     ~ STANDARD
     :'  BEA,RER  :
f         A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





         -.  .  . the third generation is already at the stage of
       adulthood and is assuming increasingly an active
       role in the affairs of our churches. Already you will
       find several of that third generation among our
       ministers. You will find them among the elders and
       deacons in our churches. You will find  t them
       among the delegates to  classis and synod. And. you
       will, of course, find- a goodly number of them
       among our membership.
         And that also  ,implies, in the third place, that the
       fourth  generatio,n is already putting in its appear-
       ance. They are the babes in arms and the little
       children in our congregations.
         One generation passes, and  another~ rises to take
       i t s   p l a c e .
         And this constitutes food for thought as  we.
       contemplate our  50th Anniversary.
                                                   [See page  2681




                                          Volume LI, Number 12, March 15,  1975w


?66                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



MEDITA TIO N

       Christ's Remembrance Of The Malefactor
                                                                      Rev.  H.  Veldmarz             _
              "And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in
             Pava&se. `?                                                                                                  Luke  23:43

   How wonderful is the power of the cross of our                                    . one more thing: these malefactors were Jews.
Lord Jesus Christ! Thus this word of God must surely                                      Romans were not crucified. They knew about God;
be understood! It is a fruit of our Lord's first                                          they also realized that they stood upon the very brink
crossword, His plea for forgiveness. True, the                                            of hell. They knew what confronted them. A more
immediate fruit of that prayer was that the world was                                     appalling and hopeless situation is hardly conceivable.
not destroyed! This, however, is surely another fruit                                m      The word of Christ to the malefactor is surely far
of that amazing prayer, a manifestation of the                                            above his expectation. He recognized in the middle
wondrous power of Calvary.                                                                Sufferer Israel's King and Messiah. He also realized
   This word is strikingly and beautifully introduced                                     that his entrance into that kingdom was wholly
by the word, "Verily." Literally we read: "Amen, I                                        dependent upon that middle Sufferer. For the rest,
say unto thee." How contrary is this word to all                                     his petition is rather indefinite. What was his
which human eye can see! Imagine: this man will be                                        conception of that kingdom? When would he enter
with Christ in Paradise this day! How apparently                                          it? I assume that he conceived of this as occurring
impossible this is! How wonderful is the power of the                                     sometime in the future. And Jesus answers him that
cross!                                                                                    today he would be with Him in Paradise.
                                  *****                                                     One cannot fail to notice the difference between
                                                                                          the malefactor's plea for mercy and Jesus' answer.
   What a glorious word! Let us review briefly its                                        The malefactor speaks of Christ's kingdom. And Jesus
background. The other Scriptural references are Matt.                                replies that he would be with Him in Paradise. Jesus
27:33, 44, Luke  23:33, 39 and Mark  15:7, 27. From                                       was, not entering that day into His kingdom. That
t h e s e   p a s s a g e s   w e   m a y   c o n c l u d e   t h a t   t h e s e         must wait until His ascension and exaltation at the
malefactors were highway robbers or plunderers, who                                       Father's right hand. That this malefactor would enter
had committed murder while committing robbery.                                            into Paradise emphasizes the Old Dispensational
   A deathbed conversion  - is it preferable? Some                                        aspect  ,of his salvation. He is saved as in the Old
may think a deathbed conversion' preferable. Of                                           Dispensation. Even as Lazarus was taken up into
course, a conversion is always wonderful. But it                                          Abraham's bosom, emphasizing that he was saved in
surely is not preferable. Of course,  ."deathbed                                          hope, together with all the saints of the Old
conversions" are possible. Scripture does record this                                     Dispensation, so also this malefactor was saved as in
incident. We add, however, that this is also the only                                     the Old Dispensation, looking forward to the day, not
mention of such a conversion in Scripture. Besides, it                                    many days hence, when Jesus would enter into His
is certainly not preferable to be saved at the last                                       kingdom of glory, and be crowned King of kings and
moment and to have served the devil all of one's life.                                    Lord of lords. Nevertheless, what a glorious salvation
And, thirdly, no sinner can choose the moment of his                                      would be his. He would enter Paradise  with  Jesus.
conversion. Conversion is strictly a work of God's                                        Heaven is immortal fellowship with God through
sovereign grace.                                                                          Jesus Christ our Lord. If there be no night there, it is
   The background for this incident is  iecorded in the                                   only because the Lamb is the light of that glory. If
verses 40-41. We read:  "We, are in' the same                                             there be no tears there, it is only because He has
condemnation, or judgment." It is obvious that the                                        washed them away from our eyes. If our sins will be
malefactor refers  `to all three, including the Lord                                      forever a thing of the past, it is only because we can
Jesus Christ. This is evident from what we read in                                        trace it all to the cross of Calvary. Today he will be
                                                                                          with Jesus in Paradise. This is Christ's glorious word
verse 41: "for we receive the due reward of our                                           addressed to the dying and penitent malefactor.
deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss." All                                                                *****
were in the same condemnation; all had been
sentenced to die the death of the cross. However, "we                                       How amazing!
indeed justly." The malefactor and his companion                                          How amazing, first of all, is the malefactor's
deserved their punishment. To this must be added                                          recognition of the Christ! Let us visualize the scene.


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        267



J e s u s   i s   h a n g i n g   u p o n   a   c r o s s   b e t w e e n   t w o     To recognize in this Jesus of Nazareth the King of
malefactors. In the midst of them, He is considered                                   Israel as entering His kingdom is amazing in itself. To
the chiefest of sinners. And He hangs there as the                                    recognize Him as such in distinction from the other
object of universal ridicule and contempt. He is                                      murderer is surely equally wonderful. But that this
universally rejected by the church and by the world,                                  should occur without one word being addressed to
by Jew and Gentile; also His own disciples have                                       either of them by the Christ is surely  .above all natural
forsaken Him. There is none that pities Him; also the                                 understanding.
malefactors, both of them, joined in this hellish                                                                    *****
chorus of hatred and contempt.                                                           How wonderfully effectual is the power of the
   What a glaring contradiction we have here! Jesus is                                cross!
surely the King of the Jews. This we know. And now                                      One may well ask: how must we account for this
He hangs upon a cross. Whoever heard of a king                                       tremendous difference between the two malefactors?
whose followers all flee and forsake him? Are not                                    To say that the Holy Spirit worked this repentance is
power and glory always and inseparably, associated                                   true. This lies in the very nature of the case. This
with `a king? Is a king ever without a kingdom? Is                                   condemned evildoer surely did not attain unto this of
shame ever the way to glory? Must one die in order to                                himself. Still, however, the question remains: but
live?                                                                                h o w   w a s   t h i s   w o r k   o f   G o d   w r o u g h t   i n   t h e
   He!nce, how amazing is this petition of this                                      consciousness of this sinner? To this question there is
murderer! What singular and amazing light is his, that                               but one word: the power of the cross. Jesus had not
he should recognize in this Man of Sorrows the King of                               uttered a word. When we speak of the power of the
Israel! In the throes of the death-agony of a cross,                                 cross, we mean that the Holy Spirit wrought this in
suffer&g  excruciating agony, in the midst of all that                               connection with the cross of Calvary; power
sea of hatred and ridicule, he recognizes in this Jesus                              proceeded from the cross through the operation of
of Nazareth the King of Israel! What an amazing                                      the Holy Spirit.
phenomenon!                                                                             Only, however, this power of the cross is
   Secondly, how amazing this is when we view this                                   antithetic. It is always antithetic  - see I Cor. 1: 18
malefactor in distinction from his companion in                                      and 2 Cor. 2: 14-16. It is not at all surprising, therefore,
crime! Remember, their circumstances are exactly the                                 that this two-fold, antithetic power of the cross,
same.`.They were both Jews, children of the covenant,                                always such throughout the ages, should  : also be
acquainted with the fundamental truths of Holy Writ,                                 revealed at the cross itself. Indeed, it was the power
They `were both in the same condemnation, guilty of                                  of the cross that wrought in the consciousness of the
the same crime, and their condemnation was just. At                                  penitent thief; he was drawn to the Christ of Calvary.
the beginning they both railed on the Christ. What,                                  He was saved through God's sovereign mercy. But it
then, `should distinguish the one from the other?                                    was also the power of the cross that wrought in the
Indeed, the one is surely not more deserving then the                                other malefactor.
other., How must be explained that, while the one                                       How must this be understood? Please notice that
increases his railing, this malefactor lapses into silence                           we read of the other malefactor that he railed on the
and then utters his petition for mercy. Perhaps you                                  Christ, that is, he blasphemed Him. Blasphemy, now,
say that the Spirit worked this in his heart. And this,                              is directed against God, is hatred and contempt of
of course, is true. Yet, what happened that this sinner                              God. Why did this murderer blaspheme the Christ,
should be convicted of his sin and attain unto the                                   spit out his hatred against Christ because he hated
consciousness of this petition?                                                      God? Is the man insane? Why does he spend his dying
  Finally, this word becomes all the more startling'                                 moments railing against and blaspheming God as
and amazing `when you consider the silence of the                                    revealed by Christ? Christ has said nothing; He had
Christ: Until the malefactor uttered his petition not a                              certainly done the man no wrong. What was there
word had been addressed to either of them by the                                     about this Christ that called forth from this murderer
dying  Saviour. The only word uttered by Christ until                                his increased railing and blasphemy?
now had been the first cross word. The Lord had not                                    The answer to this question is obvious. He knew he
preached to them, had not, shall we say, erroneously,                                was condemned justly. All he wanted and desired was
offered grace and salvation to them, had made no                                     to be released from the cross, not from sin but from
attempt to convict them of sin. How long this                                        the result of sin, and then he would have continued in
occurred after their crucifixion we do not know; but                                 his way of crime. He hated God and he knew about
there  jmust have been sufficient time to bring this                                 God. Christ, however, had done nothing amiss. Yet,
malefactor to the consciousness of sin and to lead the                               Jesus suffered silently and in all obedience. This
other evil doer to his increased  ,railing and blasphemy.                            murderer hated Christ because he hated God. He


                                                                                     ,

268                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



hated Christ because Christ here was the perfect                heart, convicts him of sin, reveals to him his iniquity,
Servant of Jehovah, because Christ suffered                     lays him prostrate in the dust, opens his eyes and
obediently for God's sake. The sight of that perfect            enables him to see in that Jesus of Nazareth the One
Servant of Jehovah, Who suffered for the sake of the            Who suffers and dies, not for His own sin (He has
righteousness of God, incensed this. murderer and               done nothing amiss), but for the sins of others. And
called forth his increased railing and blasphemy.               the plea is pressed from his dying lips: "Lord,
And now we also understand the other malefactor.                r e m e m b e r   m e ,   w h e n   T h o u   comest  i n t o   T h y
To him too, this Jesus of Nazareth was the Servant              kingdom." This is the wonder of grace. This is the
of Jehovah. Hear  ,him say this: "we, indeed, justly,           power of the cross, the divine word that calls,
but this man hath done nothing amiss." And as the               through Calvary, out of darkness into His marvellous
Christ suffers, in silent obedience, for God's sake,            light. Do we hear this word of God through Jesus
because He loves the living God, against Whom this              Christ, our Lord? In Him and because of Him and
malefactor had sinned, the Holy Spirit works in his             through Him is life everlasting, glory without end.





                     Thoughts On Our Golden Anniversary (2)
                                                  ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

  The, fact that we are celebrating our Golden                  you will find several of that third generation among
Anniversary as Protestant Reformed Churches                     our ministers. You will find them among the elders
naturally suggests and makes one contemplate the                and deacons in our churches. You will find them
passing of the years. And the thought of the passing           among the delegates to  classis and synod. And you
of the years brings with it the thought of the passing          will, of course, find a goodly number of them among
of generations.                                                 our membership.
  What, in that respect, is our situation one-half                 And that also implies, in the third place, that the
century after the beginning of our denomination?                fourth generation is already putting in its appearance.
                                                                They are the babes in arms and the little children in
In the first place, the generation which was at its             our congregations.
strength in 1924 and which took an active part in the
establishing of our denomination has almost                        One generation passes, and another rises to take its
disappeared from the scene. I am reminded of that               p l a c e .
every time I read or hear of the fact that another one             And this constitutes food for thought as we
of these "old timers" has died. There are not many of           contemplate our 50th Anniversary.
them left. And there certainly are few, if any, of                 It reminds us of the crucial importance of
them who still have an active role in the life of our           transmitting our heritage to succeeding generations,
churches. Our original leaders, of course, have been            of passing on the truth faithfully to our children and
gone now for a good many years. Even of our                     our children's children. We must teach them to know
ministers who were among the early graduates of our             their history, and with that history the truth that was
seminary there are but few; and it is a simple fact that        preserved and in which we were preserved. We must
there are not many years of service left to them.               not assume that this will take place automatically
fhere are but five of our  .ministers who were ordained         through the preaching and through catechetical
before I was, and the youngest of them was ordained             instruction in general. We must pointedly instruct
in 1941. You will find, generally speaking, that the            them as to why we are Protestant Reformed and why
situation is the same among the elders  - and also              they are Protestant Reformed children. We must not
among the membership  - in our congregations. The               be satisfied to instruct them generally in what is
second generation of our Protestant Reformed                    "Calvinism" or what is "Reformed" or what is God's
Churches is on the scene and is in the front lines of           Word (though it be completely true, of course, that
battle.                                                         "Protestant Reformed" is synonymous with all
       In the second place, the third generation is already     these), but we must specifically instruct them in  what
at the stage of adulthood and is assuming increasingly          is Protestant Reformed and  why  it is Protestant
an active role in the affairs of our churches. Already          Reformed. Moreover, we must do this very pointedly.


