and sadness and despair, but also of          place in a supplement or a separate brochure.
deliverance, strengthening, comforting, change and             We are not directing ourselves towards a definite
renewal; the work of faith, trust, prayer, love, praise,     class or group. Our purpose is to help to live a more
but equally of unbelief, disdain, hate, blasphemy and        conscious, more fervent, deeper, richer, more
cursing; etc. All these and similar matters are of such      multi-faceted positive Christian life for our Lord,
supremely great concern because they more or less            now, in this present evil world. As much as possible,
touch man in the depths of the life of his soul and in       everything shall be arranged with that in view. We
the choice of his heart. The kernel of every difference      shall reckon with the circumstances of that life; first
in this realm then, is hidden also in the conception         of all with our own ecclesiastical circumstances,
which one has of the freedom of man's will in                because they are the circumstances in which we exist.
connection with the will of God. Strictly speaking,          If we should consequently come into contact in our
every difference concerns the nature of God's will.          periodical with life, our life, then we must know the
Therefore, we cannot conceive. of any other                  circumstances rightly. With a view to this, it can very
possibility but that every truly Reformed man                well be that our periodical undergoes change from
presently pricks up his ears as soon as he hears             time to time. But we shall have to wait and see.
mention made of these things. Not to do this would
immediately bring vengeance. He loses contact with             We shall write in the Dutch and in the English
history. Indeed, the Reformed fathers fought a               language, nearly in the same proportion because such
dreadful fight just exactly concerning that point. And       is the requirement of our time. But the contents of
we possess in the fruit of their work, the touchstone        the articles will be taken into account. Therefore, at
of the purity of Reformed preaching concerning this          least temporarily, the balance will perhaps tip
question; while we also, according to the same               towards the language of the fathers.
standard, attempt to apply this to practical living.
Therefore men in our circles shall surely bend an ear          The writers assume responsibility not only for their
to listen when these things are treated in close             respective contributions, but for the entire basic
connection with actual life in a practical way.              content, according to its principle and import. There
                                                             is also, however, provision made for cooperation and
      Long series of articles on one and the same subject    contributions. And although we do not place open
shall not appear in our monthly periodical. Nor have         our columns for everything which people might want
we divided everything in fixed rubrics. Yet we do            to see taken up, we shall deal properly with what is
have a definite plan in mind. In the treatment of            brought to our attention.
different and separate subjects, certain main topics
have been followed. Chiefly we ask in each case, first         Let "The Standard Bearer" thus enter the world.





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                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    55


 EDITORIALS

               The OPC and the "Free Offer" (4)
                               CONTRARY TO THE CONFESSIONS (continued)

                                                ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

   Since our discussion of this subject is rather             relief! But now the waters must be muddied. Notice:
protracted and has been frequently interrupted, it            1) That the authors have already made it plain that
may be well to remind ourselves of the question               they do not mean by this theory the decretive will of
under discussion. In general, it is this: is the doctrine     God. That, of course, would be too plain a
of a "free offer" of the gospel, as set forth in the          contradiction of the Reformed doctrine of double
Murray-Stonehouse pamphlet, The Free Offer Of The             predestination. 2) But neither do they mean "the
Gospel,  and as maintained by the Orthodox                    bare preceptive will of God." Well, of course not! An
Presbyterian Church (among others!), consistent with          offer, after all, is by no means the same as a precept,
our Reformed confessions?                                     a command, a demand. True, there belongs to the
   More specifically, we are investigating the               gospel the  command  to repent and believe; and
confessional correctness or incorrectness of the             although this is not all of the gospel, at least the error
proposition that there is in God "a real attitude, a         would not have been so serious if the authors had
real disposition of lovingkindness inherent in the free      only meant to stress the  demand  of faith and
offer to all." This, we must remember, is the                repentance. But mark you well, the authors
fundamental thesis implicit in the theory of a "free         themselves do not intend this; they say so in plain
offer." In one form or another, all who hold to this          words. And it's well that we pay attention to this
theory make it plain that they hold to some kind of          difference. For it is certainly Reformed to say - and
"common grace." This is very plain already in the            we as Protestant Reformed do indeed teach - that in
introductory section of the Murray-Stonehouse                the promiscuous proclamation of the gospel the
pamphlet. In it we read, p. 4: "The word `desire' has        demand of faith and repentance comes to all who
come to be used in the debate, not because it is             hear the preaching. Let there be no mistake on that
necessarily  the most accurate or felicitous word but        score! But neither let anyone confuse this with a
because it serves to set forth quite sharply a certain       general offer! The adherents of the offer-theory mean
implication of the full and free offer of the gospel to      something different. 3) But now begins the
all. This implication is that in the free offer there is     sleight-of-hand. First it is: ". . . in the offer there is
expressed not simply the bare preceptive will of God         expressed not simply the bare preceptive will of God
but the disposition of lovingkindness on the part of         . . . " (italics added) But now notice the substitution
God pointing to the salvation to be gained through           of ideas: `ln other words, the gospel is not simply an
compliance with the overtures of gospel grace. In            offer  or  invitation.   .  .  ." (italics added) As though
other words, the gospel is not simply an offer or            "the bare preceptive will of God" is equivalent to
invitation but also implies that God delights that           "simply an offer or invitation"! This is playing with
those to whom the offer comes would enjoy what is            words. 4) But even this is not enough. It must be
offered in all its fullness." Here the matter is very        made plain, too, that the offer means that God
plain, at least if one is not fooled by some of the          actually delights that those to whom the offer comes
jargon and sleight-of-hand switch in terminology. For        would enjoy what is offered in all its fullness.
notice, in the first place, that the main proposition          At this point, however, it would seem that the
here is very simple: "God delights that those to             authors feel they have gone a little too far in stressing
whom the offer comes (reprobate as well as elect,            what in the next paragraph they again call "a real
HCH) would enjoy what is offered in all its fullness."       disposition of lovingkindness inherent in the offer to
It is rather tragic, however, that educated and learned      all." For in the conclusion of the paragraph they
men, especially when they wish to cling so                   throw some sand in the eyes of the reader: "And the
tenaciously to a certain doctrine, cannot express            word `desire' has been used in order to express the
themselves more clearly and precisely. If they would,        thought epitomized in Ezekiel 33 : 11, which is to the
of course, their Arminianism and their contradiction         effect that God has pleasure that the wicked turn
of the Reformed position would stand out in sharp            from his evil way and live. It might as well have been


