           The                                                                    : .
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           BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                  1





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                                       Volume LI, Number 7, January  I,1975  -


146                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITA TIO N

                                           To Live Is Christ
                                                      Rev. C. Ha&o

                                For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil. I:21

  New Year 1975.                                                kind of justice that prevailed in the world, he might
  All around us there is an exchange of pleasant                very well be put to death for his faith in the gospel of
greetings of "Happy New Year."                                  Jesus Christ. Whatever the outcome, the apostle is not
                                                                 deeply troubled, for he knows that he is in the service
  Some seem to be rather flippant about it, evidently            of Christ, Who will use him to the best advantage.
confident that the new year can never be as bad as              Christ will be magnified, whether that be in Paul's life
the old. The past year may well be past and                      or in his death, whatever may serve best to the glory
forgotten, but the new year looks far more promising.            of the Lord.
  Others speak with tongue in cheek. Whether we                    The church at  Philippi is greatly concerned about
care to face it or not, the reality is inescapable that         Paul's welfare. Eagerly they looked forward to a
the world is still in turmoil, like a seething kettle that      favorable verdict that would spare the apostle for the
is ready to boil over at any moment. Every nation of            churches. Instead of the Phillipians comforting him,
the globe faces an economic recession. Problems                 as one might expect, Paul is compelled to comfort
which formerly plagued a single nation now involve              them. Therefore he writes in his own intimate way
the whole world. Churches suffer from unrest,                   that when he considers the crown that awaits him, he
dissatisfaction, loss of membership and lack of                 grows eager with anticipation, for that will be far
interest. Heresy runs rampant as ticklish ears attend           better than anything this life can offer him. Still,
to every new whisper of vanity. Each family has it's            when he considers the churches, he is torn with the
own problems, every individual his own cares.                   desire to serve them. The important thing, he knows,
   A new year in an old world, a world that is                  is that Christ be glorified, whether that be in the
steeping itself in iniquity as it runs its course toward        apostle's life or his death. "For to me to live is Christ,
total moral bankruptcy.                                         and to die is gain."
   One can only anxiously ask: where lies the solution             This is not passed along to us merely as a matter of
to all my problems?                                             information, but rather is preserved for us by the
   The solution to our problems does not lie with               Holy Spirit in the Scriptures that we may experience
men.                                                            the same grace with the apostle, to make the same
                                                                confession. What better confidence can we express at
  Those who have looked to the powers that be have              the outset of a new year than to confess with the
always been disappointed. One who builds his hopes              apostle that living is Christ and dying can only be
on promises of politicians is due for a rude                    gain.
awakening. One who dreams that his own resources
can carry him through is trusting in soap bubbles.                 Living is Christ. This golden nugget of truth is
                                                                taken from the unfathomable depths of Scripture's
  In this world of sin, with the heavy clouds of                mines.
judgement smothering us more day by day, we can
only look to the Lord, our Maker, our Recreator, our               It could be expressed in this way: Christ is the
Savior.                                                          SOURCE of my life.
  In faith we say with the apostle Paul: "For to me                We are reminded that we are chosen in Him from
to live is Christ, and to die is gain."                         eternity. God has chosen Christ as the Firstborn
                                                                among many brethren and given to Him the entire
  This is Paul's confession as he sits as a prisoner in         family of all the elect. In Christ we are sons of God
Rome. Once he had escaped out of the mouth of the               and heirs of salvation, to glorify God forever.
lion, yet now he was being brought to trial a second
time. The outcome was still uncertain. He might be                 As if that were a small thing, God has redeemed us
set free, since there were no real charges of any crime         in Christ through the death of the cross. We, who are
that could be brought against him; but knowing the              born in trespasses and sins, children of wrath, even as


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  147


the most hardened sinner, are made sons of God              "Our Father, hallowed be THY name." With the
through the death of His dear Son. When there was           Psalmist we say: "What shall I render unto the Lord
no other sacrifice to give to atone for our sins, God       for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup
gave the Son of His Love, His only-begotten, to             of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord."
redeem us from death unto everlasting life in                 Christ is, therefore, also the GOAL of our lives.
covenant fellowship with Him.                                 The same yearning that impels us to pray that God
   The Spirit of Jesus Christ now dwells in our hearts      may hallow His own Name in all His works, also
to bestow on us the merits of the cross. He assures us      motivates us to pray: "Thy kingdom come." Since
of the  .adoption to sons and the right to eternal life.    Christ is our life, we can never be fully satisfied until
He even changes us into the likeness of Christ, so we       we are face to face with Him, sharing the fulness of
cry from the depths of our hearts: "Abba, Father."          His life and blessedness in glory, praising and
Since we are sons, we are heirs: heirs of God and joint     magnifying the Name of our God with endless song.
heirs with Christ, now to suffer with Him, only to be
glorified forever.                                            To live is Christ. Wonderful reality.
                                                              For to ME to live is Christ. That makes this
   We can even put it this way: Christ is the               confession even more personal.
STRENGTH of my life.                                          No, the apostle had not always been able to say
   In this flesh dwells no good. Sin still wars in our      that either. There had been a time in his earlier years
members, causing us daily to complain that what I           when for him living meant persecuting the church of
will I do not do, but what I hate, that I do. Sin seems     God. Saul felt that he was doing God an honor by
too powerful to suppress. In our own strength we            trying to wipe out the name of Jesus from the earth;
never can, but the Word of God assures us that sin          - until Jesus Himself appeared to him as the living
shall not have dominion over us, for grace abounds.         Lord in a dazzling brightness that faded out the
  Which makes it even more emphatic: Christ IS my           noonday sun! He saw Jesus, and he believed. Long
life. Living is CHRIST.                                     afterward Paul still spoke of himself as the chief of
   This is actually nothing more than an echo of            sinners, whom Christ had come to save. He confessed:
Christ's own witness: I am the Bread of Life. I am the      Jesus is the SOURCE of my life.
Water of life. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I        Every sincere child of God humbly repeats that
am the Resurrection and the Life. Not: I am willing         confession after him. We find an echo in our hearts of
to be the Bread of Life, and all the rest. Nor: I give      that blessed truth of Scripture: "By grace are ye
you the Bread of life and other gifts. But I AM the         saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
Bread of Life. I am THE Bread of life. So that we           the gift of God."
become partakers of Christ and all His benefits. All          He is also the STRENGTH of my life.
our salvation is in Him. He makes us partakers
through faith, the living bond that unites us with Him        I experience anew every day what Jesus taught:
forever. By  His Spirit we eat His flesh and drink His      "Without me ye can do nothing." The guilt of sin
blood; so that we become completely one with Him,           weighs like an impossible burden upon my soul. The
as flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. We are as       power of sin is so overwhelmingly strong that I
intimately one as one body, one organism: for He is         cannot overcome it. The thought oppresses, if I
the Head, we are the members of His Body. He is the         cannot even stand in the midst of daily temptations,
Bridegroom, we are the Bride.                               what would happen if I were called to stand with
                                                            Daniel's three friends in defiant opposition to the
  This can only mean that Christ is THE PURPOSE             command of the king, knowing that refusal to obey
of our lives.                                               can only mean death? Or could I pray at an open
  The apostle could say: "Whether I live, I live unto       window, if I knew being faithful to my God meant
the Lord, and whether I die, I die unto the Lord:           being fed to the lions? How shall I stand in the evil
whether I live, therefore, or die, I am the  Lord's." It    day?
was his avowed privilege to be a servant, a slave of          You and I know that to this question there is but
Jesus Christ. All the scars of his body that spoke of       one answer: the answer of Christ, "My grace is
past stonings, past whippings, past affliction that he      sufficient for thee." Or again, "I will never leave thee
had suffered, were so many brand marks signifying           nor forsake thee." To which faith responds: "I can do
the ownership of Jesus Christ. To Paul they were            all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
indubitable proof that he belonged to his faithful            Jehovah is my light, and my salvation near;
Savior Jesus Christ. The ambition of his life was that        Who shall my soul  afright, or cause my heart to
God be glorified in Christ.                                   f e a r ?
  Although not in the same measure, we do                     While God my strength, my life sustains,
experience that grace of God that inspires us to pray:        Secure from fear my soul remains.


148                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


       Christ is the strength of my life; but even more                                     "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. )Y
than that, Christ IS my life.                                                               We often say that death is gain only after we have
       He is the vine, and I am privileged to be a branch                               set certain limitations to it. Death is gain for the
of that vine, bearing fruit through the power of His                                    b u r d e n e d   i n v a l i d ,   f o r   t h e   a g e d ,   a n d   f o r   t h e
life in me. "I live, yet no more I, Christ lives in me."                                p a i n - r a c k e d   s u f f e r e r . Y e t   S c r i p t u r e   s e t s   n o
We begin to understand what it means that  Enoch                                        limitations, so that faith responds: "To me death is
walked with God. We also know something of the                                          gain." Death is only, always gain, gain when it comes
confidence of the Psalmist that made it possible for                                    at the close of life's weary day, but also gain when it
him to say: "I have set the Lord always before me;                                      comes at any other time. Death is gain even if it
because He is at my right hand, I shall not be                                          strikes in this new year.
moved."                                                                                     Gain it is for us individually, yes. For to be with
       That makes Christ also the PURPOSE in my life.                                   the Lord is far better than anything this life can offer.
       I ask myself: why are you a minister? Why do you                                 It is especially gain because Christ is magnified in the
preach and write meditations? Because it happens to                                     death of His people, as well as in their lives. "Precious
be your vocation, or because you enjoy it? I know                                       in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
that there is but one answer to that question, one                                      Christ uses the death-bed of the believer to show that
proper answer: I am a minister because God's name                                       even the last enemy is servant of Christ to bring His
must be glorified through Jesus Christ in me.                                           saints to glory. As we slip out of this valley of
                                                                                        shadows, we immediately pass over into the light of
       Y o u   a s k   y o u r s e l f :   w h y   a m   I   r e a d i n g   t h i s    glory, this present night bursts into an eternal day,
meditation? As a teenager, why do I go to school and                                    our last sigh becomes a song of victory shared by all
study day after day? As a mother in the home, why                                       the saints and all the myriads of angels about the
do I busy myself with these unpleasant chores around                                    throne.
the house? As a father, why do I toil day after day,
struggling to support my family? Why? To all those                                          `"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
questions there may be but one answer: that my very                                         As we enter into this new year, is that our
life may bear out that which I pray, "Father,                                           confession?
hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come."
 Anything apart from that is sin.                                                           Living day by day means what? Serving Mammon,
                                                                                        laboring for the bread that perishes? Then death is
       That makes Christ also the GOAL of my life.                                      total loss.
       Asaph puts it this way: "Nevertheless, I am                                          Living for me means what? Family and friends and
 continually with Thee: Thou hast  holden me by my                                      earthly pleasures  - are they the joy of my life? Then
right hand, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,                                       death robs me from all that is most precious, and that
 and afterward receive me in glory." To which I add                                     forever.
the refrain :                                                                               Living for me means what? My proud self, that
       When I in righteousness at last Thy glorious face                                BIG I  - am I the most important? Then death spells
       shall see,                                                                       everlasting torment where the fire never grows dim.
       When all the weary night is past, and I awake with
       Thee                                                                                 Living for me is Christ? Then I enter this year with
       To view the glories that abode, Then, then I shall                               the confidence that my life is hid with Christ in God.
       be satisfied.                                                                    That spells eternal gain!


