     TAAIDARD
     BEARER
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





          Let it be considered, then, as an undeniable
       truth, that they who have been inwardly taught by
       the Spirit, feel an entire acquiescence in the Scrip-
       ture, and that it, is self-authenticated, carrying with
       it its own evidence, and ought not to be made the
       subject of demonstration and arguments from
       reason; but it obtains the credit which it deserves
       with us by the testimony of the Spirit. For though
       it conciliate our reverence by its internal majesty,
       it never seriously affects us till it is confirmed by
     the  S,pirit in our hearts. Therefore, being illumi-
       nated by him, we now believe the divine original of
       the Scripture, not from our own judgment or that
       of others, but we esteem the certainty, that we
       have received it from God's own mouth by the
       ministry of men, to be superior to that of any
       human judgment, and equal to that of an intuitive
       perception of God himself in it.
             - John Calvin





b                                          Volume L, Number 19, August, 1974 


386                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



MEDITA TIO N


                                  God's Workmanship

                                                    Rev. M. Shipper


          `(For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
          before ordained that we should walk in them. "                                    Ephesians 2 : 10

   Saved we are by grace only!                                true of the spacious heavens was also true of all the
  It is not of works, lest any man should boast!              earthly creation. The blade of grass, the meandering
                                                              brook, the precipitous mountain, the leviathan of the
  Now surely this cannot mean that the apostle,               deep, the flowering field, the singing bird, the
when he writes thus in the immediate context, will            denizens of the forest, as well as the star-studded
have nothing of works. So some would interpret him.           canopy of heaven,  - altogether speak t-he Word of
But the text, which is the subject of this meditation,        God which is in them. Whether you will hear it or
clearly shows that the apostle has a place for good           not, God exclaims in loud tones: I am the Lord, and
works.                                                        there is none else! I have made the world and all it
   Rather, the apostle is stressing the point that our        contains; and for My praise have I created it.
work can never be the ground or reason for our                  Especially was this true of the creation of man!
salvation. Were this so, then surely man would have
reason for boasting in self. Our salvation, from                Though he was made a little lower than the angels,
beginning to end, is all of grace, in order that God's        yet was he crowned with glory and honor. Made was
may be all the glory.                                         he in the very image and likeness of God. As a
  We are saved by grace through faith, and in such a          rational, moral, and spiritual creature, he was made to
way that `neither the grace nor the faith is of us. It is     be the head of all the earthly creation. And as such he
all of God!                                                   could intelligently and intuitively express to God the
                                                              correct interpretation of the Name of His God which
   Our text serves as a further explanation of this           he read in all the works of His hands. He himself was
truth.                                                        a creature reflecting in a creatural way the glory of
  What is so striking is the fact that the apostle            God.
ascribes even our good works to God's saving grace.             Indeed, that first creation was exceedingly
  We are entirely, as a saved people, His                     glorious!
workmanship.                                                     But the new creation, of which the apostle speaks,
  A glorious creation!                                        is far more glorious!
  Far exceeding the glory of the first creation!                 That first creation is only earthly, and serves only a
                                                              temporary purpose. It has no abiding value, nor shall
   Oh, indeed, that first creation was also glorious.         it forever remain. It fell under the curse of God due to
That was true, first of all, of .the creation in general.     the sin, transgression, and fall of man. In due time
Also then the creatures were not the product-of their         that earthly creation passes away. The very elements
own development, as the abominable theory of                  of which it is composed shall all be burned up. The
evolution would maintain. But all creation was called         very firmament shall be rolled up as a scroll, that very
into being in the wisdom and by the power of God.             creation which was intended to separate the  earth
And this was done by the Lord, almighty and all-wise,         from heaven, shall disappear, in order to make way
in such a way that all the creatures together and each        for the appearance of the heavenly. Not in  the
creature in particular showed forth the glories of their      annihilation, but in the regeneration of all things, shall
Creator. Indeed, the heavens declared the glory of            all, this take place.
God, and the firmament His handiwork. What was                   It is of this new creation, which shall be inftitely


                                                                                                    ~-
                                                                                                   . .


                                              : THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    387



more glorious than the first, that the apostle speaks.          In distinction from the rest of creation, he was
  Here God, Who calls the light out of the darkness,         made a rational, moral, and spiritual creature, so that
and brings life out of death, speaks again, and calls        consciously and willingly he performed his deeds.
forth a new, eternal, heavenly creation into being.          Having been created in true knowledge, righteousness,
                                                             and holiness, yea, in God's image, his calling was to
   It is the beginning of this new creation that the         cultivate the earth and bring it into the service of
apostle has in mind in the text.                             God. This he did so long as he remained in the state
   Of that creation Christ Jesus is the first-born. He is    of righteousness.
the first-born of every creature, the beginning of the          However, through the temptation of Satan, he fell
creation of God. He is that as the image of the              from his high estate. Consequently his nature became
invisible God. He is that as the Head of the body, the       corrupt, and all his works became evil. He continued
church: the beginning, the first-born from the dead,         to work in God's creation, no longer with a view to
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For        bringing creation into the service of God, but of
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness         himself. And all his posterity with him did only evil
dwell; He is the faithful and true witness, `the             continually. So all mankind became incapable of
beginning of the creation of God.                            doing any good, and was'inclined to all evil.
  We are God's workmanship, created in Christ                   But those who were by nature the sons of Adam,
Jesus!                                                       and by grace became God's workmanship, in Christ
  Not only are we chosen in Him before the                   Jesus were created unto good works. It was the design
foundation of the world, but God has created us in           of their new creation that they should do good
Him. And this means that in Christ Jesus we are given        works:
the right to become new creatures. Through His                 And good works are those, and those only, which
sacrifice on the cross He cleanses us in His blood from      proceed from true faith, are performed according to
,a11 our guilt and pollution of sin. By the Spirit of        and in harmony with the law of God, and with a view
Christ we are regenerated, given the life of Christ          to His glory.
which He brought with Him from the dead; and we                 Good works which were before prepared!
are made righteous and holy, given all the graces of
Christ, including a true and living faith.                     Not only were those who are in Christ Jesus before
                                                             ordained, but so also were their good works.
  All is of God, in Christ!                                    0, the depth of the wisdom and power of God!
  All is of grace, not of our work!                            All our good works He prepared beforehand, from
  Indeed, a glorious creation!                               eternity, in order that we in time should walk in
  With an eternal design! Created are we in Christ           them, and so shall it be unto all eternity.
Jesus unto good works!                                         Our walk is our whole life, from the cradle to the
  Eternally prepared!                                        grave, from the moment of our birth to the moment
  Whereas all of creation was designed to serve God's        of our death. It includes our eating and drinking, our
purpose, and all the works of God's hand function,           sleeping and rising, our working and playing, our
each in its own place, and with it own contributions,        week days and our sabbaths, our childhood and
even so, man works. The sun, for example,                    adolescence, our adulthood and. old age. It includes
accomplishes its circuit through the heavens, and the        our religious and social, our physical and spiritual life.
earth revolves about the sun, and each day these             There is no department in life where our walk is not
creatures unwittingly accomplish their function              involved. Always we are walking.
according to the law which God has created for them.           Now in all these departments of life God gives us
Again, the tree, according to God's design, sprouts          good works, which He before prepared, in order that
from its seed, and under the rain and sunshine which         we should perform them. Not, you understand, as
God constantly provides grows in its green verdure,          robots, mechanically manipulated, but as rational,
producing its luscious fruit. The green blade of grass       moral, regenerated children of God, who obediently
in the spring time sparkles under the dew .of heaven,        and lovingly respond to the good grace of God which
and in the fall it fades and dies, to ,be buried under       is in them. The circle of good works is as broad as life
the snow of winter, only to begin its function all over      itself. Each day they are set before us by the hand of
again after death's cold hand has been lifted, and it is     God.
resurrected in the warmth of spring. All of the                When you look at life this way, and at our walk in
creatures simply function according to the plan of           this world from this point of view, then there are no
God for them.                                                menial jobs in it, `no moments when you wish to run
  But man works!                                             away from it all. Then the Christian mother who

                                                                                                              -. .^


388                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


brings forth children with a view to the realization of    lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
God's covenant, who wears the skin of her fingers          of the mind; and were by nature the children of
down to the bone to make a home for her darlings,          wrath, even as others.
performs a good work. Then the uneducated but                But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love
strongly built man, who works in the sanitation            wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
department of the city, who labors with great              sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
difficulty to earn enough money to give his children a
sound Christian education, performs a good work.             By His grace He saved us through faith. He made us
Then the child of God, who is hungry and thirsty           entirely His workmanship, creating us in Christ Jesus
after righteousness, seeks the Lord's house  .on the       unto good works, which He before prepared, in order
sabbath, not because he follows a custom or                that we should walk in them.
superstition, but because there he would be filled, so
that he may be strengthened in the inner man to             Not only shall this-be-so-for this  pies&it life, but
praise God in the company of His saints. Then all of       also in the world to'come.
life becomes something worth living. Then all our             For He hath raised us up together, and made us sit
works, proceeding from true faith and tempered with        together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the
the love of God, become good works. Yes, even when         ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of
I have to condemn my evil works which proceed out          His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ
of my old nature, against which I have to struggle all     Jesus.
my life long.                                                 Then shall all of our works, which are now tainted
  Indeed, there was a time, as the apostle signifies in    by the flesh, be only good works, in perfect harmony
the context, when we all had our conversation in the       with His law, and serve perfectly unto His glory.


