            The



f             A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





                                                          Reverend George M. Ophoff,  1891-1962





     Reverend Herman  Hoeksema,  1886-1965





.                                                 Volume L, Number 21, September 15, 1974 


   This special issue marks the completion of fifty years of publi-
cation. With heartfelt thanksgiving we acknowledge the faithful-
ness of our Covenant God, Who has preserved us in the truth of
His Word,  who has provided abundantly the necessary means for
publishing our magazine,  who has by His Spirit and grace guided
and sustained our editors through all these years, Who has given to
our Reformed Free Publishing Association an open door, and  who
has made perfect His strength in our weakness.



                                C





  The pictures on the front cover are two of our original editors
who for many, many years did the lion's share of the writing in
our magazine, who were stalwart battlers for the Reformed faith,
and who through their writings have been instruments of God's
grace to instruct us and enrich us in the knowledge of the truth as
it is in Jesus Christ.


                                                    STANDARD BEARER                                                              433

MEDITA TIO N                                   c


                                Worthy Of Our Calling
                                                    Rev. M. Schipper



           "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
           wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
           another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. "
                                                                                                  Ephesians 4: l-3.


  Doctrine and life belong together, and in such a                 I beseech you to walk worthily. of the calling,
way that the latter flows out of the.former1                    namely, the one by which you were called!
  Such is the implication of the text before us.                   The calling here undoubtedly must be understood
  Implicit in the term "therefore" is the doctrine              in the sense of the saving, efficacious calling which
which the apostle had set forth in the first part of his        had come unto the church through the preaching of
epistle. There he had made known the mystery that               the gospel. This calling is generally distinguished as
God in Christ is gathering together all things in one to        outward and inward. It is one calling with two
the church. Christ, so he says, has been made the               aspects. In its outward aspect it comes to us through
head over all things to the church, which is His body,          the preaching of the gospel. Accordingly, we hear it
the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.                     w i t h   o u r   p h y s i c a l   e a r s   a n d   underst,and  i t
                                                                intellectually. At the same time it is brought to our
  Incumbent on the church is that she walk worthy               innermost spiritual understanding, to our hearts, so
of her calling, endeavouring to keep the unity of the           that we hear not only with our ears, but with our
Spirit in the bond of peace.                                    innermost being Christ speaking to us. It is He Who
  And the latter the apostle weights down with the              through His Spirit and Word calls us out of darkness
assertion that he is the prisoner of the Lord. This he          into His marvelous light. He who is thus called hears
says, not to discourage the church, so that some,               not only the command of Christ to come to Him, but
hearing of his bonds might lose heart, concluding               he responds by actually coming to Christ. It is the
perhaps that if a godly walk leads to jail, it were             calling whereby God by His Spirit and Word calls us
better not to walk so godly. No, the very opposite is           out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
true. His purpose is to incite his readers to walk              His dear Son. It is the calling which is irresistible,
fearlessly. A godly walk, one that is in the fear of the        efficacious, and saving.
Lord, is not one that is to be feared, but it is to be             It is the purpose of God to gather together all
counted desirable; provided, of course, that one so             things under one Head, Christ. Such is the doctrine
bound understands that he is a bond-servant of Jesus            which the apostle had expounded in the preceding
Christ. More than once the apostle speaks of his                context. It is the church of Christ, chosen and
bondage. In the preceding he writes: "I Paul, the               redeemed by Christ, which constitutes the center of
prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." And again           the "all things" being gathered. And the realization of
in the closing part of the epistle: "for which I am an          the church is by the efficacious calling, wherewith the
ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak                   elect are called into the holy unity God in Christ is
boldly, as I ought to speak." And in our text he                realizing.
mentions it once more. That he is a prisoner "in the
Lord," as the original suggests, means that he is a                Of that calling the redeemed church is to walk
prisoner in respect to the Lord, and therefore for His          worthily !
sake.                                                              One's walk embraces his whole life, in all its
  I, namely, the one who am a prisoner in the Lord              departments, as one lives that life here in the present
- I beseech you!                                                evil world.


434                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   To walk worthy of our calling means to live in this       relation, we are to suffer long with the weaknesses of
present world in such a way that that walk is in             others, and when they reveal actual evil towards us,
harmony with one's calling; that is, in such a way that      we are to bear with them, until they come to
our manner of life in no way negates our belonging to        repentance or are banished from the visible
the unity of all things as God purposes to realize it. It    manifestation of the church.
means that we consider our belonging to that unity so           The thrust of this part of the admonition is
precious that in thought, word, and deed we never            therefore that we are to conduct ourselves in such a
conduct ourselves in such a manner that we deny it.
It means positively that our whole manner of conduct         manner towards one another that more and more we
                                                             are conformed to the image of Christ.
in this world is in complete harmony with it.                   And the aim and purpose is: that we endeavor to
  When we walk worthy of our calling we walk in all          keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
lowliness of mind and meekness.                                 This must mean that in principle the unity of the
  Lowliness of mind, as the word "lowliness" in the
original suggests, stands overagainst sinful and carnal      Spirit in the bond of peace is already established.
pride. It signifies a deep sense of moral littleness. One       As was suggested above, it is the purpose of God to
possessing and exercising this grace does not seek to        gather together all things in one to the church. This
exalt himself over another. He remembers the carnal          purpose God realizes through the Spirit as He is given
pride from which he has been delivered as a vicious,         to Christ the Head. The Holy Spirit of Christ
evil thing. He has been truly humbled, so that he does       therefore is the subject, the worker of this unity. This
no longer think much of himself.                             unity which He works is realized, first of all, in the
                                                             church. Consequently, the church is one, as God is
  Closely connected to lowliness of mind is                  one. The church is one body though it is composed of
meekness. One who is small in his own eyes is also           many members. Of this the apostle speaks in
meek, gentle, and mild. He esteems others better than        succeeding verses: "There is one body, and one Spirit,
himself.                                                     even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one
  Lowliness of mind and meekness characterize the            Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
grace whereby we are saved. Earlier `the apostle had         all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
declared that we are saved by grace through faith, and       From this circle of unity the Spirit works out until
that not of ourselves, lest any should boast. For we         the unity embraces all things, both in heaven, and on
are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto          earth.
good works, which God hath before prepared, in                  Moreover, this unity further described appears as
order that we should walk in them. This is indeed a          the sphere in which resides the bond of peace.
humbling truth! It leaves nothing wherein we can
boast in ourselves. Consequently this grace of                 Where this unity is established there is no schism,
salvation makes us lowly in mind, and instead of a           no conflict, no warfare; rather, peace reigns. All
proud, haughty spirit, the child of God is become            disrupting forces have been eradicated. Harmony,
meek, gentle.. It belongs to the very nature of the          tranquility, unanimity prevail.
grace whereby we are saved to negate self, and exalt           When the Spirit of unity takes hold of us, members
God Who saves us in Christ Jesus.                            of Christ's church, then we, too, endeavor to keep the
  To this the apostle adds: with longsuffering,              unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Then we
forbearing one another in love!                              make every effort, strive diligently to guard the unity
                                                             which the Spirit has wrought.
  With these words he rounds out the character or              This we do, not by seeking to foster an
manner of the walk to which we are exhorted.                 ecumenicity that would cut down or lop off the
  Longsuffering and forbearance have to do with our          sound doctrinal edges of the basis upon which the
relationship to others in the church. Here it becomes        unity of the church must stand. This we do, not by
perfectly evident that the church on earth is far from       seeking to establish a false unity in which there is no
perfect. Her members have many infirmities and               longer  .pure preaching of the Word, proper
weaknesses, and often reveal much, of the                    administration of the sacraments, and no Christian
characteristics of the old man of sin. Yet because           discipline exercised.
they are brought by the grace of God into the sphere           Rather, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we believe
of love in which in principle there is perfection, the       an holy catholic church, and seek earnestly for its
duty of each member is to seek for the perfection of         realization. And when we believe that we have found
himself and of one another. That is the implication of       it, we endeavor with all that is in us to guard its unity
the phrase "in love".  When however, much                    by insisting on its maintenance of the three
imperfection comes to' manifestation in our mutual           characteristic earmarks of the true church, namely,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               435


the pure preaching of the Word, the proper                 more the purest manifestation of the church of Christ
administration of the sacraments according to the          upon earth.
mind of Christ, and the faithful exercise of Christian        0, indeed, the Holy Spirit is not dependent on us
discipline.                                                to maintain the unity!
   This implies that we are willing to enter into            He is well able to  keei the unity in the bond of
controversy when the doctrines of the Word of God          peace!
are denied or corrupted. Where this corruption
persists, we are willing by way of reformation to            But it is also true that He precisely keeps this unity
preserve the true doctrine. This implies that when the     through the faithful, persistent effort of the church
                                                           to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
sacraments are profaned and the members of the
church are allowed to do as they please, and where           Needless to say, how important it is to heed this
wickedness is condoned, we protest violently through       admonition today!
proper channels. And should all our protesting prove          So, and so only, will we walk worthy of our
fruitless, we cast from us the evil, and establish once    calling!





               The  Completion  of  Our  Fiftieth  Year

                                              ProjY H. C. Hoeksema



   Twenty-one issues ago we called your attention to         In the first place, we stand on the basis of
the fact that we were beginning our fiftieth year, and     Scripture and the Reformed confessions. We stand
that we conceived of this volume-year as a running of      unashamedly on the basis of Holy Scripture as the
the last mile before reaching the more important           infallible Word of God, and we hold to the Three
milestone of the completion of our fiftieth year of        Forms of Unity as our subordinate standards, as well
publication. Now we have reached that milestone, our       as to the old Reformed, Liturgical Forms as
golden anniversary. This is the climax of this golden      confessions of a secondary order. It was because we
anniversary year, the grand finale!                        did not want to depart from these creeds, but cling to
   Here we raise our Ebenezer, our "stone of help."        them, that our  Standard Bearer  was first published
                                                           fifty years ago. And it is because, through the
   For hitherto hath the Lord helped us!                   faithfulness of our covenant God, Who has preserved
   And He will help us in the future!                      us, we still maintain the position of our Reformed
  Two of my colleagues - one older, one younger -          confessions, that our  Standard Bearer  occupies its
accepted the tasks of looking backward and looking         distinctive.position today.
forward, respectively, at this significant occasion.         This is important. There was a time when it was
That rather automatically limits me to a                   almost trite to speak of standing on the basis of
consideration of the present. In this connection, there    Scripture and the Three Forms of Unity: almost all
are especially two questions which we should               Reformed `people made that claim. And while it is
consider. In the first place, where do we stand today?     true that many give a certain lip-service to that claim
And, in the second place, what is our present task, or     today, nevertheless the climate today has changed.
calling?                                                   Many have become ashamed of the confessions and
                                                           speak of them as little as possible. Men chafe at the
Our Present Position                                       ` `narrow " confines of the creeds. To `many the
   There are several aspects to our answer to the first    Reform ed confessions are ecclesiastical museum
of these questions. Let us briefly consider them.          pieces. Some subscribe to the creeds tongue-in-cheek