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 269



  We must sharply impress it upon their. minds and                                the individual members of the church are spiritual
  hearts. We must "inculcate" it into them; that is, we                           seed. It does not even mean that the great majority of
  must tread that ground again and again, must repeat                             them are spiritual seed. This is never the case; and it
  that, instruction, until it is deeply `and firmly                               was not the case in the period of Joshua either, as is
  impressed upon them. Do not be afraid of "over-kill"                            evident from the history. There were even strange
  in this regard!                                                                 gods among Israel at that time. But it means that the
     I am reminded in this connection of a negative and                           spiritual element at such a time is  dominant.  Partly,
  rather sad example from Old Testament history. You                              this is due to the fact that they are comparatively
  readlof it in Joshua  24:29-33  and in Judges 2:6-13.                           strong in numbers, as must have been the case with
  The  :Book of Joshua closes with the suggestion that                            Israel in Joshua's time after the 40 years of purging in
  the fear and service of the Lord passed away in Israel                          the wilderness. Partly, this is due to the fact of
  with: the passing of the generation which  ,had entered                         historical circumstances. The generation of Joshua's
  the  .promised land. Joshua died and was buried;                                time had been eye witnesses of the work of the Lord.
  Eleaiar, the son of Aaron, died and  was,buried; the                            And partly, this is due to the fact that God gives to a
  bones of Joseph were buried. And it is already                                  certain generation men of influence. He gave to Israel
  suggested in Joshua  24:3 1 that with the  .passing of                          a Joshua, an Eleazar, a Caleb.
  that  Igeneration  the fear -and service of Jehovah also                        But I wanted to point out especially that when
  passed away: "And Israel served the Lord all the days                           that God-fearing generation passed away, the effect
  of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived                        was apostasy. The next generation knew not the
  Joshua, and which had known all the  wlorks of the                              Lord and His works.
  Lord, that he had done for Israel." And this is                                    And what is the explanation of that apostasy?
  corroborated in Judges  2:6-13,  of which I will quote
  only; the following: "And also all that, generation                                True, at any given point in history there is only a
  were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose                               remnant according to the election of grace present in
  another generation after them, which knew not the                               the church in the midst of the world. This was true in
  Lord; nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.                           Israel even in Joshua's time. And thus it is always in
  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the                        the church. And always there is a large element of
  Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord                              carnal seed. .At this particular point in history the
  God of their fathers, which brought them out of the                             carnal seed was increasing again.andgaining
  land of Egypt, and followed other. gods, of the gods                            dominion. That was undoubtedly one factor.
  of the people that were round `about them, and                                     But another factor that is suggested is that of the
  bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord                              laxity  ,of the remnant. The passing generation knew
  to anger. And they forsook the Lord,  andserved  Baa1                          the Lord and His work for Israel. The next generation
  and Ashtaroth."                                                                knew not the Lord, neither the works which He had
     If you are a student of history, you will know that                         done for Israel. This points to a failure in transmitting
  what is recorded here is a rather general phenomenon                           the knowledge of the Lord and His works to the
  in the history. of God's covenant. The history of                              future generation, as well as to a failure and laxity
  God  :s people in the world is characterized by                                with respect to rooting out idolatry and the idolater
  alternating periods of strength  and, weakness, of                             from Israel. Remember that in Israel the false prophet
  faithfulness and apostasy. Certain  generations  of                            had to be killed, and the idolater rooted out!
  God's people are preeminently God-fearing. There is                                And the lesson of warning?
  among them the knowledge of the Lord; the truth of                                 Do not be lax in transmitting the knowledge of the
  God's Word is maintained; and they walk in the ways                            Lord and His works, specifically as we have learned to
  of Jehovah. Other generations are characterized by                             know these, to the generation to come. "Walk about
 i g n o r a n c e ,    i n d i f f e r e n c e ,   a p o s t a s y ,   a n d    Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
worldly-mindedness. You can note this phenomenon                                 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces;
 many times in both the old and the new dispensation.                            THAT YE MAY TELL IT TO THE GENERATION
     This does not mean that during a certain period all                         FOLLOWING!"


                                NqTlCE                                                                       NOTICE!!!
    Classis  East will meet D.V. in regular session on April  ,2, 1975 in the       An Office Bearer's Conference is to be held, the Lord willing, at 8
 Southeast Prot. Ref. Church. Material to be treated in this session must        P.M., April  I, 1975, at our  SouthEast  Protestant Reformed Church in
 be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior to the              Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prof. H. C. Hanko will be our speaker at this
 convening of this session.                                                      meeting. The subject of Prof. Hanko's address will be announced in
                                                                Jon Huisken      your Churches' bulletins. Be sure to attend!
                                                                Stated Clerk


270                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                             An Open Letter  T6 The Outlook And
                                              The Reformed Fellowship

                                                          .Rev. John  #Vander Ploeg,
                                                           Managing Editor,  The Outlook


Dear Rev. Vander Ploeg:                                                              Board of Reformed Fellowship we have decided to
                                                                                     make the following reply:
 : It has now been several months since our last
public exchange of thoughts concerning a possible                                          We are ready to accept the invitation to meet with
P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d   -  C h r i s t i a n   R e f o r m e d       you and your colleagues if we can be agreed in
conference about removing obstacles to unity. You                                    advance on the following:
last wrote in the September, 1974 issue of  The                                            1. That it be recognized as a matter of fact that
Outlook.  This editorial I published in  .our  Standard                              such a meeting was,not proposed by us mutually but
Bearer of October 1, 1974. In that same issue I                                      rather that the initiative for this proceeded from you
responded to your "A Dream, A Response, And A                                        in your editorial of June 1, 1974. My proposal was
                                                                                     for calling a meeting of conservatives from various
Request" in the same frank and open manner in                                        churches.
which I wrote originally. I also gave you permission
to publish my response in  The Outlook  and sent you                                       2. That for the duration of our meeting (or
                                                                                     meetings) we refrain from publishing anything in The
an advance copy of my article. For some unexplained                                  Standard Bearer or The Outlook about the progress
reason you never published my response, and, in fact,                                or results except for a statement (or statements) on
never publicly wrote again about a possible                                          which we may be agreed in advance.
conference. Instead, you and the Board of the                                              3. That, as the party taking the initiative in such a
Reformed Fellowship chose to make a private                                          meeting (or meetings), you will now propose a
response.                                                                            suitable time and place for our coming together.
 : It was with some misgivings that I  ,allowed  myself                                    Please be assured of our sincere desire for having
to be engaged in private correspondence about this                                   closer fellowship with you and also for our Lord's
matter since that time. I now realize that this was                                  richest blessing on any meeting or meetings that may
indeed a mistake on my part. What was begun in                                       be held.
public should have been continued in' public by both
of us; and we should have continued to publish one                                         With all good wishes to you for God's richest
another's editorials. But that is now "water over the                                blessings, I am
dam." I shall return to the public method.                                                                          Fraternally,
 And then, first of all, let me bring my readers up to                              This was, to be sure, not the simple Yes or No
date, and at the same time remind you, of what has                                answer which I requested in my October 1 editorial.
taken place since last October.                                                   It was a  Yes-but.  And it did not even contain any
                                                                                  private reply to the pertinent remarks which I had
 : On October 21 you informed me that the next                                    frankly, but courteously made in- my editorial.
board meeting of The Reformed Fellowship would be                                 Nevertheless, I-wrote you as follows, on December 5,
held on November 8, and you wrote me: "I believe                                  1974:
that my reply, also in this case, should be submitted
for approval at that meeting before it appears in                                    Dear Rev. Vander Ploeg:
print. This will occasion another  delay,but I trust that                                  I am in receipt of your letter of Nov. 23,
you will understand."                                                                containing the response, of the Board of Reformed
                                                                                     Fellowship to my October 1 editorial.
   However, no reply from you ever did appear in
print, for a reason which was never stated. In fact,                                       It is not my purpose to carry on a protracted
there never was a reply from you with Board                                          correspondence about this matter, and I do wish, as
                                                                                     soon as possible, to inform our readership as to the
approval. Instead, I received the following letter over                              outcome of our exchange. However, I am in need of
your signature "for the Board of Reformed Fellow-                                    some clarification of your letter.
ship," dated Nov. 23.                                                                      1. When you speak of being "ready to accept the
 Dear Professor Hoeksema:                                                            invitation to meet" and in sub-2 and sub-3 of
         Having read and given careful consideration to                              "meeting (or meetings)" are you referring to the
 your editorial, "Analysis and Response", in the                                    ; preliminary, planning meeting (of 3 of your men and
       October 1, 1974 issue of The Standard Bearer, as a                            3 of our men) which I proposed, or are you speaking


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         271


    of the full conference which I hoped a planning                     letter. An out of town trip and the press of my work
    committee could arrange?                                            prevented an earlier reply. In response to your letters
     2. If the former, will you please inform me who                    of November 23 and December i2, the following.:
    your representatives will be? As I recall, you rejected             1. It is the consensus of my colleagues and me that
    the two names which I suggested in addition to                      although you state no reason for the conditions you
    yourself.                                                           wish to attach to my simple proposal for a
     3. If the latter (the full conference), is it the                  preliminary joint planning session, we should not
    intent of this letter  `- even as in your previous                  allow the addition of these stipulations to stand in
    editorial reply - to leave the planning to us?,                     the way of a meeting.
       4. Do you, or do you not, intend to publish in                   2. In the light of your reply of December 12 to my
    The Outlook anything at all in connection with my                   questions, I understand:
    "Analysis and Response" and your Board's letter of                     a. That  after  the planning session, I am at
    November 23?                                                       complete liberty to write what I wish about the
     I am not publishing anything at all in our                        meeting.
    December 15 issue, except for a brief note that I have                b. That I am also at liberty to report without any
    received a letter on which I need clarification, and               restrictions the exchange of correspondence following
    that pending receipt of clarification I will not divulge           my last editorial on this subject.
    anything of the contents of that letter.                           In explanation, I wish to emphasize not only that I
     1 I trust that my questions are clear, and that you               do not want the Standard Bearer's freedom of press
    can reply to them personally, without the delay                    restricted by an outside organization, but also that
    which would be entailed in another meeting of your                 our people are both interested and vitally concerned
    Board. Pending your reply, I will not express myself               in these matters, and therefore have a right to be
    in reaction to the Board's decision.                               informed fully.
                                Cordially, in Christ,                  3. In the light of your disappointing failure to
   To the above letter I received the following reply                  publish and to respond to my "Analysis and
from you, Rev. Vander Ploeg, under date of                             Response" and your previously stated reluctance to
                                                                       discuss that which separates us, i.e., the Three Points
December  12,1974:                                                     of Common Grace and related matters,. I wish to
    Dear Professor Hoeksema:                                           repeat that the sole purpose of the proposed meeting
     I Having received and considered your letter of                   of six is to plan and to lay down the ground rules for
    December 4, I wish to reply to your questions in                   just such a conference. I believe tbis was made
    order as follows:                                                  abundantly clear in my two editorials, but I wish to
     /, 1. In saying that we are "ready to accept the                  have this clearly understood. Otherwise there is no
    invitation to meet" and of "meeting (or meetings)" I               point in having the proposed meeting.
    believe that the Board of Reformed Fellowship                         I propose that the preliminary meeting of six be
    understood this to be a meeting of three of your men               held, D.V., on February 28, at 2:00 P.M., in our
    and three of ours.                                                 Theological School Building, 4949 Ivanrest, SW. My
       2. Since our three men have not yet been selected,              seminary colleagues, Prof. Herman Hanko and Prof.
    I am unable to say who they will be.                               Robert Decker, have agreed to join me.
       3. This too I am unable to answer because the                      Please respond at your earliest convenience, and
    Board gave no consideration to any meeting beyond                  also inform me of the names of your representatives.
    that of six men.                                                                                Cordially, in Christ,
       4. It was decided by the Board that The Outlook
    would not publish your editorial on "Analysis and                 After I had taken the trouble to inquire carefully
    Response."                                                     as to the meaning of your letter of November 23, and
                                                                   after I had agreed to the stipulations of that letter
     It may be added that the Board intends to proceed
    with the "Congress of Conservatives" to be held, the           according to your own interpretation of December
    Lord willing, in 1976.                                          12, the Board of Reformed Fellowship begins to
                                                                   "hedge". This is very plain in your letter of Feb. 6,
                                Fraternally,                       again sent over your signature "for the Board of
  After this clarification, in which it was made plain             Reformed Fellowship." The letter is as follows:
that the reference to any publicity referred  only  to                 Dear Prof. Hoeksema:
the preliminary planning committee, I sent the
following letter, dated January 28, 1975, fully                           Unfortunately your letter of January 28 was not
expecting that this would open the way to the                          delivered to my home address (to which you
                                                                       addressed it) but rather to the Reformed Fellowship
long-delayed first meeting:                                           business office. As a result I did not see the letter until
   Dear Rev. Vander Ploeg:                                             the time of the board meeting, which allowed me
     Please excuse my delay in answering your last                     only a limited opportunity for consideration of it.