I 56
                                                  THE STAN IIlARD BEARER



   said, `It pleases God that the wicked repent and be          toward the reprobate, but positively excludes it. Mind
   saved.' "                                                    you, this means that the major premise of the
        Now here is a stellar example of the kind of            offer-theory is shut out by the Westminster
   language which confuses the simple and unwary and            Confession.
   which is (deliberately?) calculated to try to drive any        However, we need not appeal only to Chapter III.
   denier of the offer-theory between a rock and a hard         The simple fact is that this entire theory is contrary
   place. If anyone denies the well-meant offer, he is          to the  current teaching  of the Westminster
   now going to be suspect of denying Ezekiel 33: 11.           Confession; it is foreign to it. If only people would
   And that, of course, is much worse than being against        get back to the confessions and their language, they
   apple pie or motherhood. But let me make it crystal          would begin to have deep problems with the
   clear: 1) That I do not deny Ezekiel 33 : 11. When the       offer-theory. For the language of the confessions is
   proper time comes in the later discussion of this            sharp and distinctive.
   pamphlet and this offer-view, we will explain the              T u r n ,   f o r   e x a m p l e ,   t o   t h e   c h a p t e r   o n
   passage. 2) That I can even defend the proposition,          "Providence," Chapter V, paragraph 6:
   "It pleases God that the wicked repent and be saved,"
   -                                                                   As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God,
         though not in the context in which the                     as a righteous Judge, for former sins, doth blind and
   Murray-Stonehouse pamphlet paraphrases Ezekiel                  harden (Rom.  1:24, 26, 28; Rom.  11:7,  S), from
   33 : 11. 3) That it is by no means the same to say, "It          them He not  only withholdeth His grace whereby
   pleases God that the wicked repent and be saved," as             they might have been enlightened in their
   to say, "God delights that those to whom the offer               understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts
   comes would enjoy what is offered in all its fullness."          (Deut. ,29:4); but sometimes also withdraweth the
   The former statement can be understood to mean                   gifts which they had (Malt. 13: 12; Matt. 25:29), and
   that it is right in God's sight that the wicked repent,          exposeth them to such objects as their corruption
   and that He is pleased to save those ,who do repent.             makes occasion of sin (Deut. 2:30;  II Rings 8:12, 13);
                                                                    and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the
   The latter statement can only mean that God is so                temptations of the world, and the power of Satan (Ps.
   filled with lovingkindness toward those to whom the              81:11,  12; II Thess. 2:10-12),  whereby it comes to
   "offer" comes (reprobate as well as elect!) that He              pass that they harden themselves, even under those
   wants them all to enjoy salvation. And the latter, of            means which God useth for the softening of others
   course, is nothing but universalism!                             (Exod.  7:3; Exod.  8:15, 32; II Cor.  2:15, 16; Isa.
        Would that the proponents of the offer-theory               8:14; I Pet. 2:7,8; Isa. 6:9,10; Acts 28:26,27).
   would use in their explanations of their theory language       Once more we call your attention to the fact that
   that is as precise and unequivocal as is the language of     in the full edition of the Westminster Confession of
   our confessions in setting forth the truth of sovereign,     Faith the Scriptural proofs are printed in full. We
   particular grace! Then all would know where they             have given only the references, for reasons of space.
   stand, and then the people would not be confused.            We strongly advise the reader who is interested in this
        We shall have to return to this matter of linguistic    subject to look up these passages of Scripture. They
   hocus-pocus later: for the pamphlet is replete with          clearly confirm what the Confessions states, and they
   such confusing language.                                     make it abundantly clear that the whole notion of a
        But now let us return to the business at hand.          will of God to save all and a divine disposition of
                                                                lovingkindness toward the reprobate-ungodly is
        We have been demonstrating that the offer-theory        utterly foreign to the Scriptures - foreign not merely
   is contrary to our Reformed creeds. And thus far we          to some isolated proof-texts, but foreign to the
   have limited our proofs to Chapter III of the                current thought of Scripture! It will be well worth
   Westminster Confession of Faith. From this chapter           the time to look up the texts referred to.
   we have seen that this confession not only does not
   allow room for a disposition of lovingkindness of God                               (to be continued)





                               REFORMED DOGMATICS, (Second printing). $9.95 postpaid.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      57





                  Gratifying Support -- Thank You!


     Once in a while editorial-writing is an easy task and    subscriber his 21 issues each year. Without these extra
a very pleasant one.                                          gifts, and the collections from our Protestant
     This is one of those occasions. Our genial business      Reformed churches, we surely would be out on a
manager rather regularly keeps me informed, either            limb!"
by telephone, by mail, or in person, concerning                 From another progress report I glean the following
incoming R.F.P.A. mail. Once in a while a letter              sample of just one of four deposits which our
intended for me reaches him first; but most of the            business manager had made up to the 12th of
time the mail is business-mail, having to do with             October:
subscriptions, renewals, book orders, etc. Our                Church collection, $119.30
business manager, who is supposed to be retired but
who is actually kept very busy by his R.F.P.A.                Church collection, $38.30
"sideline," gets a surprising amount of such                  Renewals and subscriptions:
business-mail. Not infrequently his mail will include         1 @ $7.00 + $13.00 gift = $20.00
an encouraging note about the work of the Standard
Bearer. And very often when subscribers send in their         3 @ $7.00 + $8.00 gift = $45.00
renewal money, they will include an extra gift.               5 lo-for-2's + $2.50 gift = $12.50
Besides, the mail brings collection-checks from our           1 @ $7.00 + 1 1 O-for-2 + $3.00 gift = $12.00
supporting churches.                                          10  @ $7.00 + $3.00  gifts  @ $100.00
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meeting - at which we received news of a substantial          2 new subscriptions = $14.00
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this a very easy and pleasant editorial to write.             2 lo-for-2's = $4.00
     I can do no better than to quote directly from a
couple of Mr. Vander Wal's notes to me. He puts it               Do you wonder that Mr. Business Manager
very forthrightly in a note written October 6:                exclaims, "Isn't that something, though!"
"Honestly - it's amazing! I haven't finished opening            This is gratifying. It is gratifying to the Board and
all of the mail which I picked up today from Box              to our Manager. It is gratifying to the staff to know
6064, but have opened only three out of the ten               of the royal support that our magazine receives. And
received today. First one opened came from                    it will be encouraging, I am sure, to our constituency
Kalamazoo, Mich. - renewal, $7; check for $10. No.            to learn of this. Personally, I heartily concur with Mr.
2  - from Byron Center  - renewal $7.00; check                Vander Wal when he writes me: "I believe that a
received for $20. No. 3 from Downey, California -             `thank you' note should be printed in a forthcoming
check for $15 ! I'll open a couple more : from Chicago
-                                                             issue of the  Standard Bearer,  a note which would
     renewal $7; check for $10. From Grand Rapids,            explain to the readers and to the contributors just
$10. Another from Grand Rapids, $10. From                     exactly how much their contributions mean to the
Lansing, Illinois  - $10. I got to thinking, while            support and the continuation of our paper."
opening these envelopes - do you know that without
these $10, $15, and $20 checks we would be `out of              Well, here is that "thank you."
business'? If all of the subscribers would send only            And I want to add that I thank my God for this
the $7 renewal fee, we'd go for broke! It costs about         evidence among you of your dedication to the cause
$8.50 per subscription per year-to print and mail each        of His truth, the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ.


58                                              THE  STANDA,RD BEARER


FEA TURE



                                  A Covenant Calling

                                        In The Home

                                                Rev. Richard G. Moore



      It is the purpose of this article to focus attention    Standing upon the gospel of Christ,. having on this
on the covenant calling of Christian parents within           armor of God, we shall maintain the walk of faith. We
the confines of family  .life. At the same' time there        will be given the courage to battle the battle of faith,
necessarily will be Scriptural directives within the          and we may be assured of victory.
scope of this article for the covenant youth .and
children. Let us begin with the text that I` would              .It is in this context that we  find our text. God
consider with you in  this`article; I refer to Eph. 6:4       admonishes us to bring up our childrenin the nurture
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to                and admonition of the Lord that they too, might put
wrath : but bring them  up- in the nurture and                on the whole armor of God. An amazing calling our
admonition of the Lord." In particular; we will               Lord gives to covenant parents. Let us consider it
consider the last phrase of the text," but bring them         now in some detail. As we do so I would &ke to point
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."                out to our covenant youth, who ought to be reading
      The context in which we find our text is                this article, that the first remarks to be made concern
significant. The apostle Paul reminds us in verses ten        your parents. However, it would be well that you
and following that the child of God has a battle to           read this first section carefully nevertheless. By doing
fight in this life. He is mindful that this is the portion    so you will better understand the serious calling
of every Christian. This has been true throughout the         which God has given your parents when He gave you
ages. It is the,battle  of faith, the struggle to walk in     to them for a time. This should help you understand
the midst of the world -as a stranger and a pilgrim.          their care and concern for you. On the other hand,
God's children are all called to seek God and His             there will be specific remarks for you later in this
righteousness, and,. conversely, to oppose all that           article. Secondly, for our reading mothers I would
opposes Him. The principle enemy is Satan, the                like to remark that this text applies very directly to
wiIely devil, according to Paul. This struggle is against     you, although the heading, is, "ye. fathers." Paul
a very real and significant force. The apostle points         addresses the fathers because they are the head of the
out that  it is a battle against principalities, powers       family and the full responsibility for the instruction
and dominions, with wickedness in high places. In             of the covenant seed rests squarely upon them.
fact the battle is so great that the child of God will be     However, much of the authority in the home, and
able to stand only by putting on the whole armor of           much of the instruction is properly delegated to the
God. This armor of -God is essentially the Word of            mother. As you know, mothers, you often spend
God which is. given us through the preaching. Paul            much more time with your children because father
literally points this out to us when he says: "Stand          must provide the living. Remembering these
therefore, having your loins girt about in truth, - and       comments  `let us directly consider the text. The
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of          instruction of the apostle is twofold. We are to bring
peace, - and take the helmet of salvation, and the            up our children in the nurture and admonition of the
sword of the Spirit, which is the  .word of God."             Lord. The idea of the two terms used in our text is to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               59