EDITORIALS


                                         Editor's Notes
                                               ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema


THE OUTLOOK  is going to carry in a future issue           there should be at least five or six books on the way.
our editorial, "A Realistic Response To `A Dream,' "       One book already in the process of being published is
together with an editorial response by the Rev. John       a book on child training by Gertrude Hoeksema; it is
Vander Ploeg. In a letter from Rev. Vander Ploeg, he       entitled  Peaceable  Fruit.   Hopefully, this book will
wrote : "Your editorial reply was presented to the         appear some time before the first of next year.
Board of Reformed Fellowship at its meeting on May         Another will be a paperback reprint of my  In  The
3 1. It was decided to reprint your editorial together     Beginning God . . . A third will be a reprint of Rev.
with my response to it in THE OUTLOOK. However,            Herman Hoeksema's  God's Eternal Good Pleasure;
this is not to be done until the Board members are         this reprint will include the chapter which was
first given an opportunity to consider carefully what      inadvertently omitted from the first edition. From
you have written and also to give consideration to my      the pen of Rev. D. Engelsma is coming a fine volume
reply. This will mean some delay because the Board         on Christian marriage. And from the pen of Prof. H.
will not meet again until the end of July." We are         Hanko is coming an expository volume on our Lord's
happy to see that THE OUTLOOK intends to carry             parables. And in time for the 50th anniversary of our
the editorial and to reply, and we look forward to         denomination there will be published a beautiful and
their reply. We shall refrain from further comment on      worthwhile commemorative volume which all our
this subject until the reply appears.                      people will want to get. We have more projects under
                        ***is+*                            way; but the above should be enough to tickle your
PUBLICATION NEWS. The RFPA Publications                    appetite!
Committee has some big plans for publishing books                                    *****
during the coming year. By the end of the summer           ADVANCE NOTICE. In our September 1 issue we


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                           389



hope to carry (complete in one issue) a transcript of a       the central truth of the Reformed faith that Christ
lecture by Prof. H. Hanko on the subject, "The AACS           vicariously bore the wrath of God against the sins of
and the Kingdom." There is rather widespread                  His people. In October of 1971 the Synod issued a
interest in this subject, and it is just possible that you    kind of pastoral letter to the churches in which they
will want extra copies of the issue which will carry          exhorted the churches not to be disturbed, because
this lecture. If so, write to our Business Office             the Synod firmly maintained this truth of our
promptly; if there are many such requests, we will            confessions. Since that time the case has been in the
have to print an extra supply of the September 1              hands of a committee which was engaged in extensive
issue.                                                        discussion with  -Dr. Wiersinga. Now, at last, the
                        *****                 I               committee has reported, and Synod has reached a
Due to a surplus of copy, some of our regular                 decision which was, to me, not unexpected. After all,
departments do not appear in this issue. If there is a        this decision follows the pattern of previous decisions
similar surplus for the September 1 issue, it is possible     and failures to exercise doctrinal discipline. And to
that your editor will take a l-issue vacation from his        find some degree of comfort in the decision  which
writing chores. Don't be surprised!                           the Dutch Synod has taken can only be classified as a
                                                              grasping for straws.
   At long last the Synod of the  Gereformeerde                  What follows first is our translation of the
Kerken  has made a decision in the Wiersinga Case.            synodical decision as it appeared in De Wachter, July
This case goes back to before October, 19'71. Dr. H.          2, 1974. Next, we quote the report which appeared in
Wiersinga, of Amsterdam, who works as a pastor                the RES News Exchange. And finally, we will make a
among students, denied in a book on the atonement             few comments on this important, but sad, decision.



                   The GKN and the Wiersinga Case

   The synod has taken note of the report of the              touches the heart of reconciliation, and therefore
deputies for the conversation with Dr. Wiersinga.             ought no less to have a central place in the preaching
   The synod considers:                                       and the pastoral care of the church and in the life of
                                                              the congregation.
   1. The conversation of the deputies with Dr.
Wiersinga has given further clarification on various            5. There is difference of position between the
points, so that it may be considered that there is            synod and Dr. Wiersinga with relation to the manner
agreement with a view to the,following:                       in which reconciliation is brought about; for:
   a. that on the cross of Christ, the one sent by God,         a. Dr. Wiersinga holds that this reconciliation is
our sinful existence, which is under God's judgment,          attained through the fact that Christ, as the new man
has been slain, so that it no more has a future;              given by God, breaks through the power of sin and
  b. that Christ fills the office of the substitute, the      guilt, and through the Spirit opens for us the way
office of the One, who has died and risen again for           along which we too can enter into the new life.
the many.                                                       Only by taking into consideration what follows
   2. Dr. Wiersinga has, with others, correctly pointed       under b. can the synod express agreement with this
to the ongoing power of victory of Christ through his         formulation :
Spirit in a life of faith, conversion, and sanctification       b. the synod confesses that this reconciliation is
as one of the aspects of Christ's work of                     attained through the fact that Christ has borne the
reconciliation.                                               judgment of God in our place.
  3. According to the message of the gospel Christ has          6. It is clear to the deputies that Dr. Wiersinga
borne the judgment of God, in our place, and                  wants to be led by Holy Scripture with respect to the
therefore this constitutes an essential element of the        doctrine of reconciliation.
doctrine of reconciliation of the confession, so that a         7. Dr. Wiersinga has not been able to convince the
denial thereof would fall short of the proper                 synod from Holy Scripture of the fact that his
preaching of the gospel of reconciliation.                    objections against the doctrine that Christ has borne
  4. Also the aspect pointed out by Dr. Wiersinga             the judgment of God in our place find support in


390                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Holy Scripture.                                                5. To communicate this decision to
   8. The discussion of the deputies with Dr.                 a. Dr. H. Wiersinga of Amsterdam;
Wiersinga has furnished further clarification on              b. The church of Amsterdam;
various points. However, further discussion is desired
concerning texts which are central for the                    c. The deputies for ecclesiastical work among
understanding of reconciliation in Scripture  -            students.
namely, concerning the Scriptural givens which                                              *****
received a place in the synodical message of October          In the RES News Exchange of July 2, 1974 there
6, 1971  - and concerning the manner of their              appeared the following account of synod's action and
explanation;                                               of the reaction of some of the Dutch leaders to synod's
  concerning the meaning of the sacrifice of Christ;       decision :
  concerning the nature of the salvation given in          DUTCH SYNOD HESITATES IN DEALING WITH
Christ and concerning the relation between this            WIERSlNGA
salvation and the working of it in an ongoing history;        The Synod of the Reformed Churches in the
  concerning his fear that the unity of God's being        Netherlands (GKN) meeting in Lunteren took all of
and work are breached by the fact that the Suffering       June 6 and part of the next day to come to a decision
Son is placed over against the Father;                     on how to proceed in the disciplining of Dr. H.
  and concerning the bearing of the judgment of God        Wiersinga. No one at Synod defended his position
by Christ.                                                 which denies that there is any element of satisfaction
  9. Also for Dr. Wiersinga is of force what is of         o f   G o d 's   r i g h t e o u s n e s s   o r   j u s t i c e   i n   t h e
force for every minister of the Word with respect to       s u b s t i t u t i o n a r y   d e a t h   o f   C h r i s t .   B u t   t h e
the bond to the confession of the church, but there        overwhelming majority of the Synod shocked back
are in this instance sufficient reasons to continue the    from instituting the traditional discipline procedures
discussion with him further.                               against heresy.
                                                              The previous Synod had charged six deputies to
   The synod expresses:                                    meet with Dr. Wiersinga in order to come to a clear
  she abides by the confession of  the. church with        understanding of his position and to discuss solutions
respect to the nature of the substitutionary work of       to the problems which the publication of his works
reconciliation (atonement) of, Christ, also as the         have caused in the church. The deputies met with him
bearing of the judgment of God.                            a total of 70 hours. Their report pointed out that
                                                           Wiersinga's views were patently in conflict with the
                                                           confessions. Wiersinga rejects the notion of Christ
   The synod decides:                                      undergoing the judgment of God in our place. God,
   1. To make an earnest appeal to Dr. Wiersinga that      he asserts, did not turn against Christ. Although this
he will listen to the judgment of the synod and in         is a very important departure from the confession,
connection therewith urgently to beseech him to            the deputies said, it occurs "within the context of a
reflect carefully upon the question whether his            fundamental agreement that salvation is not a
confessional and theological choice of position is not     possibility which has to be realized by us, but that it
in need of revision, and to do so in the expectation       is a reality which is given us by God in Christ, given
that in his official work he will not contradict this      and sealed in the death and resurrection of the Lord."
confession of the church.                                  Dr. Wiersinga came to his conception of the
   2. to mandate the deputies `for church and              reconciliation, it was pointed out, because he wished
theology to take the present question under                to sponsor a more effective view of the reconciliation.
discussion and to involve Dr. H. Wiersinga in the          He, therefore, has eyes only for that aspect of Christ's
discussion and to report on this to the following          reconciling work where we too can be said to
synod.                                                     participate. That part of the reconciliation which
                                                           involves Christ's taking our sins upon Himself in order
   3. To exhort the churches in preaching and              to bear God's wrath for us is completely denied by
pastoral labor not only to emphasize the forgiving         him. Christ died for us to involve us in a life of
power of Christ's sacrifice, but also a living by the      victory over sin through his Spirit. The deputies
atonement, in which the victorious power of Christ         reported that although Wiersinga had not relinquished
through his Spirit comes to application in faith and       his position, progress had been made during the
conversion and sanctification.                             discussions. They, therefore, recommended that
   4. To thank the deputies very sincerely for the         Synod affirm the stance of the confessions, but that
work accomplished;                                         it take no disciplinary action. Instead, Wiersinga