272                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


          However, action was taken at the board and I was       letter? You cannot even say how long this condition
 asked to relay the decision to you. It `was decided             is expected to be observed. To this I will never, never
       that we call your attention once again to what was        ,agree; and neither will my colleagues agree to this, so
       stated in our November 23 letter to you which read        they have advised me. Why not? In the first place, the
       in part as follows:                                       condition is altogether too vague. In the second place,
          "We are ready to accept the invitation to meet         your reason is not valid. How in the world can it
       with you and your colleagues if we can be agreed in       harm or defeat the purpose of our meetings if our
       advance on the following:                                 people are informed of what is taking place? I had, in
          ". . . That for the duration of our meeting (or        fact, fully intended to publish my position-paper in
       meetings) we refrain from publishing anything in The      the  Standard Bearer,  even as I published my address
 Standard Bearer or The Outlook about the progress               at your Calvin Seminary. And I would also publish
       or results except for a statement (or statements) on      gladly any position-paper produced by you. In the
       which we may be agreed in advance".                       third place, I am of the firm conviction that to hold
          Obviously, this is a condition on which you are        these meetings secretly would be contrary to the
       not ready to agree. However, it was decided that we       office of believers. Our people have the  right  to know
       do not proceed with a meeting or meetings unless we       what is going on. And they would have the right to be
       can go with the assurance that nothing will be            gravely suspicious if these things were done in secret.
       published except "a joint communique" `on which we        These matters of doctrine and of doctrinal agreement
       must first be mutually agreed. Precisely how long this    or disagreement are  their  matters. In the fourth place,
       condition is expected to be observed I am unable to
       say because that was not decided in advance. I assume     I will never agree to have the  Standard Bearer
       that this also is something on which we would have to     restricted in this manner. Our magazine has from its
       be mutually agreed at some given point in our             inception been a  free  paper, not a closed one. We
       discussion or meetings. Premature publicity in our        established it originally because  The Banner  and De
 journals could easily defeat the purpose of our                 Wachter  were closed to our leaders. We will not allow
       meeting (or meetings) if our aim is to try to resolve     it to be closed by you, not even muzzled. We have
       our differences and to promote unity between us.          nothing to hide, and you should have nothing to hide
          We are looking forward to hearing from you about       about these matters  - either from us or from your
       this. Meanwhile no representatives were appointed         own readers. Finally, I detect in the reason for your
 j and the meeting you propose must be held in                   condition an element of distrust. I am not afraid of
       abeyance.                                                 your writing anything about the meeting or meetings.
                                    Fraternally,                 As far as I am concerned, you may write as you
                                                                 please. But I want the same liberty., I will write
 ! That brings things up to `date.                               frankly. I will report honestly and factually. But
 I And that, to my mind, also marks the end of a                 there must be open agreements (or disagreements)
possible conference unless you change your mind.                 openly arrived at. There were far too many secret
 It has become abundantly plain to me that you                   works of darkness in  1924!
really are not interested in having the conference                 So there matters stand. We are back at home plate,
which I proposed. This is plain from:                            if you will. That is, we are back to my original
                                                                 question, to which I must have a no-strings-attached
1. Your extreme reluctance as expressed in your                  answer. Do you want to meet, or don't you?
article "A Dream, A Response, And  A  Request."                    Frankly, I am disappointed. I had first seen a ray
2. Your conditional reply to my  1'Analysis and                  of hope for a conference. But this is not the first time
Response" in your letter of November 23. You would               such contact has been refused. It has twice been
not even give a simple Yes or No answer to my                    refused by your Synod. It was refused at the time
proposal to have a mere planning session for such a              when Dr. Schilder was here in 193 9. It was refused by
conference.                                                      you, Rev. Vander Ploeg, when you were Editor of
3. Your failure to publish and to reply in public to             The Banner.  Nor is this the first failure of Reformed
my "Analysis and Response."                                      Fellowship. Several  years  ago  The Outlook  (at that
4. Your obvious hedging and change  `of position in              time  Torch and Trumpet)  first asked my father,
your letter of February 6. I  agreed  to your condition          among others, to write on the subject of God's Grace.
of November 23  as explained by you in the letter of             But when he complied, Reformed Fellowship after all
December  12. Now you obviously want to extend                   decided not to publish it.
this  condition,of silence, except for a mutually agreed           Most of all I am disappointed, however, not for
upon "joint communique," to all the meetings and                 myself and for our Protestant Reformed Churches,
indefinitely. Who knows, but what you would never                but for you. I warn you as earnestly as I can that
agree to lifting this limitation, according to your              there is no hope for your Christian Reformed Church,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               273


nor even for the  consecrative segment of the  Christian        which you mutually say, "I'm Okay, you're Okay,"
Reformed Church, as a Reformed denomination,                    forget it! "Can two walk together except they be
unless and until you repent and return  ffom the path           agreed?"
you chose in 1924.         -                                                                               Sincerely, in Christ,
   And if you want a Congress of Conservatives at                                                                H.C. Hoeksema


ALE AROUND US

                                The Doctrine of Election
                                                       Pro$ H. Hanko

   It, is, to say the least, unusual to find  `a discussion        centered in  theory  and therefore is man-centered
of the doctrine of eternal predestination in church                in practice!  Basically, it involves the following wrong
papers nowadays. It is more unusual yet to find                    view of God's sovereignty, man's sin and Christ's
almost an entire issue of a paper devoted to this                  work.
truth. Nevertheless, this is what recently happened in                  1. God is not absolutely sovereign in election: . . .
an issue of  Covenanter Witness,  a paper put out by               It is not God who makes the man elect, that is left to
the Board of Education and Publication of the                      his unaided free will as he hears the Gospel. Clearly
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.                     God's "sovereignty" in this scheme actually effects
                                                                   nothing with respect to man's will that is sovereign in
   Tee article which particularly impressed us was an              the actualization of election.
article by Gordon J. Keddie entitled "Finding God's
Elect" and carrying the subtitle, "How Calvinism                        2. Man is a sinner, but is not so totally depraved as
                                                                   to be unable to choose freely, without prior action of
Affects Missionary Activity." This article impressed               the Holy Spirit with respect to the condition of his
us,  ip the first place,  because it took an approach to           h&t. The will of man is substantially unaffected by
mission work which is almost never heard in our day.               sin - it is still free to "decide for Christ" . . .
And it impressed us, secondly, because it was so
thorbughly Scriptural.                                                  3. Christ died on the Cross to achieve the potential
                                                                   for salvation for all men. . . . He made it possible for
   We cannot quote the article in its entirety, but we             them to be saved, if only they decide for Him. . . .
do  tiant to give a number of excerpts from it to give             Christ's death does not effect salvation for anyone -
the reader the flavor of what the author writes.                   it merely opens the door in front of humanity, which
   In: the first part of the article, Pastor Keddie                is left to exercise its own sovereign will as to whether
                                                                   to accept or reject the offer. . . .
desciibes current views of mission work and gives his
criticism of these views. He writes:                                    The success of the Gospel rests on men and their
       A common misconception abroad in the world                  decisions, not on God or His own dear Son. . . .
    tpday is that which sees "soul-winning" as the
    p'rimary task of the Church. "Evangelism" is                  Turning to what the author calls "The Mission of
    redefmed (why "redefined" we shall see later) and          The Church", he discusses positively the relation
    narrowed down to mean simply the persuading of the         between election and mission work. He writes:
    l&t to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord - this, for                   .Our main point is that IT IS A FALLACY.TO
    most Bible-believing Christians has become the mark            TH;I;K THAT THE PRINCIPAL TASK OF THE
    of the true Church. All Church functions are to be             CHURCH IS TO "WIN SOULS.". . .
    tailored to "evangelism" - we must attract people in,
    we must not preach above a certain agreed level of                  1. In contradistinction from the errors catalogued
    "spiritual depth",  we must "grow" or seriously                above, we must assert God's absolute sovereignty in
    revamp our present programs. The "Great                        election; man's total inability to move a millimeter
    Commission" according to  this theory is  no more              towards. salvation, by reason of his sinful nature, and
    than "soul-winning" and-or training those already              the particular and effectual atonement of Christ,
    won to be "soul-winners" too. This is "evtigelism",            whereby he actually accomplishes salvation for the
    t&s is "mission".                                              particular lost sinners who are the objects of God's
                                                                   electinglove from eternity.
His  ci-iticism of this idea is as follows:                             2. God's "sent messenger" . . . goes out in the
     The problem with this is that it is an essentially            knowledge that in the declaration of "all the counsel
    man-centered approach to the question, "What is the            of God" (Acts 20:26), the election of God is being
    missionary task of the Church?" . . . It `is  man-             carried out in time.