train the covenant seed by positive instruction,              these instances of God's Word and Way! We are to
chastening, and admonition. Using the figure in the           be busy leading, guiding, instructing, encouraging,
English term "nurture." we begin to `understand the           correcting our children and youth in all our family
magnitude of this calling. To nurture is to give              life. We are to talk to our children often!
constant care and attention to something, that it
might grow healthy and strong. For example if  .we               Covenant seed, implied here is the calling also to
plant a sapling in our yard, we must work the soil            you to talk to your parents. Do you? Do you take
well, water it almost daily, see that it has sufficient       your problems to your parents? Do you go to them
fertilizer, perhaps tie it to a post to protect it against    for advice concerning a certain course of action that
the wind, and as it grows, carefully prune it. By giving      you may take? Do you seek out answers as to
it this constant care the sapling will grow to be a           whether this is right or wrong? Or do you sometimes
healthy, fruit-bearing tree. It is with this type of          refrain from approaching your parents because you
diligence that we are to bring our children up in the         know their answer or advice is going to be contrary to
nurture and admonition of the  Lord.  Constantly,             your desire? Let it be said here that you ought often
daily, we are to instruct the covenant seed in the            to go to your parents to talk with them, to confide in
knowledge of Jehovah, lead them into the green                them, to seek their advice and encouragement. You
pastures of His Word, teach them the fear of His              ought to do this because you have most wonderful
Name, bring the Word of God to bear upon their lives          parents. They are covenant parents with a wisdom
when they walk in ways outside of the Lord, chasten           that is true and great. You may wonder at this; you
and admonish them, all with a view to their spiritual         may be tempted to say, "What could my parents
growth in the Lord, unto .the end that they may put           know about my problems? They are too old to
on the armor of God, fight the battle of faith, seek          know." But your parents do know. They have faced
God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength as         basically the same decisions you must. They have
pilgrims and strangers in the midst of the earth.             passed the same trials and temptations. And God has
                                                              given them grace to stand in faith. Further, they have
  Beloved, this is an amazing calling! Is it an. easy         lived a .good deal longer under the gracious preaching
one? Your answer undoubtedly is absolutely not!               of the Word, growing in wisdom. Finally they love
And this is as it should be. When one contemplates its        you, not only because of the blood relationship, but
demand, he immediately faces the fact of his own              in the Lord. They desire to lead you in the straight
sinfulness. It is a battle to stand as God's children         and narrow way to glory. Go often to them. And
personally, and now God requires that we lead our             rejoice that God has given you God-fearing parents.
children properly in that battle? Yet, that is certainly      Many children are not so blessed. They have ungodly
the requirement of our text. Our confession must be           parents that lead them to hell.
that only by grace is it possible. My readers, it is the         Covenant parents, after this interlude we cannot
power of the gospel that makes you aware of your
own sinfulness and frailty in this matter. But it is also     fail but to be impressed with the magnitude and
                                                              seriousness of our calling. Do we, take time to sit in
the same power of God's Word that turns the                   our homes and talk about the things of God's
covenant parent to His promise of grace to carry out          kingdom? Are we ready to advise, to encourage, to
this calling. Our children are His heritage, God's            lead and correct our covenant seed. We must! It is
children, and He will not give you care of His children       very necessary to take the time. Take every
without also providing that which you need to care            opportunity that arises. When your son or daughter
for them. Thus, first of all, let us often go to God in       asks: "Why does it rain?" explain it in terms of God's
prayer for strength to carry out this calling. Secondly,      Word. When your youths come with their problems,
let us take our strength- from His. Word to lead and          hear them out, and answer them with the wisdom, of
guide the covenant seed. Finally, be assured God will         the Word of God. Consciously make God's Word
indeed give you that of which you stand in need.              central in all of your life in the horn&Read it, speak
  In the assurance  of. God's grace, trusting in His          about it, seek out its preaching, and in your prayers
Word let us now consider the means of carrying out            together seek grace to walk as a family united in the
this mandate. To do this  I. would like to call your          Lord as strangers and pilgrims. Actively walk together
attention to a passage of Scripture from the Old              as a family in the Lord, and make sure that you do
Testament. G.od had just given the law to Israel, and         things as a family. The world would have the family
He instructed them with the words of Deut.  6:7               broken up. Insist that the family be together and
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy                walk together..And remember, the.text in Deut.  6:7
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in         refers to our whole life. Everything we do as parents
thine house, and when thou waikest by the way, and            speaks to our children. Our life is a speech. May God
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." The           give you grace to walk as strangers and pilgrims, that
covenant parents  -are to talk to their children in all       also your children may so learn to walk.


      60         THE STANDARD BEARER





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62                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE

                   Our Protestant Reformed  Position
                             Regarding The "Free Offer
                                                Of  .The Gospel"

                                                          Rev. David Engelsma


      In this paper, we will treat the subject of the "free            Errol1 Hulse, published a booklet, "The Free Offer."
offer of the gospel" or, as it is also called, "the                    They defend the free offer and castigate those who
well-meant gospel offer." This is the teaching of some                 deny it as "hyper-Calvinists."
Reformed and Presbyterian Churches and of other                          It is not the purpose of this paper to give an
Calvinists that God, in the preaching of the gospel,                   exhaustive treatment of the "free offer." I only want
offers salvation to everyone who hears the preach&g,                   to draw the main lines, as I see them in the interest of
out of His love for everyone and with.the  desire that                 our subsequent discussion.
everyone be saved.
      It is evident that this teaching is no peripheral
matter, of concern only to some Christians at a                           By the "free offer," or the "well meant offer of
certain period in the history of the Church. Rather,                   the gospel," we understand the teaching of certain
this teaching raises questions that touch on the very                  Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, as well as
heart of the gospel of grace. Does God love all men?                   others who profess to love the doctrines of grace, or
Does God desire that all men be saved? Does God in                     Calvinism, that God offers Christ and salvation to
the preaching try to accomplish  %he salvation of                      everyone in the preaching of the gospel and that He
everyone? Is it the nature of  .preaching  that it is an               does this because He loves everyone and desires the
offer? If indeed God loves all and desires the salvation               salvation of everyone. This was the teaching of the
of all, why do some of them perish? Are God's love                     Christian Reformed Church in 1924 that became the
and grace defeated? What does this teaching do to the                  occasion for the separate existence of our Protestant
Scriptural doctrine of election and reprobation? What                  Reformed Churches. In the first of their three
becomes of the doctrine of irresistible grace? The                     doctrinal statements regarding common grace, the
significance of the subject has recently been shown                    C.R.C.' said this:
by developments in the Christian Reformed Church.
In 1962-1964, Harold Dekker, prof&sor of Missions                          "Relative to the first point which concerns the
in Calvin Theological Seminary, in a series of articles                    favorable attitude of God towards humanity in
                                                                           general and  not only towards the elect, synod
in The Reformed Journal,  grounded his defense of                          declares it to be established according to Scripture
universal atonement in the teaching of the well-meant                      and the Confession thit, apart from the saving grace
gospel offer which the Christian: Reformed Church                          of God shown only to those that are elect unto
adopted in 1924  in the first .point of common grace.                      eternal life, there is also a certain favor or grace of
Of late, the subject of the free offer has been                            God which He shows to His creatures in general. This
receiving'much attention from Bafitists  Who embrace                       is evident from the Scriptural passages quoted and
some of the main tenets of  .Calvi&m. These men                            from the Canons of Dordrecht, II, 5 and III, IV, 8
express their views in several. magazines; Sword and                       and 9; which deal  with. `the general offer of the
Trowel, The Banner of  Twth,  and  Reformation                             Gospel, while it also appears from the citations made
Today.' Recently, the editor ,04 Reformatjo%  Today,                       from Reformed wrifkrs of the most flourishing
                                                                           period ,of Reformed Theology that our Reformed
                                                                           writers from the past favored this-view."
* a paper given at a Western Offi&bearers'.Conference  in Ldveland,
      Col'orado on September         5,1973     `. .      `.     G-    In this statement, the  CiR.C. said that there is a


