          The
     `STANDARD
     BEARER
f- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                    \





k                                Volume LI, Number 9, February 1, 1975  -


194                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITA TIO N

                              Israel's Example of Unbelief

                                                              Rev. H. Veldman
             "So we see that they could:not enter in because of unbeliefi  "
                                                                                                             Heb. 3: 19

   We see that they could not enter in because of                          then, had promised the people of Israel the land of
unbelief. We see this. It is plain, `the holy writer                       Canaan. The ten spies, however, had emphasized in
implies, that they could not enter in because of                           their report the difficulty of Israel's task to subdue
unbelief. He bases this upon the preceding. We read in                     the land. And now, because of the difficulties
yerse 16: "For some, when they had heard, did                              confronting them and aware of their own weakness,
provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by                         the people of the Lord did not believe in the sense
Moses." Literally we read: "For who, when they had                         that they doubted whether the Lord would give them
heard, provoked him? Were they not all who had                             the victory.
come out of Egypt by Moses?" Thisis surely verified                           This presentation of unbelief, however, cannot be
by what we read in verse 10: "They' do always err in                       accepted. On the one hand, unbelief must never be
their heart; and they have not known my ways." And                         identified with mere doubt or distrust. To be sure,
this is also substantiated by the history of these                         even if Israel had doubted the. word of the Lord, this
terrible events, according to which all those of twenty                    would have been a serious offence. However, unbelief
years and upward perished in the wilderness. Of these                      is never mere distrust; it is always an act of the will,
we read that they provoked the Lord (verse 16), had                        rooted in the heart, a wilful  refusal to believe in God
sinned  (verse  17), believed not or were disobedient                      and in His Christ, a godless refusal to enter into God's
(verse 18). It is plain; therefore, that they did not                      rest in the way of repentance and faith. Moreover,
believe, and that it was impossible for them to enter                      and on the other hand, that Israel's unbelief is not to
into Canaan because of their unbelief.                                     be confused with doubt is obvious from two incidents
   And this is for us a very serious warning. Notice                       in this history. First, this is certainly refuted by the
what we read in verses 12-13. Do we appeal to the                          example of the faith of Joshua and Caleb. And,
fact that we are members of the church, and that we,                       secondly, that Israel did not refuse to enter Canaan
therefore, have no need of this admonition of Holy                         because of fear appears from the fact that, shortly
Writ? However, let us remember that also all those                         afterward, they did attempt to conquer the land but
who perished in the wilderness belonged to the                             were driven back by its inhabitants.
church, the Church of the Old Dispensation. They,                             Unbelief is always the  wilful rejection of and
too, lived in God's house, whereof we read in this                         rebellion against the Lord and the Voice of the Most
chapter; and yet they could not enter into the Rest                        High. The viewpoint of this text is not that of God
because of their unbelief. Let us, therefore, take heed                    and  His promise. It is surely not true that the Lord
and give full consideration to this terrible example of                    would give them the promised land, that "if only the
Israel in the Old Dispensation.                                            Lord had His way" all would have entered, but that
                             *****                                         the Lord was frustrated in His desire by the unbelief
   What a terrible example of unbelief we have here!                       of the people. Indeed, it never was the Lord's
The history is familiar to us. How wonderful had                           intention to bestow upon all Israel the land of
been the Lord's guidance of His people out of Egypt                        Canaan. This is surely corroborated by Rom. 9:6-8,
until now! How the Lord had displayed His power                            Gal. 3: 16, 19, and Hebrews 6: 17-19. The viewpoint
while Israel was in the land of bondage and when He                        of this text, however, is that of Israel's not entering,
h a d   l e d   t h e m   t h r o u g h   t h e   R e d   S e a !   A t    Israel's refusal to inherit the land of Canaan, Israel's
I< ad e sh-Barnea, however, Israel had rejected the                        unbelief and refusal to enter into the rest of the Lord.
report of Joshua and Caleb, had accepted the                               The viewpoint of the text is, subjectively, the sin of
majority report of the ten spies, and had refused to                       Israel.
enter the land of Canaan because of unbelief.                                 To understand this unbelief of Israel we must
   What is unbelief? Unbelief must never be confused                       understand the land of Canaan. Canaan was certainly
or identified merely with doubt or. distrust. God,                         a land flowing with milk and honey. This is


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   195



confirmed by the return of the spies with a cluster of       dispensation, the day of the fulfillment. This Voice
grapes that had to be carried by two men. Indeed,            we hear through His. Word and testimony. From
God had spoken the truth when He had spoken of the           infancy on we have been in contact, as in God's
richness of the land. This is the significance of that       house, with His testimony, through His word and
cluster of grapes. Canaan, however, was the land of          sacrament, in the home, the church, and the school.
the promise. And this does not merely mean that it           And it is always the same language: we are hopelessly
had been promised, but also that it was characterized        lost in sin, redeemed and saved by the blood and
by the promise. Everything in that land would remind         Spirit of Christ, and therefore called to walk in all the
them of the promise. Everything in that land centered        precepts of the Lord.
in the promise. It is for this reason that an entering         Now we also understand the possibility of Israel's
and inheriting of the land of Canaan would be                terrible unbelief. Indeed, all men are sinners, all sin is
inseparably connected with a walking in the ways of          disobedience, and all disobedience provokes the Lord.
the Lord. Always the people must walk with their eye         But it is especially in God's house, in the sphere of
upon the Christ. Always they must separate                   God's covenant, that this sin attains to its most
themselves from the idolatries of the nations around         abominable manifestation. We know the history.
them,, and conduct themselves as the people of the           Israel had become accustomed to this Voice of God!
Lord. And this also applies to us as in the New              Israel had become sick of the most wonderful mercies
Dispensation. To enter into the heavenly Canaan we           of the Lord! They had become "used to" the
must walk as heavenly citizens.                              wonderful delicacies of God's covenant. Now, at
  This explains Israel's unbelief. Indeed, it had            Kadesh-Barnea, they were "fed up" with Gad,
become plain to them from the report of the spies            refused to enter in. And this also applies to us as in
that they could receive this land only out of the hand       the new dispensation. Indeed, also the heathen are
of the Lord. But then they must also continue to             sinners. But in the house of God, in the Church, in
walk in the ways of the Lord. Israel, however, did not       the sphere of His covenant, where we come daily into
believe. They hated God and His statutes. They               contact with God's eternal covenant, with the divine
despised the thought of entering Canaan as God's             command of repentance and faith which is general,
people, to be devoted to the living God. And,                Andy the particular promise of God's rest for'the weary
therefore, they refused, wilfully, to enter into the         and heavy laden, we trample these wonderful truths
promised land.                                               of God's covenant under foot, refuse to believe in the
                                                             Lord Jesus Christ because such faith requires that we
                                                             walk in all the ways of the Lord. This is the sin of the
  How must we explain this terrible unbelief? Israel         sinner; for it he is held accountable.
lived in the house of God. We may apply this, fast of
all, to Israel in the old dispensation. We read of this                               *****
house of God and of the Voice of the Son of God                How serious is the warning that comes to us from
which is heard in this house in this chapter, verses         this history! 0, this history does not imply that it is
2-7. In this house of God the Voice of God is heard,         ever possible for any of God's elect to perish. This is
the Voice of the Son of God as it speaks of His              impossible.
eternal covenant and all things connected with that            Nevertheless, we do well to take heed - see verse
covenant. And this Voice must and shall be heard and         12. In the  fast place, there is in the midst of the
answered! Also Israel lived in this house of God. It is      church always much flesh, much chaff, much
true that this house of God in the old dispensation          carnality. There are, on the one hand, all those who
was a house of shadows and types. But there is               are called Israel but are not Israel. But, on the other
essentially no difference between this house of God          hand, also as far as the children of God are
as in the old and new dispensations. In `this house          concerned, there is much sin and carnality in the life
Israel heard the Voice of the Son of God. It is true         of every child of God. We have within us but a small
that this voice came to Israel from God through
Moses. But Israel knew that it was not Moses but God         principle of the new obedience.
Who had dried up the Red Sea and had led: them until           Unbelief always makes it impossible to enter into
now. God had spoken to His people through all these          the land of Canaan. Please notice that we read in the
signs and wonders. And Israel always heard that              text that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Voice of God. Through all these things God had               They perished in the wilderness, eternally. They did
spoken to them of His covenant and salvation, of             not simply die, pass away; they perished, the curse of
eternal life and peace, but also of their calling to walk    the Lord pursued them, struck them down in the
as a redeemed people and in the ways of the Lord.            wilderness. They could not enter because of unbelief.
  And we, as in the new dispensation, hear the same          They did not perish because of the terrible
Voice of God. Indeed, we live in the new                     wilderness, because of the mighty heathen nations,


196                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



because they were few and weak. One child of God             wholly foreign to us? Remember: unbelief can never
could have put a thousand to flight. They did not            enter into the Rest. And the command of God
enter in, could not enter in, because of unbelief.           remains: repent! Or, are we as children of God
     This is also applicable today. That we do not enter     enroute to the city that has foundations?
into God's rest is not because of the powers of sin          Consciously? Are we struggling to Sion's top? Or, do
and death all around us, is not because that world is        we lack that joy and assurance of entering into
too mighty and strong  - God has overcome and                eternal glory? Let us examine ourselves. Take heed,
destroyed that world in Christ Jesus. But the flesh is       lest there be in us an evil heart of unbelief? Unbelief
unbelieving, and unbelief can never enter into the rest      never enters, cannot enter; we enter in only through
of God. This is surely true of the reprobate sinner.         faith! God has fought the battle for us; Christ
But this also applies to the children of God. When we        suffered and died; in Him we have the victory.
are assailed by unbelief, fail to walk out of faith, then      Unbelief always fails!
it is impossible for us to walk with our eye fixed             Faith never fails!
upon the city that has foundations.                            Believe in Him, the Author and Finisher of the
     Let us, therefore, take heed!' Are we entering into     faith, the Captain of our salvation!
the eternal Rest? Are we enroute to Sion? Is this faith


*EDITORIAL

                    The GKN and the Wiersinga Case-Sequel
                                       ,        ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

As long ago as 1971 Dr. H. Wiersinga, who                    A society known as the Reformed Confessional
performs pastoral work among the students in                 Council  - in my opinion, a rather moderate
Amsterdam, publicly denied in his doctoral thesis the        organization - published an open letter addressed to
,,cardinal Reformed truth of Christ's atonement. He          the Synod, the churches, and the church membership.
taught what has come to be called briefly "a doctrine        In this letter it expressed unequivocally its feeling of
#of effective reconciliation," but he `denied the truth      doubt, concern and responsibility. The letter saw the
ithat Christ bore the wrath of God inour stead. It was       churches  .being led along the wrong path of a
`not long after the publication of Dr. Wiersinga's thesis    dialogue-church and of the forsaking of the
- and he obtained a doctoral degree from the Free            confession. Partly through this letter, but partly also
IUniversity of Amsterdam for this thesis  - that his         on their own initiative, no less than 124 churches,
`denial of the truth of the atonement became a case          five classes, one particular synod (of Drente) and
pending before the General Synod of the                      almost two hundred individual members addressed
:Gereformeerde  Kerken. And although in 1972 the             the synod in writing about this matter. It should be
`Synod of the GKN sent out a pastoral letter to              remembered, by the way, that in the Dutch churches
reassure the churches with respect to their adherence        the Synod meets over a two-year period in several
to the truth of the atonement, nevertheless it was not       sessions, so that it was possible to address the same
until June of 1974 that the Synod finally took a             synod which made the decision in June of 1974.
decision with respect to this essentially simple case.       Hence, while this could hardly be called a  storm of
     It was sad enough that it took a Reformed Synod         protest, nevertheless the Synod was confronted by
so long a time to reach a decision with respect to the       considerable reaction against its decisions of June.
denial of this cardinal truth.                               These were given into the hands `of an advisory
                                                             committee. This advisory committee pointed out that
     It was even more sad, however, that the decision        much of the correspondence which was received
which was reached was, from a Reformed point of              could have been declared out of order on the grounds
view, anything but satisfactory. (For this decision and      of the Church Order; nevertheless, the committee felt
our comments about it,  see  the  Standard Bearer  of        that this correspondence could not be ignored
August 1974.)                                                because of the widespread dissatisfaction with
     There was considerable dissatisfaction in the Dutch     Synod's decision of June. It seems that most of the
churches about the Synodical decision of June, 1974.         correspondents complained about a lack of clarity
c


