               A REFORMEdSEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      *



  The natural man is even able to conform his external life and walk in the
world to a certain extent to the moral law of God. He is not morally
.ncompetent in the sense that he can no longer discern the difference
Jetween good and evil. As we have seen in our discussion of Rom.  2:14,15,
:he natural man does by nature  the things  of the law, and by rather clearly
discerning between good and evil and making his laws accordingly, he shows
:hat he has the work of the law written in his heart. And there is even an
attempt on his part to regulate his life and the life of the community in
which he lives according to the law of God. A complexity of motives such as
:ear of punishment, vain glory, ambition, the urge of self-preservation,
shame, and the like, govern him in this attempt. In general we may state that
:he natural man consents to the law that it is good, and that it is salutary for
m-n to keep it, while the wages of sin is always death. Too much adultery
Lnd debauchery undermine the body, and have a corrupting effect on
Lociety; too much greed and covetousness disrupt economic relations, cause
-evolutions and wars; too great a laxity in the laws governing marriage and
divorce destroys the home and the nation. . . . All this the natural man
discerns very clearly. And the love of self and the desire for self-preservation
urge him to curb his lust, and to conform his outward life as much as he
:onsiders expedient to the precepts of God's moral law. Ultimately he fails
n this attempt, for the love of God is not in his heart, and he  follovvs after
tis sinful lusts. But all this readily explains that in the world of fallen man
here is a certain "regard for virtue and external orderly deportment" as the
:anons express it.
                                                         - Herman Hoeksema,
                                            The Triple Knowledge,  I, 192-193


                                          Volume LI, Number 17, June,  19751


 386                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                   CONTENTS:                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
 Meditation  -                                                                        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                           Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
     The Sword of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .386             Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
 Editorial  -                                                                   R e v .   D a v i d   J .   E n g e l s m a ,   R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,
                                                                                R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h ,   R e v .   J o h n   A .   H e y s ,   R e v .   J a y   K o r t e r i n g ,   R e v .
     Tendencies Toward Horizontalism . . . . . . . . . .389                     D a l e   H .   K u i p e r ,   R e v .   G e o r g e   C .   L u b b e r s ,   R e v .   M a r i n u s   S c h i p p e r ,   R e v .
                                                                                G i s e   J.  V a n   Baren,  R e v .   H e r m a n   V e l d m a n
 Question Box -                                                                 Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                4 9 7 5   l v a n r e s t   A v e .   S . W .
     About Acts 28:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .392                                            G r a n d v i l l e ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 4 1 8
                                                                                Church News Editor:                          M r .   D o n a l d   D o e z e m a
 All Around Us -                                                                                                       r     1 9 0 4   P l y m o u t h   T e r r a c e ,   S . E .
                                                                                                                             G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 5 0 6
     Success In Birth Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .393            Editorial Policy:  Every editor is  soleiy  responsible for the contents of
                                                                                h i s   o w n   a r t i c l e s .   C o n t r i b u t i o n s   o f   g e n e r a l   i n t e r e s t   f r o m   o u r   r e a d e r s
                                                                                a n d   q u e s t i o n s   f o r   t h e   Q u e s t i o n - B o x   D e p a r t m e n t   a r e   w e l c o m e .   Contrl-
     Pies, DOCS, And Kuyps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .394             butions  will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be neatly
                                                                                written or typewritten, and must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
     Billy Graham's Rank Pelagianism . . . . . . . . . . .3 95                  a n d   t h e   f i f t e e n t h   o f   t h e   m o n t h .   A l l   c o m m u n i c a t i o n s   r e l a t i v e   t o   t h e
                                                                                contents should be sent to the editorial office.
 Taking Heed To The Doctrine -                                                  Reprint Policy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
                                                                                cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
     "Hyper-Calvinism" and the                                                  printed articles are reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement
                                                                                Is made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint appears
                Call of the Gospel (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .395    is sent to our editorial office.
                                                                                Business Office:  The Standard Bearer
 From Holy Writ -                                                                                               Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                                                P. 0. B OX  6064
                                                                                                                G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n   4 9 5 0 6
     Exposition of Hebrews 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .397                Business Agent for  Australasia:Mr.   Wm. van  Rij
                                                                                                                                          5 9   K e n t   Lodge  Ave.
 The Voice of our Fathers -                                                                                                               Christchurch 4, New Zealand
     Christ: True and Eternal God . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399
 Feature -
     Five Plus Three Equals Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .401
 Guest Article -                                                                Advertising policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                                                advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
                                                                                anniversarres,  obituaries, and sympathy  resolubons   wrll  be placed for a
     The Development of a Reformed Psychology . .403                            $3.00 fee. These should `be sent to the Business Office and should be
                                                                                accompanied by the  .$3.00  fee. Deadline for announcements is the 1st
 News From -Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .407                 o r   t h e   1 5 t h   o f   t h e   m o n t h ,   p r e v i o u s   t o   p u b l i c a t i o n   o n   t h e   1 5 t h   o r   t h e
                                                                                1st respectively.
                                                                                Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will accept  standlng  orders for
                                                                                bound copies of the current volume; such orders are filled as soon as
                                                                                p o s s i b l e   a f t e r   c o m p l e t i o n   o f   a   v o l u m e .   A   llmlted   n u m b e r   o f   p a s t   v o l -
                                                                                umes may be obtalned through the  Business  Office.





 ;MEDITATION

                                            The Sword of the Spirit
                                                                     Rev. M. Schipper

                     "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. "
                                                                                                                                                    Ephesians 6: 17b.

     "Wherefore take unto you the whole  armour of                                peace . . . taking the shield of faith . . . the helmet of'
 God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day                            salvation . . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
          ,>
 . . .                                                                           Word of God."
     Such is the exhortation the apostle delivers to the                                The sword of the Spirit!
church, according to the immediate context.                                             How striking is the fact that of all the aspects of
     And he proceeds to describe in detail the various                            the Christian's panoply, the sword of the Spirit is the
 aspects of the panoply, that complete suit of armour,                            only offensive weapon prescribed! All the rest is for
 which the church in the present evil world is to take                            defensive purposes only.
 unto herself. "Having your loins girt about with the                                   One does not fight the enemy with his girdle, with
 truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and                           his breastplate, with his shield or helmet. Only with
 your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of -the sword does one go out to do battle with the foe.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                387



    0, indeed, these protective elements in the                It is this Word which is described as the sword of
 Christian's armour are most important. Without them         the Spirit. Here undoubtedly the Spirit also must be
 one cannot long endure in battle. But, as it is true in     understood as the Spirit of Christ. As mentioned
 all warfare, victories cannot be won by hiding behind       above, the Holy Spirit is given  to. Him without
 defenses. The battle must be taken to the enemy; and        measure. As the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit proceeds
 victory is attained only through a great offensive. So      from Him.
 it is also in the spiritual warfare unto which the            That the Word of God is spoken of in terms of a
 church is called.                                           sword, appears more often in Scripture. In Hebrews
    Take to you the sword of the Spirit!                     4: 12 it is described as a two-edged sword, "quick and
    The apostle does not leave us in the dark as to          powerful, sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing
 what he refers. For he. adds the explaining clause,         even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
 "which is the Word of God."                                 the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
                                                             thoughts and intents of the heart." In Revelation
    The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit! '            1: 16 we read: "And he (that is, Christ) had in his
    When the apostle speaks of the Word of God here,         right hand seven stars: and out of-his mouth went a
 it should be borne in mind that the translation does        sharp twoedged sword . . ." And in Revelation 2: 12
 not really do justice to what the apostle actually says.    we read: "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos
 Pact of the matter is, that the New Testament               write: These things saith he which hath the sharp
 Scriptures use especially two words which are               sword with two edges." And, of course, according to
 generally translated: word; but they have a shade of        our text, it must be that same two-edged sword - the
 difference in meaning. The one refers to the word as        sword of the Spirit of Christ.
- the embodiment of a thought, while the other refers          That the text speaks of the sword of the Spirit as
 to the word as the thought expressed. It is the latter      being the Word. of God, cannot mean that the rest of
 which the apostle uses here in the text. The Word of        the armour has nothing to do with the Word of God.
 God therefore is to be considered as His utterance,         Do we not read of "the girdle of truth?" Now surely,
 that which He Himself speaks. We say, the Bible is the      "the truth" is also the Word of God. And do we not
 infallibly inscribed Word of God; and this is true, of      read of "feet shod with the preparation of the
 course. We also say that God causes His Word to be          gospel?" Surely, also "the gospel" is the Word of
 preached; and that, too, is very true. But unless God       God. So also "the breast plate of righteousness," "the
 speaks His Word, the Bible is a dead letter, and the        shield of faith," and "the helmet of salvation" are all
 preaching of man has no power.                              related to the Word of God. It must mean that all the
    A most interesting and instructive commentary on         armour of God we are to take to ourselves is invested
 the  Word of God we find in the Gospel of John. In          in the Word of God. But, as was suggested, of all the
 the first chapter of this gospel the Scriptures identify    armour, the sword of the Spirit is the sole offensive
 the Word of God with Jesus. He is said to be the            weapon. All the rest is intended for our defense.
 Logos, the Word; and this undoubtedly refers to the           Indeed, we need the whole armour!
 Son of God in the flesh as the embodiment, the
 substance of the thoughts of God. However, in                 Mere foolishness it would be to proceed into battle
 Chapter 3 (verse 34), He is said to be the One Whom         with only a sword. Would we not be always vulner-
 God sent, Who speaks the Word of God. "For He               able to all the fiery darts the enemy will shoot at us?
 Whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God: for           Why, we would be mortally wounded before we even
 God giveth not the Spirit without `measure unto             had opportunity to strike at him with our sword.
 Him." Literally we may translate: "For Whom God             Indeed, nothing must be missing in the entire panoply
 sent speaks the utterances of God." So that we may          as described by the apostle. Nor should we, like
 conclude that the Spn of God in the flesh, Jesus, is        Goliath, take the enemy for granted, and allow the
 both the substance of the Word of God and at the            visor of our helmet to be raised instead of down and
 same time the expression of it. Incidentally, the           in its proper place. But just as foolish it would be to
 above translation suggests that Jesus is the                proceed into battle with all the  armour except the
 embodiment and the expression of the Word of God            sword. It would be like being in an army tank
 because the Spirit is given unto Him without measure.       without guns. It would perhaps afford us a temporary        ,
We are to understand, therefore, that all the Word of        shelter, but eventually we would be destroyed. We are
 God, both as to its essential nature, and its utterance,    called not only to stand in battle, but also to fight.
 is actually centrally in Jesus, of Whom the Scriptures      We need not only the protective armaments of the
 inform us that He also is sent of God. And this must        Word of God, but also the offensive weapon of the
 mean that unless Christ speaks to us, we do not hear        Sword of the Spirit, which also is the Word of God.
 the:Word of God.                                              Make no mistake in sizing up the enemy!