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               391



should be called upon to reflect on the rightness of         omitted the phrase, "serious abbreviation of the
his confessional and theological position.                   Gospel" with regard to Wiersinga's conception. It was
   A minority of the synodical committee concurred           explained that if this phrase were retained, further
wholly with this report. But the majority advice to          disciplinary measures would be unavoidable.
Synod was stronger. It characterized Wiersinga's views         Writing on Synod's decision, Dr. K. Runia pointed
as a "serious abbreviation of the Gospel." It also           out that what the Synod had done was clearly a form
pointed out that an effective doctrine of                    of discipline. But he also expressed the fear that
reconciliation could more convincingly be built upon         further disciplinary measures had been made
the traditional view of reconciliation. The advisory         extremely difficult, if not impossible. He emphasized
committee, accordingly, recommended that Wiersinga           that the way must remain open for discipline due to
be asked to uphold the confessions in the work of his        deviation from sound doctrine. In this regard, he said,
office, but that in theological discussions he be            the decision of Synod had revealed a serious
allowed to present his views. Further discussion, they       weakness, not just in Synod, but in the body of the
suggested, should focus on Wiersinga's exegetical            whole church.
method (manner of explaining the relevant texts).              Dr. H. N. Ridderbos was even more critical in his
  The resulting discussions brought several motions          commentary. Despite all of its exertions, he said,
and amendments to the floor. The fear was expressed          Synod has virtually left matters as they were. Not
that if Wiersinga's views were tolerated any longer,         only did Synod refrain from pronouncing judgment
the confessions would be undermined and complete             on Wiersinga himself; it also refrained from
doctrinal freedom would result. This would                   pronouncing judgment on his teachings. The first
inaugurate an essential change in the nature of the          advisory committee (majority) had recommended
church: it would become a "dialogue church." Both            continuing the discussion in the context of leading
Dr. B. Wentsel and Dr. K. Runia proposed to limit the        Wiersinga away from his "seriously abbreviated"
time of discussion with Wiersinga to three months.           Gospel. The adopted form, Ridderbos laments,
                                                             merely makes Wiersinga a partner in a theological
  Dr. J. Verkuyl pleaded that Wiersinga be given             study committee which has been commissioned to
room to develop. After all, he argued, slighting man's       report on the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. The
participation in the reconciliation was a heresy too,        question has thereby been moved to a wholly
but no one was disciplined for that. Someone else            different plane: from a confessional level to one of
pointed out that the heresy of racism, which was             theological discussion. In Ridderbos' opinion this
much more serious, was not dealt with under a                means that the question of Wiersinga has been put
deadline of three months. Years ago, theologians             into cold storage for a considerable number of years.
considered above suspicion already raised questions          Meanwhile, the Synod expects (not : asks) ,Wiersinga
regarding the way in which the doctrine of                   to refrain from contending against the church's
reconciliation is stated in the confessions, Dr. G. C.       confession regarding the reconciliation. A realistic
Berkouwer reminded the Synod: continued                      expectation?
discussions will give us a chance to come to greater
clarity. Again and again, the fear was voiced that if
the Synod proceeded on the road of traditional               Evaluation
discipline, a mass exodus would result, especially of          We certainly cannot agree with the evaluation of
the youth. Dr. D. Nauta warned against letting this          Dr. K. Runia, as reported above. How he can opine
fear of discipline rule the discussion. Then a large part    that what Synod did was "clearly a form  d
of the church order might just as well be crossed out,       discipline" is difficult to understand, except from the
he said. Dr. John H. Stek, a delegate for the Christian      point of view that Runia seems always able to  find
Reformed Church, reporting back to his own synod,            some good in everyone and everything - except, that
wrote : "I felt that FEAR hung in the air as thick and       is, among those who want to adhere strictly to the
oppressively as the clouds of smoke from numerous            Reformed faith. I can well understand, by the way,
pipes and cigars."                                           that he is the kind of man whom the Dutch Synod
  Another committee was finally formed to work               would want to appoint to represent them at the next
out a new proposal. The final version once more              meeting of the World Council of Churches, as they
affirmed the confessions and pointed out Wiersinga's         have done.
deviation from them. But it also emphasized that               Nor is the evaluation of Dr. H. Ridderbos, also
Wiersinga expressed a willingness to be led by               reported above,- correct. It certainly is not true that
Scripture. The committee, therefore, saw sufficient          Synod left matters virtually as they were. It is some
reason to continue the discussion with  ,Wiersinga.          three years later! A decision was supposed to be
Some objections were raised because this version             made. A solution was supposed to have been


392                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



furnished. Protests should have been adjudicated. It is      church. And if Wiersinga denies the truth of the
true that what Synod has done is  negative.  It is           atonement as plainly taught by Scripture, then it is
definitely not true that matters were left virtually as      not true that Wiersinga wants to be led by Scripture.
they were. The Synod has failed dismally to discipline
someone who certainly should be disciplined for                If refuses to discipline Wiersinga - not even mildly.
heresy. That is not leaving matters as they were; on         It will not even say that Wiersinga severely
the contrary, it is but one more step in the direction       abbreviates the gospel - though it has advice to do
of ecclesiastical disaster, another step in the direction    so. It will not flatly forbid Wiersinga to propagate his
of the false church! And remember,,it is not a little        views  - though it' knows that those views are
step! For this case concerns the central truth of the        contrary to the Biblical and confessional view.
gospel, the vicarious satisfaction for our sins through        Deathly dialogue! On-going dialogue with heretics
Christ's bearing the wrath of God. If this truth can be      - until the church is poisoned and dies!
denied with impunity in the GKN, then the whole of             That is the synodical action, which speaks louder
the gospel of our salvation is forfeited! And the            than its lip-service to the truth of Scripture and the
Synod of the GKN officially decided in this decision         confessions.
to allow such denial with impunity. Moreover, even
Ridderbos himself admits that things were not left as          And the sad part of it is that this is supposedly
they were. For his opinion is reported to be that "the       motivated by a desire to save the church. Many at the
question of Wiersinga has been put into cold storage         meeting of the Synod were afraid that if Wiersinga
for a considerable number of years." Meanwhile               were condemned and disciplined, a large segment of
Wiersinga is not even  ordered  to refrain from              the church would be alienated and the GKN would be
propagating his false doctrine!                              split. And if such condemnatory and disciplinary
                                                             action would not be taken, the GKN could be saved.
  It ought to be plain that the Synod of the GKN
spoke loudly by its action - its refusal to discipline -       But this, you see, is a myth.
much more loudly than by its words. :                          The church is not dependent on numbers. Nor can
  On the one hand, the Synod gave lip-service to the         the GKN retain or regain their true identity as a
precious truth of Christ's vicarious satisfaction for His    Reformed denomination by coddling heretics, though
people. I say intentionally "lip-service." For I do not      they may retain thousands of members. Nor can the
believe, in the light of Synod's decision and in the         lie or the toleration of the lie save the church!
light of the fact that this is one of the most precious        If a church would retain its identity as church and
truths of the gospel, that it was any more than that.        save itself when threatened by enemies .from within,
Yes,  indeed, the Synod  claims  to maintain the truth       then it must maintain the truth of the Word of God
that Christ has borne the judgment and wrath of God          without compromise, must exorcize the lie and false
against our sins in our stead.                               doctrine, must expel unrepentant heretics. This is the
  But does the Synod give any evidence that it holds         only salvation of a church, any church. For the chief
this truth precious?                                         mark of  the church is the pure preaching of the
  None whatsoever !                                          Word !
  It tries to find something good to say about Dr.             And if this can only be done at the expense of
Wiersinga's views. This was not the Synod's business.        numbers, yea, at the expense of the vast majority of a
Synod's business was only to judge concerning                church's membership, so that only a remnant, a
Wiersinga's heresy.                                          tenth, is preserved, - well, so be it, then. It is better,
                                                             infinitely better, to be small but faithful than to be
  It claims that Wiersinga wants to be led by                large but corrupt!
Scripture. But this is begging the question. It remains
to be seen whether Wiersinga wants to be led by                This is a lesson which many should learn, both in
Scripture. Every heretic has always claimed this; and        the Netherlands and in our own country.
if he did not claim this, but said plainly that he             And it is a lesson which we as Protestant Reformed
denied Scripture, he would get no following in the           people should never forget!




                                  Gift Idea? Give good books. Give RFPA publications!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    393


QUESTION BOX


                            Post-Lecture Question Box (2)

                                                   ProJ: H. C Hoeksema


                 [Note: This is the continuation of my answers to auestions submitted at the ouestion period
                 last spring following my lecture on "Why Are We Protestant Reformed?" The first
                 installment appeared in the June issue. HCH]


Question                                                         Question
   In what way is the radio ministry mission work? Is              How can God ordain sin and still remain a perfect
it not by preaching, according to Romans 10: 13-17?              God?

Reply                                                            Reply
   My answer to this question may be very brief.                   This is a large question, on which much could be
   First of all, I certainly agree that mission work is          written. I will try to make a few pertinent remarks.
accomplished by preaching of the Word. The latter is               In the first place, let us remember that neither of
central to all proper mission work.                              the two truths mentioned in the question - that God
   In the second place, our radio ministryis properly            ordained sin and that God is the eternally perfect
classified as a form of preaching of the Word. The               God  - is dependent upon our understanding of the
form and the means are ,different from the preaching             relation between them for their truth. If. Scripture
of the Word in our regular church services; but in our           teaches both  - and it does  - then we bow in
Reformed Witness Hour broadcasts we proclaim the                 childlike faith before the Scriptures, whether we can
Word of God. In fatit, our radio preaching is also done          fathom the possibility of both truths or not.
under the supervision of a consistory, the consistory              In the second place, I wish to emphasize that it is
of. First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                    not a pet Protestant Reformed doctrine that God
R a p i d s .                                                    ordained sin. That is simply the age-old truth which
  .In the third place, the preaching on our Reformed             our Reformed confessions maintain. Thus we read,
Witness Hour goes out to those outside the pale of               for example, in Article XIII of the Confession of
our Protestant Reformed Churches. Hence, to that                 Faith:  ". . . so that nothing happens in this world
degree it can rightly be classified as a form of home            without his appointment: nevertheless, God neither is
mission endeavor.                                                the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which
                                                                 are committed. For his power and goodness are so
   Finally, however, I believe that our radio ministry           great and incomprehensible, that he orders and
is a very limited form and means of mission work.                executes his work in the most excellent and just
This stands to reason. It is evident, for example, that          manner, even then, when devils and wicked men act
radio ministry all by itself cannot serve as a means in          unjustly. And, as to what he doth surpassing human
the gathering and organizing of congregations. It can            understanding, we will not curiously inquire into,
serve only as an auxiliary means, a means, ,perhaps,. of         farther than our capacity will admit of; but with the
first `contact with people of God who hear our radio             greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous
preaching. And I fully recognize the fact that                   judgments of God, which are hid from us, contenting
contacts established through radio preaching are not             ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only
numerous. This does not mean, however, that we do                those things which he has revealed to us in his Word,
not reach people with the preaching of the Word                  without transgressing these limits."
through our broadcasts. And as long as we reach
people with the preaching of the Word, we may rest                 In the third place, notice that the truth that God
assured that the Lord our God will use that preaching            ordains sin is a Scriptural doctrine. There are several
as He sees fit and for His purpose.                              classic examples of this in Scripture; but let me