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                197


and about ambiguity in the June decision. `Hence, the       him to send his answer to this appeal if possible to
Synod was moved to reconsider its earlier decision,         this Synod." In this connection we may mention that
not for the purpose of revision, nor for the  ljurpose      Synod appointed such a committee to confer with
of sharpening that decision (for it was explicitly          Dr. Wiersinga, and that they gave the committee the
denied by the committee that this was the purpose of        mandate to report if possible to the present Synod,
its advice), but for the purpose of clarification. The      and at the latest to the  fust session of the next
advisory committee was of the opinion that Synod            following general Synod.
had clearly rejected Dr. Wiersinga's views as being in        These are really the only significant points of
conflict with the confessions, but that the judgment        clarification. While there were apparently several
of the Synod was spread out over the several points         objections to these changes on the floor of the Synod
of the decision, and could be stated more clearly and       because some thought that this new decision was
directly.                                                   intended to serve as a kind of ultimatum to Wiersinga,
  What clarifications, then, were made?                     the committee and the supporters of this decision
  We shall not quote all of the considerations and all      insist that this is not the intention. It would appear,
of the points of Synod's decision, but try to point         moreover, that this is indeed true. For in its decision
out the chief elements of clarification in Synod's          Synod pointedly avoided any measures of discipline.
decision of November 22, 1974.                              The Synod declared the following: "The present
                                                            Synod has with respect to Dr. Wiersinga correctly not
  The main element of clarification is the following:       considered any measure of suspension or deposition:
"Finally, the Synod declares that by denying that           it still saw sufficient reasons to continue the
Christ has borne the judgment of God in our place           discussion, with him; besides, it was not authorized to
Dr. Wiersinga has attacked an essential element of the      take any measures of suspension of deposition." The
doctrine of atonement of the Confession and                 reference in the last statement here is to
derogates from the proper preaching of the gospel."         consideration 4 in Synod's new decision, which
We point out that this is not a new decision, but that      points out that the matter of suspension or
it states more forthrightly something that was already      deposition is one for the local congregation.
included in the previous decision.                          Suddenly, it seems, the Synod has become very pious
  The second element of clarification concerns              about maintaining this principle of Church
Synod's conduct and course of action with respect to        Government. There was a time, of course, when the
Dr. Wiersinga in the immediate future. In this              general Synod of the GKN did not hesitate to
connection Synod declared that it was incorrect to          suspend and depose officebearers right and left. Now,
refer :the current question concerning the ,atonement       however, when they want to avoid any suggestion of
and concerning Dr. Wiersinga's objections to the            discipline of Dr. Wiersinga,. they beomce very
Study Commission for Church and Theology. It                insistent upon the rule that discipline is the business
belongs to the task of this Commission only to serve        of Dr. Wiersinga's consistory. We do not quarrel, of
Synod with advice in matters of doctrine and life           course, with this principle; we do quarrel, however,
before  such matters have been brought to the point         with the Synod's sincerity.
of a responsible synodical decision. But Synod also           What about all this?
made, a further clarification. In the decision`of June,
1974 the Synod decided to make an earnest appeal to           Has anything really changed?
Dr. Wiersinga to listen to the judgment of the Synod          Our answer is negative. There has been a degree of
and to consider whether his position was not in need        clarification in the decision. This we will not deny. It
of revision, "and to do so in the expectation that in       is true that the Synod has stated more clearly than
his official work he will not contradict this confession    before that Dr. Wiersinga's position is in conflict with
of the church." (Italics added) It was the apparent         the Reformed Confession.
weakness of the italicized words that was the                 However, this very clarification only serves to
occasion of much dissatisfaction with this decision.        emphasize the inconsistency of Synod's decision.
This the Synod has somewhat clarified by deciding to          Notice, in the first place, that Synod very
write to Dr. Wiersinga and to make "an emphatic             deliberately fails to take the slightest measure of
appeal to him to remain faithful to Confession of the       discipline and fails to advise the slightest measure of
church, also with respect to Christ's bearing of the        discipline  although it admits  that Dr. Wiersinga's
judgment of God in our place, and to inform him that        theology is in conflict with the Reformed Confession.
the Synod has appointed a committee with the                The Synod lays no prohibition upon him. In fact, the
mandate to elucidate the appeal made to him insofar         Synod does not even demand a satisfactory answer,
as this is necessary, and, further, to confer with him      but only requests such an answer  if possible  at the
concerning all questions which may still arise upon         present Synod (which already allows Dr. Wiersinga
the occasion of this appeal, and, further,: to request      time until the Spring of 1975).


198                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


   In the second place, notice that Synod only makes                 the worship services of the church. For this reason a
"an urgent appeal." What is that? We can certainly                   strong appeal has been made to Dr. Wiersinga. No
agree with Rev. W. C. van den Brink in Waarheid en                   ultimatums, however, have been issued. There has
Eenheid  (Nov. 30, 1974) when he points out that                     been room preserved for continued co-deliberation
when it comes to church discipline in Reformed                       and discussion. I rejoice at this approach, for I still
churches, as long as they have existed, the correct                  am unable to believe that the only alternative for a
word is not "appeal" but "admonition." He makes                      solution to such problems consists in either a formal
reference to the fact that in bygone years those who                 process of discipline or in a so-called pluralistic
made confession of faith would be asked whether                      concept of the church in which individual freedom
they would submit to the admonition and discipline                   has the last word. There has to be another way: one
of the church. And he writes: "That was church style                 that is in accordance with the nature of the church
in a time when ecclesiastical decisions had more                     and with the functioning of many members within
authority than a dialogue with an earnest appeal." We                the one body, as so clearly explained to us in
agree with this. To this date Synod has taken no                     Scripture. This creates mutual obligations  -
single measure of discipline, nor advised such                       sometimes even self-denial."
discipline, nor warned of such discipline, nor                          Dr. Ridderbos is whistling in the dark. The history
promised such discipline in the future in the entire                 of the church abundantly proves that the alternatives
Wiersinga case. And we agree with the Rev. van den                   for heretics are: discipline or repentance. Failure to
Brink also when he writes: "If you are convinced that                insist on these alternatives will not result merely in a
a preacher does not preach according to the Word of                  "pluralistic concept of the church." This is a
God, the church must put an end to that  now,                        deceptive euphemism. It will result in the destruction
today. "                                                             and death of the church.
  Meanwhile, the compromisers, who would
maintain the unity of the GKN  aoparently at all                        I repeat what I stated at the conclusion of my last
                                                                     editorial on this subject:
costs, are already rejoicing about this decision.
According to a report in RES News Exchange (Jan. 7,                     "The church is not dependent on numbers nor can
1975), "Dr. K. Runia, writing in Centraal Weekblad,                  the GKN retain or regain their true identity as a
points out that Dr. Wiersinga's proclamation is not                  Reformed denomination by coddling heretics, though
hereby condemned without qualification as `false.' In                they may retain thousands of members. Nor can the
denying an essential part of the atonement, he does                  lie or the toleration of the lie save the church!
not do justice to the full message of the gospel. But,                  "If a church would retain its identity as church and
Dr. Runia goes on to say, he who fails to proclaim                   save itself when threatened by enemies from within,
the aspect emphasized by Dr. Wiersinga also does not                 then it must maintain the truth of the Word of God
do justice to the fulness of the gospel.)'                           without compromise, must exercise the lie and false
  Runia is soft-pedalling even this decision of Synod.               doctrine, must expel unrepentant heretics. This is the
For he speaks of "the full message of the gospel."                   only salvation of a church, any church. For the chief
The Synod, however, spoke of "an essential element                   mark of the church is the pure preaching of the
of the doctrine of atonement of the Confession."                     Word!
: Moreover, according to the same issue of RES                          "And if this can only be done at the expense of
News Exchange, Dr. H. Ridderbos writes: "It is                       numbers, yea, at the expense of the vast majority of a
clearly the Synod's opinion . . . that the church's                  church's membership, so that only a remnant, a
confession and the right proclamation of the gospel                  tenth, is preserved, - well, so be it, then. It is better,
are matters that cannot be left to the individual                    infinitely better, to be small but faithful than to be
freedom of those who are to proclaim the gospel in                   large but corrupt!"

               .  . .In  like manner  Job blesses God, and confesses that he was plundered by the robbers, not only
            through the permission, but by the will and act of God; for he plainly affirms "that it was the Lord who
            gave, and that it was the Lord who took away," what He had Himself given. If, upon your authority, giving
            and receiving are to be understood in the same way as willing and permitting, riches so considered are not
            blessings actually bestowed of God, but they fall into our hands at random by the permission of God. But if
            you and your foul band should continue thus to cry out against God until doomsday, He will nevertheless,
            in due time, fully justify and vindicate Himself. But as for us, we will adore with all reverence those
            mysteries which so far surpass our comprehension, until the brightness of their full knowledge shall shine
            forth upon us in that day when He, Who is now seen "through a glass darkly," shall be seen by us "face to
            face."  "Then (saith Augustine) shall He be seen in the brightest light of understanding that which the godly
            now hold fast in faith. How sure, certain, immutable and all-efficacious, is the will of God! How many
            things He can do which He yet wills not to be done; but that He wills nothing which He cannot do!"
                                                             -John Calvin,  The Secret Providence of God,  pp. 288,289


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  199


QUESTION BOX

                             About Matthew 5: 44-48
                                               ProJ: H.  C.  Hoehxema

               About Matthew $:44-48                         love, but the nature  of that love: it is a love that is
  At the time of my lecture at Calvin Theological            capable of being merciful and kind to His enemies.
Seminary I offered to answer in writing any question            To sum up, this is our position with respect to
for which time did not permit an oral answer. From a         Matthew 5 : 44-48 :
Christian Reformed minister who was present I                 1. God revealed His love and caused His people to
received two questions, the  fast of which is as             know and to taste that love as a love that is capable
follows: "How do you reconcile God's commanding              of being merciful and kind to His enemies. And this is
us to love our enemies (Matthew  5:44, 45, 48) in            the only love of God that is mentioned in the context
order that we may show, the attitude He does with            of both passages (Luke 6:35, 36 included).
your view that He has nothing but hatred for them?"          2. The children' of God, in whose hearts this love of
                                                             God is poured out, and who experienced and tasted
Reply                                                        this love of God to His enemies, must manifest this
  There is a fallacy in this question with respect to        same love in their life and walk in the world. Hence;
our view. The fallacy is not stated, but implied. And        they must love not only those that love them, but
that fallacy is this: that God has nothing but hatred        also their enemies, that revile and persecute them.
for all His enemies. This is really the same fallacy, but    They must do good to them, pray for them, and bless
from the opposite point of view, which is implied in         them. In doing this they manifest the image of their
the Christian Reformed use of Matthew 5:44-48 and            Father which is in heaven.
Luke 6:35, 36 in support of the First Point of 1924.         3. As a most general example of this they must look
The implied fallacy in that regard is that God loves         at God's work in nature, where He causes His sun to
all His enemies. And this really proves too much with        rise on the veil and on the good and sends rain on the
respect to the First Point. For the First Point seeks to     just and on the unjust. The point of this example is
make a distinction in the favor of God between His           not the  commonness  of  God's love,  but the
favor' toward the elect and His favor toward the             commonness of rain and sunshine,  and that, too, as
reprobate. But Matthew 5 makes no such distinction           an example of the fact that we must manifest  our
in the love of God, but speaks of only one, perfect          love without distinction.
love of God. This one, perfect love of God is not
revealed to  all His enemies, is not revealed to the            If I have missed the point of my questioner, he is
reprobate. But God's love, as a love that is capable of      certainly welcome to write again.
being merciful and kind to His enemies, is revealed           [Note: I have a few more questions on hand, both in
only to the elect. He loved us when we were yet              connection with my lecture and of a general scope. I
enemies. The point, therefore, of this passage with          will try to furnish some more answers in the next
respect to the love of God is not the  scope  of that        issue. HCHI