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  63


"general. offer of the Gospel" and that- this offer is                      different from Arminianism, it is impossible to ignore
the expression of a "certain favor or grace of .God"to                      that  .historically it was the  .Arminians who taught a
all men, not only to, the elect; but also to. the                           universal, well-meant offer of  .salvation  .in the
reprobate. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has                             preaching. According to the Arminians, the free offer
also officially adopted' the teaching of the free offer                     is backed up by.universal atonement and harmonizes
as church doctrine. In 1948, they adopted the study                         with a conditional election. Everyone to whom the
of Professors John Murray and Ned Stonehouse                                preaching comes has the ability of free will to accept
that defended the free offer.1 ,Following  Murray and                       the offer, because God gives everyone sufficient
Stonehouse,  ,the O.P.C. teaches  that, there is a free                     grace. Salvation, therefore, depends upon one's
offer of the gospel,. maintaining that:.                                    acceptance of the offer. The Reformed Churches
      "there is in God a benevolent lovingkindness towards'                 condemned the Arminians' doctrine of the offer in
      the repentance and salvatien of even those whom he                    the Canons of Dordt (cf. III, IV, 10, 14; III, IV, The
     / has not decreed to save; This pleasure, will, desire is              Rejection .of Errors.)
      expressed in the universal`call to repentance . ;-. The                 `The Protestant Reformed Churches deny the free
      full and free offer of the gospel is a grace bestowed
      upon all. Stichgrace is necessarily a manifestation of                offer. We maintain that. the free offer is neither
      love or lovin&.indness in the heart of God. &d this                   Scriptural nor confessional. We hold that the doctrine
      lovingkindness is revealed to be of a character or kind               of the free offer that has found entrance- into
      that is correspondent with the grace bestqwed. The                    Reformed Churches is the introduction once again of
      grace offered is nothing  less than salvation in its                  the Arminian heresy into the Reformed sphere: "En
      richness and fulness. The love or lovingkindness that                 wij aarzelen niet, om het onomwonden' uit to
      lies back of that offer is not anything less; it is the               spreken, dat hetstandpunt van 1924 Arminiaansch is.
      will to that salvation. I;i other words, it is Chiist in all          De predilcing  des Evangelies algemeene genade, -dat is
      .tie glory of his person tind in all the perfection of his            de Arminiaansche  voorstelling.  "2  It is necessary,
      finished work whom God offers in the gospel. The                      however,`. for men to understand just exactly what we
      loving and benevolent will that h the source of that
      offer and that grounds its veracity ,and reality is the               are denying when we deny the free offer. We must
      will to the possession of Christ and the enjoyment of                 make clear what it is in the doctrine of a well-meant
      the salvation that resides in him. ("The Free Offer of                gospel'. offer that we regard  as. un-Biblical and
      the Gospel," p; 27)                                                   un-Reformed. Our position  is.  .both misrepresented
                                                                            and misunderstood. We need not here concern
The Calvinistic Baptists mean essentially the same                          ourselves with those who misrepresent us, knowing
thing  .by the free offer as do the C.R.C. and the                          full; well that we do not deny that which they put in
O.P.C. They' are. fond of, quoting Murray and
Stonehouse's work on the free offer as authoritative.                       our mouths. But we will concern ourselves with the
Ian `Murray may be taken as representative of these                         misunderstanding, of our position. Our denial. of the
men. Writing in  Sword and Trowel  of February,                             offer is misunderstood by some because there have
1969, in an article entitled; "The Free Offer of the                        been those in, the history of the Church and
Gospel," Murray defends `the Marrow-men who                                 apparently are.still some today, who have denied the
taught "a universal Gospel offer." According to the                         offer for different reasons than we do. Some have
Marrow-men and Murray, God invites everyone to                              denied the offer, meaning by this denial that the
salvation in the preaching of, the Gospel. This offer is                    Church should not call everyone who hears the
"a real and sincere. offer. God is not offering                             preaching to repent and believe. To use the language
something which -He is unwilling to bestow. `God                            of classic Reformed theology, they have denied the
offers Christ cordially and affectionately in the                           external call of the gospel. Their people have been
gospel; his very heart goes out after sinners in the call                   called "hyper-Calvinists." But this is not the idea of
and offer thereof . .  ; `Christ is willing to come into                    our opposition to the offer, nor is it an implication of
every heart.' " The offer is a "universal expression of                     our position.
God's benevolence and compassion." "His                                       For us, the issue is the teaching of the doctrine of
benevolence and compassion, expressed in the                                the free offer that God is gracious in the preaching to
universal call to repentance, extend to every creature                      everyone who hears the preaching, the reprobate as
even to those whom He has not decreed to save."                             well as the elect. Inherent in the doctrine of the free
Although the C.R.C., `the O.B.C., and the Calvin&tic                        offer is the teaching that God loves everyone (or,
Baptists claim that their doctrine of the free offer is                     what amounts to the same thing, that there is an

1    This study has been printed'as a booklet entitled, "The Free Offer     2 H. Hoeksema,  &en Kracht  Gock Tot  Zaligheid of Genade Geen
     of the Gospel." It is available from Lewis J. Grotenhuis, Belvidere       Aanbod, 1939, p. 17. ("And we do not hesitate to express forth-
     Road, Phillipsburg, N.J.                                                  rightly that the standpoint of 1924 is Arminian. The preaching of
                                                                               the Gospel as universal grace  - that is the Arminian idea.")