274                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


          His confidence is in the Lord, whose work it is by               This means that before  predestination,  before God
       His Holy Spirit, to apply the Word  in regeneration              chose us, there stands Jesus Christ, the eternal Word.
       and conversion. . . .                                            There was nothing planned or chosen before Him. All
          3. There is therefore to be no man-centered rush              that was chosen and planned was both chosen and
 t o   " g r a b " souls as urgently as possible. The divine            planned by Him and for Him.
       requirement is that the church diligently, urgently,           But this position is not consistently held. And it is
       simply; honestly, lovingly, prayerfully point men to         not consistently held because the author, in this
       Christ, the Way. . . .                                       article as well as in other articles which had
          4. Let us clearly distinguish, then, the role of men,     previously appeared in other issues of the magazine,
       i.e., of the church, from that of the Spirit.  The           takes the position that Christ is the representative
       church witnesses to the Truth before the world. Its          Head of all men. As he applies that to the current
       primary task is to keep close to the doctrines of            discussion, he writes:
       Christ and to preach them with the love of Christ and
       in dependence upon the Spirit. No artifice or                       If we have a duty to tell each man the gospel, in
       gimmick will be employed to woo men, but only a                  the very nature of the case we must tell him that his
 simple presentation of the case and a consequent                       sins have been borne by Jesus Christ, that he has been
       resting in the sure knowledge that God will by His               chosen and accepted in the Person of his
 !     Spirit vindicate His truth either in the converting of           Representative and that, consequently, God now calls
       those elect from eternity, but until now, in time,               upon him to repent and believe the gospel.
 numbered with the lost, or in passing by the                              That God has seriously intended all to share in the
       reprobate, who by further rejection of the Gospel call           benefits of Christ's atonement is clear from the
       harden their hearts against the day of judgement. . . ,          blessings of "common grace.". . . If all the blessings
          5. It is essential that the Church know, believe and'         and good things of life - food, air, friendship, human
       preach a full-orbed confession of Scripture truth. . . .         affection, civil righteousness - may be enjoyed by all,
                                                                       are they nor evidence that Christ died for all? For
 ; There is more to the article, but this is sufficient to              these bounties which theologians call "common
point out to our readers that there are others who are                  grace" are still grace - undeserved kindness - and
clear on the truth that election is not only not a                      grace comes only through (because of) Jesus Christ.
stumbling block to missions, but is exactly the                         He was nailed to the cross that all these blessings
doctrine which makes missions the important  c&ng                       might flow to this earth. Every man who lives on this
which it is.                                                            planet lives solely because Christ died. Herein God
                                 *****                                  gives proof of His love for all and of His provision for
                                                                        all through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 / In the November, 1974 issue of  Present Truth  the
editor, Robert Brinsmead also wrote concerning the                         In the gospel, therefore, two great facts are
                                                                        announced and must stand together:
doctrine of election. He wrote of this in an article
entitled "The  Ordo Salutis" or "The Order of                              1. God chose one Man. He found one Man
Salvation." This was a very lengthy article, and we                     righteous, holy and pleasing in His sight. He accepted
can only touch upon one aspect of it here. In many                      Him as the new Head of the race to stand in Adam's
                                                                        place, to represent all, even as Adam represented alI.
parts of the article the author very strongly supports                  He punished this one Man, put Him to death and
the doctrine of sovereign grace and sovereign                           buried Him out of sight. Then He resurrected this one
s$lvation. We quote the following excerpts.                             Man, a new Man, and received Him into glory.
          In salvation God is cause - the sole cause. Man is               2. This one Man stood before God as evelyman,
 :     the  response. The devil's constant aim is to pervert            and that human nature of  everyman was in Him.
       this ordo salutis. He makes man's activity the cause             Therefore when One died, all died in Him (2 Cor.
       and God's activity the response.                                 5: 14), and when One was found righteous, all were
          The gospel is the good news, not of man's act of              constituted righteous in Him (Ram. 5: 18). That human
       choosing Christ, but of God's act of choosing man.               nature which was lost in Adam has been restored in
          If God chose the elect from the beginning, it                 Jesus Christ, and every man who is sure he too has a
       cannot mean that He chose them in response to their              human nature may be just as sure that he is included
 i     faith or holy lives. That would be to alter the whole            in that redemption.
       ordo salutis.  He chose them in order that they might
       believe and live holy lives. God is the sole cause of the       The author makes it very clear that faith is a gift
       call. It is true that men are called upon to choose          of God. He writes:
       Christ and the way of salvation, but this must never              We have seen that God has elected one Man. He is
       be understood as cause. It can be nothing more than            the elect One just the same as He is the righteous
       an appeal to respond to the gospel fact that they have         One. Therefore only those who receive Christ in faith
       been chosen from the beginning.                                and are joined to Christ in faith-union can be called
 The author even stresses in several important                        the elect ones or the righteous ones. This is the
paragraphs that Christ stands behind election.                        human side of election. Faith is not the source of


                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      275


       election. That is  sola  gratia.  Neither is faith the                             come to faith and are in Christ." And it is in this way
       meritorious cause of election. That is solo Christo.                               that he attempts to square his universalism with his
       But faith is the instrumental means of receiving it                                views on sovereign and gracious election. But this
       Gust as it is the instrumental means of receiving                                  won't work. This is very close to the position which
       &$teousness). That is sola  fide.                                                  was taken by the Arminians back in the 16th and
     Nevertheless, the author wants to look at election                                   17th centuries. And it is essentially a denial of
 from what he calls "the side of human  response.  "                                      sovereign and gracious election.
 And,then he writes: "None are called elect until they



 STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                                             Corrupt Zion To Be Reformed
                                                                        Rev. Robt. C Harbach
                      `Therefore, saith (the revelation of) the Lord, Jehovah-tsebhaoth, the mighty One of
                 Israel, `Ho! (cp. v. 4) I will avenge Myself (ridding Myself) from My adversaries, and I will
                 avenge Myself (so) from My enemies" (v. 24). (Read Isa, I :24-31, KJV).

     I. The Reformation and Redemption of the                                             I will cause to depart all thy alloys" (v. 25). The
  Rigliteous.   1. Increasingly severe judgments may be                                   purifying of the Church is always God's own work.
  expected. "Therefore!" or  because  the faithful city                                   "On  thee"  (fem.) refers to the city (21,  26), the
  became a harlot! because Israel once silver became                                      remnant according to the election of grace (v. 9).
  dross, his officers corrupt, loving bribes!  Therefore                                  Such a purifying is less that of a judgment in wrath,
  (going back to w. 21-23) judgment is threatened. For                                    separating the wicked from the righteous, as more a
 judgment is now the only means left for realizing the                                    regenerating, irresistible grace in quickening His
  reformation and redemption of the Church. This                                          people from death to life, giving them a new heart,
 j u d g m e n t   w i l l   b e   r e a l i z e d   b y   t h e   i n v i n c i b l e    turning their hearts to Him, opening their hearts to
  omnipotence of God revealed in His names, the Lord                                      understand the Scripture and to attend to the things
  (Ha-Adon), Jehovah-tsebhaoth, the Mighty One of                                         spoken by the Lord. This great purifying did come in
  Israel. Such a God surely is able to do what He                                         Pentecost, when the Jews of sixteen nations received
  determines and threatens to do. All the hosts of the                                    the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit from the
  heavens, of the angels, of the devil, of men, armies                                    ascended Lord, and this purifying continues
  and nations, of saints and elect are at His command                                     throughout this age in the blood (I Jn.  1:7) and Spirit
  to execute His purposes and exert His power for His                                     (I Pe.  1:2) of Christ. The purifying extends to the
  Israel. "I will avenge Myself (ridding Myself) from My                                  removal of "thy dross," the Lord's vile, detestable
  adversaries, and (so) avenge Myself from My                                             enemies, including not only corrupt rulers, but also
enemies.  " These enemies are not out in, the world,                                      the impenitently wicked people. "Thou  puttest away
  but in Israel, the enemy within. The Lord would not                                     all the wicked of the earth like dross" (Ps. 119: 119).
  be an adversary to Israel's adversaries (as the                                           3. The judgments will see officebearers restored.
  Philistines or Chaldeans), but to Israel. He is  their                                  "And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy
  enemy.  They  are adversaries of God. Here it is not                                    counselors as at the beginning, after (it) so
  said that God loves these wicked enemies of His, but                                    (happened, i.e., afterwards) thou shalt be called to
 that  ,in fact the day of vengeance is in His heart                                      thee, City of righteousness, a faithful city." As their
  (63:4). He will have vengeance on them to their total                                   evils had their origin in their princes (v.  23), so the
  destruction. They are such a  drag,  even on the                                        Lord would "purify that rank." Israel would again
 Almighty  who can bear anything, who upholds all                                         have notable judges and counselors as they once had
 things by the word of His power, that He is wearied                                      in the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the judges, David,
 with them, and will no longer put up with them, but                                      Solomon and the prophets. This would especially be
 will throw off the burden of them. He will spew them                                     so in the time of the Messiah when the Church was
 out of His mouth. He must be rid of them. They too                                       blessed with apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers
 long have borne too hard on His patience.                                                and ministers of the gospel. This promise, then, is
     2. These judgments come not by chance, but from                                      fulfilled in the New Testament Church as instituted
 the hand of God. "And I will stay My hand upon                                           by Christ and His apostles, and in the local church
 thee,  ,and I will purify as purity (itself) thy dross, and                              organized according to their pattern and principles.


276                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



"A true church of Christ is a congregation of faithful       but as for mere pretenders, "no man durst join
men who keep the ordinances as they' were delivered,         himself to them" (Acts 5: 13). "While He speaks of
stand fast in the faith of the gospel, take care that the    the redemption of the Church, He at the same time
laws of Christ's house are put into execution, and do        threatens that sinners,  i..e., wicked men, shall be
not suffer sin upon one another, nor bear them that          destroyed, that they may not suppose that these acts
are evil, whether in doctrine or practice. .  ." (John       of God's kindness belong at all to them" (Calvin).
Gill).                                                       "God allows the reprobate to perish, but preserves
 j 4. Reformation and redemption go hand in hand.            His own in safety. " "A thousand shall fall at thy side,
`(Zion in judgment shall be redeemed, and her                and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
captives in righteousness" (v. 27).  The.promises in the     come nigh thee" (Ps.  91:7).
prophecies of Scripture are for the elect church, while        ". . . and the deserters of Jehovah . .  ." Recently
the denunciations of judgment are  fo,r the reprobate        (Aug.  `74), we heard that a "bingo" party in  Ocho
wicked. Promises and threatenings are so intertwined,        Rios, Jamaica, had to close down hurriedly that the
involving each other, that they are fulfilled together.      participants might clear things away in order to
The promise of the refining of the silver carries with       celebrate Mass! Here it is warned that all deserters of
it the warning of the certain casting off of the refuse,     the Lord shall be stopped: all who desert His word,
the dross. All the dross shall be destroyed in justice.      ,worship  and sacraments, as Romanists have done in
Yet also in justice, Zion, by nature no better than          setting up the traditions of men against the Word of
dross, shall be redeemed. We are redeemed, not with          God, in corrupting the sacraments and adding strange
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,      new inventions to them. The Lord will finish them
`"not by works of righteousness  whichrwe have done,"        off in the day of judgment.
but, "the Lord is exalted (not man), for He dwelleth
on high (not the will of man); He hath filled Zion             2. Then follows how they are finished. "For they
with judgment and righteousness" (Isa.  33:5). So that       shall be ashamed from (or,  of)  the trees which ye
salvation is  ent.irely of the Lord. Redemption is a         have desired, and ye shall be put to shame (become
setting free of the captives of sin and Satan, so that       red and blush), from (or,  for)  the gardens which ye
they become Zion's captives, the church's converts           have. chosen." The prophets clearly and continually
(Heb.  12:22), redeemed in righteousness. Israel in the      denounced the sin here referred to. "For of old time I
wilderness came to Mount Sinai, which was only a             have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou
way station for them. "But you" (New Testament               saidst, `I will not transgress,' when upon every high
believers) "have come to Mount Zion,? which is more          hill and under every green tree thou wanderest,
than just a mountain, as Sinai also was, but is "the         playing the harlot" (Jer.  2:20).  `Phe Lord also said
city of the living God" (there was no city on Sinai),        unto me in the days of Josiah the king, `Hast thou
`fthe heavenly Jerusalem," which is th,e Church of the       seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is
Firstborn (i.e., a church of divine heirs, Exod.  4:22,      gone up upon every high mountain, and under every
23). So Zion in reality is the  Church,,as the writer to     green tree, and there hath played the harlot:  "  (3:6).
the Hebrews tells us in his infallibly: inspired letter.     Israel was "a people that provoketh me to anger
"The Israel of God" (Gal. 6:  16), thus saith the Lord,      continually to my face, that sacrificeth in gardens . . .
is His firstborn.                                            that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the
                                                             gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's
: So the Church is redeemed in judgment, that                flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be
judgment coming with a vengeance on Christ, so that          consumed together, saith the Lord" (Isa.  65:3;
by His blood His church is truly redeemed, sin is fully      66:17). Read also Hos.  4:13, 14, then read the two
condemned and punished, the law is magnified and             chapters, Ezek. 8 and 9, following this up with Mic.
made honorable, the demands of divine justice are            5:10-15.  (For further light see  The  Treasury  o f
satisfied and the law completely fulfilled.                  Scripture Knowledge at this point).
  II.  The Ruin of the Corrupters.  1. Sinners are
finished. "And destruction  -(of) transgressors and             "For ye shall be as a tree (with) its leaf withering,
sinners together, and the deserters of Jehovah shall be      and as a garden, which, as to waters, nothing to it!"
finished." What the "together" is saying here is that        (v. 30). They themselves should become as a tree and
Zion. shall be redeemed and' at the same time                a garden blasted with dearth. "And the strong shall
transgressors and sinners shall be destroyed.                become tow, and his (image) work a spark, and they
Redemption and destruction occur. in the Church              shall consume, they two together, and  - nothing to
together. While the true Church is preserved,                quench!" (v. 3 1).  Tow  is highly inflammable material,
hypocrites are swept out of it. By the captivities the       as a mass of flax or hemp fibres balled up like a bird's
Lord purged His church of hypocrites. So the Lord            nest to catch a spark from flint-and-steel. The idolater
did at Pentecost. Zion was then blest and redeemed,          shall find that his idols are not the security he had


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          277


 supposed, but are rather a refuge of lies, which shall         against him, which shall burn with unquenchable fire
 act as a spark to his own tow, setting him on fire, so         to the lowest hell. Jehovah's adversaries are tow, their
 that' he and his work shall burn together.' His own sin        sin is the igniting spark and God himself is the
 shall spark the exploding flame of God's wrath                 consuming fire.