436                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


and with mental reservations. Some wish to do away           raised in support of false doctrine are more deceitful,
with them altogether. Others wish to revise them in          more strident, and legion in number. All the more
the name of relevance. Still others seek to replace          reason this is for the  Standard Bearer  to sound the
them by modernistic and generalized statements of            trumpet-call to battle with clear and certain and
belief, in the interest of promoting so-called               distinctive notes!
horizontalism, social activism, and revolution. But we         In the third place, and in close connection with the
of the  Standard Bearer  are Reformed and are not            preceding, there is no question about it that the
ashamed of our Reformed confessions. We purpose to           Standard Bearer  has exerted itself to expose the
maintain them in all our writings. And we believe that       many-sided error of the theory of common grace and
in such a time as this it is above all things necessary      to vindicate the truth of God's sovereign, particular
that the people of God be instructed in the                  grace. This we have seen from the very beginning of
knowledge of the truth set forth in our confessions,         our fifty years - and we still see today - as a peculiar
so that they may be doctrinally articulate, may be           aspect of our calling.
armed with the whole armor of God, of which the
girdle of the truth is essential, and so that thus they        Why?
may be spiritually ready for the battle and prepared
against the onslaughts of false doctrines and false            Was it simply an accident of history, so to speak,
philosophies which are so numerous and fierce in our         that it was the common grace conflict of 1924 which
time.                                                        gave rise to our origin? Was it, perhaps, merely out of
                                                             a desire to vindicate ourselves and our right of
  In the second place, we maintain the position of           existence over against those who cast us out in 1924?
our creeds antithetically, that is, over against all the     Is this effort on our part a kind of majoring in
departures from the Reformed faith which are                 minors, a constant harping on insignificant doctrinal
sweeping the churches today, and particularly over           differences, a futile poking into old sores and trying
against all departures from and compromises of the           to keep up a fight that already belongs to rather
truth of sovereign, particular grace. This has been true     ancient history? If any of these be true, it is a pity
from the very beginning of our fifty years of                that the  Standard Bearer  ever came into existence;
existence. In fact, it was for the purpose of providing      and it is more of a shame that it has existed for fifty
our original editors a forum for the development of          years.
their views over against the pernicious theory of
common grace that the Standard Bearer was begun.               No, it was - and is - because the error of common
                                                             grace in all its facets goes to the very heart of the
  We have been criticized for this. The charge has           Reformed truth. This is the reason why we have
more than once been made that we are only                    always exerted ourselves to demonstrate the error of
reactionary and that we have only a negative basis           this doctrine and to warn against it. Down through
and a negative reason for existence. Nothing could be        the ages the battle of the church has, in one form or
farther from the truth. Nevertheless, it must be             another, always been concerned with this. Always
pointed out that it has always been characteristically       there have been attempts to deny the particularity -
Reformed to oppose and to exert one's self to expose         and with it, the sovereignty - of God's grace. Always
false doctrine. This is part of the calling of the church    there have been attempts to universalize the love and
in the maintenance of the truth. Moreover, it is quite       grace of God. Hand in hand, there has always gone
in harmony with the confessions themselves, and              the attempt to deny the totality of man's depravity.
certainly in harmony with the requirements of the            At bottom, this has always been the deepest issue in
Formula of Subscription. Besides, the truth of the           the battle of the church for the truth. Is God GOD?
Word of God is always presented antithetically in            Or is man on the throne? No, this has not been our
Scripture itself. In fact, the Yes to the truth always       peculiar battle only with respect to the stand of the
implies the No to the lie; and the truth cannot be           Christian Reformed Church taken in 1924. Turn
maintained except by way of rejection of false               where you will in the Reformed scene or in the
doctrine and unless the people of God are well               ecclesiastical scene at large, and you will discover the
equipped to discern the truth from the lie.                  battle for the truth has had this character. In 1924
  Moreover, practically speaking, today it is more           this universalizing tendency took the form of the
necessary than ever before to warn against false             Three Points. In the  196Os, it took the form of a
philosophy and to call God's people. away from the           universal, saving love of God and a universal
path of error and false doctrine to the straight paths       atonement in the same Christian Reformed
of the truth of God's Word and our Three Forms of            denomination. Today the same universalizing
Unity. Why? Because the forces of the lie are more           tendency is still present in the idea that the nature of
powerful, because the forms of the lie are more              the Word of God is only saving! In other lands and in
numerous and more insidious, and because the voices          other denominations, even where common grace in


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  437


any form is not an officially declared doctrine. the         remember that what we are and have and have been is
same error is found. The specter of this universalism        all of grace! We have nothing to boast of ourselves!
looms large in the history of doctrine. And turn                But this does not detract one iota from the
where you will today, you will discover this error and       factualness of what I have written above.
the effects of this error everywhere; you will discover,
too, that the ecclesiastical forces promulgating this          And that means that we have a tremendously rich
error are larger and more powerful than ever before;         heritage. If you are one of those who has the fifty
and you will discover that those who desire over            volumes of the  Standard Bearer  in his library, you
against it to maintain faithfully the truth of              have a veritable gold mine of instruction and
sovereign, particular grace in all its implications          information. Not only that, but standing on the
constitute an ever smaller remnant.                          shoulders of our fathers, we occupy a distinctive
                                                            position TODAY! We are fifty years later in history,
   In the fourth place, however, let no one listen to        and that means fifty years richer! While our Standard
the fiction that our  Standard Bearer  has been only        Bearer has not changed essentially, but still bears the
negative or only polemical. In large measure, in fact,      same standard, the flag of the truth, you and I have
that we were polemical in our writings has been only        the distinct advantage and privilege at this fiftieth
because necessity was laid upon us. After all, when         anniversary of all the development and enrichment of
the enemy attacks, is it not a fool or a coward who         those fifty years.
does not defend his heritage? But that we have been
purely negative or polemical is a lie fabricated out of
whole cloth! Literally thousands of pages have been         Our Calling
written in the course of the positive development of           From all this it follows that ours is a very serious
the truths of Scripture and the confessions, especially     responsibility.
in the development of the cardinal Reformed truths             First of all, to be sure, we are called to deep and
of God's everlasting covenant of friendship and His         heartfelt gratitude to our Covenant God. Let none of
sovereign grace. Let me remind you that the recently        o u r   c e l e b r a t i o n   o f   t h i s   a n n i v e r s a r y   b e
republished three large volumes of  The Triple              self-congratulation. Let us bless the Lord, and forget
Knowledge,  the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema's                 not all His benefits. And let us esteem very highly our
exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism, appeared            heritage, and let it never become commonplace to us!
first in serial form in our magazine. The same is true
of Behold, He Cometh, Rev. Hoeksema's exposition             . In the second place, let us not stagnate. There is a
of Revelation. Much of the substance of his                 certain danger of this, I believe, when we reach an
Reformed Dogmatics also found its first expression in       important milestone such as this. We have attained!
the  Standard Bearer.  Call to mind that there have         We have come of age! We have it made! But nothing
been well over a thousand thoroughly Scriptural             could be more wrong! Our calling is to hold fast that
meditations published over the years. Think of the          which we have, indeed. But remember: that is, at
fact that the late Rev. G. M. Ophoff, and-others,           best, always a battle. If w8 fail to hold fast what we
wrote hundreds of pages of exposition of the Old            have, if we fail continually to drink at the fountain of
Testament. Think of the New Testament expositions,          the truth all that we can, we shall not only stagnate,
the expositions of the Psalms by the late Rev. Gerrit       but go backward. That is simply a law of life. We as
Vos, the hundreds of articles on church history, on         editors must go on in the tradition of these fifty
the history of doctrine, on the Church Order, on the        years, laboring with all that is in us for the defense,
Netherlands Confession, on the Canons of Dordrecht,         but also for the further development and enrichment
on Christian education, on the Christian life, on           of our heritage. And we as readers  - and I say
current events in the churches. I make bold to say          emphatically readers, not merely subscribers - must
that it would be difficult indeed to find a record of       likewise go on.
fifty years of Christian journalism such as that set by       In the third place, we must pass the standard on to
our  Standard Bearer.                                       our children, the ,next generation of God's covenant
                                                            people. Here, I believe, is an area which can stand
  Note well, I say this in all humility. For not only       attention from us all. By word and by example we
would I be the first to admit that our work has been        must teach our children, at a rather early age, to read
marred by many weaknesses and imperfections, but I          our  Standard Bearer.  Do not imagine that this is
am also well aware of the fact that we do not               something automatic among our young people.
"count" in the field of religious journalism. We have       Especially today that is not the case: we don't live in
always been small, and we are small today.                  an age when such reading  - or any reading  - is
Undoubtedly it is a good thing that the Lord has kept       automatic. If you would have your young people read
us small - good for us as editors, at least. That tends     this or any worthwhile religious literature, you will
to keep us humble, too. And above  .all, let us             have to  teach  them to read. And after you have


438                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



instructed them to read, you will have to check up                witness!
whether they have followed your instructions.
  In the fourth place, we must get the  Standard                     I mean that the number of Protestant Reformed
Bearer  OUT! This, I believe, is one of the greatest              subscribers and readers has always been far larger
responsibilities we have today. And it is in harmony              than the number of those outside our churches. I
with the original purpose of our magazine to be a                 would like to see that proportion reversed, and more
witness.                                                          than reversed! Not, you understand, by a decrease in
                                                                  the number of Protestant Reformed readers. No, but
  What do I mean by this?                                         by a vast increase in the distribution outside of our
  I mean that we must bend every effort to                        churches, and that, too, initiated by us!
distribute our  Standard Bearer  on a larger, much                   We are making a beginning with this issue. I
larger, scale than heretofore. As surely as it is true            understand there are 4000 copies of this issue being
that we have something very precious'in our Standard              printed, most of which will be distributed.
Bearer, so surely it is also true that we may not keep
it to ourselves, but must spread it abroad. In fact, if             We must  - and can  - do more of this. I say: we
we largely keep it to ourselves, I would take that as             can! For the Lord has put us in a favorable financial
an indication that we do not count our magazine very              position at present to make a beginning at this task.
valuable and that we have somewhat of an inferiority              Moreover, our people have royally supported this
complex about it.                                                 cause in recent years, so that ,we can do more. And I
                                                                  believe that experience shows that if and when there
  No, I have no illusions that there are large numbers            is a special financial need, our people meet this need.
of people' who are receptive for what our Standard                A side benefit will automatically be a larger number
Bearer presents. But everywhere today, both at home               of paid subscriptions. Experience shows this, too!
and abroad, there are pockets, small groups, of                   When the Standard Bearer is more widely distributed
Reformed believers who must be reached, people who                and becomes more widely known, it "catches on."
will be surprised and happy to find that there is a
magazine such as ours.                                              But let us get busy at this task!
  No, I do not mean in the first instance to strive for             Let our Board and our R.F.P.A. and all our
more subscribers. That is good: I like to hear from               supporters catch this vision and put their shoulders to
our Business Manager of periodic increases in the                 the wheel!
number of paid subscriptions. But that is not the goal              These are my thoughts at the completion of this
in itself. Besides, when the distribution increases, the          fiftieth year.
subscriptions will also increase.                                   May the Lord be pleased to prosper our Standard
  But WE must get our magazine out! We must                       Bearer as a witness while our Lord Jesus tarries!


                                            PRE-PUBLICATION SALE
                                               PEACEABLE FRUIT
                                      (For The' Nurture Of Covenant Youth)

                                                            by
                                                 Gertrude Hoe ksema
            This new R.F.P.A. publication is scheduled to come from the presses on or about November
            1. The regular price of this clothbound volume will be $5.95. If you place your order before
            November 1, you can take advantage of the pre-publication sale price of $4.95: Your check
            or money-order must accompany your order. All orders will be filled as soon as the book is
            available. Mail your order to: Reformed Free Publishing Association, P-0. Box 2006, Grand
            Rapids, MI 49501.

