                The
     `-STA~flN?D
               BEARER                                                                                    .,'
c                 A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

                                                                                 a


       Augustine did, indeed, by way of concession and explanation to his
     adversaries, make mention of a twofold will, or of different wills of God -
     a secret will, and an open or revealed will  - but he so represented that
     twofold will as to show that they are in such consummate harmony with
     each other, that the "last day" will make it most gloriously manifest that
     there never was, nor is, in this multiform way of God's workings and
     doings, the least variance, conflict or contradiction, the most divine and
     infinite harmony and oneness.
       Having laid down this solemn principle and taken this immovable stand,
     I will now, if thou wilt have it so, draw swords with thee in battle for the
     truth. Thou  arguest thus: "If God forbids a man to do that which He
     really wills him to do all the time, or if He commands men to do that
     which he really wills not, He must command for the very purpose that His
     will might be resisted." Now, in none of all this filth of argumentation are
     either myself or my doctrines the least concerned.  I acknowledge nothing
     whatever of the profane sentiments to which it refers to be mine. On the
     contrary, the sum of my doctrine is this: that that will of God, which is
     set forth in His Law, clearly demonstrates that righteousness is His, delight,
     and that iniquity is His hatred; and also, that it is most certain that He
     would not denounce punishment against evildoers, if their evildoings
     pleased Him. This, however, by no means prevents God from willing, by
     His secret and unexplicable counsel, that those things should be done, in a
     certain sense and manner, which He yet wills not to be done, and which
     He forbids to be done.
                                  - John Calvin,  The Secret Providence  Of  God,
                                                                                      pp.  307,308


                                               V o l u m e   L I ,   N u m b e r   1 5 ,   M a y   1 , 1 9 7 5 -


338                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



 M E D I T A T I O N   .

                      Freedom Through The Truth

                                                     Rev. H. Veldman

                               "And. ye shall know the truth, and the  .truth shall
                              make  you. free.  "                           J    o    h    n         8:32

   Our Saviour speaks these words to those of whom           living God. We struck for freedom, sovereign
we read in verse 30: "As he spake these words, many          freedom, would be the masters of our own fate. What
believed on him." It is very evident from what               folly! There is no such thing as moral sovereignty for
follows that there  .were among these "many that             a creature. As a creature, he is  created3  moves and
believed" who merely believed in an external,                lives and has his being in God, can never be
superficial sense of the word. It cannot be denied that      independent. Indeed, the hearts of `kings are in the
several of those who "believed" opposed Him, as              hand of the Lord as watercourses; He turneth them
related in the verses beginning with verse 33.               whithersoever He wills.
   Verse 31 gives us the test or proof of true                 God is the God of absolute freedom. Freedom
discipleship. Do not misunderstand this passage. Jesus       implies that one lives, unhampered and unimpeded,
does not say: "If ye abide or continue in my word, ye        his own life. God is free because He lives, unhindered,
will become my disciples indeed." Our being or               His own life. God is the God of infinite goodness and
becoming His disciples does not depend upon our              perfection. And, eternally and infinitely, God lives
continuing in His word. This would be impossible. Do         His own life. Eternally He seeks and wills and loves
we not read in verse 36: "If the Son therefore shall         Himself, is never controlled or influenced or
make you free, ye shall be free indeed"? Jesus, and          restricted by anything outside of Himself. This, of
Jesus alone, makes us His disciples. But we do read in       course, also determined freedom for every creature.
verse 3 1: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my        The being or life of each creature, generally speaking,
disciples indeed." Disciples of Jesus abide in His           is determined, of course, by the Creator. Hence, a
word; a disciple or follower of the Christ has Christ in     creature, such as a fish or bird, is not free when it can
his heart, and he must continue in His word. Hence,          simply "do as it pleases," whether or not in harmony
we are His disciples if we continue in His word,             with its own being, but only when it is privileged to
inasmuch as this is the essence and therefore proof of       live, unhampered, its own life. Specifically speaking,
true discipleship.                                           man was created in God's image and as adapted to the
   Hereupon verse 32 follows: "And ye shall know             life and communion of God. Only then does he live
the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The           when he can move about in that fellowship and
word "shall" does not emphasize the futuristic idea,         favour of the Lord. God alone islife for the creature,
but the idea of certainty. To continue in His word           and will surely reveal and maintain Himself as such.
will surely have this blessed fruit and result.              True liberty or freedom does not mean, therefore,
Knowledge of the truth and freedom are inseparably           that we can do "as we please," - this is not liberty,
connected. They can never be separated.                      but death. To be free means that we can serve God,
                       * * * * *                             enjoy His fellowship and communion, unhindered
                                                             and unmolested.'
  Freedom must never be confused with moral
sovereignty. Freedom, then, would be independence              Naturally, every man is in bondage. We read in
from God. To be free would, then, mean that we               verse 33: "They answered him, We be Abraham's
determine our course of action. We can serve and love        seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how
God or not serve and love Him; we are sovereignly            sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?" The Saviour had
free, are able to do either; we can, therefore,              said to those who "believed" on Him, that the truth
                                                             would make them free. To this they object  - how
determine our course of action, our own fate.                can they be made free when they were never in
  Such freedom is impossible. Once it happened that          bondage? They prided themselves in the fact that
we would be sovereignly free. Once it happened that          they were the seed of Abraham, and therefore God's
we struck for independence from God. This happened           chosen race. They wilfully ignore their bondage in
in Paradise. We wearied of our servile relation to God,      Egypt, in Babylon, and at the present time to Rome,
of His "dictating" to us, of being hemmed in by the          and boast that they were never in bondage.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 339


  How true this is of the natural man, of you and of         blessed Trinity; and therefore Jesus, as the Son, is the
me! We are spiritually slaves. To be in bondage to sin       absolute truth.
and imagine ourselves to be free, is the worst                 Christ is also the truth as the Mediator, Christ
conceivable bondage. But;we are also slaves of sin in        Jesus. He certainly revealed the truth as such. He
the legal sense of the word. We are sold under sin; we       revealed the Father, was the Party of the living God
are slaves of evil according to the righteous judgment       in the midst of the world. He testified of God,
of God. God has assigned this bondage to us. We are'         glorified God, was controlled and governed, in all His
under condemnation. And we can never redeem                  activity, by the love of God and the desire to do His
ourselves, pay the divine penalty and deliver ourselves      will. He came, not to do His own will, not to seek
out of this fearful bondage of sin and darkness.             Himself, but to seek God, caused the light of God to
  Freedom - how wonderful! How wonderful to be               shine perfectly in the midst of the darkness of this
delivered from these chains of sin and of darkness!          world. The world loves and lives the lie; the world
How wonderful to be in the service of the living God         hates God, seeks itself, created a world without God,             .
and to taste His fellowship and communion! How               and therefore lives the lie. Christ lived in God's world,
wonderful is this freedom, because it is an immortal         loved and revealed the Truth, witnessed of the living
relationship, an immortal, everlasting freedom! It           God.
means to be free, forever, in the service of the living        This is not all. Jesus revealed .the Truth as the
God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Immanuel, God           Christ. Indeed, what a task was His! Among the
with us. Of this freedom Jesus speaks in this word of        children of disobedience and. of the lie lay also His
God.                                                         own who had been given Him of the Father from
                       *****                                 before the foundations of the world  - they, too,
                                                             were the servants and slaves of sin and iniquity. And
  Indeed, if we continue in Christ's word, then are          to realize the Truth in their hearts, to redeem and
we His disciples. And we shall know the truth. This          deliver them from the lie and the bondage of sin, He
knowledge is not merely intellectual, a mere                 came,into  this world. The Son, the Son of God came
knowledge of the head. This kind of knowledge does           into this world; only He could make us free. And for         .
not make us free. This knowledge, however, is                Christ to reveal the Truth, as the Christ, meant for
spiritual, experiential, a living knowledge of the truth.    Him an awful way! The sins of all the elect were upon
That truth, as experienced by the child of God,              Him, laid upon Him by the living God, and assumed
makes him free.                                              by Himself as the perfect Servant of Jehovah. Hence,
   God is truth. Truth is the presentation of reality.       He must reveal the Truth in the midst of hell, reveal
God  .is absolute truth. God is infinite goodness and        the Father in all His terrible righteousness and justice,
perfection. And God is absolute. God is what He is           love God upon the, bottom of hell and thus reveal
alone. Of His light and goodness all other light and         God's adorable love. of Himself. over against all the
goodness are but a creaturely reflection. The world is       iniquities of His own.
not a part of. God but His creature, not a part of His        And this the Christ proceeded to do. That Jesus
goodness but a reflection of that which characterizes        was conscious of His awesome calling is obvious from
God alone. And that God is truth also means that He          verse 28. He assumed His place in our flesh and blood
eternally lives His own life. God lives constantly in        among all the children of disobedience and of the lie,
the world of absolute reality, because He constantly         as the one and only Servant of Jehovah and the'Party
knows and loves and has fellowship with Himself. He          of the living God. He trod the winepress alone,
alone is good, and therefore He loves and seeks              descended into the abyss of hell, revealed the living
Himself alone. As such He always maintains ,Himself          God with all the sins of the elect upon His shoulders,
and does `all things for His own Name's, sake.               died the eternal death of the wrath of God, tasted
  However, this truth as such does not make us free.         hell in all its awfulness, arose from the dead and `is
In fact, it is exactly this truth which seals our            even now at the right hand of God. Christ is the
bondage. We are slaves of sin exactly because God is         Truth, not only for Himself, but also for all His own.
God and always maintains Himself. So, more must be           The life of God, the living Triune God, is ours
added.                                                       through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
  Christ is truth. He is that as the eternal Son of            This also explains, John 1: 17: "For the law was
God, the Word, the eternal Logos or Word of God,             given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
eternally and essentially the Image of God, spoken           Christ." The law was given by Moses, the law of
and generated by the Father, in Whom, out of the             shadows and ceremonies. Salvation did not come by
Father and through the Holy Spirit, the fulness of the       Moses, but the law, the law as symbol and type of
Godhead dwells eternally. He is the Son of God,              that salvation. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
God's eternal revelation of Himself as. within the           Grace came by Jesus Christ, the grace of God,


340                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


salvation, the grace that destroys sin and grants                           spiritually. Christ, Who Himself revealed the Father,
salvation. And therefore the truth came  by- Jesus                          Who suffered and died in order that that Truth might
Christ, the truth, also as the reality over against the                     also be bestowed upon us, arose from the dead and
 shadows and types. Christ came and with Him                                was glorified. And by His Spirit Christ comes to dwell
 salvation became a reality. And because Jesus came                         within us. His word lives in our hearts and we become
the law, having served its purpose, now need exist no                       His disciples. The truth that God is God alone, is
longer.                                                                     bestowed upon us, lives and becomes reality within
                             *****                                          us; and we ourselves are made free from the bondage
   The truth makes us free. This is objectively true in                     of sin and of the lie. The truth that God is all in all,
 Christ. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ; He                           for which Christ came and suffered and died, lives
 revealed the Father in His amazing suffering and                           within us, never again to leave us, even forevermore;
 death. And the Son has made us free indeed. He has                         and we are free to serve the living God.Who alone is
 redeemed us out of all the guilt and bondage of sin,                       life eternal. And through the word of Christ, the
 has merited salvation for us, the blessed life of God,                     preaching of it, we are led in the path of that liberty,
 and therefore has truly made us free.                                      unto the glory of Him Who called us out of darkness
   The truth also makes us free, subjectively and                           into His marvellous light.