TAKING HEED TO THEDOCTRINE
     "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel (7)

                                              by Rev. David Engelsma


  The two preceding articles in this series attempted        hyper-Calvinism, but the Reformed faith itself. They
to demonstrate that the ground for rejection of the          contended that the doctrine of the offer makes the
notion of the well-meant offer of the gospel is not          grace of God universal, thus contradicting the


200                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



Reformed doctrine of particular, sovereign grace, and        unbelief of men in the face of God's desire and
that the doctrine of the offer necessarily implies the       attempt to save them.1
heresy of `free will. This article will conclude the            This was the view of reprobation which the
effort begun in the two preceding articles: showing          Arminians attempted to introduce into the Reformed
that we oppose the offer in the name of Calvinism.           Churches in the 17th century. Reprobation
  In future articles, I intend to point out that denial      conditioned by unbelief was the counterpart of an
of the offer does not destroy the serious call of the        election conditioned by faith in the first article of the
gospel or the personal "addressability" of the               Arminian "Remonstrance of 16 10": "(reprobation is
preaching; to `consider the position of the Reformed         God's decree) to leave the incorrigible and
faith in history on the call of the gospel; and to give a    unbelieving in sin and under wrath and condemn
warning against permitting opposition to the offer to        them. . ." In the "Opinions" which they submitted to
degenerate into neglect of the call of the gospel itself,    the Synod of Dordt, the Arminians described
that is, a warning against hyper-Calvinism.                  reprobation in this way: "Rejection from eternal life
  The offer of the gospel leaves tracks wherever it          is made on the basis of a consideration of antecedent
goes that plainly identify it as Arminianism, not            unbelief and perseverance in unbelief; not, however,
Calvinism. One of these is the denial: of reprobation.       apart from a consideration of antecedent unbelief and
Invariably, the defense and practice of the offer is         perseverance in unbelief."2
attended by a silencing or corrupting of the                    The Synod of Dordt rejected as heretical the view
Reformed doctrine of reprobation. A striking                 that reprobation is merely God's indefinite decree to
example of the perversion of the doctrine of                 .damn whoever happens to reject the offer of the
reprobation in the interests of the offer of the gospel      gospel and the view that reprobation is God's decree
is A. C. De Jong's The Well-Meant Gospel Offer. De           to damn certain men because of foreseen unbelief. In
Jong was concerned to defend the well-meant offer.           article VIII of the rejection of errors under the first
But he had to face Hoeksema's objection that the             head of doctrine, the Synod rejected the errors of
doctrine of reprobation exactly denies that God is           those "Who teach: That God simply by virtue of his
gracious to all, desires the salvation of all, and           righteous will, did not decide either to leave anyone
well-meaningly offers Christ to all in the preaching.        in the fall of Adam and in the common state of sin
De Jong's solution was to oppose "Hoeksema's                 and condemnation, or to pass anyone by in the
doctrine of reprobation. " "Hoeksema's doctrine of           communication of grace which is necessary for faith
reprobation renders the reliability of God's                 and conversion..  ." In support of reprobation
unsimulated call to salvation disputable" (p. 122).          "simply by virtue of His righteous will" and against a
"Our chief objection to Hoeksema's view of                   doctrine of conditional reprobation, the Synod
reprobation is that it transforms the gospel into a          quoted Rom.  9:lS;Matt. 13:ll;andMatt.  11:25, 26.
message which renders suspect the reliability of God's
will to save as this is revealed in the,call to faith, in       The Reformed doctrine of reprobation is that God
the conditional offer of salvation" (p.`l23).                has eternally decreed, "out of His sovereign, most
                                                             just, irreprehensible and unchangeable good
  It soon becomes evident, however, that De Jong is          pleasure," `that certain, definite members of the
not opposed to' some private view of Herman                  human race will not be saved by Him, but that they
Hoeksema, but to the historic,  creedal doctrine of          shall perish in their unbelief and other sins.3
reprobation of the Reformed faith. According to De           Reprobation is God's eternal decree that the destiny
Jong, reprobation has to do with the fact that God           of certain men shall be everlasting death, whether one
"will surely condemn those who wilfully and                  views it as God's passing those men by with the grace
persistently oppose his word which is given and              of election or as the determination to damn. The
spoken for the purpose of salvation" (p. 122). De            cause of this decree is not the unbelief and
Jong's departure from the Reformed doctrine of               disobedience of the reprobated, but the sovereign
reprobation and his subscription to the classic
Arminian view of reprobation become apparent when               `This  view of reprobation is by this time widespread in Reformed
he describes reprobation thus: "No `one disbelieves          churches. The influential Berkouwer advanced it in his  Divine Election.
because he is a reprobate. He is a reprobate because         James Daane gives expression to it in his recent  The freedom of God
                                                             (Grand Rapids,  Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1973): "any
he does not want to believe, because' he wills to live       doctrine of reprobation is illegitimate by biblical standards except that
without God, and because he  resists'the redemptive          which biblical teaching sanctions: that he who rejects God, God
                                                             rejects" (p.  200). This view of reprobation brings these men into
will of God revealed in the gospel call" (p. 130).           irreconcilable conflict with the Canons, as they well know.
Reprobation, on this view, is God's decree that those           2The 8th of the Remonstrant, or Arminian, opinions regarding the
men who persistently reject the offer of the gospel          decree of predestination. For these "Opinions," cf.  Crisis in the
                                                             Reformed Churches,  Peter Y. De Jong, editor (Grand Rapids,  Mich.:
shall be damned. The decree of reprobation is a              Reformed Fellowship, Inc., 1968). pp. 221ff.
conditional decree, a decree dependent upon the                 3Canons of Dordt, I, 15.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 201


good pleasure of the decreeing God. Reprobation is            a rampaging universalism  is destroying the Reformed
not a conditional but an unconditional decree. That           doctrine of election.5
this is so is evident from the Canons. According to              Other zealous defenders of the offer handle the
the Canons, reprobation is the decree "not to bestow          problem of the opposition between the doctrine of
upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion"           the offer and reprobation by studiously ignoring
(I, 15). If reprobation is the decree not to,give a man       reprobation. The silence on reprobation in many
faith,: it. is patently false to say that unbelief is the     Reformed pulpits and in the writings of many
cause of reprobation. That would be the same as to            Calvinistic Baptists is deafening. It must be very
say that my decision not to give a beggar a quarter is        difficult to read the Bible without seeing reprobation.
due to the beggar's not having a quarter. That                How does one manage it as he reads the Old
reprobation is an unconditional decree is also plain          Testament with its message of God's choice of one
from' the fact that if unbelief were the cause of             nation unto life out of many nations left to perish in
reprobation, all men would have been reprobated,              their sin? How can one remain ignorant of
and none would have been elected, for all men are             reprobation when he reads freely in the New
equally unbelieving and disobedient: Scripture                Testament - Matthew 11:25-27, John 10, Romans 9,
teaches that reprobation is God's sovereign,                  I Peter  2:8, Jude  4? One could only conclude from
unconditional decree to damn some sinners. This is            the silence of many on reprobation that there is no
the inescapable implication of the Biblical doctrine          reprobation. But if there is no reprobation, neither is
that God has unconditionally chosen some men, not             there any election.
all, unto eternal life. This is also the explicit teaching       The recourse of some to "the mystery" to solve
of Scripture. In Romans 9, Paul ascribes God's                the problem of the contradiction between the free
hardening of some unto damnation simply to God's              offer and the Reformed doctrine of reprobation is
will (vs. 18) and finds in the sovereignty of the Potter      both desperate and erroneous. Such like to speak of
the authority both to make a vessel unto, honor and           the paradox of God's two wills: His will to save and
to make a vessel unto dishonor - from the.same lump           His will not to save the same man. For God to love
of clay (vss. 21-23).                                         and to hate the same man, to desire to save and to
  It is not at all surprising that advocates of the free      reprobate the same man, to be gracious in the
offer oppose the Reformed doctrine of reprobation,            preaching of the gospel towards and to harden the
for reprobation is the exact, explicit denial that God        same man, is sheer contradiction. The reality of the
loves all men, desires to save all men, and                   two-fold  will of God is quite different. It has to do
conditionally offers them salvation. Reprobation              with the fact that God at the same time decrees that a
asserts that God eternally hates some. men; has               man shall not be saved (the will of God's decree) and
immutably decreed their damnation; and has                    commands that man to repent and believe (the will of
determined to withhold from them Christ, grace,               God's precept). The serious, external call of the
faith, and salvation. The Reformed doctrine of                gospel does justice to both of these aspects of God's
reprobation and the theology of the well-meant offer          will, but the offer of the gospel places a contradiction
are diametrical opposites.4 To affirm the offer is to         in God.
deny `reprobation.                                               Another Arminian footprint of the well-meant
   But a denial of reprobation is necessarily also a          offer is the teaching of universal atonement. Almost
denial of election. If reprobation is made a                  thirty years ago, Herman Hoeksema prophesied that
conditional decree, the decree to condemn whoever             "those that preach a well-meaning offer of God to all
rejects the offer, election becomes a conditional
decree also, the decree to save whoever accepts the               4Men like to throw up the smokescreen that it is only the
                                                              supralapsarian view of reprobation that rules out the well-meant offer,
offer: This is the goal that Arminian theology and the        just as they like to disguise their opposition to reprobation as
proud heart of man singlemindedly pursue, for this is          opposition to supralapsarianism ("Hoeksema's doctrine of repro-
                                                               bation"). The last word has not been spoken in the brotherly
the blasphemous claim that we save ourselves. The             debate within the Reformed camp over infra- and supralapsarianism.
attack on election is out in the open today in the             But this difference has absolutely no bearing on the issue of the offer.
                                                               It is the Reformed doctrine of reprobation, whether viewed in an infra-
Reformed sphere. When a Reformed theologian of                or in a supralapsarian manner, that condemns the offer and that must
vast erudition can write a 330 page book on election          give place where the offer is found.
without ever once saying that God elected certain,                Bcf. Lewis B. Smedes,  A//  Things   Made  New (Grand Rapids,  Mich.:
                                                              Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970): "We will never think of
particular men in distinction from others, as G. C.           election as a grace-less, love-less decree to select some individuals for
Berkouwer did in Divine Election, the cat is  out, of         heaven and to reject other individuals for hell. The election in Christ is
                                                              not a matter of numbers" (pp. 123, 124). His description of the
the bag. When, in addition, Reformed theologians               Reformed doctrine of election is a caricature. but his point is clear:
warn against thinking of any reprobation in                   there is no reprobation, and election is election of every man. cf. also
                                                              James Daane's The Freedom  of  God: "The gracious elective . . . act of
connection with election, it is apparent to him with          God . . . has no corresponding negative power that posits a reprobative
even the least sensitive of "Reformed antennae" that          counterpart . . . Election . . . has no counterpart,  not even a negative
                                                              reprobative counterpart"  (p.  200).