394                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



mention just one outstanding. example, the                  are given clearly to understand - and agree to this -
crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts  2:23 :          that their children will be given a distinctively
"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and        Protestant Reformed education, and that when the
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked          Protestant Reformed character of that education
hands have crucified and slain." Notice that the most       comes to the fore, they  ,have no right of protest
heinous sin in history is indeed the responsibility of      against it. I also happen to believe that it is only fair
wicked men, not of God, Who is perfect; yet it takes        that such parents be required to pay the full cost of
place according to the determinate counsel and              education per pupil, seeing that they do not belong to
foreknowledge of God.                                       a supporting church.
  In the fourth place, bear in mind that the                  In the third place, however, if the motivation of
alternative to the doctrine that God sovereignly            such acceptance of non-Protestant Reformed pupils is
ordains sin is the denial of the sovereignty of God:        "mission work," then I am flatly opposed. Our
for then sin comes about without God and apart from         schools are not, mission stations, but educational
God and His control. And from a practical, spiritual        institutions.
point of view, where would you rather have sin                Finally, I want to add that I am opposed to
controlled  .- by the devil, or by our sovereign            admitting non-Protestant Reformed parents to our
heavenly Father? To ask this question, it seems to          school societies. If they are not Protestant Reformed,
me, is to answer it. Our Confession of Faith puts it        they cannot subscribe to the constitutions of our
aptly when it says in Article XIII: "This doctrine          school societies. If they can indeed subscribe, then
affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are            they ought also to be Protestant Reformed. And, by
taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance,        the way, it is  o&r prerogative, not theirs, to decide
but by the direction of our most gracious and               whether they can and do subscribe to the
heavenly Father; . . . being persuaded, that he so          constitution. We have struggled to obtain Protestant
restrains (bridles, HCH) the devil and all our enemies,     Reformed schools. I, for one, believe we should be
that without his will and permission, they cannot           very careful to keep our schools Protestant Reformed
hurt us."                                                   and to keep the control of them strictly in the hands
  In the fifth place, let me submit the following           of Protestant Reformed parents. With all respect and
statements in answer more specifically to the "how"         love to Christian Reformed and American Reformed
of your question:                                           and other parents, the fact is that they cannot and do
   1) God ordains sin without Himself becoming the          not subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity (which are
author of sin.                                              in the basis of our school constitutions) as we
                                                            Protestant Reformed understand and maintain them.
  2) God ordains sin perfectly, that is,  holily  - in a
holy manner and for a holy purpose.                         Question
  3) Part of the purpose for which God ordains sin is,
certainly, that He may reveal His own perfect and              Scripture is subject to many interpretations. How
infinite holiness over against it.                          can you say your interpretation is right and there is
                                                            no place for varying beliefs? The Bible teaches us we
                                                            are to encourage our brother and not be concerned in
Question                                                    varying beliefs. The differences in the CR and PR are
   Do you believe we should invite parents of other         hard to understand. What about the simple minded
denominations to send their children to our Christian       Christian?
parental elementary and high schools?
                                                            Reply
Reply                                                          First of all, I do not believe that Scripture is
  : First of all, as far as I know, none of our school      subject to many interpretations. It is, indeed,
societies makes it a point to  invite  parents of other     subjected to many interpretations by men. But there
denominations to send their children to our schools.        is only one meaning of Scripture and of any given
At least some of our schools  accept  children of           part of Scripture. That is the meaning of the Spirit.
parents from -other denominations.                          And that interpretation is to be gotten from Scripture
 In the second place, I believe this practice is all        itself: Scripture is its own interpreter.
right, provided: 1) The acceptance of such pupils              Secondly, I can only say that my interpretation is
does not work a hardship on the school. In a case           right when it is the interpretation furnished by
where, for example, a school might already be               Scripture itself. Moreover, the Scriptures are clear, so
over-crowded, I think it would be foolish, practically      that any child of God can understand them  - as I
speaking, to accept outside pupils. 2) Such parents         emphasized in my graduation address, published in


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 395



our July issue. Before those Scriptures we must bow,       Question
therefore; and before those Scriptures there is no            Can infralapsarianism ever be right? Why or why
place for "varying beliefs."                               not?
  In the third place, the Bible does not teach us "not
to be concerned in varying beliefs." It teaches us to
beware of false prophets and false doctrine, and it        Reply
teaches us to seek and love and maintain and speak
the truth, "to contend earnestly for the faith once          That depends on what you mean by "right." The
delivered to the saints." And we are indeed to             question of infra- and supra-, as you probably know,
                                                           concerns the logical order of the various "moments"
encourage our brother, but encourage him in the            of God's decree. According to infralapsarianism, the
truth.                                                     decree of predestination comes after the decree of the
  In the fourth place, the differences between the         fall, while according to traditional supralapsarianism
Christian Reformed and the Protestant Reformed             the decree of predestination logically precedes the
Churches are not hard to understand. This does not         decree of the fall. In other words, infra- practically
mean that there are no difficult questions connected       introduces the order of historical events into the
with these differences; nor does it mean that we must      decree, while supra- presents the order of the decrees
not think and study matters in the light of Scripture.     as the reverse of the order of history, so that what is
But the fundamental differences are very simple, and       last in historical realization is first and is the purpose
in 1924, and ever since, there have been many              of all things in God's decree.
"simple minded Christians" who have seen through              Now I believe that the presentation of Scripture in
those differences. Is God's grace for all men, or is it    passages like Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1:15, ff. is
only for the elect? Is the gospel a general, well-meant    that of supra-. Only, I would like to stress that the
offer of God to all men, or is the church called to
preach generally a particular promse? Is man totally       important question here is not merely that of the
depraved by nature, or is sin restrained by virtue of      order of the decrees, but the question what is purpose
common grace, so that man is not really totally            and what is means in the work of God.-In this sense, I
depraved? Is the natural man capable only of sin, or is    say supra- is right.
he able to do good works? These are fundamental              But when it comes to the broader and fundamental
questions, but they are fundamentally very simple. It      question of being Reformed, and particularly of
does not require a theologian to understand and to         maintaining the truth of the absolute sovereignty of
answer them.                                               God in predestination and in all the work of
                                                           salvation, as over against all Arminianism, then,
                                                           certainly, true infralapsarianism is just as "right" as
                                                           supralapsarianism. Our Canons of Dordrecht are
Question                                                   infralapsarian,         although there were several
  Is not the word `Protestant derived from the word        supralapsarians at the Synod of Dordt. And
Protest?  Prior to adopting the name Protestant            historically, in Reformed churches the question of
Reformed Churches, were we not known as                    supra- or infra- has never been a test of one's being
Protesting Christian Reformed?                             Reformed. From that point of view I have said more
                                                           than once, "Give me a good infralapsarian any day!"


Reply                                                      Question
  The answer to both of the above questions is               Does the Living Bible, or other translations, have a
affirmative.                                               place in our homes, even as a commentary?
  This does not change the fact, however, that, as I
said in my lecture, our name does not refer to that
protesting status over against the Christian Reformed      Reply
Church. The name refers to the fact that we stand on          This question takes in a large territory when it says
the basis of the Protestant reformation of the             "other translations." Personally, I have ,a good many
sixteenth century,, and particularly- represent the        different translations on my library shelves. And I
Reformed line of that Protestant reformation.              surely derive some benefit from them as
References:  Why Protestant Reformed?,  by Rev.            commentaries. And although I have no use for the
Herman Hoeksema, page 10;  The Protestant                  Living Bible or for other contemporary translations
Reformed Churches in America,  by Herman                   like it, I see no harm in having them in our homes
Hoeksema, page 276.                                        strictly as commentaries and reference works.


396                                            THE STANDARD  BEARER


However, just like many commentaries, their value is          our schools.
very limited. And like all commentaries, they must be           By the way, the RFPA recently prepared three sets
used with discretion.                                         of reprints of  Standard Bearer  articles on Bible
  I definitely do NOT recommend the Living Bible              translations. Those interested may write to our
for family worship. But let me be positive: I                 Business Office for copies of these for themselves or
definitely DO recommend the King James Version for            for distribution. They are free for the asking while
our homes, for personal reading and study, and for            the supply of one thousand lasts.




                       The Standard Bearer
                                In Retrospect

                                        Rev. G. Van Baren


                 Jokes are often made about the church. One of these, a few years ago, dealt with a church
           which was busily engaged in defending the truth. One scoffer called that church the "little
           round church." When asked why he called it that, his answer was that it was a church where
           the devil could not get one in the corner. The Rev. J. Heys, in the July 1, 1957 issue of the
           Standard Bearer,  wrote about that church in an article entitled: "The Little Round
           Church."

                                             "The Little Round Church"
                                                   Rev. J, A. Heys

  Recently we came across the expression which                little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to
appears above.                                                give you the kingdom," Luke  12:32, are also His
  It really is a beautiful thought.                           words. And He ought to know whether this is true or
                                                              not. "Once the longsuffering of God waited in the
You may have your massive, huge churches of                   days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein
square or rectangular shape, but give us "The Little          few, that is, eight souls were saved by water," I Peter
Round Church." For that Church is the Church of               3:20. Although the Church of God as it will stand
Jesus Christ.                                                 upon the new creation will be an innumerable host,
  No question about that!                                     yet it is, in comparison with the number of those that
                                                              are outside of her, a little Church.
   Oh, you will not find it called by that name in the
Scriptures. But you do not need to look far to find              But what we like, especially, about the expression
God's Church pictured that way in Holy Writ.                  is that it very correctly denotes it as a round church.
  What is more, after hearing the expression, "The               That `is, indeed, a beautiful thought and expresses
Little Round Church," we recalled a passage of                what the Word of God repeatedly declares concerning
Scripture which teaches us that to bring up our               the Church of Jesus Christ.
children In His Fear, we must exactly teach them that            The idea is that a round church is one wherein the
God's Church, the only true Church, the Church for            devil can never get you in a comer. A round church
which Christ gave His. life is the little round church.       has no comers. A round church is one where you are
                                                              safe from all the attacks of the Wicked One.
  That the Church of Christ is little we will be able
to maintain without a great deal of adverse criticism.           How beautiful, really!
"Many are called but few are chosen," Matthew                    Who could ever desire to have a church that did
22: 16, are the words of Christ Himself. "Fear not            not afford that safety? To many, the church is a