            Name

            Street or R.F.D.
            City                                 State                                    Zip
                                                 (Please print plainly)


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           439





                  T h e   S t a n d a r d   B e a r e r

                                                      - - Looking Back

                                                   Rev. C. Hanko


             As our thoughts travel back across the years, reflecting on the 50th anniversary of our
           Standard Bearer the cry of the Psalmist arises in our hearts:
             Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
             Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His benefits. (Ps. 103: 1, 2)


   Classis East was in session in November of 1924.          Reformed denomination, but particularly the city of
The matter before this body was the demand of a              Grand Rapids, throbbed with the excitement that
previous  classis that Rev. H. Hoeksema and his              centered about the common grace issue. If one saw a
consistory sign the Three Points adopted by the              group of people wrapped in conversation on the
synod a few months before. No other ministers had            street corner, one could be quite sure that the issue of
been placed before this demand, except Rev. H.               the day was receiving its pros and cons. On a warm
Danhof of Kalamazoo and Rev. H. Hoeksema of                  summer evening one had but to walk the streets of
Grand Rapids, Michigan. But that is hardly the point         the southeast part of the city, (which was perfectly
here. The point I wish to make is that one of the            safe in those days), and he would hear voices, loud
delegates arose at this November meeting to                  and clear, bursting from the various homes, all
reprimand Rev. Hoeksema for The Standard Bearer,             concerned about the same issue. The daily Press even
the first issue of which had appeared in October, only       carried front page news items about the proceedings
a month previous to this. "Why," he asked, "why did          of the Classes and the happenings in the churches.
you ever begin to publish that new paper,  The                 The Standard Bearer  had come to stay. Anyone
Standard Bearer"? Rev. Hoeksema was sitting at the           who still is privileged to possess an early issue will
edge of his seat, one arm resting on the back of the         know how brown and tattered these copies are from
I$pew, the other hand on the pew ahead, ready to rise        their constant use. It is no fiction that copies  were,
to give answer. A cloud of amazement had swept over          exchanged from one to another, were eagerly perused
his face, as those who knew him will so well                 in the public library, and were even carried in the
remember his look of perplexity. It was as if he             coat pockets of young men visiting their girl friends.
would say, "How can anyone ask a question like                 In the first issue of The Standard Bearer appears an
that?" Soon a ready smile caused his eyes to gleam as        editorial explaining the reason and the purpose of this
rising, he said, "What else could we do? The church          new periodical. After mention is made of the Free
papers, The Banner and De Wachter refuse to accept           Publishing Association, which made itself responsible
our contributions. Yet to obey the mandate of the            for the publication, we read,
synod, we as well as all the others are called to                   This society, which already for some time has
enlighten the churches on the subject of common                  given strong support to the above mentioned
grace, which the synod regarded as still in need of              ministers (the Revs. Danhof and Hoeksema), will
further investigation."                                          devote themselves to this same task in the future
  Yes, The Standard Bearer  had made its first                   through this monthly magazine. They feel that they
appearance on October 1, 1924, the significant year             must fight for the cause of the Lord, not only against
of the adoption of the Three Points by the Christian            the enemy which stands outside of our own church
Reformed Church. This new magazine had already                   communion, but no less against the enemy within the
                                                                 gates. They want others to lift up the banner, instruct
made a tremendous impact upon friend and foe alike.              the people of God and lead them in the battle, which
Those were days in which  ithe whole Christian                  is inescapable and must be fought. The real need for


440                                                     THE STANDRAD BEARER



       leadership is felt in regard to ecclesiastical problems,    the English text of Psalm 89: 17, 18, from which this
       doctrinal differences, prevalent views, and the             is taken: "For Thou art the glory of their strength:
       practical application to our daily lives. And although      and in Thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the
       they have no intention of limiting themselves in this       Lord is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our
       struggle to the publishing of The Standard Bearer,          King."
       they nevertheless want this periodical to lead the way
       in the bitter struggle.                                        These were difficult years, these first years. Soon
                                                                   the lion's share of the writing fell squarely on the
          At  the same time, the position of the editors is
       hereby also explained. The writers want to allow            shoulders of the Reverends Hoeksema and Ophoff.
       God's Word to speak, and want to `labor in the              Not as if they had little else to do. They had their
       reformatory and progressive Reformed spirit. They           congregations, requiring the usual preaching,
       insist on a Bible-believing, not p h i 1 o s o p hi c al    catechizing, sick visiting, family visitation, and all the
       conception of the Word of God. And they seek to             accompanying duties. This was sufficient to keep any
       apply the proper emphasis of the will of God to             diligent minister occupied. But besides that they were
       Christian living, along the entire line of human            giving a full course of theological training for students
       activity. Thus not everything that has been presented       that were being prepared for the ministry of the Word
       in history as Reformed truth will blindly be branded        in churches which were being organized in various
       as Scriptural. Nor do they underwrite every                 places. Particularly Rev. Hoeksema was also called to
       presentation of the fathers, no, not even when the          make repeated lecture tours throughout the west,
       shadow of error fell upon the faulty views of the
       Confessions of the churches. Caution is indeed              even as far as California. Yet the deadline for each
       required in doing this. Yet the true welfare of the         issue had to be met. I recall meeting Rev. Hoeksema
       church demands that the full light of the Word of           on a train in Spencer, Iowa. There had been a
       God is kindled in regard to everything that pertains to     washout on the railroad caused by heavy rams during
       the promotion of the cause of the Son of God. For           the night. In order to arrive at the classis meeting at
       being children of God, we must be blameless and             Hull that same day, he had called ahead asking for
       upright, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked          someone to pick him up. Upon arrival we found him
       and perverse generation, among whom we shine as             busily engaged in typing an article for the next issue
       lights in the world; holding forth the Word of life.        of The Standard Bearer.
       From that we may not desist. The editorial staff of
       the Standard Bearer  seeks to equip the church for            Others were added to the editorial staff from time
       that task. (Translated)                                     to time, which was also appreciated. But both Rev.
                                                                   Hoeksem'a and Rev. Ophoff burned much midnight
  In this same first issue Rev. Hoeksema began his                 oil to remain faithful to the task God had committed
series on "Doctrine" with the contribution, "God is                to them. One of the sons of Rev. Ophoff made the
God." This may well be considered the keynote upon                 remark at one time, that he best remembers from his
which all the contents of  The Standard Bearer  is                 childhood that he would awaken at night and see the
based. Just as this is the keynote of. the preaching,              light in his father's study still burning. The question is
echoing the grateful response; "For this God is our                often raised why our churches did not make direct
God. He will be our Guide even until death." Those                 contact with all the areas in which churches of
who formerly attended the preaching in the Dutch                   Reformed persuasion were located, to let them all
services of our churches will recall how these services            know of our existence. The answer is given above.
were concluded with triumphant song of the                         God simply did not supply us with the means at that
Psalmist:                                                          time to reach out farther than we did. Yet  The
  Gij  tech, Gij zijt hun roem, de kracht van hunne                Standard Bearer  reached many more, both at home
 k r a c h t ,                                                     and abroad, than we shall ever know. The full
  Uw vrije gunst alleen wordt d' eere toegebracht.                 repercussion of this defence of the truth of God's
  Wij steken `t hoofd omhoog, en zullen d'eerkroon                 Word is certainly God's work, and as such is preserved
        dragen                                                     in the annuls of eternity.
  Door U; door U alleen, om `t eeuwig welbehagen.                    This witness of the Protestant Reformed Churches
  Want God is ons een Schild in `t strijdperk van dit              and of the truth entrusted to us remained faithful to
        leven,                                                     its calling even in the years of "strum" and "drang."
  En onze Koning is van Israel's God gegeven.                      In the late 40s and in the early 50s heavy storm
Those who cannot appreciate the Dutch psaltery                     clouds hung over our churches. The history of the
anymore, will forgive me this slight diversion. Those              Protestant Reformed churches is from their very
who still do enjoy the Dutch will agree with me, that              inception intertwined with the history of  The
no reminiscing of the past would be complete                       Standard Bearer. And the opposite is also true. I take
without this. Let me share this blessed experience                 the liberty to quote from an editorial by Rev.
with you, in as far as that is possible, by referring to           Hoeksema, written in connection with the


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        441



twenty-fifth anniversary of our churches under the                 be both interesting and instructive. But he adds:
heading, "Protestant Reformed."                                           Nevertheless, our look backward must serve a
       It is by no means with an unmixed feeling of joy                better purpose.
    that The Standard Bearer celebrates the twknty-fifth                  That purpose should be, in the first place, to take .
    anniversary of the existence of our churches . . .                 stock. We should look back to the very beginning of
       The reason for this attitude on our part must be                our  Standard Bearer,  examine its origin, its initial
    evident to all that read our papers.                               claim, its purpose and aim, in order to judge whether
                                                                       and in how far our magazine has been true to its
       And although it might probably be expected that
    no church in the world could stand for any length of               claim and purpose down through the years. Moreover,
    time on the basis of such pure and strong Reformed                 in the light of this judgment we must determine
    truth as that which is represented by the Protestant               whether our course is in need of correction or not;
    Reformed Churches; and although, years ago, at an                  and, if not, then we must. determine, if our course is a
    outing of our young people, I said that I conceived of             true one, to progress along that same course.
    the possibility that, if I lived long enough, I would be              In the second place, the purpose of this
    cast out once more; yet it cannot but be a cause of                anniversary stock-taking, this inventory, should be a
    deep sorrow when, after so short a time, this                      rededication  to that original purpose, and that too,
    departure from the pure basis of the Protestant                    on the part of editors, publishing association, and
    Reformed truth becomes evident.                                    readeis.
       It is being said that some are emitting an entirely           Concluding his article, he writes,
    different sbund  from that which is blasted from the                  What now, must the end of this be?
    trumpet of those men that always stood for  the
    Protestant Reformed truth, that the conception of                     Shall we boast, that is, of self and of our own
    the latter is not a doctrine of our churches, and that             work? God forbid!
    most of the Protestant Reformed do not think as                       In the first place, let us with humble hearts,  -
    they. And a conditional theology is being introduced,              editors, publishing society, and readers, - give the
    the sound of which is surely foreign to our Protestant             thanks and all the praise to our covenant God. It is all
    Reformed truth.                                                    of Him, and we have nothing whereof to boast,
       The statements to which I refer above have never                except our boast be in Him.
    been openly challenged, still less contradicted. And as               In the second place, let us be appreciative of our
    long as they are not given the lie, I have no choice but           heritage as it has been preserved and enriched for us
    accept them as true.                           ,                   by our Standard Bearer. And by appreciation I mean
       Are you surprised, then, that on this twenty-fifth              not a mere empty sentiment of appreciation, but an
    anniversary, I rather mourn than celebrate with                    esteem of such a kind that it moves us to be better
    rejoicing? (S. B. Vol. 26, pages 268,269)                          and more thorough readers of our magazine, moves us
                                                                       to be more loyal and dedicated and generous
  Our churches, and  The Standard Bearer  likewise,                    supporters of it, moves us to instill in our children
were `preserved by the power of God throughout that                    that same inclination to appreciate, to be instructed
stormy period, to remain a witness of the Reformed                    by, and to support. this magazine.
heritage in the church world. The work continued,                        In the third place, even as so often in the past our
the witness remained faithful to its original purpose,                Standard Bearer  has been of such great service in
the readers drank in the contents with a keener                       bearing the flag of the truth outside our immediate
interest even than before.                                            Protestant Reformed circles, so let it become more
  I hasten now. to the fortieth anniversary of the                    effectively and in greater outreach a witness for the
existence of The Standard Bearer. Those of you who                    Reformed faith in our times,  - times of turmoil and
own or have access to the early volumes of our                        crisis in the Reformed community,  - we have a
periodical will find moments and even hours of joy in                 solemn duty to let our testimony be heard to the
                                                                      utmost of our ability. To achieve that purpose we
paging through them. At times you will silently weep,                 need a greater outreach, more dedicated efforts, and
at times become deeply disturbed by  : the bitter                     even more generous support than we have had
struggles of the past, but always you will express in                 heretofore . . .
your soul the sentiment with which I began, and
which is the theme of the meditation in Volume 41,                       The time is certainly short. The night  cometh,  in
page 4, "Bless the Lord, 0 my `soul, and forget not all               the which no man can work. Let us labor while it is
his benefits." (Psalm  103:2) In this `volume it                      day !
becomes evident that none' other than Rev.                               And may the Lord our God bless our labors.
Hoeksema's son, Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, has taken                      These are significant words, well spoken, that
over the editor's taks of  The Standard Bearer.  He               should not pass by unnoticed. They apply today %vith
writes : "In Retrospect - Forty Years." He speaks of               as much emphasis as ten years ago,.and possibly even
looking back in the sense of reminiscing, which can               more so. This fiftieth anniversary of our  Standard