388                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



  The apostle forewarns us: "we wrestle not against           that "the evil day" gets progressively worse.
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against             0, surely, our battle is not against flesh and blood,
powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world,         it is not carnal in nature. Nor is our battle against the
against spiritual wickedness in high places."                 world to gain the world. Nor should our battle be
  The enemy, therefore, is not physical, but                  with the purpose to gain the world for Christ. Bluntly
spiritual!                                                    we say it, Christ is not interested in this world, nor
  It follows then that our battle is also a spiritual         should we be! Christ is interested in the new world in
one!                                                          which righteousness shall dwell; and because our
                                                              interest is also in that world, of which we are already
  But let it be abundantly clear, our battle is not in        its citizens, we take our stance in the present world
another world than the present one in which we                which is evil and fight.
dwell. Do not make the mistake of concluding that
we are to fight an eerie, mystical, battle with a host           But always that battle must be with the use of
                                                               spiritual weapons, having on the whole  armour of
of evil spirits somewhere in the spirit world, while we
play lovey-dovey with the wicked all about us in the           God, and in our hand the sword of the Spirit, which
earthly world in which we dwell. Many there are               is the Word of God. Not with our own weapons must
today who would so interpret the battle of the                 we fight.
church. Such, if they are fighting at all, are fighting a        For that battle we must be trained!
mystical enemy, one whom they never see, and they                No more than a raw recruit can go into battle with
fight as those who are beating the air. Such also are         a broom stick on his shoulder, and expect to over-
they who would at the same time make this present             come the enemy, can the child of God, and the
evil world a better place to live in. And they play ball      church of Christ battle against the spiritual powers of
with the world.                                               darkness unless thoroughly equipped, and scrupulous-
                                                              ly adept in carrying his armour, and using his sword.
  In no uncertain terms, our battle, though it is not
with flesh and blood, is in this present evil world              The boot camp where the Christian warrior can be
which is for the present under the sway of Satan; our         trained for this spiritual warfare is within the church
world in all of its departments. And this means that          itself. Under the Means of Grace, particularly the
though our battle is a spiritual one and not with flesh       proper preaching of God's Word, where one hears
and blood, it nevertheless often takes on the form            Christ speaking to him in that preaching, there he will
against flesh and blood. Did not the Lord Jesus               receive his soundest training. He must learn to hear
forewarn us that a man's foes shall be they of his own        the Word of God before he can say: "Thus saith the
household? (Matt. 10: 36) Accordingly, the battle             Lord." And let him be sure that when he confronts
begins in one's own household. Yea, it begins in one's        the enemy he does not come with his own words. It is
own flesh, against which he must struggle all his life        only before the sword of the Spirit that the powers of
long. That battle may be necessary to wage against            darkness will fall. How beautifully the Lord Jesus
one's own father and mother, brother or sister                demonstrated this when by the Spirit He was led into
according to, the flesh. That battle will have to be          the desert to be tempted of the devil. In each of the
waged even in the church, where always Satan desires          temptations He replied to the devil: "It is written." It
to introduce his lie, with all kinds of false doctrines.      is the Word of God in Christ that speaks, and it is this
That battle will have to be fought against the wicked-        Word that will overcome the enemy. From this Word
ness in the community, the state, and the nation, yea,        the devil will flee away.
in all the world which is under the dominion of                  In that spiritual battle there is no armistice. Only
darkness.                                                     two things can terminate the battle of the child of
  In that world of darkness we are to stand as                God: the day of his death, and/or the day of the
children of light, militating against the darkness. And       Lord.
because the darkness always hates the light, you                 Until then it is incumbent on all the children of
cannot escape the battle. It is the battle of the             God that they stand fast. Appropriating with believ-
antithesis. And this is the battle of the ages.               ing hearts the sword of the Spirit, and standing in the
  Take unto you the whole armour of God, and with             ranks of the faithful, faithful unto death.
it the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,            In, that battle they already have the victory
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the         through our Lord Jesus Christ!
devil, and that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day. And need we remind you that if the evil day was
there already when the apostle penned these words,              Following our custom, there will be only one issue
that that day will become progressively evil as the                           in June, July, and August.
time proceeds to its end? It is in this present world


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      389


EDITORIAL
                         Tendencies Toward  fiorizontalism
                                                ProJ H.C Hoeksema

  Not infrequently in recent years voices, both                   ALFALIT is basic education, not merely to create
official and unofficial, have been raised against the          individuals with diplomas, but to create citizens
promotion of horizontalism and the social gospel in            concerned with improving their communities.
the Gereformeerde Kerken of the Netherlands. Some                 ALFALIT is community development, not only to
of these voices of criticism came from sister churches         improve the economy and education of the
of the GKN. The fear was even expressed by some                community, but to create a consciousness that God is
that other churches  - for example, the Christian              calling people to raise themselves.
Reformed Church in this country  - might become                  ALFALIT is sharing, which enriches both giver
infected with a similar ecclesiastical disease through         and receiver.
association. As far as the GKN are concerned, no                  ALFALIT is helping people develop their capac-
words of protest and warning and admonition seem               ities so that they may find in Jesus Christ the
to have had any significant effect. The GKN have               realization of their complete humanity and thus
simply gone their own way. However, whether the                discover their destiny: to be children of God and
source of infection was in the Netherlands or                  mature people in Christ.
elsewhere, there are definite signs today that the           Now when one cuts his way through the  high-
Christian Reformed Church has been infected with           sounding jargon of these few paragraphs and through
the same virus. This is sad news, and I certainly do       the window-dressing of Christianity which this pro-
not write it for reasons of rejoicing and gloating, but    ject is given, then he is left with some hard questions.
rather for the purpose of sounding a note of warning.      What does all this have to do with Christianity in the
This warning is directed to Reformed believers in the      Reformed and Scriptural sense of the word? And
denomination just mentioned, some of whom read             what does all this have to do with Christian relief
our magazine. It is also directed to members of the        which is truly Christian - which involves the mercies
Reformed community at large who are among our              of Jesus Christ? To begin with the window-dressing,
readers. And it is directed, finally, to members of our    to me these paragraphs speak a language which I do
Protestant Reformed Churches. We are living in times       not understand, which I fear no one can understand,
when our Reformed faith and our Reformed                   and which, still worse, does not have a Reformed and
world-and-life view are being seriously corrupted and      Scriptural note, though it mentions God and Jesus
eroded. And it is well to be on the alert, lest we be      Christ. To create a consciousness that God is calling
deceived, and lest we become similarly infected,           people to raise themselves? What is that? Where does
especially when the source of the infection is so near     one find such a call of God in the Scriptures? And
at hand.                                                   how does a literacy project which is "community
  What may be the occasion for this warning?               development" create  a consciousness? Or again:
  These tendencies toward horizontalism have               helping people develop their capacities so that they
become evident in the Christian Reformed weekly,           may find in Jesus Christ the realization of their
The Banner in recent months.                               complete humanity? I confess that I do not know what
                                                           such gobbledygook means. Helping people to discover
  One evidence of such a tendency toward                   their destiny, namely, to be children of God and  1
horizontalism appeared in The Banner of November           mature people in Christ? Again, I fail to see any  `~
29, 1974 in an article entitled "ALFALIT, CRWRC,           similarity between this and the gospel of grace; I fail
and You." This article describes a literacy program        to understand even what this language means. But I
which operates in twelve Latin American countries          do recognize in this language, especially in the con-
and is supported by the Christian Reformed World           text of the mention of social and educational im-
Relief Committee. After a rather lengthy description       provement -and betterment of the environment, the
of some of the activities of this project, the article     typical jargon of the social gospel and of horizon-
concludes as follows:                            ,         t a l & m .
      ALFALIT  - alphabet and literature  - but also         In that same issue of The Banner Editor De Koster
   much, much more. ALFALIT teaches an awareness of        editorializes about the  so-called poverty problem,
   one's own and one's social reality, an awareness        making reference to the example of a J.ames Marlow
    aimed at the betterment of the individual and his      family, who were evidently featured on a CBS tele-
    environment.                                           cast. Apparently the  Marlows were featured on this


390                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


program as an example of a poverty-stricken family in                quite another thing to be able to be doing it day after
Tennessee. Mr. De Koster takes the occasion to write:                day, working hand in hand with your people, those in
"The Bible invariably teaches that God's ear is more                 your parish and those in your town.
attuned to the cries of the Marlows than to the words                   And so it is that I feel my dream is developing into
of the mighty who hardly know, and do  not care,                     reality. For St. Anne's Church is nestled  righlt in the
that the Marlows exist.                                              heart of the poorest community in the State of
                                                                     Michigan  - Lake County. And we have countless
   "Judgment stalks the world.                                       numbers of people ranging from infancy to age 100
   "Has the Lord had about enough of our in-                         who are suffering, simply because they are without:
difference to Marlows? Has the voice of the voiceless                without sufficient money, without sufficient  clothing
been heard on high?                                                  or food or shelter or medicine or companionship.
   "And has it echoed in your conscience and mine,                      So it is that I was pleased indeed that the Human
in our churches and on the lips of those ordained to                 Relations Commission of our Grand Rapids Diocese
speak for God around, and to, the world?"                            came to me at the time I was assigned to Baldwin and
                                                                     asked if I would be willing to let them set. up a Meals
   Editor De Koster has more to say in the same issue                Program in our parish, one that would work with
about poverty. But even as in the above quotation, so                Federal Government funds to feed the senior citizens
in all that he writes there is no distinction made                   in our county on a daily, Monday through Friday,
between church and world, between righteous and                      basis. I was all for it.
wicked. The claim that "the Bible invariably teaches                    Through the Commission's tireless efforts and
that God's ear is more attuned to the cries of the                   determination (and continued help, I might add), we
Marlows (the poor, HCH) than to the words of the                     now are serving daily hot meals to 160 of our senior
mighty who hardly know, and do not care, that the                    citizens. The success of the program has not only
Marlows exist" is an altogether unproved statement.                  been in the numbers but in the elated reactions of the
                                                                     participants. Many of them, definitely the majority,
And, moreover, it cannot be proved. The Lord's ear,                  are poor, very poor, and the food is a great help to
according to Scripture, is no more attuned to the                    them as they receive at least this one nutritious meal
cries of the  ungodly poor  than to the words of the                 a day. But maybe even more important, at least in
ungodly  rich and mighty. "The eyes of the LQrd are                  their eyes, they are given a chance every day to get
upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their                 out of their shanty homes, which for many of them
cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil,              have become almost like a prison of loneliness. Now
to cut off the remembrance of .them from the earth.                  they can come together, socialize, have a good meal,
The righteous cry, and the Lord  heareth, and de-,                   play games, see travelogues and other such movies,
livereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is                 have birthday parties, and so on. Their life has taken
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; &nd saveth                on new meaning and new purpose.
such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalm 34: 15-l 8. The                 Beyond this, our parish has a fund on hand that
trouble is that Mr. De Koster has no eye for the                     we call our `Community  Apostolate  Fund.' It started
Scriptural teaching of the antithesis and for the lines              out with $250 raised by the parishioners a few years
of sin and grace.                                                    previous. That money was sitting stagnant in a
                                                                     checking account almost forgotten. I asked the
  All of this fits in with another instance of the                   people if we could put it in a fund for the poor. The
social gospel.  philosoph$ which is recorded in  The                 response was unanimously affirmative. The fund
Banner  of Feb. 21, 1975. I refer now to the article                 simply means that the Social Services, and all the
entitled "Sharing A Dream," by Father David L.                       other service  agencies'in the community, including
Hawley, of St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church,                         the Courts, the Sheriffs Department, the Mental
Baldwin, Michigan. This pest article comes highly                    Health Clinic, and so on, can make appeal to our fund
recommended by Editor De Koster "both as inspira-                    in emergency situations, when they know of a family
tion to us, and in recognition of Christian charity at               or of persons who are down-and-out and in definite
                                                                     need of something they simply cannot afford,
work." Although  the account is long, let me quote                   whether it be medicine, food, glasses, fuel oil, and so
the main part of it,  so: that you may judge  #for                   on. An appeal to our fund brings immediate response
yourself:                                                            and financial aid.
         All my life I had wanted to be a priest. All my                So far we have received approximately 50 re-
       priestly life I have wanted to be a pastor in a small         quests, and like the multiplication of the loaves and
       town parish that would be situated in the midst of            fishes, due to the generosity of people and the
       poverty, where it would be clear that the parish and I        fund-raising efforts of our parishioners, it now has 10
       would have, right there  ,,in our midst, the golden           times the original amount.  With that ever-growing
       opportunity of putting the Gospels to work and                surplus we are now hoping to set up in the near
       seeing them  come alive through our Christian efforts         future a home-maintenance program. Our fund would
       and involvement. It's one thing to get into a pulpit          supply the materials, and volunteers from the
       each weekend and preach concern for the poor. It's            community would supply the labor to go into homes