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 397



society for the saving of souls. Revivals are urged and        when the freedoms of the free nations are presented
conducted that "many precious souls may be saved."             as such an advancement over what the nations of the
But if the church has corners, and in that church the          world enjoyed in the past, by all means tell  your
devil can still get you in a corner, what has the church       children about the towers of Zion. Instruct them in
to "offer" and "promise" to all men who hear the               the security of her bulwarks. They must not form the
preaching, that is not also true outside the church? If        opinion that the devil is able to hide in those towers
the church has corners where the devil may get hold            and break through those bulwarks so that the
of you, why cannot a man be saved outside the                  children of Zion are never sure of safety.
church as well as in it? 0, maybe it is a little safer in        "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
the church than in the world. There are not so many            shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of
comers. And if there is one place in that church               whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27: 1. Of Satan?
where the devil may get a hold on one of its                   Afraid that as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ
members, in that place that member loses his                   he will get me in a corner where I cannot crawl out?
salvation. And the church is a failure.
  If there is anything one wants to find in the church           And James did not know what he was talking
it is safety. Why should a man ever want it ;otherwise?        about when he said, "Resist the devil, and he will flee
                                                               from you," James 4:7? Even when a child of God is
  The Philippian Jailer cried out, "What `must I do            cornered by the devil, there is a way of escape. But
to be saved?" He did not want to be told that there is         remember that when the devil gets you in a comer, it
no sure way to be saved because even the Church has            is because you are in the world and not in the Church
comers and the devil can catch you in one'sometime.            of Christ. Christ has removed all the comers for His
  Paul knew nothing but a "round church" when he               people and made a safe retreat and reinforced the
wrote to the church at Rome, "Therefore being                  bulwarks of Zion so that no enemy can ever get in
justified by faith we have peace with God through              and hurt His people. That safe retreat is His Church.
our Lord Jesus Christ," Romans 5: 1. No corners                  Oh, God's people have doubts and fears. There are
there where the de@ may catch you. We are justified            times when "Our sins rise up against us prevailing day
by faith; and justification is either whole, complete          by day." There are times when a child of God may
and sure or it is not justification. One sin whose guilt       lose all consciousness of his salvation. It is not a rare
has not been taken away by Christ means hell with all          thing to find children of God who cannot with
its horrors as surely as a million sins whose Iguilt is not    confidence testify that they are children of God. At
removed. Either all the comers where the devil might           best, they will simply tell you, "I hope so; but I do
be able to demand our everlasting destruction are              not see how I can be."
removed, or else we can have no peace with God. My
peace of mind is gone, my fear is there even when                People of God have also had Asaph's experience.
there is only one thing left that Satan can claim as the       They look at the world. They see the eyes of the
basis for my everlasting damnation. No,' I need to             wicked that they "stand out with fatness." They see
belong to a "round church" in order to have peace              that these wicked "have more than heart could wish,"
and comfort. I need to know that the Church of Jesus           Psalm  73:7. They are, then, inclined to cry out that
Christ to which I belong is "round."                           "Clean hands are worthless and pure hearts are vain."
                                                               There are times when it seems that to be in the
  You just tell your children that, too.                       Church of Christ does not compare favourably at all
  Listen once to the testimony of one who knew the             with being in the world.
joy of belonging to a "round" Church: "Walk about                However, do not forget that this is due to the fact
Zion, and go round about her: Tell the towers                  that they are at that moment outside of that "round"
thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, Consider her               Church! No, once engrafted into Christ by a true and
palaces; That ye may tell it  to, the generations              living faith, we can never be cut off. For it is a
following." (Psalm 48 : 12, 13)                                "round" Church where the devil can never get you in
  What a safe place of refuge that is!                         a comer. Once regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, we
  No comers there where the Evil One may get hold              can never, never lose that life and die spiritually. John
of you.                                                        declares, "Whosoever is born of God doth not
                                                               commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he
  And by all means "tell it to the generations                 cannot sin, because he is born of God," I John 3 :9.
following." Do not deceive your children.                      That is the word of God. The new man in Christ can
  In this day and age when all the military might of           never be gotten into a corner by Satan. And if we do
our nation is on display before their eyes, when the           sin - and how often is it not that we do? - it is by
democratic way of life is lauded as being so superior          the old man of sin in us who is in the world and part
to the socialistic, communistic forms of government,           of that godless world. Or again, Peter declares, "Being


398                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



born again, not of corruptible seed, but of                 minds  are garrisoned in Christ.
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and            There you have again those towers and bulwarks of
abideth forever," I Peter 1:23. Or again, the words of      Zion. There again you have the Scriptural idea that
Paul in Philippians 1: 6, "Being confident of this very     the Church of Jesus Christ is "round." No corners
thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you          there at all.
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." No
possibility, then, that once being made a living               We never get peace of heart and mind, we never
member of the Church, the body of Christ, one can           have rest and quietness for our souls till they find
possibly be cast out, cut off to perish outside that        themselves in that round, comerless place of safety,
Church.                                                     the Church of Jesus Christ.
  But that does not mean that with our hearts and              Outside of that Church there is fear. Outside a
our minds we cannot get outside of that Church.             terrible monster lurks and waits to devour; and you
Being in that Church from eternity by sovereign             stand in the dread danger of being cornered by him at
election, being in that Church by the spiritual bond        any moment.
of faith, we can look out and look away from Christ,           In the Church is also fear, but it is the fear of the
the Comer Stone of that Church, and then lose our           Lord, the fear of amazement and awe before Him,
confidence of the safety and blessedness of that            which is the result of beholding His greatness and
Church.                                                     grace in preparing a place so secure and safe for His
We can get beyond those bulwarks and outside of             people. It is the fear of faith.
those towers of Zion in our thoughts and then be               The "church" that teaches directly or indirectly
filled with fear. Then we have all kinds of worries,        that the Church of Christ has corners deceives God's
cares, and. perplexities. That is what Paul wrote to the    people. What is worse, such a "church" ridicules and
Church at Philippi, "Be careful for nothing; but in         insults the King of that Church. It accuses Him of
everything by prayer and supplication with                  having made an imperfect Church. It limits the power
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto            of His blood and denies that it  iwas able to make a
God. And the peace of God, which passeth all                 perfectly safe and secure retreat for God's people. It
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds              denies the victory of the seed of the woman over the
through Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:6, 7. Notice that       seed of the serpent. It takes away the believer's
these cares and worries are presented as matters of          comfort and peace of mind.
the heart and mind. When our hearts and minds are
kept in Christ the peace of God which passeth all              Indeed, give us membership in the "little round
understandinn keens us from all cares and anxieties.         church" and we will have peace and joy and
Actually  whit Paul writes is that our hearts and            everlasting comfort and consolation.




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                                               THE STANDAR'D BEARER                                                399



STUDIES IN ISAIAH

            Reformed -- or Removed
                                Rev. Robert C Harbach


             For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah
          supporter and supportress, all support of bread, and all support of water, mighty man and
          fighting man, judge and prophet, also fortune-teller and elder, the captain of fifty and the
          distinguished person, even the counselor and skilled craftsmen and expert charmer. (Isaiah
          3:1-3)

  I.  Their Captain  of  Fifty Removed. For,                 punishment of them (10, 11). Another cause and
expressing the reason for the command and good               provocation of this complete ruination was female
advice of the preceding verse, "Cease ye from man!"          pride and vanity, which would all come to grief
and so from every leaning upon the dictates of               ( 18-24). Terrible retribution would overwhelm them
humanism. For God is about to remove from the                in the form of desolating war (25, 26), fulfilled in 2
people every ground they rest on, natural and                Kings 24: 14, 16. This judgment really began in the
spiritual, beginning with all the support of food and        time of Ahaz. As far back as his reign you hear of the
drink, all support of government and society,                inroads and invasions of foreign powers, and from
including civil, military, labor and religious "very         then on such names as, T&lath-Pileser,  Shalmaneser,
important persons." In the last two mentioned, not           Sennacherib, Morodach-baladan, Esarhaddon,
only ministers and officebearers, but heads of the           Assurbanipal (or Sardanapalus) and Nebuchadnezzar,
mechanical and magical arts are threatened.                  under whose reign the ruin was complete. The
  Behold! The command is to look at that which is            prophecy of Jeremiah and his Lamentations are the
near to come, and hints at the shortness of time, so         best commentaries on this. The land suffered a drastic
short that they would be eye-witnesses of what would         decimation of the male population, leaving widows in
shortly come to pass.  The Lord,  God considered as          a pitiful state of existence (4: 1). But the finalized and
sovereign over all, with all subject to him, hence, as E.    most devastating blow came in 70 A.D., in the
J. Young translates  Adon,  the Sovereign! He, the           destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, when the curses
sovereign God, is himself the stay and foundation of         of Lev. 26 and Deut. 28 were literally fulfilled.
all creation. In Him all things consist.  Jehovah              From Jerusalem and from Judah,  In chapter
Tsebhaoth:  The combination of the names Adonai              1: 1 O-21, Isaiah had pronounced judgment on the
and Jehovah of hosts appears in the prophecy where           entire universe as apostate from its Creator. Now
judgments are being introduced and publicly                  judgment falls more particularly on not only the
proclaimed  (1:24;  10:16, 33;  19:4), showing that          capital, but on the whole kingdom- of Judah. (In
they come, not by chance, but from the Lord                  chap. 1: 1 and 2: 1, there is the opposite order, Judah
himself.  is removing  - This removal results in the         and Jerusalem.) - supporter and supportress (3 : 12,
government, business, and all society in general falling     16-4: 1; i.e., support of  every  kind),  all support of
into worse than mediocrity, into incompetent hands           bread and all support of water, the main staples of
(v. 4). Then extortion crops up everywhere, down to          human life. Bread, a good gift, is in itself no blessing,
the grass-roots level, even to "everyone by his              as Hagg. 1:6 will show. In fact, bread in the teeth of
neighbor"  (5a), the evil running, of into                   the imperious becomes a downright sin, a name for
insubordination (5b) and resultant confusion. Finally,       iniquity (Ezek. 16:49). Then bread, so far from being
with no qualified person either in office or available       a blessing, which must be added to the mere gift of
for public service, the people are wretched, miserable,      bread (Deut. 28:5), becomes a curse (28:17). Life is
poor, blind and naked, and the state is a shambles (6,       supported by bread and water. Life hobbles along on
7). What provoked this fearful destruction was the.sin       the crutch of bread and water. Without that crutch,
of the people. They brought itall upon themselves (8,        life can't make it; it expires.
9). In the midst of these judgments,. the righteous,
too, suffer, but  are. nevertheless comforted in and           Mighty man and fighting man.  Great men in
through them, while the wicked must endure the               government shall be so discouraged as to decide to