SIGNS OF  TilE TIMES

                              Re-prioritizing Priorities
                                                    Rev. G. .Van Buren

   That first word in the title is, of course, an               live, where the earthly is first  - and the heavenly is,
 invention  - not mine, but another's A member of               perhaps, appended.
 our, Theological School Committee has  .been                      The child of God, then, recognizing the sinfulness
 responsible for handling matters which concern                 o f   h i s   o w n   n a t u r e ,   i s   c a l l e d   r e p e a t e d l y   t o
 government approval of our Seminary for foreign                "reprioritize" his priorities. More simply, Scripture
 students. This involves untangling a considerable              insists: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its
 amount of "red tape". Since this approval must be              righteousness. . .  ."
 made by immigration officials, since they are
 understaffed, government conveniently presents the                But what of this matter of our priorities? What
 officials with a list of "priorities". Whatever is first on    comes first, or second, or third on our lists?
 the list, is dealt with first. Items on, the bottom of            We face this question as churches. Other churches,
 this list of "priorities" receive scant, if any, attention.    as can be easily observed, in many instances have
 Recognition of seminaries for purpose of admitting             placed on the top of their "lists" not the preaching of
 foreign students happens to be on the bottom of the            the gospel, but social improvements. The preaching of
 list of "priorities". So it becomes rather frustrating in      the gospel is again regarded as both foolishness and
 trying to  accomplibh  what is not on the top of this          weakness. But what of ourselves? Do we still realize
 list. It was in that context that this Theological             the importance of the preaching of the Word? Do we
 School Committee! representative, tongue in cheek,             insist on the regular attendance of the worship
 suggested to the official with which he was dealing,           services? Do we maintain that the central element of
 that  ,perhaps  it was time they began to "re-prioritize"      all worship is the proclamation of Christ crucified?
their priorities.                                               We, too, must beware the dangers of having other
   That thought has remained in my mind. Surely,                things intrude into that central calling of the church
 one of the signs of the end of this age is this question       to preach the gospel. The "priorities" of the church
 of  `,priorities". Everyone, whether he admits it or           are clearly outlined in Scripture.  .First, second, third,
not, has such a list of priorities. There' are certain          etc., are: the preaching of the Word. All other labors
.`things which each believes he  must  accomplish. Either       of the church must flow forth out of that. When
these must be accomplished because we find pleasure             churches depart from this Scriptural priority, they are
in doing them or because external circumstances                 called to re-prioritize their priorities.
 demand that they be finished. Other items lower on                The same must be true in the realm of education.
this list of "priorities" will be finished  if,one has the      We, at least, have set up schools as extensions of our
time and opportunity.                                           Protestant Reformed homes. This has been done
   It `makes for an interesting study of one's own life         because parents believed that priorities in local
when the question is asked, "What are your                      Christian schools were not all proper. There had to be
prio,rities?" What comes first, second, third, or               a "re-prioritizing" of priorities so that first things
fourth, etc. in your life? A clear indication of the end        might always be first. But we had better ever keep
of this age is seen when governments and also                   that before our minds. There are constant dangers in
churches have on the top of their priority lists that           the realm of education. We must keep proper
which concerns this world and its improvement. The              priorities.
same is true with respect to individuals. When on the              Priorities are present in the home and in the lives
top of his list of "priorities" is found that which is          of individual children of God. Often, these priorities
not spiritual but is. earthly and materialistic, then we        are not what they should be. That becomes very
are reminded again of the age of apostasy in which we           evident when one hears excuses given for failure to


278                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


carry out necessary tasks.. How often one does not                     there is the requirement that we hear regularly the
hear, "I don't have time to learn my catechism                         pure preaching of the Word of God. Therefore we are
lesson." Or, "I don't have enough time to study for                    required to study that Word faithfully. Therefore,
society or to read Scripture as I ought." Or, "I don't                 too, we are to seek often the face of our heavenly
have time to train and direct my children in a proper                  Father for guidance and wisdom in this question of
way." Such statements obviously do not imply that                      our "priorities".
this person has no time. All have an equal amount of                       For many, there must also be a "re-prioritizing" of
time. But these statements suggest that in the order                   priorities. Putting this another, and Scriptural, way:
of priorities, catechism, societies, reading of Scripture              there must be repentance from sin. Too often, one
and other endeavors of similar nature are on the                       agrees to the theory that often we have wrong
bottom of our list.                                                    priorities. It is easy to agree. But how often one
  I Whatever is on the top, is accomplished. Perhaps                   continues to go in the old course without change!
one must spend his time, and all of his time, working                  Our lack of Scriptural studies continues; our interest
- to advance himself on the earth. Perhaps one is                      in worldly entertainments, especially on T.V. and
much enthused about sports: participating or                           radio, remains unchanged. We can still enjoy the
observing. Perhaps one is interested in a different sort               things of this earth  - with our hearts set on such
of study: the reading of books and magazines `which                    things. To "re-prioritize" simply means that we have
are not concerned with the spiritual. So, there is not                 a calling to flee from all things which interfere with
time for the study of Scripture; it is on the bottom of                our calling to seek the kingdom of God.
the list.                                                                  The last days are indeed upon us. The temptation
   On the bottom of the list, too, often is labor                      is very great to imitate this world. What this world
within the church. Many have no time to serve as                       finds to be most important also affects our thinking.
officebearers, no time to visit the sick, no time to                   When materialism is the spirit of this age, we think in
help those in need of assistance. Other things assume                  those terms, too. When the world boasts of worldly
the priority.                                                          peace, we would desire (sometimes) that kind of
  : And each must examine his own list of priorities.                  peace, too. When the world sets up its goals, these
In these last days, priorities of many have been                       appear appealing to us, too. So, beware!
changing.  Man seeks the earth and the things of this                      If we profess that our "priority" is the kingdom of
earth. He desires to establish a kingdom below. What,                  God and its righteousness, then this must be evident
then, of our priorities?                                               in all things. In church, within our denomination (and
  I Scripture speaks clearly on this. Jesus said in Matt.              p a r t i c u l a r l y   a s   w e   c o m m e m o r a t e   o u r   5 0 t h
6:33, "But seek ye  first  the kingdom of God, and his                 anniversary), we ought to be concerned with the
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto                maintaining of the pure preaching of the Word. Let us
you." This word of Christ does not mean that after                     never succumb to the temptation to cater to the
seeking  first  the kingdom of God, that  then we  can                 whims of man and change proper preaching into that
seek whatever our flesh might desire. Rather, in                       which seems to satisfy the sinful flesh. In our schools,
seeking first that kingdom, there is no time nor                       may our "priority" ever be to instruct covenant
opportunity to seek anything else. Seek always that                    children in the fear of God's Name and in harmony
kingdom of God. In all that one does, in all of his                    with our promise given in baptism. In our daily lives,
thoughts and words, he must reveal a seeking of that                   may we be increasingly faithful  - children of the light
kingdom. That has the priority.                                        who look for the return of our Lord on the clouds of
   All that we do must be examined in light of that                    heaven.
priority Jesus sets forth. If what we do does not                         The time is short. Many have distorted priorities.
measure up to that requirement, we are walking then                    May ours be proper. Where such is necessary, may we
in sin. We need, in the light of Scripture, a constant                 have the wisdom and grace to "re-prioritize" our
examination of our own priorities. We must be                          priorities. Thus may the Name of our God be most
reminded of this in these days of great evil. Therefore                highly exalted.



                                                     TEACHER NEEDED
                                   South Holland Protestant Reformed Christian School will be in need
                               of a teacher for grades 4, 5  and  6 for the 1975-1976 term. Those
                               interested please contact G. F. Van  Baren, 15921  Parkside  Ave., South
                               Holland, Illinois 60473, or call  (312) 331-3818.


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  279


FROM HOLY WRIT
                                    Exposition of Hebrews 12: 18-24
                                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

    The basic argument and admonition of the book of                          iinto the finished work of God. Such die in their
Hebrews is that the Old Testament dispensation of                             unbelief and disobedience to the Son of God. It is the
the grace of God has passed away by the coming of                             sin for which the Lord reveals  Himselfj as being a
the Son of God in the flesh in these last days. God                           flaming fire. Now to underscore this reality of the
has `fulfilled His promises, made to the fathers, in                          New Testament being better than the Old Testament
Christ's death and glorification. The church of the                           dispensational grace, the writer here contrasts the
Hebrew Christians must not return to the Old                                  coming of Israel to Mt. Sinai in their journey from
Testament shadows and types, but must boldly enter                            `Egypt to Canaan with our coming to the real and
into the holy place in the heavens, where Christ the                          heavenly country, the heavenly land of promise,
forerunner has entered. He is our great High Priest                           particularly the heavenly Jerusalem. If connected
after the order of Melchisedek, according to God's                            with the entire argument of the Hebrews, we have
word of oath.                                                                 here the final and conclusive argument for our
   ye 18 begins with the conjunction. "for." This                             running the race with patience. Our covenant status is
indicates that in these verses the author is assigning                        that of the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.
the reason for something which he stated in the                                  To our mind the writer is here underscoring the
former part of this letter. The writer may have in                            basic argument of the Hebrews as this basic argument
mind the immediate context, where he spoke to the                             was repeatedly brought into sharp focus in this letter
church not to be weak, not to have feeble hands and                           in the many arguments which the writer forwards.
shaky knees. They must take a very strong, militant                           When this argument has been thus reinforced by this
stance in this matter; and they must keep a very                              contrast of Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion, the writer can
watchful eye over themselves and over one another.                            conclusively write: "Wherefore we receiving a
They must not allow a breach in their ranks; a bitter                         kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
root must not be allowed to grow in their midst, so that                      (we do have grace?), whereby we may serve God
many be defiled with the error of unbelief in the Son                         acceptably with reverence and Godly fear," (Hebrews
of God. If the writer refers to this context, then what                       12:28).  The chief and last argument of the book of
he says here in these verses makes good sense and is                          Hebrews ends here, then, in Hebrews 12. What we
stringent proof for his admonitions. We may also view                         read in Chapters 13 are various admonitions which
this as referring to the entire book of Hebrews, and                          flow from our new relationship to Christ in the
then, to the basic argument of the book. The keynote                          world, in our practical life of thankfulness.
of this is given in the very first four verses of Chapter
1, in that majestically beautiful passage which reads:
"God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners                              THE TERRIFYING SIGHT AT MT. SINAI IN
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,                          ARABIA(Vss.  18-21;Ex.   19:12, 18, 19)
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,                              We should not neglect to remember that when
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom                            God appeared to Israel at Mt. Sinai, He appeared to
also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of                          His covenant people, whom He had very recently
his glory, and the express image of his person, and                           delivered out of Egypt in remembrance of His
upholding all things by the word of his power, when                           promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the                            promises had been given to Abraham some 430 years
right  j hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so                           before, (Gal.  3:17, Ex.  12:40, 41). And these
muc,h  b e t t e r   t h a n   t h e   a n g e l s ,   a s h e h a t h b y    promises God is fulfilling in bringing Israel from
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than                               Egypt to Canaan, even when He brings them first to
they." This is the theme of the Epistle. Again and                            the nether part of Mt. Sinai to receive the words of
again this theme is treated from various aspects and                          the Covenant. These words of the covenant spoken
considerations from the Old Testament Scriptures,                             from out of the darkness, storm, and fire, do not
the types and the shadows. Beautiful contrasts are                            annul the promises. They are added that God's people
drawn, and the implications are clearly pointed out                           may be kept unto the time appointed of the Lord for
in these contrasts between the Old and the New                                the redemption in Christ Jesus. Israel is not viewed
Testament. To fall back from the New Testament to                             here as mankind in general;  .but they are addressed as
the Old Testament is a refusal to enter into the rest,                        those who will "be a peculiar treasure unto me above