202                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



hen, must and will ultimately embrace the `doctrine                  universal election), and the Christian Reformed
of universal atonement also."6 The ground for this                   Church, having said "A" in 1924, and "B" in the
confident prophesy was: "God's well-meaning `offer'                  1960's.
?f salvation cannot possibly be wider in scope than                     Our opposition to the offer of the gospel is not
the objective satisfaction and justification of the cross            academic. Through the teaching and practice of the
of Christ." In the  1960's, through the writings of                  offer, Arminianism has flooded the Reformed
Harold Dekker, professor of missions in its seminary,                churches. Today, a Reformed man cries out: "0 God,
the Christian Reformed Church approved, if it did                    the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy
pot adopt, the doctrine of universal atonement. What                 temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on
made this so significant was the fact that Dekker                    heaps" (Psalm 79:l).
grounded his doctrine of universal atonement in the
doctrine of the well-meant offer. Arguing for a                         The revivalistic, "soul-winning" mentality of free
universal love of God and a universal atonement,, he                 will has taken over among many Reformed people.
wrote :                                                              The alter-call, that johnny-come-lately innovation of
                                                                     Finney, an abomination before God and man, is
           The  uniirersal  love of God is also revealed in His      widely practiced in Reformed churches. The theology
       invitation of the gospel, sincerely extended to all           of Billy Graham is revered, so that if one dares to call
       without reservation  or limitation.                           the message of Graham "the doctrine of Pelagius out
          Moreover, God's sincere invitation of the gospel to        of hell," as the Canons of Dordt do indeed call it, he
       all involves His desire that it be accepted by all.           is likely to be stoned as a blasphemer in the streets
           . . . is the salvation which the atonement provides       of Jerusalem. The children of the covenant are more
       available  to all men? Indeed it is. Otherwise the            and more viewed, not as covenant children to be
       well-meant offer of the gospel is a farce, for it then        reared in the truth, but as potential converts who
:      offers sincerely to all men what cannot be sincerely          must make the decision for Christ. Reformed
       said to be available to all.7                                 churches are wide open to the most blatant Arminian,
When his teaching of universal atonement was                         "free - willist," "evangelistic" societies, e.g., Campus
bhallenged,  Dekker defended it with an appeal to the                Crusade for Christ They are ravaged by ecumenical
doctrine of the offer of the gospel adopted by the                   endeavors based on Arminian universalism,  e.g., Key
Christian Reformed Church in the first point of                      `73. Loosened from their moorings by Arminianism,
Common grace of 1924. In an article entitled,                        they are swept by every wind of doctrine that finds
YRedemptive Love and the Gospel Offer," he wrote:                    salvation in man's feeling and experience, e.g.,
"This article intends to set forth the universal factors             neo-Pentecostalism.
@herent in the well-meant offer of the gospel. It                       Reformed churches gladly receive, eagerly use, and
carries one main thrust:  that the love  of  God                     enthusiastically distribute as a Bible a book that is
kxpressed  in the gospel and its universal invitation is             nothing more than a man's revision of Scripture along
truly a redemptive love and that the ,presentation  of               the lines of Arminian theology. Kenneth Taylor's The
the gospel must express this principle. "a Replying to              Living Bible in all its versions and forms is the bible
&tics who objected that he taught an atonement                       of Arminianism. If a Reformed man had done to the
which failed to save all those for whom it was made,                 sacred Scriptures in the interest of the Reformed
Dekker showed them that this was no different than                   faith only one tenth of that which The Living Bible
their teaching that God desired to save all but failed               has done in the interest of Arminianism, he would be
to do so, that is, that universal atonement is really no             drawn and quartered in every pulpit and religious
different than the well-meant offer of the gospel:                   paper in the land. But concerning The Living Bible,
          Why are my critics unwilling to, recognize a               nary a peep. Why not? Because the leaders have
       paradox between a universal atonement and a limited           deluded Reformed people, or connived at their
redemption when this is so plainly taught in the                     delusion, so that they no longer know that salvation
       Bible? Why are they unwilling to recognize a paradox          is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but
       of a redemptive love which does not always redeem             of God Who showeth mercy; and the people have
       when this is so clearly the presentation of Scripture?        loved their delusion.
       Do they suppose that such paradoxes as these are any
       greater or any more difficult to accept than the
       paradox which they affirm of a God  ivho sincerely
       desires the salvation of all men and yet does not save           6The  Death of the Son of  God (Grand Rapids,  Mich.:  Wm. B.
       them  all?9                                                   Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1946). p. 113.
                                                                        7"God So Loved  - All Men!,"  The Reformed Journal,  December,
     Dekker proved conclusively that the doctrine of                 1962,  p. 5.
the offer implies universal atonement and universal                     8The Reformed Journal,  January, 1964, p.  8,
election (for a universal redemptive love is really                     gThe Reformed Journal,  September, 1964, p. 22 (reply to a letter).


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                203


  There is only one hope for Reformed men and               Calvinism of Dordt, of Calvin, of Augustine, of Paul.
Reformed churches, and only the sovereign grace of          And this means the rooting out of the well-meant
God can realize it  - back to Calvinism, the old            offer of the gospel,.           .    (to be continued)


FEATURE

                                    The True Church
                                          Rev. Ronald J. Van Overloop


  The truth which the Church has developed out of           holiness and apostolicity. As such, this Church is an
God's Word makes up an organic unity. Each                  object of faith, not of our experience or of human
separate, individual doctrine takes its place within        perception.
that body of truth. This organic body of truth as it is
developed in time is always developed and                     But this Church does become manifest physically
apprehended by the Church as the Body of Christ.            in institutional form as the gathering of believers and
For an individual to apprehend that body of truth he        their seed. Therefore, we have the. distinction
must `be a member of the Church as it manifests itself      between the Church visible and invisible, between the
on earth in institutional form. That institutional form     Church institute and organism. The organic Church,
of the Body of Christ is the object of our attention in     which consists of the elect, as the spiritual, heavenly
this article. In our examination of the True Church         Body of Christ, is essentially invisible. But wherever a
let us consider four things: First, What is the Church?     group of believers and their seed are gathered in the
What are the marks of the true Church? How is the           name of Christ and confess their faith in Him and seal
true Church easily discernible from the false? And          their confession with a godly walk, there the Church
finally, what is our calling with respect to the true       invisible and organic becomes visible in institutional
Church?                                                     form. The visible Church is then the gathering of
                                                            believers and their seed organized into an individual
  In order to understand the meaning of the true            congregation, functioning through the offices of
Church it is necessary that we make the distinction         elder, deacon, and minister. Article 28 of the Belgic
which the Belgic Confession makes, in articles 27 -         Confession speaks of our duty to join this church as
29, between the Church as an organism and the               she manifests herself historically. That this
Church as an institute. (Because we cannot quote            admonition refers to joining the Church as institute is
those articles here due to their length, please read        plain from the fact that it is impossible for man to
them and keep them before you as you read this              join the organism of the Church, for that is the work
article.)                                                   exclusively of God. Also, when the Confession speaks
  The organic Church is not a society of people, nor        of the marks of the true Church, then it refers to the
is it a mass mob. Rather it is a spiritual body of which    Church as it is instituted by Christ in a local
Christ is the Head and the elect are the members. The       congregation.
fundamental idea of the Church in Scripture is that it        There is at the basis of our subject the truth that it
is one living organism in Christ, made up of elect          is the sacred duty of all to join themselves to the true
individuals who form a harmonious unity and entity          Church. It is the will of Christ that the believer
in Christ. That Church as an organism' is realized          submit himself to the Church of Christ as it is
principally before the creation of the world, when          instituted in the world, wherever that may be. The
God elected His people in His counsel. After the            true member of the pure, organic Body of Christ
Judgment Day that Church will be completely                 seeks the Church in this world because he knows that
realized in its glorified state. That Church is the         he is not saved as a mere individual, but as a member
gathering of the elect into the spiritual Body of Christ    of Christ's Body and that therefore he cannot live
out of the whole human race and throughout the              apart from it, in separation from the rest of the body
ages. But in time that living organism cannot be seen       of the elect. The new life of Christ within him seeks
or perceived with our human senses. Although the            the fellowship of the other members of the Body.
Church is gathered in the world, it is not of the
world. It is not physical, but spiritual. This organic        On the other hand, those who cut themselves off
Church possesses the attributes of catholicity, unity,      from the pure proclamation of the Word of God


204                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



suffer a lack and commit spiritual suicide. When an           acknowledged as the only Head of the Church.
arm is cut off from the human body, it dies. He who           Hereby the true Church may certainly be known,
cuts himself off from the body of believers will die          from which no man has a right to separate himself."
spiritually in his generations. That individual may be        (Belgic Conf., art. 29) These marks are not in
a believer, but when he separates from the true               denominations as such, but in individual congregations.
Church, he inevitably leads his children to spiritual         The Body of Christ as the organism is not manifested
death.                                                        in denominations, but in individual congregations.
   It would be very easy to obey the command to join          The autonomous congregation is the manifestation of
the true Church, if all that there was upon this earth        the Body of Christ. It is in the congregation, not the
was the true Church. But the mandate and the calling          denomination, that the Word is preached, the
to join the true Church is complicated by the                 sacraments are administered, and discipline is
presence of the false church. This development of the         exercised. However, unless a congregation is inde-
false church is due to the imperfection of the Church         pendent,    it stands as part of a denomination.
while she exists in this world. That imperfection is          Therefore any decision made on a denominational
twofold. First, it is the presence of the carnal seed         level must and always does apply to the individual
within the Church. Secondly, that imperfection arises         congregation which willingly makes itself a member
from the fact that the believers themselves are not           of that denomination.
perfect, but have only a small beginning of the new             To find where the true Church is, the child of God
obedience. Therefore the Church is open to all kinds          must examine the preaching and the dogmas or
of evil influences from within and from without. As a         doctrines which that congregation holds. Because of
result, as the true Church manifests herself in the           constant deformation which results from the presence
midst of the world, there is always at .the same time a       of sin in the world, there are all sorts of congregations
movement away from the truth. This movement away              that assume the name "Church". Within these many
from the truth gives rise to the false church.                different congregations there are differences in the
Therefore there are today many `different                     way in which God is hallowed and worshipped. All of
denominations and congregations. Though Christ                these congregations to different degrees either
prays for the unity of the Church in John 17, such            manifest or fail to manifest the three marks of the
unity hardly seems present. Yet each child of God has         true Church. Therefore the marks are the
the clear calling to belong to the manifestation of the       distinguishing characteristics of the Church institute
true Church on this earth. But to which church must           by which the true Church may be recognized in the
one belong? Is it a matter of little or no concern to         midst of and in distinction from all aberrations and
which church one belongs on this earth? Does not              deformations.
e,ach church simply represent just another path to the          However, there are some who would deny this. The
same destination: heaven? Does one not have a                 ecumenicist wants to forget all ecclesiastical and
certain obligation to remain in that church to which his      denominational differences. The traditionalist, on the
fathers belonged, no matter in what spiritual direction       other hand, holds to the church or congregation in
it is headed? The answer to each of these questions is        which he was born and raised. To cling to "my
an unequivocal "NO". It does make aidifference. It is         church  - right or wrong" is idolatry. Personal and
the calling of the child of God to worship his God in         social ties may never obscure our loyalty to Christ
the best possible way. God can require nothing less.          and His Word. cf. Matt. 10:33-38, especially vs. 37.
God is not pleased when one is willing to compromise          The fathers in the Belgic Confession give the `correct
His Word for the sake of a marriage, a job, or for            answer when they say, "Hereby the true Church may
qne's own convenience. It is then the calling of the          be known, from which no man has a right to separate
Christian to worship God in that Church where God             himself." It is a question whether members today will
is most highly esteemed.                                      wholeheartedly subscribe to those words of the
  So that the child of God can judge in which                 fathers. Many insist today that they cannot make out
Church God is best worshipped, there are certain              which is the true Church. Do they earnestly and
marks which belong to the true Church and which               eagerly submit themselves and their congregation to
therefore distinguish it from the false church. "The          the scrutiny of God's Word? It is so much easier and
marks by which the true Church is known are these:            comfortable to follow the line of least resistance. But
if the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein;       every child of God has the obligation to discern
if she maintains the pure administration of the               "diligently and circumspectly" in the light of the
sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline      Scriptures which is the true Church.
is exercised in punishing sin: in short, if all things are      Scripture's requirement to come out of the dead or
managed according to the pure Word of God, all                dying church is not a matter of minor importance.
things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ            First, the sovereign God requires" that He be