400                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


serve no more and resign their commissions.  Judge         instance, draw near to Christ, and then let them
and  prophet, also fortune-teller.  The nation's           convict us of schism, in daring to dissent from them
legitimate and illegitimate supports are removed, as       in doctrine. But, since I have made it plain that Christ
Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, had already               is banished from their society, and the doctrine of the
prophecied, "For the children of Israel shall abide        gospel exterminated, their charge against us simply
many days without a king, and without a prince, and        amounts to this, that we adhere to Christ in
without a sacrifice, and without an image, and             preference to them . . . Those who refuse to be led
without an ephod, and without teraphim" (3:4). and         away from Christ and his truth . . . are thereby
elder  (LXX, presbyter),  the captain of fifty,  the       schismatics?!" (Calvin's Tracts  & Treatises, I,  The
inferior officer, the semi-centurion (Josh. 5:  14f, II    Necessity  of  Reforming the Church,  211-217).
Ki.  1:9, 10, 11,  13), shall be removed;  and the
distinguished person,  (the lifted up in face, the           When the churches cease to reform and conform to
exalted person, as Mordecai), even the counselor, as       the pattern of Scripture, but instead apostatize from
Joseph was to Pharaoh, Moses to another Pharaoh            the Reformed Faith, then the nation begins gradual
(who knew not Joseph), Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar,           decline to ruin. It especially then proves useless to
Belshazzar, Darius  ,and Cyrus; and Mordecai to            rely on popular statesmen, great soldiers, modern
Ahasuerus. The position of counselor was a sharing in      psychologists or the counsel of judge or prophet. For
the office of Christ, as shown in  9:6 (Wonderful          the Lord removes them; He withdraws their breath;
Counselor!), and shows that biblical counseling is         they die in the very emergency in which they were
both instructive and directive (40: 13).                   needed most. Or, if they live, their acumen, courage
                                                           and success evaporate before public eye, or their
                                                           reputation fails, and down dashes once high
  II. Our Captain of Fifty Reformed. Our captain of        expectations. No good will come to church or nation
fifty is The Standard Bearer! It is indeed a captain, a    from prophets and teachers no longer given a hearing,
leader in the Reformed world, and has been a captain,      or whose warnings are rejected; no, nor from false
a champion of the Reformed Faith, for fifty years          prophets who prophesy smooth things, who prophesy
consistently holding up the standard of truth. Always      deceits, such as, Peace!, when there is no peace. What
it has recognized the need for continued and on-going      a decadent nation or church it is where the moral
reformation. As one has well put it, "all the              fiber of the people is lost, and their firm, unbending,
Reformed churches . . . recognized the Church as           uncompromising leaders are things of the past, and
always in need of reformation, even as they felt this      the elder, in age, and in office, with years of valuable
to be the ceaseless need of every individual Christian.    experience making a tit counselor, is nowhere to be
Calvin and other Reformers lived in a time when            found!
reformation was notoriously necessary, and even
many [Roman] Catholics in these days were calling            Therefore, the church must be reformed or be
loudly for reformation in head and members.                removed. The churches of all the ages were and are
                                                           warned of this. The very best churches do well to
  "However, the actual accomplishment of this was          heed this warning. Let him that standeth take heed
opposed within the bosom of the Church, but our            lest he fall. One of the best churches was the church
fathers persisted in their testimony, and came to          of Ephesus. It was a church sound in doctrine. It
action. That as a consequence they were cast out of        preached the Word of God and faithfully exercised
the church was not at their direct initiative, but this    Christian discipline. As a church, it was active in the
became a situation which was forced upon them;             work of the Lord. It did not become weary in
whence  the Roman Church was really the                    well-doing. There was love in that church. It was on
schismatic. " (The Reformed Principle of Authority,        the move, too. But it was like a jet which has cut its
G. H. Hospers, The Reformed Press, Grand Rapids,           motors and is spiraling gradually in ever widening
Mich., 1924, p. 23 1). In answer to the charge that the    circles to a landing. No longer does it send out its
work of reformation in and of the church "made             jet-stream and go streaking like an arrow to its target
a schism in the Church," Calvin replied, "Our              in the sky. So this church lacked the motivating
adversaries, therefore, if they would persuade us that     power of its first love. It just did not have the
they are the true Church, must, first of all, show that    spiritual life it once had. It was falling asleep and
the true doctrine of God is among them." That is, the      drifting along, partly on momentum of the motor of
true church will bear its own distinctive, identifying     first love, now really shut off and lost, and partly on
marks, "the preaching of the Word, the pure                the momentum of tradition and custom. It is this
administration of the sacraments and the exercise of       church which is warned, "Remember, therefore, from
holy discipline." On the point of schism, he               whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first
remarked, "Let our opponents, then, in the first           works;- or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                401



remove  thy lampstand out of its place, except thou          Standard Bearer  for as many years. It is of God's
repent" (Rev.  2:5). The divine warning is, Be               grace alone that our captain of fifty still remains in
reformed! or be removed! That warning has been               the land, and continues to perform the work of its
faithfully sounded forth by our captain of fifty, The        calling!


IN HIS FEAR


       In Which Many Years of Down to Earth,
                  Every Day, Practical Matters
                       Are Thankfully Recalled
                                       Rev. D. H, Kuiper


  When a bit of research is conducted in the past            our children were still being instructed in the existing
forty-nine volumes of the  Standard Bearer  for              schools, they treated the Baptism Form exhaustively
material commemorating the contributions this                as the basis for training the child to the utmost of
rubric has made to our magazine, one is reminded of          one's power, and they gave specific content to the
the advertising slogan that you can't eat just one           "way in which he should go." Later articles dealt
potato chip. Even as a person continues to eat these         with the whole area of teacher training for those who
salty slices until the available supply is gone, so the      would give distinctive instruction, and one fine series
person who pages through these old volumes finds             can even be found which developed principles for
himself devouring article after article that has nothing     t  caching Civics, Geography, Grammar, History,
to do with his purpose. And how the time flies! With         Psychology, and Reading. What is so impressive, as we
a little self-discipline various discoveries were made of    look back, is the tremendous amount of work that
significance for this anniversary year. The department       went into these articles! These authors were ministers
In His Fear began, as far as its name is concerned, on       serving in congregations, without a formal teacher
October 1, 1945 (Vol. 22) with an article entitled           training; yet, they found in the Word of God the
"Off to School" by Rev. R. Veldman. Since that time          basics which underlie our school movement today.
the following editors have made contributions: Revs.         They developed these basics so that it became clear to
J.  DeJong,  M. Gritters, C.  Ha&o, J. A. Heys, H. C.        more and more of the readership that our own
Hoeksema, H. Veldman, R. Veldman, and since 1971             schools were a  must.  It can fairly be said that the
the undersigned. The bulk of this time Rev: Heys was         writings which appeared in these columns prior to
the contributing editor, producing an article for most       1947 were a significant factor in the opening of our
every issue from 1953 to 1971.                               schools.
                                                                So as our witness went out with each issue of the
A HEAVY EMPHASIS ON                                          Standard Bearer  this statement was also made: we
CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION                                        believe in a thorough, Biblically-grounded education
  Very likely in the minutes of some R.F.P.A.                for our covenant children. We believe that the parent
meeting there is an article stating that  In His Fear        must supply that instruction. We believe that
ought to address itself to the question of .Protestant       instruction must have the same emphasis and
Reformed Christian instruction. For many years prior         distinctiveness that we hold as a communion of
to the establishing of this department articles              believers. We are determined to do this because God
appeared  in  the  Standard Bearer  on this important        has spoken! Such was the content of the early
subject. With the beginning of this column a flurry of       articles. We give a short list of titles to demonstrate
articles addressed themselves to all possible aspects of     this, and to- whet the appetites of those who possess
the question; indeed the very title chosen is a              the early volumes.
reminder that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom." (Prov. 1:7) The early articles bemoaned          1. Our School Issue
the fact that after twenty years of church existence _ 2.  Principles  of Teaching


402                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



3. Education, Instruction, Training                              My Brother's Keeper
4. Training the Child in His Fear                                Vacationing
                                                                 The Lucky Number Craze
5. Our Own School - An Injunction?                               Gaining Others to Christ
6. Reformation and Our School Movement                           Virgins for Christ's Sake
                                                                 The Blessed Giver
A CHANGE OF EMPHASIS                                             Seeds of Violence
  With the passing of the years articles began to                Freedom of Speech
appear which treated subjects that ranged far from               A NOTE OF APPRECIATION
the Christian school movement. Although articles                      After eighteen years of contributing to In His Fear,
continued to appear stressing the instructional                  Rev. Heys turned his attention to his first love, Old
demands of the covenant, these were liberally                    Testament History (The Day of Shadows). During
interspersed with essays which treated many other                these many years he wrote with a unique style that
aspects of the Christian life. There are, perhaps, two           can best be called clever, in the good sense. He was
good reasons for this: first, once our schools opened            not bound to archaic, "dominie" talk but spoke to us
and our teachers began to develop a Christian                    in clear, up-to-date language. He could hit the nail on
philosophy and psychology of learning themselves,                the head without being offensive. He knows how to
this load fell from the backs of our ministers to a              use examples. And running through his many articles
large extent. The teachers began to hold seminars                was the obvious desire to help and build up. What
and, of late, institutes. Secondly, the doctrines for            got us to reading the articles, often times, were the
which we had been cast out of the Christian                      catchy titles. Remember?
Reformed Church, and which had been clarified and
developed over the years since                                   Holiday or Holyday
                                         1924, demanded
application to all areas of the believer's life. Doctrine        Spell It Greed
and life are one. "`Faith" without works is dead, being          Abhortions
                                                                 Handle with Care
alone. The believer does not live in an ivory palace             The Whether of Our Weather
but in a world of woe, and he needs answers daily to
many pressing problems. Those answers were given.                A White Christmas
And by the grace of God those answers were                       Saintly But Faintly
Scriptural and clear. And after reading these articles           A Check Up and a Check
no one has to sit and wonder what the man meant, as                   Since very few of these well-written articles are
is true of so much literature today!                             time-conditioned or out `of date, the board of
  Again, as our witness went out through our                     R.F.P.A. ought to consider asking Rev. Heys to select
magazine it was made unmistakably clear where we                 a certain number of essays for publication. A
stood on the problem areas of the Christian life, what           paperback containing twenty-five or thirty of these
our world and life view was. Our churches became                 essays, grouped under several general headings, would
known as a denomination that held sound doctrine,                make  fine devotional reading, especially for the
and made the serious, sanctified attempt of living               young. There may even be use for such a little book
those doctrines. This turned a lot of people off                 on the mission field.
perhaps. We were too strict for the diets of many. But                In the above I have tried to express my personal
since these were not cunningly devised tales, but                appreciation for these articles. Over the years they
Scripturally applied truths, we may know that our                have meant much to me. I feel I may write in a
positions have been correct. The following titles will           complimentary vein since I have only recently begun
give some idea of the wide spectrum of subjects                  to write under this heading. It is my resolve to
Treated from 1950 to the present:                                continue in the same tradition.