442                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


Bearer, followed next year by the fiftieth anniversary       everywhere, often stressing the mystical that appeals
of the existence of our churches, must be a time for         to man's superstitious and carnal ambitions, flatter
reflection, dedication, with prayer and thanksgiving.        the pride, and create false hopes for a world free from
   For time rushes on, ever more swiftly as the end          warfare, poverty, sickness, pain, grief, death; yet a
approaches. And changes are the necessary result of          w o r l d   w i t h o u t   G o d .   T h e   t i m e s   a r e   e v i l .
passing time. This is certainly true in the unfolding of     Pseudo-prophets,  - preachers,  - Christs make vain
the work of the counsel of our God in these past fifty       boasts. Satan knows that he has but a little while and
years. No generation has ever seen such sweeping,            is making the most of it.
radical changes as we have. The `slow, chugging
Model-T has been replaced by cars that can eat up the           Yes, there have also been changes in The Standard
miles in comfort, by planes that travel faster than          Bearer.  That is only natural. The first editors,
sound. People who considered it quite an excursion           including the Revs. Vos and Verhil, have passed on
to visit relatives and friends fifty or sixty miles away,    into the Rest. Some of our former editors, who
and who would plan for weeks a trip any farther than         gradually took their places in the editorial staff, are
that, now span the country and cross the seas.               still with us and are still contributing faithfully. But
Modern cities with their bustling activities, huge           many new names appear in the masthead. For that
factories belching smoke, and their' busy shopping           too, we are thankful. The format has changed from
centers have replaced the quiet, sleepy towns with           time to time. The subscription list continues to grow.
their neighborhood grocery stores. Inventions appear         Our magazine travels to many countries besides our
on the market that stagger the imagination, bringing         own, even to the far ends of the earth. That gives us
amazing changes in our way of life. Man probes into          great joy. But we are especially grateful that it can be
the bowels of the earth, into the hidden mysteries of        said without reservation that the content has not
the sea, into the broad expanse of the heavens, into         changed. It is still founded foursquare on the
the marvels of man's physical being, and even tries to       infallible Word of our God. It still opposes every form
delve into the secrets of man's soul. Yes, times do          of heresy that lifts up its head round about us, and
change. We experience today a world-wide revolution          that without compromise in the truth. It still
in every sphere of life, politically,, economically,         develops the truth of God's covenant in all its riches.
socially, and even religiously. Upheavals that               And it still covers the entire area of the believer's life
happened in certain local areas or countries now             in covenant relationship to his God and in his
affect the whole world. God is openly denied, sin is         God-given place in the world. In all that our God has
no more sin, - man determines according to his own           been good to us.
standards what is wrong or right. Pseudo-Bibles                 "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His
appear on the  ~market, pseudo-religions arise               benefits."





                                      Forward In Hope

                                            Rev. Ronald J. Van Overloop

  When I was originally contacted to write this              Reformed Churches from the viewpoint of one who
article, I was informed that it was planned to have          receives that history as a rich heritage and looks
Rev. C. Hanko write an article from the viewpoint of         forward in hope.
one who had personally gone through the rich history
of the Protestant Reformed Churches. Such a one                 As I considered this task I attempted to speculate
would confess with Samuel and the children of Israel,        what would happen to the Protestant Reformed
"Ebenezer: Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us." On the          Churches in the future. But during my speculation
other hand, I was asked to look at. the Protestant           two thoughts kept recurring in my mind.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                443


   The first thought was that the Scriptures show us        His church as it faces its Philistine opposition. Israel
that the future of the Church of Jesus Christ is a dark     had gathered weaponless at Mizpeh unprotected from
future. It is dark because of the unknown of the            attack. Unprotected, that is, according to human
future. It is dark because believers must live a life of    standards. Only a sudden divine interposition could
continual death in the midst of the darkness of sin.        save them and such happened when God routed the
That this life is really death is being more and more       Philistine army. The same wonderful divine
clearly revealed with the rapid development of sin          preservation can be seen in the history of the
and  cprruption. Also the future is dark because the        Protestant Reformed Churches.
development of sin will reach its climax in the great         Such preservation in the past is the basis for our
tribulation. "For then shall be great tribulation, such     hope in the future, no matter how dark it may be.
as was not since the beginning of the world to this
time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days          Very concretely, that hope is not in us - our wealth
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:        or wisdom - but our hope is based on Jehovah.
but for the elect's sake those days shall be                  He is Jehovah, the unchangeable, covenant God.
shortened." That persecution will be most severe            With us, as Protestant Reformed Churches, He has
where the truth of God's Word is most clearly               established His covenant in a most blessed way.
manifested. We confess, as every child of God on            Because He is the "I AM", He will not depart from us
earth must be able to confess, that the church to           as we walk faithful to His Word in the future by His
which we join ourselves is the best manifestation of        grace.
the three marks of the true church. Therefore we can          Oh yes, the future may be dark and foreboding and
look'forward to the brunt of the persecution.               we may have to go through fiery trials. But remember
  The second thought which kept interfering with            "Ebenezer." Remember "They that trust in Jehovah
my speculation was that "the end of all things is at        shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed,
hand." The end of all things includes, of course, the       but abideth for ever. As the mountains  are round
end of the Protestant Reformed Churches.                    about Jerusalem, so Jehovah is round about his
  On the basis of this dark future and imminent end,        people from henceforth even for ever." (Ps. 125: 1,2)
why should we even look forward? The tendency to              When trials and storms come upon  .us, let us run
look forward is not only a normal one, but also is a        and hide under "the shadow of thy wings . . . until
command of Scripture. Christ commands us to do so           these calamities be overpast." (Ps. 57: 1)
in Matthew  24:42  & 44. "Watch therefore: for ye             When we look forward to the unavoidable
know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore           calamities, our safety and comfort is not to be found
be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not       in suicide. It is not to be found in drugs, liquor, or in
the Son of man cometh." Also Peter says, "But the           earthly pleasures. They last only  a fleeting moment
end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and    and their joy is so very temporary. A good stable job,
watch unto prayer." (I Peter 4:7)                           a large bank account can be taxed away in a year and
  The necessity of our watchfulness is increased            stolen in a moment. No, there can be found no safety
when w,e consider what a heritage God is giving to us       or comfort in this world.
in His rich grace. To preserve that heritage and remain       Our help is in Jehovah. "I will lift up mine eyes
faithful to God's Word we must be sober and                 unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help
watchful.                                                   cometh from Jehovah, which made heaven and earth.
  To what do we as Protestant Reformed Churches             He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that
look forward? We can expect the fiery trials of             keepeth thee will not slumber. Jehovah shall preserve
persecution to try us. I. believe that many of my           thy going out and thy coming in from this time
generation will personally experience that tribulation.     forth, and even for evermore." (Ps. 121: 1-3, 8)
Until that great persecution comes we  can' expect            What do we have to fear, then? Nothing. "Jehovah
constant harassment by the devil, trying to take from       is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
us our wonderful heritage.                                  Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be
  Well, then, are we to be pessimistic as far as the        afraid?" (Ps. 27: 1) And "Why art thou cast down, 0
future is  concered?  To that we answer with an             my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
emphatic "NO ! "                                            Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is
  Are we filled with such fear and terror that we           the health of my countenance and my God." (Ps.
should smooth the sharp edges of the strong Biblical        42:ll)
heritage given to us so that many will not be                 Ebenezer. Jehovah HATH helped us and He will
offended? Also, "NO!"                                       continue to do so. "Truly my soul waiteth upon God:
  "Hitherto Jehovah hath helped us." God preserves          from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock


444                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



and my salvation; He is my  defence; I shall not be            unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
greatly moved. My soul, wait thou only upon God,               Jesus Christ :" (I Peter 1: 7)
for my expectation is from Him.  `In God is my
salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and             "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
my refuge, is in God." (Ps. 62: 1, 2, 5, 7) "When my           Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock `that is             famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all
higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me and         these things we are more than conquerors through
a strong tower from the enemy." (Ps. 6 1: 2, 3)                Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
   Therefore "trust in him at all times; ye people,            death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for            powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
us. Selah." (Ps. 62:8)                                        height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
                                                               able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
   "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty              Christ Jesus, our Lord." (Rom. 8:35, 37-39)
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
casting all your care upon him; for He  careth for               Therefore "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
you." (I Peter 5:6, 7)                                        Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be
   Therefore "commit thy way unto. Jehovah; trust             revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." (I
also in Him; and he shall bring it to pass. Rest in           Peter 4: 13)
Jehovah, and wait patiently for him; fret not thyself            What about the future? "Jehovah is my shepherd; I
. . . " (Ps. 37:5, 7)                                         SHALL not want. I WILL fear no evil: for thou art
   He who created the mountains around Jerusalem              with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me." (Ps.
surrounds His people with His mighty arm. "For the            23:1,4)
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but            When we, as Protestant Reformed Churches, look
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall         forward into the future we can look forward in hope
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith Jehovah            with our trust set upon our covenant God.
that hath mercy on thee." (Isa. 54: 10) All things               True, the way will not be easy, but we will be
serve His purpose. Even persecution serves to try,            steadfast and immovable in Him. "We are troubled on
purify, and strengthen us. "That the trial of your            every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but
faith, being much more precious than of gold that             not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found       down, but not destroyed." (II Cor. 4:8, 9)





                                The Standard Bearer
                                         In Retrospect

                                                   Rev. G. Van Baren
              He closed his period of writing virtually in the same way he began in the Standard Bearer.
           The late Rev. H. Hoeksema wrote on page 1 of volume  1  of the  Standard Bearer  of
           "Jehovah's Goodness," pointing out that it was particular - that is, directed to the elect in
           Christ. In what was virtually his last article, a copy of the last speech he made a little more
           than a year before his death, Rev H. Hoeksema was still strenuously defending the same
           proposition - only now against a development of the old "common grace" error as set forth
           by Prof. H. Dekker who insisted not only on a "common" grace to all but also a universal
           love for all and an atonement for all. The late Rev. H. Hoeksema had repeatedly warned that
           such would be the certain development of the common grace error - and he lived to see his
           prophecy fulfilled. Of this the speech speaks. Read it carefully and see: does it, or does it
           not, present what is soundly ,Reformed?  Must we, or must we not, continue to hold to these
           old truths? Will there be a returning to the "old paths" - or increasingly a development in


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 445


               apostasy? Here follows a positive presentation of the truth which has, without equivocation,
               been maintained by the Standaid Bearer.
                  Rev. H. Hoeksema presented the following lecture to a class of Middlers at Calvin
               Seminary on May 1, 1964 at the kind invitation of Prof. H. Dekker. It is recorded in Vol.
               40, page ,364 of the Standard Bearer. In this reprint, it has been slightly edited in order to
               shorten it somewhat.
                                       PARTICULAR THROUGHOUT
                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema