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205



worshipped in Spirit and in truth. Can or dare mere           harmony with and subservient to the Word of God.
creatures of the dust say to the Sovereign, "It does          They..must be observed by the Church according to
not matter how I worship, I can worship any way I             that Word of God and according to the institution of
want." God justly demands whole-hearted, holy                 Christ. Only then and in as far as the Church is
worship of His name. Those concerned: with their              obedient to the Word of Christ, will Christ speak His
calling will worship their God in the best possible           Word through the signs of the sacraments.
way. Secondly, such proper worship of `Jehovah is               This same idea comes to the fore in the third mark
more easily possible in the Church which is faithful to       of the true Church: the exercise of Christian
God's Word, for God's Word is the food essential for          discipline. The keys of the kingdom are the power
the spiritual welfare of the child of God. The Word of        bestowed on the Church by Christ to open and to
God `purely preached is the food which feeds the              shut the kingdom of heaven. The keys represent
spiritual soul of the child of God. It nourishes it and       actual power over the consciences of men. It is an
causes its growth. To eat poisoned, adulterated, or           opening and shutting of the kingdom of heaven
watered-down food does not feed the soul. Rather,             within the consciences of men, so that they either
such -spiritual food either kills the soul or leaves it       rejoice to be within or are convinced of their being
malnourished. As man worries about his physical               outside the kingdom of Christ. This power is possible
body; making sure to have three square meals a day,           only when Christ Himself speaks and employs the
so must he care for his spiritual soul. Thirdly, this is a    keys of the kingdom. Therefore, also with this mark
matter of no little importance because of one's               of the true Church, it is only when and in as far as the
children. An individual may be able to live and exist         Church applies those keys of the kingdom according
spiritually outside of that Church which purely               to the Word of Christ in Scripture, that Christ
preaches the Word of God. But what about his                  Himself will work through the action of the Church
children? They grow up not knowing any better.                and speak His own Word of power.
They hear the adulterated Word preached and it
effects their spiritual life. Finally, this calling             Essentially, the preaching is the chief distinguishing
becomes more serious as we near the end of time.              mark for the other two marks which depend upon
This Paul brings out in II Timothy 3: 1, 5; 4:3, 4. We        and derive their power and efficaciousness from the
want; therefore, to join ourselves to that Church,            Word of Christ, which He speaks to His people.
which faithfully adheres to God's Word, with no               Therefore, although all three are distinguishing marks
carnal consideration prohibiting us from joining it,          of the true Church, it is safe to say that where there is
nor causing us to se$arate from it.                           pure preaching, there must also be proper
                                                              administration of the sacraments and the correct
  Let us now examine very carefully the three                 exercise of discipline. Where the Word is not
individual marks of the true Church. First of all, there      preached, there Christ is not present and where Christ
is the pure preaching of God's Word. The preaching is         is not present there is no Church. Therefore the pure
the proclamation of the gospel, authorized by Christ,         preaching of the Word is an infallible distinguishing
according to Scripture, performed by a minister and           mark of the true Church. Where the preaching of the
standing in the service of Christ. The Church alone           Word is corrupted, there the Church is corrupted and
can and may preach, It fulfills this calling through the      is moving in the direction of the false Church. The
ministry of the Word. The preacher as he is called and        child of God must seek that Church where the heart
sent by the Church is strictly bound to the Word of           of the preaching is the cross of Christ. For where
Christ as it is contained in the Scriptures. The pure         there is cross-preaching, there will be an emphasis on
proclamation of God's Word is wholly, dependent               total depravity, on the complete deliverance in Christ,
upon' and subservient to the Word which Christ                on the sanctified walk which is the fruit of Christ's
speaks. Therefore the preaching is powerful and               work within His people, etc. How do we determine
efficacious only because it is God through Christ who         where among the gatherings of this world Christ is?
speaks to the children of God, so that when they sit          Christ is where the truth of His Word is proclaimed.
under the pure preaching, they do not hear a                  Christ speaks where that pure Word is preached. The
minister, but they hear Christ speaking to them.              pure preaching is the all-important mark whereby we
Therefore, it is only when, and in as far as the Church       may distinguish the true church in the world.
proclaims the Word of God, and only the Word of
God,' that Christ will use the preaching to bring His           The fathers in the Belgic Confession say that this
own Word to His people.                                       true Church is easily known and distinguished from
                                                              the false church. There are some who say that a
   The second mark is the pure administration of the          Church is either completely true or it is completely
sacraments. In the administration of the sacraments;          false. This is not true. We must remember that in the
also, Christ is the chief subject. Therefore for them         many Church institutes there are varying degrees of
also to be purely administered they must be in                the manifestation of the three marks. An individual


206                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


congregation does not become false suddenly,                hypocrites, within that true congregation. But yet,
overnight, but only by stages in a process. We do not       that congregation stands four-square on the truth of
mean to minimize the sinfulness of the first                God's Word. At the same time that there is the line of
departure, however insignificant it may seem, for a         the true Church, historically there is another line: a
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. This is             line which runs parallel with it, representing the false
especially true today as we near the end of time when       church. Always historically this false church, as it is
any deformation is accentuated greatly. Gradually the       manifested in individual congregations, has been
Holy Spirit withdraws from the erring congregation,         present right along with the true Church. The false
taking with Him all the benefits of the true Church,        church has her own marks or distinguishing
so that in the end all of the truth is gone and all that    characteristics, cf. Belgic Confession, art. 29. A false
is left is false. That a congregation is not completely     congregation does not have the word of Christ there,
false or completely true is seen from the fact that in      and therefore because Christ is not there, it has no
the evaluation of the various churches of their time        believer within it. In a false congregation it can justly
the fathers in the Belgic Confession did not apply the      be said that there are NO believers, but it canNOT  be
verdict of sect to the churches existent at that time,      said that in a true Church there are no  UNbelievers.
eg. Lutheranism. Even though the language of the              Now then, between the two lines of the true and
article of faith indicates a strong aversion to Roman       false church, as they exist historically, there are many
Catholic congregations, yet the baptism of those            other congregations and denominations. Those
congregations has been and still is recognized as valid     congregations which are neither completely true nor
by Reformed congregations. Look at what John                completely false are on the road of apostasy, for once
Calvin said of Rome under the leadership of the pope.       they' stood in the line of the true Church, but as soon
"Hence it appears that we by no means deny that             as they adopted one single doctrine apart from the
Churches may exist, even under his (the pope's  -           Word of God, they left the line of that true Church.
RVO) tyranny; but he has profaned them by                   And once they leave that line, they are on an
sacrilegious impiety, afflicted them by cruel               inevitable road which leads down to the false. It is
despotism, corrupted and almost terminated their            always a down-hill road because of the presence of
existence by false and pernicious doctrines, like           sin. It may take a long time to reach the end of the
poisonous potions; in such Churches, Christ lies half       road of apostasy, which is the false church, but
buried, the gospel is suppressed, piety exterminated        nevertheless it is inevitable. It is always a down-hill
and the worship of God almost abolished; in a word,         road because the leaven of false doctrine permeates
they are altogether in such a state of confusion, that      the whole lump of the truth slowly, but surely. Those
they exhibit a picture of Babylon, rather than of the       drifting to the false church are true only in so far as
holy city of God. To conclude, I affirm that they are       they manifest the three marks of the true Church.* In
Churches, in as much as God has wonderfully                 the light of Scripture, we cannot say that there is one
preserved among them a remnant of His people,               true Church and all kinds of false churches. First of
though miserably despised and dejected, and as there        all, we have the word of Christ in Revelation 2 and 3,
still remain some marks of the Church, especially           where Christ is speaking to the seven congregations in
those, the efficacy of which neither the craft of the       Asia-Minor. Christ calls them Churches, true
devil, nor the malice of men can ever destroy."             Churches, which have defects from which they must
(Institutes, IV, 2)                                         repent or die. Thus Christ shows that those true
  Would it then be better to speak of one true              Churches which have defects are on the road of
Church and all kinds of false churches, i.e., to the        apostasy to destruction because they have those
extent that they have forsaken the marks of the true        defects within them. Secondly, consider also the
Church? The manifestation of the Body of Christ, in         nation of Israel during the time of the reign of Ahab.
this world, in institutional form, cannot be equated        Several times in the Scriptural narrative of the history
with `any ONE congregation or denomination. Nor             of that nation from Jeroboam until Ahab, we read
can it be equated with ALL congregations or ALL             that each succeeding king did that which was evil in
denominations. From the beginning of time until the         the sight of God, more than all that were before him.
end, there is a line which runs through history: the        Therefore things steadily progressed downhill for
line of the true Church. Always in history there is the     Israel from a spiritual viewpoint. But yet, when Elijah
true Church, which bears the three marks. A                 was ready to throw up his hands in despair, God tells
congregation which exists on that line upholds the          him that there is a remnant of 7,000 who have not
three marks, and has for its doctrine all the truth of      bowed the knee to Baal. That remnant to which God
God's Word which has been developed up to that time.        referred was in the nation of Israel, not in Judah.
But that congregation, though it be on the line of the        Because of this constant downhill road from the
true Church, is not a perfect Church as far as its          true to the false the command for continual
members are concerned. There are sinners, as well as


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               207


reformation is always in order. Even he who says that      which is asked of those who make public confession
he is a member of the best manifestation of the pure       of their faith. Everyone must be, in his own
marks has the calling continually to examine the           consciousness, convinced that he belongs to the best
truth and compare his congregation with that truth.        manifestation of the pure marks of the true Church.
  Now then, how can the fathers in the Belgic              If he is able to join a better manifestation of those
Confession say that the true Church is easily known        marks, he must do so or become guilty of cooperating
and distinguished from the false? First, because God       in evil and helping the false church.
has given us a clear and infallible standard by which         Nor does he who is a member of the Church which
the true Church can be known and distinguished.            he believes to be the best manifestation of the marks
That `standard is His holy Word. Secondly, every           imagine that no one will be saved outside of the
believer, as a member of the body of Christ, has the       particular church or congregation in which he has his
Spirit as the Spirit of truth abiding within his heart.    membership. Heaven is larger than any congregation
Thus he can discern what is true and what is false.        or denomination. Nevertheless he abhors all
  What is our calling with respect to the true             departures from the truth and refuses to go along
Church? The Church in its organized form, both             with any individual congregation or denomination
congregational and denominational, must always             that is moving in the direction of apostasy and
engage in testing its doctrine and life in the light of    falsehood. We all have the calling to bind ourselves to
the marks of the true Church. There is always the          that Church in which we "diligently and
command to continual reformation, which must be            circumspectly discern from the Word of God" to be
obeyed.                                                    the true Church, i.e., that congregation which best
                                                           manifests the pure marks of the true Church.
  Our calling as individuals is to join that
congregation which is the best manifestation of the
body of Christ. Let no one say that, it is not                *I do not think that it is really correct to speak of the true Church
                                                           as the PUREST manifestation of the marks. If something is pure, it is
important; that it is only a difference  of'degree. To     pure. There is no comparative or superlative for the word "pure".
depart from the truth to any degree is a sin that,         Notice that the Belgic Confession does not use the term "pure" in
unless repented of, will be visited by punishment.         application to the manifestation of the three marks of the true Church.
This punishment in time is the gradual withdrawal of       It speaks of the Church as being either true or false. But the confession
                                                           does speak of the marks of the preaching of the Word and of the
the Holy Spirit. Each individual child of God must be      administration of the sacraments as being pure. Then, to distinguish
able to say that the Church of which he is a member        between the various congregations which exist it would be more correct
best manifests the three marks of the true Church.         to speak of them as manifestations or revelations, better or worse, more
                                                           or less, of the pure marks. There are, then, different degrees of the
This is exactly the meaning of the  first question         manifestation of the pure marks of the true Church.