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      391


    that are in desperate need of repair for leaky roofs,     with seeking -the kingdom of God, and their sufferings
    broken windows, holes in the walls, little or no          with persecutions for Christ's sake! Nothing but the
    insulation; we would do what we can to correct these      social gospel philosophy, while he scornfully charac-
    unliveable conditions.                                    terizes Christians with the true, other-wordly hope as
         Also in the works right now is a plan to open a      having "an eye fixed on pie in the sky, all for
    thrift shop in town by which poor people can obtain       themselves to boot."
    used clothes at a very low cost. Of course, if they
    cannot pay, they won't be expected to. The income           But  in  the April  4,  1975 issue of  The Banner,
    from the project will be used to pay the rent of the      Editor De Koster goes to extremes with respect to the
    store (which we recently obtained), the heat, and the     second petition of the Lord's prayer.-In an editorial
    utilities; anything over and above that will be turned    entitled "We Hold These Truths" he continues to
    over to other service projects in our area. The store     speak of the alleged political ovetiones of the second
    will be staffed by volunteers and overseen by one of      petition. The following quotations will give you some
    the Lake County social workers and myself.                idea of his thoughts. Referring to another series of
   Now, in the first place, it ought to offend the            articles by Mr. Everett Huizenga, he writes: "Set in
sensibilities of any Reformed believer to have a              the context of Mr. Huizenga's  .observations, the
representative of Roman Catholicism, which is both            Lord's Prayer becomes an obvious political com-
historically and actually an enemy of the Reformed            mitment. To pray, `Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be
faith, set forth as an example and an "inspiratioti" to       done, on eal-ith. . .' commits the believer politically to
Christian charity. But apart from this, in the second         the pursuit of political liberty. Or again: "To say
place, there is in all that I have quoted above nothing       seriously (and what other kind of praying ought there
whatsoever to indicate that this alleged charity is           to be?) `Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on
Christian.  It is strictly on a horizontal plane. It is       earth. . .' sets the believer at odds with tyranny. And
strictly concerned with the material, this-earthly,           if his praying is not to be merely sentimental, the
economic, social needs of its objects. It is involved         Lord's Prayer commits the believer to political action
with the administration and use of Federal  Govem-            in  search of democracy." And in this connection he
ment funds. There is nothing whatsoever in the entire         writes: "And this is precisely why Reformed Chris-
description of the work to indicate any  spiritual            tians from Geneva onward have etched deep into
concern even of a Roman Catholic kind. It makes               Western history a revolutionary pursuit of political
itself available for the use of various government            democracy  - and why we, and especially the youth
welfare agencies. In fact, there is nothing  tq dis-          among us, should thoroughly familiarize ourselves
tinguish the entire project from any worldly social           with Calvinist Puritan history on these American
welfare agency. There is no mention of the mercies of         shores. One of the lasting achievements of our spir-
Christ or of the Name of Christ even in a Roman               itual ancestry here is the Declaration of Independence
Catholic sense. And all this, mind you, is held up as         (and subsequent Revolution) which  wili  be com-
an example and an inspiration for Reformed                    memorated next year. It would be a fine contribution
believers! To me, this is nothing but the  horizon-           to the Bicentennial if some of our historians joined
talism of the social gospel philosophy!                       those secular students already in the field who are
                                                              busily uncovering the Calvinist roots of American
  But there is more and worse. In the same issue of           democratic institutions." A little later he writes:
The Banner  the  .editor  himself writes about the            "Can we who do not know from experience the
second petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom            absolutist state, even understand how a fellow be-
come." And he identifies the struggle for civil rights        liever prays there for  political  liberty, so that the
in our country with seeking of the kingdom of God.            Word may be qpenly spoken and freely obeyed?"
He identifies suffering in the cause of the civil rights
movement with suffering for the sake of the kingdom             And then De Koster waxes eloquent in his praise of
of God. Writes he: "And has no word ever seeped               American democracy:
into cellars like this (the imaginary cellar of a Russian           Then our eyes fall upon another great land mass,
Christian, HCH) of Christians beaten, spat upon,                 the American continent. There, yes, the pulpit is free!
reviled, jailed in the struggle for civil  right&  - the         There, yes, obedience and conscience are unfettered!
rights of the Kingdom - in the USA?" Mind you, the               No arrest by secret police even when the Word
lawlessness, the disobedience, the rebellion of an               preached calls the state itself to judgment. No im-
utterly humanistic movement, a movement which had                prisonment for obedience; and a fair trial for ques-
                                                                 tions of conscientious objection. No, still far from a
nothing Christian about it except the fact that it had           perfect community; much yet to be accomplished,
some modernistic church leaders at its head, a move-             even to realize all of the promise of the Declaration
ment whose acknowledged leader and dreamer was                   of Independence. But there is `freedom of worship,
Martin Luther King, Jr., who could not even loosely              the dear fruit of sacrifice and death and suffering and
be called an evangelical - De Koster identifies this             hardship for those who once fought to attain it.

    .


392                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


          One's heart leaps! Praise God for  the- political         cation of political democracy with the coming of the
       differences between this continent and Eur-Asian             kingdom. The fact of the matter is that Scripture is
       totalitarianism! Praise God for those whose spiritual        singularly indifferent as to the question what political
       commitment made them political revolutionaries!              form of government there may be. The Word of God
       And pray God that we may never waste away those              is not interested in the question whether we have a
       hard gained `blessings of liberty for ourselves and our      democracy or a monarchy or a dictatorship; it is
       posterity.'                                                  interested only in the truth that the people of God
  All of this is so foreign to truly Reformed thought               must conduct themselves as people of God, must live
and to Scripture itself that one hardly knows where                 and walk as Christians, also with respect to the state,
to begin with his criticism. On the very surface of it,             no matter what the form of the government may be.
De Koster is wrong. In effect, he subverts the second               And the Word of God  - and along with it, our
petition of the Lord's Prayer, which speaks of the                  Reformed confessions  - are notably intolerant with
kingdom of God in Christ (an absolute monarchy!)                    respect to all false, religions.
into a prayer, "May democracy come!" Besides, he                       If you would have a graphic illustration of the fact
attributes the Declaration of Independence and the                  that Editor De Koster has strayed far from the
American Revolution to the influence of our Calvinist               Reformed line, just compare what he writes with
Puritan heritage  - something  .which is not even                   what our Heidelberg Catechism teaches the Christian
historically accurate. Go down the list of the framers              to pray in connection with the second petition:
of our Declaration of Independence. Was Thomas                      " `Thy kingdom come'; that is, rule us so by thy word
Jefferson, its reputed chief author, influenced by                  and spirit, that we may submit ourselves more and
Calvinist principles? Far from it! In the third place,              more to thee; preserve and increase thy church;
De Koster glorifies the principles of revolution, some-             destroy the works of the devil, and all violence which
thing which is neither Calvinist nor Scriptural. Scrip-             would exalt itself against thee; and also, all wicked
ture teaches us to be in subjection to the higher                   counsels devised against thy holy word; till the- full
powers, not to rebel against them. But De Koster                    perfection of thy kingdom take place, wherein thou
wants us to praise God for the "spiritual com-                      shalt be all in all."
mitment" of these "political revolutionaries." In the
fourth place, De Koster identifies our American                        Of "political action in search of democracy" this
situation, in which we have a "freedom of worship"                  petition says nothing. In fact, if the principles of that
which is nothing more than the non-establishment of                 democracy are the principles of revolution and the
religion, and in which all religions, true and false,               principles which allow the false church and false
Christian and non-Christian, and even atheistic have                religions equal rights with the true church as it
equal rights, with the coming of God's kingdom. Yes                 represents the kingdom of God in the midst of the
indeed, we may be thankful to God for the fact that                 world, then principally this second petition stands in
we live in a land in which it is still possible to worship          antithesis to  `tpolitical  action in search of democ-
Him freely and without persecution. But. this is a far              racy."
cry from De Koster's identification of all this with                   Let us not be carried away by the growing tide of
the coming of the kingdom and from his  identifi-                   horizontal&m!


QUESTION BOX
                                           About Acts 28: 2
                                                         Proc H. C. Hoeksema

  This question from an Illinois reader is still related             cold." My questioner writes: "Rev.           said to me
somewhat to my lecture of December, 1974, "After                     that he could not see how this could be sinful and so
Fifty Years." It presents a problem which was raised                 concluded that it must be good or of grace." And he
in the mind of the questioner in the course of a                     adds: "Since God alone bestows grace, I think it is
conversation about the subject of common grace and                   not proper to (describe) any deeds of man as gracious
the alleged good that  ,sirmers do. Specifically, the                except when done out of gratitude to Christ. Perhaps
question refers to the statement found in Acts 28:2:                 you could write a little on this topic."
"And the barbarous people shewed us no little kind-                  Reply
ness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every                   I cannot recall having this text adduced as an
one, because of the present rain, and because of the                instance of common grace and of civic righteousness