280                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


all people: for all the earth is mine," (Ex. 19: 5). This            not friendly, welcoming. It was forbidding! It was
means that they shall be the people to whom the                      burning with fire, declaring that God is a consuming
oracles of God are entrusted (Rom. 3: 1, 2); and they                fire to transgressors of His law. It was blackness,
are the people from whom Messiah will be born, as                    darkness, a n d   t e m p e s t .   T h e r e   w a s   h e r e   n o
the salvation of the Lord, which He has prepared                     manifestation of the glorious light of God's
before the face of all peoples, a light to lighten the               countenance of grace and mercy. All was symbolic of
Gentiles, and the glory of Israel, God's people.                     righteousness, wrath, and judgment upon all who
Salvation is out of the Jews. (John  ,4:21-24;  Luke                 broke the words of God's covenant, denying the Lord
21~29-32;  Isaiah  40:5;   52:lO;   42:6;   49:6.)  Israel is the    Who redeemed them. We have not come to that
servant of the Lord, a new creation of God as they                   mountain in Arabia which speaks of bondage and
are brought forth  out. of Egypt! Such is the exalted                death. All that we have there is the "sound of the
and liberated people here at Sinai. The shout of the                 trumpet" calling for men to come and worship. It was
King is in their midst; they are God's firstborn                     very really the "trump of God." It was so terrifying a
people. (Num.  23:21)                                                sight to sinful man that even Moses, who might speak
  This is a viewpoint of Israel which we may not lose                with God in the holy mount, uttered the words "that
sight of. They are standing in the grace of God  - be                he exceedingly feared and trembled." True, he
it, then, typically seeing it from afar when "faith                  uttered those words after he had been for forty days
would come." (Gal. 3: 22) Was not this the Israel of                 on the mountain, to receive the lively oracles of God
God who had been baptized into Moses and the sea?                    from the hands of angels. (Deut. 9: 19; Gal. 3: 19, 20)
And have they not recently, at Rephidim, drunk from                  But they are a true commentary of how Moses
the miraculous waters of the Rock, which symbolized                  experienced the law-giving at Sinai. Would not even a
the `Christ? And again, had they not eaten manna,                    beast be killed if it touched the mountain?
which was really angels' food? (Ps.  78:24) And would                  Now who desires to go back to this promise of God
they not eat of this bread until they would eat the                  as it is given in the package of the law? The law,
bread new in the land of Promise for a period of well                which came 430 years later, was added for the sake of
nigh forty years? (Josh. 5 : 12) "Blessed art thou, 0                the offense! Let the Hebrews take notice that we
Israel: who is like unto thee, 0 people saved by the                 have not come to that mountain, we who have been
Lord, the shield of thy help, and  who:is the sword of               born in these latter days, in the end of the ages, when
thy excellency.1" (Deut.  33:29) This is the Israel of               Christ died once for all! (Heb.  9:24-26)
God which gathers at the nether part of Mt. Sinai.                     Really, Israel never came beyond Sinai's awful
They are unto the Lord a kingdom of priests, a holy                  sight in all her Old Testament history. This was true
nation. To be sure, it is not all Israel that is of Israel,          even when Solomon's temple was built. When the
as Moses would learn when he received the two tables                 Lord came to dwell in that temple, it was exactly as
of the law on stone. God will have mercy on whom                     when He came in His glory to fill the Tabernacle at
He will have mercy, the remnant according to the                     Sinai. The book of Exodus ends on this note of the
election of grace. (Ex. 33: 19; Rom.  9:,14, 15; 11: l-6)            distance which the Old Testament dispensation of
But Israel is here the  church  of God in the wilderness             grace demands. It was the testimony of the Holy
(Acts  7:38)                                                         Spirit that the way into the most holy place was not
 i Keeping the foregoing in mind, we then notice that                yet opened. (Heb.  9:8) Wherefore the book of
Israel and the entire church of the Old Testament                    Exodus must needs end by telling us that even Moses
dispensation really never came any farther than Mt.                  could not enter into the tent of the Lord, the tent of
Sinai. They ever needed to worship from afar. They                   the congregation, when "the glory of the LORD filled
could not draw near to the Lord. The law perfected                   the tabernacle." Literally we read: "And Moses was
nothing. (Heb.  7:19) And if Israel of the New                       not able to enter into the tent of the congregation
Testament will attempt to deny that the "bringing in                 because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the
`of a better hope" did perfect all things, all they have             Lord filled the tabernacle," (Ex.  40:34, 35).
left is the thunder, lightning, and the terrifying sound               When Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem,
af the trumpet which not a living soul could endure.                 the typical place of the fmal resting place of the Ark
 That is why it is stated so very strongly that we                   of the Covenant, the priests, too, could not minister
"have not come" to the mountain that can be                          in the temple. We read in II Chron. 7:1-3, "Now
tiouched. Such is not our covenantally-dated                         when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire
relationship to the LORD. Concerning that awesome                    came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt
sight the writer tells us, as in an ever rising crescendo,           offering and the sacrifices;. and the glory of the
the terrifying experience of Israel at the mount of                  LORD filled the house. And the priests could not
God. It was really only an earthly mountain; a far                   enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory
cry from Mt.  ,Si-on, the heavenly. Yet, even so it was              of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house." Israel of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        281


Solomon's day had come to Mt. Sinai. They had not           has come when Christ by a greater and more perfect
yet come to the heavenly city, to the true and living       tabernacle will purge our consciences from dead
temple of the living God. This must wait till .the time     works to serve the living God. (Heb. 9: 11-14)
of reformation. (Heb. 9: 10) That time of reformation



                                  CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

  All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in     r e c o m m e n d a t i o n   o f   t h e   T h e o l o g i c a l   S c h o o l
either the pre-seminary or seminary department of          Committee, to such an aspirant only who comes
the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed          supplied with a testimonial of his consistory that he
Churches are requested to appear before the                is a member in full communion, sound in faith and
Theological School Committee at its meeting to be          upright in walk, and also a certificate from a
held  pn Thursday, March 20, 1975, at  7:30 P.M. in        reputable physician showing him to be in good
the Theological School Building, 4949  Ivanrest Ave.,      health.
S.W.,:Grandville,  Michigan 49418.                             A complete high school education and the
Pre-seminary Department:                                   equivalent of a four year (125 hour) college
                                                           education are required for entrance into the seminary
  Per'mission to pursue the pre-seminary course of         department. Moreover, each entrant into this
study, shall be granted by the Theological School          department must produce evidence that he has credit
Committee. A transcript of grades from High School         for the required college courses. Requirements are
and College (if any), a letter of testimony from a         listed in the school catalog, available from the School.
student's pastor or consistory, and a certificate of
health from a reputable physician shall be submitted.         In the event you cannot be present at this meeting,
                                                           please notify the undersigned secretary of your
Seminary Department:                                       i n t e n t i o n s , p r i o r   t o   t h e   m e e t i n g .   M a i l   a l l
  Permission to pursue the Theological course in the       correspondence to the Theological School.
seminary shall be granted by the Synod, upon                                                  Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary


                                          Book Review

CHRONOL0G.Y  OF THE OLD TESTAMENT,  by                     all by itself. And it is both an important and a very
Martin Anstey (Foreword by G. Campbell Morgan);            interesting study to anyone  whois a true student of
Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids,  Mich:; 271 pp.,        the Old Testament. This work by Martin Anstey will
$12.95 (cloth). Note: due to the size of the pages and     certainly prove to be a very helpful and valuable
the format of this reprint, these 271 pages are            addition to the library of any student of the Old
equivalent to some 400 pages of ordinary size.             Testament. Why do I make this statement? Not
[Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                          because I necessarily agree with all the calculations
                                                           and the conclusions reached by the author, but
  This is another very worthwhile volume in the            because this is a study that is basically faithful to the
Kregel Reprint Library. This work was' originally          Scriptures, and a very careful and thorough study.
printed in 1913 in two volumes under the title "The        Moreover, in a day when everywhere `the idea of a
Romance of Bible Chronology." In this reprint the          "young world" and, in fact, the very idea that it is
original two volumes are presented complete and            possible to construct a chronology on the basis of the
unabridged. They are companion volumes. The first          Bible is virtually laughed out of court, it  is  refreshing
volume is called "The Treatise," and contains all the      to become acquainted with a book such as this. Let
material which deals with the principles, the exegesis,    me add, too, that the value of this book is not limited
and the calculations involved in Old Testament             to ministers and seminarians. Although any reader
chronology. The second volume is a section of very         will have to put on his thinking cap, also the ordinary
complete chronological tables.                             man of the pew may very well make use of this book.
                                                           Especially do I suggest that our teachers will find this
  Any student of, Old Testament history knows that         book helpful in connection with their Bible teaching
the chronology of the Old Testament is really a study      and their history teaching. Highly recommended.


                                                        . . . OF  T H E . .   .
                                      PROTESTANT  R E F O R M E D   CHURCHES
                                                  494.9  IVANREST  A V E N U E ,   SW.


                                                       PHONE:  (616) 531-1490


        ents of Dogmatics  and  Old  Testament

Prof. Herman C.  Hanko,                                                                    March, 1975


Departments of Practical Theology and New

Testament
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:
         It is time we write you concerning the affairs of the Seminary.                                     By the
time you read this, we will be well into our second semester.                                      One wonders
where the time goes!
         There is a total of 10 students enrolled in our Pre-seminary Department:
1 freshman, 5 juniors, and b'seniors who look forward to graduation in May.
                                                                                                                 .
These students are busy with such courses as Latin, Greek, Psychology, History,
Philosophy, Speech, and Dutch. In this connection, we urge prospective pre-
seminary students to contact the faculty before planning or beginning their
college programs.              This is important if students are to include the required
 subjects for seminary entrance and are to avoid scheduling problems in our
pre-seminary department.
         In the Seminary Department we have 4 students:                                   3 are from the Free
Reformed Church of North America and 1 is from our own churches.                                          These students,
 all in the first year, are getting their first taste of practice preaching this
term.        Each must preach on two assigned texts before the faculty and student
body this semester.               This is in addition to a full course-load.
                                                                                                                 .
         While all this makes for a rather heavy teaching load and a busy daily
 schedule of classes, we are grateful for the privilege to be busy in this aFort
 of the work of God's church.                     We ask that you pray for us. We need that:
without the Lord's strength and grace we cannot labor.                                      Even as we ask for your
prayers, we are deeply grateful to you for your support, encouragement, and
prayers on our behalf in the past.                                                                                                !
         We have received a goodly number of gifts for our Library, for which we                                             i
thank you.          Some of,these gifts have come from brothers and sisters outside of ;
 our churches.             We appreciate this more than we can express. Our library is
 growing, but it "has a long way to go." In this connection, we wish to en-
 courage you to make use of the seminary library.                                  The library is open to all
 our people.         Anyone, therefore, wishing to borrow books may contact our
 Librarian, Steven R. Houck.                                                                                            i
         May God's blessing rest on you, us, and our churches, in order that His !
 name may receive the glory.                                                                                            i -,
                                            With love in ~~~~~~~~lty~                                                  1,


                                               THE STANDARD  BEAREd                                                                       283


GUEST ARTICLE
                               Anniversary Celebration Plans
                                            Rev. Ronald L Van Overloop

   Remember. . . ?                                                Can you imagine what a thrilling event that would
   And can you imagine? On the basis of those                 be if a Field Day and a Young People's Convention
 memories can you imagine?                                    were held together?
                       *****                                                                    *i:Q**+
   Remember what? Remember the fourteen annual                    The Lord willing, just such an event is being
Field Days held in the Grand Rapids area. The first           planned and will take place this summer. No matter
Field Day was advertised as follows in the July, 1925         your age, or how many children you may have, you
issue, of the Standard Bearer:                                can be part of a very special young people's
   FIRST ANNUAL FIELD DAY                                     convention. This will be the 35th annual convention,
   Protesting Christian Reformed Churches                     hosted by the Young People's Societies of the First
   SATURDAY, JULY  4th, 1925                                  Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.
     ,The First  Annual Field Day of the Protesting               C a  n  y  o u imagine a beautiful, air-conditioned
   Christian Reformed Churches will be held at                building, seating twelve hundred people, filled to
   B o yn t on's Grove, near Jenison, Michigan, on            capacity on two different warm summer evenings?
   Saturday, July 4th. Come in the forenoon and               The occasion for these overflow crowds  will be
   enjoy the whole day. Addresses will be given by           lectures given by two of our seminary Professors,
   the Revs. H. Hoeksema, H. Danhof, G. M. Ophoff            telling us of aspects of the covenant faithfulness of
   and Candidate R. Danhof. There  will also be               our God.
   singing, band music and games for the children.               Can you imagine an all day outing sandwiched
   You will find room for picnic dinners, so bring           between those two lectures. Imagine Rev. C. Hanko,
   your baskets. Refreshments will be on sale at the         as only he can do, reminiscing both soberly and
   Canteen.                                                  humorously of past events in the history of the
     The proceeds from a collection and from all             Protestant Reformed Churches. Imagine one of our
  sales will be for the support of our monthly paper         faithful ministers standing on a make-shift platform,
   - THE STANDARD BEARER.                                    in the cool of a summer night, telling us of the
                                                             historical realization of God's covenant faithfulness.
                                   EVERYBODY COME            Imagine  1200-plus  Protestant Reformed people
     I                         Let's make this a success.    gathered together out of doors singing praises to their
Remember how these were held for fourteen years in           covenant God. Just think of the enjoyment and
a row on the 4th of July? Remember the speeches,             fellowship involved in such an event!
fellowship, and fun had by ail?                                  Is this imagining the wild workings of the
  Can you imagine having one of them again?                  imagination of the writer?
                       *****                                     No. All of this could be a reality, the Lord willing.
  Remember? Remember the Protestant Reformed                 All of the above-mentioned events are being planned
Young People's Conventions you were able to attend           now.
over the past 36 years? Can you still remember some              All of this began in Hudsonville, at the Synod of
portions of the speeches? Can you recall the family          1972, when a committee was elected to take care of
with whom you were housed, some of the events, and           the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the
some of the young people you met?                            Protestant Reformed Churches. This committee has
  Were you, perhaps, too old to attend a convention          been  ,busy over the past year and a half doing just
by the time they began in 1939 at South Holland? Or          that. In the carrying out of their duties this com-
were there other reasons which hindered you from             mittee, in turn, appointed a committee of two
attending one of these wonderful events? Do you,             and gave them the responsibility of coordinating the
whether you have attended one or not, feel a twinge          Young People's Convention and the celebration of
of envy for the young people who leave your                  t h e   5 0 t h   A n n i v e r s a r y   b y   t h e   a d u l t s   o f   o u r
congregation to attend one?                                  denomination.
  Can you imagine attending a portion of the Young               The young people of First  Protes.tant  Reformed
People's Convention this year?                               Church are now a long way in their preparations for