   I was rather pleasantly surprised when Prof.                       1) That to me this distinction is false. Redemptive
Dekker called me and told me that he would like to                 and redeeming to me mean the same thing. How can
come over. I was still more surprised when he asked                God love with a redemptive love that does not
me whether I would speak for his class in Calvin                   redeem?
Seminary. And, of course, I gladly accepted that                      2) That Scripture never speaks of redemptive love,
invitation.                                                        but only of redeeming love.
  Prof. Dekker knows by this time'that I$do not and
cannot agree with him on his main proposition that                    In the second place, in connection with his
God loves all men . . . After I have briefly stated what           proposition that Christ died for all men, he also
are the main tenets of Dekker's theology, I hope to                speaks of the efficacy of that redemption of Christ.
speak on the subject, "Particular Throughout." Under               Christ died for all men, but that redemption is
this, I expect to explain especially three items:                  efficacious only for the elect. However, in the
                I. A Particular Gospel                             context of his whole article, it is evident that this
               II. A Particular Promise                            efficacy must be dependent upon the will of the
               III. A Particular Love                              sinner. For if efficacy is taken in the Reformed sense,
  First of all, I will briefly mention the main princi-            namely that the author of our salvation and of the
ples of Prof. Dekker's theology. This is rather easy be-           efficacy of the death of Christ is solely and only the
cause he mentions `hese in the very first paragraph of             Holy Spirit,,His work being not dependent upon the
his last article in  h
                       t" e Reformed Journal, ,that is, the        will of man, then it is impossible to maintain that
issue of March, 1964. There he writes as follows:                  Christ actually died for all men and that it was His
                                                                   intention to die for every individual.
       THE GOSPEL' IS GOD'S GOOD NEWS - THE
    GOOD NEWS that He `so loved the world that he                    But now I turn to the main subject of my lecture.
    gave his only begotten Son' (John 3: 16) and that              And first of all, I speak on the Particular Gospel.
    `Christ Jesus . . . gave himself a ransom for all' (I Tim.
    2:5). For whom is this news? For the world  - for all             What is the gospel? The Bible speaks very
    men. God loves all! Christ died for all! It is our joyful      frequently of the gospel, either directly or indirectly.
    task to tell ,all men the news.                                In a sense, we can say indeed that all of Scripture is
   In a note, Prof. Dekker mentions three things: 1)               the gospel. Scripture speaks of the  gospel of God.
That there is a difference between hating sin and                  Thus in Rom. 1: 1, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
hating the sinner; and he mentions several passages of             called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
Scrip'mre to prove this. With this exegesis I do not               God." (Cf. also: II Cor.  11:7; I Thess.  2:8, 9; I Pet.
agree, but I have no time to explain all the passages              4: 17.) The meaning of this is very plain. The gospel is
which Prof. Dekker mentions here . . .                             God's gospel, not ours. He conceived of it in His
   2) Prof. Dekker makes the statement that "hate"                 eternal counsel. He realized it in time. It is He, too,
in Scripture sometimes means "love less.": Under this              that causes the gospel to be proclaimed by men.
proposition he mentions  Mal. l:l-5 and Rom.  9:13.                Consequently, if we would preach the gospel, it may
Also with this I do not agree . . . .                              be regarded as of prime significance and importance
                                                                   that we learn from Him, that is, from His Word, what
  3) He makes the statement that "hate" in the Old                 are its contents and how it ought to be proclaimed.
Testament must be seen in the light of progressive                 And let us not forget that among the evil tendencies
revelation. And to prove this statement, he refers                 of our age that are destructive to the church of Christ
especially to Ps. 139:2 1 and 22 in comparison with                and subversive of sound doctrine, I consider the fact
Matt. 5 :43-48.                                                    that the gospel is corrupted in our day one of the
  Two more  remar!ks I must make before I turn to                  most sinister. Men pretend to preach the gospel, but
my main subject.  !In the first place, Prof. Dekker                certainly not the gospel of God, namely,  that God
always makes the distinction between redemptive and                saves His people through His Word and Spirit and by
redeeming love. On this I remark:                                  irresistible grace.


446                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


  As to the contents of the gospel, it is called the         more. In that sense of  thei word the gospel of God
gospel concerning the Son of God.  Thus we read in           and of Christ is particular.
Rom. 1:3, where the apostle writes that\ the gospel of         We can also say that, briefly, the main contents of
God is the gospel "concerning his Son Jesus Christ           the gospel is the promise. The Word of God
our Lord." (Cf. also Rom. 1: 9 and Mk. 1: 1). In the         frequently employs two terms that are as closely
gospel, therefore, God declares something about His          related in their significance as they are in the original
only begotten Son. We must be anxious that by our            Greek similar in sound. They are the words epanggelia
presentation we do not distort the image of the Son          and  euanggelion,   the first meaning "the promise,"
presented by it. It is also called the gospel of Christ,     and the second being the word we translate by our
according to Rom. 15: 19, where the apostle writes           "gospel." That they are closely related in our
that he has "fully preached the gospel of Christ." (Cf.      thoughts is evident from the rather common
I Cor. 9:12; Gal. 1:7; II Cor. 2:12; 9:13; 10:14.) It is     expression that is frequently used and is employed,
further described as the  gospel of th.e glory of the        too, by our confessions, that is,  the promise of the
blessed God. And our presentation of it may not tend         gospel.  It emphasizes that the gospel contains the
to mar or bedim that glory. I Tim. 1: 11. And the            promise . . . Directly this is expressed in Gal. 3:8 and
glory of Christ shines forth from it and must be             Acts  13:32. In the former text we read, "And the
declared by it. II Cor. 4:4. It is also the gospel of the    scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
kingdom. Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24: 14. And this kingdom          heathen through faith, preached before the gospel
as to its idea, origin, realization, and' future must be     unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
correctly set forth whenever the gospel is preached.         blessed." Notice that in the last expression you have
And such further definitions as the gospel of grace, of      the promise. Now according to the text, when this
the grace of God, the  gospel of your salvation,  the        promise was given to Abraham, the gospel was
gospel of peace, Acts 20:24; Eph. 1: 1.3; 6: 15, further     preached unto him. The gospel and the promise are
serve to impress on our mind the fact that he that           therefore inseparably connected. In fact, we may say,
deals with the gospel has to do with something divine,       as I said before, that the gospel  is the  promise. In
very precious, exalted in origin and contents, which         Acts 13:32 we read: "And we declare unto you glad
may easily be marred and corrupted by the handling.          tidings, (or: `preach the gospel unto you,  '
And considering that it is incumbent upon the church         euanggelizometha), how that the promise which was
of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel, this gospel of         made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled unto us
God, of His Son, of Christ, of the kingdom, of grace,        their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again."
of salvation, of peace, of the glory of God and the          It will be evident that the promise made unto the
glory of Christ to all creatures, according to the           fathers and realized unto us, their children, is the
command left her by her Lord, considering that at all        same as that mentioned in Galatians 3. And it is also
times, and especially in our own, there are many             evident that here, as in the former passage, the
would-be preachers of the gospel that present it as if       apostle speaks of declaring that promise as being the
it were the cheapest article on the public market, you       preaching of the gospel, or proclaiming glad tidings.
will readily admit that the subject of the gospel is a       The gospel, then, is essentially, according to its idea,
very important subject.                                      the gospel of promise.
  This gospel of Christ and the  gosp,el of God is a           Very often the Bible speaks of the promise.
particular gospel. By this I mean especially, first of       Sometimes it refers to it in the plural, to express the
all, that Jesus, according to the Scriptures, actually       riches of its implications. More often the singular is
and fully saves. He is Jesus not because He offers           used, to denote its unity and identity. But always it is
salvation or created an opportunity of salvation,' but       the same promise. It is the promise that is given to
simply because He actually accomplishes our                  Abel,  Enoch, Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
salvation from beginning to end, and that too,               For, having mentioned these saints of the old
through the Spirit of Christ and by His Word.' In the        dispensation, and having spoken of their life and
second place, I mean that Jesus, according to the            death or translation by faith, the eleventh chapter of
Scriptures, actually saves not all, nor is intending to      the Hebrews tells us, "These all died in faith, not
save all, but only His own people, the elect, given to       having received the promises, but having seen them
Him by the Father from before the foundation of the          afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
world. And in the third place, this Jesus, according to      them, and confessed that they were strangers and
the Scriptures, must indeed be preached, to the              pilgrims on the earth." Heb. 11: 13. And having
ingathering of the elect and to the condemnation of          reviewed the life and battle by faith of many more of
the powers of darkness and of the reprobate. And             the great cloud of witnesses, and including them all in
through the preaching of the Word He certainly saves         his view, the author of the Hebrews finally states,
all those whom the Father hath given Him, and no             "And these all, having obtained a good report


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               447


through faith, received not the promise." Vs. 39. It is        of the word is contingent upon the willingness of the
evident from these passages that all through the old           second party, upon his consent to the offer. But a
dispensation there was a promise given unto the saints         promise is quite different. It is a declaration, written
which they embraced and believed, by which they                or verbal, which binds the person that makes it to do,
lived and died. Gal. 3 is a classic chapter on this            or forbear to do, the very thing promised. It is an
subject of the promise. It emphasizes that the                 engagement, regardless of any corresponding duty or
promises were made to Abraham and his seed, and                obligation on the part of the person to whom the
that this seed of Abraham is centrally and essentially         thing is promised. A promise, therefore, implies the
Christ. Cf. Vs. 16. It is plain that Christ, the Seed,         declaration of a certain good, together with the
Who is the fulfillment of the promise, is at the same          positive assurance that this good shall be bestowed
time also the chief recipient of the promise. It states        upon or performed in behalf of the person to whom
that the law, which came four hundred and thirty               the promise is made.
years later than the promise to Abraham, could not
possibly make the latter of none effect, vs. 17; and              This certainty of the promise is emphasized by the
that God gave the inheritance to Abraham by                    fact that it is  God  Who makes the promise. God
promise, vs. 18. It reaches the conclusion that if we          conceived of the promise. He it is that realizes the
are Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs            thing promised. He declares the promise. This implies,
according to the promise, vs. 29. And as to the                in the first place, that the promise can not be
contents of this promise, Scripture speaks of it as the        contingent. For God is God, and His work certainly
promise of the Holy Spirit which is given to Christ,           cannot be contingent upon the will of the creature.
Acts 2:33, and to them that are of Him by faith, Gal.          And, secondly, this signifies that the promise is as
3: 14. It is the promise of life, I Tim. 4:8; II Tim. 1: 1.    faithful and true as God is unchangeable. He will
It is the promise of eternal life, I John 2:25. It is the      surely realize the promise. For He cannot deny
promise of Christ's coming, II Pet.  3:4. It is the            Himself. And the idea of the promise necessarily
promise of entering into His rest, Heb. 4: 1. It is the        implies that it is made to a definite party. An offer,
promise of becoming heir of the world, Rom. 4: 13. It          that is contingent upon the acceptance and consent
is the promise of raising up a Savior from-the seed of         of the second party, may be general. A promise, that
David, Acts 13 : 23. Hence, it also speaks of the Spirit       binds the promising party and that is certain of
as the Spirit of promise, Eph. 1: 13, of the children of       realization, requires a definite second party. And thus
the promise, that is, of children that are born in the         it is in Scripture. For the promise is centrally made to
line of the promise, by the power of the promise,              Christ, and through Him to the seed of Abraham, to
according to the promise, and upon whom the                    the children of the promise, to those that are called
promise rests, Rom. 9:8. It points out the heirs of the        heirs and co-heirs of the promise. (Cf. Heb. 6: 13, 14,
promise and co-heirs of the promise. For not all men           17.) To the heirs of the promise the promise is
have received the promise. Heb. 6: 17; 11:9. And at            certain because it is rooted in the immutable counsel
the beginning of the new dispensation it announces:            of the Most High.
"For unto you is the promise, and to your children,              From this it follows necessarily that the promise is
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord         particular. The promise of God is not for all, but for
our God shall call." Acts 2:39.                                those whom the Father hath chosen from before the
  Now the question is: is this promise for all men, or         foundation of the world. It is not true that Christ
is it, even as the gospel, particular? My answer is that       died for all. It is not true that Christ intended to die
also the promise is not for all men, but only for those        for all. For He knows His sheep. And His sheep
whom the Father hath given to Christ. In a way we              follow Him. And no one can pluck them out of His
may say that this ought to, be already plain from the          hand, or even out of the hand of the Father, John 10.
nature and contents of the promise. The, promise is            One must choose between these two. Either the
by no means the same as an offer in the modern sense           promise is for all, and Jesus purposed to save all, in
of that word. I know very well that also the Canons            which case, however, He is only a possible Saviour; or
speak of an offer of salvation. But this evidently has         Jesus came to save His people, the elect, unto eternal
the meaning only of  presenting  salvation. But the            life, and in that case  - and in that case only  - `He
modern sense of the word  offer  is quite different.           actually saves. Scripture abundantly testifies that
Usually by "offer" in the modern sense we mean                 salvation is of sovereign grace and that Jesus saves the
something that is indeed presented to us, but that we          elect only and unconditionally. This is emphasized
can refuse or accept. And that is not the offer of the         already when the angel announced the name He shall
promise. It is true also in the latter, the person who         bear. "For," says he, "he shall save his people from
makes the offer declares his willingness to give               their sins." And always the Scriptures set forth the
something to the person to whom the offer is made.             name Jesus, that shall save His people, that is, the
But for its realization the offer in the modern sense          elect, from their sins. For God "hath blessed us with