 EDITORIALS
                                                            Editor's Notes
   U r g e n t   R e q u e s t . F o r   t h e   b e n e f i t   o f   a      Note  for  Associate Editors.  Prof. H. Hanko has
 correspondent, I am in need of a copy ,of the Dutch                        graciously consented to take charge of the Standard
 brochure written by Rev. Herman Hoeksema,  Dat                             Bearer for the issues of July 1 and August 1, during
 Gods Goedheid Particulier Is.  If you are willing to                       my extended absence. If you are on the schedule for
 part with a copy, please send it to me .or to our                          contributions for either of these issues, please send
 Business Manager. You will find the addresses in the                       your copy to him: 4665 Ju-Le-On Dr., S.W., Grand
 masthead.                                                                  Rapids, Michigan 49504.
                                                                                                   *****
                             *****                                            Consistory Clerks and Pulpit Committees. Pulpit
   Publication  News. Our Business Manager has                              supply from the seminary for the months of June,
 informed me that enclosed with this issue will be a                        July, and August' will be scheduled by Prof. H.
 handy  .order envelope for copies of our 50th                              Hanko. Requests which I have already received for
 Anniversary volume,  God's Covenant, Faithfulness                          those months are being referred to Prof. Hanko; and
 (due from the press any day now) or Peaceable Fruit,                       please address any additional requests to him. In due
 our most recent RFPA book. Get your orders in!                             time you will receive notice of supply from him. I
                                                                            suggest that you contact Prof. Hanko early; it looks
                             *****                                          as though there might be a shortage in the offing.

                                                       '     ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema
                                            Our Planned Australasian Tour

   For a couple of years our denominational                                 assurance in advance of carrying out those plans, too.
 Committee for Contact With Other Churches has                              And so we are now prepared to share with our readers
 been working on plans for a visit by representatives of                    some of the details of the proposed tour.
 our churches to New Zealand and Australasia. At last                          Appointed as representatives of our churches for
 year's synod the committee came with a general plan                        this tour were Prof. H. Hanko and myself. Prof.
 for such a tour which was approved by synod; but, as                       Hanko could not see his way clear to go, and so the
 matters turned out, it was necessary, in synod's view,                     Rev. C. Hanko, of our Hudsonville, Michigan church
 to postpone the trip for a year. The postponement                          is going as alternate. Your editor, accompanied by
 was not all bad: for it gave the committee the chance                      Mrs. Hoeksema, plans to leave for New Zealand about
 to work out plans much more thoroughly, to make                            a week ahead of the date fixed for the beginning of
 advance contacts, and to lay its plans with the                            the tour proper - to allow room for a couple of days


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER  /                                             341



of vacation on the way and to do a little preparatory        much to assist with plans for us in that area and in
work prior to Rev. Hanko's arrival. Rev. Hanko will          contacting others in our behalf. Besides, our
leave, D.V., on the 23rd of June; and we hope to             Committee `for Contact has long had some official
meet in New Zealand on June 26. And then our busy            contact with the denomination known as the
schedule begins. Our committee had informed                  Presbyterian Reformed Church. One of the
brother Wm. van Rij (of New Zealand), who has been           difficulties in our discussions with them was the fact
of tremendous help in all our Australasian contacts          that everything had to be done by letter or
and now especially in helping to plan our tour, that         tape-recording. From both sides it was felt that
we wanted to make the trip worthwhile and to have            face-to-face contact would be beneficial in
our itinerary as full as possible. Well, he complied         understanding one another. Recently we received
with our wishes to the full; and if all the plans go         word from the Rev. Dennis Shelton, their Clerk of
through, there will not be an open date on our               Presbytery, that their Presbytery has appointed a
schedule. Speeches and meetings and conferences and          commission of ruling and teaching elders to confer
preaching have been planned. We plan to be in New            with us  ; besides, they have recommended that
Zealand, D.V., until the 4th or 5th of July. Here our        sessions (consistories) in the state of New South
chief contacts will be with the young and small group        Wales try to arrange for conferences with us. From
of churches known as the Orthodox Presbyterian               one session, that of Newcastle, we have already
Churches, but also with various other Reformed and           received an invitation (and accepted it). One of the
Presbyterian people. Just this past week I received a        chief subjects for discussion with these brethren is
letter from an OPC brother in Christchurch who               going to be the matter of common grace and the offer
wrote: "Secondly, can I say on behalf of the OPC in          of the gospel.
Christchurch just how much we are looking forward              That takes us to the 19th of July. Our committee
to your visit in June. You are ever in our prayers, and      is proposing a couple more stops  - at Jakarta,
we look forward to a time of real fellowship and             Indonesia and at Singapore; and if synod approves,
blessing together. " This same brother sent me a list of     these will be included. This has been at the urging of
subjects suggested by the  ,various churches; and I          Brother van Rij, who has made contacts for us in
assure you we will have plenty to talk about. From           these places. `And the  com,mittee  is recommending
this same friend we learned that Mr. van Rij was             this because, due to some very favorable air travel
hospitalized for a rest; the letter said it was necessary    rates of which we can take advantage, we can make
because of rather strenuous business commitments             these visits at slight additional cost. If all of this
which had tired him excessively; but I have no doubt         materializes, we hope to be home again around the
that it was partly also due to his strenuous efforts in      first of August, D.V., in time for our denominational
connection with our tour. Our prayers are with the           anniversary celebration at convention time.
brother, and we hope that the Lord may keep him for
His cause there and that he may be well again when             Why is this work being undertaken?
we meet, the Lord willing.                                     In the first place, because the Lord has so
  From New Zealand we plan to go to Tasmania,                obviously put it on our path as churches. Only a few
where we will visit especially the brethren and sisters      short years ago we knew nothing of these brethren in
of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Two of their         Australasia, and they knew nothing of us. I, for one,
ministers, Rev.  Rodman and Rev. Lyons have been             was taken completely by surprise when we first began
seriously ill with heart trouble; and so they could not      to hear from "down under" and to get calls for help
plan for us all that they would have liked to. But we        and support in the battle for the faith. Since that
have been assured that they will do all they can and         time, largely through the tireless efforts of brother
that we will receive a warm welcome there. We very           van Rij and others, we have made more and more
much want to become better acquainted with these             friends in those countries and have found an
likeminded people of God and to explore the                  increasingly greater call for our literature  - our
possibility of closer contact as churches.                   Standard Bearer,  pamphlets, Sundayschool literature,
                                                             and books. In the second place, it must be stressed
  After four or five days in Tasmania, we plan to go         that we have come into contact with people and
to mainland Australia. On our itinerary are                  churches who are apparently to a large degree
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Sydney again, and               likeminded.  In many instances there are but small
Brisbane, as well as several points between. Our             bands of believers called to do battle in defense of the
schedule calls for about, ten days in this part of           faith over against the forces of apostasy. They have
Australia. In the Sydney area is a friend with whom          sought our help and support. And it is incumbent
we have long been in contact, the Rev. John Stafford,        upon us as churches, in as concrete a way as possible,
of the Ryde Reformed Presbyterian Church. He has             to seek fellowship with those who are likeminded and
assured us of a warm reception, and has already done         to express our unity in the truth. We have always


 342                                            '  .THE STANDARD  BEARER


 stressed that we are not opposed to ecumenical                         with anticipation goes without saying  - if for no
 fellowship, but that this expression of unity must be                  other reason than that we long to see some of these
 in the sphere of and on the basis'of the-truth as it is                brethren whom we have long known only through
 in Jesus Christ. Here we are faced by the opportunity                  letters. But there is also a certain amount of
 and the calling to explore such  fellow.ship. And, in                  trepidation connected: for the responsibility of ,Rev.
 the third place, it is a simple fact that we have been                 Hanko and myself in representing our churches is not
 urged from "down under" to make just such a trip as                    small. Please remember us in your prayers, not only
 this.                                                                  that we may have a safe journey, but also that the
    Needless to say,we cannot predict the results of this               Lord may prosper our feeble labors, to the end that
 tour. We shall, of course, report in detail upon our                   His church may be `gathered and strengthened and He
_  .return,  D.V.,-  ~3.  .only to  our.  committee   and  tp           may receive all the glory.
                                            _  _. _  ..~         ,_       _     ._             __     -.. . .         ._     _     ._._
 synod, but also to you our readers. That we are fnled                                           *****
                                   The GKN and the Wiersinga Case
    From time to time we have commented on this                           What considerations moved the synod to do this?
 case, which involves a denial of the truth of vicarious                Well,  officially  the following: 1) There are various
 atonement and of reconciliation through Christ's                       passages in the letter of Dr. Wiersinga which are
 bearing of the wrath of God in the place of His                        disappointing, and others which are hopeful; and the
 people.                                                                letter as a whole puts synod before questions which
    We last. reported that the Dutch synod had revised                  require clarification. 2) There is insufficient time for
 its original decision - according to some, sharpened it                a careful judgment of Wiersinga's letter and for a
 - and had declared that Dr. Wiersinga attacked an                      definitive decision. 3) A more careful consideration
 essential element of the confessional doctrine of                      of the committee's report is also necessary. 4)
 atonement and did not do justice to the proper                         Unnecessary delay can be avoided by appointing a
 preaching of the gospel. Further, the synod in                         committee to advise the next synod concerning the
 November of 1974 had appealed to Dr. Wiersinga to                      treatment of Wiersinga's letter.
 adhere to the confessional doctrine of atonement in                      Those are the official considerations.
 his official labor. And, finally, the synod had                          They can hardly be the  actual  considerations,
 expressed the hope of receiving a satisfactory answer                  however. If the synod were serious about its calling
 to that appeal by the time of its last session, in                     and serious about the crucial nature of this case, it
 March, 1975.. A letter to this effect was addressed to                 would never have come to the above conclusions. On
 Dr. Wiersinga, and a committee of three (H.N.                          the contrary, the synod would have sought the
 Ridderbos, J. Verkuyl, and A. Kruiswijk) was                           necessary clarification, would have taken the time for
 appointed to discuss the contents of this letter with                  careful judgment and a definitive decision, would
 Dr. Wiersinga.                                                         have considered carefully the committee's report, and
    This effort failed. The committee mentioned above                   would have avoided unnecessary delay by
 even prepared a mildly worded statement for                            immediately appointing an advisory committee to
 Wiersinga to sign, but he refused.' Dr. Wiersinga did,                 serve it with advice at its March session. No one can
 however, send his own letter to the synod. In this                     ever convince me that this could not be done. The
 letter he agreed to say almost everything except that                  Dutch synods can do almost anything nowadays  -
 he is wrong and the synod right. He even insists                       even have sessions all year, long. Why, when it
 that the difference between the synod and himself                      concerns such a life-and-death matter of the
 concerns the  manner  in which they present the                        Reformed faith, could the synod not even put other
 atonement. But he does not give up his stand.                          work aside, and, if necessary, extend its session in
    Meanwhile, it must be remembered that Wiersinga                     order to finish the Wiersinga case.
 has considerable support in the churches. Those who                      The synod evidently did not have the will and the
 support. his right to express his ideas in the churches                courage to do this.
 are also very vocal. After the last decision of synod                    Underlying. this is the lack of will and courage to
 they expressed their displeasure at synod's decision in                exercise any kind of doctrinal discipline in the GKN.
 an open letter; and they pleaded, in effect, for room
 in the Gereformeerde Kerken for men to express such                      I do not know what the Dutch churches will
 deviating views.                                                       ultimately do with Wiersinga. I cannot imagine, in the
                                                                        light of past actions, that they will ever have the
   And what did synod do at its March session?                          courage to discipline him. And why should they?
    To put it bluntly, they passed the buck to the next                 They have not disciplined others who were guilty of
 synod.                                                                 contradicting the confessions. The only factor which


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 343


  might possibly make it hard for a synod not to advise     trying to have further discussions with Wiersinga.
  discipline of Wiersinga is the fact that Wiersinga's      After all, there were hopeful elements as well as
  heresy is so extreme and so obvious as to make it         disappointing elements in his letter!
  rather embarrassing not to discipline him, especially
  in the light of synod's own strong avowals of                Meanwhile, Wiersinga continues to propagate his
allegiance to the doctrine of atonement through             views. For according to the Dutch papers, Wiersinga
  satisfaction and in the light of the rather vocal         has more deviating views to which he has been giving
  opposition to Wiersinga's views.                          expression. And if the reports are correct, none of
                                                            what Wiersinga is writing has a Reformed sound.
    Personally, however, I have no expectation of a
  sound decision from any synod of the GKN. And one            Let any "daughter churches" or "sister churches"
  can already fmd elements in the current decision of       of the GKN beware. To lean on the GKN is to lean on
  synod which might serve as eventual grounds for           a broken reed!