64                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


attitude of favor on God's part towards everyone, a                    two kinds of love or two kinds of grace in God: "The
gracious attitude), that God desires to save everyone,                 difference between common grace and special grace,
and that, therefore, the preaching is grace to all who                 between common love and special love, is not in the
hear. This is the doctrine of the well-meant offer as                  respective quality or essence of these, but in the
set forth by the C.R.C. in the fast point of common                    effect produced" (The Reformed Journal,  Feb.,
grace of 1924. There is a "favorable attitude of God                   1963). He expressed agreement on this point with
towards humanity in general," "a certain favor or                      Hoeksema: "both of us agree that God's love is not
grace of God," which is expressed in the "general                      two but one, although he limits this one love of God
offer of the Gospel." This is the conception of the                    to the elect while I ascribe it to all men" (The
free offer set forth by Murray and Stonehouse and                      Reformed Journal,  March, 1963). This one love is
adopted by the O.P.C. Errol1 Hulse, a representative                   redemptive love. Dekker contended, again correctly,
of the Caivinistic Baptists, is in full agreement: "But                that by adopting the well-meant offer the C.R.C. had
does he (God) desire or wish salvation for all? We                     committed itself (rightly, in Dekker's view) to the
answer, Yes!" ("The Free Offer," p. 7). Hulse sees                     teaching that God loves all men with a redemptive love
the well-known words of Revelation 22: 17 as                           and is gracious to them with saving grace. He then
"further cogent proof of the most gracious                             showed that this implies universal atonement. Dekker
expressions of God concerning his will for all men to                  argued powerfully, as it turned out, irrefutably, that
be saved" (p. 8). The love and grace of God revealed                   the doctrine of the well-meant offer demanded the
in the offer of the gospel is necessarily a saving love                teaching of universal atonement.
and grace. It is not saving as to its effect, for the                      "Second, is the salvation which the atonement
defenders of the offer admit that it actually fails to                     provides available to all men? Indeed it is. Otherwise
accomplish the salvation of many towards whom it is                        the well-meant offer of the gospel is a farce, for it
directed. But it is saving as to its nature. It is a love                  then offers sincerely to all men what cannot be
that desires the salvation of the objects of that love.                    sincerely said to be available to all" (The Reformed
It is a grace expressed in the preaching of the gospel                     Journal, Dec., 1962).
of the Savior from sin, indeed, a grace expressed in                       "The Scriptures testify to a divine love for all men in
the well-meant offer of that Savior. Obviously, the                        the atonement of Christ and in the universal
grace of God for all men, including the reprobate, in                      invitation of the gospel" (Redemptive Love and the
the free offer is not the "common grace" of                                Gospel Offer," l%e Reformed Journal, Jan., 1964.
Abraham Kuyper, for that "grace" was only a                                Cf. tlie entire article).
temporal favor of God expressed in earthly things                        There is one step that the defenders of the free
such as rain and sunshine. It was not saving as to its                 offer have refused to take as yet, the step of
nature or as to God's intention. It was not expressed                  maintaining free will. This must come in time as the
in any well-meant offer. But the grace of God                          principles involved in the free offer work through.
expressed in the free offer is nothing less than a favor               Already a man like Erroll Hulse takes a weak and
that desires to save and that goes out in the gospel                   dangerous position in this regard. As he struggles with
itself. This is the very essence of the free offer, and it             the problem that God offers salvation to totally
is to this that we are saying "No," when we deny                       depraved sinners, absolutely incapable of accepting
the free offer. The free offer is a denial of the                      the offer, he writes: "As has been shown men are
sovereignty of God's grace. The saving grace of God                    dead in sin, being dead to spiritual matters because of
in Christ fails, and the love of God revealed in the                   their enmity to God. Yet they are not dead as men.
cross of Calvary is frustrated. We see the issue as                    They still bear God's image. They are still moral,
essentially the same as that for which the Reformed                    rational, responsible creatures. However miserable in
fathers contended at the Synod of Dordt against the                    their unregenerate state they are not irresponsibly
Arminians. For do not forget that, although the                        dead. God deals with them as responsible . . . This is
truths of election, total depravity, the atonement,                    the root of the matter and the reason why it is
and perseverance were all at stake, the nub of the                     necessary to be clear about  common grace  (my
controversy was the Arminian's denial of efficacious,                  emphasis  - DE). It cannot be too strongly stressed
sovereign grace.3 Against this Arminian denial, the                    that we speak to men as men. They are not tables and
fathers maintained "irresistible grace," especially in                 chairs or cups and saucers. They are very much alive,
Heads III, IV of the Canons.                                           very much alive toward a world without God," ("The
                                                                       Free Offer," p. 15). The power of the offer-idea will
      History has verified our contention that the                     irresistibly sweep away the truth of total depravity in
well-meant offer is  Arminian in a striking way. In                    the direction of free will, through the channel, no
1962- 1964, Harold Dekker of the C.R.C. seminary                       doubt, of the notion that fallen men "still bear God's
argued from the  wellimeant offer to universal                         image" because of "common grace."
atonement. He showed, correctly; that there are not                                          (to be continued)

3 This is mado plain in Carl Bangs' recent book, sympathetic to the
      Arminians, Arminius (Nashville: Abington Press, 1971).


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  65


ALL AROUND US

                                     Cooperation Between

                          Christian Reformed and Rome

                                                        Pro.f  H.  Harzko


  We quote the following news item which appeared                            Reformed Church, 3 150 N. Adams in Troy.
in  the  Detroit Free Press  and which was reprinted in                         He is vice-president of the North Suburban Parish,
the News  Bulletin   of the Association of Christian                         a grouping of nine Troy-area Protestant and Catholic
Reformed Laymen. It gives an example of how far                              Churches.
ecumenicity has gone among some Christian                                       The Troy churches conduct joint camps, retreats
Reformed congregations.                                                      and education programs led by Catholic imns and
       Listen to the services in some of the church                          Protestant clergy.
   buildings in the Detroit area on a Sunday morning                            They also hold special liturgies together at Easter,
   and you may wonder where you are.                                         Thanksgiving and for anniversaries of pastors or
       A number of religious groups are sharing buildings                    congregations.
    - and sometimes services - in order to save money                           For instance, a baptism rite for two infants and
   and offer a variety of types of worship.                             two adults in St. Stephen's Episcopal Church last
       "We have a structured community working on the                        spring had the hands of clergy from Episcopal,
   church of tomorrow today," says the Rev. John                        American Lutheran, Christian Reformed, Methodist
   Malestein, pastor of the North Hills Christian                            and Roman Catholic churches dipping into the water.

                          Comments On The Film Arts

  Sometime ago I lectured in South Holland on the                   have written. The matter which he brings up is an
subject .of "The Christian And The Film Arts." This                 important one and worth some comment in our
lecture was later published, with some modifications,               column. He writes:
in a pamphlet by the same name. In a paragraph on                             In the booklet "The Christian And the Film Arts"
page 6, I wrote:                                                       . . . we read on page 6: "To thg first class we have no
       The question which is of concern to us is: Is there             objections." Maybe this could be said when the
    not a deeper objection against movies? An objection                booklet first was written, which I doubt very much.
   which condemns them out of hand?                                    It is a very dangerous generalization. The  world
       Before we answer this, we must make a careful                   produces these movies! Do not we hold that the
    distinction between different kinds of the fdrn arts.              world produces evil? Do not we say, "there is no
    In one class must be placed home movies which                      common grace"?
    record delightful experiences in the life of a family,                    Be assured that "educational" movies and
    educational films, travelogues, etc. In another class               "travelogues" picture a false picture. These movies
    must be placed all movies which are dramatic                        are used by Satan to pervert the masses, including
    presentations. It is bad logic to lump all movies                  those who call themselves Christians. All
    together into one class. To the first class we have no             communications media are in the hands of the evil
    objections. It is with the second class that we have               one today.
    our quarrel. . . .                                                         Educational movies and travelogues subtly
  A reader of our  Standard Bearer  in British                         brainwash the masses into believing the three great
@olum&ia  has recently read this pamphlet and has                      hoaxes: Darwinism, Marxism, and Freudianism.
sent a letter in which he takes exception to what I                     Observe these movies critically, and you will soon see