                      And what will you gain, after all, I pray you, by thus roaring against this truth a hundred times over?
                  You dazzle the sight of the ignorant and the inexperienced by setting before their eyes, as a shining cloud,
                  your doctrine that God will have all men to be saved. But if these words of the apostle are not in perfect
                  harmony with that election whereby God predestinated His own children unto eternal life, let me ask you
                  this question: How is it, that if God willed all men to be saved, He did not show unto all nations and all
                  men the way of salvation? Universally and well-known is that remarkable word of God in the law, "Behold,
                  I  set before thee this day the way of life, and of death" (Jer.  21:8). If, therefore, God willed to gather
                  together unto salvation all men without distinction, why did He not set before all men in common the way
                  of life and salvation? Whereas, the fact was, that He deemed one family or nation only worthy of this high
                  privilege. Nor did He confer this great blessing upon that one family for any other reason than because He
                  loved them (if the testimony of Moses is to be believed), and because He would "choose them for a peculiar
                 people, "                                                                                                              - John Calvin,
                                                                                                         The  Secret Providence Of God, p. 343


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       149


EDITORIALS

                                  The Evangelical Presbyterian Church
                                                   and Common Grace (2)

                                                                    Prof H. C. Hoeksema

    We must still consider the reference to Psalm 145  :9                            common grace, I nevertheless believe that the
which was introduced into our discussion with the                                    brethren pour a different content into the term
brethren of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of                                   "tender mercies" in order to do so. They define the
Australia.                                                                           term "mercies" in this verse as having reference only
    First of all, let us recall that they suggested that                             to God's works of providence in respect of time and
the word "mercies" can and must be understood in a                                   as not including grace and favor, nor referring to
restricted sense in this verse, which reads: "The Lord                               God's eternal purposes concerning angels and men.
is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his                              They do not explain what this mercy is, neither how
works." Rev.  Rodman wrote in this connection:                                       it can exclude grace and favor. They claim that this
"Here the word mercies must be understood to be                                      interpretation is consistent with the fact that Psalm
restricted in its extent for it can only refer to the                                103 : 17 speaks of God's mercy being from everlasting
works of God's providence in respect of time, and                                    to everlasting upon them that fear Him. Now I would
cannot include grace and favor, nor can it refer to                                  point out, first of all, that unless it can be shown
God's eternal purposes concerning angels and men."                                   from Scripture itself that such an explanation of
I n   c o n n e c t i o n   w i t h   t h i s   i t   i s   s t a t e d :   "This    divine tender mercies is possible, this explanation
interpretation is consistent with Ps. 103 : 17 which                                 cannot be accepted. Secondly, the mere fact that
states, `The mercy of God is from everlasting to                                     Psalm 103  :17 speaks of God's mercy as being from
everlasting upon them that fear him.' The idea of a                                  everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him is,
mercy inclusive of grace and favor in the context of a                               of course, no proof that this interpretation of Psalm
supposed common grace makes nonsense of Scripture                                    145  :9 is tenable. The interpretation is consistent only
for the following reasons:  - God's goodness in                                      in respect to the fact that they wish to make this a
respect of the physical creation- which will pass away                               temporal mercy which has nothing to do with God's
is not from everlasting to everlasting. His mercy is not                             eternal purposes concerning angels and men. What
upon the reprobate angels and men who are reserved                                   must be shown, however, is that the Bible ever speaks
for everlasting destruction. Rather God's mercy and                                  of such temporal mercies of God which have nothing
grace govern all that content of His providence, both                                to do with grace and favor. Thirdly, it seems to me
temporal and spiritual, which belongs only to the                                    that the very context of Psalm 145 already militates
elect who fear Him and keep His commandments.                                        against this idea. In vs. 8 we read: "The Lord is
Again, there is no division of purpose and no such                                   gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and
thing as common grace."                                                              o f   g r e a t   m e r c y . " Notice that this verse, the
                                                                                     immediately preceding verse, speaks of God's "great
   Once again, I want to state that I am glad that the                               mercy" and His being "full of compassion" in the
brethren of the EPC, regardless now of whether they                                  context of His being  "gaciow."  The subsequent
propose a correct interpretation of Psalm  145:9,                                    context speaks of the Lord's upholding all that fall,
definitely do not want to understand this verse as                                   and raising up all those that be bowed down, vs. 14.
teaching a common grace of God. Let it be noted that                                 It speaks of the Lord's being nigh unto all them that
they are very emphatic about this: for they state that                               call upon Him, vs. 18. It speaks of the fact that "he
the idea of a mercy inclusive of grace and favor in the                              will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also
context of a supposed  com.mon grace makes nonsense                                  will hear their cry, and will save them," (vs. 19). And
of Scripture. On this, therefore, they are correct: to                               it speaks of the fact that "The Lord preserveth all
interpret Scripture anywhere as teaching common                                      them that love him: but all the wicked will he
grace does violence to the Scriptures.                                               destroy," (vs. 20). Now it would be very strange, to
   In the second place, however, I do not believe that                               say the least, if in such a context suddenly the term
this interpretation of Psalm 145  :9 will stand the test                             "tender mercies" would have the meaning which the
of Scripture and of sound exegesis. While I                                          EPC brethren wish to give it. I would propose: 1)
thoroughly appreciate the desire to avoid the idea of                                That God's mercy always has the connotation of His


150                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


favor,  His grace. 2) That God's mercy always has a          instance, men. If thus we interpret this verse, it is not
saving connotation. 3) That  God's mercy is essentially      in  conflict with the last part of vs. 20, which teaches
the same as His grace, only with the added                   that God will destroy all the wicked. And it is fully in
connotation that it is His favor shown to those who          harmony with the current teaching of Scripture. All
are in misery. Briefly, we may define God's mercy as         kinds of creatures are included in the word "all" of
His will to bless and to deliver the objects of that         verse 9. But the ungodly are excluded.
mercy as they are in misery and woe, and to make                  In this connection let me quote part of the
them perfectly blessed with Himself.                         comments of the Rev. Herman Hoeksema in  God's
   It will also be evident from the preceding remarks        Goodness Always Particular, pp. 165, ff.:
that, with all respect for the "Prince of exegetes," I                We read the text as follows: `The Lord is good to
cannot be satisfied in this instance with the                      ail his creatures, and his tender mercies are over all his
explanation of John Calvin. The truth of the matter is             works.' To be sure, we also insert something. And we
that he does not explain that "goodness" which  God                do that, wherever the word all occurs in the Bible
is  said to shower down also upon the wicked. Nor                 without further limitation.  The word  all demands
does he really explain God's mercy, except that he by             this. Without some modifying insertion and addition
implication connects the mercy of God with the                    the word all has no meaning. It requires a modifier
misery of the creature, due to the fact  (that the whole           simply because in itself it is indefinite. But only the
world is under the curse, and except for the fact that             text and the context may determine just what this
he includes under this mercy the brute creation. The              modifying word shall be. We may not arbitrarily
real problem of this text, however, with reference to             insert a word according to our own notion, or in
the matter of the common grace issue, is not solved               order to suit our own preconceived ideas and
                                                                  theories. Only the Word of God itself may determine
by the explanation quoted from John Calvin.                       our choice of the limiting word. And with respect to
Parenthetically, let me remark that even here a good              Ps. 145:9 it is not at all difficult to determine this.
interpretation can be placed upon the remarks made                What modifier should be added to the word all is so
by  Calvin.                                                       clear, that it can only cause surprise that one could
   But now let us turn to the text  itself.                       miss it.,The text almost literally mentions the word.
                                                                  If you read the whole verse and its context, you most
   First of all, notice that we do not read "all men" in          naturally read: `The Lord is good to ail his creatures,
the text, but merely "all." The Hebrew simply has:                and his tender mercies are over all his works.'
tobh  Jiweh lakkol.  The question is:  t,o what does this             But, perhaps, you ask what may be the difference
term "all" refer? What is its content? May we simply              between this interpretation of ours and that of the
understand the text as referring to  all individual men,          Rev. Zwier. Do we not really broaden the concept,
righteous and wicked?  pis would be in conflict with              rather than limit it? He reads: all men; we prefer: all
the whole of Scripture, which teaches currently that              creatures. But it would seem that the former are
God hates the reprobate ungodly, that He is angry                 included in the latter, and that, therefore, we also
with the wicked every day, and that He causes the                 find in this Scriptural passage a proof for the general
things of this  pfesent time to work unto their                   goodness of God.
destruction. It is impossible, in the light of the                    To this we reply that in a certain sense we do have
current teaching of Scripture, to understand Psalm                a broader concept of God's goodness than those who
145:9 as meaning that God is merciful and good to all             teach the theory of common grace. But our
men. This  would also be in conflict with the context             difference with them is exactly this, that their general
of Psalm 145, which is particular throughout.                     goodness of God is  common,  ours is always
Particularly would it be in conflict with the contrast            particular. They insist that righteous and wicked are
                                                                  alike the objects of this general goodness of the Lord.
found in verse 20, "the Lord preserveth all them that             God's favor, grace, mercy or lovingkindness,
love him, but all the wicked will  .he destroy."                  therefore, is common. It is because of this that they
However, it would also be in conflict with the text               insert the word  men  rather than the self-evident
itself.                                                      *    creatures in Psalm 145:9. And the Word of God will
   That brings us to our second remark, namely, that              have nothing of such a common general goodness of
we must pay attention to the fact that we have                    the Most High, that makes the wicked the objects of
Hebrew parallelism in this verse. And this implies that           His love. True, Scripture teaches very plainly that
                                                                  God's goodness does not only include men, but also
the second part of this text explains the first part.             other creatures; the beasts of the field, the fowls of
Notice that this means, therefore, that the Lord is               the air and the fish of the sea, the young raven and
good to all His works, even as His tender mercies are             the wild goat and the strong Leviathan; yea, also the
over all His works. The "all," therefore, means: all              trees of the woods and the flower of the field, the
creatures in the organic sense of the word, all the               tender grass and the green herb, the golden sun and
works of God, without any reference to all the                    the moon  with her  mellow light and the twinkling
individuals of a certain kind of creatures, as, for               stars, the ever restless sea and the majestic rivers and


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              151


    meandering books, - all these are the objects of                                      And this creature, which is now subject to vanity,
    God's goodness. His mercies are over all His works!                                shall once be liberated, according to God's eternal
    All these creatures are even, according to God's                                   covenant, from the bondage of corruption to share in
    covenant with Noah, taken up into His covenant. And                                the glorious liberty of the children of God. Rom.
    of this all comprehensive nature of the covenant of                                8:19-22.
    God the rainbow is displayed in the clouds as a sign.                                 If the Rev. Zwier will sing of this lovingkindness
        Of this mercy of God over all His creatures many                               and mercy of God over all His creatures, gladly will
    off the Psalms sing. Thus, for instance, Ps. 104: 10,  ff.:                        we join in singing. The Word of God witnesses of this
    `He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run                                goodness of the Lord abundantly.
    among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the                                But we earnestly protest, in the name of that same
    field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall                           Holy Scripture, against any attempt to make this
    the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which                               lovingkindness of the Lord  common,  and to let the
    sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from                                Church of Christ sing of a grace or favor of God over
    his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of                             the righteous and wicked alike. For this makes God
    thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the                                    common. God's goodness is, indeed, over all His
    cattle, and herbs for the service of man: that he may                              creatures; and the ungodly are right in the midst of
    bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that                                   the manifestations of this goodness of God. But they
    maketh  glad the heart of man, and oil to make his                                 have no part with it. They are not themselves the
    face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's                                 object of it. The wrath of God abideth on them.
    heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars
    of Lebanon which he hath planted; where the birds                                     This is plain from the very Psalm in the ninth verse
    make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her                          of which we are taught to sing of God's tender
    house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats;                             mercies over all His works. For in the 20th verse we
    and the rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon                                read: `The Lord preserveth all them that love him:
    for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou                                  but all the wicked will he destroy.'
    makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the
    beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions                             Very briefly, therefore, we would interpret this
    roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.                           passage of Scripture as indeed referring to God's
    The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and                          grace, and that, too, His grace as it is revealed toward
    lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto                              the creature that is in misery. But that grace is not
    his work and to his labor until the evening. 0 Lord,                           common, but cosmic.
    how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou
    made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.'