  TAKING~HEED  TO THE  DOCTRiNE

               "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel
                                              by Rev. David Engelsma

    It is the purpose of this article to give account of    (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 54)  - and a sufficient
  the Reformed doctrine and practice of preaching over      motive it is, leaving nothing to be desired.
  against the charge that denial of the well-meant offer      Scripture teaches that divine election  - not a
  of the gospel is destructive of lively preaching,         universal love of God or a desire that. all be saved - is
  especially of lively preaching to the unconverted in      the basis and motivation of missions, indeed of all
  missions, or evangelism. It intends to show that there    preaching. This is Jesus' teaching in John 10. The
  is not one shred of truth in the charge that denial of    Good Shepherd causes His voice to be heard in the
  the offer hampers missions. Hopefully, it will allay      world - how Jesus emphasizes the importance of His
  the fear of some who, having been misled, go in the       voice in this chapter. His voice is simply the preached
  direction of the offer because "otherwise we may lose     gospel in all ages. His voice, i.e., the gospel, saves. It
  evangelical preaching."                                   leads the sheep out (vs. 3); it causes the sheep to
    The foundation of the activity of preaching the         follow Him (vs. 4); it safeguards them from the
  gospel is God's eternal decree of predestination. The     strangers, thieves, and robbers who are bent on the
  reason why God has the gospel preached, both              sheep's destruction (vss. 5, 8); it brings the sheep into
  throughout the world in missions and in the               the fold (vs. 16); it is the means by which Jesus
  established churches, is that the elect may be saved,     gives His sheep eternal life (vs. 28), preserving them
  to the praise of His grace. Because of election, there    from perishing. For salvation, the Word must be
  are many in the fallen human race, among all nations,     preached and heard. But one thing is abundantly
  who are God's people and who must be saved.               plain: the reason for the voice of the Shepherd
  Preachers must go into all the world to preach the        is "my sheep," i.e., the gathering and preserva-
  gospel to every creature  (Malt.  28:18-20; Mark          tion of those men and women whom the Father
  16:  15-20), so that these elect may be brought to        eternally gave to Jesus  ,in His decree of election
  salvation. After the Spirit has converted them and        (vs. 29). Jesus does not send out His voice be-
  gathered them into churches, the gospel must be           cause God loves all men and desires all men to be
  preached in the churches in order to feed the sheep       saved. In the human race, among all nations (vs. 16),
  and to build up the body of Christ (Eph.  4:12ff.).       there are some who are sheep, in distinction from
  Neither mission-preaching nor any other form of           others who are not sheep (vs. 26). This is due to
  preaching is grounded in, a love of God for all men       predestination. The Shepherd comes for the sheep, to
  and a desire of God that all men be saved. All            give His life for them (vs. 11) and to call them (vs. 3).
  preaching is grounded in the love of God for His            The entire Old Testament is proof that preaching is
  chosen people. What motivates the Church, what            grounded in election. God showed His Word unto
  motivates a missionary, what motivates a pastor is:       Jacob, not to any other nation (Psalm 147: 19, 20).
  the gathering, defense, and preservation out of the       The reason was not that the other nations were less
  human race of the church chosen to everlasting life       likely to respond with repentance and faith. On the


344                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


contrary, Christ Himself said that if the mighty works       (Acts 3: 19); they must be drawn to Christ, in Whom
done in the great cities of Israel had been done in          is life and apart from Whom is death (John  6:44,
Tyre and Sidon, "they would have repented long ago           Matt. 11:28); they must be made to believe on Jesus
in sackcloth and ashes," and that if they had been           Christ (Acts 16:30, 31; Acts 20:21) with the true and
done in Sodom, "it would have remained until this            living faith through which they are justified (Rom.
day" (Matt. 11:20-24). But the reason why God gave           3 : 28) and sanctified (Acts 26: 18). Having been
His Word to Israel was that He had chosen Israel to be       converted, they must be converted daily (Heid. Cat.,
a special people unto Himself, above all people that         L.D. 33); nourished (I Pet. 2: 1); preserved in the faith
are upon the face, of the earth (Deut. 7:6ff).               (I Pet. 1:5); and edified (Eph. 4: 12).
  That the work of missions is based on election is             All of this salvation, God accomplishes by the
plain from the New Testament. According to Acts              preaching of the gospel. This is the confession of the
18: 10, the- Lord encouraged Paul to labor in Corinth        Reformed faith. The Canons of Dordt begin, in the
by telling him in a vision: "For I am with thee, and         opening articles of the First Head, by stating the good
no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have            news that God in His love in Jesus Christ has
much people in this city." Before Paul and the gospel        determined to deliver some of the fallen, guilty, and
ever got to Corinth, the Lord had much people there          depraved sons of Adam out of their sin,
by virtue of God's election of many in that city. The        condemnation, and death (1 & `2). Deliverance from
reason why Paul was sent there to preach and the             perishing and the  ~enjoyment of eternal life come
reason why he had to remain there preaching, in the          through faith (2). "And that men may be brought to
face of opposition, was the salvation of the elect in        believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these
that city. Paul knew very well that God did not love         most joyful tidings, to whom he will and at what time
all the Corinthians and that God did not desire to           he pleaseth; by whose ministry men are called to
save all the inhabitants of that city. Nothing of the        repentance and faith in Christ crucified. .  ." (3).
sort motivated him to preach the gospel as a                 Those who receive the gospel "and embrace Jesus the
missionary. But he knew himself to be the instrument         Savior by a true and living faith, are by-him delivered
by whom the Lord gathered His people.                        from the wrath of God, and from destruction, and
  This relationship between election and preaching is        have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them" (4).
set forth in all of the passages of Scripture that base      The Canons teach that the preaching of the gospel is
the calling upon election. Romans 8:30 teaches that          the God-ordained means of the salvation of the elect
God calls the predestinated, or elect. II Thessalonians      in the Fifth Head, Article 14: "And as it hath pleased
2: 13, 14 says that it is those who are beloved of the       God, by the preaching of the gospel, to begin this
Lord and chosen from the beginning whom God calls            work of grace in us, so he preserves, continues, and
by the gospel. II Timothy  1:9 states that people are        perfects it by the hearing and reading of his Word, by
called "according to his own purpose and grace,              meditation thereon, and by the exhortations,  threat-
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world          enings, and promises thereof, as well as by the use of
began."                                                      the sacraments."
  It is established, first of all, then, that the ground        In viewing preaching as "the means of grace" the
and motivation of all preaching, including missions, is       Reformed faith reflects the teaching of Scripture.
election  - not a grace of God for all. Missions, or         Article 3 of the First Head of the Canons  quotes
evangelism, needs no ."boost" from universal grace.          Romans 10: 14, 15, where the apostle says that faith
Let him who still insists on bolstering missions with        is necessary for salvation; that hearing is necessary for
his fictitious grace of God for all men and desire that      faith; and that a preacher and preaching are necessary
all be saved beware lest he, like Uzzah, be found            for faith; i.e., that the means by which God saves men
"assisting" the ark of God  - which needs no                 is the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is the power
assistance - with unclean hands.                             of God. unto salvation, and this is why Paul was not
  The means by which God  saves  the elect is the            ashamed of it, but was ready to preach the gospel
preaching of the gospel. The elect must be saved, i.e.,      everywhere (Rom. 1: 15, 16). It pleases God to save
delivered from the spiritual death into which, like all       those- who believe by the foolishness of preaching (I
the other members of the human race, they are                Cor.  1:21). The decree of election unto salvation
conceived and born (Eph. 2: l-3) and translated into         includes that the means unto salvation shall be "belief
the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1: 13). They             of the truth," to which the elect are called by God
must have their eyes opened and must be turned from           "by our gospel" (II Thess. 2: 13, 14). The history of
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to             the book of Acts makes plain that it is the preaching
God,.so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and         of the gospel that saves men in the sense that guilty,
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith          disobedient unbelievers become forgiven, obedient
in Jesus Christ (Acts 26: 18). They must be converted        believers (cf. Acts 2:6-41; 3:12-4:4;  4:12; 10:34-48;


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                               345


11: 19-2 1; 13 :38-52; etc.). Many passages of Scripture                       , churches, is that God uses the preaching to gather and
teach that it is the preaching of the gospel that saves                         preserve those whom He has ordained unto eternal
men in the sense that the reborn, believing people of                           life  - there are elect, but they must be saved, and
God are preserved and built up. Acts 14:21, 22 shows                            they are saved by preaching. Now, this is ample
that, just as preaching is necessary for the conversion                         reason to impel the Church and preachers to preach
of sinners, so it is necessary for the confirming of                            the' Word, in season and out of season, within the
saints: ". . . they (the apostles) returned . . . confnm-                       congregation and without. There is no need of any
ing the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to                           notion of a universal grace of God to be trumped up
continue in the faith. . ." In Acts 20:28, Paul charged                         to stir up our missionary zeal. Hence, in the preamble
the Ephesian elders to "feed the church of God," i.e.,                          of the "Constitution of the Mission Committee," the
with the Word. In bidding farewell to these elders and                          Protestant Reformed Churches confess: "The Protes-
to the church of Ephesus, Paul commended them "to                               tant Reformed Churches believe, that, in obedience to
the word of his grace,, which is able to build you                              the command of Christ, the King of `the church, to
up. . ." (Acts  20:32). The burden of the pastoral                              preach the blessed Gospel to all creatures, baptizing,
letters of Timothy and Titus, addressed to pastors of                           and teaching them to observe all things which Christ
established churches, is: "Preach the word" (II Tim.                            has commanded, it is the explicit duty and sacred
4:2) and "speak thou the things which become sound                              privilege of said churches to carry out this calling
doctrine" (Tit. 2: 1). By this preaching, the saints are                        according,to the measure of our God-given ability. We
perfected (II Tim. 3: 17) and recovered if they stray                           believe that this missionary activity includes the work
(II Tim. 2:24-26).                                                              of church extension, and church reformation, as well
  The second principle, therefore, that undergirds                              as the task of carrying out the Gospel to the un-
the Reformed doctrine and practice of preaching,                                churched and heathen. . ."
both in missions and in the pastoral care of the                                                           (to be continued)


ALL AROUND US

                                                                       ProJ: H. Hanko

                                             Another Decision on Tax Credits

  The following brief article appeared in the                                       constitutionality of the law passed by the 1974
March/April issue of Liberty magazine:                                              Minnesota legislature. The law provides that parents
                                                                                    who have received such credits or refunds need not
       The Minnesota Supreme Court in a 7-O decision                                repay the money to the State if the tax-credit law is
    has ruled unconstitutional the 1971 law that provided                           held unconstitutional.
    tax credits or refunds to parents of children attending
    private and parochial schools.                                                       In "Dictum" - part of the opinion not related to
                                                                                    the issue for court, and thus not binding  - the'
       The court  - from which four justices disqualified                           Minnesota court gave strong support to the so-called
    themselves because of personal connections with                                 "shared time" concept in which nonpublic school
  church-related schools and to which two retired                                   children take part in classes at, and use facilities of,
    justices were added  - said the law violates the First                          public schools.
    Amendment ban on the establishment of religion, as                             A c c o r d i n g   t o   t h e   S t a t e   r e v e n u e   d e p a r t m e n t ,
    interpreted in recent decisions of the United States                            44,308 families received tax credits totaling $10.7
    Supreme Court.                                                                  million this year.
       T h e   c o u r t   r e f u s e d   t o   d e c i d e   o n   t h e                                         ***rg*

                                                        Imitators of the World

  The following brief article appeared on "The                                     the church. is like our old friend Gomer Pyle trying to
President's Page" of Lutherans Alert Magazine.                                     get in step with the army. The world marches forward
                                                                                   with its leftist ideas and the church tries frantically to
       It is both interesting and tragic to note how                               get in step. Illustrations are numerous. The Supreme
    quickly  `the church imitates the world. It seems that                         Court passes on the legality of abortion so the church
    no matter upon what social issue the world embarks                             adds its endorsement. The gay society in America
    the church is not far behind. To this writer  atleast,                         demands recognition for its immoral practices, so the