                                                             -GIVE

                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                      TO A FRIEND

                        IN TIME -TO RECEIVE THE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE OF SEPT. 15

                                     Use the convenient envelope enclosed in this issue.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           403


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH



                                                 Eschatology-

                                          The First Period

                                                THE INTERMEDIATE STATE


                                                         Rev. H. Veldman




  We now conclude our discussion of the                               manner of refreshment, without any company but
Intermediate State as set forth by the fathers in this                that of devils and such impure souls as themselves to
early period of the church of the New Dispensation                    .converse with, and where these miserable souls are in
with a final quotation from Hodge (Vol. III, 741 f.f.).               dismal apprehensions of the deserved wrath of God.
In this quotation, the common views on this subject                  So, the place of both, the righteous and
(again according to Hodge) are perhaps fairly                     unrighteous, while in the intermediate state, is neither
represented in the elaborate work of the Honourable               heaven nor hell, but, shall we say, a sort of interim
Archibald Campbell, writing on the doctrine of the                place. We now continue the quotation;
middle state between death and the resurrection; and                        Secondly, That there is no immediate judgment
we quote:                                                             after death, no trial on which sentence is pronounced,
       First. That the souls of the dead do remain in an              of neither the righteous nor the wicked, until Christ's
    intermediate, or middle state between death and the               second coming. And that, therefore, none of any age
    resurrection.                                                     or class from the  beginning of the world to the
                                                                      glorious appearing of our blessed Saviour at His
       That the proper place appointed for the abode of               second coming, are excepted from continuing in their
    the righteous during the interim between death and                proper middle state, from their death until their
    the resurrection, called paradise, or Abram's bosom,              resurrection, whether they be patriarchs, prophets,
    is not the highest heavens where alone God is at                  Apostles, or martyrs.
    present, fully to be enjoyed, but it is, however, a very                "Thirdly, That the righteous in their happy middle
   happy place, one of the lower apartments or                        state, to improve in holiness, and make advances in
    mansions  of heaven, a place of purification and                  perfection, and yet they are not for all that carried
   improvement, of rest and refreshment, and of'divine                out of that middle state into glory, or into the
    contemplation. A place whence our Blessed Lord's                  beautific  vision, until after their resurrection.
   humanity is sometimes to be seen, though clouded or
   veiled if compared with the glory He is to appear                I am not in the position to prove or disprove this
   with, and be seen in, at, and after His second coming.         assertion, that this doctrine was taught in this early
   Into which middle state and blessed place, as they are         period of the church of God in the New Dispensation.
   carried by the holy angels, whose happy fellowship             Here we read that the righteous, while in this middle
   they there enjoy; so afterward at the resurrection,            state, improve in holiness, make advances in their
    after judgment, they are led into the beatific vision
   by the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ Himself,         perfection, although it is also stated that this
   where they shall see Him fully as He is, and there             improvement is never of such a sufficient nature as to
   they shall enjoy God forever and ever, or                      make it possible for them to be carried out of this
   sempitemally.                                                  middle state and to enter into the final and heavenly
      The souls of the wicked at death do not go into             glow.
   hell, but into a middle state, which state is dark,                      Fourthly, That prayers for those who are baptized
   dismal, and uncomfortable, without light, rest, or any             according to Christ's appointment, and who die in the


4 0 4                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


   pale and peace of his Church, which. the ancients           That they remain in that state until the resurrection.
   called dying with the signs of faith, I say that prayers    (3) That at the second coming of Christ, when the
   for such are acceptable to God as being fruits of our
   akdent charity, and are useful both to them and to us,      souls of the righteous are to be clothed with their
   and are too ancient to be popish.                           glorified bodies, they will be greatly exalted and
      Lastly, That this doctrine for an intermediate state     raised to a higher state of being.
   between death and the resurrection, as I have proved,          This concludes our discussion of the Intermediate
   it, does effectually destroy the popish purgatory,          State as set forth during this early period of the
   invocation of the saints departed, popish penances,
   commutations of those penances, their indulgences,          church of God in the New Dispensation. In our
   and treasures of merits purchased by supererogation.        following article we will treat another phase of the
  As an example of the prayers for the dead he gives           doctrine in connection with the general doctrine of
                                                               Eschatology, the doctrine concerning the last things.
the following extract from the Office to be used at
the Burial of the Dead in the first Liturgy of King                            THE RESURRECTION
Edward the Sixth: "0 Lord, with whom do live the                  Having called attention to the doctrine of the
spirits of them that be dead, and in whom the souls            Intermediate State as set forth by the church during
of them that be elected, after they be delivered from          this early period of the New Dispensation, we now
the burden of the flesh be in joy and felicity; grant          call attention to the doctrine of the Resurrection. Of
unto this thy servant that the sins which he                   this doctrine, as taught during this period,
committed in this world be not imputed unto him,               Hagenbach, in his History of Doctrines, Vol. I, page
but that he, escaping the gates of hell and pains of           217, writes as follows:
eternal darkness, may ever dwell in the region of
light, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the place               Though traces of the doctrine of the resurrection
where is no weeping,`sorrow, nor heaviness; and when           of the body, which is set forth by the apostle Paul in
that dreadful day of the general resurrection shall            such a majestic manner, may be found in some
come, make him to rise also with the just and                  conceptions of greater antiquity, yet it received a
righteous, and receive this body again to glory, then          personal centre, and was made popular even among
made pure and incorruptible."                                  the uneducated, only after the resurrection of Christ.
                                                               During the period of Apologetics this doctrine of the
  Jeremy Taylor, bishop of Down and Connor, says:              resurrection (of the flesh) was further developed on
"Paradise is distinguished from the heaven of the              the basis of the Pauline teaching. The objections of its
blessed; being itself a receptacle of holy souls, made         opponents, proceeding from a tendency limited to
illustrious with visitation of angels,, and happy by           sense and the understanding, were more or less fully
being a repository for such spirits, who, at the day of        answered in the Epistle of Clement of Rome to the
judgment, shall go forth into eternal glory."                  Corinthians, as well as in the writings of Justin,
  Again, he says: "I have now made, it as evident as           Athenagoras, Theophilus, Irenaeus, Tertullian,
questions of this nature will bear, that in the state of       Minucius Felix, Cyprian, and others. Most of the
separation, the spirits of good men shall be blessed           fathers believed in the resurrection of the body, and
and happy souls, - they have an antepast or taste of           of the very same body which man possessed while on
their reward; but their great reward itself, their crown        earth. The theologians of the Alexandrian school,
of righteousness, shall not be yet; that shall not be          however, formed an exception; Origen, in particular,
until the day of judgment . . . This is the doctrine of         endeavored to clear the doctrine in question from its
the Greek Church unto this day, and was the opinion            false additions, by reducing it to the genuine idea of
of the greatest part of the ancient Church both Latin          Paul; but at the same time, he sought to refine and to
and Greek and by degrees was, in the west, eaten out            spiritualize it after the manner of the  Alexandrian
by the doctrine of purgatory, and invocation of saints;,        school. The Gnostics,  on the other hand, rejected the
and rejected a little above two hundred years ago, in           doctrine of the resurrection of the body entirely; while
the Council of Florence."                                       the false teachers of Arabia, whom Origen combatted,
  It appears, therefore, that there is little difference        asserted that both soul and body fall into a sleep of
between the advocates of an intermediate state and              death, from which they will not awake till the last day.
those who are regarded as rejecting that doctrine.                In footnotes which appear at the conclusion of thig
Both admit, (1) That the souls of believers do at              quotation, Hagenbach observes that it naturally
death pass into a state of blessedness. (this the               excites surprise that, while Paul -represents the
undersigned, H.V., does not understand. How can-the            resurrection of Christ as the central point of the
believer, if we reject the intermediate state, pass at         whole doctrine, the fathers of the present period keep
death into a state of blessedness, unless these                this fact so much in the background; at least it is not,
advocates believed that the believer passes into a state       with all of them, the foundation of their opinions
of blessedness, as according to body and soul.) (2)             concerning the resurrection of the body. Some, e.g.,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                405



Athenagoras, who yet devoted a whole book to the             we read: De  Opstandina  des Vleesches,  the
subject, and Minucius Felix, are entirely silent on the      resurrection of the flesh. Hagenback makes the
resurrection of Christ; the others also rest their           observation that it belongs to exegetical theology to
arguments chiefly upon reason and analogies from             inquire how far the New Testament teaches a
nature (the change of day and night, seed ,and fruit,        resurrection of the flesh, and what is the relation of
etc.).                                                       the flesh to the body and to the resurrection of the
                                                             dead. At any rate, according to Hagenback, the
   It was during the period of Apologetics (the age of       expression, resurrection of the flesh, soon became
the Apostolic Fathers, the period immediately after          current, and thus it passed over into the  so-called
the apostles) that this doctrine of the resurrection (of     Apostles' Creed. It will be interesting to call attention
the flesh) was further developed on the basis of the         to this doctrine of the resurrection of the body as set
Pauline-teaching. In our Apostles' Creed we read of          forth by the church during this early period of the
the resurrection of the body. In the Holland version         New Dispensation.  ~


ikU&VOeN  CONTRIBUTION



                                  Beautiful Feet Upon
                            The Jamaican Mountains

                                                  Rev. John A. Heys



  Nine years ago the undersigned was sent with Mr.           are not at all surprised in the areas where our
Harry Zwak to our mission field in Jamaica, that             churches exist to find fierce opposition to what is
beautiful island in the Caribbean Sea. Our  labours          truly Reformed, so there we ought not to be
were at that time with three ministers who were              surprised that only a few want to hear a truth that
serving twenty churches. The date of our arrival was         had never before been proclaimed on their island. The
April 20, 1965.                                              positive fruit has been small, and this should not
                                                             amaze us in light of our own history here in the
   On April 16, 1974 the undersigned with the Rev.           States. But there is fruit there; and we still have an
C. Hanko landed at the Montego Bay airport, being            open door which God has not closed, and we dare not
sent by the same Mission Committee to the same field         close!
of labour. But there were marked changes in the field.
When we arrived, there were only two. ministers                But to continue the line of thought we were
serving only nine churches. Yes, the two-edged sword         following  - nine years ago we worked with three
of the Word cut both ways. The seed sown did not             ministers and in twenty churches. When we arrived on
always fall on good soil. It fell also on the pathway,       April 16, 1974 we contacted two ministers and nine
among thorns and thistles and on rocky ground - of           congregations. Yet when twenty-one days later, on
which there is so much literally and figuratively in         May 7, 1974, we boarded our Air Jamaica jet for
Jamaica. More churches left us than remained with            Chicago and Grand Rapids, there were six ministers
us. More individuals turned from the truth than cried        serving these nine churches. Surely a word of
for us to preach it in their midst. As is the case in our    explanation is in order.
own land - and we are a handful of churches in the             Through the foresight of our missionary to
midst of a tremendously big Arminian church world            Jamaica, the Rev. George C. Lubbers, four young
- so there, a small remnant of the twenty churches           men were trained for the ministry of God's Word for
continued to hold fast to the truth. And even as we          the Protestant Reformed Churches in Jamaica. Young