                                          The Geelong-Woudstra Crisis
                                                                  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

  I n   o u r   N o v .   1 5   i s s u e   w e   r e p o r t e d   t o   y o u    in the book "Crisis in the Reformed Churches." In
concerning the dismissal of Dr. S. Woudstra as                                     this connection, therefore, the issue with respect to
Professor of Systematic Theology at the Reformed                                   Dr. Woudstra's views is the same as it was in the
Theological College at Geelong, Australia. Since that                              Runia matter some years ago, namely, that of the
time we have learned from various correspondents in                                denial of sovereign reprobation. We are even informed
Australasia that the facts as reported in that editorial                           that Dr. Woudstra made use of Dr. Runia's class notes
were correct.                                                                      in the teachings that were criticized. From all this it is
  From more than one source we have learned                                        evident that the issues are indeed very, very serious.
concerning some further details and some further                                   Moreover, it is plain, too, that the issues which
developments.                                                                      confront the Reformed Churches in Australasia in
                                                                                   connection with the Reformed Theological College,
  First of all, it has been reliably reported to us that                           from which they receive their ministers, are at least in
as far as his position with respect to Scripture is                                part some of the same issues which are troubling the
concerned, Dr. Woudstra hides behind Report 36-44                                  Reformed community elsewhere in the world,
of the Christian Reformed Church, the report and                                   especially in the Christian Reformed Church in
decision concerning the Nature and Extent of the                                   America and in the Gereformeerde Kerken in the
Authority of Scripture. With respect to his views                                  Netherlands: Reformed believers and officebearers
concerning election and reprobation, we are informed                               may well pay careful attention to this, lest their
that Dr. Woudstra appeals to Dr. Berkouwer's book                                  churches and their faith be jeopardized by these
on "Divine Election" and to Dr. Runia's contribution                               corruptions. So-called conservatives had better not sit


152                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



on their hands and hope for the best, but should take                                 Now it is obvious that this statement of the Board
affirmative action, and should not allow the liberals                              is as brief as possible. In fact, it states nothing about
and those who coddle the liberals to win out by                                    the teachings of Dr. Woudstra or about the specific
default. Meanwhile, it appears as though the initiative                            grounds for his removal. Only by implication does it
for the removal of Dr. Woudstra was largely by men                                 suggest that there were doctrinal issues at stake which
from the Free Church, that is, the Presbyterian                                    involved the college's "unambiguous witness to the
Church of Eastern Australia. It must be remembered                                 Reformed Faith in the Australian scene" and which
that the Reformed Theological College is not a                                     would make it impossible for the College to fulfill its
denomination school, but is run by an association.                                 avowed purpose. It would seem to us that if both the
There are various churches which lend their support                                Board and the Deputies reached a unanimous decision
to this college, including the Reformed Churches of                                in this matter, and if, moreover, the issues were as
Australia, Reformed Churches of New Zealand, and                                   serious as are suggested in the Board's letter and as
the (Free) Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia.                               have been reported to us, it would have been in the
It is reported that the men of the Free Church were                                best interests of the College if the specific issues had
adamant about the removal of Dr. Woudstra.                                         been made known to the constituency of the
Nevertheless, the action to remove Dr. Woudstra was                                Association. Still more: since, though the college is
taken by the (all Reformed) Board of Directors of the                              operated by an association, nevertheless the
college, a n d   t h a t ,   t o o ,   b y   t h e   u n a n i m o u s             supporting churches are intimately concerned in the
recommendation of the Deputies of the Reformed                                     college's "unambiguous witness to the Reformed
Churches of Australia, among whom is the Rev. W.                                   Faith," it would appear to us that the churches at
Deenick, editor of  Trowel and Sword,  the magazine                                large, both Presbyterian and Reformed, have a right
of the Reformed Churches of Australia.                                             to know what is going on. I say this-regardless of the
       But there have been further developments.                                   right or wrong of Woudstra's dismissal. I am of the
                                                                                   opinion that the action taken was correct. Others,
       The Board of Directors informed the Sessions                                however, might be of a different opinion. But if the
(consistories) of the various churches and also the                                grounds for Woudstra's dismissal are not made
members of the Association concerning their decision                               known, no one in the churches can possibly be in a
as early as Oct. 25, 1974. This letter stated:                                     position to judge, though this is a matter of great
       "It is with deep regret that the Board has to inform                        concern both to the members of the Association and
you, as members of the Association, of its decision to                             to the members and officebearers of both the
terminate the services of Dr. S. Woudstra, who has                                 Presbyterian and the Reformed denominations in
been teaching at the college. This decision is the                                 Australasia.
c u l m i n a t i o n   o f   a   s i t u a t i o n   o f   u n r e s t   a n d      Yet, as of the tenth of December, I was informed
dissatisfaction that arose in the College concerning                               that while there are many rumors in the churches,
the teaching of Dr. Woudstra.                                                      nevertheless there has been little, if any, information
       "This decision was reached on the basis of reports                          on this matter given out in the churches and in the
made by the ecclesiastical Deputies, who have                                      periodicals. This is altogether wrong.
investigated the entire situation, and also after due                                Moreover, the Rev. W.  Deenick does matters no
consultation with the members of faculty."                                         good and does neither the Reformed Churches nor
       Furthermore the Board states that they have taken                           the Reformed Theological College a service by
these actions in accordance with Article 11 of the                                 editorializing in  Trowel  and Sword (Nov.,  1974) on
Constitution and Articles 9 and 11 of the regulations                              "Rumour  Round The College", but failing to inform
of the Reformed Theological College. After stating                                 his readers of the facts. He was in a position to do
that the CRC Foreign Missions Board has been                                       this: for he is one of the deputies who voted in favor
informed and that Dr. Woudstra has been authorized                                 of Woudstra's dismissal. Not only could he have
to make plans for return, the letter goes on to state:                             published the statement of the Board of Directors,
"In making this decision the Board has acted in the                                but he could have furnished details as to the reasons
best interests of the College. It is concerned that the                            for Woudstra's dismissal and as to the doctrinal errors
College continues to maintain an unambiguous                                       involved. Yet he fails completely to do so. He makes
witness to the Reformed faith in the Australian scene                              some points concerning "the character of the college
and fulfill its avowed purpose (as stated in Article 3                             as an independent institution and concerning its
of its regulations) `to teach, defend and propagate the                            relationship to the churches that co-operate in it."
Reformed Faith' and `to train students for the Holy                                And we freely concede that there are difficulties
Ministry.' " The Board concludes by asking for prayer                              involved in the operation of an independent college.
for Dr. Woudstra and his family as well as for the                                 We agree, therefore, when the Rev.  Deenick writes:
College.                                                                           "That the RTC is an independent college also means


                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                               153


 t h a t   w e   m u s t   r e s p e c t   t h e   a u t h o r i t y   t h a t   t h e    constitution may well need revision at this point.
 institution has in its own affairs. The men appointed                                        "As far as Dr. Woudstra is concerned good order
t o   e x e r c i s e   t h a t   a u t h o r i t y   a r e   b o u n d   b y   t h e     and fairness require that the church holds him
 constitution under which they have been appointed.                                       innocent until the church finds him guilty if it finds
 In the matter of professorial appointments and                                           him guilty. In what manner the church should act in
 doctrinal supervision the churches co-operating in the                                   his case is to be decided upon by the  classis of the
 RTC have (through their synodically appointed                                            Reformed Churches in Victoria."
 deputies) certain rights, privileges and obligations,
 stipulated in the constitution; but the final decision                                       The Rev.  Deenick here brings up a problem, of
 rests with the B of D. It is quite out of the question                                   course, w h i c h   l i e s   i n   t h e   v e r y   n a t u r e   o f   a n
 that local sessions or individual members of the                                         independent seminary. Such a non-ecclesiastical
 association could have a say in such appointments.                                       school must necessarily have control of its own
 The evaluation of a professor's qualifications                                           affairs; if it does not, then, of course, it loses its
 (academically and otherwise), of his place in and his                                    independent character as a school operated by an
 contribution to the college and of his doctrinal                                         association rather than by a denomination. And if it
 standing within the RTC is not the responsibility of                                     should lose that independent character, it would seem
 any local church or of any individual. It is the                                         that the very possibility of various denominations
responsibility of the B of D which receives advice                                        cooperating in such a school would also disappear.
 from church representatives and from the faculty."                                       Yet these paragraphs leave a strange impression, for
 We also agree, therefore, when he adds: "In Dr.                                          the following reasons:  1) Why at this point should the
 Woudstra's case this means that the final decision re                                    constitution of the RTC be looked into carefully?
his professorship at the RTC is no one's responsibility                                   And how can looking into `that constitution solve any
but that of the Board."                                                                   problem? The choice, it seems to me, is plain: either
                                                                                          an independent college or a denominational. college.
    In this light, it would also appear to be true that                                   2) Not only does Dr. Woudstra stand accused, but he
the denominations supporting the RTC (specifically,                                       stands  cotzdenzned.   It is true that his condemnation is
now, the Reformed Churches of Australia and the                                           v a l i d   w i t h i n   t h e   c o n t e x t   o f   t h e   R T C   o n l y .
 Reformed Churches of New Zealand) cannot become                                          Nevertheless, he has been condemned by a Board of
involved in the question of the rightness or the                                          Directors, consisting of Reformed men, and that, too,
wrongness of the decision concerning Dr. Woudstra                                         at the recommendation of the deputies of the
until their deputies make their next report to the                                        Reformed Churches, of whom the Rev.  Deenick is
synods of their respective denominations. At that                                         one. Is the Rev.  Deenick  suggesting that what was
point a synod could pass judgment on the case. And                                        reprehensible teaching in the College might
if such a synod found itself in disagreement with the                                     n e v e r t h e l e s s   b e   a c c e p t a b l e   i n   t h e   R e f o r m e d
Board of Directors, it would be confronted by the                                         Churches? 3) The Rev. Deenick's statement is
question whether it will or will not continue to                                          incomplete. In this context, he should have added
support the College.                                                                      that no decision by  Classis Victoria of the Reformed
    Yet the Rev.  Deenick brings up a difficulty in this                                  Churches could have any validity or should carry any
connection : "One more question comes up in this                                          weight with the Board of Directors.
connection. How far reaches the validity of a
pronouncement by the B of D concerning a man's                                                Y e t   i t   a p p e a r s   t h a t   Classis  V i c t o r i a   i s   n o w
orthodoxy? Obviously it has validity within the                                           attempting to influence the College. For in the
context of the RTC, but in the church it cannot have                                      bulletin of the Reformed Church of Geelong there
                                                                                          appears the following announcement from the Rev.
any authority. Yet, a man's reputation in the church                                      Deenick  :
could be severely damaged by it. He stands accused                                                        "Since the members are naturally keenly
                                                                                          interested in the developments round the college and
before his case has been dealt with properly in the                                       the doctrinal agreement at the college and in the
councils of the church. It seems necessary then that                                      church we should publish in this bulletin also that the
at this point (as well as at others) the constitution of                                  classis meeting on Saturday, Nov. 16, after a rather
the RTC be looked into carefully.                                                         long and a thorough interview with Dr. Woudstra,
    "The evaluation of the work of a professor or a                                       came to the conclusion that his ministry in the
lecturer is properly within the jurisdiction of the B of                                  church has been faithful to the gospel as taught in our
D; and many different aspects of his work, also the                                       churches. Whether this means that the Reformed
doctrinal aspect, will come up for examination.                                           Theological College will now come back on its earlier
The authority to make (and to publish) a verdict on  a~                                   decisions is still an open question. The college is
man's orthodoxy can (it seems to me) never rest with                                      independent and in it we work together  -,with
a non-ecclesiastical body. The present board has acted                                    Christians from other non-Reformed and Presbyterian
wholly within the limits of the constitution, but the                                     churches. Since the decision at  classis was not fully


154                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



unanimous and since there is obvious disagreement                The fact of the matter is, however, that the
between the R.T.C. and sections in the church it is          churches in Australia and New Zealand  are  involved
necessary that everyone acts with restraint and that         i n   w h a t   Deenick  c a l l s   "t h e   g e n e r a l   s t a t e   o f
we pray sincerely for the unity to be restored and the       uncertainty in reformed theology." Personally, I
Christian love and fellowship to be maintained as it         would call it by a different name. It is a struggle for
has been so far." We are informed that this decision         the Reformed truth over against vicious attempts to
of the  classis was by a narrow margin. However that         compromise and to destroy that Reformed heritage.
may be, it is not the  classis, or any other  classis,       That struggle is going on all over the world. It is
which has anything to say about the RTC. And the             impossible for any group of churches which is part of
college and its Board of Directors should resist             the Reformed community to avoid taking a stand
adamantly any attempt on the part of  Classis Victoria       with respect to that struggle. It is simply impossible
to influence it to reverse its earlier decisions in the      today so to isolate oneself that he is not confronted
Woudstra matter.                                             by these issues. Besides, the churches in Australasia
  This is the more true in the light of the nature of        are concretely confronted by these issues. They were
these issues. Referring to the disappointment of many        confronted by them a few years ago when Dr. Runia
with respect to the RTC, the Rev.  Deenick writes:           was in the college; and they may be thankful that he
"Understandable as this reaction may be, it is not fair      is gone. Whether they like it or not, they are now
to ignore the fact that the real reason for our troubles     confronted by these issues in the matter of Dr.
is the theological confusion in which the (Dutch             Woudstra.
orientated) reformed community finds itself. This is            If the Reformed Theological College is pressured to
not the mistake of the Reformed Presbyterians or the         restore Dr. Woudstra to his position, I hope that they
Free Presbyterians but of the reformed theologians           will firmly resist it.  Classis Victoria, if it was properly
(in the Dutch tradition) themselves." A little later,        informed concerning the issues, made a grave mistake
referring to Dr. Woudstra, the Rev.  Deenick writes:         already. I hope that the Reformed Churches in
"That his teaching and his position at the college have      Australia will not follow the lead of  Classis Victoria.
run into the present difficulties is a distressing           Let those who love the Reformed truth see the
disappointment for all and everyone in the RTC; but          handwriting on the wall. Let them take a firm stand,
it is not unrelated to the general state of uncertainty      both in Australia and in New Zealand. Let them be
in (Dutch orientated) reformed theology, for which           much more firm than they have been heretofore.
no one in the Presbyterian world can be blamed and           That only will be salutary for those churches.
in which we in Australia do not want to be involved."