ALL AROUND US

                                                  ProJ: H. Hanko

                               Women Offcebearers- A Response

   A few issues ago, I commented in this column on a          He told me in our personal conversation and wrote
news, item concerning the fact that Mrs. M. Rienstra,      in  De Wachter  that there was misunderstanding on
a student at Calvin Seminary, was available for            this point. He conveyed the following information.
preaching during the summer months. The news item          Women seminary students must take part in summer
said that additional information was available from        field work as well as other students, but this is with
Rev. Geleynse, who was in charge of student                the exception of "speaking an edifying word". Mrs.
preaching at the Seminary. I concluded that this           Rienstra made herself available for preaching on her
indicated that the preaching of Mrs. Rienstra had          own without the knowledge and consent of the
Seminary approval. Apparently this was not true.           Seminary. In fact, the Seminary does not make it a
   Rev. W. Haverkamp has commented on this matter          policy to give consent to preach. Further, Rev.
in  De Wachter,  and I spoke with Rev. `Haverkamp          Geleynse had, on his own and without the knowledge
personally during intermission at Calvin's annual          of the Seminary, offered information concerning Mrs.
rendition of "The Messiah" in the Civic Auditorium.        Rienstra to those who were interested in her


208                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


preaching, and this action was disappoved of by the        was asked "to charge its study committee on Women
Curatorium.                                                in Ecclesiastical Office to give specific consideration
  Hence, Rev. Haverkamp assures his readers that           to the distinction between licensure and ordination,
this is  not  a first step in the ordination of women      and exhorting and preaching, as this distinction may
ministers in the Christian Reformed Church.                bear on the place of women in the seminary's field
                                                           education." (Acts of Synod, pp. 28, 29.) This
We are glad to correct this and, set the record            recommendation was adopted by Synod. What this
straight on the matter. However, whether this is the       committee will finally recommend and what the
end of the matter remains to be seen. In the Report        Synod will finally do remains to be seen.
of the Board of Trustees of Calvin Seminary, Synod

                                     Growth Of Private Schools

  There is evidence that the growth of private             kind of mass conformity in which the citizenry act
schools continues unabated in this country. New            more like puppets or robots than individuals who do
private schools are constantly being b&and existing        their own thinking and who weigh government policy
private schools are increasing their enrollment.           intelligently. And all this is a necessary step in the
The reason for this is not. necessarily a growing          direction of the establishment of a government which
interest in religious education; it is more an evidence    is absolutely supreme in the lives of its citizens.
of disillusionment with existing public schools. There       Private schools stand in the way of all this. In
are many reasons why people are no longer satisfied        private schools education can still be given which is
with public schools. Some of these reasons are the         different from the education in public schools in
following. Most public schools are very careful in         important respects. It can be education where the
administering any type of corporal punishment, and         bland and colorless "religion" of the public schools is
many schools do not use such punishment at all. The        counteracted. It can be education where children are
courts of the land `have sharply curtailed actions         taught to think for themselves and not to allow
which once were taken for granted in the public            others in high office to think for them. It can be
school systems. Traditional public pr,ayers and Bible      education where discipline is preserved in greater
reading have been banned. Students are not required        measure than in the public school systems. All these
to participate in the pledge of allegiance to the flag.    things are desirable in this land which is supposed to
Schools are limited in their right to suspend or expel     recognize the rights of minorities and which has
students who have flagantly disobeyed' the rules of the    guaranteed freedom in important areas of life.
school or made themselves obnoxious by their                 The difficulty is that it takes a lot of money to
conduct. The control of the administration is sharply      operate private schools, and the government is
curtailed in matters of student dress. Racially            increasingly placing the total burden for their support
integrated schools have created serious problems of        on the parents who send their children there. It is
discipline in many cases, and schools sometimes            difficult, to say the least, for parents in our affluent
border on anarchy in the halls.                            age to pay money for education when free education
In several respects, this is an interesting develop-       is readily available to them. Whether people are suffi-
ment. This is especially true from the viewpoint           ciently disillusioned with public schools to continue
of the development of a nation of absolute con-            to pay such large sums of money as costs continue to
formity. The public school system  `has become a           soar remains a question. We are inclined to think that,
mighty instrument in the hands of the government to        in the final analysis, it will take deep principles to
promote the views of those who are in power. It has        keep these schools operating in the face of rising costs.
become an instrument, for the establishment of an          And finally, only those who are committed to  cov-
atheistic religion based on evolutionism. It has           enantal education in the truth of the Scriptures will
become a vehicle to bring about in this country a          continue to support such schools.

                                         Persecution In Russia

  A recent issue of  Christianity Today  carried a         of rather wholesale persecution of all churches and
rather lengthy article on persecution within Russia. It    believers who will not permit themselves or their
spoke of a number of actual cases of persecution           churches to be mere stooges of the government. The
which have come to the attention of people and             article spoke of the many forms this persecution
organizations in the West. But it also made mention        takes. Sometimes leaders of the churches are jailed,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        209


sentenced to hard labor, tortured and killed. It told              Another African nation has imposed a reign of
of forced injections of drugs, of searches, of heavy            terror on its citizens and, as in the case of Chad
fines and confiscation. It told of authorities who              currently and Burundi earlier, suffering is especially
confiscate all the possessions of those who are unable          intense among Christian believers. One-fourth of the
immediately to pay fines levied against them, and of            308,000 citizens of the tiny West African Republic of
how these possessions are sold to passersby. It told of         Equatorial Africa are in exile, tens of thousands have
the confiscation of children who are then shipped off           been murdered, most of the parliament members
to state institutions for atheistic indoctrination. It          elected in 1968 have disappeared, and the prisons are
told of believers who are incarcerated in psychiatric           overflowing according to an investigative report in
wards and treated as insane. It told of efforts put             One World. . . .
forth : to confiscate printing plants which are used to            The country is 98 per cent nominally Christian,
print Bibles, Psalters, Hymnbooks, religious                    mainly Roman Catholic, with strong Methodist and
pamphlets and the like. The article speaks at length of         Presbyterian churches (the latter has about 10,000
one religious leader who has been twice imprisoned              communicants). Since 1968 most of the foreign
and whose health is completely destroyed. His four              missionaries have been expelled, and "the local clergy
children have signed a statement which asserts that             have been put under increasing pressure, including
their mother was fired from her job because of her              imprisonment and torture," says the report.
religious beliefs, that one daughter was fired from a              Additional information came from the Swiss
hospital job because religion and medicine are                  League for Human Rights, which says Christians are
incompatible, and closes with a statement; "If our              being harassed in an atmosphere of  "mihtant
father is not released and if measures are taken in             atheism." Church buildings have been confiscated,
prison which threaten his life, then know you that              church leaders prevented from travelling, and special
our entire family is filled with resolve to die alongside       permits required for church meetings, asserts the
                                                                league.
him. This we make known to you and believers
around the world."                                                 One World  says a recent presidential decree
                                                                requires priests and ministers to read a message
  Many of those who are persecuted have brought                 extolling President  Macias at every worship service,
their plight to the attention of leaders in the Kremlin;        and every church building in the land to display his
but they have gone further and informed leaders and             portrait.
organizations in the West of their suffering. Some                                   *****
appeals have been addressed to the World `Council of
Churches, but this organization has refused to act out         In Spain, on the other hand, Protestants who have
of fear of offending the Russians who are members of         long suffered persecution from Roman Catholics,
it. Some appeals have gone to the United Nations, but        who constitute 99% of the population, are enjoying
this organizationhas yet to do anything about it.            greater freedom than ever before. Spain itself is
  It is well for us who still enjoy a great measure of       undergoing changes economically and politically, and
freedom of religion to remember these saints in other        these changes seem to be reflected in the religious
lands `who suffer persecution for the name of Christ.        scene. The 1953 Concordat between Spain and the
Their suffering is acute, and they know: far better          Vatican is still in force, however. The first article of
than we what it means to be faithful unto death. We          this Concordat reads: "The Catholic Apostolic
must remember them in our prayers daily.                     Roman religion will continue to be the sole religion
                       *****                                 of the Spanish nation and will enjoy the right and
                                                             prerogatives which are due it in conformity with the
  In other articles  in  this same issue,  Christianity      Divine Law and the Canon Law." Nevertheless, there
Today informs us that this same persecution is being         is a growing  tendency to leave the Concordat
carried on in some African Countries. One article            unenforced and to give Protestants the freedom of
which speaks of this persecution reads:                      religion they have long sought.



                                Know the standard and follow it.

                               Read the STANDARD BEARER!


  210                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  FROM HOLY WRIT
                               Exposition of Hebrews 12:3b,4
            - -
                                                     Rev. G. Lubbers

     Constantly the writer has a practical aim in mind in      form of persecution. They had not yet stood where
  writing to the Hebrew Christians. The danger is that         the Lord places us when he says "Fear not those who
  they will lose heart and courage and give up in the          can kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both
  mighty battle against the sin of unbelief which denies       body and soul in hell." (Matt. 10: 28)
  Jesus the Messiah. They must, therefore, look away             In the fear and complaining there is, therefore,
  to Jesus, study the Scriptures, give heed to the             flesh and a sinful cleaving to this life which must be
  testimony of God concerning His Son, mark well the           pointed out. They are impatient and they do not see
  intensity of the battle of "sinners" against the Christ      their sufferings sufficiently in the light of the
  of God. He endures the contradiction of sinners              pedagogical dealings of the Father of lights. Their
  qgainst  Himself!                                            striving must be  against sin!  Yes, this is a mighty
     This is the only antidote against becoming weary,         conflict. It is a battle even unto death. It is the
  tired, worn down and threadbare in their souls. It is       mighty battle of the ages, the enmity between the
  the constant barrage of sinners which these saints          seed of the serpent and the seed of the Woman. The
  have to endure. That is why they are in need of             great cloud of witnesses looks on and the angels
  patience, and more strength of patient waiting for the      behold in rapt attention, and the Father's eye sees us
  Lord. They may not become despondent in their               and His ear is attentive to our cry of "How long, 0
  hearts at all due to labor and weariness. They must         Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
  hft up their heads. Satan would wear out the saints         our blood on them that dwell on earth?" (Rev. 6: 10)
  by wearing them down physically, mentally and                  They had not yet endured unto blood. Things
' spiritually. If only the saints can be so enfeebled that    could be much worse. They must not blow up and
  they stumble and fall and succumb to his wiles. They        exaggerate their sufferings either, and have a false
  may not faint. (Gal.  6:9; Matt.  15:32) Hence, look        persecution-complex or bathe themselves in self-pity.
  away from all else unto Jesus and see his mortal and        The ultimate price is a striving against sin which is
  victorious conflict with contradicting sinners.             unto blood. Now no one knowingly and willingly
                                                              courts a martyr's death in sound spiritual life. Such
  THE ULTIMATE OF STRIVING AGAINST SIN                        was the sickly attitude of some in Church History.
  NOT YET ENDURED (Hebrews 12:4)                              The thought behind such seeking of martyrdom was
   The LORD reminds Jeremiah too that he has not              that this would be a kind of heroic death which
  yet endured the extreme of the suffering for the sake       would pay for their sins and merit a higher place in
  of the LORD as prophet. Says He, "If thou hast run          glory. The writer here to the Hebrews is not
  with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then          advocating a death "by blood"; he only means to tell
  how canst thou contend with the horses? and if in the       the readers that they have not yet paid the ultimate
  land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied         price of striving against sin. When they will see this
  thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of              they will confess to their shame, that they should run
  Jordan?" This is Divine pedagogy to call a weary and        their race which God has set before them in patience,
  harried warrior to his senses and to give him a heart       and not become faint and weary in their souls. We see
  of courage for. the coming battles, after having passed     here that the Lord's way of correcting us is by telling
  through difficult battles before. Here we have a bit of     us the truth as it is, correcting us as the Father of
  chastening of the Lord for Jeremiah, the weeping            spirits that we may live.
  prophet, during the time of Judah's  ,deportation to
  Babylon, when he must meet the fierce opposition of         THE CONSOLATION (EXHORTATION) WHICH
  reprobate sinners, who reject the Word of the LORD.         SPEAKETH TO US AS TO SONS (Hebrews 12:5,6)
  And so it is with the writer as he addresses the               It is for our very life's sake that we must bear in
  Hebrews. They had, indeed, suffered much already            mind the exhortations and consolations of the
  for the sake of Christ and the Gospel of free grace         LORD. Our spiritual bewilderment is never due to a
  and sovereign love. They have been deprived of their        lack of clarity on the part of the Word of God. The
  goods, thrown into prison, scorned and derided for          Lord does not come to us in the mutterings and
  the sake of Jesus, whom they loved; yet, with all this,     peepings  of the false prophets. (Isaiah 8: 19) The
  they had not yet suffered the extreme and ultimate          people of God, the true sons should seek unto their