                                                                                                      .
                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              393


before. But I can see how this incident, when super-                 philanthropy." Philanthropy is literally love, or affec:
ficially considered, might be used for the purpose of                tion, of mankind. And the term for "love" here is not
proving that the natural man does good.                              the term which refers to love in the spiritual sense,
  As far as the fundamental issue is concerned, we                   the love of God, but the term which frequently is
must always bear in mind some guidelines when we                     used to refer to mere natural love, or affection. It is,
confront the question what is a good work and what                   of course, rooted in the created affinity of the,human
is not a good work. For one .thing, we are always on                 race. Its motives may be various. Sometimes the
safe ground when we bear in mind our Reformed                        motive may be self-glorification, the desire to receive
confession of total depravity: man is by nature                      praise of men. Sometimes, too, the motive may be
incapable of any good and inclined to all evil. The                  simply the self-preservation of the human race, of
theory of the second and third points of 1924 simply                 mankind. This, of course, requires no grace. It is
turns total depravity into fiction, for it means that                "natural." And do not forget that the power of sin is
due to common grace there is no such thing as a                      so great in natural man that even this "natural
totally depraved man anywhere. Secondly, we must                     affection" can at times disappear. Moreover, this
always bear in mind our Reformed definition of what                  motivation can frequently even have very selfish
constitutes a good work. Good works are those which                  motives behind it. Mankind sees that it is salutary for
are performed according to the law of God, which are                 itself that men help one another in times of disaster
done unto the glory of God, and which proceed out                    and tragedy. Just think what would happen if "men
of a true faith.                                                     who go down to the sea in ships" did not help one
                                                                     another and try to rescue one another in times of
  Viewed in the light of the above, it certainly needs               storm and shipwreck! Everyone would be in danger;
no argument that this deed of these heathen natives                  no one could depend on any help. And if there is no
of Melita was not a good work.                                       love of God in all this, then it is after all displeasing in
  But that leaves the question how it is to be                       the sight of the Holy One.
explained. And this is an interesting question from                    No, if there is any grace displayed in this incident
the point of view of the fact that this sort of thing                - and there is - then it is displayed in the gracious
takes place frequently also today, as, for example,                  care of the Lord toward the apostle and his com-
when there are shipwrecks or when there are natural                  panions. The Lord our God used these natives of
disasters such as a tornado or an earthquake. From                   Melita to provide for His people when they were
this point of view the language employed by the text                 shipwrecked. For it was the Lord's purpose that Paul
is rather enlightening, I think. What is rendered in the             would go to Rome and preach the gospel there also.
KJV as "no little kindness" is actually "no common


ALL AROUND  USA

                                                            ProJ: H. Hanko

                                       Success In Birth Control

  The Reader's Digest, a magazine which comes to                         economic classification, if sterilization is carried out
many of our homes, has always been a strong                              after a delivery, the delivery charges in government
proponent of birth control. In the latest issue, a brief                 hospitals may be waived.)
news item was carried under the title, "Singapore's                           The penalties for those who fail to curb births: If a
Birth-control Success Story." It reads:                                  family has more than three children, the working
       The                                                               mother forfeits paid maternity leave; the delivery fee is
               birth rate per 1000 declined by about six
    percent between 1966 and 1973 in Singapore, a                        higher; at school age, the children No. 4 and up
    densely populated city-state which has a compre-                     generally get lower priority for choice of primary-
    hensive birthcontrol program. The Singapore pro-                     school admission; the fBmilies no longer get priority
    gram, one of the most successful in Asia, provides, as               in the allocation of subsidized public housing.
    a special facet, penalties for failure to cooperate.               These things are realities in Singapore. It is only a
       The results: 60 percent of married women under                matter of time before this country adopts some
    age 44 are using some form of contraception; one                 similar policies. Whether the wicked will admit this or
    married woman in ten of childbearing age has been                not, the ultimate goal is to prevent the Church from
    sterilized. (Footnote: Depending on a patient's                  bringing forth the promised seed of the covenant.


394                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


                                         Pies,  Dots, And Kuyps
  In an article  in The Reformed Journal,  Dr.-               be healthy, all three tendencies or emphases must be
Nicholas Wolterstorff discussed a three-fold cleavage         held in some kind of tension. All three must be
in the Christian Reformed Church of which he is a             balanced over against each other. All three must be
member. This cleavage was between Pietists,                   maintained and kept in the life of the Christian. When
Doctrinalists and Kuyperianists, or, in short, Pies,          all three are not preserved carefully, an overemphasis
Dots and Kuyps. Pietists were characterized chiefly           on one (or two) will result in imbalance. When all
by considering a cultivation of personal piety as a           three are kept in balance, only the strengths of the
proper response to the Gospel, by an avoidance of             three will be evident, and the Church will be sound in
culture and by a "more or less distinct separation            her confession and walk.
from society." Doctrinalists consider a proper re-              This line of reasoning strikes me as important
sponse to the Gospel as being an acceptance of true           enough to discuss. The same type of reasoning is
doctrine and a strong emphasis on theology.                   often applied to other areas of the life of the Church.
Kuyperianists consider the proper response to the             I have heard it said, for example, that `there is
gospel to be a joining "with those people whom God            doctrinal preaching and practical preaching. Either
has called out from the world to do His will in all           one taken by itself is a distortion of true preaching.
areas of life" and a seeking for the "reformation of          When the two are kept in proper balance and held
society in accord with His laws."                             together in proper tension, sound preaching results.
  In the latest issue of  The Presbyterian Journal,           But is this  true? I recall, to cite  another example, that
Robert M. Metcalf Jr. analyzes this article in terms of       at the time of my graduation from college, the
the Presbyterian Church; He finds that Wolterstorff's         speaker addressed the gathering on the subject of
analysis is helpful in understanding what is going on         "The Balance Which is Calvinism." While a great deal
in Presbyterianism as well as in the Christian Re-            of the speech has been forgotten with the passing of
formed Church. And he emphasizes that an over-                the years, I recall distinctly that the gist of the speech
emphasis on any one of the three to the exclusion of          was that the genius of Calvinism was its ability to
the others spells disaster for the Church. He writes:         maintain a. proper balance between opposing  dot--
         Where any one of the three patterns is over-         trines and viewpoints which, in themselves, seemed to
       emphasized  - or when two of them are  - then there    be contradictory. He cited as one example the ability
       occurs actual disobedience to God and His Word,        of Calvinism to hold in proper tension the doctrines
       with weaknesses and warping becoming obvious in        of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. But is
       the results which show up.                             this true?
          Shortcomings and failings sprout when any one or      It seems to me that there is a fallacious assumption
       two of the Christian ways of life are too much         in this line of reasoning. It goes something like this.
       emphasized at the expense of the others.               Pietism is a legitimate "response to the Gospel", but
  We are not particularly interested here whether this        Pietism is also partly wrong. It is right in some
is or is not a correct analysis of current trends either      respects; it is wrong in others. The same is true of
in the Christian Reformed Church or in Presbyterian           emphasis on doctrine. Emphasis on doctrine can be
circles. This is not for us to say. Nor are we interested     good, but it can also be bad. The only way therefore,
in entering into the question of whether what is              to keep the good of Pietism and escape the bad, and
called "Kuyperianism" is even a legitimate emphasis           the  only way to maintain the good in doctrinalism and
which is supposed to characterize the people of God           avoid  the  bad  is to  put both together.  In  that way
in their "response to the Gospel."                            pietism will curb the excesses of doctrinalism and
  Further, we readily admit that it is possible in the        doctrinalism will negate the evils of pietism. It is like
Church of Christ to have a false Pietism which                encouraging. the marriage of a man who is a good
divorces itself from the objective standard of the            provider but who possesses a violent temper with a
Word of God and becomes subjective in its manifesta-          woman who is a profligate spender, but has a mild
tions. We also readily admit that there can be a cold         personality in the hopes that the two will curb each
doctrinalism in the Church which ends in dead                 other's excesses.
orthodoxy. This has  .happened  in the Church in the            Is this the way it is in the life of the Church? I
past; it can happen again.                                    think not. If pietism is a proper response to the
  What concerns us is the solution to the problem             Gospel, how can it have inherent evils? Does God
which is given. The solution to the problem is said to        command us to respond (I am not particularly fond
be a proper balance between all three possible "re-           of the expression, "response to the Gospel", but use it
sponses to the Gospel." If the life of the Church is to       because it is used in the articles, H.H.) to the Gospel


                                                                                                    0

                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              395


in a way which is partly good and partly bad? How               piety and godliness will inevitably result. Always true
can this be? After all, pietism and doctrinalism both           piety flows forth from a confession of the truth. For
have inherent weaknesses which will certainly appeaf-           one's, confession of the truth must be a confession
unless they are checked by each other.                          which is  refiected in the whole of his life. A  doc-
  We do well to search for the solution in another              trinalism which does not result in a pious walk is an
direction. The danger in the above analysis seems to            evil dactrinalism; a piety which is rooted in anything
me to be a certain setting at antipodes ideas which are         else but sound doctrine is an evil piety. The two
not mutually exclusive. If one's response to the                belong together and are really one.
Gospel is pietistic, there is nothing good about that.             The same is true in every area of a Christian's life.
It is wrong and ought to be condemned. If one's                 True doctrinal preaching is practical preaching in the
response to the Gospel is doctrinalistic, this is wrong.        highest sense of the Word. And true practical preach-
It ought to be condemned. There is nothing good                 ing is doctrinal preaching; else it becomes mere
about that. The solution to the problem is not                  moral&m. A proper view of God's sovereignty
legitimatizing two opposite reactions and keeping               necessarily implies man's responsibility. To put the
them in proper balance. The solution to the problem             two at antipodes is to destroy both. To speak of the
is to understand that a true doctrinal response is, at          genius of Calvinism as being a proper balance between
the same time, a true response of Christian piety. The          man's responsibility and God's sovereignty is to
two are one. And doctrine stands on the foreground.             destroy both the sovereignty of God and the responsi-
The Scriptures are the revelation of God in the face            bility of man; and thus to make a caricature of
of Jesus Christ. God has told us about Him'self - Who           Calvinism and the truth of Scripture.
He is and what He does - in order that we may know                 If a man is a good provider but of a violent temper,
Him. And, as a matter of fact, the knowledge of God             he ought to control his temper by grace. If a wife is a
is itself eternal life: "And this is life eternal, that they    mild person but a profligate spender, she ought to
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,            learn to be a good steward in God's house. But they
whom thou hast sent." (John  17:3) When this true               ought not to be married in the hopes that they will be
knowledge of God is appropriated by faith and                   able to curb each other's excesses.
confessed as the very truth of the Scriptures, a life of
                          Billy Graham's Rank Pelagianism
   A reader sent me the following clipping. It c.ontains            something we have. done or can do, but rather.
a question addressed to Billy Graham and answered                   because of something He has done for us. That is his
by him.                                                             grace.
       The Bible says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ               But God does not force this salvation on us. He
    and thou shalt be saved." What did you mean when                offers it to us and we either reject it or we receive it.,
    you said we are saved by God's grace?                           by faith. Grace is God's giving, faith is man's receiv-
                                                                    ing. The Bible says: "For by grace are ye saved
       We are saved both by God's grace and by our faith            through faith; and that not of yourselves; it. is the gift
    in Christ. They are not two `ways of being saved but            of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
    two aspects of the same thing. Grace means "un-
    merited favor." It means that we receive something             The Pelagianism in the above quotation is so
    we do not deserve. God saves us, not because of             obvious that it needs no comment.