GUEST EDITORIAL
                                     Anniversary Year
                                                 Rev.  J, Kovtering

       "We wish to stress that the work of preparation          Our Lord has now enabled our churches to enter
(for our fiftieth anniversary as churches) should not        this anniversary year, 1975. We trust it will be one of
be postponed, but should begin immediately. A                sanctified joy in our God.
worthwhile celebration will depend to a large degree            The question might enter your mind: why  1975?
on very thorough planning and advance work. The              Didn't our churches begin in  1924? This past year we
occasion is a momentous one  - not because of what we        were reminded from our  Standard Bearer  that its
are and have done, but because of what our covenant          beginnings date back to 1924. While our expulsion
God has wrought for, in, and through, us. Our aim            from the Christian Reformed denomination took
should be to make the thankful commemoration of              place in late 1924, our formal organization as a
this anniversary commensurate with the momentous             denomination did not begin until 1925. On March 6
character of the occasion."                                  of that year the three expelled consistories, Eastern
  These words are quoted from a  synodical advisory          A v e n u e ,   K a l a m a z o o   I ,   a n d   H o p e ,   o r g a n i z e d
committee report which was given to the synod of             provisionally as Protesting Christian Reformed
1973. That synod also adopted the guidelines which           Churches on the basis of the Act of Agreement.
has made up the planning of the Fiftieth Anniversary         Thereafter, other congregations were organized. And
Committee.                                                   eventually, after our appeal to the Christian


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          155



Reformed Synod of Englewood,  .1926,  was rejected,                                  b;ook. Estimate for the price runs about $4.95. It is
we. organized permanently as the Protestant                                          possible that the committee will make the book
Reformed Churches and formed a General  Classis.                                     available to our consistories for presentation to our
Hence, our formal beginnings go back to March 6,                                     young people at a reduced rate. Last report is that the
1925.                                                                                book is at the printer and if the binder can process it
   The theme of our celebration is "Covenant                                         on time, it should be ready for distribution in March.
Faithfulness." Once again we note from the advisory                                     S u n d a y ,   M a r c h   2   h a s   b e e n   d e s i g n a t e d   a s
committee: "In searching for an appropriate theme or                                 Anniversary Sunday. Our consistories have been
motto for this celebration, we were guided by the                                    contacted and the suggestion has been made that the
following considerations: a. We wanted to stress the                                 sermons on this day be a fitting commemoration of
idea that as we look backward over the fifty years of                                our anniversary. Different texts have been suggested,
our existence, our motive is to look forward in faith.                               both emphasizing God's faithfulness and our calling
b .   W e   w a n t e d   t o   f i n d   a   t h e m e   w h i c h   w o u l d      to be faithful. Possibly the one service can emphasize
adequately express the distinctive aspect of  our                                    God's faithfulness and the second one our calling to
position and history as Protestant Reformed                                          be faithful. The idea of having such a Sunday is that
Churches. c. We wanted a theme which could serve                                     it is not only the Sunday closest to the beginning of
w e l l   a s   a   u n i f y i n g   f a c t o r   f o r   o u r   e n - t i r e    our churches, but that we may be guided in our
commemoration."                                                                      celebrating by the Word of God. This should set the
   The Fiftieth Anniversary Committee was mandated                                   key-note for our anniversary year.
to take care of the arrangements so that our churches                                   We also suggested to the Federation of Protestant
will be able to celebrate this anniversary in keeping                                Reformed Young People that they plan a special
with this stated goal.                                                               "singspiration" that evening in the Grand Rapids
   As a committee, we desire to share these plans with                               area. We would also suggest by this article that this
you so that you may make the necessary preparations                                  idea be carried out in our churches in other parts of
to participate.                                                                      the country. Surely, God's covenant faithfulness is
   One of the most exciting things we look forward to                                worth singing about and it would bring to a fitting
is the distribution of our anniversary book. The book                                close this special day.
will be close to 200 pages and bound in hard cover.                                     The annual synod of our churches will be meeting
Mrs. Homer C. Hoeksema has worked hard as editor                                     in Hull, Iowa beginning on June  11. The reason for
of this book. She not only wrote an interesting                                      meeting in Hull is connected with our anniversary. In
section on the history of our local congregations and                                the first place, it will give the mid-west opportunity
denominational life, but also took care of the                                       to share in the anniversary on a denominational basis.
publication details. The book will also include a                                    The second reason is that Hull is the oldest
section by Prof. H. Hanko on the history that gave                                   congregation in the west, having been organized also
rise to our coming into existence, Prof. H. C.                                       in March 1925. The pre-synodical service will include
Hoeksema on our doctrinal distinctiveness, and Prof.                                 a sermon directed to our anniversary theme. A special
R. Decker on our world and life view. It should be                                   program for Sunday, June 15 is also being planned.
apparent that the value of this book is broader than a
momentary  anniv&sary  celebration. We quote from                                       The really big celebration is for this summer. A
the foreword : "This book is intended to be more                                     great deal of work is going into the planning of the
than a mere memorial, to be glanced at and stowed                                    1 9 7 5   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d   Y o u n g   P e o p l e 's
away. The various writers have contributed the                                       Convention. This will be an opportunity for our
material with the view to making this a compact and                                  young people to celebrate our anniversary not only,
brief summary of all that the Lord has entrusted to                                  but plans are to include all our people, as many as
us, for the edification of our older members, the                                    possible, from all areas of our country to come
instruction of our youth, and as information for                                     together for a week of anniversary celebration.
anyone who may be interested in the heritage                                           The young people's societies of our First Church in
entrusted to us. We cherish the hope that this                                       Grand Rapids have been appointed the host societies.
memorial will be found in the homes of all our                                       They are working with a sub-committee of the
people, and will be presented to our covenant youth                                  anniversary committee to co-ordinate the activities so
at the time of their public confession of faith."                                    that the young people can still have their own
   The financing and distribution of the book will be                                convention, but that the families can participate in
handled by the Committee for the Publication of                                      some things together and other things independently
Protestant Reformed Literature. Notices will soon                                    from the young people. Details will eventually be
appear in the  Standard Bearer  for the sale of this                                 forthcoming.


156                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


   The important thing for the present is to plan your                                      To whet your appetite, how would you like to
vacation to be in Grand Rapids, Michigan the week of                                     attend an old fashioned "field day"? You might just
August 4-8. Think of what this can mean for greater                                      be able to do that in August 1975. Talk this over as
acquaintance and unity among our people. The one                                         f a m i l i e s   a n d   a s   i n t e r e s t e d   m e m b e r s   o f   y o u r
thing about young people's conventions is that our                                       congregations and see if we can't get participation
young people from all over the country get to know                                       from almost all our churches.
one another, share like faith for a week, stimulate one                                      One final note  - we also plan to bring to a close
another unto godliness through mutual fellowship.                                        our anniversary year by sharing our blessings with
Isn't it a worthwhile goal to try to broaden out on                                      o t h e r s .   T h e   m o n t h   o f   O c t o b e r   w i l l   b e   o u r
this idea for this year and to include families?                                         "Anniversary Radio Month". Rev. M.  Schipper will
                                                                                         be the speaker D.V. The purpose of this endeavor is
   The convention will be on the beautiful Knollcrest                                    two-fold. The first is to tell others outside our
Campus of Calvin College. We have been informed                                          churches that God is faithful in preserving His truth
that Calvin dormitories will be available not only for                                   and covenant and that we rejoice in being able to
the young people attending the convention, but, if                                       testify of this to the whole world. The second
desired, also for families. The cost estimate for                                        purpose is to announce the Reformation Day Rallies
lodging is $3.00 per day for adults and half price for                                   in our local areas which will be an invitation to those
children. Meals will also be available for those desiring                                in our communities to come and rejoice with us in
at a cost of $1.30 for breakfast, $1.70 for lunch, and                                   the Reformed faith which God has graciously
$2.50 for dinner. In the event that you are a camping                                    preserved for us and our children. It is possible that
enthusiast, provision will be made to locate a                                           our professors will be able to tour the country and
campground in the vicinity and try to keep our                                           present these lectures. These details have yet to be
people together as much as possible.                                                     finalized.
                                                                                             In summary,  we look forward to an eventful year
       If you are thinking about the possibility of going                                under God's blessing. If we are to exalt ourselves, our
to Grand Rapids this summer and might like to use                                        pride will ruin all our efforts. Rather let us exalt in
any of these facilities, you should write Rev. G. Van                                    our God, for He is faithful and by His grace alone
Baren soon and he in turn will make the necessary                                        enables us to continue in the faith of our fathers. Let
reservations.                                                                            him that glorieth glory in the Lord.


            The Birth of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (3)

                                                                    - Rev. Charles Rodman -

       Now from this there was a spiritual awakening in                                  distressed to think that it could have been, although I
the denomination and the fellowships and in several                                      only had preached it in the best way I knew how to
other places. Firstly,  among.the Baptists. Five Baptist                                 preach. But I was prepared to do anything rather than
pastors appeared to grasp the truth of the doctrines                                     hinder the work of God, or to grieve God, or to hurt
of grace. At least they all had varying degrees of this                                  t h e s e   p e o p l e .   H o w e v e r ,   h e   r e t u r n e d   t o   h i s
grasp. And what they knew they commenced to                                              congregation, and he thought, "I'll make sure that
preach in their congregations. And when they                                             these people know what I am saying." So one night in
p r e a c h e d   i t ,   i t   c a u s e d   a n   u p h e a v a l   i n   t h e i r    a Bible study he got out a blackboard, and he put
congregations. I can remember preaching on the                                           down, "This is what Arminianism teaches, and this is
doctrine of election and on total depravity. Now 1'11                                    what Calvinism, or the Reformed faith, teaches." And
never forget that. It created such an uproar that you                                    when he had put it out like that on the blackboard,
would have thought that I was advocating the people                                      immediately he had the same rumpus in his own
in that congregation to embrace Roman Catholicism.                                       church. You see, what was happening was that they
I n   f a c t ,   t h e y   w o u l d   h a v e   p r e f e r r e d   R o m a n          were interpreting him according to their background.
Catholicism to the doctrine of sovereign election and                                    Everything that he said they interpreted, and they
total depravity. A colleague came to me during this                                      thought that he meant what they thought. So I
turmoil, and he said to me: "You know that it's the                                      quickly wrote to him, and said I was sorry to learn
manner in which you have preached that has caused                                        that he had this terrible rumpus in his church, but
all this trouble. I preach the same things to my                                         that it was the way that he taught it. If he had taught
people, but they have received it. We haven't had this                                   it in the right way, he would never have had it.
upheaval in our congregation." And I was very sore


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                           157