66                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


       this. The famous "National Geographic Magazine" I           productions. These include travelogues, home movies,
       wish to mention here also. It, too, is dangerous trash.     educational  fnms, etc. They are not  per se  wrong.
       Full of lies and ungodliness.                               They cannot be condemned on the grounds that it is
          Have you seen the book "The Emergence of Man"            always evil to make a movie of children romping in
       advertised? This is an overt example of what I am           the back yard, or of scenes in some foreign country.
       hinting at. We are shown a group of natives crawling        They cannot be lumped together with dramatic
       among, and arising up from among tall grass.                productions and condemned out of hand. It is in this
       Someone with poor vision could easily mistake the           sense that I made the remark: "To the first class we
       picture for a pride of lions in an Afrikaans veld.          have no objection."
          How many of our people buy these books? It is               Nevertheless, for the rest, we agree with our
       high time to warn our people.                               correspondent. It is certainly true that even
          We must stress purity of doctrine, indeed. We also       travelogues and educational films can, when made by
       must stress purity of life, separation from the world.      ungodly men, be instruments of ungodly philosophy
       We must guard against all of Satan's ruses.                 and propaganda. They can be, and often are, means
                                                                   whereby the masses are pumped full of worldly
      There are a couple of comments about this which              philosophy with its Satanic world-and-life-view. The
will, I think, clarify the matter considerably.                    dangers against which the above letter warns are very
      In the first place, our correspondent misses the             real and not imaginary. And the warning is much to
point which I was making in the pamphlet. When I                   the point. I have seen travelogues which, in their very
stated "To the first class we have no objections," I               presentation, gave approval to idolatry. I have seen
was referring specifically to all movies which are not             educational films which are primarily education in
dramatic productions, and against which no principle               evolutionism. Our people should certainly be much
objection could be made. The thrust of the argument                more sensitive to these things than sometimes they
was especially that the film arts which are dramatic               are. This is especially true because this propaganda
productions do not belong to the area of Christian                 can sometimes be so very subtle that it is difficult to
liberty. They are wrong  per  se because drama is                  detect even when one is alert to it. And this makes it
wrong. All these dramatic productions are evil                     all the more dangerous.
whether they appear in the local theatre, on the                     Nevertheless, it is impossible to make a good movie
television screen, or on the stage in live productions.            which includes drama. It is possible to make a good
They must be condemned on the basis of God's                       home movie, a good travelogue, a good educational
Word. They are not a legitimate form of                            film. We may not condemn non-dramatic movies out
entertainment for the Christian.                                   of hand. We must carefully evaluate them. And we
      But there are other movies which are not dramatic            must reject that which is evil.


                News Items From The Church World

      Louis Cassels, UP1 Senior Religious editor, has                 and, naturally, gained their earliest foothold in the
recently written a series  .of articles on. religion in               Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which later
America. A recent column, syndicated in many                          became New York. Today, the largest concentration
newspapers, and appearing in the Grand Rapids Press,                  of Reformed Congregations is found in Michigan.
makes mention of the Churches of Reformed
persuasion. The pertinent paragraphs are as follows:                                 *     * *        * *
          Four important U.S. denominations with a total             According to Christian News the conservatives in
       membership of about 700,000 trace their ancestry to         the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod are seeking a
       the Dutch Reformed Church founded in the                    division of their denomination. Although the
       Netherlands during the 16th Century by followers of         conservatives won a smashing victory in their recent
       John Calvin.                                                Synod in New Orleans, many are suspicious that the
          The American offspring of this ancient Protestant        officials in the Church are not doing all they can nor
       body are, in order of size, the Reform (sic) Church in      moving fast enough to implement these decisions.
       America,, the Christian Reformed Church, the                Particularly, many complain that the liberalism and
       Netherlands Reformed Congregations and the                  heresy in Concordia Seminary is not being rooted out
       Protestant Reformed Churches in America.                    with sufficient dispatch. Hence, since time is on the
          They came to America with the first Dutch settlers       side of the liberals, many fear that the victories


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              67



gained in New Orleans will be lost after all.                broadcasting, he was forced to quit because his radio
                                                             signal was interfering with other stations and he had
                   *  * * *  *                               to seek a new wavelength. Now his program is already
   Carl McIntyre is still having his troubles with the       in the courts and his right to broadcast from
government. Although he has a large network of               international waters is being challenged by the
stations over which he broadcasts, his key station,          government.
WXUR in Media, Pennsylvania, was recently closed                While we do not sympathize with the views which
by the Federal Communications Commission on the              Rev. McIntyre promotes, we nevertheless consider it a
grounds that McIntyre did not abide by the rules of          grave injustice that the government has silenced his
the so-called Fairness Doctrine. Though McIntyre             station. His contention that the government permits
appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court,          every conceivable form of liberalism and godlessness
he did not succeed in getting his station back on the        to be broadcasted without interference and only
air.                                                         vents its wrath on conservative broadcasts, is a
   He has since then purchased an old minesweeper            legitimate one. And, no doubt, this is but the
which he has now anchored off the coast on the               harbinger of another day when the government will
eastern seaboard. He intends to broadcast from this          shut down all broadcasting which is in any way
boat outside the limits of the sovereignty of the            conservative theologically.
United States and thus, in his opinion, outside the             In the meantime, Christianity Today reports that
jurisdiction of the government. He is having his             McIntyre is in deep financial trouble and is barely
problems however. First, technical difficulties              able to keep up payments of his vast and far-flung
delayed his broadcasting. Then, after a few hours of         program.


THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH:

                                 Christian Liberty (3)
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering


   We may conclude from our previous articles that            promised by every concoction imaginable. Lanky
the subject of Christian liberty is of importance to          arms soon become proportioned. The cracking voice
young people for two reasons. The first is that it is so      reaches the penetrating highs and booming lows. By
relevent to their lives. Because they are young, they         the marvel of body  chemisty the young man soon
stand at the forefront of change which gives rise to          stands at the apex of human strength and the young
spiritual evaluation. Young people must constantly            woman adorned in her pristine beauty.
determine what is permissible under Christian liberty           Changes are not only physical, however. Far more
and what has to be rejected as sinful. The second             subtly, one changes inside. The dependent little
reason is that such a decision is crucial for their whole     Johnny soon gets up in the morning and discovers
life. If a young person fails to make proper                  that he has his own ideas about things. The child that
discernment, but justifies sin under the pretense of          lets mother and father do all the thinking suddenly
Christian liberty, he sets the direction of his entire        becomes the young person who realizes that he has to
life wrongfully. If he makes a proper judgment, he            do his own thinking. The soul of youth becomes
sets his feet upon the pathway that leads unto life           flooded with waves of questions. The simple trust
eternal. What can be of more importance to covenant           that a child has in the judgment of adults is replaced
young people?                                                 with suspicion. A younger person begins to wonder
                                                             why people act the way they do. They question the
GROWING UP                                                   motives of parents and every one close to them. They
   The days of youth are awkward. One is too old to be       begin to feel pinched by the "oppression" of others
a child and too young to be an adult. Acne soon gives         always telling them what to do, what to think, what
way to the smooth texture so coveted by all and              to feel, what to say, and so on. Suspicion gives way to