3 4 6                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



    church sets up "meaningful dialogues" with them at            Michigan, will be to make recommendations to the
    church conventions. The A.I.M. makes menacing                 ALC church council on such subjects as: women as
    gestures  .of their rights as American natives, so the        ordained clergy, the changing roles of pastors and
    church gives "mission money" to foster further racial         their mates in congregational ministry, vocational
    tensions and along with Marlon Brando castigates 3rd          potential of women in professional church service,
    and 4th generation Americans for violating Indian             ALC employment policies, increased frequency of
    treaty rights.                                                divorce in American society and sexist language in
       Now we come to the latest in this bizarre attempt          ALC communications.
    at conventionalism  - women's lib! Here again the                One does not need to be a divine prophet to
    church is desperately trying to catch up with the             predict the  fmdings of this committee. The church
    latest fad. As a case in point, the ALC (American             will be asked to accept what the world is already
    Lutheran Church; Lutherans- Alert Magazine is the             accepting.           `-.     .'     -.;
    mouthpiece of a conservative group within this                   What about. God's Word in all of this? It can
    denomination; H.H.) has appointed 10  ,persons  (8            certainly be stated with emphasis that there is no
    women and 2 men) to a task force concerned for full           teaching of women's lib in the Bible! But, again, as
    participation of women in the life of the American            has been said so frequently; when the inerrancy of
    Lutheran Church. Their task, which was authorized by          `Holy Scripture goes, anything goes!
    `the 1974 ALC church convention in Detroit,

                                     Lutheran-Reformed.,  Ecumenicity
   The  RES Newsletter of March 4, 1975 contained                 Reformed relations and theological conversations  "
the following interesting bit of ecumenical news:                on national and regional levels around the world
                                                                  will be reviewed.
      An international Lutheran-Reformed Joint
    Committee will meet in  Strasbourg; France, March               Over 80 churches have now signed the "Leuenberg
    17-22. One of the main items on its agenda will be           Agreement" which aims to bring about full altar and
    proposals for the formation of a "Universal Council."        pulpit fellowship among European churches of the
    The proposal has received serious scrutiny by                Reformation. A Lutheran theologian, T.  Bachmann,
    executive committees from both the Lutheran World            characterizing the Agreement said that it "`differs
 Federation and the World Alliance of Reformed                   from the historic church confessions in that it is not
    Churches. Representatives from the Faith and Order           only a statement of what is central to the Christian
    Secretariat of the World Council of Churches will also       faith but also a testimony of mutual trust among
    participate in the Joint Committee discussions. Also         hitherto separated churches. The December `74 issue
    up for discussion is the "Leuenberg Agreement" and           of Reformed World (quarterly of WARC) is devoted
    its theological implications. In addition,  Lutheran-        to an analysis of Leuenberg.

                      North American Presbyterian Arid Reformed Council
   For some, time we have wanted to report on this              After a meeting in Chicago and one in Philadelphia,
new venture in ecumenicity among Reformed and                 certain decisions were reached which will be
Presbyterian Churches. The occasion recently                  submitted for approval to the respective general
presented itself with a brief history of the movement         assemblies and synods of the participating churches.
in The Banner.                                                These include a constitution and by-laws for~a "North
   The movement began in Jackson, Mississippi on              American Presbyterian and-`Reformed Council." The
February 27, 1974 when a group of men decided to              Banner  reports the following:
bring together the inter-church relations committees               The Council is to consist  .of  `no more than four
of their denominations to study closer relations. This            representatives of each of the `participating churches
meeting was held in Pittsburgh on October 25, 26,                 and will normally meet once a year. Its shape is best
                                                                  indicated by a quotation of three articles of the
 1974. Six demoninations were represented: Christian              proposed constitution:
Reformed, Orthodox Presbyterian, Presbyterian
Church in America, Reformed Presbyterian Church                   "II. BASIS OF THE COUNCIL
(Evangelical Synod), Reformed Presbyterian Church                 "In commitment to Jesus Christ as only Savior and
in North America. Observers were present from the                 Sovereign Lord over all of life, the basis for the
Associate Reformed Presbyterian  .Church and the                  fellowship of Presbyterian and Reformed churches is
Reformed Church in the United States (Eureka                      full commitment both to the Scriptures of the Old
Classis).  After a great deal of discussion the group             and New Testaments as the infallible Word of God
decided to appoint a subcommittee  " to prepare a                 and to their teachings as set forth in the Reformed
plan for cooperation and relationship of the                      standards, namely, the Heidelberg Catechism, the
respective churches."                                             Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt, the


                                                    ,THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        347


      Westminster Confession of Faith, and the                       "3. Exercise mutual concern in the perpetuation,
      Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.                     retention, and propagation of the Reformed faith.
                                                                     "4. Promote cooperation wherever possible and
      "III. PURPOSE AND FUNCTION                                     feasible on the local and denominational level in the
      "1. Facilitate discussion and consultation between             areas of: `missions, relief efforts, Christian schools,
      member bodies on, those issues and problems which              church education, etc.
      divide them as well aa on those which they face in
      common, and by the sharing of insights                         "IV. NATURE AND EXTENT OF AUTHORITY
      `communicate advantages to one another' (Institutes,           "It is understood that all actions and decisions taken
      I v .   2 . 1 ) :                                              are advisory in character and in no way curtail or
'     "2. Promote the appointment of joint. committees to            restrict the autonomy of the member bodies."
      study matters of common interest and concern.
                                                       Violence on TV
     It is generally conceded among  ,God's people that          who have paid attention to the matter claim that they
television is a powerful instrument  for. evil; that,            have hard evidence that violence on TV has two bad
while `it is not wrong to have a television set in the           effects: it increases the amount of crime and it
far&y living room, a Christian must use a great deal             hardens viewers  `t to be insensitive to crime and
of sanctified discretion in choosing what he himself             violence even when they themselves do not actually
watches and  what he permits his  children to watch.             engage in violence.
But `the fare offered on TV sometimes gets so bad                   While it is all rather stupid that extensive studies
that even worldly and ungodly people raise howls of              have to be made about something so completely
protest and periodically call the networks `to account           obvious, the resulting outcry has forced networks to
for their lack of concern over .what comes on the TV             adopt a new policy according to which the first hour
screen.                                                         ,of prime time (between 8 and 9 P.M.) will be reserved
     The March 10' issue of  Newsweek  described a               for shows that are "suitable for family viewing."
recent and rising outcry concerning the violence on              Then the networks can return to their blood and
TV. A 1972 Surgeon General's Report contained the                gore.
findings of a group of men who studied the relation                 The trouble is that no one has defined explicitly
between violence on TV and crime in the streets. The             what "suitable family viewing" is. Nor can anyone
conclusions of this report were inconclusive. The                guarantee that children will not watch TV after 9. A
networks went right ahead and increased the number               recent survey showed `that there were  still 5 million
of shows depicting  violence of one kind or another.             children under the age of 11 watching TV between 10
According to  Newsweek,  ."Twenty years ago,                     and 11 o'clock at night. And no one is talking either
`action-adventure programming' (a'cherished network              about the effects of violence on adults.
euphemism for `shoot-`em-ups') accounted. for less
than  .20 per cent of all prime-time offerings.  Today             This problem is only one small facet of the evils of
that figure has soared to 60 percent, propelled by no            TV, And it brings sharply to the foreground the
fewer than 24 current crime series."                             question of whether a child of God can invest the
                                                                 kind of money a TV purchase requires in such a set
     Recent studies have been more explicit about the            and still be a good steward in the house of God.
relation between violence on TV and crime. Those



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348                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H

                                     Posture for Prayer
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


   When we pray, does it make any difference                  stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of
 whether we kneel, sit, or stand? Why do we close our         all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his
 eyes when we pray? We usually fold our hands and             hands toward heaven." In the alternate account of II
bow our heads? Is this "custom" or does it mean               Chronicles 6: 12, 13 we read, "And he stood before
 something? All of this is included in the posture for        the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the
prayer.                                                       congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands; for
   It is good for young people to be concerned about          Solomon had made a  brasen scaffold of five cubits
prayer. From time to time we have had the privilege           long and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and
to lead discussions on this subject. Usually young            had set it in `the midst of the court; and upon it he
people show interest in this subject.. I suspect one          stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all
reason is that we are confronted so frequently with           the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands
the need. to pray. It is not exceptional for us to pray       toward heaven." We can well picture the Ring on his
up to ten times a day. Sometimes we have to partake           knees while he is spreading out his hands toward
by listening,\other  times by leading. Besides this, we       heaven, praying to God, expressing the thanksgiving
all sense the spiritual importance of prayer, it can be       of the people for the beautiful temple and all it
such a meaningful experience and make such a                  meant to them.
difference in our lives if. we pray sincerely. The              We read of a similar event in Nehemiah 8:6. At this
opposite is also true, nothing can make us feel more          time, Ezra the scribe stood before the people reading
guilty than when we neglect to pray or pray out of            from the book of the law. This was a time for
habit, it is hypocrisy and the Lord abhors hypocrites.        confession of sin and turning from them. The
   The question.we raise in this article is this, does the    response of the people was, "And Ezra blessed the
posture we assume when we pray make any                       Lord the great God. And all the people answered,
difference? We believe it does. Let's see why.                Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and they
                                                              bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with
THEBIBLEANDPOSTURE                                            their faces to the ground."
   According to Bible encyclopedias, it is suggested            We are familiar with Daniel. The princes of the
that during Old Testament times the saints usually            Medes were jealous of Daniel and moved against him
stood to pray. Quite often they would spread out              to have him killed. They succeeded in passing a law
their hands toward God and express themselves                 that anyone who prayed to any other God than Ring
vocally.                                                      Darius would be cast into the den of lions. Daniel was
                                                              unmoved by their threat and he continued praying.
   Let's look at some variations in posture.                  We read, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing
   Hannah was the God-fearing wife of Elkanah. Her            was signed he went into his house; and his windows
sorrow of heart was that she had no children.                 being  `open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah, had many children             kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed,
and even deiided Hannah for her barrenness. At the            and gave thanks before His God as he did aforetime."
temple in Shiloh,. Hannah separated herself from the            One more example of prayer under unique
others and prayed unto the Lord that He might give            circumstances in Old Testament times, we find in I
her a son, and promised to consecrate him unto the            Rings  18:42, 43. Remember Elijah the prophet? He
service of the Lord. Eli thought she was drunk and            had prayed to God that it might not rain, James 5 : 17,
.reprimanded her. Her posture for this prayer is              and it did not for three and a half years. After the
indicated in I Samuel 1:26, "And she said, 0 my lord,         climatic moment at Mt.  Carmel, he took his servant
as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that              and, "Elijah went up to the top of  Carmel; and he
stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord."                   cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face
  Consider King Solomon at the time of the                    between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up
dedication, of the newly constructed temple.                  now, look toward the sea, and he went up, and
According to 1. Rings 8 :22 we read, "And Solomon             looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go