  Well, then, of course, this started to take place              these two brethren right in focus. Now the saddest
through the five congregations, the five centers, in the         thing happened that day. They recanted. They
Baptist Church. And they called the Assembly                     publicly recanted. Three of them out of five! And
together. Of course, yours truly, with my other                  then, of course, when they recanted, this statement
brethren  - we had to go before the Assembly. They               (referring to a statement described a little later HCH)
didn't know how to tackle it. In the Assembly                    was passed in the assembly. There were only two of
m e e t i n g   t h e y   s a i d : "Look, there is disunity,    us out of all those who were sympathetic towards the
disharmony. And therefore we want all these people               Reformed faith who were prepared to resist it. It says
in this Assembly to put up their hands who believe               that whereas a submission from a sub-committee
that God so loved the world, that He gave His only               consisting of three members, representing the two
begotten Son." Well, of course, we all put up our                opposing views, with the President of the Union as
hands. They looked in amazement. Of course, what                 chairman, set up at the direction of a Special
we interpreted of "God so loved the world" they                  Assembly which met on the 28th of November, 1959,
interpreted quite differently, because we believed it.           conferred for eight hours and agreed that the
We believed what it says. They believed something                theological differences were so deep as to be
different. They read something into it. The next                 i r r e c o n c i l a b l e ;   a n d   w h e r e a s   t h e   d o c t r i n e   o f
question which was put to the Assembly was: "All                 unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible
those who believe that you should preach the gospel              grace, and associated teachings are plainly not in
to every creature, will you put up your hands?" So               accord with the accepted Baptist belief in the Baptist
we all put up our hands. There was no problem,                   Union of Tasmania and the Baptist Unions of other
because it is our duty to preach the gospel to every             Australian states; and whereas such doctrines can
creature. And they looked absolutely amazed. In the              only be presented from Scripture by a heedless
end they dismissed the Assembly, and we went back                disregard of the general trend of the New Testament
home again and continued to preach the truth. And,               teaching and the great numbers of other passages of
of course, you have no idea: you would have thought              Scripture which plainly teach to the contrary, or by
that we preached sovereign election and total                    making the meaning of such passages subservient to a
depravity in the Bible study, in the morning service,            theory which for its exponents becomes more
in the afternoon service, in the catechism class, and,           important than the Scriptures themselves; and
of course, in the evening service. They said,  "We are           whereas wherever such doctrine is preached in
always hearing it," and we had only preached it once.            congregations of open-minded worshippers (Mind
You could preach on the Jews; you could preach on                YOU, open-minded worshippers!) serious disunity
any subject you liked. And every time they heard you             results, and the work of the Holy Spirit is quenched;
preach they could hear you preaching on total                    and whereas such doctrines drastically interfere with
depravity or election. So it wasn't long, and there was          the character of God and man as revealed especially
another Assembly; and we all were back up again. We              in the New Testament, minimize the ministry of the
had to face the powers that be. This time, of course,            Holy Spirit, seriously detract from the meaning of the
they knew a little bit; and they knew just how to fish           atonement, rob believers' baptism of much of its
us out. Some of us weren't afraid a bit. But there               meaning and, carried to a logical conclusion, cut the
were two brethren who sought to hide their position              nerve of all evangelistic and missionary endeavor; and
by covering over their wording of the statement that             whereas historically such doctrine has always
they had made with evangelical jargon; and it was a              produced inertia and the ultimate death of most
statement that you could interpret both ways. You                churches which espoused it; the Assembly, believing
could read it as an Arminian and read it as a Calvinist;         that no provision is made for such extreme doctrine
it all depended on what you were. You would                      in the ten points of the schedule of  dbctrine as set
interpret it according to your background. They read             forth in the Act of Incorporation, (a) calls upon the
the statement in the Assembly, and they said, "Well,             associated churches of  the'Baptist Union of Tasmania
these brethren believe what we believe." And one                 to resist the presentation of unconditional election,
said, "Mr. Chairman, they don't. I know that they                limited atonement, and kindred doctrines; and upon
don't. I've heard them." "Well," he said, "Look, you             all ministers, preachers, and teachers to maintain a
must not say that these two men are liars. They are              clear presentation of the whole counsel of God, Who
two faithful men and our own two ordained                        is not willing that any should perish, but that all
ministers." And then they said, "Put some specific               should come to the knowledge of repentance; (b)
questions to them." So one question was something                calls upon ministers, pastors and teachers who should
like this: do you believe that Christ died for every             find themselves at any time so committed to these
man in the world? Now that had them on the spot.                 doctrines that they should become a major plank in
And when they heard it, when the president said,                 their ministry to consider  seriouslqi whether it is not
"These men are not going to deceive us," this put                incumbent upon them to resign from the ministry of


158                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


any constituent church of the Baptist Union in                                           grace. I'd go up the tree. I had a job to look at it; I
Tasmania.                                                                                knew perhaps the place would explode." And we said
    And this meant that to remain in the church was                                      to him, `"You've got some light on the subject, then,
impossible. The next Lord's day after that meeting                                       have you?" And he said, "Light? I've got that much
there were thanksgiving services throughout the                                          light I need a pair of welding glasses to look at it!"
Baptist Union of Tasmania because three brethren                                         And there he could see the truth. But he said, "What
had recanted. That motion was passed,  atid now what                                     I would need is someone to come to my congregation
we held dear was forbidden to be taught in the                                           and to teach them." And so somebody went. And
church.                                                                                  they taught them that man doesn't act to become
                                                                                         born again; but he is born again, and then he acts.
    I can remember the deacon who went back with                                         Having taught them total depravity, sovereign grace,
me to my church and congregation. He said, "Can't                                        on that occasion it pleased God for almost the entire
you see that this is the hand of God? Why are you so                                     congregation to be persuaded of the Reformed faith.
stupid not to see that this is as though God is against
you? This is an indication or proof that you're                                            Now there was another very interesting and
wrong." And I can remember saying to him: "My                                            colorful character. He was at another one of these
good brother, all they have done this day is pruned                                      fellowships. He was greatly taken up with the
that tree of the Reformed faith. It shall flourish                                       mystics. He thought the solution to the problems that
again. It shall come again. We may have got rid of                                       we found ourselves in lay in the mystics. According
people who only never really grasped it." Then, of                                       to mysticism. you become governed by your feelings.
course, I had to resign. I resigned from that particular                                 You see, either you are governed by the Word of
congregation. It is strange enough that in the Baptist                                   God, or you are governed by reason contrary to the
Church you could hold most doctrines. In fact, one                                       Word of God, or else you subject the Bible to your
of the leaders of the Union wrote, "Dare to be free."                                    feelings. So if you feel something, it doesn't matter
But you were free to teach the doctrine of most                                          what the Word of God says: you go by what you feel.
things. But there was one thing that you were not                                        Now he was in that position. The story leading up to
free to teach, and that was the doctrines of the                                         this is too long to tell now. (This is going back now,
Reformed faith.                                                                          of course, to the beginning of the movement in these
                                                                                         fellowships. I've taken it to the conclusion in the
    But there was another minister who had previously                                    Baptist church. We're going back now to what was
left. He could see the writing on the wall, and he had                                   happening right in the beginning of the fellowships.)
left with the greater portion of that congregation.                                      And I told this man: "Look, I believe the solution lies
That was the minister I was telling you about who                                        in the doctrines that are set forth and taught from the
wrote on the blackboard what is Arminian and what                                        Word of God in the Westminster confession." He said,
is Calvinism. They put him out of the ministry, and                                      "No, I couldn't have that.. That's too doctrinal, too
s o   h e   l e f t   w i t h   t h e   g r e a t e r   p o r t i o n   o f   h i s      legal, as far as I'm concerned." He said, "That's as
congregation.                                                                            dead as chaff. I couldn't have that." But events
    Now I'm going to tell you a  couile of more things,                                  happened to shake him. Now I don't have time to tell
and then we're going to stop for tonight. Now what                                       you of those events, though they are very interesting.
was happening in these fellowships that started? Well,                                   But one day he was in the hospital, and he was
light commenced, and continued to dawn with them.                                        reading  - I am not sure whether it was Whitefield's
They conferred with us, and we conferred with them;                                      Sermons or whether it was some other divine; I think
they had the greatest interest in what was happening                                     it was George Whitefield. I can't think of what book
to us,  and we had the greatest interest in what was                                     he was reading. A nurse came to him and said, "My
happening to them. We found that whether you                                             word, you're very interested in that book." And he
p r e a c h e d   t h e   d o c t r i n e   o f   t o t a l   d e p r a v i t y   o r    said, "Nurse, this book is very interested in me, if you
unconditional election, wherever you preached it, it                                     would like to know the truth." He said, "I  am.very
caused an uproar. When they commenced to preach it                                       interested; this book knows a lot about me." A few
in some of the fellowships, there was uproar there. In                                   days later the doctor went to him. He called on him
one the greater majority of the people left. They                                        and said, "Mr. Lyons, you seem to be emotionally
went to liberal Baptist churches. But I can remember                                     upset." He said, "Doctor, so would you be if you'd
one pastor telling me, "You know, I know where the                                       been preaching  hereSy for years and found out that
truth lies." He said, "I've been like a possum up a                                      this could destroy people." And on the broad of his
tree. I'd get up among the branches, and I would                                         back it pleased God to reveal to him His sovereignty,
wonder where the root of this thing is, where does it                                    man's total depravity, sovereign election. Previously
belong, where does this fit, what  .is the foundation of                                 someone had gone to him and told him that he ought
this grace." And he said, "I'd come down the tree, or                                    to burn all his Calvinistic books. They were heresy.
I could see that it was coming from the doctrines of                                     He was only young in the faith then. In fact, he did


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               159


burn them. But when he found out that he had been          who were there in that college. People had given away
deceived, he not only  burned every Arminian book  -       their money, their homes; they thought that they
which was a reaction which was natural, I suppose.         merited something. They thought really that it wasn't
But he went to his whole congregation, and he took         Christian to have money, even to work. It was
every book they had that was Arminian, and he              unbiblical. They. called it living by faith; but really
burned them. And that was the means of the                 that is tempting God. God has ordained the use of
beginning of the development of the Reformed faith         means, and we should use means. We should have a
in that particular center.                                 lawful calling. But when these people were brought to
  There's only one more story, and I'm going to            a saving knowledge  - or rather they had a saving
leave it there.                                            knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ  - but when they
                                                           were brought to a knowledge of the truth, they were
  There was a group known as  the. Worldwide               immediately set free. And that movement became
Evangelization Society. And the people of the              such a stir that eventually the principal and those
Evangelical Fellowship, that little group in the           who grasped the doctrines of the Reformed faith  - or
beginning, used to send literature into that missionary    at least, it was only the doctrines of grace  - they
society, or into that college. Now, of course, you         were told to get out of that college, and they had to
were not allowed to read such literature, because          move. Now that is the effect that the truth had when
really it was very unholy, unscriptural. It was error.     it came.
So people were afraid to read it. They used to plant it       People who I had known all my life, bosom
underneath their beds; and when nobody was                 companions in all those years laboring for God, doing
looking, they would get away and they would read it.       evangelistic work  - there was only one person who
And eventually, through talking to people outside in       came to see me when I embraced the Reformed faith.
the fellowships (and they knew them before they            They looked upon you like a leper. You were nothing
embraced the Reformed faith), and they went and            else but just someone who had gone queer. I well
talked with them  - when they were pointed to the          remember the night when they wanted to welcome
Scriptures, they could see that they were wrong. And       me to my congregation of that Baptist Church, how
-what happened? It simply meant that there was a           really they lauded me to the very sky. I had really to
tremendous turmoil in that college. In fact, you were      fear what would happen; I was able to keep both feet
expelled from the college if they caught you handing       on the ground. But in just a very short while these
out such literature. But eventually you could not          same people, when I preached to them the truth,
contain that work of the Spirit of God. It swept right     didn't want me,  and they wanted to get rid of me as
through that college; and those people who were            quick as they could.
mystics, governed by their feelings, it pleased God by       Now where the Reformed faith is embraced by an
His truth to set them free.                                Arminian you can always tell: it's a soul-shattering
  I well remember on one Saturday afternoon that I         experience. It is like as though your very being has
was going along towards Hobart (I was a minister in        been out of joint, and you've been put back in joint.
the Baptist Church then), and I met this man who           Indeed, it is that your whole soul has been out of
was a lawyer. He was a brilliant lawyer. He had            focus. And then you see God on His throne as
become interested in the things of God. And he was         sovereign, the sovereign God, the One Who has mercy
conned, if I may use that word  - or persuaded would       upon whom He will have mercy, but also the One
perhaps be a kinder word  - to join this society, to go    Who commands us to have Him as our God, and the
and be a missionary. And when I said to him, "What         only way to happiness through our Lord Jesus Christ,
are you doing here?" he said, "I don't know what I'm       and hence the command to repent and believe. And
doing here." I said, "Well, what made you come             in Jesus Christ there is mercy for the chiefest of
here?" He said, "Well, I was just doing something,         sinners.
and I had this feeling that I must go to Hobart." But I    (This is as far as the first cassette recording carried
said, "Did you have any reason to come here?" He           the story of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At
said, "No, I'm just waiting for the next events." Now      this point they were neither Presbyterians, nor were
there was a man who was a clever man, but he had           they yet an  organiz6d  denomination of churches.
left his reason by the wayside. You see, it really         They had embraced the so-called doctrines of grace,
wasn't spiritudl to be rational. You had to go by these    but not the full Reformed position. As soon as we
intuitions. Now people were governed by that terrible      receive the  second recording, we shall continue this
thing, and there are some in this congregation tonight     story of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. HCH)


                       Know the standard and follow it. Read THE STANDARD BEARER.