284                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


this annual convention August 4-7. Having been              faith. How wonderful, especially for those who are a
informed of the tentative schedule,' nine energetic         part of congregations which are separated by many
couples were found to make the celebration of our           m i l e s   f r o m   a n y   o t h e r   P r o t e s t a n t   R e f o r m e d
anniversary by the adults a wonderful reality.              congregation. What a communion of those "agreeing
  As these couples met with the above-mentioned             in true faith!"
committee of two, many ideas were: presented and               Would such a celebration be a glorying in man?
discussed. And during this discussion an air of             NO! No one desires that, and it may not be that. This
excitement took hold! Were they excited because             would be no more glorying in man than an open
they were fooled by one who could make good use of          house for a couple's celebrating their golden wedding
propoganda? NO. Rather there was excitement                 anniversary. Certainly, there is no denying it, that
because these people saw great possibilities that many      there is a danger of this being a celebration of what
of these ideas could become a reality and make the          man has not. But that danger exists every minute of
celebration of the 50th Anniversary by the adults of        every day in the life of the child of God, and it is no
the churches a long remembered event. No, these are         reason that such a celebration should not be held.
not the wild workings of a vain imagination. They are       Because of that danger we all must exercise ourselves
not a pipe dream. They are already becoming a               in the sanctifying battle of faith, so that we can see
reality. The Lord willing, they shall take place. It is     only the graciousness of our Heavenly Father and the
up to you, the members of the Protestant Reformed           faithfulness of our covenant God.
Churches, to make`this a success.       :                      This is a celebration of what God has wrought. It is
 As a denomination we are small enough to be able           a celebration our covenant God has made possible.
`to gather many of our families into one spot at one        This is the Golden Anniversary of the Protestant
time. Vacations could be taken at that, time. Those         Reformed. Churches. It is OUR Golden Anniversary,
who do not live in the Grand Rapids area can journey        even though many individual members of our
there, where arrangements will be made for lodging.         churches are not yet 50 years old themselves. The
Families can take their young people to the                 Lord willing, let us celebrate. And by His grace, let us
convention, rather than just sending them there. What       celebrate  aright.
aj thrill to be able to see so many who are of like



THE DAY OF SHADOWS
                                             To `The Rescue
                                                  Rev. John A. Heys

 , Were it not for the testimony of' Scripture in II        to Abram who had cared for him ever since his father
Peter  2:7 that Lot vexed his righteous soul, it would      died. He had a covetous eye. And Paul declares in
be hard  to. believe that he had a righteous soul. His      Ephesians  5:5 that a covetous man is an idolator.
works did not reflect such a soul. And tracing his life,    One does not simply covet and break the tenth
we see him departing farther and farther into the           commandment. But a covetous heart leads one to all
world. He moved away from Abram because he saw              manner of sin. And it is not at all surprising that Lot,
the lush, green fields near Sodom and Gomorrah. But         who shamefully treated Abram by choosing the best
now in Genesis 14 we find him living. in the midst of       part of the land, should also make himself at home
the heathen in Sodom. He is a citizen of the land.          with the wicked and appear as another idolator.
  Undoubtedly those lush fields had served him well            And, by the way, let. it not escape us that the
from a material point of view, and now he, who had          advantages in the world materially are always to be
much goods and cattle and servants when he departed         found where the wicked are. That is all that they
from Abram  - and in fact that was exactly why they         know and seek. You can be sure that where material
had to separate  - is now much richer. He can afford a      advantage is to be found, there you will find the
house in Sodom. He can operate from out of the city         world. So often these earthly goods can be gotten
and have his servants take care of his many cattle and      only in fellowship with the world. And Lot does not
sheep.                                                      hesitate to join with wicked men to satisfy his
 I But all his riches do not change the fact that he        covetous eye and heart.
was an ingrate. Nor does it alter the fact that he was         He was a deserter, and soon enough he experiences
an extremely weak believer. He showed no gratitude          what it means to cast one's lot in with the wicked.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               285


   When the judgments of God fall on the wicked, those         gave Abram the victory when he went with his
   who:have joined the wicked can expect to be caught          servants to rescue Lot. While we were yet sinners,
   up in the misery of His judgments. Lot joined the           also, Christ died for us. How terrible if He had to wait
   world, and Lot suffered the miseries of the world.          for us to cease being sinners. How hopeless the case
   Four kings to whom tribute had been paid came up            would be if that were the condition of our salvation.
   with: a large army to punish the five kings that refused    But even as we see here with Lot who was walking in
   to pay tribute. And two of these five kings were the        sin, so it is with us, that God, having chosen us, also
   kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. When Sodom and its             loves us and is with us through thick and thin, never
   inhabitants were captured Lot was taken. The four           forsakes us and rescues us from the awful mess into
   kings asked no questions. They saw no difference            which we got ourselves. Yes, behind Abram is God,
   between the Sodomites and Lot. His righteous soul           and let us never overlook that fact. There is a God in
   did not show on his face: To them he was an enemy           heaven Who knows all things, and He saw to it that
   as well as all the rest of the Sodomites. And had his       Abram heard of Lot's plight, because He intended
   righteous soul shown on his face, it would have made        through him to save this deserter of whom Peter can
   no difference to the four kings and their, army. This       only say that he vexed his righteous soul. He did not
   was no righteous war. Had it been, Abram would not          do much more than that. But the spark of life God
   have: come with. an army to fight them: He would            will not allow to go out. And in wonderful mercy He
   have!presented the case of Lot being a righteous man        sends Abram to rescue his nephew.
   and pleaded for his release.                                   Is that why Abram rescued him? Because there was
     But although Lot was an ingrate, Abram was a man          this blood tie whereby Lot was his nephew? Is that
   withla big heart. He was not vindictive. Well could he      the meaning of the statement in Genesis 14: 14 that
   have I said, "Let Lot learn a lesson. He treated me         Abram heard "that his brother was taken captive"?
   shabbily. Now let him know what it means to be              Well, in the literal sense Lot was not his brother but
   numbered with the transgressors. He deserves what he        his nephew. That we read in verse 12 when Lot is
   got.  He asked for it. I cannot bother myself about the     called Abram's brother's son. So we have both
   troubles into which he got himself." This Abram does        statements here. Lot is called Abram's brother's son,
   not do. Such thoughts he never entertained for a            and he is called Abram's brother.
   moment. When, providentially an escapee brings him             The latter undoubtedly refers to a spiritual
   word that Lot was taken, he gathers his trained             relationship while the former is the natural physical
   servants at once and goes to rescue Lot.                    relationship. Lot was Abram's spiritual brother.
     And behind Abram, of course, was God Who had              Abram was not looking upon Lot as another man,
   the tidings brought to Abram. For Lot had not               and as one who was related to him by blood ties. He
   simply sinned against Abram. He sinned against God.         saw a spiritual connection.. He knew Lot as a brother
   And `let us remember that when we sin  ,against the         in the Lord. Yes, it grieved Abram that Lot had
   neighbour, it always is a sin likewise against God. You     defected and was living in Sodom, and that he
   can break the first table of the law without breaking       showed so little interest in the things of God's
   the second. But you cannot break the second table           covenant. But he believed that Lot was a child of
   without breaking the first at the same time. Hatred         God. In fact, it is not at all impossible that Abram
   towards the neighbour always reveals a hatred towards       still looked to Lot when he thought of the covenant
   God Who put that neighbour there.                           promise of seed like the sand of the seashore. He had
     Similarly, if we love God, we are going to love the       no son. They could have no son. And he believed that
   neighbour as well. And Abraham loved God and in             promise  of.God. But, as we also do, he looked around
that love also loved this ungrateful nephew. He is             to see how God would fulfill that promise and
   ready to rescue him from the slavery which he               wanted something on which he could fix his natural
   deserved because of allying himself with the wicked         eye.
  inhabitants of Sodom.                                           This is plain from the next chapter, when Abram
     But, as we began to say, behind, Abram is God, and        somewhat later tells God that his servant Eliezer was
   God  ,loves this weak and faltering child of His            his steward, and a little later that one born in his
   covenant. And therein is hope and comfort for you           house  - and not born of him  - was his heir. It is not
  and me. We are not altogether different from Lot.            at all impossible that Abram for a time looked to Lot
   We, too, are ingrates and covetous. Our ties with the       as the one in whom God would fulfill that promise of
. world are so often very close. And if salvation              children to inherit the land. At any rate, Abram does
   depended upon works, we would never enjoy any               consider Lot a child of God, and he goes to rescue
  part of it. But God loves us because He chose us in          him for that reason. He feels attracted and attached
   Christ. And His love is unwavering and unchangeable.        to Lot because of spiritual and not  .because of mere
   He saw to it that Abram heard of Lot's plight, and He       material, physical ties.


286                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   We do well to remember this lest we go astray in                           living. Physically the  .whole human race is one
the "social gospel"  - which is no gospel  - that                             brotherhood coming out of the loins of Adam and of
appeals to this incident as an example of what the                            Noah. But there is also a spiritual side to consider;
church must do for the "brother" in  ,the ghetto and                          and the human race is not one spiritually. As God
in poverty and suffering from social and economic                             predicted and promised in Genesis 3:  15 there is a.
troubles. There is nothing in the whole incident that                         sharp  tworfold division of the human race into the
allows us so to interpret this event.                                         seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And
   Everything in the whole account indicates that                             in that spiritual enmity between these two seeds, of
Abram had one thing in mind, and that was his                                 which God there speaks, Abram has no use for the
brother Lot. Had not Lot lived in Sodom, Abram                                five kings any more than he has for the four which he
would not have bothered himself to go and fight the                           attacked with'his sword.
four kings. And do not forget that this was a risky                               It is the member of the church of God that
matter for him to do. Here he was living in the land                          interests Abram, and it is for his sake that God uses
of the Canaanites. They tolerated him because God                             Abram to rescue him and restore him and his goods
watched over Abram and would not `allow them to                               back into the land of Canaan.
touch him. He provided so that Abram could feed his                               Do not misunderstand. As individuals we surely
cattle on other men's land and not be driven off or be                        have a calling to help the neighbour in his distress.
killed. But he would cast himself in an entirely                              The law requires that of us. We are to do unto others
different light from the peace-loving shepherd and                            what we would like to have them do unto us. But the
cattle raiser that they knew him to be, were he to                            gospel of the kingdom is not that the  church  has such
take up sword and attack those who had attacked his                           a calling to strive for social improvements and
spiritual brother. They might take quite a different                          security. The church's calling is to preach the gospel
attitude towards Abram and not tolerate him in their                          of salvation from our sins. We hear far too little about
land and see him as a very real threat to their own                           sin; and the cross of Christ as the atonement of our
existence. God would not have- this; and having given                         sins does not come to its own today. And those who
Abram the victory, He also filled the Canaanites with                         appeal to this incident in the life of Abram and Lot
a: certain fear of Abram. But the point is that Abram                         for support of their social gospel reveal how desperate
did what he did only for Lot's sake.                                          t h e y   a r e   f o r   s o m e   p u r p o r t e d   p r o o f   o f   t h e i r
    Abram is not then going into the inner city and the                       contention. It is a spiritual brother that Abram
ghetto to do some social improving. He is not moved                           rescues, and it is his spiritual wellbeing that is behind
by a social gospel that declares the calling of the                           this bold piece of violence performed by Abram to
church to be seeking such improvement in man's                                rescue him. A social gospel that appeals to this event
material; earthly lot here below.                                             must take the consequences of teaching that the
  There is no brotherhood of man that includes all                            church  - or the individual member of the church  -
the human race and makes it the church's calling to                           may take the sword in order to realize his social
improve man's social standing and earthly standard of                         improvements.