448                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:        the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the
According as he hath chosen us in  ,him before the           womb, which will help thee; Fear not, 0 Jacob, my
foundation of the world." Eph.  1:3, 4. That is, the         servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For
bestowal of  .the spiritual blessings in Christ takes        I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods
place according to the standard of eternal election.         upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy
And this election is not because of foreseen faith or        seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Is.
goodness in the elect. For He chose us not because we        4411-3.  And again, "This people have I formed for
were, but "in order that we should be holy and               myself; they shall show forth my praise." Is. 43:21.
without blame before him in love." `Eph.  1:4. And           "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant
again, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of         whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the        me, and understand that I am he: before me there
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of     was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the           Is. 43: 10.
beloved." Eph.  1:5, 6. "In whom also we have                   In the light of the Word of God, therefore, we
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated                 come to the conclusion that the gospel is glad news
according to the purpose of him who worketh all              about the promise of our salvation, about the sure
things after the counsel of his own will." Eph. 1: 11.       promise of God that He will surely deliver us from all
And again, "For the children being, not yet born,            sin and guilt, corruption and death, and translate us
neither having done any good or evil, that the               into the highest conceivable,  - or rather, humanly
purpose of God according to election might stand,            inconceivable, - bliss of His heavenly kingdom and
not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto      covenant. And the gospel declares, in the first place,
her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,    that God objectively realizes all the  fulness  of His
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom.             salvation in and through Christ Jesus, His humiliation
9: 11-13. "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on       and exaltation; and, in the second place, that God
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion           subjectively realizes and applies all the blessings of
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of         salvation through the Spirit of promise and through
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God        His Word; and, in the third place, that He realizes His
that sheweth mercy . . . Therefore hath he mercy on          work of salvation to whomsoever He wills, that is, His
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he                 people, the elect, they that believe in Christ, the
hardeneth." Rom. 9: 15, 16, 18. "For whom he did             humble and brokenhearted, the weary and heavy
foreknow [that is, in sovereign, causal, divine              laden, all they that mourn in Zion.
knowledge of love], he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be            Whatever is true of the gospel and the promise of
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom             the gospel is, as stands to reason, certainly true of the
he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom           love of God. God does not love all men. What is the
he called, them he also justified: and whom he               love of God? In answer to this question, I would
justified, them he also glorified." Rom. 8:29, 30.           briefly remark the following:
  In contrast to the unbelieving Jewsat Capernaum,              1) First of all, as also Prof. Dekker reminds us, God
Jesus refers to His own when He says, "All that the          is love. This means that love is the most essential
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that              virtue, or attribute, of God. This implies that God
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came          loves Himself; and as the Triune God He lives the life
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the           of the most perfect and intimate fellowship within
will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will      Himself. And He loves the creature for His name's
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given          sake.
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again         2) Secondly, God loves Christ, His only begotten
at the last day." John  6:37-39. The unbelief of the         Son in the flesh. Repeatedly God announces this
Jews that had seen so many miracles of Him is                from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
explained by the words of Esaias: "Therefore they            well pleased." And in that high-priestly prayer which
could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He        we find in John 17:23  we read: "That the world may
hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart;           know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as
that they should not see with their eyes, nor                thou hast loved me." And in vs. 24 of the same
understand with their heart, and be converted, and I         high-priestly prayer we read:  ". . . for thou lovedst
should heal them." John 12:37-40                             me before the foundation of the world."
  Nor is it different in the Old Testament. For He             3) Thirdly, God loved not all men, nor does He
saith to His people: "`Yet now hear, 0 Jacob my              love all men, but His people, those whom the Father
servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith          hath given to Christ. For thus we read in I John 3: 1;


                                              THE  STANDAiD  BEARER                                              449


"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath                are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons         beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be
of God." That this love is not for all men is evident       ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
from what follows in the same verse, "therefore the         for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." In          righteousness of God in him." And that in these
-1 John 4:9 we read, "In this was manifested the love       verses the pronouns "us" and "we" are not all men is
of God toward us, because that God sent his only            evident in itself. For we are reconciled, and God does
begotten Son into the world, that we might live             not impute our trespasses unto us. If this refers to all
through him." And in vs. 10 of the same. chapter we         men, then it stands to reason that all men  aYe
read, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that      reconciled, that God does not impute trespasses unto
he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation        -any man,  - in other words, that all men are saved.
for our sins." And that the personal pronoun in all         And that certainly is not Scripture.
these verses does not refer to all men is very evident        Hence, we conclude that not only the gospel is
from the context. For there we read of "false               particular, not only the promise is particular, but that
prophets, that are. gone out into the world," vs. 1.        also God's love is particular. God does not love all
And in vss. S,ff., we read, "They are of the world [the     men. To maintain that all men are the objects of the
world of evil men is meant] : therefore speak they of       love of God is a denial of the truth of reprobation. It
the world, and the world heareth them. We are of            is universalism. It is Barthianism. Barth, as you know,
God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not         maintains that Christ is  the  Reprobate, and that as
of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of         such He died on the accursed tree. Hence, by His
truth and the spirit of error." From all this it is         death He forever removed reprobation. And although
perfectly clear that God does not love all men, but         Barth denies that he is a universalist, the fact remains
loves' only His own people, those whom- the Father          that if there is no reprobation, and that if by the
hath given to Christ our Lord.                              death of the cross Christ removed reprobation, all
   I know that Prof. Dekker quotes John 3: 16 in            men are elect. Christ died for all men; and all men are
order to prove that God loves all men. God loves the        saved. The same is the case with the doctrine that
world, so he says, and that world is all men. I will not    God loves all men, whether you call this universal
take much time to contradict this explanation of            love redemptive or redeeming.
John 3: 16. If you consult Scripture, you will find           And therefore, I stress once more that the gospel is
that the word "world" has many different meanings.          not universal, but particular, although the preaching
It means the world of evil men in more than one             of the gospel is promiscuous; that the promise of the
passage of Holy Writ. I will only refer at this time to     gospel is not universal, but particular; and that also
II Cor. 5 : 18-2 1, "And all things are of God, who hath    the love of God is not for all men, but only for the
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath          elect. This is Scriptural. And this is the truth as it is
given to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we         expressed in our Reformed Confessions.


WELLSPRINGS OF RENE WAL, Promise in Christian
Communal Life,  by Donald G. Bloesch; Eerdmans
Publishing Co.; 124 pp., $3.25 (paper). [Reviewed by
Prof. H. Hanko]                                                 Know the standard
   The book contains an interesting survey and                                                  rdll
                                                                                                    /` ' ,
evaluation of the recent phenomenon of Christian                    and follow it.
communal life throughout the world. Its evaluation
is, on the whole, sympathetic.

 THE KEY TO GOOD NEWS, by John Piet ; Eerdmans
Publishing Co.; 62 pp., $1.00 (paper). [Reviewed by
Prof. H. Hanko]
   The sub-title of the book reads: "A thematic guide                            Read the
to the reading of the New Testament based on "Good
News For Modern Man." It offers little more than a
brief introduction to each New Testament, book along                 STANDARD BEARER!
with a sketchy outline. It is intended to promote a
 faulty and dangerous translation of Scripture.


450                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                   ALL AROUND US

                                                           ProJ: H. Hanko


STEPS AFTER ABORTION
When the discussion concerning abortion arose in                        tattooed or marked to signify a third birth to any
this country which eventually led to a liberalization                   subsequent doctor. Instead of the missing parent, the
of abortion laws, there were many' who protested                        child can be sterilized on the spot, insuring that this
against abortion on the grounds that this was only a                    undue share of the gene pool will not be carried
first step in a campaign to be waged against human                      forward.
life in general. At the time, pro-abortionists scoffed at              The editorial also quotes men who advocate
this and derided those who raised the alarm resorting               infanticide. At a population-control conference in
to unethical tactics in the battle against legalized                Washington, D.C., the following remarks were made:
abortion.                                                           "There is no reason why anyone who accepted
   Recent events however, have proved that those                    abortion should balk at infanticide" and "no
who opposed abortion were not alarmists at all.                     newborn infant should be declared human until it has
                                                                    passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment;
 Christianity Today  recently contained an editorial                if it fails these tests, it forfeits the right to live."
in which recent developments along these lines were
spelled out.                                                           The editorial also pointed out that already
                                                                    `t a x - p a y e r s ' money is being spent for various
 The editorial points out first of all that the                     propaganda purposes in favor of population control
advocates of abortion are concentrating their                       and for programs in the schools to introduce children
attention on euthanasia. Some liberal thinkers are                  to these ideas.
openly advocating it. Bills are being presented in state
legislatures to legalize it. The distinction is made (and              It is difficult to say anything about these things.
properly) between "passive euthanasia" and "active                  The. terrible evil of them is so obvious that it ought to
euthanasia". The former means that a person is                      be evident to anyone who has any concern for human
allowed to die without making use of life-supporting                life that we live in terrible times and face even more
e,quipment. The latter refers to speeding death in a                terrible days ahead. But one thing is certain: the
person with terminal illness by drugs or other                      nation which callously murders her future citizens
techniques. The supporters of euthanasia argue that                 will reap the awful judgment of God. The child of
passive euthanasia has been used extensively for many               God must see in all this the same age-old plot of
years; that there really is no great difference between             Satan to destroy the Church. God's people must
passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. The position              remember that only when the whole Church of Christ
is supported by all kinds of specious arguments. It is              is born will Christ return. To us is given the privilege
said that a man ought to have the right to die as well              of bringing forth that glorious Church of Christ. No
as the right to live. Zero population growth is                     evil plans can prevent that from happening.
advanced as an argument. And so on. But no one
mentions the fact that murder is involved.                          STATE EDUCATION AND OUR CHILDREN
  The editorial points out further that there is a                     In the NACA NEWS, edited by Rev. Norman Jones
concerted campaign to force parents `in one way or                  from Sutton, Nebraska, the following interesting
another to regulate the size of their families. A                   article is found, which we quote in part. It was
certain Martha Willing is referred to in the editorial              originally taken from Applied Christianity.
who proposes, first, tax disincentives for parents who                       The Scriptural admonition, "Train up a child in
have more than two children. But then the state                         the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
would proceed to penalize those who had more and                        depart from it" (Proverbs  22:6), was not intended as
eventually set up controls to prevent violations.                       a Biblical commandment for the State or Federal
Martha Willing is quoted as follows:                                    Government or even the Church. The admonition was
                                                                        directed expressly to parents. Parents, more than
         After the third child is born, both mother and                 anybody else, are responsible for the education of
       father will have to present themselves at the hospital           their children.  Psalm  127:3  says: "Lo, children are an
       to undergo sterilization procedures. If the couple               heritage of the Lord." Children are given to parents
       does not appear, or if only one appears, there will be           by the Lord. They are not community, state or
       no birth certificate issued to the third child, but              federal property. Parents, under God, and no one
       instead a third child paper. The mother can be                   else, are responsible for their children.