160                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

                                         God's Most Elegant Book
                                                                      Prof. Robert D. Decker

                 We know him by two means: first, by the creation, preservation, and government of the
                universe; which is before our eyes as a inost elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and
                small, are as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible things of God,
                namely, his power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith, Rom. 1:20. All which things are
                sufficient to convince men, and leave them without excuse. Secondly, he makes himself
                more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is
                necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation.
                                                                                                        -Article II, Belgic Confession

    The relation between this second article of our                                      and divine Word" may be "inner  Kght" (Quakerism),
Confession and the first is quite obvious. The                                           "conversion experience" (Arminianism), or "baptism
believer's confession of God as the overflowing                                          in or with the Holy Spirit" (Pentecostalism); but
fountain of all good presupposes  ,that God can be                                       whatever it may be, it is a rejection of the sufficiency
known. One cannot confess anything concerning God                                        of the Holy and divine Word by which God "makes
except one knows Him. Article 2 speaks of the two                                        himself more clearly and fully known to us, that is to
means by which God is known by us: creation,                                             say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life,
preservation and government of the universe and His                                      to his glory and our salvation." Over against these
holy and divine Word. This does not mean that man                                        errors the child of God believes in his heart and
c a n   c o m p r e h e n d   G o d .   T h a t   r e m a i n s   f o r e v e r          confesses with his mouth that the only way to know
impossible -because God is the infinite One Whose                                        God is by means of God's own revelation of Himself.
depths of Being and glory can never be plumbed by                                          This implies that God must reveal Himself to us.
the finite creature. The Church, therefore, has always                                   God knows Himself. And because He is God Who
m a i n t a i n e d   t h e   B i b l i c a l   d i s t i n c t i o n   b e t w e e n    dwells in a light which no man can approach unto, He
comprehension and knowledge. Neither is the                                              must come down to us and manifest Himself to us.
knowledge of God of which this article speaks merely                                     No man can ascend to  hea\ren to discover God. Only
intellectual apprehension of God. It is rather that                                      when God comes down to us will we ever know Who
genuine spiritual knowledge of faith which is life                                       and What He is. This also implies that in coming
eternal according to the Word of the Savior. (cf. John                                   down to us God must reveal Himself in a manner
17:3).                                                                                   which can be understood by us. There is an infinite
   Thus the only way to know God is by means of the                                      gap between God the Creator and man the creature.
wonder of His revelation. This fundamental truth                                         Belonging to the wonder of revelation is the fact that
deserves emphasis in our time. Neither reasoning nor                                     God in His love and tender mercy adapts a correct
s o m e   s u b j e c t i v e   " i n n e r   l i g h t " o r   "r e l i g i o u s       revelation of Himself to the understanding of man,
experience" (which is false' mysticism) can ever yield                                   the finite creature. The result is that revelation is
the spiritual knowledge of God. To insist that one can                                   understandable and complete and adequate for our
attain to the knowledge of God by means of human                                         salvation; or, in the word of Article 2:  ". . . as far as is
reason is to fall into the error of rationalism, which                                   necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and
ultimately becomes skepticism. The Bible everywhere                                      our salvation." Finally, this implies that God must
testifies that the mind of man is darkened by sin. In                                    make us capable of receiving this revealtion i.e.
fact, the Scriptures teach the impossibility of man's                                    capable of responding in faith to God's revelation. In
ever coming to a knowledge of God apart from grace.                                      the state of perfection this was possible by virtue of
Still more, man by nature is opposed to God. This                                        man's creation in the image of God. But through the
truth is clearly presented in Romans  8:7, 8: "Because                                   fall into sin man's mind became darkened and his will
the carnal mind (literally, "the mind of the flesh",                                     became perverse. He could no longer know God. That
R.D.) is enmity against God: for it is not subject to                                    God, however, reveals Himself means that He gives
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they                                      His elect in Christ Jesus "eyes to see, ears to hear, and
that are in the flesh cannot please God." The greater                                    hearts to understand" His revelation. Without this
danger in our time is the subjectivistic influences                                      spiritual illumination we remain blind and deaf to the
which insist on something more than the "holy and                                        revelation of God.
divine Word." That "something more than the holy                                            This article distinguishes two means by which God


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 161


is made known to us. The first of these means is:  ". . .    104:2-7)  Indeed the Lord's works are manifold, and
by the creation, preservation and government of the          the earth is full of His riches (Ps.  104:24); or, in the
universe. .  ." In other words, the creed speaks of          words of this article, the "universe is before our eyes
creation and God's providence as the first means by          as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great
which God reveals Himself to us. This is commonly            and small, are as so many characters leading us to
called in Reformed theology, "general revelation".           contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, his
Unfortunately, this whole subject has been the               power and divinity. , .  ."
occasion of no little discussion and even controversy
and misunderstanding among theologians. There has              In the fourth place, both implicitly by its reference
even been some criticism of this article of our creed.       to Romans  1:20 and explicitly with the words: "All
In the minds of some (notably the late Karl Barth)           which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave
there are remnants of Roman Catholicism's doctrine           them without excuse" the creed speaks of the
of natural theology and nature  - grace dichotomy in         purpose and effect of this general revelation of God
Article 2. There ought be no misunderstanding, and           with respect to the wicked. To be sure, Romans 1
this criticism of Article 2 is wholly unwarranted.           teaches that God shows the ungodly the "invisible
                                                             things" of Himself, even "his eternal power and
  Notice, in the first place, that the article does not      Godhead"; but both the purpose of this and its effect
speak of two revelations of God: a general revelation        is "so that they may be without excuse." (verse 20)
for all men which yields a kind of common fund of            In this connection it must not be overlooked that it is
knowledge concerning God (natural theology) and a            the wrath of God which is revealed from heaven
special revelation (the holy and divine Word) which is       against the ungodly. (cf. verse 18) Romans  1:18ff.
limited to the elect. Quite to the contrary the creed        also makes very plain that the ungodly always distort
speaks of only one revelation of God which reaches           and reject what they see of God in His creation.
us by two means. There are not two revelations, the          These "hold the truth in unrighteousness." (verse 18)
one intended for all men and the other for the               Hence, it cannot be said either on the basis of
church; but there is one revelation and two means by         Romans 1 or Article 2 that men are able to construct
which this revelation reaches us. In the second place,       some sort of natural theology.
and closely related to this is the fact that the article
takes the viewpoint of faith. Article 2 does not say           Neither must we ever forget the relationship
the unbeliever or even mankind in general knows God          between these two means of revelation. Apart from
by these two means, but we know  .God by these two           the holy and divine Word, which can only be received
means and by these God makes Himself known to us.            by the gift of faith, one simply cannot receive God's
That "we" and "us" are those who by the-grace of             revelation in creation and providence. No one has
Christ "believe with the heart and confess with the          ever stated the matter more clearly than John Calvin
mouth" faith in God. The ungodly certainly cannot            who wrote: "Just as old or bleary-eyed men and those
and does not make this confession.                           with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most
                                                             beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some
  Thirdly, when Article 2 speaks of creation and             sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words,
providence as one of the means by which God makes            but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read
Himself  ,known to us, it is thoroughly Biblical. The        distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise
inspired poet of Psalm 19: 1 and 2 exclaims: "The            confused knowledge of God in our minds, having
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament          dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God.
sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth                 This, therefore is a special gift, where God, to instruct
speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." It
is God Who:  ". . .                                          the church, not merely uses mute teachers (creation
                        watereth the hills from his
chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy       and providence, R.D.) but also opens his own most
works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,          hallowed lips." (Institutes  of  the Christian Religion,
                                                             Book I, V, 1) The Scriptures are the spectacles
and herb for the service of man: that he may bring           through which we are able to discern clearly the glory
forth food out of the earth. .  ." (Psalm 104:  13ff).
The same Psalmist declares of God: "Who  coverest            of God in His creation, preservation, and government
                                                             of the universe.
thyself with light as with a garment: who  stretchest
out the  ,heavens like  d curtain: Who layeth the beams        With this  afticle and continuing through Article
of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds         VII, the creed takes up the whole matter of the
his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind          church's confession concerning the "holy and divine
. . . Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it         Word," the Scriptures. Beautifully woven into the
should not be removed forever. Thou coveredst it             fabric of these statements of faith are what have been
with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood            called the attributes of Scripture, namely, its
above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the         authority, necessity, perspicuity,  and- sufficiency.
voice of thy thunder they hasted away." (Psalm               These articles have something to say concerning each


162                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



of these either by implication or directly. Two of these                  And this is the wonder of God's revelation. While
attributes of Scripture are touched upon in Article                     the Bible is perfectly clear and understandable, one
2. This article speaks of the perspicuity of the Word                   cannot receive it apart from faith, the gift of God's
of God when it states that God makes himself "more                      grace. Unless the Spirit of Christ works faith in the
clearly and fully known to us" by His Word. There is                    heart of a man, he will inevitably reject and deny
nothing obscure  ibout the Bible. God's Word plainly                    God's  Word to his own destruction. Always the issue
and in language a little child can understand teaches                   between the world and the church is one of unbelief
us all that we need to know in this life to God's glory                 versus faith.
and our  saliration. Hence, those same Scriptures are                     This is the voice of our fathers concerning God's
sufficient. We need nothing more than the Word of                       revelation. May God give us the faith to continue in
God. What is "necessary for us to know in this life, to                 this tradition, sounding the same voice amid the din
his glory and our salvation" is contained in God's                      of apostasy which characterizes our times.
Word.


ALL AROUND US

  The South African Reformed Church And Race Relations

                                                              Pro& H. Hank-o


  The race issue is still very much alive in South                         (white) South Africans.. . . Although the New
Africa, also in the Reformed Churches of that                              Testament recognizes the diversity of races, it does
country. The following are excerpts from the  RES                          not make it into a supreme principle, but holds as the
News Exchange.                                                             highest norm for relations between the races the
                                                                           command to love one's neighbor. However, the report
          The General Synod of the Dutch Reformed                          maintains the New Testament does allow that under
       Church in South Africa, which meets every four                      certain conditions different races may arrive at a way
       years, convened the latter part of October. The DRC                 of living together in the same country through the
       is probably the most influential (white) church in                  way of "separate development". . . .
       South Africa. For this reason, . . . a long report  qn
       race relations . . . on its agenda . . . sparked much                    On the subject of social justice the report makes
       comment. . . . The report on race  (Landman  Report)                strong principal statements. Although. it maintains
       was issued from a more "enlightened" element within                 that the church has a unique role in this world, which
       the DRC. So hopes were high that the Synod would                    is not first of all to deliver a program of action for all
       adopt resolutions that would provide new and strong                 dimensions of life, but to preach the gospel and
       leadership in the touchy area of race relations.                    administer the sacraments, the report sees it part of
                                                                           the church's task to take a critical and healing stance
          The final product, like most  synodical decisions                toward sinful structures in society. . . .
       was a child of compromise. As a result, it evoked
       widely varied reactions. The Scriptural basis and the                    The principal part of the  Landman  Report was
       principles derived therefrom show a genuine                         adopted by the Synod with relative unanimity. The
       willingness by the church to listen to the demands of               practical consequences, however, evoked heated
       the gospel in the matter of race. However, the                      debate and strong differences of opinion. The  R.ES
       practical implications drawn from these principles                  (Sydney 1972) resolution on interracial marriages,
       disappointed many observers, even many of those                     which was adopted by the "Mission Church", a
       traditionally sympathetic. The congregations received               daughter of the DRC, was rejected. . . .
       very little new practical direction from the DRC                         . . .The report proposed that the churches open
       Synod.                                                              their doors to all races and worship together. Another
          However, a clearer look at the biblical  givens  can             proposal suggested that (white) church buildings be
       exert a considerable influence on a church: in this                 shared with congregations of other races. Both
       regard definite steps were taken by the Synod. It                   proposals gained considerable support, but the Synod
       unequivocally rejected all attempts to found the                    concluded that, given the function of Synod within
       racial differentiation of mankind on the Noachitic                  the formal (Reformed) structure of the church, it
       curse. Also rejected was the identification of South                could not really impose such recommendations upon
       Africa with the Israelites, a practice that had applied             the congregations. Many commentators felt that the
       God's commands to Israel to be a separate people to                 Synod neatly dodged the issue.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          163


       .  . .The Synod resolved to look more closely into        Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa has
    the socio-economic forces that are creating                  threatened, in the form of an uitimatum, to break off
    frustration within the Colored and Asiatic                   fraternal relations with the Gereformeerde Kerken in
    communities. Some observations were not adopted              the Netherlands if the latter does not reverse its
    by the Synod, on the grounds that the church does            headlong plunge into false doctrine. This ultimatum
    not have the duty to hold up a blue print for social
    change to the government.                                    has stirred a large amount of controversy in the
                                                                 Netherlands. The whole issue of race in the South
  In connection with this, we may also note that the             African Churches is part of the controversy.