TAKE TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
      "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel (10)
                                                   Rev. David Engelsma

  What message does a Reformed preacher bring to                and  hyper-Calvinism,  on the one'hand, and the  con-
the unconverted? Can he call his audience to  re-               troversy between the Reformed faith and the
pentance and faith? Can he call all of them to                  doctrine of the well-meant offer, on the other hand.
believe? If he can issue such a call, what is the nature          We intend to answer these questions in this and a
of the call? These are questions that lie at the very           following article. Our vikwpoint will be the same as
heart of the controversy between the Reformed faith             that in the last two articles of this series:`we  want to

                                                                                                                                         1


396                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


show that our denial of the well-meant offer does            unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1, 2). A Reformed
not, in any way, rule out or hinder lively preaching to      preacher does not proclaim that the need of the
the unconverted, as is charged by some advocates of          audience is their unhappiness, lack of success in life,
the offer and as is feared by others. In the previous        and earthly problems. Neither does he preach that
two articles, we have shown that all preaching is            there is in them any good or any ability for good.
grounded in God's predestination, not in any                    Secondly, the Reformed preacher proclaims Jesus
"common grace" of God, inasmuch as it is God's               Christ as the only Savior from sin. He explains Who
purpose with the gospel to save the elect through            Jesus is, the eternal Son of God in our flesh, and what
faith in, Jesus Christ. Now, we must demonstrate the         His work is, redemption from sin by the blood of
Biblical, Reformed manner of preaching to uncon-             atonement. He makes plain that salvation is in the
verted persons.                                              risen Jesus alone (Acts 4: 12) and that the only way
  The message that is preached is the gospel, the            to have that salvation, beginning with the forgiveness
good news of God's grace in Jesus Christ, the "most          of sins, is the way of faith in Him (Acts  10:42, 43 ;
joyful tidings," as the Canons of Dordt refer to it          Acts  13:38, 39). As He proclaims Jesus Christ, he
(1,3). The content of the preaching is Christ and Him        declares Him to be the Gift of God and the amazing
crucified. This is true, not only because the preacher       revelation of God's love and grace (John 3: 16). A
preaches on the subject of Christ, but also because          Reformed preacher does not proclaim that sinners
Christ is really present in the preaching. Christ is         can save themselves, should co-operate in their
`fevidently set forth" in the preaching, as the              salvation, or must do something as a condition that
crucified One, before the eyes of every one to whom          Christ's salvation depends upon.
the gospel comes (Gal. 3: 1). A Reformed man not               Thirdly, the Reformed preacher declares the
only believes a "real presence" in the sacrament of          promise that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified
the Lord's Supper, but also a real presence in the           shall not perish, but have everlasting life (Canons, II,
preaching.                                                   5). At the same time, he calls every one in his
  This message, though centrally the message of              audience to repent of his sins and to believe in Jesus
Christ, His death, and resurrection, is as broad as the      Christ, i.e., he tells them: "Repent and believe, every
whole of Scripture. A Reformed preacher does not go          one of you!" He also gives a warning that those who
to the unconverted with the poverty-stricken message         despise Christ, by unbelief, will be punished (Acts
(to say nothing of its falsity) of four spiritual laws       13:40, 41). Those who receive the gospel and
that he has memorized and now recites, or with a             embrace Jesus the Savior by a true and living faith are
little "gospel on a thumbnail" that he was drilled in        thus comforted by the truth of God's love for them,
for six weeks in a Bible school. He goes out with            of Christ's death for them, and of their everlasting
Scripture, all of Scripture, and he uses all of Scripture    salvation, -i.e., they are "delivered from the wrath of
also. At one time, he explains all of Old Testament          God, and from destruction, and have the gift of
history and prophecy, declaring and proving that the         eternal life conferred upon them" (Canons, I, 4).
Messiah of the Old Testament is Jesus (Acts 17: l-3).        They are baptized and exhorted to walk worthy of
At another time, the approach and burden of his              their calling in the holiness of gratitude for God's
message is the power and glory of the one, true God,         gracious salvation.
His transcendence, self-sufficiency, spirituality, crea-       This is a sketch, admittedly and necessarily very
tion of the world, `and providence  - leading, of            brief, of mission-preaching, preaching to unconverted
course, to the death and resurrection of Jesus (Acts         heathens, which is neither based on nor proceeds by a
17: 18, 22-31). On still another occasion, he may            well-meant offer of the gospel. In fact, it is a sketch
emphasize "righteousness, temperance, and judgment           of missions from which the doctrine and practice of a
to come," as part of "the faith in Christ" (Acts             free offer are rigorously excluded. There is no
24:24, 25).                                                  universal love and grace of God in it or behind it;
  Nevertheless, we may specify certain basic ele-            there is no desire of God to save all hearers, either
ments of the message preached to the unconverted.            stated or implied; there is no offer of salvation
First, the Reformed preacher preaches the greatness          dependent upon the sinner's free will. But what is
of the sin and misery of those to whom he is                 lacking for energetic, lively, unfettered  gospel-
speaking. This is the judgment of the gospel upon            preaching to anyone and everyone? If we Reformed
man. The gospel declares every man to be totally             Churches can preach this message in this way, and if
depraved in his very nature, corrupt in all his ways,        we are driven by the love of God for His sheep
and liable to damnation (Rom.  3:9-19). It does this         scattered abroad, what in our message or our
by proclaiming the holy and righteous God Whose              approach hinders missions or evangelism? What are
law they have transgressed and Whose wrath is re-            we unable to preach that should be preached? What
vealed from heaven against all ungodliness and               can we not do that should be done? Where can we


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 397


not go that the gospel should go? The sketch of                 Savior; and when the preacher cries out, "Believe on
Reformed preaching to the unbelieving given above               Him," the Spirit irresistibly draws them, so that they
ought to be familiar to every Christian, and certainly          come to-the Savior. This is what the New Testament
to every Reformed man, for it is nothing other than            means when it states that the saints have been called
the outline of the message and approach of the                 (I Cor.  1:24); that they have been called by God
apostles in the book of Acts, made with an eye on the          through the gospel unto the obtaining of glory (II
Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dordt.                  Thess. 2: 14); that they have been called out of
   It is especially the call to repent and believe that is     darkness into God's marvellous light (I Pet. 2:9); and
crucial, both as regards our controversy with the              that they are those who have been called.by God Who
Baptist hyper-Calvinists and as regards our con-               quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which
troversy with the well-meant offer. The former deny            be not as though they were (Rom. 4: 17).
that there is, or may be, a call to all hearers; the latter       Nevertheless, Biblical, Reformed preaching in-
subtly changes a summons into an offer. We must,               cludes the command to every hearer to repent and
therefore, look closely at the call of the gospel.             believe. This call is addressed not only to the elect,
  The entire message of the gospel is God's call of            regenerated members of the audience, but also to the
His elect in the audience. Through the preached                reprobate wicked. The preacher can say and must say
Word, God efficaciously draws to Jesus all those               to everyone, "Believe on Christ." Nor is it merely the
whom He eternally gave to Jesus in the decree of               case that it is the human preacher who gives the call
election (John  6:37, 44); by the sermon, the Holy             to all his hearers, because, of course, he does not
Spirit works faith in the hearts of those who were             know who are elect and who are reprobate among his
ordained to eternal life (Acts  13:48). Not just one           audience. When the preacher says, "Repent and be-
aspect of the Word, e.g., the command, "Believe,"              lieve," it is not merely the preacher and the sending
but the whole message is God's great "Come to Jesus            Church .which call the sinners, but it is God Himself
Christ" to His people. When the preacher is proclaim-          Who calls them. On the Day of Judgment, God will
ing the most high majesty and righteousness of God,            say to all those who rejected His preachers' call to
the Holy Spirit is working humility and awe in the             believe on Christ: "Because I have called, and ye
elect sinner's heart; when the preacher is proclaiming         refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man
the depravity and guilt of men, the Spirit is working          regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel,
heart-felt conviction of sin, pricking their hearts with       and would none of my reproof"  - therefore now
sorrow and- shame; when the preacher is setting forth          "your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruc-
Christ crucified as God's way out of the misery of sin,        tion cometh as a whirlwind" (Proverbs 1: 24ff).
the Spirit is working knowledge of and trust in that                             (to be continued)


FROM HOLY WRIT
                           Exposition' of Hebrews 13                                                    .
                                                      Res. G. Lubbers

TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING OF THOSE IN                              The Hebrew Christians are admonished to demon-
PRISON (Hebrews 13 : 3)                                        strate in their brotherly love that they have the law
  It is none other than Jesus Christ Himself Who is a          written in their hearts, that they are taught of God,
faithful and merciful High Priest in the things which          drawn in irresistible grace out of darkness into God's
pertain to God. Mercy is God's reaching out to help            marvelous light.. They must remember their brother
the helpless, and this mercy is very rich. (Heb. 2: 17,        and sister who are imprisoned for Christ's sake, for
18 ; Eph. 2:4) And when we have tasted this mercy              righteousness' sake. There are they who are not
and have experienced that God is good (I Peter 2:3;            ashamed of the name of Christ. They confessed Christ
Ps. 34:9), then we also become merciful. We then can           before men, and they are confessed by Christ before
be appealed to by the "tender mercies of the Lord."            the face of God in heaven. They are the excellent .of
(Rom. 12: 1) We have a Savior in heaven, Who was               all the earth, of whom the world is not worthy. (Heb.
tempted in all things just as we are, Who is the great          11:28) And these imprisoned ones must not be
sympathizer. He suffers with us. We fill up the                forgotten. This is a far cry from all social agencies and
measure of His sufferings in the flesh. (Heb. 4: 14-16;        much evangelization in "jails" in our modern day.
Col. 1:24,25)                                                  This was not an attempt at social betterment; but it