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                    451



        If you are a parent who sends your youngsters to a                                 churches will commit suicide. It, therefore, called on
    Christian school, and takes them regularly to a Bible                                  the  GKN to break official ties with the Theological
    believing church, I am confident you will believe in                                   Faculty of the Free University.
    the above Biblical position regarding parental                                             At a recent Synod new regulations for the relation
    responsibility. However, there is a large socialistic                                  of the  GKN to the Theological Faculty of the Free
    anti-Bible segment of our society that believes that                                   University were `adopted. At that time there were no
    children are "an heritage" of the state and that the                                   efforts to sever the ties. The views of "Waarheid en
    state is responsible for the education of children. This                               Eenheid" then had little if any spokesmen at the
    idea has reached such proportions in the U.S. that the                                 Synod.
    State of Ohio has revised its education code to read as
    follows:
        ". . . the natural rights of a parent to custody and                         AN OBSTACLE TO UNION
    control of their children are subordinate to the power                               The  RES Newsletter  also carried an article which
    of the state to provide for the education  of'children.                          pointed out a serious obstacle to the proposed merger
    Laws providing for the education of children are for                             between the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the
    the protection of the state itself."                                             Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.
   This simply  means that the state has primary right                                         The 41st General Assembly of the Orthodox
to children  in the area of education. In the state of                                     Presbyterian Church opened May 17 in Palos Heights,
Ohio, the state authorities can legally insist that a                                      Illinois.
child be educated in their way, while ignoring any                                             The Assembly battled through and approved most
protest of the parents.                                                                    of the proposed plan for union with the  Reformed
                                                                                           Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod. However,
LIBERALISM AT THE FREE UNIVERSITY                                                          that work may be all for naught. Rejected were
  O u r   e d i t o r   h a s   w r i t t e n   f r o m   t i m e   t o   t i m e          proposed alterations to the longer Westminster
concerning the liberal trends in the Geroformeerde                                         Catechism which were designated to ensure
Kerken in the Netherlands. Recently an `interesting                                        "eschatological liberty". A number of Reformed
article appeared in the  RES Newsletter  which                                             Presbyterians hold premil views and feel that the
demcmstrates that there are still those who are raising                                    original wording of the Catechism excludes that
                                                                                           interpretation.
their voices in opposition.
       The periodical "Waarheid en Eenheid" (Truth and                               DEVELOPMENTS IN MISSOURI SYNOD
    Unity), that serves as the voice of those who are
    disturbed by what they see as an accelerating erosion                                T h e   c o n t r o v e r s y   b e t w e e n   t h e   l i b e r a l s   a n d   t h e
    of traditional Reformed standards in the Reformed                                conservatives in the Lutheran Church  - Missouri
    Churches in the Netherlands  (GISN),  reacted strongly                           Synod goes on unabated. After the firing of Dr. John
    to that Church's decision on the  `Wiersinga'.issue.  It                         Tietjen, a large number of students and faculty from
    warned that the  GKN were threatening to disappear                               Concordia Seminary walked out and began Seminex.
    as Reformed Churches.                                                            S i n c e   t h a t   t i m e ,   s o m e   o f   t h e s e   s t u d e n t s   h a v e
       That Dr. G. C. Berkouwer sided with the report                                graduated and are looking for Churches to serve.
    which was finally adopted at the Synod and that he                               Church rules prohibit this without the approval of the
   himself spoke in favor of continuing dialogue with                                Board of Control at Concordia. This approval was
    Wiersinga seemed to the periodical to be the last                                not, quite naturally, forthcoming. Some Churches
    straw. The faculty of the Free University, it said, has                          have gone ahead in spite of this lack of approval and
    become the headquarters and mobilization point of                                ordained students who graduated from Seminex. This
   humanizing theology. At present, the professors of                                has become another major issue in the Church and is
    the Theological Faculty of the Free University                                   of such importance that many feel the issue has come
    automatically serve as pre-advisers at the Synod. If                             which will bring a split in the denomination.
    this continues, "Waarheid en Eenheid" warned, the




                 Last reminder: Don't forget the annual meeting of the R.F.P.A. to be held Thursday
             evening, Sept. 19th,  at 8 P.M. at our Southwest Prot. Ref. Church. Nominees for the Board
             are A. Dykstra, Wm. De Krakker, C. Kalsbeek, G. Holstege, J. King and Harry Zwak. Prof.
             H. C. Hoeksema will speak to us on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of our Standard
             Bearer. We are planning on a good turnout, which means that we are planning on each of
             you attending.


II 452                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                  INDEX TO VOLUME 50
                     [Note: In this volume there is a very serious printer's error in the page numbers, with the result that it will
                     take a little searching to find some of the articles, due to the fact that some page numbers have been
                     repeated. Perhaps the following explanation will serve as a guide to any who wish to look up articles listed
                     in the index. The March 1 issue (No. 11) includes pages 241-264. The March 15 issue (No. 12) jumps to
                     pages  275-298.  The April 1 issue (No. 13) repeats pages 241-264; these will be designated in the index as
                     pages 241a-264a.  The April 15 issue (No. 14) includes pages 265-288, thus including page 275-288 for the
                     second time; the latter will be designated as pages 275a-288a.  The May 1 issue (No. 15) includes pages 289
                     to 312, thus including 289-298 for the second time; the latter will be designated pages  289a-298a.  In this
                     index, therefore, any page number followed by "a" designates the  second time that page number occurs in
                     the volume. Confusing? Pity the poor indexer! HCH]

                              S c r i p t u r e   P a s s a g e s   :                        Colossians 3: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 266
     Genesis 8: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 45         Hebrews 6:4-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 410
     Genesis  9:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 291         Hebrews 11:30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 21
     Numbers 23:21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS          74    Hebrews 11:31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 39
     Deuteronomy 30: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 170             Hebrews 11:32-34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 160
     I Rings 8:55-61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RDD 280            Hebrews 11:32,33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 332
     Psalm25:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..M  S 26            Hebrews 11:32-34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 377
    `Psalm118:1,2.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS             98    Hebrews 13:14 ............1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 146
     Psalm 145:9a, 20b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH*               2    James  1:2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS 314
     Isaiah  1:2, ff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 43          I Peter 3:22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 338
     Isaiah  1:5-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 70         I Peter 3:30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH    17
                                                                                    114
     Isaiah  l:lO-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 162
     Isaiah 1: 14-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 256a                                  SUBJECT INDEX
     Isaiah 1:18-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: . . . .RCH 280a                                           -A-
     Isaiah  1:19,20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:. . . .RCH 356              AACS And The Kingdom, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 412
     Jeremiah  23:29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH           9    Abortion, Steps After . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . .HH 452
     Nahum  1:7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS        50    Anniversary Thoughts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-II-I 321
     Matthew  1:21b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS 122            Armstrong Empire, Trouble In The . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 272
     Matthew  27:46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 276
     Matthew  28:5-7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS 242a                                           -B,C-
     John14:6................................M   S 218                                       Berkhof On Christology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 272
     John19:26,27a...........................M  S 242                                        BowInGod'sCloud,God's                  . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . . .JAH 291
     I Corinthians  1:21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 290a           Calling In The Home, A Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . RGM                     58
     Galatians 3:13,14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 362              Calling, Worthy Of Our. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 433
     Ephesians 2:lO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . MS 386           Choosing Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 170
     Ephesians 4: l-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 433           Christian Reformed And Rome,
     Philippians  1:9,10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS 194                  Cooperation Between . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH         65




                                                                    FAITH PROTESTANT REFORMED
                                                                                        CHURCH
                     is in need of  $33,500.00  to finance the construction of our parsonage, and will offer the
                     following notes:
                                                                              7%               1-2  years
                                                                              71/2%            3-5 years
                                                                              8%               6  years
                                                                         (interest to be paid semi-annually)
                        These notes will be  issued.in  denominations of not less than $500.00. Every consideration
                     will be given for early redemption. For further information call (616) 457-3278 or (616)
                    457-1417, or write David Ondersma, 6761 Brookwood Ct., Grandville,  Mich. 49418. We ask
                    that you give this cause your prayerful consideration.


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                             453


Christology, The New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. HH 354            GKN, A Step Toward A New Confession In The .HCH 268
Church Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262                                                                                    296a
Church World, News Items From The . . . . . . . . . . . HH                   66                                                                                   318
City, Seeking The Abiding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 146              GKN,  Dissent In The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 154
Comfort In A World Gone Mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 183                    GKN, Infant Baptism Denied In The . . . . . . . . . .HCH 100
Concordia Seminary, Troubles In . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 272                   Giving Thanks Always . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RGM               93
Convocation Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH            9     Goodness, Jehovah's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH*            2
                                                                                    Growing Old, On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 255a
                               m-D-
David And Goliath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . HH 356                                       -HtoK-
Decisions For Christ, Childish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 254a             Heretic, A Portrait Of A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-III 304
Defense In Distress, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS        50     Historic Evening, An. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 244
Deviation Breeds Deviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :GVB             9 1    Home, Safely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 116
Distinction, Divinely Decreed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 278a              "Hyper-Calvinism" And The Call Of The Gospel (1) DE 250a
Doctrine, Our - 50 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV  350            "Hyper-Calvinism" And The Call Of The Gospel (2) DE 352
                                                                                    "Hyper-Calvinism" And The Call Of The Gospel (3) DE 326
                                -E-                                                 In.Which  Many Years . . . Thankfully Recalled . . .DHK 401
Earthly Ties, Voluntary Severing Of . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 242                Jacob Justified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS     74
Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;HCH     76     Jesus - Savior. :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS     122
                                                                            151     Key73 -AFailure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..HH 106
                                                                            196
                                                                            278                                   -LtoN-
                                                                            292a    Labor. . . Leisure, Thoughts On . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK 111
                                                                            388     Liberty, Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JK      15
Education, State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 450                                                                                    67
Education, Threats To Parental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH               6     Luctor Et Emergo  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 226
Eleven Years With JMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . DD 379            Marriage Counselhng a la The World . . . . . . . . . . . : HI-I 254a
"Encounter `75" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :HCH 293a         Mental Trouble And Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH           132
Eschatology - The First Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV              19     Missions:
                                                                             35        Beautiful Feet Upon The Jamaican Mountains . JAH 405
                                                                            139                                                                                   429
                                                                            188        Correspondence R.e Jamaica . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . TF 207
                                                                            258        From Our Foreign Missions Committee . . . . . RGM 232
                                                                            261a       News From Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL            80
                                                                            282a       The Jamaican Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JMF           79
                                                                            403        TwoWiseMenAndAFool...............   MHH  8 2
Evolutionism, Scientists And . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-II-I 208              WhatWentYeOutForToSee?  . . . . . . . . . . . . JMF 230
                                -F-                                                 Missouri Synod, Developments In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 451
FamineOnTheEarth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB               12     Movies, Is The Reformation In Favor Of Ungodly? HH 153
Father, The Way To The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 218             News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DD               23
Fiftieth Year, Beginning Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH               4                                                                                    47
Fiftieth Year, The Completion Of Our . . . . . . . . ,HCH 435                                                                                                      71
Fihn Arts, Comments OnThe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t .HH                65                                                                                    95
Fire, God's Word Like A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH             9                                                                                   119
Footnote, Sequel To A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH           28                                                                                   143
ForsakenOne,TheCryOfThe..                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 276                                                                                    167
Forward In Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RJVO 442                                                                                           191
Free Offer Of The Gospel, Our PR Position Re The DE                          62                                                                                   215
                                                                            134                                                                                   239
Free Offer, The OPC And The (4) . . . . . . . . . . . iHCH                   55                                                                                   263
                                                                             77                                                                                   263a
                                                                            124                                                                                   287a
Free Offer, The OPC And The (5) . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 148                                                                                                    297
                                                                            177                                                                                   311
                                                                            197                                                                                   335
                                                                            244a                                                                                  359
                                                                            294a                                                                                  383
Free University, Liberalism At The . . . . . . . . . . . ; .HH 451                                                                                                407
Friendship Made Known, Jehovah's . . . . . . . . . . . . MS                  26                                                                                   431
Frontier, The Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GVB 213                                                                                         455
                                                                                                                 -OtoR-
                               -G-
GKN And The Wiersinga Case, The . . . . . . . . . . . :HCH 389                      One Thousand! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 279