                                       P


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                349


again seven times." Surely that posture of prayer            posture reflected this. By contrast, if the saint was
spoke of the inner earnestness of Elijah that God            filled with the consciousness of sin and its
would hear him.                                              consequence, he would kneel down, he would look to
   We can also add a few references from the New             the earth, his heart was heavy. Consider Elijah, the
Testament.                                                   publican, even Christ as our Mediator, burdened with
                                                             the consciousness of our sins and the burden He was
  At the time of thie angel's appearance to Zacharias        about to bear at Calvary. There is some of this in us
to announce the birth of John the Baptist, we read,          also. Our posture reflects the attitude we take toward
"And the whole multitude of the people were praying          God. If we sit back, slump in the chair, fail to close
without at the time  of. incense," Luke 1: 10. They          our eyes, we certainly tell others and especially God
would stand in the court and pray to God while the           that our soul isn't in the right spiritual condition. It
smell of the incense filled the temple.                      hurts me to see this happen in church during "long
  Most familiar is the example of the  pubhcan and           prayer". People will sometimes slump down, prop up
pharisee. Of these two men we read that they went            their leg with a, book, and publicly declare that they
up to the temple to pray. The pharisee, "stood and           are about to take a nap. Their posture tells what'the
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I          spiritual condition of the soul is. At other times you
am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,               see one cast down, with ringing of hands, tears from
adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice in the    the eyes, while a prayer flows from the lips toward
week, I give tithes of all that I possess," Luke 18: 11,     God. You can tell their soul,is  being unburdened. The
12. Quite a different picture for the publican, "And         posture indicates this.
the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as          Thirdly, proper posture is an aid to prayer. This is
lift his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast,        true in everything that we do. If we are going to type
saying, God be merciful to me a sinner," Luke 18 : 12.       effectively, we have to have a chair at the right level
  Jesus often spent the whole night in prayer. Most          with a back support, and we have to sit up straight.
moving, however, is the description of his posture in        Teachers sometimes weary of "harping" on pupils
Gethsemane, "And he went a little farther, and fell          sitting up. The reason? A student can't do his best
on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if it be       work while sitting hammock style at his desk. The
possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not        same is true for prayer. You perhaps tried to cheat a
as I will, but as thou wilt."                                bit in your evening prayer by skipping the bit of
                                                             kneeling by your bedside, but jumped instead into
INTERPRETING TkESE EXAMPLES                                  bed. It's a lot cozier under the blankets. It doesn't
  We may well ask at this point, what do we learn            take long, and one soon discovers that his prayer
from these references? Is there anything that we             suffers. Your mind isn't alert, you may begin to get
can conclude from these examples? Let's consider the         drowsy, and soon you may even skip praying
following.                                                   altogether. It is an art to lead a congregation in
                                                             prayer, one that a minister and elder has to work at
  First, we cannot say that there is any one correct         constantly; but it takes no less discipline to stay alert
posture for prayer. There certainly was a variety of         as a member of the congregation during the entire
bodily positions when the Old and New Testament              congregational prayer. Posture makes a difference. If
saints prayed. This was also true of our Lord. It is         you are going to fight sleep or inattention, it makes a
also true in our lives. There are times when we sit to       difference whether you are slumped down or sitting
pray, `e.g. at the table when we are about to eat, other     on the edge of your bench, or even standing up. Try it
times we stand, as, for example, in church when we           sometimes. And after all, if the congregational prayer
receive the blessing or at the grave during a funeral;       is going to be of benefit to each of us, we need to do
still other times we kneel as at our bed side, or            all we can to make it such. Think about your posture.
perhaps we may pray while lying on our backs in bed
when we are ill in the hospital. One can hardly say          THE TRADITIONAL THREE
there is one correct posture for us. The circumstances
pretty much determine this for us.                             What about our hands being folded, the closing of
                                                             our eyes, and bowing of our heads?
  Secondly, our posture reflects to some extent the
spiritual condition of our inner `selves. Consider the         They are part of our posture and if we consider
Old Testament saints when they stood with their              them as such, we will discover that they are not
faces toward heaven and stretched out their hands to         empty tradition, but definite aids in our prayer and
God. The spiritual condition of their soul was that of       should be considered such.
praise; they sought to get as close to God as they             If we understand that the three-fold act of folding
could. They were filled with joy and thanksgiving,           hands, closing eyes, and bowing of head symbolize
and through prayer they expressed ,this to God. Their        something, we might appreciate them more. Take the


350                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


closing of eyes, this is not practiced simply to keep us      imagine this, we would easily slip into the error of
from being distracted, it is that to be sure, but it          hypocrisy; we would conveniently go through the
symbolizes the fact we cannot look,upon God except            motions of correct posture and say our prayer and
through faith in Jesus Christ. God is holy and we are         conclude that such a prayer is acceptable to God.
sinners. By closing our eyes, we testify that it is only      This is not true. Rather, prayer is always a matter of
through faith in Christ that we can even call God our         the heart. The condition of one's heart makes the
Father. Similarly, by bowing our heads we confess             prayer sincere (fervent), see James 5: 16. Only when
that God is the Sovereign.of heaven and earth and we          one is sincerely aware of his sins, his needs, of
are His servants. We cannot do anything to please             Jehovah's love and mercy, can he pray meaningfully.
Him; our works  ,do not merit our righteousness;              Yet, it also remains true that we are creatures of this
rather we can only plead upon the mercies of Christ.          earth. If opening our eyes, fumbling with our hands, ~
By folding our hands we confess to God. that He is            looking around interferes with prayer, this should be
the provider and we are the recipients of all things.         abandoned and we should adopt the posture that best
Without His blessing upon us our works are vain, we           aids us in bringing our needs and thanksgiving to God;
are dependent upon His guidance. We confess that it             Posture is not a hard and fast rule. There is not one
is only in Christ that God will forgive our sins and          position that fits every circumstance. A prayer may
provide all our needs.                                        well be breathed to God behind the wheel of a car,
  It seems to me that it is generally true that by            while walking through the halls of the hospital to visit
placing one's body in that three-fold position it will        a sick one, or any other emergency. We are rather
help us in prayer. I am well aware of the fact that the       thinking of the special moment that we set aside for
three-fold posture cannot make a meaningful prayer.           prayer.
The posture does not make the prayer. If we would               Does your posture help you in your praying?


STUDIES  `iN ISAIAH

                              The Final Kingdom of Glory
                                                .Rev. Robert C. Havbach

   "And He shall judge among the goyim and shall do              "And they shall forge their swords to
justice to many peoples; and they shall forge their           ploughshares. . ." The result of His just judgment is
swords to ploughshares and their spears to                    the bringing in of universal peace. Before that great
pruning-knives.  Goi shall not lift up sword against          day of peace can occur there must be a war that shall
goi, and neither shall they learn war again.                  indeed end all war, the war of Armageddon. To that
   "House of Jacob, Come! and we shall walk in the            war God rouses the whole world so that nation
light of Jehovah!" (Isa. 2:4-5).                              destroys nation. He commands, "Publish ye this
                                                              among the Gentiles; sanctify war, excite the mighty
   1. The Glorious King. "And He shall judge." That           men, let all the men of war ascend, let them come up
is, Jehovah, and when Isaiah saw Jehovah, he saw              (to battle)." Then the very opposite of Isaiah's
Jesus' glory, as a comparison of Isaiah. 6: 1, 5 with         prophecy comes into view: "Beat your ploughshares
John  12:36-41  will prove. "The Father judgeth no            into swords, and your pruninghocks into spears." No
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the                 use is made of these articles of' peace. "Let the weak
Son." It is through Christ that God makes this                say, `I am strong.' " None are exempted from this
judgment, and His judgment is always in perfect               war. There is a conscription even of the sick.
justice. "He shall do justice for many peoples," for          "Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye nations" (Joel
the many nations of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24).           3: 9-l 1). The Lord especially gathers the Gog and
For His kingdom `is not of this world. The                    Magog nations to "the battle of that great day of God
government of the peoples is already upon His                 Almighty" (Rev. 16: 14). Indeed, the Lord is the
shoulders, for He is even now the Ruler of the Kings          Author of war, and not only of liberty and of
of the earth (Rev.  1:5). He judges them now,                 salvation. That final war will see the total overthrow
declaring who are condemned and who are justified.            of all the enemies of Christ and His church. Then
He .will judge them at the last day. Then He shall be         they shall be punished with everlasting destruction
visible King over all the earth, and His dominion from        from the presence of the Lord. But all this, according
sea to sea, and from the rivers to the end of the earth.      to Isaiah's vision, is now in the no longer to be


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  351


remembered past. Now Isaiah sees the day beyond              of His cross, and came and preached it `by His
when "they forge their swords to  plot&shares;  and          ministers, and wherever the gospel of peace takes
goi shall not lift up sword against goi," for there will     place5 it makes men of peaceable dispositions, and
be neither occasion nor reason for doing so. There           reconciles them . . . to God and Christ, and. . . to one
will not be an enemy remaining any more.                     another; and it is peace the saints are called to, and,
  Therefore, Isaiah did not envision a peace obtained        when grace is in .exercise, %it rules in their hearts; and
by pacificism. He was not a convert to pacificism.           yet there have been sad contentions and quarrels
War as such is not, according to Scripture, unlawful,        among the people of God . . . which still continue.,
but the abolition of war can come only by learning           But in the latter day glory . . . this prophecy will be
the law of the Lord. But neither is that universal           fulfilled in every sense. For after the hour of
peace attained  .by the gradual. improvement  ,of the        temptation is over, that, shall try. all the-earth, ,after
world, becoming better through the power of the              the (prophecy) of the witnesses and their rising, after
gospel until a baptized utopia is reached. Nor is the        the battle of Armageddon, when the beast and the
prophet writing of a peace in some future, yet still         false prophet will be taken and cast alive into the lake
limited and temporary millennial kingdom. There was          of fire, there will be no more wars in the world, nor
a general and temporary peace in the time of Caesar          any persecution of the saints; and then will the
Augustus, just at the time of Christ's birth. But the        peaceable kingdom of Christ appear, and all His
text has something wider, more pervading in view,            subjects, and the members of His church will live in
reaching to that which is yet to be realized. For Jesus      the utmost unity and harmony together. They shall
himself said that in this present age there would be         no more envy and vex one another, and of His peace
wars and rumors of wars. Before that state of                there will be. no end (Ps. 72:7; Isa. 9:7; 11:6-13)." -
universal peace there must be a full influx of the           John Gill..
Gentiles into the church, which has not yet come
about.                                                         3. The  Pract{cal Conclusion  to all this: "House of
                                                             Jacob, Come, and let us walk in the light of
  2. The Kingdom  of  peace.  "Neither shall they            Jehovah." If the, gentiles are' going to be enlightened
learn war." Not merely shall they cease to practice it;      by the glad tidings of the Lord's anointed, then the
but they shall not know how to practice it. (J. A.           house of Jacob, which already has the light, should
Alexander) War and military tactics become a lost            surely prize it as above all things precious. They
art. Military implements are converted to agricultural       should imitate the gentiles in enthusiastically calling
implements. War culminates in the power of the               others to go in the ways and in the light of the Lord.
Beast, and Isaiah's view looks beyond the .overthrow         Let the gentiles stir them up to a holy  .jealousy  for
of the Beast to the eternal Sabbath. There remains a         the cause of the Lord's house. The house of Jacob is
Sabbath-rest to the people of God (Heb. 4:9). "The           that spiritual kingdom of the elect (Ps.  135:4) over
fulfillment of this prophecy, therefore, in its full         which Christ shall reign forever (Lk. 1:33), that is, for
extent, must not be looked for on (this) earth" (John        ages, meaning that "of His Kingdom there shall be no
Calvin). ". . . sin is still present, and it will not be     end." It is for eternity. The house of Jacob does
until the complete removal of sin at the second              include the natural descendants of Jacob, but not
coming of the Lord that this prophecy will be                them merely, for all is not Israel which is of Israel (all
realized in its completeness" (Edw. J. Young). It is         is not spiritual and true Israel which is of natural
always the purpose and effect of the gospel to make          Israel), for not the children of the flesh are the
peace, to do away with all sin, to deliver mankind, in       children of God, but the children of the promise are
the elect, from the penalty of sin, also from the            deemed the true seed of Jacob (Rom. 9:6-8), that is,
power of sin, and, ultimately, from the very presence        believing Jews and Gentiles alike and together form
of sin. Then this prophecy shall have been fully             the whole Israel of God.
realized.                                                      So this house includes not those who are mere
   "Neither shall they learn war any more." "This            Israel according to the flesh, but all who are infallibly
clearly proves that this prophecy belongs to future          and savingly brought to the God of Jacob. They share
times. For this never yet had its accomplishment in          the great light of the gospel.and the glorious kingdom
any sense; not in a literal sense. For though there was      of everlasting peace. Isaiah's thought is, with deep
an universal peace all the world over at the birth.of        longing for all his people, Shall we, who have Jacob's
Christ, in the times of Augustus Caesar, yet there           very blood in our veins, also enjoy the final glories
afterwards were, as our Lord foretold there would be,        embracing the gentiles? Come, let us act like true
wars and rumors of wars, and nation should rise              Jews and show forth the praises of Him who called us
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and so          out of our natural darkness of sin and death into His
it has been, more or less, ever since. Nor in a spiritual    marvelous light. If others claim they are Jews, yet are
sense, for though Christ has made peace by the blood         not, but lie, being of the synagogue of Satan, let them
                                                    0


352                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


go to -their own place, but we will go and walk in the                     To walk in this light is to walk as children of light
light of the Lord.                                                      and of the day in the enjoyment of God only in
  The light mentioned is the light of thesknowledge
of the glorious gospel of Christ, the Light of the                      Christ, in communion with the triune God, and in
world himself and His word which shines upon our                        fellowship with one another (I Jn.  1:7; Rev.  21:23,
way, given through the light of divine revel&ion as                     24). "Let us then go on our way rejoicing, and let this
found alone in holy Scripture. (2 Cor.  3:`18;.4:4, 6;                  joy terminate in God, and be our strength (Neh.
Jn.  8:12; Ps.  119:105; 2 Pet.  1:19). This light  shall               8: 10). Thus shall we walk in the beams of the Sun of
appear in latterday glory. Then the light of.the nioon
shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the                  righteousness." The New Testament dispensation of
sun sevenfold, as the light of seven `days, and the                     the gospel takes us directly to the throne of the King
whole earth shall be lightened with its glory (Isa.                     of Glory, and this gospel dispensation is the last. We
30:26).                                                                 are to look for no other.