68                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



doubt, and a young person begins to wonder whether               Scripture indicates that parents have: no
                                                                                                       : no choice but
                                                                                                              choice but
anyone really knows what is right. Their tender lives         to guide their children also in making :judgments as it
                                                                                                       judgments as it
become shaken by the Pharisaism they see. They hear           applies to Christian liberty. All the exhortations of
                                                                                                       xhortations of
gossip and learn how people hurt one another. They            the Bible emphasize that parents are tc train up
                                                                                                         train up their
                                                                                                                   their
begin to come face to face with the hard realities of         children in the way that they should $50. This is their
life. Their first reaction is to reject it all. Sometimes     calling!
they like to climb into a cocoon. Some rebel against             And how can they do this?
anyone who would tell them anything. Others throw
off all piety, claiming it is just a sham anyway. These          Parents should realize first of all th: they have to
are the restless years.                                       function as the conscience of their children, and this
                                                              includes young people. A parent  faihi in his calling
      The soul has to grow up just as well as the body.       when he thinks for one moment that 1his teen-ager is
      During this process, young people are very              able to make his own decisions and doesn't need help.
vulnerable. If parents don't seem to be patient               Some teen-agers like to think this, bu every parent
enough, they simply turn them off. If preachers try           should know better. Youth need  gtlidance  in the
to help, they are accused of meddling. If school              restless years. Most young people reco,gnize this also.
counselors can't come up with the instant solution,           They are scared of life, scared of mak;ing the wrong
they just don't have it. They realize that their life is      decisions, afraid that they aren't getting things
at sea, but they can't seem to find the haven of rest.        straight. They need strong parents, the:y want to test
      The devil likes to capitalize on this stage of human    their own position by that of their  piarents. Parents
development. In case he hasn't gotten a child under           should understand that when young people argue,
his control as a child, he pretty much waits until            show anger, sometimes defy authority, they are really
these difficult years. When a young person is                 crying out for help. If we knuckle dc)wn under this
confused by trying to measure the values he has been          kind of pressure we only tell our you:ng people that
taught over against the values of the unbelieving             we don't have the strength to stand up under pressure
world, the devil considers this fertile ground. If he         and that we are not trustworthy. If  Pre do this, our
can get a young person to isolate himself from those          young people lose all respect for us, alnd no wonder.
who are trying to guide him through the turmoil, he           If we as parents are ready to discuss, eager to show
has him to himself. If he can get parents to give up          concern, have a big shoulder to take criticism without
and to consider the task of guidance too difficult and        getting angry, have a heart that is large enough to
not worth all the trouble, then again, he has youth to        forgive and sincere enough to encourage in the right
himself to do his devilish business.                          way, our young people will consider thle home a place
                                                              of refuge and there will be a  seekinlg out of one
      Parents and young people must recognize that they       another.
need each other.                                                With such a proper relationship in the home,
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT                                          parents will be in a position to guide tlleir children in
                                                              Christian liberty. The role of the church is to spell
      All this has direct bearing upon our subject.           out the teachings of the Word of God. By the
      Something that is blatantly sinful is one thing. A      preaching of the Word, by  catechilsm study, by
young person can be shown from God's Word that                discussion in society, the church must spell out what
this is wrong, and they pretty much accept it and can         God required of us in our Christ:ian life. The
come to grips with it as the Holy Spirit leads them to        principles of the Word of God must come through
understand -it. Things which are questionable,                loud and clear. The church doesn't  h;ive to make a
something which is common place in society and                long list of pronouncements of do's and don'ts,
sometimes common place within the sphere of the               spelling out what is sinful and what comes under
church, but which is forbidden by parents or by the           Christian liberty. This would be wrorkg. Rather, by
minister in his dealings with youth, present quite a          instruction, the truth of doctrine and life has to be
different problem. Things which don't seem so bad             spelled out and taught. It is the duty cIf the home to
and hardly cause concern to a young person, but               implement these teachings. This is  tlte role of the
which are nevertheless rejected' by parents and the           parent. Every parent must take seriously the
practice of which is therefore forbidden, cause quite a       preaching of the Word and apply this to home life.
stir in the home. Is it worth. it all? Is it necessary?       First, this means that every individual! must take it
Won't young people just learn to make the judgment            seriously. Parents and children must know Christ by
as to what is sinful and what is permitted under              faith and have the sincere desire to  gjlorify God by
Christian liberty on their own? They might make a             being faithful to Him in their daily life. Then parents
few mistakes, but, after all, they have to "sow wild          are ready to make these demands of their children
oats." Why get all hung up on Christian liberty?              and young people. Young people will also be ready to


                                               TH E STAN DA RD BEARER                                              69


accept their guidance, for they will appreciate that        will appear with a still briefer swim suit. This then is
maturity and experience makes them qualified.               no more Christian liberty. It is going along with the
   Even then it makes a lot of difference how a parent      sinful drive for nudity and fornication. With this
does this. As parents we should recognize that when         reasoning, we must make our judgment as to proper
we deal with young children, we must command                swim wear.
them. As they get older, however, they must learn to           The same holds true for music, sports, hair, etc. We
make their own decisions. Young people must be              first have to extricate ourselves from the mad rush of
respected as young  people.  They want to be taught         the children of this world, examine what we must do
how to make their own decisions. It won't work              as children of God, and make a decision in the service
simply to tell them no, because I told you so. They         of God.
must understand that they don't want to do wrong              By doing this we must learn that as young people
for good reasons and we must give them reasons. It          we will be different from the majority in many
may be that a young person isn't persuaded by those         things. This difference will not only be from young
reasons, but then he must be told to trust the              people in the world, but also within the church.
judgment of parents and be patient until such a time        Young people that are always introducing into the
as he may come to appreciate it. Young people must          sphere of the church the latest styles of clothing, hair,
do this too. Spiritual maturity doesn't come over           music, entertainment, etc. should be held in suspect.
night; it comes through a long battle of testing the        Who are we following, Christ or antichrist? Who are
spirits whether they be of God.                             our idols, the wicked rock singers? Or are we
                                                            imitators of Jesus Christ? Parents and young people
DRAWING THE LINE                                            who are always in the lead with questionable
  If we are guided by the principles of Scripture and       practices only indicate that they are more interested
take seriously our calling as parents and covenant          in being popular with the world than growing up in
youth, we will understand the need for drawing a            the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
line, establishing a boundary for Christian liberty.          Christian liberty is freedom, all right. That freedom
  Take dress for example. We know that the youth            doesn't make one popular with the world. If it does
culture extols nudity for sinful sexual arousal, which      we have to examine the depth of it. There is
is fornication. There are beaches in Europe and             something wrong when the world wants us to be their
America on which one can appear stark naked. This           friends. If we are faithful in walking in the liberty of
may be the ultimate goal of sensuality. The Christian       Jesus Christ, we will show ourselves as the enemies of
knows he must clothe his body. Out of Christian             the world. That is not something to be abhorred, but
liberty we try to determine how much clothing is            it is the privilege of covenant young people. For to be
proper. The point is that parents and young people          an enemy of the world is to be a friend of God.
have to sit down and decide where to draw the line
between a clothed body and a naked body. The trend            If young people learn these lessons in the days of
of wickedness is toward scanter and scanter dress           their youth, they will be prepared to live this way all
until it reaches outright nakedness. We all agree           their life. Our lives will not be self-centered, but
nakedness is wrong. If our attitude is to go along with     God-centered.
the times, then every year our covenant young people          This is what makes covenant youth so beautiful.




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70                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


STUDIES IN ISAIAH


                         Consequences of Israel's Apostasy
                                                                      (Isa.  159)