     406                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     men who themselves are Jamaicans, who understand            he showed how qualified these young men are to
     the Jamaicans, who have at their finger tips Jamaican       preach to the Jamaicans in the language of the
     illustrations and examples for their sermons, who           Jamaicans when he pointed out and warned his
     know the Jamaican way of life and. the. Jamaican            people against the "Obeah man." These men are men
     language (this will become plain in a moment) were          of male witchcraft or sorcery on the island, whose
     indoctrinated in the truth of God's Word as it is so        antics and procedures, though condemned by the
     richly and beautifully expressed in the Reformed            government under penalty of severe fines, still creep
     Creeds. And they received that truth into their souls       into the churches. Native ministers know the ins and
     and echoed it in their prayers and speech.                  outs of the objects used and the methods followed by
                                                                 the Obeah men, and brother Trevor was revealing that
       In December of 1973 they were graduated and               he intends,, by God's grace, to be a practical minister,
     declared candidates for the ministry of God's Word          not given to dead dogmatic preaching but to warning
     `and eligible for calls. On April 23, 1974 in our           his people of the evils very near them, as well as to
     presence, and in the presence of the veteran ministers,     instructing and comforting them with God's Word.
     Rev. Joshua E. Frame and Rev. Clinton J. Elliott, as
     well as elders from the nine churches, and as many            The last to preach was Alvin  Beckford who had
     other men and women who could be there, these four          been called by the Cave Mt. church because, as one of
     young men preached their sermons in the church at           the elders stated, "He preaches the truth of God's
     Lacovia on the southern side of the island.                 Word." This does not mean that the other three
                                                                 candidates did not and that Rev. Elliot and Rev.
       They were limited to a twenty minute sermon               Frame did not, but they wanted brother Beckford for
     each, and were given the choice of an Old Testament         the truth that he preached. In his sermon on Luke
     or a New Testament text, having been assigned one of        18:9-14 he stressed the greatness of our God, the
     each. Kenneth Brown, .who had received the call from        folly of the Pharisee in thinking that he had helped a
     the congregation at Fort Williams, preached first.          God Who needs y10 help, but whose help we need, and
     Having been given the choice of Psalm 103: 11, 12 or        whose help the  publican sought in his prayer for
     Matthew  7:24-27 he delivered his sermon on Psalm           mercy as a sinner. Such, he told us, go home assured
     103 : 11, 12. In his sermon he revealed his love for the    of being justified, while those like the Pharisee go
     Reformed Faith and in particular for the truth of           home with the wrath of God upon them.
     sovereign election and particular atonement, as well
     as the fact that he had received the instruction given        What a day it was! I could not help but wish that
     him that he was to get his material out of the text,        my congregation, which so graciously and often had
     when he called our attention to the fact that the           allowed me to go to Jamaica (five times in seven
     pronouns our and us in the text exclude many and            years) could have been,there  to feel the enthusiasm of
     teach that God has mercy only for the elect, and has        these young men, to enjoy their preaching which
     removed as far as the east is from the west only the        seemed to come out of their hearts, and to hear these
     transgressions of His people chosen in Christ from          of another race speaking the same glorious truth (and
     eternity.                                                   with such conviction) that we hear from Sabbath to
                                                                 Sabbath in our churches.
       Leonard Williams, who received the call from the            And then came those days when on April 29 Rev.
     Belmont congregation, chose Romans 8:3 1,32 rather          Kenneth Brown was ordained at Fort Williams; when
c    than Psalm 139:23, 24. And here we will quote a few         on May 2 Rev. Trevor Nish was ordained in Lacovia;
     lines from his sermon, "Can the world harm us, since        when Rev. Alvin Beckford was ordained on May 5 at
     God is for us? Can the wicked  ,enemies of ours             Cave Mt. and when that evening, in the midst of a
     overthrow God's eternal counsel and plan of                 downpour of rain that made it necessary for us to
     redemption and election towards' His people whom            leave the thatched roof "church" to have the service
     He has chosen in Christ out of His mere grace from          on the porch of a deacon of the congregation at
     before the foundation of the world?" Speaking of            Belmont, Rev. Leonard Williams was ordained. The
     that sovereign eternal election he waxed exuberant          veteran ministers, Rev. Elliott and Rev. Frame,
     and his face lit up with the .joy of it when he cried       ordained the ministers-elect. Rev. Hanko and
     out of God, "He is my all in time and in eternity!"         undersigned took turns preaching the sermons.
       Trevor Nish, who was  .calIed by the Lacovia              Touching (and the congregations were visibly moved)
     church, preached on Matthew  6:33 and pointed out           was the ceremony of the laying on of hands.
     with conviction in his voice that, "only those whom           So now there are six pairs of beautiful feet upon
     God has made alive in Christ can seek the kingdom of        the mountains of Jamaica that preach glad tidings,
     God. A .dead man cannot walk or seek; and man is by         who proclaim peace, who bring tidings of good things
     nature spiritually dead and  must'be made alive by          and proclaim salvation.
     God before he can seek the kingdom of heaven." And                           Continued in next.issue


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 407
                                                                               a        , .


                                     News From Our Churches
                      Report of Classis East                                M. Joostensj August 25 - H. Veldman; September 8 -
                              July 3,1974                                   R. Van Overloop; September 22  - G. Van  Baren;
                Southwest Prot. Ref Church                                  October 6 - C. Ha&o.
   Classis East met in regular session on July 3, 1944                        The church visitors submitted a partial report of
in Southwest Prot. Ref. Church with all the churches,                       their labors. All visits have been made with the
except Prospect Park, represented by two delegates.                         exception of Prospect Park. The report of the visitors
Mr. Thomas Nelson, elder from Prospect Park, was                           is that "On the whole we may report that God has
present without credentials and thus could be given                         blessed our churches with faithful, dedicated servants,
advisory vote only. Four elders, present at classis for                     with love, peace, and unity in the congregations and
the first time, signed the Formula of Subscription,                         with evidence that He is operating in our churches by
                                                                            His grace and Holy Spirit."
   The business of this session was of a routine
nature; The usual committees were appointed and the                           The Classical Committee reported on their
Stated Clerk submitted his report re correspondence.                       transmittal of the ministerial credentials of Rev.
Serving on the Finance Committee were Elders A.                            Harbach to our Hope Church and of their appointing
Karsemeyer and J.N. Dykstra. Expenses of $152.15                            of Rev. Heys as the moderator of Kalamazoo. Rev.
were reported and authorized. Rev. J.A. Heys and                           Harbach was, `of course, noticeably absent from
Elders B. Windemuller and M.  Klop served on the                            classis. Both Rev. and Mrs. Harbach and the work
Classical Appointment Committee. The job of this                            which Rev. Harbach is performing in Houston were
committee was not an easy one. Seminary supply had                         remembered in the prayers offered at classis.
been exhausted for the months of July and August.                             After the asking and answering of the questions of
The following schedule, however, was adopted (it will                      Article 41 of the Church Order and the reading of the
be interesting to see if the East now gets its                             concept minutes, classis adjourned. Rev. H. Veldman
opportunity to read) for our Kalamazoo `Church: July                      led the  classis in a prayer of thanksgiving.  Classis will
14 - M. Schipper;  August 4 - J.A. Heys; August 11 -                                                                      (continued on back page)



                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                     NOTICE
   We, the children of MR. AND MRS. KENN DOEZEMA, announce
the twenty-five wedding anniversary of our parents on August 10,              Classis West of the Prot.. Ref+k Churches will meet in Randolph,
1974.                                                                      Wisconsin on September 4, 1974 at 8:30 AM. Delegates in need of
                                                                           lodging should notify the clerk of Randolph's consistory.
   Please join us in thankful celebration on August 9,7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
at the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church.                                                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
   We thank God for the Christian home and instruction they have, by
His grace and providence, provided us during their married life.
                                      Mr. and Mrs. Bern Wigger (Kayej                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                      Glenda Doezema
                                      Kenmart  Doezema                        The Mary-Martha Society of the SouthEast  Protestant Reformed
                                      Karl Doezema                         Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of its members,
Grand Rapids, MI                      Kristi Doezema                       Mrs. R. Teitsma, in the passing of her mother, MRS. G. VANDER
                                                                           TUUK. May she be comforted with the promise found in Rev. 14:13 -
                                                                           "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

                                                                                                                Mrs. Charles H. Westra, Pres.
                                                                                                                Mrs. Paul Van Dyken, Sec'y.

                Know the standard
                       and follow it.                                                                IN  MEMORIAM
                                                                              On the morning of July 4, 1974 it pleased our heavenly Father to
                            Read the  .'                                   cell our beloved mother, grandmother end great-grandmother, MRS.
                                                                           0. VANDER TUUK, to her heavenly home at the age of'85 years.
          STANDARD BEARER!                                                    We miss her presence, here but rejoice in the glorious hope of the
                                                                           resurrection and eternal fife of which, according to her own testimony,
                                                                           she was fully essured.
                                                                                                                Mr. & Mrs. H. J. Scholten
                                                                                                                Mr. & Mrs. R. H. Teitsma
                                                                                                                1 `I grandchildren
                                                                                                                20 great grandchildren


                                _-~  ____   .~._  ~__._   -~
THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





408


meet next, the Lord willing, on October 3, 1974 in
Hudsonville.
   Respectfully submitted, Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk
                        *****

   Rev. J. Kortering has declined the call he received
from Edgerton, and Rev. R. Miersma has declined the
call received from Prospect Park.
                        se***
   From a member of our Radio Committee, comes
the following interesting contribution:
   "In the June issue of  The Standard Bearer  an
announcement appeared advertising the availability
of taped recordings of the recent lectures sponsored
by the Prot. Ref.  Fqcture Committee. All three
recordings are still available. The first of the series -
"Why Protestant Reformed?" - delivered by Prof.
H.C. Hoeksema, in First Church was recorded in the
recording studio of our Reformed Witness Hour,
located in an upper room of First Church. No
problem there  - everything went according to
schedule.
   "The second lecture, given by Prof. H. Hanko, held
in Holland, Michigan was also recorded.
   "Then on Thursday evening, May 16, Prof. R.
Decker gave his lecture  - "The Mystery of
Lawlessness." This discourse was delivered in
Hudsonville. An announcement concerning the
availability of taped recordings of this message was
also printed on the program of the evening. But  -
due to an oversight, - no recordings' were made. What
to do about this?  - that was the question. After a
conference with Prof. Decker it was decided that he
should once again deliver his lecture - only this time
in First Church, employing the recording equipment
of our Reformed Witness Hour. Rather than speak to
the 800 (or so) empty seats of that auditorium, it was
resolved to invite interested persons by means of an.
announcement given at the Ascension Day Service.
Consequently, at 9 A.M. on Friday, May 24, Prof.
Decker mounted the pulpit of First Church and once
again rendered his most interesting,lecture  before an
audience of -13 people! The speaker expressed his
thanks to his listeners, the attentive audience
expressed their enjoyment to the Professor, and so -
tape recordings of this lecture became available.
Thank. you - Rev. Decker, for your time and effort
in making this possible."                           D.D.