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

                                      Faith In The Triune  God
                                                      Pro5 Robert D. Decker
              According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God, who is the o'ne single essence,
           in which are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct, according to their incommunicable
           properties; namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is the cause, origin and
           beginning of all things visible and invisible; the Son is the word, wisdom, and image of the Father; the Holy
           Ghost is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless God is not by
           this distinction divided into three, since the Holy Scriptures teach us, that the Father and the Son and the
           Holy Ghost have eaeh his personality, distinguished by their properties; but in such wise that these three
           persons are but one only God. Henee, then, it is evident, that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the
           Father, and likewise the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless these persons thus
           distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed: for the Father hath not assumed the flesh, nor hath the Holy
           Ghost, but. the Son only. The Father .hath never been without his Son, or without his Holy Ghost. For they
           are all three co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither first ngr last: for they are all three one, in truth, in
           power, in goodness, and in mercy.
                                                                                         - The Belgic Confepion,  Art. VIII


  With this article the  Confession  begins a new                       the history of the early New Testament Church. The
section which is commonly called in Reformed                            earliest heresies to appear in the church were attacks
Doctrine, Theology, i.e. the doctrine of God. Four                      against the doctrine of the Trinity. Some of these are
articles are devoted to this subject. We ought to                       mentioned in Article IX, pnd we shall speak of them
notice that this truth follows upon that which the                      in our exposition of that article. For the moment, we
Church confesses in the previous articles concerning                    wish to emphasize that early in its history the church
the Revelation of God, especially that of the Holy                      was forced to give definite expression to the
Scriptures. `What we are confessing here is not                         Scripture's teaching concerning the doctrine of the
something concocted in the mind of man, not some                        Trinity. Early in its  @story, therefore, the church
speculative philosophy concerning the Supreme                           definitely established this truth. And it is worthy of
Being; but it is "According to this truth and this                      note that the church was never seriously troubled by
Word of God." We are confessing the true doctrine of                    these heresies again, even though they reappear in one
God, therefore, which is according to the Scriptures.                   form or another throughout the history of the
We must understand, too, that the doctrine of `God                      church. Further, there has been no marked
must needs  be our starting point.  .This is  necesstiy                 development beyojd what the early church has said
simply because the doctrine of the Trinity stands as                    concerning the doctrine of the Trinity.  What `we
the foundation of the entire structure of the Christian                 confess with Article VIII is what the church has
faith. No doubt it was for this reason that this                        confessed from the very beginning. Thus our con&- ,
doctrine  iyas the first to be  attaiked by the devil in                sion, too, begins' with this foundational truth  con-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 353

cerning the triune God. We begin with: "I believe in
God," for apart from that there can be no Christian           The article teaches also that while God is one in
faith.                                                      Essence, He is distinguished in three Persons. There
                                                            are:  ": . . three persons, really, truly, and eternally
This article teaches that God is three Persons in           distinct, according to their incommunicable
one divine Being or Essence. As to the oneness of           properties; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
God we believe: ". . . in one only God, who is one          Ghost. .  ." By "incommunicable properties" the
single essence." While there are three distinct Persons     creed refers to what we commonly call the
in the Godhead, this distinction does not mean that         "personalty properties" of each of the three Persons
God can be divided into three. God is indivisible. The      in the Godhead. These are those properties which
three Persons are together the one only God. We must        cannot be communicated from Person to Person in
distinguish the three Persons, but we can never             the Godhead. The Article speaks of this distinction as
separate them. This is true: "For they are all three        follows: "The Father is the cause, origin and
co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither first nor     beginning of all things visible and invisible', the Son is
last: for they are all three one, in truth, in power, in    the word, wisdom, and image of the Father; the Holy
goodness, and in mercy." Scripture everywhere               Ghost is the eternal power and might, proceeding
emphasizes the fact that God is one and that He is the      from the Father and the Son." The three Persons of
only God. This is plain from the Law which begins           the Godhead are, therefore, distinguished as to their
with these profound words: "And God spake all these         personal properties. The Father generates the Son,
words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which hath             the Son is the only-begotten of the Father, and the
brought. thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the          Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. It
house of bondage." Because that is true, the very first     is evident therefore:  ". . . that the Father is not the
commandment is: "Thou shalt have no other gods              Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy
before me." (Exodus 20: l-3) Moses stresses precisely       Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son."
the same when in his addresses to Israel in the plains        There are, therefore, three distinct Persons in the ,
of Moab just prior to his death and their  ,entrance        one divine Being of God. A person is the subject of
into the promised land he says: "Hear, 0 Israel: The        all the actions of a rational and moral, an intellectual
Lord our God is one Lord." (Deuteronomy  6:4) In            and volitional nature. My person is my "I" which
the beautiful forty-third chapter of Isaiah we find         remains the same subject of all my being. That "I"
Jehovah assuring His people: "I, even I, am the Lord;       never changes, not really. I am born, I grow and
and beside me there is no saviour." In Galatians 3:20       mature, and that same "I" presently departs this life
Scripture teaches:  ". . . God is one." Thus with the       for glory. Now there are three Persons in the one
inspired Apostle the church confesses: "One Lord,           divine essence of God. Three, if you will, that say
one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all,          "I". And although these are three distinct Persons,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all."         each with His own unique "incommunicable
(Ephesians 4:5, 6)                                          properties," they are not three Gods. God is not
  That God is one means there is but one divine             divided. He remains the one; only God. Hence among
Being to which belong all the divine attributes. There      the three Persons of the Trinity there is no
are those attributes which Reformed Theology calls          separation, division, or subordination. It is not true
"incommunicable," such as: God's eternity,                  that the Father is first and highest in rank, followed
omnipresence, independence, infinity, immutability.         by the Son Who is a bit lower and Who in turn is
And there are what have been called "communicable           followed by the least of the three, the Holy Spirit.
attributes," such as: God's knowledge, wisdom, grace,       The three Persons subsist alike in the whole divine
mercy, lovingkindness, etc. In all these attributes God     essence. This means that the three Persons are each
is not three gods or many gods, but one God. There is       the subject of all the divine works, the object of all
only one divine, eternal, omnipotent, perfect Being.        the divine honor and glory. Creation, for example, is
God's oneness also means that He is one in nature. By       not exclusively the work of the Father; but, it is of
this we mean that God is an intellectual and volitional     the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.
Being. God thinks and knows. and determines and             Yet each is involved in the work of creation in His
wills. Thus, when the church confesses that God is          own way and according to His own personal
one, the idea is that there is one divine nature: one       properties. The three are co-eternal and co-equal.
mind and one will in God, not three. It is not that         They are personally distinct; but even so they
there is a. will of the Father, another of the Son, and     constitute one complete whole, and their relationship
still another of the Holy Spirit. Rather the will of the    is one of perfect friendship.
Father is the will of the Son and the Spirit; and the         This truth concerning the Trinity is not just some
mind of the Spirit is that of both the Father and the       abstraction, some theological subtility with no
Son. Father, Son,. and Holy Spirit together are the         significance for life. The confession of the child. of
one, only, true God.                                        God concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the          ,


354                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


one, only, true God has rich significance for his faith    relationship of perfect harmony to one another, and
and life. This means that we do not merely believe in      that react upon one another with all the energy of the
some vague, impersonal, supreme Being which we call        divine nature in knowledge and wisdom, in
God. Nor is our faith in some force, some inevitable       righteousness and holiness. . . The truth of the trinity
fate. That God is three in One means we believe in         means that God is the living God. . . .
the living God! And, that we believe in the living God       "And so, as the living God He is the Covenant God.
means we believe in the Covenant God. The late             For the idea of the Covenant is not that of an
Herman Hoeksema put it well when he said: "The             agreement, pact, or alliance. It is a bond of friendship
doctrine of the Trinity, we say, implies that God is       and living fellowship. Friendship is that bond of
the living God. He is life, and He lives in and through    fellowship between persons, according to which and
Himself. Life is energy, expressing itself in perfect      by `which they enter into another's life in perfect
activity; and it presupposes relationship, harmonious      knowledge and love, so that mind is knit to mind, will
relationship. To live is to act and react normally in      to `will, heart to heart, and each has no secrets from
that relationship. Life cannot be in solitude; it is       the other. It presupposes a basis of likeness, of
always some kind of communion of fellowship. Now,          equality: for only like knows like. And on the basis
God is the implication of infinite energy; in Him          of that equality, it requires personal distinction: for
there is an infinite depth of divine power, of wisdom,     without this there is only sameness; there can be no
and righteousness and holiness and goodness and love       fellowship. And both the equality and personal
and mercy and truth incessantly active. And in the         distinction are `in God. . . For He is the Triune; the
Triune God there is also the infinitely perfect            most absolute equality exists between Father, Son,
relationship  and. harmony for this energy to express      and Holy Spirit. For these Three are one in
itself into constant activity. For He is One, and this     Essence. . . The living God is the covenant God. This
oneness is the eternal basis of the divine unity and       is the great significance of the truth that God is
harmony. In God there is no discord, no conflict, . . .    Triune, and that these three distinct Persons are the
Yet He is not alone, though He be One. Were He             one, only, true, and eternal God."  (Reformed
alone, He could not be the living God in Himself. But      Dogmatics,  Reformed Free Publishing Association,
now the one God subsists in threeness of Persons -         pp. 151, 152.)
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit  - that  .sustain the


FROM HOLY WRIT

                          Exposition of Hebrews 12: 25-28
                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers

BUT NOW HE HATH PROMISED, SAYING. . . . (vs.               It has in it the Yea and Amen in Jesus Christ. It is a
26)                                                        voice which indicates that this is a promise which
                                                           God made somehow related to Himself, to His own
  There is a certain contrast here in the text between     honor and glory. He will bring it to pass. He is not a
that which the Lord did when He spoke on earth at          man who would lie. It is a promise which is complete
Sinai and what He did when Christ came upon earth          up to the present moment, most relevant, now that
as God in the flesh to build the eternal temple of         Christ has come and God has begun really to shake
God. The one is called simply "speaking on earth,"         not only the earth but also the heavens, and to usher
and the latter is the manifestation of the fulfillment     in" his unmovable kingdom. And, therefore, the
of what God "has promised." And it is to the latter        believers of the Heberws must be warned against
that the attention of the Hebrew Christians is called,     backsliding; but they must also .take heart and serve
both as a warning for them and as a great and              the Lord with godly fear and holy awe. They must
strong consolation for them to press on in faith and       worship God as He has revealed Himself in the
hope.                                                      fulfillment of the promise, and obey the gospel of
  The verb "he hath promised" in the Greek is in the       Christ as the fulfillment of that promise which God
perfect tense, middle voice, and indicative mood. It is    has made. Then, and then only, will they give heed to
the fact mood. God really did promise. It is a tense       l&m that speaketh as the divine oracle.
which indicates that ,this is a promise which is full,       We should pay a little attention and study a bit in
complete and actual up to the very present moment.         depth the historical situation  in Israel when the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 355