                                                                  Rev. Robert C Harbach



      I.  I s r a e l ,   U n r e f o r m e d ,   T h r e a t e n e d   w i t h    not in a secret Satanism society, but in the church
Punishment. "Whereupon can ye be stricken any                                      world.
more, increasing turning away?" (v. 5), i.e., going on,                              It is hopeless, when as to the whole body politic,
heaping apostasy to apostasy. If their purpose had                                 head and heart have become ulcerated and are
been to make themselves abjectly miserable, they                                   putrefying. But wherever there is resemblance to
could not have more thoroughly succeeded. Upon                                     these infamous crimes, so they will be notorious for
what part of them can they stand another blow?                                     suffering the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They have been beaten black and blue over every inch                               Conditions in the state are as Charles H.  Spurgeon
of their bodies. "The whole head is diseased, the                                  once expressed it, "The letting off of certain
whole heart sick." `Outwardly and inwardly the whole                               atrocious murderers of late, and the easy way in
nation has been so badly beaten under the wrath of                                 which certain criminals have escaped, makes us all
God that it is like a crushed worm. On the body of                                 demand a little more vigorous dispensation of justice,
the nation there is nothing left on which to mete out                              or else we shall have our land made a pandemonium,"
more strokes.                                                                      (Treast. OT, 3, 397). Calvin also warned, "Hence, we
      Conditions were such in the church that true                                 ought to learn that, when God begins to punish us, if
religion and spiritual life were expiring, and                                     we do not repent, He does not immediately desist,
hypocrisy, worldliness and every kind of abominable                                but multiplies the chastisements, and continually
wickedness were increasing. An incurable disease had                               follows them up with other afflictions. We ought,
long spread throughout the church because its                                      therefore, to abstain from such obstinacy, if we do
ministers and officers had long neglected to check the                             not wish to draw down upon ourselves the same
progress of corruption. Today, the church has been                                 punishments, or at least to deserve the same reproach
swept and garnished with an ultra-charism, wherein,                                which was brought against the Jews, that though they
already long before the day of judgment, many claim,                               had received sharp warnings, and had felt the hand of
"Lord! Lord! have we not prophesied in Thy name,                                   God, still they could not be corrected or reformed."
and in Thy name cast out demons?" The modern
charismatic movement, with its sickly, subjective,                                   II.  Israel, Depraved, a Mass of Corruption.  "From
super-piety and its subtle heresy of extremes beyond                               the sole of the foot even to the head, nothing in it of
faith, of the mind of the Spirit beyond Scripture, is                              soundness: a wound and a stripe (singular, as in 53:5.
also involved in the same sodomitical abominations                                 The body has had so many stripes so closely laid on it
the prophets condemned. God's covenant of marriage                                 that it is now one stripe, one massive wound
is horribly corrupted. Divorce and remarriage are                                  throughout), and a fresh wound; they have not been
permitted on any grounds whatever. The terms                                       pressed together, nor bound up, nor softened with
"biblical" and "unbiblical divorce" we are advised to                              ointment," (v. 6). This reminds us of `Job, covered
drop as at best confusing. It is only another slippery                             with sore boils, and of David who said, "My wounds
step to the sanction of the abhorrent evil of                                      stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness"
homosexuality in the church, with the demand of                                    (Ps. 38:5). There is very close connection, as David
lifting censure against it, and licensure of its perverted                         shows, between suffering and sin. The relation
appetites. Its bold anarchistic claim is that                                      between the two is that of effect and cause. It is the
satisfaction of its vile lechery may sometimes be                                  same relation between pain and corruption. Sin is the
necessary, and that no veto of it from the side of the                             great mischief-maker.
law is to be tolerated. Such things you find expressed                                                                  (to be continued)


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  71





                                    News From Our Churches

                                                 October 13, 1973


  Hope's bulletin, which, by the way, is a usual            size of the audience, which included, incidentally, not
source of general church news for this column,              only people of the Grand Rapids area, but also a
reported that  "Classis East as it met in Hudsonville       number of individuals from rather distant churches.
this past week will be long remembered because of           Since  Classis East had met that day, a couple of
the events which occurred there." One of the events         representatives from our New Jersey Church were in
mentioned was that "the congregation of Prospect            Grand Rapids and could attend the installation
Park, New Jersey, was officially accepted as being          service. In addition, the service was attended by a
one with us." The congregation there wasted no time         number of members of the two congregations in
in forming a trio and calling a minister. From the trio,    which Rev. Decker had formerly served as pastor.
which included Rev. D. Engelsma, Rev. J. `Kortering,        Some, then, travelled from South Holland, Illinois;
and Candidate M. Hoeksema, our Prospect Park                and we understand that  five families came in a van
Protestant Reformed Church extended the call to             from  Doon, Iowa, in order to witness that
Rev. Engelsma.                                              installation. (Tapes of the service, incidentally, are
  The other event which made the last session of            available, at $2.50, from Rev. G. Van Baren.)
Classis East a memorable one, was the examination             In a beautiful tribute to Rev. Decker in the
and approval of Faith Church's pastor-elect,                Farewell Program at South Holland, the consistory
Candidate M. Joostens. Two days later (Friday,              there noted, that, "it seems only such a short time
October  6), in the Jenison Christian Junior High           ago that Professor Hoeksema installed Reverend
School, the current meeting place of the Faith              Decker into his office here in South Holland. At that
Congregation, the ordination and installation service       time, Professor Hoeksema made mention of the fact
was held and Candidate Joostens became the newest           that the lights in the study would be required to burn
minister of the Word in the Protestant Reformed             far into the night. We feel that these lights have
Churches.                                                   burned much during the past four years and that as a
  In other news, we learn that Candidate M.                 result, our congregation has been richly blessed."
Hoeksema, who is still assisting Rev. Lubbers in the          Rev. Decker, now Professor of Theology in the
work in Jamaica, has accepted the call from our             Protestant      e f ormed Seminary, will no doubt
Forbes congregation. Rev. G. Van  Baren is                  continue to burn study lights far into the night, for
considering the call to serve as minister in our South      he  rn.ust continue to work in what Professor Hanko
Holland congregation. Rev. D. Engelsma reported             called "another aspect of the official preaching of the
that one of his services in Houston was attended by         gospel." Professor Hanko based his sermon, that
75-80 people. October 14 was Rev. Engelsma's third          night, on II Timothy 2: 15. He noted that the
and  final Sunday in that area. Prof. H. Hanko, we          instructions given by Paul to Timothy carried "a
learn from Randolph's bulletin, has agreed to spend a       sense of urgency, for the days in which Timothy was
weekend in "Skowhegan, Maine, on behalf of the              called to work in Ephesus were, from many points of
Mission Committee, to investigate the situation             view, evil days - days characterized by indifference
there." And, from First Church's bulletin . . . "the        to and hatred of sound doctrine." And, Professor
Mission Committee has decided to discontinue labors         Hanko continued, "if that was urgent in Timothy's
in Philadelphia for the present."                           day, it is increasingly urgent in our day."
                                                              It's that urgency, certainly, which underscores the
                  *     *     8     *     1                 gravity and difficulty of the task to which Professor
   Each of the foregoing news items is, in its own          Decker is called. The task is, in fact, such that "no
right, not only -of great interest, but also of obvious     man by his own strength can possibly perform it."
significance. Our final item is, perhaps, one of even       But the task assigned to him is "assigned by Christ,
more profound significance. We refer, of course, to         and Him alone." I'm sure, Professor Hanko stated,
the installation of a third professor in our seminary.      "that Rev. Decker is ready to assume his place as
The service was held in First Church of Grand Rapids        professor of theology in our seminary only because of
on Wednesday, October 3. That the event was                 the fact that there is no escaping the appointment of
considered to be a notable one, was evident from the                                           (continued on back page)


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72



Christ.  Christ calls with a calling that cannot be
declined." And then, too, that task which is
otherwise humanly impossible, becomes possible "by
the power of Christ."

      Professor Hanko acknowledged that "it is a very
great blessing that the Lord has preserved us for
nearly 50 years in the truth of the Scriptures.? And
he added that "that gives to us in the Seminary the
responsibility to see to it that that Word of Truth
continues to be rightly divided." Involved in that is
our responsibility to "be servants of the Word
completely . . . to bow before the Word completely
. . . as little children . . . We never, we never, we never
grow beyond being little .children when it comes to
the Word of God. That's the only way to hear, the
only way to understand."

      And then, directing his final remarks particularly
to our new professor, Prof. Hanko advised, "Take
that Word of God with you into our school, for the
sake of the church whom God loves, and because you
labor, not for any goals in this world but on behalf of
the Kingdom which shall dawn when Christ comes."

      The sermon was powerful, the installation itself,
thrilling, and the social hour which followed,
enjoyable. It all added up to what one bulletin
predicted would be a "happy occasion."
      And the end result of it all, is that I went off the
back page again. Of course, the picture below (which
also appeared on the printed program of the
Installation Service) doesn't help matters any. How
about it, Mr. Editor-in-Chief, am I excused?
                                                     D.D.