454                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



Parochiaid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 253a     Theologizing, Muddled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 15 1
Peace  WithGod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JK 137            Things I Never Knew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 221
Perspicuity, Preaching And . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 365                  Tower Of Confusion, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 424
Philosophy In The Light Of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . WB 155                      Truth And Life, The Relationship Between The .RJVO 328
Poor,APlanTo  FindThe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK 185                   Truth, Buying The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK        37
Prediction, An Unfulfilled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH  255a              Truth, The Organism Of The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RJVO 233
Prospect Park, N.J., The PRC Of . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 220                      Two By Two? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DHK 276a
Randolph, Wisconsin - Building Project . . . . . . . .HCH 110                                                                                                     293
Realistic Response To "A Dream," A . . . . . . . . . .HCH 340                                                         -utoy-
Redeemed With A Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 362                   Unbelievers, The Falling Away Of . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 410
Reformed - Or Removed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 399                     Union, An Obstacle To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 451
Remembered In Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 45                 Victory Of The Woman's Seed, The Promised . . . .MK 210
Reports, Annual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     30     Watergate And The Fifth Commandment . . . . . . . . HI-I 105
Rest, A Savor Of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 165            Water, Saved By . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH     17
Retrospect, The Standard Bearer In . . . . . . . . . . . .HH                    32     Workmanship, God's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 386
                                                                 HH-HD 52              World Home Bible League And "Reachout" . . . . . . HH 271
                                                                HH-HH* 86              Youth, The Standard Bearer And . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JK 251
                                                                       HH 108
                                                              HH-HH" 130                                  SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS
                                                                HH-HH" 157
                                                                HH-HH" 172             Books Reviewed:
                                                                  HH-CH 204            The Calvinistic Concept  Of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . HH  164
                                                              GVB-HHq  228             Christian Science, Mormonism, Seventh Day
                                                            GVB-GV 247a                   Adventism, Jehovah Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 141
                                                              GVB-HH* 248              Eerdman  's Handbook To The Bible . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 376
                                                              GVB-JAH 273              Essence  of  Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 3 10
                                                              GVB-HH" 286              The Evangelical Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 206
                                                              GVB-HH* 301              Explosive Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 141
                                                               GVB-GV 323              Expository Preaching: Plans And Methods . . . . . .HCH 238
                                                             GVB-GM0 347               GetOut! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      142
                                                              GVB-JAH 396              Gifts And Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH  199
                                                               GVB-HH 420              God's Way Of Reconciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH  190
                                                              GVB-HH" 444              Introduction To Theological German . . . . . . . . . .HCH 238
RightHand,AtGod's.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 338                   A Lawyer Among Theologians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 430
Risen From The Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 242a              The Long Day  Of  Joshua And  Six Other
                                                                                          Catastrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..HH 375
                                  -s-                                                  Not Key 73 But The Keys Of The Kingdom . . . . . . HH  310
Salvation, God's Glory In Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 290a                  Political Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 430
School, A Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DE          41    The Presence Of The Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 430
Schools, Growth In Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 107                Scripture,, Tradition And Infallibility . . . . . . . . . . . HH 253
Seeking The Things Above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 266                                                                                             288
Seminary:                                                                              Toward A Christian Psychotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 260
   Building Dedication Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285              The World That Perished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 237
   Building Dedication Rescheduled . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 176
   Building Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     60    CONTRIBUTIONS:
   Commencement, 1974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 364
   Dedication Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD  280               Athletics, On Interscholastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-IT  258a
   Faculty Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH, HI-I, RDD 261                   World Events In The Light  Of  Scripture . . . . . . . . .Hw 256
   They're Off And Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JH                85
Sensitiveness, Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS 194            QUESTION BOX:
Serpent Strikes Again, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 307                 Attributes, About God's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 103
"666"..................................G   VB 373                                      Bible Study Groups, As To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 223
Social Gospel, Evangel&& And The . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 209                        Cosmetics, About The Use Of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 225
Spiritual Growth  - The Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . JK 259a                     Death Of Christ, About The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 127
Spiritual Growth - The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JK 426                    Denying The Lord That Bought Them . . . . . . . .HCH 247
Standard Bearer, The - Looking Back . . . . . . . . . . CH 439                         Isaac And Abimelech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 246
Standard Bearer, The Steadfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 180                   Isaiah I, About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 128
Support, Gratifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . .HCH             57    Matthew 23:37-39,  About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 316
Synodofl974 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                 370    Philosophy, About A Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 104
                                 _  T'-                                                Post-Lecture Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 343
Temptations, Rejoicing In Manifold . . . . . . : . . . . . MS 314                                                                                                 393
Thanksgiving, A Call To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS             98    Preaching In The Sphere Of The Covenant, About HCH 200


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    455


                                      News From Our Churches
   First place in the news for this issue must certainly                                                      *  *  8  *  *
be the fact that three of the calls mentioned in the                                Our Hull congregation, as you might remember,
last issue have been accepted. Rev. Dale Kuiper has                              has for some time been considering the possibility of
accepted the call to serve as a second home                                      establishing its own school. A Protestant Reformed
missionary (with Maine as his first designated field of                          School Society was organized there in June of 1973.
labor); Candidate Arie den Hartog accepted the call                              The board set to work immediately making studies of
to serve as pastor in our church in Prospect Park, New                           transportation, building and finance, and curriculum.
Jersey; and Candidate James Slopsema, the call from                              From mid-January to May of this year, the board
Edgerton, Minnesota. They surely have our prayers                                distributed weekly newsletters, written by Rev.
that the Lord's blessing may rest upon them as they                              Kortering, "spelling out some of the principles
take up their new labors.                                                        involved in having our own Protestant Reformed
                             *****                                               School." The final newsletter concluded with an
   In Holland's bulletin Rev.  Hey& reported                                     expression of the conviction that "our school is
concerning the death of one of the ministers in the                              necessary and that it is our sacred obligation before
Pro  testant Reformed Churches of Jamaica. Rev.                                  God to work for it now." The writer added his hope
Frame, he writes, became ill while preaching in one of                           "that the newsletters have been helpful in viewing the
the congregations there. His text, on that particular                            school from the perspective of the covenant, both as
Sabbath, was Psalm 16: 1 - "Preserve me, Q God: for                              to a privilege and duty."
in Thee do I put my trust." Apparently realizing he                                 The board intended to submit to the society a
was very ill, he assured his congregation, "My soul is                           proposal to "set the target date for opening our own
prepared." He died on the way to the hospital. Thus                              school to be September 1976." How the board's
the Lord removed one of the two veteran ministers                                proposals fared at that May 30 society meeting, we
serving the nine congregations. Rev. Elliott remains,                            haven't heard; but we were gratified to read in the
along with the four newly-ordained young men,                                    August 11 bulletin, that the "Hull Prot. Ref. School
trained for the ministry of the Word through the                                 Society took a big step forward yesterday afternoon
work.of Rev. G. Lubbers.                                                                                                         (continued on back page)


                                                         The AACS And The Kingdom

                                                                       by ProJ: H. Han ko
                  In response to numerous requests for additional copies of this significant article in our
              September 1 issue, we have prepared a Standard Bearer Reprint of it. These reprints are free
              while the supply lasts. Write to: ,The Standard Bearer
                                                          P.O. Box 6064
                                                           Grand Rapids, MI 49506
                                                                                              (Donations to cover expense are welcome.)

             ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION                                                                            NOTICE
   We of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church are very happy                  Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene,
to invite  a//  the friends of our pastor, Rev. C. Hanko, to an open house       D.V., on October 2, 1974 at the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church.
honoring his 45 years in the ministry.                                           Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of the Stated
   The congregation will celebrate the occasion on Friday evening,               Clerk at least ten days prior to the convening date.
September 20. All others are invited to come on Saturday evening,                                                                             Jon Huisken
September 21, from 5:00 to  7:30 P.M. at the Hudsonville Church.                                                                              Stated Clerk
                                                                                                                                               Classis  East
                   I M P O R T A N T   N O T I C E ! ! !   :
   Rev. D. H. Kuiper, pastor of the Pella (Iowa) Protestant Reformed
Church,.has  accepted the call of our Protestant Reformed Churches to
be Home Missionary.                                                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Lord willing, Rev. Kuiper will preach his farewell sermon in                 The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church in
Pella on Sunday, September 22, 1974. He is to be installed as                   Grand Rapids expresses its sympathy to three of its members, Misses
Missionary in the Hudsonville  (Mich.) Protestant Reformed Church on            Agnes, Jessie, and Jean Dykstra in the loss of their mother, MRS. BERT
Wednesday evening, September 25. All members and friends of our                 DYKSTRA.      "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to
Churches are invited and urged to attend thislnstallation  Service.             everlasting upon them that fear Him." Psalm  103:17

                       The Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Consistory                                                                    Mrs. G. Bol, Pres.
                                                       Henry Boer, Clerk                                                           Mrs. S. Looyenga, Sec.


456                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


and decided to purchase the 6 acres of land including       Morning Worship, and a  3:30 p.m. Afternoon
the house on second street. We are grateful," the           Worship.
announcement continued, "for the good discussion                Our missionary's address is:
and willingness to financially support this decision."
One can sense, I think, the enthusiasm of the writer                    Rev. Robert C. Harbach
of those lines. "We are on the move," he says. "We                      9075 Gaylord, #84
urge all of you to become involved as we make                           Houston, Texas 77024
important decisions that affect our future
generations. May God bless these efforts so we may                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
soon have our own school here in Hull." A reminder,           Semi-monthlv.  except monthly during June, July, and August.
this surely is, of how richly blessed are those of us         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association,  Inc.
                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
who live in communities in which dur own schools           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
have already been established.                             Department Editors:  Prof. Robert  D: Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
                                                           Rev. David J.  Engalsma, Rev.  Cornellus Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko,
                                                           Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev.
                      *****.                               Dale H. Kuiper, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Marinus   Schipper, Rev.
                                                           Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman  Veldman
  The August 11 bulletin of First Church carried           Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                              4975  Ivanrest  Ave. S.W.
excerpts of a letter received from Candidate Arie den                         Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                           Church News Editor:        Mr. Donald Doezema
Hartog. He wrote the letter shortly after he had                                      1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
received the call from Prospect Park, where he was         Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of
                                                           his  own articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers
spending the summer. He wrote that he was enjoying         and  questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome. Contri-
                                                           butions will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be neatly
the labors there very much. Members of the                 written or typewritten, and must be signed. COPY deadlines are the first
                                                           and the fifteenth of the month. All communications relative to the
congregation, he says, "appreciate, so much the            contents should be sent to the editorial office.
preaching of the Word, that it is a joy to preach          Reprint  PO/icy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
                                                           cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
here." In describing the congregatiori, he writes that     printed articles are reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement
                                                           Is made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint appears
"the group is still small. The services are attended by    is sent to our editorial office.
25 to 30 people, usually more in the evening than in       8USine.Q   office:   The Standard Bearer
                                                                              Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.
the morning. There are only five families that are                            P. 0. BOX 6064
                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
members yet but at least three families attend very        Business Agent for Australasia:Mr.  Wm. van Rij
                                                                                               59 Kent Lodge Ave.
regularly. So by the grace of God there is hope that in                                        Christchurch 4. New Zealand
His time nqore will join us."
   In reflecting on his call, Candidate den Hartog
notes that "we receive this call with great joy because
it is the objective call of. the church of Jesus Christ
that confirms the subjective call that I believe I have
had through my years qf preparation. Consideration
of this call will be very difficult, however. One is
impressed by the awesome responsibility that God
places before us and we are made to realize more than
ever that we out of ourselves are surely not sufficient                                   a        0. a
for these things . , ." ****SC                                                            CONTENTS
  Word from Rev. Harbach, our home missionary, is
that "the `church-in-principle' here in Houston is
moving along, in the right direction, and with zeal for    Worthy Of Our Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .433
God's truth." He writes that "we enjoy preaching,          The Completion Of Our Fiftieth Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .435
teaching and visiting here." Part of the reason, no        The Standmd Bearer - Looking Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .439
doubt, is that "the people respond enthusiastically
also to the preaching. We have hopes that the              Forward In Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..44 2
mid-week meeting will also prove to be a gathering of      The Standard Bearer In Retrospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .444
mature and lasting enthusiasm for the Reformed             AllAroundUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..45 0
truth."                                                    Index To Volume 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -452
  According to the printed cards which serve as            News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,455
invitations to attend the Protestant Reformed Church
Services, the meeting, place is the Memorial West
Community Club. The little, cards advertise a  9:30
a.m. meeting for Bible Study (All Ages), a lo:30 a.m.



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