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                211


God and to His Word. And that is what the writer to         further elucidation and explanation of the thought.
the Hebrews does here. He causes the readers, the           The correction is in the chastening as the desired
Hebrews and us, to listen to what God has spoken; we        effect and fruit. However, we must be able to stand
must heed his "consolation" in all our troubles.            this and not faint. For we faint when we reject the
  The writer quotes from Prov. 3: 11 to point out the       reproof and chastening of the Lord. Here you have
Lord's consolation, His exhortation. Now this               the finest bit of spiritual psychiatry possible. It
exhortation is very peculiar in nature; it is one that      analyzes the matter of spiritual depression and shows
should be seen as a very particular consolation to          up all the monkey-business of would-be advisers in
God's sons. Wherefore the text adds  (heetis  humin         the field of soul-care in the church. We must not
hoos hiuois  dialegetail   which (is of such a nature)      listen to these mutterers and peepers, these wizards of
that it speaks to you as to sons. We are addressed in       deception. We must return to the law and to the
the qualification as being sons, which stand in a           prophets. Else there will be no dawn in the soul of
peculiar relationship to the Father who addresses us.       the weary saints. For much spiritual depression is
When this parent-child relationship is detected in this     down-right sinful and rebellious against the Fatherly
address then we are consoled as a child of the              dealings of the chastisements of God in His church.
heavenly Father.                                            The heavenly Father does not spoil His children by
  We, ought to try to understand this just a bit more       sparing the rod of affliction; He causes this to
in depth. The Father in thus speaking to us meets us        accompany His Word!
on our level as sons, yet he does not lower Himself to
our level. This is not a dialogue between equals, but it      And the deepest and purest motive of God, the
is the Father speaking to us in such a way that  He         Father of Spirits is at stake. We must not ascribe evil
mingles thought with thought; He argues, discourses,        to the Most High. In his heights of faith Job declares
warn's, teaches us and gives us the truth in                overagainst his wife's evil words "But he said unto
propositional form, applying the same by His Spirit         her, Thou speaketh as one of the foolish women
to our hearts! He speaks with Fatherly authority and        speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of
concern to us His sons; it is Fatherly concern for our      God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not
benefit. And what the heavenly Father says here in          Job sin with his lips". (Job 2: 10) For even. in this
Proverbs 3: 11 is a word which is "relevant" to our         "evil" the LORD is good to us. He was thus to Job.
needs. And all the spiritual children acknowledge this      The Lord's ways are in the holy place in His dealings
too. It is the flesh in us which rebels, and will not       with Job. He will shut the mouth of Satan concerning
acknowledge that this word of the Father fits exactly       Job's reason for obeying God. But to do so He sends
with our needs, and, of course, the bastard `sons in the    affliction in the life of this; sinful-saint. And the
church will always contradict this word of the Father,      outcome proves that Job loves the Lord, and that the
as hardened and unconverted sinners. Of the latter          LORD truly dealt with Job in love.
the writer will have some more to say.      1                 And this dealing with Job on the part of the Lord
  But the writer is concerned with the sons of God,         is not a mere isolated and exceptional case. Thus the
the Father of spirits, that they may live!, Writes the      LORD deals with every son which he loves. He
Spirit in Proverbs 3 : 11, "My son,  despise  not the       chastises every son whom he loves. That is not some
chastening of the LORD". The term for `fdespise" in         wishful, sentimental thinking, but it is the grandeur
the Hebrew is "maas" which means: to reject, as the         of the dealing of the Father of spirits. And that is
very opposite of to choose. It is used of men rejecting     divine consolation in its own right. The Lord has a
God and His precepts (I Samuel  15:23; II Kings             great delight in His children. The Hebrew text
17: 15 ; Amos 2:4) To reject the consolation of the         emphasizes this and reads "every son in whom He
LORD is disastrous and fatal. One cannot despise the        delighteth". This is the divine delight in which the
instructions of the Father with impunity. Here we           Father accepts the son as His own. And of this son He
must not despise the "chastening" of the Lord. This         is going to make a man, fully perfected in holiness.
chastening here is not simply some correcting in              This is a teaching and a beautiful consideration
general, but refers to the peculiar correcting which a      which the readers in the book of Hebrews need. It is
father does toward his children. Hence, this is called      exactly what must gird them up and check their
in  the Greek text  "paideias".   It is a correction of     sinking spirits. It is the only tonic which can give
children, which intends to lead to wisdom,                  them spiritual vigor and power once more to stand in
instruction and knowledge. To underscore that this          the battle, resisting sin. Thus they can have their head
correction of children often is painful for them, the       above the storm-clouds that gather about them, and
text goes on to say "neither faint when thou art            they will go and be placed upon the rock that is
reproved of him". Now that was a very good                  higher than they until all the battles are fought, and
explanation of the chastening on the former sentence.       finally the race is run, and they can receive the crown
In the Hebrew parallelism of Proverbs 3 : 11 this is a      of life forevermore.


212                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


THE ~~I~EOF~URFATHERS

                         The Canon Of The Holy Scriptures

                                                   Prof: Robert D. Decker

              "We believe that the Holy Scriptures are contained in two books, namely, the Old and New Testament,
           which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged. These are thus named in the Church of God. The
           books of the Old Testament are, the five books of Moses, viz.: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
           Deuteronomy; the, books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the two books of Samuel, the two of the Rings, two
          books of Chronicles, commonly called Paralipomenon, the first of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, the Psalms
           of David, the three books of Solomon, namely, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; the four
           great prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; and the twelve lesser prophets, namely,  Hosea, Joel,
           Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
             Those of the New Testament are the four evangelists, viz.: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; the Acts of the
          Apostles; the fourteen epistles of the apostle Paul, viz.: one'to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to
          the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians,
          two to Timothy, one to Titus,  ,one to Philemon, and one to the Hebrews; the seven epistles of the other
          apostles, namely, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; and the Revelation of the apostle
          John."
                                               Article IV, The Belgic Confession

  We may note at the  outset  that, this article and                N o t e w o r t h y   i s   t h e   f a c t   t h a t   t h e   b o o k   o f
Article 5 are closely related.  In' Article 4 the                   Lamentations was omitted from the list. No doubt
Reformed Churches state which books they believe to                 the reason is that this book was included under
be the content of the Holy Scriptures. The main                     Jeremiah. The Psalms were ascribed to David, while
point of this article is an enumeration of those books              we know that he did not write all of them. This too is
which the Reformed Churches accept as constituting                  of no consequence in the light of the fact that the
the Holy Scriptures. With Article 5 the Reformed                    Church has always referred to the  Psalms as the
Churches state why they accept these books and                      Psalms of David. David after all was the human
these only as "holy and canonical, for the regulation,              instrument of the vast majority of the Psalms. Liberal
foundation, and confirmation of our' faith." Because                critics have made much of the fact that the creed
of this close relationship it is somewhat difficult to              ascribes Hebrews to the Apostle Paul. It is true that
discuss these articles separately. But this we shall                this is highly doubtful. A comparative study of the
attempt, limiting ourselves to the question of                      Greek of Hebrews and the Greek of the Pauline
"Canonicity" in this article and treating the reasons               Epistles would lead one to the conclusion that Paul
why the churches receive these books as "holy and                   did not write Hebrews. There is the fact, too, that
canonical" for the next article.                                    Paul mentions himself as the writer of his epistles but
There are several points which ought to be made                     there is no such mention made in the epistle to the
concerning the books of the Bible as listed in this                 Hebrews.
article. There is and- has been not a little criticism of              In spite of these objections and criticisms the
this list especially on the part of those who wish to               Reformed believer has no difficulty in subscribing to
revise the Reformed Creeds. While we have no                       this article of our confession. There are several rather
sympathy for this wish, we ought to face the                        obvious grounds for this conviction. First, none of
criticisms and objections to this article. The reader              these criticisms is of major import. What difference
will note that the books are listed in the order in                does it make whether one believes Paul to be the
which they appear in our Authorized King James                     human author of Hebrews or someone else? Second,
Version Bibles. The fact that this listing does not                none of these criticisms or objections affects in the
follow the order of the Hebrew Old Testament is of                 least any point of the doctrine of the Word of God.
no consequence. We may note too that the two books                 They have nothing to do with points of doctrine. And
of Chronicles were given the name "Paralipomenon".                 finally, these objections do not affect the main point
This term means "a brief passing over," and was                    or thrust of this article of the confession. The point
probably given to indicate that. the books of                      of this article is that these writings (irrespective of
Chronicles record events which are passed over in the              whom the Holy Spirit may have used to record them)
other historical books of the Old Testament.                       make up the two books of the Old and New


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       213



 Testaments which constitute the Holy Scriptures. It          5:9) he cannot mean his Second Epistle. There must
 certainly is not the intent of Article 4 to give the         have been another letter written to Corinth which we
 believer a detailed course in Biblical Introduction.         do not possess. The same apostle exhorts the
 Hence, while we admit the inaccuracies and                   Colossians to read the epistle from Laodicea (Col.
 omissions, we are not disturbed by them: for the             4: 16), which would indicate that he wrote an epistle
 truth remains both clearly stated and unscathed. And         to that church which we do not possess. For some
 the truth which we believe in our hearts and confess         this seems to present a problem. Suppose either or
 with our mouths is that these writings' and these            both of these should be found? Would they then be
 writings alone constitute the Holy Scriptures against        included in the Canon? Article 4 provides the answer.
 which nothing can be alleged.                                By testifying that these books listed in the creed
    These writings are said to be "canonical". The term       constitute the Holy Scriptures the Reformed believer
 "canon" is derived from the Greek and means                  means that the Canon is closed. Our position is that
 literally "a straight rod or bar, especially to keep a       God in His providence saw fit to preserve these
 thing straight." Sometimes the term is used to               books, and only these, throughout the ages and
 indicate that the Scriptures are considered to be the        entrust them to His Church. If others were needed by
 Word: of God as measured and accepted by .the church         the church, the Lord certainly would have preserved
 under the guidance of .the Holy Spirit. The term is          them. Hence the sacred writings which we have are
 also used figuratively with reference to the Scriptures.     the whole Word of God, the holy and divine
 In this sense it expresses the faith of the church that      Scriptures "which are able to make thee wise unto
 the writings incorporated in the Bible are to be received    salvation." (II Tim. 3 : 15) We need no others.
 as authoritative for the faith and life of the child of          When Article 4 states that "the Holy Scriptures are
 God. For reasons which will become obvious in our            contained in two books, namely, the Old and New
 exposition of Article 5 we prefer this latter meaning.       Testament, which are canonical, against which
 All truth is to be found only in the Word of God and         nothing can be alleged" it certainly implies that the
 all things are to be done and judged according to            Old Testament is of equal value and authority with
 these holy and canonical Scriptures. Thus the Apostle        the New. This may seem self-evident, but it does need
 Paul used the word, "And as many as walk according           saying. The authority of the Old Testament is under
 to this rule, (canon) peace be on them, and mercy,           vicious attack in our time. Liberals say it presents a
 and upon the Israel of God." (Gal. 6: 16) There need         "low view" of God which the modern man has long
 be, therefore, no debate or theological discussion           since outgrown by his more spiritual insights. The God
 conc'erning  t h e "nature and extent of Biblical            of the Old Testament is said to be a ruthless, hating
 authority." Within the context of the Belgic                 tyrant, while the God of the New Testament is said to
 Confession this is not a debatable issue. The writings       be a God of love. Besides the attack of the liberals
 listed in this article constitute the Holy Scriptures.       t h e r e   i s   t h e   f a c t   t h a t   c e r t a i n   s t r a i n s   o f
 They' are of divine origin, according to Article 3. And      fundamentalism and dispensationalism have little to
 for this reason the authority is absolute. It is the rule    do with the Old Testament. The Old Testament,
 of God Himself which is expressed in the Scriptures.         according to these, concerns the "Kingdom people,"
 This is the authority of Him with whom we all have           the nation of Israel. Apart from wild speculation
 to do. It covers all of that which we believe and it is      concerning the fulfilment of prophecy, these find no
 determinative of our walk of life. This is, as we hope       significance in the Old Testament for the "church" of
 to see, the testimony of the Bible itself which "the         the new dispensation. On the basis of our creed we
 very blind are able to perceive." (Art. 5)                   confess that both are of equal value and authority. It
   There are two significant implications which flow          is true that the Old is fulfilled in the New, and the
 out of this assertion of Article 4. The first is that the    New marks the end of the age of shadows, types, and
 Reformed churches consider the Canon to be closed.           promise. Nonetheless, we honor them equally as
These, and these books only, make up the Canon of             divine and inspired Scripture. Both are infallible, and
 the Word of God. There are no other books which              against both "nothing can be alleged". Without the
 may be added to the Bible. There has been no little          New the Old Testament remains  imcomplete, but
 discussion among theologians on this point, especially       without the Old the New Testament becomes largely
 in recent years. This has resulted from recent               unintelligible. The church must preach both
 archaeological discoveries such as the Dead Sea scrolls      testaments in order not to "shun to declare . . . the
 and the so-called Gospel according to St. Thomas.            whole counsel of God." (Acts  20:27) Both of these
 Others are concerned about what have been called             books are essential to the believer's understanding
 "the lost books of the Bible". When, for example, the        and enjoyment of the grace of God which is in Christ
 apostle Paul writes to Corinth, "I wrote unto you in         Jesus. They speak of the same salvation "by grace
 an epistle not to company with fornicators:" (I Cor.         through faith in Christ Jesus". (Eph. 2:8)