                        A New Reformed Seminary In France

  On October 13 and 14, in Aix-en-Provence, in                  seminaries become increasingly liberal, have turned to
Southern France, a new Reformed Seminary was                    independent seminaries which are under no Church
o f f i c i a l l y   o p e n e d . It is an independent and    control as the solution to the problem. Apparently
inter-denominational Seminary, but its avowed                   suspicious of church controlled seminaries, they see
purpose is to uphold and maintain the Reformed                  independent seminaries as the only viable alternative
faith, and to train ministers in the Reformed faith for         of preserving the Reformed faith and preparing
work in the Reformed Churches in France. Although               students for it.
the faculty is taken from various denominations, the                This, quite naturally, brings up the problem of the
French Confession of Faith is the confessional basis            legitimacy of independent seminaries. While we can
of the Seminary. The French Confession of Faith was             sincerely sympathize with those who have become
written at about the same time as the Belgic                    t h o r o u g h l y   d i s g u s t e d   w i t h   t h e   l i b e r a l i s m   o f
Confessions, closely resembles the Belgic Confession            church-controlled schools, and while we can
in form and content, and was written under the                  understand why the trend is toward independent
influence and with the advice of John Calvin. It has            Seminaries, we have some reservations about this
always served as the confessional  .basis of the                trend. The problems which this trend seems to create
Reformed Churches in France, but the major                      are of two kinds: the one principal and the other
Reformed denomination in France, the French                     practical. The Reformed Churches have always taken
Reformed Church, has become increasingly liberal                the position that the instruction of young men for
and pluralistic.                                                the ministry of the Word is part of the official
  The main support of the Seminary comes from                   preaching of the Word. If this position is correct, and
conservatives within the French Reformed Church                 we believe that it is, then it seems to follow that the
and from the Independent Evangelical Reformed                   theological school which trains such ministers must
Church in France which is a member of the RES. The              also be under the control and direction of the
school is opening with a Faculty of five, within                Church. That is the principal matter which concerns
twenty-five students, fifteen of whom are full-time.            us. The practical matter concerns the ability of a
                                                                S e m i n a r y   w h i c h   i s   i n d e p e n d e n t   t o   p r e p a r e
  The new Seminary has provoked considerable                    successfully young men for the pastoral ministry. Is
discussion within the Reformed Churches in France.              there not a very real danger that a Seminary, loosed
Especially leaders within the larger and more liberal           from all ecclesiastical control, becomes a Seminary
denomination consider the Seminary a divisive force             where the study of theological disciplines is an end in
within the Churches.                                            itself? Is it not possible that the very fact that such a
  This is not an uncommon development within the                Seminary is separated from the life of the Church will
Churches. Our own country has seen similar                      lead to a Seminary where there is little or no  pastoral
phenomena. Conservative and orthodox leaders who                preparation in the true sense of the word?
have experienced the liberalism of their parent                     These problems may be worth discussing as the
denominations and  whp have seen the church's                   trend continues towards independent seminaries.

                                         Listening Movements

  While this subject is perhaps somewhat removed                    Some time ago, Newsweek- magazine contained a
from the ordinary subjects we discuss in this column,           short article in its Science section which dealt with
we thought it interesting enough to include a few               b o d i l y   r h y t h m .   T h e   a r t i c l e   p o i n t e d   o u t   t h e
remarks about it here.                                          well-known fact that people speak not only through


164                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



words, but through a variety of gestures of the hands,                                be an invaluable aid in the field of education.
arms, torsos, eyes and other  moveable parts of the                                       But there are interesting implications of another
body. It pointed out further, that listening is also                                  sort. It is not our purpose to discuss them here. But
accompanied by clearly visible bodily movements                                       several things come to mind. Everyone who has ever
such as movement of the head, raising of the                                          watched a child learn to read, e.g., will know how
eyebrows, shifting of the body, etc.                                                  such a child uses his entire body to struggle through
       Some scientists have recently made a study of                                  the first simple words of the printed page, and how
more subtle and less noticeable bodily movements                                      such bodily twisting and turning seems to be a
which are made in listening. To their astonishment,                                   necessary part of the reading program of children. Or
they discovered that there are some interesting                                       again, we are interested in the fact that the language
features about such bodily movements. In the first                                    which people learn as children is very really their
place, these movements start very early in life, as                                   "mother-tongue". That is the language they remain
early as twelve hours old, and may perhaps take place                                 most fluent in all their life, though they may learn
already before birth. In the second place, they                                       three or four or more languages as life progresses.
discovered that infants begin immediately to establish                                And when such people reach old age, it is not at all
in their bodies a rhythm of bodily movement which                                     uncommon to find them reverting to the language
corresponds to the rhythm of the language being                                       they learned as children. Perhaps this is because the
spoken. While mere nonsense syllables or disorganized                                 speech rhythms of those first sentences remain with
sounds bring about nothing else but disconnected and                                  them all their life.
unrhythmatic movements  - even in infants, the                                            It seems as if this is true even in a more general
rhythms of speech soon are synchronized with the                                      sense. Those who have Dutch backgrounds, e.g., find
rhythms of bodily movement in children. Ordinarily,                                   it much easier to learn to pronounce the Dutch
i t   t a k e s   o n l y   a b o u t   t w o   m o n t h s   f o r   "b a b i e s    language than one who has a background of a
motoristically to lock into a speech rhythm." And,                                    different nationality, even though neither had ever
because different languages have different rhythms,                                   learned a word of Dutch in their first twenty years. I
the bodily movements are different also and the                                       h a v e   e v e n   s e e n   t h i s   i n   c o n n e c t i o n   w i t h   t h e
rhythms established differ according to the language                                  pronunciation of various dialects in the Dutch
which a child hears.                                                                  language.
       The scientists were mostly interested in this                                     Well, it is an interesting subject, and seems to have
question because they saw its potential as a diagnostic                               implications of considerable scope in the whole area
tool to discover autistic babies early in life. The tests                             of verbal communication. Perhaps it would be
showed that autistic babies respond to speech                                         worthwhile for some of our teachers to pursue this
differently than normal children. If this is true, it will                            matter further.


FROM HOLY WRIT

                                             Exposition of Hebrews 12: l-3
                                                                         Rev. G. Lubbers

"ALSO WE" MUST RUN THE RACE                                                           of life with the Old Testament saints without our
(Hebrews 12: 1)                                                                       running the same way of patience. There would have
   It is with rather special emphasis and formality                                   been no point in relating the battles, victories of faith
that the writer to the Hebrews introduces this twelfth                                of the Old Testament saints, if their walk of faith were
Chapter of Hebrews. The writer would emphatically                                     not an example and incentive for us to press on in the
include also the New Testament Hebrew Christians in                                   way of suffering to glory. We too must run the race!
the great activity of faith of which he had spoken in                                    We run the race with a certain difference. We run
Chapter 11. Writes he "therefore also we". It is by                                   the race as those who live in the dispensation where
certain consequence that also the Hebrew Christians                                   God hath spoken unto us in His Son. (Hebrews 1: l-3)
must run the race of faith. If God would not have the                                 In this dispensation the Old Testament saints form a
Old Testament saints receive the final promise                                        cloud of witnesses. Yes, they are one church with us;
without us, neither will he have us receive the crown                                 we believe an holy catholic church. But their voices


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                165

   <

come to us from the pages of the Old Testament                   Now this race we must run. Interesting it is to note
canonical Scriptures, as the rule of faith and life! As       that the writer includes himself in this exhortation.
these ran, thus must we run. Qualitatively we run the         He will also run; run he must and run he will. He
same course. We run in the arena in which these               himself feels the urgency of the matter of this race.
former saints are spectator-witnesses, so to speak.           Hence he says: let  us  run the race.  That  every
They surround us with their testimony, showing us             preacher must say and do! The term in the Greek
by the demonstration of their faith the outcome of            expresses the strenuous effort in the Christian life and
such faith unto salvation in contradistinction from           cause! Paul employs the metaphor of "running". He
those who fall back into the perdition of their souls.        runs the race in the preaching of the gospel. To
Each one in this arena has completed the race, They           demonstrate the strenuous effort in this ministry he
are the worthies of whom the world is not worthy!             writes "Know ye not that they which run in the race
And now we too must be such of whom the world is              run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye
not worthy.                                                   may obtain. And every man that striveth for the
                                                              mastery is temporate in all things. Now they do it to
RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE US                                obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible".
(Hebrews 12:lb)                                               (I Cor.  9:24, 25) Those who cling to the gospel of
                                                              salvation "run well" (Gal.  2:2) In Philippians 2: 16
   It is a race which we must run. This term "race" is
the translation of the Greek term  "agoona."  From            Paul's running is tantamount to his "labours" in the
this word comes the term in English which refers to           Gospel.
conflict. The term is agon; it is a contest, a conflict,         Here in Hebrews 12: 1 the "race" refers to the great
specifically the conflict between the chief characters        spiritual and mental trials which they shall need to
of a literary work. In the N.T. it refers to a contest,       endure for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. Yes, it
conflict, fight which is held in a stadium; it is the         may be a physical trial. It may be "unto blood", to
emblem of efforts and trials of the Christian life.           be martyrs for the faith. It is above all a trial of the
(Thayer) It refers to the good  fight  of faith which the     soul, which requires much patience! And in this trial
apostle had fought. He has  agonized  through all             of patience it must be with the Hebrew Christians not
manner of trials of faith. (II Tim. 4: 10) And Timothy        as seed sown in stony places which has no depth of
is admonished to "fight the good fight of faith" and          earth and which cannot endure the heat of the sun of
thus to lay hold on eternal life. (I Tim. 6: 12) This         persecution. (Matt.  13:5, 6, 20, 21). They must bring
little study indicates that "race" must not be taken in       forth fruit, consisting in patience, to the full-eared
the limited sense of running. It refers to the entire         grain, some hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.
circumference of the Christian activity of faith as this      (Idem  13:23).
leads to salvation. The entire idea of the "agoona" is           Particularly in the case of the Hebrews it refers to
full of the thought of peril, affliction (Phil.  1:30) and    their not falling back, away from Christ and from His
of extreme conflict with opposing and hostile forces          atoning work on the Cross on which he brought the
and deadly enemies and foes. (Col. 2: 1)                      sacrifice for all of our sins, once and for all, in the
  This is the "race" which is "set before us". This is        end of the ages. They must not account the blood of
not a man-made and humanly contrived race and                 Christ a common thing! They have need of patience,
battle. It is the battle which is initiated by the LORD       that, after they have done the will of God, they may
Himself in Paradise when he put enmity between the            receive the promise. That promise is the final glory of
seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman. (Gen.          heaven; it is to see the glory of the perfected Christ.
3: 16) There is something beckoning and hopeful                  Down through the ages the church has run this race
about this race in that it is set before us. We see this      in opposition to every foe and to all the false
when we remember that the writer to the Hebrews in            doctrines of the evil one who would corrupt the
Chapter 6: 18 speaks of the "hope set before us."             gospel of sovereign grace! It is either man saving
That hope is something on which we must lay hold              himself or God saving us; it is either-or and never
by faith. We, who flee for refuge to God, do so in            both-and! It is not of works of righteousness which
the hope of laying hold on the objective glory and            we perform. We  wilI need to cling to the Five Points
peace of Christ. This hope is sure and stedfast. The          of Calvinism and reject the  Five Points of the
reason is that Jesus has entered into the holy place as       Remonstrants.  And in this race and battle, which is
the King-Priest as our forerunner. He ran before us in        constant, we will need to give God all the glory, and
our behalf. And now we have an anchor that holds,             honor His work in His Son in these last days. And
sure and stedfast within the holy place. The anchor           nowhere shall we allow the enemy to shoot a breach
holds and our hope is no fiction or product of our            in these doctrines. We shall indeed cling to the
sick imagination. The race is real and it is set before       pattern of sound doctrine as confessed in the  Twelve
us and it leads to glory!                                     Articles  Of  Faith!