398                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


was showing the tender mercies of Christ, by one              the same as those who are imprisoned. There can be,
member of the body of Christ to the other.                    no doubt that those who are imprisoned are indeed
   The motivation given for remembering those                 ill-treated; they suffer adversity. If these are the same
imprisoned is that we must feel that we are in the            group, then this is merely a further explanation of
same "prison" with them. The form of the participle           what it meant to be imprisoned. It would seem that
sundesdemenoi  is a perfect passive. We have been             the definite article in both cases (toon desmoon and
imprisoned with these imprisoned ones up  till the            toon  kzkouchoumenoon)  points to a definite group
present moment. All the way through their imprison-           of people, each in its own right. If so, then the writer
ment we so lived along with them, so felt their               possibly has a larger group in mind in the case of the
imprisonment that we lived, in our mind, as a fellow-         ill-treated than those imprisoned.
prisoner. That is what Jesus does in heaven.  ,J!Ie is          This suffering of adversity is adversity for Christ's
touched with the feeling of the infirmities of these          sake, and not simply the general adversity  which is
prisoners. What a blessed thought! How much room              ours due to the curse of God upon the earth, bringing
there is for this injunction to the saints, both as to its    forth children in sorrow, and eating bread in the
content and its motivation. We, who are so often              sweat of our brow. This is evident from the meaning
calloused and indifferent to the lot of our brother as        of the term kakouchoumenoi. The term kakou always
he suffers for Christ's sake and is treated as an             means "to do hurt, to maltreat, to cause injury."
evil-doer, simply because he confesses that Christ is         Thus it is used in Classical Greek of Homer, Iliad, 11,
the Son of God, Who died for his sins, heed this              690. It is used in Acts 7: 16, 19 of the sufferings in
injunction. Was not John banished to the island of            Egypt of the children of Israel; it is used of the
Patmos for the sake of the testimony of Jesus Christ?         sufferings of the Christian community under Jewish
(Rev. 1: 9)                                                   persecutions (Acts 12: 1; 14:2) and of the danger of
   There-is a deep cry in the heart of those who are          an attack on Paul which God averts. (Acts 18: 10)
thus imprisoned. It is a deep cry for compassionate           (Compare  Kittel's Theological Dictionary,  Grund-
remembrance. Think of a Joseph  m-prison in Egypt             mann) The term, therefore, refers to those who suffer
because of the lies of Potiphar's wife and the sordid         adversity and evil for Christ's sake according to the
envy of his own brothers, the patriarchs. Was it not a        beatitude of Christ in Matthew 5 : 11, 12. These are in
great "toil" both of body and soul for Joseph to be in        the class of those who preached the Word of God of
prison? Is this not what is uttered in the name               old, prophets.
"Manasseh," whereas God had made him forget all                 Our attitude concerning these, too, must be one of
this toil and his father's house? Was not Jeremiah cast       being touched with the feeling of their infirmities and
into prison and into the dungeon because he spoke             persecutions, both as to the reason for such persecu-
the Word of God? (Jer. 37:21; 38:13, 28; 39:14, 15)           tion and the evil character, the hellish intent, of those
Was not John the Baptist imprisoned by Herod and              who do harm and injury to God's saints. In this
later beheaded because he spoke the Word of God to            instance of the Hebrew Christians it seems that the
the king? (Mark  1:14; Matt.  4:12;  14:3-8) What             ill-treatment of evil intent came from the side of the
about Peter? Was his imprisonment for the Lord not            Jewish community, of whom Paul writes the scathing
foretold by Jesus Himself? (John 18, 19) Often                denouncement in I Thess. 2: 14-16, "For ye have
prisoners of the Lord became eventually martyrs of            suffered like things of your countrymen, even as they
the Lord. Think of all the imprisonments of Paul.             have of the Jews: who have both killed the Lord
Writes he, ". . . in imprisonments often." He is the          Jesus, and their own prophets, and persecuted us; and
prisoner of the Lord. (Eph. 3: 1; 4: 1) He requests of        they pleased not God,. and are contrary to all men:
the saints to remember him  .as an ambassador in              forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might
bonds, that he may have boldness to speak the word            be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is
of God. (Eph. 6:20) And the i&t sentence in Paul's            come upon them to the uttermost." That is a rather
letter to the Colossians is, "Remember my bonds."             exact and comprehensive description of the  ill-
(4: 18) Truly, this represents a deep cry from prison.        treatment which the saints received from the Jewish
And well may we remember such, even in our day.               community which would trample under foot the Son
And the time may come when this will again be very            of God, and do despite to the Spirit of grace. (Heb.
actual. Satan. deceives the nations and stokes his fires      10:29)
`hot!                                                           We are to remember such ill-treated ones from the
                                                              motivation that we are "still in (the) body." We are
THE EVILLY ENTREATED ALSO TO BE REMEM-                        such ourselves. We are still in this world where men
BERED (Hebrews 13 : 3)                                        can kill the body. (Matt. 10: 28) There is a school of
   It is not clear whether the brethren and sisters who       thought which holds that the writer here is speaking
are classified in the text as "those evil entreated" are      of the "church" when he says "body." The writer


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      399


would then mean that we are members of one                           this ordinance was sanctified and enriched by the
another. (I Cor.  12:26) Such is the interpretation of               suffering and death of Christ. (Gen. 1: 27; 2:24; Matt.
Calvin.  The  Kantteekening  of the  Staten-Vertaling                19:4-8; Eph. 5:22-33)
differs from Calvin and writes:  "Dat is, in dit                        What is placed very emphatically on the fore-
lichamelijk leven, dat  aan veel verdrukkingen                       ground is that marriage is "honorable"  (timios).
onderworpen is. " Translated this reads, "That is, in                Perhaps this was denied by the Jewish zealots of that
this bodily life, which is subject to many afflictions."             time, who were attempting to live a life of "holiness"
It seems to me that one does not need to choose here                 in an ascetic way. Theologically the Jewish faith,
absolutely between these two. The fact is that we                    which denies Christ, cannot hold to the sanctity of
sympathize with those afflicted as in some way                       marriage. In the times of Jesus this was a moot
subject to all the abuse which is heaped upon the                    question in the schools of Shammai and Hillel, respec-
ill-treated Christians. These ill-treated Christians were,           tively. The former took the strict view of divorce for
no.doubt, the leaders in the congregations. Now if we                the sake of adultery alone, "while the latter took the
remember that we are really in the same condition                    more liberal and popular view of easy divorce for any
with them in their ill-treatment, we will remember                   passing whim if the husband saw a prettier woman, or
them with our prayers, support in a material way,                    burnt his biscuits for breakfast." (Robertson's Word
granting all the support and help we may. That is the                Pictures on Matthew) In the midst of such whimsical
exercise of the communion of saints in an evil world.                and evil legalism the life in the congregation must be
That is the real  Philadelphia  which must not be                    such that they "cease from dead works to serve the
forgotten. If each saint was allowed to stand and fall               living God." (Heb.  9:14) Marriage must be held in
by himself, the church would surely succumb.                         honor in a good and free conscience, in which we
                                                                     fight against sin, the devil, and the world, in order
THE HONORABLENESS OF MARRIAGE IN THE                                 finally to be the Bride without spot or blemish in the
LORD (Hebrews 13:4)                                                  marriage-feast of the Lamb.
  There cannot be much question whether the Holy                        Hence, marriage is to be held in high esteem in the
Spirit intends to speak in this passage of marriage "in              community of the saints. It is a precious gift of God
the Lord." Paul writes in I Cor. 7: 39 concerning the                to His children in the midst of this world. Besides,
question of the legitimacy of marriage for Christians.               Scripture teaches us that marriage itself in its divine
A woman whose husband has died can be remarried                      meaning and import is a "great mystery." It somehow
to whom she will, provided this is "in the Lord." A                  fits in with "Great is the mystery of godliness. God is
man or woman is not to marry as did Esau, who was a                  manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
profane and adulterous man. He married outside of                    angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
the Lord, taking Canaanitish women, to the grief and                 world, received up in glory." (I Tim. 3 : 16) It is for
sorrow of his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. (Heb.                      this very reason that marriage is held in such low
12:16, 17; Gen.  26:25;  27:46;  28:8, 9) The writer                 esteem in the so-called Christian world, which is
here refers to marriages which are according to the                  apostate from faith. This the Holy Spirit expressly
original marriage ordinance of God's creation, and as                says. (I Tim. 4: l-3)


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
                Christ: True and Eternal God
                                                    Prof. Robert D. Decker
              "We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only begotten Son of God, begotten
           from eternity, not made nor created (for then he should be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with
           the Father, the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory, equal unto him in all things. He
           is the Son of God, not only from the time that he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as these
           testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses saith, that God created the world; and John saith,
           that all things were made by that Word, which he calleth God. And the Apostle saith, that God made the
           worlds by his Son; likewise, that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow, that
          he, who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time, when all things were
           created by him. Therefore the prophet Micah saith, His goings forth have been from everlasting. And the
           apostle: He hath neither beginning of days, nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty
           God, whom we invoke, worship, and serve."
                                                                                        The Be&c  Confession, Article X


400                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



  The Reformed believer delights in confessing with          triumph. The error was condemned by the Council of
the inspired apostle: "By grace are ye saved through         Nicaea in 325 and again by the Council of Con-
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:    stantinople in 381. As the name would indicate the
Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians         Semi-Arians taught a similar heresy. Although these
2:8, 9) This is the heart of the Gospel. Salvation is        condemned the Arian position, they also maintained
always and only of God and never of man. And this is         that Christ was not of the same essence as the Father,
exactly the issue at stake in this tenth article of the      but of like essence. The orthodox position was
Belgic Confession. At first glance the article may not       defended staunchly by the great Athanasius who even
seem to be too important or significant as far as the        suffered for the sake of the truth. Athanasius suc-
truth of Scripture is concerned. It appears little more      ceeded in convincing the Council of Constantinople
than a detailed restatement of the truth concerning          (A.D. 381) to condemn also this position. Much later
Christ presented in Article VIII. Besides, no one, at        in Reformation times a heresy which differed very
least not in Reformed circles, denies that Jesus Christ      little from the old Arianism and which was known as
is the only begotten, eternal Son `of God. But just a        Socianism  arose. It was uniformly condemned by the
bit of reflection on this truth enables one to under-        Reformers. Although it be in different garb there is
stand its key significance for the whole of the              still the denial of the deity of Christ. In our times it is
doctrine of the Word of God. To deny this truth is to        the "modernism" of the liberal churches which
deny the incarnation of the Son of God; to deny the          teaches that Christ is not really God, of the same
incarnation is to deny the atonement; to deny the            essence as the Father. Jesus according to this view is
atonement is to deny the resurrection; to deny the           only a man, a very good man, a supreme example for
resurrection is to deny the whole work of salvation;         us to follow; but only a man and not God. The
and then we are of all men most miserable, for we are        atonement is denied as well as the victory of the
yet in our sins. The entire doctrine of vicarious            resurrection. Character building and education
atonement rests on this truth: for if a mere man (no         become the theme of the "gospel" preached by these
matter how good a man) died on the cross, the blood          churches.
of Christ has no cleansing power, no power to atone             Over against all such departures the Reformed
for our sins. And no mere man could actually deliver         believer confesses that Jesus Christ is true and eternal
us from the lordship of sin and death. But no mere           God. Christ is, this means, according to His divine
man died on the cross; Christ, the eternal and only          nature, not made nor created. He is the only begotten
begotten Son of God in our flesh died and was raised         of the Father; and that, too, from all eternity. Thus
again and lives in glory at the Father's right hand.         Christ is not a creature, nor is He begotten in time.
Salvation is of God. This is all our comfort.                Still more, Jesus is co-essential and co-eternal with
  We do well, then, to consider this truth in connec-        the Father. He has not a similar essence but the same
tion with this tenth article of our creed. This must         essence as the Father. And as the Father is eternal, so
ever be at the very core of what we all "believe in our      Christ is eternal. Furthermore: "He is the Son of
hearts and confess with our mouths." Christ is true          God, not only from the time that he assumed our
and coeternal God.                                           nature, but from all eternity." In other words, His
                                                             Sonship  did not begin at the moment of His incarna-
  This truth was under attack early in the history of        tion, but from all eternity He is the Son of God. For
the New Testament Church. These "Christological              this reason, He is the express image of the Father's
Controversies" were in close relationship with the           Person, and the brightness of His glory (Heb. 1: lff.),
Trinitarian controversies we noted earlier in connec-        equal with the Father in all things.
tion with Articles VIII and IX. The two most signifi-
cant of these were the Arian and Semi-Arian contro-            This truth, so essential to the whole of Christian
versies. Briefly, (the reader interested in further study    doctrine, is clearly taught all through the Scriptures.
of these may consult Prof. H. Hanko's  Ancient               Article 10 cites but a few of the many texts and
Church History  or the late Rev. H. Hoeksema's               passages which prove that Christ is true and eternal
History of Dogma, both of which are mimeographed             God. The Biblical proof for the divinity of Christ is
syllabi published by and available from the Theologi-        often summed in Reformed Dogmatics under four
cal School of the Protestant Reformed Churches)              heads: The Bible assigns divine names to Jesus, the
Arianism arose in the early history of the Church.           Bible ascribes divine attributes to.Christ, divine works
Arius, its  father, taught that although Jesus Christ        are also ascribed to Christ by Scripture, and Christ
was the greatest and best of all men,`He was man and         according to the Word of God receives divine honors.
man alone, of different essence than the Father. He            We  fnld, therefore, divine names given to Christ.
simply denied the divinity of Christ. This controversy       The most obvious of these is the name, Son of God,
~was raging for many years and there were times when         which occurs more frequently than we could number
it was doubtful that the orthodox faith could                in the Bible. Christ is also called the Mighty God; and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              401