 LORD gave this promise of the shaking of heaven and        trembling knees. Such is a bit of the background of
 earth. We read of this in the prophecy of Haggai,          God's promise to shake not only the earth but also
 Haggai, with Zechariah and Malachi, is one of the          the heaven. Sinai and the heavenly Jerusalem will be
 post-Babylonian prophets. These all speak in rather        shown in their proper perspective.
 clear language concerning the greater and better             That is what God does when He gives His word-of
 things which God has in store for His people who           "promise" to Haggai that He will shake all things.
 returned as the "remnant" from Exile. These had            This little temple, which in its size and dimension
 once hanged their harps upon the willows in Babylon,       came from the drawing-board of Darius, (Ezra  6:3)
 and could not sing the LORD'S song in that strange         was really not much cause for rejoicing. It was really
 land. They longed for Jerusalem and could not forget       not much more than a "shed." (See Calvin on Haggai)
 her hallowed place of the temple, which had
             _     -                                        And Israel needed something to -buoy -their flagging
 ruthlessly and cruelly been destroyed `by the fierce       spirits. So the Lord comes with His word of promise
 hordes of Babylon, being made a theater and                concerning a great house which He would fill with His
 spectacle to the nations,  particularly~  Edom. Now        glory. It will be greater than Solomon in all his glory:
 these exiled ones had returned as a small remnant of       for a greater than Solomon will (has) come.  (Matt.
 the multitude of Israelites which remained                 12:42; Luke  11:3 1) That temple will be such as is
 comfortably in their foreign land. But they had            greater than Solomon's temple. God does not dwell in
 returned according to Isaiah's prophecy. (Isa.             temples made with hands. (I Kings  8:27) Such was
 10:2 l-23, Rom. 9:27) They had returned according          Solomon's confession at the time of the dedication of
 to the prophecy of Isaiah that Cyrus would give the        the temple. He saw the temple which he had built in
 commandment that Israel return and rebuild the             its pristine newness, and confessed that it was not an
 temple. (Isa. 44:28; 54: l-7) According to Ezra 1: l-5,    adequate house for God, Who is so great that the
 it was Cyrus who gave this command for Israel to           heaven of heavens could not contain Him. Of such a
 return and to rebuild the temple. Thus these true          temple God speaks to Israel in Haggai. Such a temple
 children of Zion, who had hanged their harps upon          and its building requires us to understand the truth
 the willows, returned with rejoicing to Palestine to       that God alone is the builder of such a temple made
a rebuild their temple.                                     without hands. Such is the temple of God's promise
    But all was not a road of ease and leisure for the      to Israel by the mouth and prophecy of ,Hagaai. It is
 "remnant" which returned. There was much work to           the temple whose reality we see in Mt. Sion, the city
 do; arduous tasks awaited them, and much opposition        of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, which
 from the enemies of the temple of God. It was              Abraham saw from afar in faith as he dwelt in the
 especially from the Samaritans, who would help them        land of the earthly Canaan, confessing that he was a
 build their temple to the Lord, that they experienced      pilgrim and a stranger in the earth.
 their worst opposition. Howbeit, the greatest enemy
 of the believers in Israel was their own littleness of       Now the word of promise is: "Yet once, it is a
 faith. When they came to the land of Canaan, they          little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
 began to rebuild their own houses, and beautified          earth, and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake
 these. Yes, they had laid the foundation of the            all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come,
 temple; but the occasion was not one of unmingled          and I will fill this house with glory. . . . The glory of
 joy. Those of the older generation, who had seen and       the latter house shall be greater than the former, saith
 remembered the beautiful temple of Solomon, wept           the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace,
 aloud, while the younger generation rejoiced. It was       saith the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:6-9) This is a
 not a pure symphony of anthems of rejoicing to God.        wonderful word of promise which is "spoken from
 There was deep bitterness and pain in it all. And so       heaven" in Jesus Christ. He is the "desire of all
 Israel was slow in building the temple on the              nations," the eternal Son, Who upholds all things by
 foundation which had been laid by Ezra and the             the word of  His power, and by Whom the ages are
 people. And for this cause the afflicting hand of the      made in God's special providence over His people,
 Lord came upon Israel. Their lands did not produce,        and Who after Be has brought about the purging of
.and God kept rain from falling. It was His                 our sins by Himself, sat down on the right hand  of_
 chastisement to bring Israel to its sense of duty. In      the Majesty of God.
 this situation God raised up two prophets, Haggai and        Now the word of promise to Israel by Haggai
 Zechariah. Both prophesied concerning the temple           speaks of a "little while" yet. It will not be long for
 and its future heavenly reality, when the tabernacle       Him with Whom one day is as a thousand years, .and .a
 of God would be with man, when Christ would have           thousand years as one day. Besides, it would indeed
 come. Israel must live by faith as the substance of        be soon: less than 500 years, and then Christ would
 things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen;     come suddenly to this temple. With the funds of
 (Ezra 5: 1, 2) they must not have slack hands and          Herod the tempie would be in the process of being


356                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R              .


rebuilt; men would try to build the LORD an house.                 in three days in His death and resurrection.
But that temple would be utterly destroyed by the                   Wherefore, there were signs which were earth-shaking,
Roman legions in the year 70 A.D. The Lord would                    both in His dying and in His resurrection. (Matt.
build Himself a house. Yes, it will be earth-shaking                27:50,51; Matt. 28:1,2)
and heaven-removing; the latter will be rolled up like                 This is the ushering in of our unmovable and
a scroll. It will be such that "I will fill this house with         unshakable kingdom and inheritance, which is
my glory." It will be the glory of God's power, might,              incorruptible, undefilable, and which fadeth not
wisdom, honor, grace, mercy, and majesty. It will be                away. This kingdom we "have" now as the New
a living temple of God, wherein the living God can                  Testament church. It is ours legally as heirs of eternal
dwell. It will be in the spiritual stones, in the hearts            life. We have come to this salvation in the desire of all
of all His elect people, from the east and from the                nations. Our. walk should be accordingly. We should
west and from the north and from the south. Thus                    not attempt to turn back the clock of God's covenant
will God shake all nations by the sovereign power of                dealings with His temple-building, and once more
His grace. And the temple will be a house of prayer of             return to the status of the Old Testament, which .only
all nations. (Matt. 21:13; Isa. 56:3-8)                             could lead to tears and bondage. We must worship
  We have now "come" to this shaking of all things,                 God. in an acceptable way. Not to do so after God has
of heaven and earth and of all nations. We have come               spoken so clearly from heaven (Heb. 1 :l-3) is not
to the heavenly Jerusalem. We do not yet see it all                innocent. Such are not serious in serving the Lord in
realized in its perfected form; we do not yet see- all              Spirit and in truth. (John  4:20-24). They refuse to
things subjected unto Christ  - angels, men, heaven                listen to Him Who speaketh from heaven.
and earth and all things. But by faith we see Jesus                    Now over such the Lord our God is a consuming
crowned with glory and honor for the suffering of                  fire. He destroys all unbelievers and those who are
death. (Heb. 2:8, 9) But we do see the throne of His               disobedient to the Son. Israel in the desert could not
kingdom at God's right hand, greater than David's                  enter into the land because of their unbelief. And'
throne in the earthly citadel of the Jebusites. And so             those who do not listen obediently to the words of
we do enter into an unmovable kingdom now by                       the gospel in Christ also perish in their unbelief. They
faith. The weeping exiles can now really dry their                 trample under foot the Son of God, account the
tears and not weep over the temple less glorious than              blood of Christ to be impure (common); and they do
Solomon's. We hav,e set our feet within thy gates, 0               despite to the Spirit of grace. Let us then run the race
Jerusalem, the heavenly city. For we have come to                  with patience, looking unto Jesus, the Desire of all
the blood of sprinkling of the Mediator, Jesus. He is              nations, the great Temple-builder of God.
the Desire of all nations, and not simply of a few                     The great glory of the Lord, grace for grace flows
natural descendants of Abraham. In thee and in thy                 from Him into ,His temple, pure, pristinely clean - a
seed shall all nations be blessed. He built the temple             Bride without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.


                                           Book Reviews
                                                      ProJ: H. Hanko

THE LORD  OF  GLORY,  by Benjamin B. Warfield;                     been carefully selected to provide laymen and Bible
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 332 pp.,                 students with reliable and readable material on basic
$3.95 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko]                        Bible truths. All are excellent tools for preparing and
                                                                   illustrating Bible study lessons and sermons."
  Baker Book House is in the process of publishing a
series of books under the title: "Notable Books On                     We welcome this series of books by Baker and
Theology". This book is one of the series. The                     recommend the books to our readers. We do this not
publisher describes the series as follows: "Christians             SO  much because of the reasons given above, but
today are intensifying their efforts to share the                  because we live in an age of doctrinal insipidity.
gospel. Ministries are being expanded to include                   These books are meaty and conducive to doctrinal
growth groups, encounter sessions, and informal Bible              growth in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
study groups. These developments have given rise to                    This book deals with the truth concerning the
an urgent call for solid leadership and clear                      deity of Christ. -The author, the well-known Princeton
understanding of Biblical teachings. To help to meet               theologian from. the days when Princeton was still
this need, Baker Book House is issuing a new series,               orthodox, treats this subject by paying close
Notable Books on Theology.  The titles included have               attention to all the names of Christ as they are used


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                357


in the New Testament. The value of the book is               Scripture is not a textbook on Dogmatics; it is the
enhanced by a complete index of texts. This book is a        organic record of the revelation of God in Christ. By
worthwhile addition to our home and school libraries.        means of the Spirit of Christ, the Church is led to
                                                             study the Scriptures in their organic unity in order to
A  THEOLOGY OF THE NEW  TESl?AMENT,  by                      discover there the truth of God. But this study of the
George  `Eldon Ladd; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing              Scriptures recognizes the fact that the Holy Spirit of
Company, 1974; 661 pp., $12.50. [Reviewed by                 God is the Author of Scripture, for the truth revealed
Prof. H. Hanko]                                              there is the truth.of God in Jesus Christ as the Savior
  The trend today, in both conservative and more             and Redeemer of His people. Because of the  Holy
liberal circles, is towards what is sometimes called         Spirit's divine authorship, Scripture is an organic
"Biblical Theology." This development of theology            unity. And because Scripture is an organic unity, the
makes use of a different method than the historical          whole of Scripture must be taken together and in its
method of `  ` Systematic Theology." The latter              entirety to discover the truth of God in it. Even
method divides all of the knowledge of the truth of          though exegesis takes into account the historical
the Scriptures which is appropriated by faith into           setting, the authorship of the Holy Spirit is of chief
some kind of logical division - usually the six loci of      importance.
Dogmatics. The former method, followed in this                 Biblical Theology is a method of theologizing
book under review, goes through the whole Bible or           which does not take this truth sufficiently into
part of the Bible (Ladd treats only the New                  account. In its emphasis on the historical setting, the
Testament, as is evident from his title) and gleans          divine authorship of Scripture is neglected. This is
from each book or from a few books treated together          also evident from Ladd's book. There is no mention,
the "theology" of that book or of the group of books         so far as I could discover, of Scripture's divine
being treated.                                               authorship in all its pages.
  While we want to say something about this method             And this in turn leads to a serious error. This
of theologizing, nevertheless, first of all I want to        method of theologizing leads to a "discovery" in
recommend this book to our readers. It is especially         Scripture of a "theology of Paul", "a theology of
valuable to ministers, but it has also considerable          John", "a theology of Peter", etc. But once one has
value for all those who, are interested in a deep study      embarked on this course, the result is that presently
of Scriptural concepts. It can be used with profit by        one discovers that the "theology of Paul" disagrees in
all who are, e.g., interested in what is taught in the       some respects and runs counter to in certain areas,
epistles of Paul concerning the truth of justification       the "theology of James", for example. Hence, one
by faith alone.                                              loses the organic unity of Scripture, the divine
  But something ought to be said about the method.           authorship of Scripture, the fundamental
Ladd himself discusses this on  p. 25 in the                 reformational principle that "Scripture interprets
Introduction when he writes: "Biblical theology is           S c r i p t u r e . "
that discipline which sets forth the message of the            Ladd is not a liberal, but a staunch conservative.
books of the Bible in their historical setting. Biblical     Nevertheless, this approach leads him in a direction
theology is primarily a descriptive discipline. It is not    which will finally end in the liberal camp. It is part of
initially concerned with the final meaning of the            a new hermeneutic propounded by conservative Bible
teachings of the Bible or their relevance for today.         scholars which begins with an undue emphasis on the
This is the task of systematic theology. Biblical            "human element" in Scripture, and which proceeds
theology has the task of expounding the theology             rationalistically to defend the conservative position
found in the Bible in its own historical setting, and its    over against liberal higher criticism, but which winds
own terms, categories, and thought forms."                   up  ' in denying fundamental truths concerning
  The question is, of course, whether this is a              Scripture and revelation.
legitimate method of theologizing.                             .Nevertheless, there is a great deal of value in this
  Now it is true that all the books of the Bible have an     book. If it is used carefully and if our objections
historical setting. It is also true that proper exegesis     against Ladd's method are kept in mind, there is a
must take this historical setting into account.              wealth of valuable material for the serious student of
Nevertheless, it seems to me that there are serious          Scripture. We do not agree by any means with all of
weaknesses in this method. And at the heart of these         Ladd's conclusions; but his discussions of such
weaknesses seems to be the weakness of failing to            subjects as the kingdom of heaven, Pauline
reckon with what our fathers called the regula fidei.        psychology, the terms used in Scripture for the
The phrase means, of course, "rule of faith". But by         atonement, justification, and many, many more are
the "rule of faith" is meant the current teaching of         most worthwhile and helpful. While the very method
Scripture with respect to Scripture's doctrines.             which Ladd follows leads, to a somewhat scattered


  358                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  treatment of various concepts in the New Testament,             Following along these same lines, the author holds
  nevertheless, his treatment of concepts is very             to a concept of academic freedom which essentially
  worthwhile.                                                 reduces the truth of relativism.
     Get the book if you are able to purchase it. The             But buy the book and read it for yourself. It will,
  price is not too much to pay.                               at least, give much food for thought.