166                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


   Thus our race is clinging to Christ, the Head! We                                   abiding trust and confidence in God's faithfulness to
s h a l l   n e e d   t o   d o   t h i s   o v e r - a g a i n s t   a l l   t h e    keep His Word to us. And patience is also a sure hope
contradictions of men. Always the truth is  gainsaid                                   of one day standing before the Lord in glory and to
by unbelief, by those who hear the gospel but do not                                   hear from God's mouth "well done, thou good and
believe the gospel, and, therefore, gainsay it in their                                faithful servant". Patience is a gift of grace from the
blindness of unbelief. And those who gainsay the                                       God of patience and  alI consolation. (Rom.  15:5  ;
gospel, while pretending to preach the gospel are,                                     Rom.  5:3,  4 ;   8:25) It is through patience and
indeed, legion. Our day is full of  "isms" which all                                   comfort of the Scriptures that we have hope!
have this in common that they deny that Christ is the                                     Now there is  power  in patience. It is the power
eternal Son of God, co-equal with the Father and the                                   which energizes us in the race. We cannot run this
Holy Spirit. And, therefore, they deny the teaching                                    race in our own strength. The text says that we run
of the vicarious atonement for the elect church of                                     through  (dia)  patience. Patience is the  means  of our
God. Do not the Jehovah Witnesses deny the very                                        running. To remain under the difficulties is necessary
JEHOVAH of the Scriptures when they deny that                                          to run the race. This enduring power is faith, hope
Jesus is Immanuel, God-with-us? Do they confess the                                    and love in God. It is the earnest expectation of hope
atonement in the Blood of the Son of God, and the                                      where we find patience. No evils are then great
manifestation of His Godhead in power in the                                           enough to daunt us.
resurrection from the dead? They do not! They
contradict, as did all unbelief, through the ages. Do                                  THE BESETTING SIN IMPEDING OUR RUNNING
not the Seventh Day Adventists deny that Christ                                        (Hebrews 12: 1)
atoned for our sins on the Cross; yes, he brought the
sacrifice there and then, but atonement no; that must                                     It seems from the Greek text that the "sin" which
w a i t   t i l l   a f t e r   t h e "investigative judgment" is                      so easily besets us in this race is a very definite sin.
completed and the saints prove that they are worthy.                                   The text does not speak in the plural of sins but in
That is changing the gospel into a lie. And this is the                                the singular of sin. Besides, the text also uses the
case with all Liberalism in our day.                                                   definite article to point out this sin. It is  the  sin
                                                                                       which so easily besets us in this race. While there is
    Yes, we must run the race!                                                         set before us the race which we must run, we are
    And to run the race overagainst all the Pelagianism                                beset with the sin which impedes our running. It
and Arminianism of every shade and color takes                                         seems that wheresoever we turn there is that sin, like
much power and strength., And that power is simply                                     the wild animals at night about the camp in the forest.
patience!  Patience is a sort of key-word here in these                                This sin, it seems to me, is contextually the sin of
chapters in Hebrews. (Hebrews 10: 12) Writes the                                       impatience. It is the very opposite of patience. This
author to the Hebrews "Ye have need of  patience,                                      impatience is born from the lack of trust in the Lord;
that after ye have done the will of God, ye might                                      it is then that we murmur at the ways of the Lord
receive the promise".                                                                  with us. The road is too long and the paths are too
                                                                                       steep and rocky. The contradiction of sinners causes
   The idea of patience is not that of a mere slavish                                  our hearts to fail when we are impatient. We then
acceptance of the duties and responsibilities which                                    become "nervous" with the Lord's doings in our life.
must be performed. Patience is not the part of the                                     A n d   t h i s   i m p a t i e n c e   b e c o m e s   a   w e i g h t ,   a n
weakling, who cannot avoid being imposed upon by                                       impediment in the running of the race. And these
the insults of others and the abuse which this entails.                                must all be put off. This requires much prayer. This is
On the contrary, patience is first of all the                                          really putting off of the old man of sin. Running the
manifestation of a deep and humble trust in God,                                       race is true joy, firm hope and ardent love, in God
expecting all things from His Fatherly care. It is an                                  through Jesus Christ.



                                                                        ANNOUNCEMENT

        "Peaceable Fruit  - For the Nurture of Covenant                                and address.
        Youth," by Gertrude M. Hoeksema is now available                                   (We take this means of apologizing for the delay in
        postpaid for $5.95. Write to: RFPA Publications                                sending copies to those who ordered during our
        Committee, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.                           pre-publication sale. Copies were distributed the very
        Be sure to enclose your check and to include your name                         day they came from the bindery.)


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   167


                                  News From Our Churches
        Rev. G. Lubbers accepted the call he received from         communion experienced by a small congregation,
     Pella. The congregation of First Church, of which he          gathering for "song and fellowship" in a home, has a
     had been a member since 1970, when he accepted the            beauty all its own.
     call to serve as missionary to Jamaica, planned to bid                                            *****
     Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers farewell, in the basement of                Dipping into my supply of old news, just now, I
     the church after the evening services on December 22.         happened, coincidentally,  I to draw out an Isabel
                              *****                                bulletin on which I had underscored a reference to a
        The congregation of First Church made an effort,           Singspiration  held there. "Next Sunday evening," the
     too, to help Mrs. Wm. Nienhuis celebrate her birthday         July 21 bulletin read, "our sister church at Forbes
     anniversary. A large birthday card was placed on a            will join us in a SINGSPIRATION here in Isabel. Let
     table in the foyer, and members of that church placed         us keep this evening open to sing praises unto our
     their signatures on it. First Church doesn't do that          God and to fellowship with our fellow saints." It's
     with every birthday, of course. This one was                  plain that Isabel also seeks what I had just referred to
     something special. Mrs. Nienhuis, you see, was born           as the advantages of a larger gathering in singing the
     on December 11,  1874!                                        Lord's praises.
                              *****                                                               * * * * *
        Scores of names must have filled that card. An                 On that same bulletin from Isabel, reference was
     evidence, that surely is, of the communion of saints.         made to the work of radio-broadcasting in that area.
     That's a form of communion which could be seen in             The announcement read as follows: "We are now
     any of our churches, of course. But, how about  this          co-sponsors with the Mission Committee, of the
     one, from Isabel? According to a December bulletin,           REFORMED WITNESS HOUR to be heard weekly
     one of the members "invites the congregation to his           on Sunday afternoon at 4:  10 on KBHB, Sturgis, 8 10
     house tonight for song and fellowship." A Sunday              on your dial. This one-half hour program will replace
     evening singspiration which fills a large auditorium          the 15-minute Reformed Witness which we enjoyed
     has distinct advantages, surely; but the kind of              for the past 13 weeks. The Mission Committee has
                                                                                                                 . (continued on back page)


                        BOOK REVIEW                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     Models of Religious Broadcasting,                               The Council of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church expresses its
                                                by J. Harold      heartfelt sympathy to the family of MR. DAVID MEULENBERG who
     Ellens; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand                died in peace early Monday morning, December 16, 1974. We
     Rapids,  Mich. 168 pages, $3.45, paper. (Reviewed by         remember the brother as a former officebearer, as a man who in the
                                                                  offices held served faithfully and revealed himself to be a peacemaker in
     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                                        the true sense of the word  (Matt.   5:9). He suffered but he knew his
        As the title indicates, this is a book about religious    affliction was of the Lord,  (I Peter  4:19) and that this affliction could
                                                                  not be compared to the glory that awaited him  (Remans   &IS). May
     broadcasting. This book rather thoroughly covers the         the family of this departed brother find comfort in the Word of God
     history of religious broadcasting, going back all the        knowing that "God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in time
     way to the earliest religious radio broadcasting             of trouble." and that "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob
                                                                  is our refuge." (Psalm  46:1, 11)
     efforts. The author classifies the various religious
     broadcasts into four main types, or models: the                                                            Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.
                                                                                                                      Mr. J. Huisken, Clerk
     "Mighty Acts of God" model, the "Pulpit" model,
     the "Instructional" model, and the "Leaven" model.
     He chooses for the "Instructional" and "Leaven"
     models.                                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
       This reviewer found the book to be rather                     On January 3, 1975, our parents, MR. and MRS. WILLIAM
                                                                  HOKSBERGEN, hope to celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary. We
     interesting because of the historical data presented.        are thankful to our Heavenly Father for sparing them these many years
     Especially interesting were the references to such           for each other and for us. It is our prayer that God may continue to
     early broadcasts as those of Father Coughlin and Dr.         bless them as they go down life's path together in the fear of their God.
     Walter Maier. For those interested in a history of                                                                      Their Children
     religious broadcasting, and, along with it, a bit of                                                      Mr.  & Mrs. John Hoksbergen
     nostalgia, this is a good book. The author's                                                               Mr.  & Mrs. William Jansma
                                                                                                             Mr.  & Mrs. Henry Hoksbergen
     conclusions are colored by his false disjunction                                                           Mr.  &, Mrs. Don Hoksbergen
     between proclamation and preaching, with which this
~                                                                                                               Mr.  & Mrs. Ken Hoksbergen
     reviewer does not agree, of course.                                                                                   15 Grandchildren
I                                                                                                                                 Hull,  lowa


                                                 _-e
                                      ~_  -,-e--
I-HE STANDARD  BfiARER           .                                                                                             SECOND CLASS
       P.O. Box 6064                                                                                                      POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                                     GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH.





agreed to help us support this program by paying             f;  .::  -.
one-half th.e cost. Let us be thankful that we can have                                                           `Trig  J&i, July, and'August.
the opportunity to bring this radio ministry into our
homes and into the homes of many others."
                        *****
  For further news concerning radio broadcasts, we
lift the following from a September bulletin of our
church in Holland, Michigan: "This afternoon The
Reformed Heritage Hour will air over WZND the
100th message that the radio ministry of our
congregation has sent forth. . . . May our covenant
God use this ministry to His own glory and the
comfort of His people."
                        *****
   Further efforts "to disseminate our distinctively
Protestant Reformed views," were set forth in a
December Congregational Letter from the Reformed
Witness Committee of our Hope Church. "The                                                        i  0"V-T
                                                                                                  @ids;   Michigart  4955.6. .
committee is now engaging itself," according to the
newsletter, "in an effort to proclaim the truths of
God's Word by means of the printed page. We plan to
place one-fourth page ads in the Walker, Ottawa, and
Grand Valley Shoppers, D.V. These ads would consist
of a written meditation summarizing appropriate
sermons by our' pastor and also including the
availability of a taped copy of that sermon."
   It seems that taped sermons are duplicated and
mailed regularly "to people in Maine, Montana, Ohio.,                                                                                     &mber  of  past  vql-
South Africa, and New Zealand." The newsletter
included excerpts from a couple of letters received in
response to those mailings. From New Zealand, this
response: "I was in Wellington a couple of days ago                                                                 .-
. . . the brethren there are coming together in a home                                                      NT~N.~S~ :                      '
                                                             (,.  ._  -:,s.  _ .;`"`-.  .`  .. <.
and listen to the sermons. We here at Christ Church                                                                       "
                                                             1  ~~;~i~~~~~,~~r~~   _-  -'             (`
                                                                                         ,.  ..` t  -.  -. . : .`. ;`;, . . , ; ;.. . , . . . . * , , . * * . .I&
make a much wider use and they go all over the               ;.~l~e.E~~~~~~~~ ~~~sby~~r~al&U~C~                                     .`
country, even students at universities are listening to        : ;. a~d~~~l~~o~ @race I2j . _ . _                                         , * * . . *. . . . ,145
the sermons: Young men are becoming hungr) for the            ..~~~.~~~~~~-~        -
                                                                              I~~~~~~~~~~.~~SiS : ;: ~. I ;;`, -I _. * . . Ij , . . . . * .I51
reformed truth. We thank the Lord for the blessings          ..~A~~~~~~~~~~~~r   - . , :>`- I ;. .`. . . .,. i.. f *; * * . I . . . . . . I * f 1.9
of this ministry . . . in your country you have big            Tl&3&tlx &`tlxe .E~~~~l~~~  Presjqterian Chur& (3) . . . . .l%
churches and sometimes I think that some of your              .-@$d's~~~~~~~~~~~,~o~k  * ,I ",` *I * . . . z . .^ . . I . . . . * . * . . .16(
people take it for granted to belong to a faithful            :f,x$t s~~~~~~r~c~ ~e~~-~~~ C&ltwcl~, a&
reformed church. . .  ."                                      .:  R&B  &.ekimi1s L F : . . .; . . ,.. * 5_* /.. i ..`. I * . I . . . I . . a . . . 16:
                                                                A 
                                                               _^ .tie*REt
                                                                   _;_ . . -.`.~~~~~~S~~~~~
                                                                             _                               .Il-l Frhce` l.*`...-..-`...* lk:
   And, from South Africa:  ". . . What a sheer delight        ~~~~~~~,.~.5~~~~~~~  -. .,- .:. :q ._ .: 1.1.. , + . . :. . w . e . . s .16:
it was to receive the tapes you sent me! . . . I              .&q&s&$~n  ~~~~~br~ws  1 +&l-3 . : * ; i:;-. I * 1 . * * . . . . - . . .161
appreciate them tremendously and am grateful to                N&wit Frisrii &ii- Ch;irclleS ,,..;*.*....*  I . . . . ,......16
                                                                                                                               :
God for His goodness to me. It makes me so glad to                                                          f . . . . . . *.l**...**.l.*,* . . . . lci'
hear God honoured and Christ exalting sermons in
these  days of apostasy and compromise."            D. D.