even, the Everlasting Father. In the Gospel according         The final evidence for the divinity of the Savior we
to John we find Jesus called the Word or Logos. This        find in the divine honors He is given. The Bible
Word was "with God" and "was God," "in Him was              teaches that God has committed all judgment unto
life," and His glory is that "of the only begotten of       the Son: "that all may honour the Son even as they
the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1: 1, 4, 14)    honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son
This eternal Word "was made flesh, and dwelt among          honoureth not the Father that sent him." (John
us. " (verse 14) Concerning this passage Dr. P.Y.           5:21) No distinction is made in this passage between
DeJong remarks: "Only by denying the authenticity           the honour which must be paid to the Father and
and authority of John's gospel can the impact of this       that which must be given to the Son. The Bible
name which teaches our Lord's deity be circum-              teaches us that God delights in having His creatures
vented." .(The Church's Witness To The World,  p.           worship the Son for: ". . . when he again bringeth in
200)                                                        the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the
                                                            angels of God worship him." (Heb. 1: 7) Christ Him-
  Concerning the divine attributes ascribed by Scrip-       self accepted that same worship from Thomas who
ture to Christ the Confession emphasizes His eternity.      when he saw his risen Savior said: "My Lord and my
Because the Bible teaches that the Son made the             God." (John 20:28) In addition to the above, Scrip-
world, "therefore, it must needs follow, that he, who       ture also teaches that we are to be baptized in the
is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ,         name of Christ. (Acts  19:5) And Christ Himself
did exist at that time, when all things were created by     declares that He is of one and the same essence with
him." Our Creed then continues by citing the passage        God the Father when He said: `? and my Father are
from Micah and the one from Hebrews 7:3. In Micah           one." (John 10:30). This truth affords great comfort
5 : 2 we read of Christ as the -one Who shall come forth    to the sheep for whom the Good Shepherd laid down
out of Bethlehem and Who shall be "ruler in Israel;         His life: for the fact that He and the Father are of
whose goings forth have been from of old, from              one essence means no one can pluck the sheep out of
everlasting." The passage in Hebrews 7 speaks of            the hand of Christ. They cannot go lost!
Christ's eternal priesthood after the order of
Melchisedec. Other divine attributes than His eternity        This Christ; true and eternal God, is our Lord and
are also implied in these passages, especially. His         Savior! He it is by Whom the worlds were created. He
almighty power and His wisdom.                              is the Christ Who was born of the virgin, having been
                                                            conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is the one Who as
  When speaking of the divine works ascribed by             our merciful high priest was touched with all the
Scripture to Christ, the Creed emphasizes the work of       feelings of our infirmities and was tempted in all
creation. Genesis 1: 1 teaches that in the beginning        points like as we, yet without sin. He is the Christ
God created the heavens and the earth. John 1: 1            Who offered His blood as atonement for our sins and
teaches that God created in the beginning all things        Who was raised again on account of our justification.
by the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us.          It is this Christ Who, having ascended to the right
Col. 1: 15ff. teaches the same when it states that by       hand of His heavenly Father, returned to live with us
Jesus Christ were all things made. And, Hebrews 1:2         by His Spirit. For this Christ's return in power and
teaches that God made the worlds by His Son. In             glory at the end of the ages we look and fervently
addition we find other divine attributes ascribed to        pray! Because He is true and eternal God we are saved
Jesus. He forgives sins (Luke  7:48, 49) and He             and shall never go lost. On the basis of the clear
quickens the dead (John  5:20, 21). But these and           testimony of the Word of God we conclude with our
others are treated in succeeding articles and need not      Confession: "He, therefore, is that true, eternal, and
be emphasized at this point.                                almighty God, whom we invoke, worship, and serve."


FEATURE
                      Five Plus Three Equals Zero
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys

  When one adds one number to another, the result           churches are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, I
usually is that one reaches a greater number. Thus          would like to point out such an addition that was
when one adds three to five, the result is eight. But       made in 1924, resulted in the formation of our
there is an instance where an addition subtracts and        churches in 1925, and robbed the churches of what
leaves one with nothing. And in this year when our          they formerly had.


 402                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


    I refer to the fact that in 1924 the mother church       cannot do anything that is spiritually good in God's
 added to her confessions the three points of                sight.  -It means, as the Heidelberg Catechism also
 "Common Grace". By this official act of the Synod           states it, that we are inclined to all evil and prone to
 the mother church exactly robbed herself of the five        hate God and the neighbor. And  total  depravity
 points of Calvinism which formerly were her doc-            exactly means that there is nothing that we can do to
 trinal position and confession. Adding the three            please God, nothing that is spiritually good in His
 points of "Common Grace" the church lost all of the         sight until we are born again by the Spirit of Christ
 Reformed doctrine contained in those five points of         with life which is from above.
 Calvinism. And this I like to make plain with these           This the apostle Paul also teaches in Romans 7: 18
 lines.                                                      and 8:7,8. In the first passage he says, "In me, (that is,
    Prior to the Synod of 1924 the mother church by          in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." Pay close atten-
 Synodical decision had adopted the Canons of                tion here. He says that NO good thing dwelleth in his
 Dordrecht as her confessional standard along with the       flesh. He does not simply state that all flesh is evil
 Heidelberg Catechism and the Netherlands Con-               and all men are depraved. He exactly says that in his
 fession. Now these Canons of Dordrecht contain              own flesh, in the flesh of the individual, dwelleth no
 those five points of Calvinism and set forth what is        good thing. You can look and search, but you will
 truly Reformed. In five heads of doctrine these             find nothing that is good in God's sight. This he
 Canons oppose the Pelagianism and Arminianism that          underscores in Romans 8:7, 8 when he writes, "For
 had invaded the churches and set forth the truth as it      the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
 is in God's Word. And if we examine those five points       subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So
 of Calvinism and will place alongside of them the           then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
 three points of "Common Grace", we will see that            The unregenerated mind, mind you, is enmity against
 this addition subtracts to such an extent that we have      God! It hates God and has no desire to do anything
 nothing of the five points of Calvinism left. Let us do     pleasing in His sight. It is not subject to the law of.
 exactly that and learn from this tragic error and           God which demands of us that we love God; and it
 addition to the confessions of the church.                  cannot be subject to that law of God, and thus
                                                             cannot love Him. Hence those in the flesh, those who
 An Addition That Subtracts                                  have not been born again by the Spirit of Christ,
    The first of the five points of Calvinism is that man    cannot please God. It is not a case of finding it hard
 by nature is totally depraved. And that means not           to please Him. It is not a case of not always pleasing
 simply that the totality of the human race is               Him. It is exactly a case of NEVER doing so and of
 depraved, it means that each individual is wholly           being incapable even of desiring to do so.
 corrupt from the inside outward, from the sole of the         But now look at the three points of "Common
 foot to the top of the head. That is what Paul teaches      Grace" which rob men of this truth by dragging into
 us when in Ephesians 2: 1 he declares that we are dead      the churches the teaching that man is not totally
 in trespasses and sins. More strongly Paul could not        depraved, but able and active in doing what is
 put it. We are not simply weak, sick, or paralyzed as       spiritually good in God's sight. The first point of
 far as part of our bodies are concerned. We are dead!       "Common Grace" as adopted in 1924 by the mother
 The difference is that a dead man does absolutely           church declares "it to be established according to
 nothing. A sick, weak, paralyzed man is very limited        Scripture and the Confessions that, apart from the
 in what he can do; but he does breathe, and eats and        saving grace of God shown only to those that are
 drinks a bit. He may talk in a whisper, but he does         elect unto eternal life, there is also a certain favour or
 talk.. He looks and hears and experiences pain and          grace of God which He shows to His creatures in
 discomforts. His heart beats. A dead man does none          general. This is evident from the Scriptural passages
 of these and is completely still in regard to all his       quoted and from the Canons of Dordrecht, II, 5 and
 organs and faculties of his body. And to be dead in         III, IV, 8 and 9, which deal with the general offer of
 trespasses and sins means that one is spiritually - not     the Gospel."
 physically - dead. It means that there is no work that        Notice that the first point speaks of a "general
 he performs that is spiritually good. Of course we are      offer of the Gospel." Now the Scriptures never speak
 not born physically dead. It is spiritually that we are     of an offer of the Gospel, and here is where the
totally depraved.                                            mother church went astray to begin with in 1924.
    This again does not mean that we perform no              For the minute you speak of an offer of the Gospel,
 spiritual work at all. Were that the case, we would         and then, mind you, of a "general offer of the
 have no personal guilt; and though we would not be          Gospel", you are by implication saying that all those
 able to please God, we would not be displeasing Him         to whom the offer is extended are spiritually alive. It
 either. No, to be spiritually dead means that one           is no offer when you stand before a dead body and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              403