                 I N   M E M O R I A M '                                                                   IN MEMORIAM  '  -
   The Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed Church of  Doon,                 In the morning of February 13, 1975, it pleased our heavenly
Iowa, extend our heartfelt sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. John          Father to call our beloved brother, PETER CNOSSEN, to his heavenly
Mantel, in the loss of her mother-in-law, MRS. JACOB MANTEL. In               home at the age of 76 years. We extend our sincere sympathy to the
the midst of our sorrow we may rejoice in the fact that our heavenly          bereaved, Mrs. P. Cnossen and the family.
Father has called one of His children Home, and that we share with her            We rejoice in the glorious hope of the resurrection of which also the
that blessed hope fixed upon our Father's House with its many                 departed brother was fully assured.. His was the testimony that,
mansions.                                                                     "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord'from henceforth." (Rev.
                                              Rev. Richard Moore, Pres.       1413)                                                 The Men's Society of the
                                             Mrs. Henry Miersma, Sec'y.                                           Southwest Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                                                Rev. Herman  j/eldman, Pres.
                            IN MEMORIAM                                                                                               Clarence Kuiper, Sec'y.

  On Thursday, February 13, 1975, our beloved husband, father and
brother, ROBERT G. PASTOOR, was called to eternal glory.                                                  IN MEMORIAM
  : Our comfort is in the promise of God's Word.                                  On the evening of January 30, 1975, it pleased our Heavenly Father
   "And we know that all things work together for good to them who            to call our beloved husband and father, MR. JOHN RUST, to his
are the called according to His purpose."  (Remans  8:28).                    heavenly home at the age of 84 years.

  "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were                 "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,           dissolved, we have a building of God,,an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." (I I Cor. 5: 1 j                                     eternal in the heavens." (I I Cor. 5: 1).

                                              Wife, daughter, son-in-law,                                                                      Mrs. John Rust
                                                              and brothers    Kalamazoo,  Mich.                                                  Berdena Rust


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  2 8 7


                                         News From  Ou-r'  Chkches
                                                                                                  n
                                                                           ;
                            February 27, 1975                                    pamphlets  to all box holders on rural routes or in
                                                                                 towns. We do this for four issues, and then enclose a
       It `seems that Young People's Societies throughout                        postage free card which they are asked to return to us
     our  : denomination are busily engaged in various                           with their name on it in order that we may then add
     fund;raising projects, with a view to their attending                       their name to the permanent list. . . . Our committee
     the eagerly-anticipated convention. The Federation                          also prints the same pamphlets for other churches,
     Board of those societies, for example, sponsored a                          having their own name printed on them. These are
     pancake breakfast at Hope School's gymnasium last                           paid for by these churches, (who then use them) for
     December 28. The young people of Hull, Iowa, held a                         mission work in their area. . .  ." _
     -soup  supper, followed by sports' activities in the gym
     of  .the community building, on February 22, The                                Written response to the work of that committee
     young people of the host societies (First Church)                           appeared in another of Hull's bulletins.  .Here's a
     sponsored a Casserole Supper on the evening of                              sample :
     January 30. South Holland's society held a baked                                "I would like to take this opportunity to convey
     goods sale in February, and, beginning in March,                            my sincere appreciation for the leaflets we have been
     they're offering an extended car wash-and-wax                               receiving, would like them to continue. It is indeed
     service. And all that is only the beginning. The host                       very  ;heartening to read this type of material founded
     societies, in the -newsletter which was distributed                         so squarely upon the Holy Scriptures. It is our hope
     recently, reported that they were "tremendously                             and prayer you may continue earnestly to contend
     excited about the coming convention." Many of the                           for the faith which was once delivered unto the
     other societies, apparently, share'that enthusiasm.                         saints. "
                                   *****                                                                       *****
        According to a February bulletin from Hull, the                              The Evangelism Committee of South Holland
     work; of the Reformed Witness Committee "is now                             #distributed a newsletter to the members of that
     concentrated in helping our small congregation in                           congregation in December of 1974. The committee
     Forbes." The committee has taken upon itself the                            reported `that "we have a good supply of our
     task of publishing Rev. Mark Hoeksema's pamphlet;                           consolation booklets on hand  (God is Our Refuge and
     "God's Sovereignty Revealed in Predestination." The                         Strength)." The congregation was urged to "make use
     Forbes' congregation, it seems, is furnished with                           of them as `cards' sent to shut-ins or when visiting
     copie:s of the pamphlet for their distribution, with the                    hospitals, doctors' offices, or rest homes for the aged
     cost of postage assumed by the Reformed Witness                             and retired." The booklet consists, incidentally, of
     Committee.                                                                  Meditations written by the late Rev. Herman
        That committee, which, if I remember correctly,                          Hoeksema.
.    includes men from  Doon, Edgerton, and Hull, has a                             The letter went on to `report that the committee
     mailing list of its own, too. A Hull bulletin which I've                    expected to receive "a quantity of the booklet,  The
     been `saving in my box for entirely too' long, gave                         Three Forms  of  Unity.  Here, too, is a handy means of
     some information concerning the formation of that                           `broadcasting' the truth, and the Evangelism
     list. It reads as follows: "Some ask, how do we build                       Committee'would stress to the congregation that we
     up our permanent mailing list. . . . We send our                                                                            (continued on back page)


                         5 0 T H   AiiNlVERSARY  '                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                         THANKS BE TO GOD!                                          The Adult Bible Class of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
                                                                                 Church expresses our deepest sympathy with Mr. and Mrs. Gerald
        The Lord willing, the Hull (Iowa) Protestant Reformed Church will        Cnossen and family in the loss of their father and grandfather, MR.
     observe her 50th anniversary on March 21, 1975. We, the members of          PETER CNOSSEN, who has entered into the Rest.
     this congregation, give thanks to our Faithful Covenant God for the            May their comfort rest in the promise, "Blessed are they which are
     mahy blessings of the past and look to the future with trust in Him, and    called unto the marriage feast of the Lamb."
     Him alone.  ThB congregation cordially invites the public to attend this                                                      The Adult Bible Class,
     momentous event and celebrate with them.        jl                                                                    Mrs. D. Van  Overloqp,  Sec'y.

        "Be thankful unto Him and bless His Name. For the Lord  isgood:
     His mercy is everlasting: and His truth endureth to all generations."                     RESOLUTION OF  SYMPATH.Y
     (Psalm jOO:4,5)                                                                The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church wishes
        An anniversary booklet has'been prepared and may be obtained for         to express their sincere sympathy to their members Mr.  &  <Mrs.  J.
     $1.00.  ,Address requests for this booklet to: Mrs. Tom Van Maanen,         Kuiper Jr. in the loss of her mother, MRS. JOHN SCHOLTEN.
     RR 1, Hull, Iowa 51239.                                                        "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
                                                                                 dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                                   *****                                         eternal in the heavens."                           The Adult Bible Class


  VHE STANDARD  BEARER  4 :
                              ;  I.                                                                                                           SECOND CLASS
           B.O. Box 6064                                                                                                                    POSTAGE  PAID AT
  &and Rapids, Michigan 495Of                                                                                                       GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.

                             i:
                             .t                         -.-~--~                   -           -.                 .

  288

should distribute these Reformed confessions to
  Ijeople,  urging them to read.one or the other of the                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
  creeds as circumstances warrant. . .  .' The Lord has             Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July. and August.
                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free  Pubtishing~Ass&iation,   I&.
  given us the happy privilege and deep responsibility                   Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                              Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  to be diligent in the dissemination (Eccl. 11: 1) of the    Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
  truth with which He has singularly blessed us."             R e v .   D a v i d   J .   Engelsma,   R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,
                                                              R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h ,   R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,  R e v .   J a y   K o r t e r i n g ,   R e v .
                                                              D a l e   H .   K u i p e r ,   R e v .   G e o r g e   C .   L u b b e r s ,   R e v .   Marinus   Schipper,  Rev.
   1 The Evangelism Committee,  jike the Reformed             Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman
                                                              Editorial Office:  &of.  H. C. Hoeksema
 Witness Committee, also makes some `of its material                                           4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
                                                                                               G r a n d v i l l e ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 4 1 8
  available to other of our churches. `In response to         Church News Editor:                          M r .   D o n a l d   D o e z e m a
  their offer, the committee received from one church a                                                    1904  Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                           G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 5 0 6
  request for 500 copies of the Consolation booklet,          Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of
                                                              h i s   o w n   a r t i c l e s .   C o n t r i b u t i o n s   o f   g e n e r a l   i n t e r e s t   f r o m   o u r   r e a d e r s
  from another a request for 100, and,  "evefi the            a n d   q u e s t i o n s   f o r   t h e   Q u e s t i o n - B o x   D e p a r t m e n t   a r e   w e l c o m e .   C o n t r i -
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  Standard Bearer asked for 100 of them."                     written or typewritten, and must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
                                                              a n d   t h e   f i f t e e n t h   o f   t h e   m o n t h .   A l l   c o m m u n i c a t i o n s   r e l a t i v e   t o   t h e
                                                              contents should be sent to the editorial office.
    Concerning correspondence (from those outside             Reprint Policy:  Permission is hereby  granted  for the reprinting of arti-
  our denomination), the committee had this to say:           cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
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                                                              is sent to our edltorial office.
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  bunch together a group of  pamphlets.and  send them                                         Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
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                                                                                                                                                         I be billed for renewal.
  we are a body of believers pointing men to the Lord         If you have  a.change  of address, please notify the Business Office as
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  and His truth, not to ourselves."                           ery. Include your Zip Code.
                                                              Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
   ! Perhaps for the remaining space in this column we        advertising of any kind. Announcements of church  and  school events,
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                                                              a c c o m p a n i e d   b y   t h e   $ 3 . 0 0   f e e .   D e a d l i n e   f o r   a n n o u n c e m e n t s   i s   t h e   1st
  received  by the Evangelism Committee. The following        or'the   1 5 t h   o f   t h e   m o n t h ,   p r e v i o u s   t o   p u b l i c a t i o n   o n   t h e   1 5 t h   o r   t h e
  excerpts are taken from another newsletter to the           Bouni   Vo/u&s: The Business Office will accept standing orders for
                                                              bound  cooies  of the current volume: such orders are filled as soon as
  c'ongregation:                                              p o s s i b l e   dfter   c o m p l e t i o n   o f   a   v o l u n i e .   A   l i m i t e d   n u m b e r   o f   p a s t   v o l -
                                                              umes may be obtained through the Business Office.
   " . . . from De Motte, Ind.: `I'm writing for
  additional copies of Meditations. . . . The Scripture                                                           e           0             `0
  texts in the pamphlet have always been known to us,
  but now with the Meditations, mean so much more.'                                                              CONTENTS:
   " . . . from Hanover Park, Ill.: `Thank  Lou for
  sending out the booklets of Meditations so promptly.        Christ's Remembrance Of The Malefactor . . . . . . . . . . . . .266
  I use them faithfully for people who are passing            Thoughts On Our Golden Anniversary (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . .268
  through trials and illness. They tell me that they are a    An Open Letter To  The Outlook And
  source of comfort and strength.'                                  The R&formed Fellowship .................... 1 . .270
    "                                                         The Doctrine of Election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -273
         . . . from -Holland,  Mich.: `We pray that this      Corrupt Zion To Be Reformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
  avenue of Evangelism may `continue to be a rich             Re-prioritizing Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
  tilessing to those who distribute it as well as to those    Exposition of Hebrews 12: 18-24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
  yho receive it. Keep up your fine work.' "                  Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 1
   : The newsletter was concluded with an expression          Faculty Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282
  of gratitude, on the part of committee, that "God is        Anniversary Celebration Plans . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283
  willing to use us and deems us worthy to be used by         ToTheRescue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..28 4
  l&m so that others may `rejoice in the hope' of the         News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287
  $ory of God.' "                                D . D .