  THE IDEA OF A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, by Arthur                  SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE
  F. Holmes; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,              AACS, by Rev. Peter De Jong (Pastor of the Christian
  1975; 118 pp. $2.65 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. H.          Reformed Church in Dutton, Michigan); Reformed
  Hanko]                                                      Fellowship, Inc. [Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko]

     Holmes attempts in this book to "unfold the idea             Rev. De Jong sent this brochure to me asking me
  of a Christian college" which presents "a philosophy        to give notification of its publication in The Standard
. of Christian liberal arts education written for the         Bearer if I felt it was of worth to our readers. This I
  layman, not. the philosopher" and which is intended         am happy to do. Rev. De Jong has written a great
  to help "teachers and students who are trying to            deal, on the AACS movement, and has always been
  articulate their own thinking on the subject."              very critical of it. His criticism, however, has always
     It would be interesting to examine this book in          been penetrating and supported by copious
  detail and discuss thoroughly what the author has to        quotations from the writings of the leaders of the
  say on this subject. There are many areas of                movement.
  disagreement in the book, some of which we can, in              This pamphlet, written in question and answer
  this review, touch on only briefly.                         form, is divided into the following sections:
   Under the sub-heading, "Avoiding Pitfalls" in the          "Introduction", "The Bible, the Word of God",
  chapter entitled "Why a Christian College", the             "AACS Views on Doctrine and Law", "The Kingdom
  author writes: "A frequent idea people have of the          and its `Spheres' ", "Practical Results of These AACS
  Christian college has been captured in the label            Views", "The AACS Role in Christian Education",
  `defender of the faith.' Though defending the faith         and "Conclusion". It is a very concise statement of
  was certainly an apostolic responsibility, it is hard to    the position of the AACS on key points with a brief
  extend it to all of the educational task, all of art and    refutation of these erroneous views. It is filled with
  science or all of campus life. Yet a defensive              many quotes from the writings of AACS thinkers,
  mentality is still common among pastors and parents;        and the contentions of the author are abundantly
  many suppose that the Christian college exists to           supported. It is an extremely handy little booklet and
  protect young people against sin and heresy in other        will give the reader an overall idea of AACS thinking
  institutions. The idea' therefore is not so much to         and of how far these men have departed from the
  educate as to indoctrinate, to provide a safe               Reformed heritage.
  environment plus all the answers to all the problems            At the end of the pamphlet the following appears:
  posed by all the critics of orthodoxy and virtue. This      "For additional copies order from Reformed
  is an idea, I say  -         more a caricature than a       Fellowship, Inc., Box 7383; Grand Rapids,  Mich.
  reality. . . ." But the author forgets that underlying      49510. 1 copy 40@, 3 copies $1.00, 10 copies, $2.00,
  all education is the covenantal task of the people of       100 copies $15.00. For larger quantities write for
  God to bring up their children in the nurture and           special price. Remittance must accompany order.
  admonition of the Lord. A. correct understanding of         Cash up to $2.00 may be sent at our risk. Checks
  this Scriptural injunction precludes all that the author    should be made payable to Reformed Fellowship."
  says here.
    Further, the author is firmly committed to
  common grace with its consequent denial of total                               WEDDING ANl'jlVERSARY  *
  depravity, ("Man is . . . the object of a divine                On  May  6,  1975,  the  Lord  willing,   our  beloved   parents,  MR.  &
  providence that limits evil and preserves man's             MRS.   DONALD  RIETEMA,  will  celebrate  their  50th.   wedding
  personality, and he is the object of a divine grace that    anniversary.
  restores God's image and sanctifies human powers for           We,  their  children  are  thankful   to  our  covenant  God  for  all  He  gave
                                                              us  through  them.  It  is  our  prayer   that  they  may  continue   to  experience
  God's glory.") and abandonment of the antithesis            the  Lord's blessings  in  their remaining days.
  ("for all human sin has done to distort the scene, this                                                                        Their children,
  world is still God's creation, of value to both God Andy                                                   Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  Rietema
  men. The `secular' is not itself evil; in fact, in God's                                                    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kenneth  Rietema
                                                                                                                           and  9  grandchildren
  world it too is sacred.")                                   Grand  Rapids,   Mich.                                     2  great-grandchildren


                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                          359
                                                                                            u-


                                        ' News  From'Otir Churches
                                                                                 ApriZ14,  1973

    Rev. Heys and Mr. John M. Faber, according to                                                     Rev. Harbach expects to take a vacation during the
First Church's bulletin, planned to leave for Jamaica                                             latter part of July. In connection with that, the
on April 15, in order to spend three weeks visiting the                                           Mission Committee has a request which might be of
churches there.                                                                                                                                            (continued on back page)


                                                       REPORT OF  CLASSIS  EAST
                                                                                 April 2, 1975
                                                                     Southeast Prot. ReJ: Church

    Classis East met in regular session on April 2, 1975                                          Elder M.  Klop  proposed and  Classis adopted the
at the Southeast Prot. Ref. Church. Each church was                                               following schedule for Kalamazoo: April 13  - C.
represented by two delegates. Rev. G. Van  Baren                                                  Hanko; April 27  - H. Veldman; May 11  - M.
served as chairman for this session.                                                              Joostens; May 25 - R. Van Overloop; June 1 - M.
    The majority of Classis's time was spent in                                                   Scbipper; June 22  - G. Van  Baren; July 6  - H.
discussing the majority, and minority reports of its                                              Veldman.
committee to study and make recommendations on                                                        In voting matters, Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. H.
the Hope overture to discharge the Student Aid                                                    Veldman were chosen to be church visitors with Rev.
Committee.  Classis decided to send the overture to                                               J.A. Heys and Rev. G. Van Baren as alternates.
Synod with both majority and minority reports                                                         The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order
attached for information.                                                                         were asked and satisfactorily answered and  classis
    In its routine business, the  Classis, heard reports                                          stood adjourned until July 2, 1,975 which meeting
from its Stated Clerk and from its Classical                                                      will be held at Holland. Rev. C. Hanko closed the
Committee and its usual committees were appointed                                                 meeting with prayer.
and reported. Elders J. Kalsbeek and A.  Haveman                                                      The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order
served on the Finance Committee. Total expenses for                                               were asked and satisfactorily answered. and  classis
this session of classis amounted to $282.87. Elder F.                                             stood adjourned until July 2, 1975 which meeting
Hanko thanked the ladies for their catering services.                                             will be held at Holland. Rev. C. Hanko closed the
Kalamazoo again requested classical appointments for                                              meeting with prayer.
the next three months. The Classical Appointment                                                                                                  Respectfully submitted,
Committee composed of Rev. R. Van Overloop  and                                                                                                Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk


                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
    On  May  4,  1975,  the  Lord  willing,   our  parents,  MR.  AND  MRS.                           The  Lord  willing,   on  May  4,  1975,   our  parents,  MR.  AND  MRS.
RALPH  H.  MEYER,  will  celebrate  their  30th  wedding  anniversary.                            WILLIAM  CORSON  hope  to  commemorate   their  25th  wedding
   We,  their  children,   are  thankful   to  our  God  for  helping   them  guide               anniversary.  We,  their   children,   thank   our  Heavenly  Father   for  the
us  in  a  Christian  way.  It  is  our  prayer   that  God  may  continue,to   bless             Christian  home  and  instruction   they   have  by  His  Grace  and  Providence
them  as they  go down life's  pathway  together.                                                 given  us.  The  earnest   prayer  of  their  children   and  their  parents   is  that
                                                                 Mr.'  Randall  Meyer             God  may  continue   to  bless  and  `care  for  them  throughout   their
                                                            Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  Meyer             remaining years.
                                                            Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  Jansma                                                                               Their  children -
                                                           Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  DeVries                                                                                 Ronald  Cprson
                                                             Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  Meyer                                                                                 Randall  Corson
                                                                   Mr.  Roger   Meyer                                                                                 Richard  Corson
                                                         and their 3 grandchildren                                                                                    Their  Parents  -
                                                                                                  Grand  Rapids,  Ml                             Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otto  Vander  Woude

                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The'  Ladies  Society  of  The  Protestant  Reformed   Church  of  Doon,                                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Iowa,  extends  heartfelt   sympathy   to  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Richard  Moore  in
the  loss  of  his  father,   MR.  RALPH  MOORE.                                                     The  Jr.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Society  of  The  First  Protestant  Reformed
    May  our  gracious   God  comfort   and  sustain  them  in  the  conviction                   Church  of  Grand  Rapids,   wishes  to  express  its  sympathy   to  our  friends
that  when  God  is  for  us,  nothing  can  be  against  us.  But  also  in  all  these          and  former  members,  Jim  and  Nancy  Decker,   in  the  recent  loss  of  his
things,  though  they  are  grievous  according   to  the  flesh,  we  are  more                  father,   MR.  PETER  DECKER.  "He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters."
than  conquerors  through  Him  who  loved  us.  (Remans   8:31,37).                              (Psalm  23:2).

                                                       Mrs.  Henry  Miersma,  Sec'y.                                                                          Judie  Feenstra,  Sec'y.


                                                     -      _  ---

THE STANDARD  BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids,  &lichigao 49506





360


interest to one or another of our ministers. Our
missionary will be absent from the group in Houston
during the weeks of July 13, 20, and 27. The
Committee asks that any of our ministers willing to
take a three-week working-vacation in Texas at that
time, please notify the consistory of our Hope
Church.
                          *****
  On March 20 and 21, the people of our church in
Hull celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their own
particular Protestant Reformed congregation. Planned
activities included a pot-luck supper, held in the Hull
Community Building, on the evening of the 20th.
And on Friday evening, the 21st, a program was held
in the church auditorium. Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. J.
Heys, two of Hull's past ministers, were on hand to
address the congregation at that time. And on the
following Sunday, Rev. Hanko preached both services
in the pulpit he occupied some forty-five years
earlier. In the bulletin that day there was an
expression of hope that the "commemoration be
helpful to us and our children by reminding us of
God's loving care and that we may dedicate ourselves
to remain faithful to those principles of God's Word
as set forth by our forefathers."'
  The neighboring congregation of  Doon,
incidentally, was invited to join with Hull in the
program and social hour held on Friday evening.
From  Doon's bulletin we quote the following lines
(sentiments in which, I'm sure, we can all share): "We
take notice of God's blessing upon them in the last
fifty years, and it is our prayer that He shall continue
to bless our sister congregation."
                        :'  ;k  * * * *
  What with our churches' celebration of the 50th
anniversary of our denomination this year, and our
Young People's Societies' holding of their 35th
annual convention, this year, other milestones might
seem to fade a little by way of comparison. There is
another, though, that I think deserves note. Adams
Street Protestant Reformed Christian School
commemorates this year its 25th anniversary.
Professor Robert Decker, an Adams' alumnus, will
speak at the commemorative program which will be
held in First Church on Friday, May 16, at 8 P.M. If
you live in the Grand Rapids' area, you might be
interested in attending.
                                                   D.D.