214                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  This we believe in our hearts and confess with our         inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
mouths concerning the Canon of the Holy Scriptures           reproof, for correction, for instruction in
against which nothing can be alleged. May God give           righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect,
;us grace, then, to search the treasures of His holy and     throughly furnished unto all good works." (II Tim.
,divine Word daily, for; "All Scripture is given by          3:16, 17)




                                       Book Reviews

Commentaar Op Het Oude Testament, Genesis, Dee1              commentators. It makes many references to heathen
I,  door Dr. W. H. Gispen; J. H. Kok, Kampen, The            mythology, as, for example, in connection with the
Netherlands; 391 pages,  $59,90 (Dutch money).               flood. Generally speaking,' the commentary is
(reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                           conservative. Thus, for example, in connection with
                                                             Genesis 1:5 Dr. Gispen writes (I translate): "There is
  This is another volume in an extensive series of           no single ground to think of anything else than a day
commentaries on the Old Testament. The value of              of 24 hours."
these commentaries is, of course, very limited in our           My only criticism of a negative nature is that the
country, due to the fact that only those who are able        author does not furnish very much in the way of
to read Dutch can use them. Besides, these are not           positive exegesis of the text. There seems to be so
intended to be popular commentaries. They are                much attention paid to matters of language,
highly technical and useful only to those who can            translation, and the views of others that there is very
follow the Hebrew language.                                  little room left for any extensive explanation of the
  This first volume covers the first eleven chapters of      sacred narrative.
Genesis in 391 pages. This commentary deals very                Nevertheless, for those who are able to read Dutch
carefully and technically with the language and              and to handle the Hebrew language, I recommend this
translation of the text. It is replete with references to    volume as an excellent and helpful addition to your
the opinions and comments of many other                      library.





Concise Dictionary  of  Religious Quotations,  by              This volume, too, could be helpful. However, there
William Neil, Ed.; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,           are certain things which detract from its usefulness.
Grand Rapids,  Mich. 214  pages; $7.95, cloth.               One of these is the fact that all quotations from
(Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                           Scripture are taken from the  New English Bible.
                                                             Worse, however, is the fact that the term "Religious"
  This is a rather attractively printed book, and it is      in the title is taken in the broadest.sense of that term:
thoroughly indexed both as to sources and subjects.          this book does not contain quotations only from
Many speakers and writers like to  :make use of a            Scripture or from Christian ,writers, but from Jewish,
choice quotation in connection with their subject,           Mohammedan Hindu, Buddhist, and outright secular
either by way of introduction or by `way of support          sources as well. Generally speaking, the choice of
or explanation of some position which they are               quotations, even from Christian writers, would not be
setting forth. Personally, I do not do this very often.      mine. As one example of this, I mention the fact that
But this is a matter of taste. And, for those who            John Calvin is conspicuous by his absence from this
follow such a practice, a kind of dictionary of              book.
quotations is. of course, a helpful volume.                    This book is of limited usefulness.


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     215


                                      News From Our Churches
                          January 14, 1975                                  Word of God in John 3: 16."
   Following Rev. Woudenberg's decline of the call                             Prof. and Mrs. Hoeksema were in Forbes, N.D. for
from Kalamazoo, the Con&tory  there formed a new                            part of the Christmas vacation period, to visit their
trio, this one consisting of Revs. C. Hanko, M.                             son and daughter-in-law, and, of course, their first
Kamps, and H. Veldman.                                                      grandson - Stephen Mark, son of Rev. and Mrs. Mark
                              *****                                         Hoeksema. The Professor took advantage of his stay
   The time of the evening worship services of our                          there, to preach and deliver that lecture in the
South Holland Church has been changed, as of                                Forbes' Protestant Reformed Church on December
January 12, to 6:00 P.M. Sunday visitors to that part                       27. The little church held on that evening
of Illinois will probably want to bear that in mind.                        approximately fifty people, several of whom came
                              *****                                         from as far away as fifty and sixty miles. After the
                                                                            speech,- the audience was invited for coffee to the
   A rather interesting letter from Covenant Christian                      home of one of the members of the congregation.
High School was distributed in our Grand Rapids'                            Nearly twenty people took up the invitation and
area churches early in January. The letter concerned                        enjoyed the opportunity to question the speaker and
the possibility of holding adult education' classes at                      discuss matters related to the speech. All in all, we're
Covenant. The purpose of the letter was to                                  told, it was a very interesting evening.
determine, by means of a form to be filled out and
submitted to the school, the degree of interest in such                        On his way back to Grand Rapids, Prof. Hoeksema
classes. It was suggested that courses such as Ancient                      stopped in Randolph for a short visit, preaching the
Church History, painting, beginning astronomy,                              afternoon service there on December 29. The
conversational German, etc., could be offered in                            preceding Sunday, incidentally, Randolph's pastor
evening and/or summer daytime classes, which would                          had the privilege of administering the sacrament of
be taught, presumably, by members  of' the high                             baptism to his son, born December 2, the fifth child
school faculty. It will be interesting to learn how all                     in the Bekkering home.
that turns out.                                                                By the way, have you ever seen Randolph's 1974
                             *****                                          Chuch Directory? Its cover pictures their new church
  Advance notice was given, in an Isabel, S.D.                              building, and the contents include, in addition to the
bulletin, to the public lecture held "on the 27th of                        usual listing of names, addresses, and phone numbers,
December at 8:00 in our sister church in Forbes.                            a group picture of the consistory, as well as two full
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema will be the featured speaker                           pages devoted to small pictures, taken by a
who will speak on .the subject of `God's Sovereign                          professional photographer, of each of the families
Love for the World' as that truth is based on the                                                                            ( continued on back page )




                      ANNOUNCEMENT                                                                         NOTICE!!!
   An Office-bearers Conference is being planned to be held on March           Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet, the
4, 1975 at the South Holland Protestant Reformed `Church. The               Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois, on March 5, 1975, at  8:30 A.M.
Conference will begin at 9:00 a.m.                                          Material for the Agenda should be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
                                                                            thirty  (30) days before  Classis convenes. Delegates in need of lodging
   The subject of the Conference will be the work of thedeacons, with       or transportation from the airport should notify the clerk of the South
the emphasis on seeking specific areas for improvements. Two papers         Holland consistory.
are being prepared and will soon be distributed, which will serve as the
basis for discussion for both the morning and afternoon sessions.                                  Rev. David Engelsma,
   As many deacons as possible are urged to attend as well as other                                Stated Clerk of  Classis West
interested persons. Each one is responsible for his own travel
arrangements and expenses, however lodging will be provided during
the Conference.

   If you are planning to attend, please contact the clerk of the South
Holland consistory as soon as possible so that meals and lodging can be
arranged.

                    For the Committee,
                    Rev. Wayne Bekkering

South Holland's Clerk:
                    Mr. John Flikkema
                    2339 184th St.
                    Lansing, Illinois 60438


                                  .----   -~~~
 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
        P.O. Box 6064                                                                                                     POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan  49506                                                                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





 216


 which make up the Randolph congregation. A very
 attractive directory!                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                          *s****                                       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, inc.
                                                                          Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Raoids. Mich.
 Several months ago I jotted down a few notes                  Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
 concerning the 1974 Young People's Convention, and            Department Editors:  Prof. Robert  D: Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
                                                                    Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev.  Cornelms  Hanko. Prof. Herman Hanko,
 since that time I've never been able to find room to               Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering,  R.ev.
                                                                    Dale H. Kuiper, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schippsr, Rev.
 include it in this column. It's already too old to be         Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman
                                                               Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
 called news, I suppose, but I think I'll slip it in here                                4975  lvanrest  Ave.  SW.
                                                                                         Grandville, Michigan 49418
' anyway, so that my previous efforts will not have            Church News Editor:                Mr. Donald Doezema
been for naught.                                                                                  1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
                                                               Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of
                                                               his own  articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers
   The 34th Annual Protestant Reformed Young                   and questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome. Contri-
                                                               butions will be limited to  aporoximately  300 words and must be neatly
 People's Convention was held during the week of               written or typewritten,  and.must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
                                                               and the fifteenth of the month. All communications relative to the
 August 1~1, on the campus of Dordt College in Sioux           contents should be sent to the editorial office.
 Center, Iowa. Many of the convention activities were          Reprint   PO/icy:   Permission Is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
                                                               cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
 held on the campus; and the campus dorms served as                 printed articles are reproduced  In full; b) that proper acknowledgement
                                                               is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint appears
 lodging place for the conventioneers. The host                is sent to our editorial office.
                                                               BUSineSS  office:  The Standard Bearer
 societies  (Doon, Edgerton, and Hull), under the                                        Mr. H. Vander Wal. Bus. Mar.
                                                                                         P .   0 .   B o x 6 0 6 4   '     -
 leadership of Revs. Moore, Lanting, and Kortering,                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
 respectively, obviously put a considerable amount of          Business Agent for Australasia:Mr.  Wm. van Rlj
                                                                                                            59 Kent Lodge Ave.
 time and effort into the planning of the convention                                                        Christchurch 4, New Zealand
                                                               Subscription Policy:  Subscription price, $7.00 per year ($5.00 for
 activities. The convention theme was, "Serving the            Australasia). Unless a definite request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                               is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue with-
 Lord with Gladness." The  fast of the convention              out the formality of a renewal order, and he will be billed for renewal.
                                                               If you have a change of address, please notify the Business Office as
 speeches was delivered by Rev. Heys, who spoke on             tearly as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed  deliv-
                                                               ,cry.-Include  your Zip Code.
 "Making a Joyful Noise." The second speaker was               advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                               advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
 Rev. Van Bar-en, whose topic was, "Serving the                anniversaries, obituaries,  .and sympathy resolutions  will be placed for a
                                                               $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office and should be
 Lord." The third speech was Prof. . Decker's, on              accompanied by the  .$3.00 fee. Deadline for announcements is the 1st
                                                               ,or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the 15th or the
 "Coming Before His Presence." There was also time                  1st respectively.
 set aside for discussion groups, as well as for the usual     ;%und Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders for
                                                               Ibound copies of the current volume: such orders are filled as soon as
 business meetings. Recreational activities included a         Ipossible after completion of a volume. A limited number of past  vol-
                                                                    .rmes may be obtained through the Business Office.
 hayride, swimming, and an apparently unscheduled
 pillow fight which raged throughout the dorm and                                                     0          0        0
 throughout the night (almost). Members of the three
 area congregations joined the conventioneers at a                                                     CONTENTS:
 pork barbecue ("two hogs on an open spit") at the
 football field across from Dordt.                             1[srael's Example of Unbelief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
                                                               r
 The Convention Booklet contained a greeting                        Ihe GKN and the Wiersinga Case - Sequel . . . . . . . . . . . ,196
 which began as follows: "Welcome, to the land of              illbout  Matthew 5:44-48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
                                                               `
 farms and cornfields, and the 1974 convention. We                  ,`Hyper Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel (7). . . . . . . .199
 hope that we may experience a true unity of                        TheTrueChurch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..20 3
 Christian youth and that serving the Lord with                7Women  Officebearers - A Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
 gladness may become more and more a part of our               (3rowth  of Private Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
 lives." In Hull's August 18 bulletin, Rev. Kortering          1?ersecution In Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
 wrote in retrospect concerning the convention, that           1Zxposition  of Hebrews  12:3b, 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
 "we believe it helped unite our Protestant Reformed           1The Canon of the Holy Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
 youth and through the means of serious discussions            i3ookReviews...................................214
 and practical speeches as well as fun activities, they        1\Tews  From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -215
 have been spiritually enriched."
                                                     D.D.     c-