promise a certain object on the condition of                least a spark of life left in him. He is not totally
acceptance of the offer. And if God sincerely, and          depraved but only mostly depraved. And what
with a certain favour or grace, offers salvation in the     becomes of Romans  7:18 and  8:7,8? If that
Gospel to all who hear, then God, Who is no fool,           unregenerate man can do civil good, he certainly in
must consider these to whom He offers salvation to          one sphere at least can please God, can be subject to
be alive. The same God who says through Paul that           His law and is subject to it. Then in his flesh can be
by nature we are dead in trespasses and sins, also          found some good thing. Not much, perhaps, but
offers salvation to such as though they were alive?         enough so that the truth of total depravity is lost and
Can He be sincere? He knows our spiritual condition,        a theory of some ability is maintained. For ability to
if anyone does. And either He teaches, as He does,          do good of any kind implies life to some degree. And
that  we are dead  in trespasses and sins, or else He       to add another verse from Scripture, Paul writes as
teaches that we are not. He will not say both. Men          quoting the Psalms, "There is none righteous, no, not
may say both and speak out of both sides of their           one. There is none that understandeth, there is none
mouths. But when God says that we are dead in               that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the
trespasses and sins, He says that there is no use           way, they are together become unprofitable; there is
offering salvation to such, for they cannot see or hear     none that doeth good, no, not one." Romans
or desire that salvation and its offer. And so by           3: 1 O-l 2. Paul knows nothing of civil good and civil
teaching and adopting a point of doctrine which             righteousness which the unregenerate perform.
states that God offers salvation to all who hear the
preaching of the Gospel, one loses the first of the five      And thus here, too, adding the third point of
points of Calvinism, and one plus one equals zero.          "Common Grace" to the confessions of the church
                                                            means that the first point of Calvinism must go. You
Nothing is left of the truth of total depravity as          cannot maintain a dead man that is alive. You cannot
Scripture teaches it by adding a man-made point of          maintain a living man that is dead. You have to choose
an offer to spiritually dead men.                           between saying the one or the other. Let us say what
  Then, too, the third point of "Common Grace"              God says: Man is dead in trespasses and sins; is not
added to the first point of Calvinism negates that first    subject to God's law, cannot be and cannot please
point entirely. For the third point of "Common              God.
Grace" states that the unregenerate without having            All the points of Calvinism that follow likewise are
his heart renewed is influenced by God so that "he is       denied and lost so that you end up with zero, that is,
able to perform civil good." And by civil  good  is         with nothing of the Reformed faith, after adding to
meant civil righteousness. For the third point begins       your confessions the three points of "Common
with the statement, "Relative the third point, which        Grace". And this is due to that very evil addition of
is concerned with the question of civil righteousness       the "offer of the Gospel." That is the point of
as performed by the unregenerate. . .  ." It is not,        departure, and that is what must be rejected if we are
then, a question of whether the unregenerate do             to get Reformed faith back again. Try as we will, we
works that look good to men, but it is a case of            will fail until we reject the well-meant offer of
righteousness, that which is right in God's sight, that     salvation to all who hear the preaching of the Gospel.
which pleases Him.                                            This I like to show next time and then, in addition
  And note that the third point speaks of man being         to this section which I have labelled, "An Addition
able  to do such works of civil righteousness. The          That Sub&acts", I would like to add the two sections,,
minute you speak of ability, you are no longer              "A Subtraction that Multiplies" and "A Multiplica-
speaking of a spiritually dead man but one who has at       tion That Divides."


GUEST ARTICLE

           The Development of a Reformed  .Psychology

                                              Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema

(Editor's Note: This is the transcript of a lecture         INTRODUCTION
delivered about a year ago at the Protestant  Re-             I think that all of us are aware of the fact that in
formed Church of Loveland; Colorado. It is published        modern times, the days in which we live, the whole
by request.)                                                subject of psychology is one that is of considerable


404                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


interest. You read about it, you hear about it;             completely independent branch of study, but as a
perhaps sometimes you are not even aware of the fact        study of that which fits in with our Reformed faith.
that you are dealing with the field of psychology; but      We hope, therefore, to lay down some guidelines
yet you are. I am sure that almost all of us read Ann       which must necessarily hold true whenever we deal
Landers or Dear Abby in the daily papers; I know I          with the subject of man and his relationships to God
do, and rarely miss an opportunity for a good laugh.        and his fellow creatures. What I have to say is not
But even if that is the extent of your reading, you         complete, nor is it the last word on the subject. But,
cannot help coming into contact with this whole.            nevertheless, I purpose to lay down some guidelines
affair that is called psychology: Ann Landers is            and truths which we must follow. I speak to you on
forever telling somebody to go-to see either a clergy-      THE DEVELOPMENT OF A REFORMED PSY-
man or a psychiatrist. But what is it all about, really?    CHOLOGY.  I would like to ask and answer three
What is this psychology about which we hear so              questions in that connection. In the first place what is
much? What is to be our evaluation and opinion of           the necessity of a Reformed psychology? Why do we.
the matter? About that subject I would like to say a        have to speak about a Reformed psychology? In the
few words tonight.                                          second place, what is its character? And, in the third
  By way of introduction we should notice, first of         place, on the basis of its character, how do we attain
all, that the word psychology literally means the           to a Reformed psychology, how do we achieve that
"doctrine of the soul." That is somewhat of a               goal?
misnomer from more than one point of view, as we
hope to point out more in detail later on. Modern           THE NECESSITY OF A REFORMED PSYCHOLOGY
psychology almost in its entirety denies the existence        As far as the necessity of a Reformed psychology is
of the soul. But however that may be, psychology            concerned, we should notice that there is first what
certainly includes much more than the soul. When we         might be called a negative necessity. That necessity
speak concerning psychology, we speak concerning            lies in the fact that all worldly, modern psychology
man in his entirety: man as he stands in relation, first    today is anti-Christian. It is anti-Christian basically
of all, to his God; and, secondly, man as he stands in      because all of psychology as we know it today, be it
his surroundings, in his relationship to the world          with modifications, comes from a man by the name
about him. And we note, too, that we speak concern-         of Sigmund Freud. Freud is acknowledged by all to
ing the Christian man, the saint.                           be the originator of modern psychology. He became
  But how do we learn anything at all concerning            interested in the study of the human being consider-
man? That is the question. I think we may say that          ably over 100 years ago; he studied man in great
there are two sources of information. One is, of            detail, and wrote voluminously. His writings are the
course, from man himself. Man is, after all, the object     basis for all development subsequent to his time.
of our study. But that has its limitations, too. Since      Others have come along and have modified his
the soul is invisible and spiritual, we cannot know the     system: there are, for example, the schools of Jung
soul itself, but only its manifestations. That stands to    and Adler, who were his disciples; and in more
reason. Moreover, since the heart and soul of man are       modern times, many different schools have origi-
deceitful, we cannot depend upon them and know              nated; there is a school which is called the neurologi-
them properly. It was the prophet Jeremiah who              cal school, which includes behavioral and functional
understood that very clearly centuries ago when he          psychology; there is the so-called Gestalt school, and
said, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and         the purposivistic school, and many others besides.
desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Therefore, in         But the point of this is simply that all of them,
the second place, the Scriptures as the objective           without exception, operate on the principles which
standard of truth are also necessary as a source of         were posited and developed by Freud. That is even
information.                                                true today. Even though modern psychologists would.
  But we must limit ourselves in this discussion. We        have you believe that all of that Freudian stuff is
cannot, in the nature of the case, deal with specifics.     outdated, yet they themselves, perhaps unwittingly,
Such questions, for instance, as: "What is the heart of     assume Freud. Though it is true that modern psy-
man? What is his soul? What is his mind? What is his        chology emphasizes less and less what the personality
spirit? What are his emotions? What are the vast and        is, and though it emphasizes more and more how the
intricate relationships between those various aspects       person fits in with his environment, yet it operates on
of man?" With these we cannot deal, nor is that our         Freudian presuppositions.                       f
purpose. Such -subjects are simply too involved and           But what was that system on which all subsequent
complicated to be treated in one brief lecture.             psychology is built? That system of Freud is divided
Rather, our purpose is to take a general view of a          into three parts or aspects; Freud spoke of three
Reformed psychology. Not, you understand, as a              different parts in man. When those three parts acted


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              405


in harmony with one another and their environment,          vengeance upon us; eat, drink, and be merry, for
a man was what Freud would call normal. When those          tomorrow we die. Our business here below is to
systems did not act properly, Freud said that a person      contribute to man's upward climb on the ladder of
was mentally ill. He spoke of the id, the ego, and the      evoiution.
super ego. Perhaps you are familiar with some of               In the second place, all modem psychology denies
those terms; we cannot go into them in detail, but in       the existence of sin. That is a dirty word to psy-
order to understand our subject must say just a few         chology. Because man is a product of evolution, sin
words about these three systems.                            therefore does not exist. What is good or bad is what
   The id, according to Freud, has its source in man's      the majority wants; what is good or bad is based upon
animal ancestry; it can be traced back through various      the happiness of the greatest number of people. Good
stages of evolution. The basic function of that id is to    and evil are therefore relative things; there is no
avoid pain and seek pleasure in any way possible. In        objective standard of right and wrong. Of course,
the second place, there is the ego. Freud called that       modem psychology must also face the problem of
the executive branch of the personality; it cor-            aberrations, i.e., abnormalities. They would have us
responds roughly to the power of reason in man. The         believe that aberrations or abnormalities are the
basic function of the ego is to seek the best way           remnants of our evolutionary heritage. Or, to put it
possible to achieve that pleasure which the id desires,     very simply, somewhere along the line the machine
and to avoid the pain that the id seeks to avoid.           that we call man breaks down; there is arrested
Moreover, there is fmally, the super-ego, which is the      growth and development; there are cultural or en-
moral, judicial branch of the personality. It roughly       vironmental pressures. You are undoubtedly familiar
corresponds to what we might conceive of as the             with the tactics of modern psychology. When a
conscience. Its basic function is to find ways of           person has psychological problems, psychology can
seeking pleasure and avoiding pain which are accept-        blame everyone but the person himself. Sometimes it
able to society.                                            is so ridiculous it makes you laugh. Psychologists can
  Now Freud spoke of many, many more things in              attribute abnormalities to a deprived childhood, to
connection with his concept of man. He spoke of             lack of opportunities, to this or to that; perhaps to a
instincts, he spoke of the relationships among those        beating that your father gave you when you stole
systems of personality, he spoke of anxieties, of           candy you shouldn't have  - all sorts of ridiculous
repressions, of depressions, and many more. They are        things. But never a word concerning sin. Never a word
much too complicated to explain now, but the basic          concerning punishment of that sm. What we have to
picture of Freudian psychology is, I think, clear.          do is rehabilitate, not punish.
  We must bear in mind that all psychology since              In the third place, in close connection with the
that time, as we know it in the world, is based upon        above, all modem psychology denies the existence of
that system of Freud. Modified, changed, disagreed          total depravity. The world in general (and psychology
with, developed, indeed; but it is still Freudian.          is no exception) views man as inherently good. And
Therefore we must criticize not only Freud, but             because of this natural goodness, a man must be
modern psychology as well.                                  allowed to develop naturally and must be protected
  First of all, it is a fact that all modern psychology     from harmful influences. Man must be conditioned to
denies the existence of the soul. All modern psy-           act in socially accepted ways, perhaps; but whatever
chology is based upon some form of evolution, and           may be the case, the point is that man is basically
any spiritual substance in man is completely ruled          good. The whole theory of education, for instance, is
out. Psychology undoubtedly comes into conflict             based upon that very idea. Psychology, after all,
with us in that regard. Man's personality is, merely        covers much more ground than mere mental illness or
chemical or electrical impulses in some kind of             something of that sort; it covers also the whole field
complex interplay. In other words, man is a                 of education, which is why it is especially important
mechanism; that is all he is. And as long as all the        to have covenant Christian education in this day and
parts of that machine which is man stay well-oiled,         age. Education, to the world, is merely that which
man functions smoothly. But when something breaks           aids the child in his natural development; that which
down or wears out, there is trouble. Of course,             acquaints the child with society's norms and goals.
modem psychology denies that the image of God in            Happiness is to be found, therefore, in conformation
man was a part of creation; that that image was lost        to society. A child must also have a proper sense of
through sin; and that that image of God is regained         responsibility toward his environment and toward
by the believer in Christ. They deny even that man          others. The goal of his education must be to inspire
stands in some kind of relationship to God. Rather,         him to make a contribution to man's upward climb
we must enjoy life. There is no existence after death;      on the ladder of evolution. That, basically, is modem
we do not have to worry about a God who will take           psychology and the criticism of it.


406                                                   THE  STANDA RD BEARER


  Modem psychology, therefore, is ~wortbless to the                        and that is completely true. Our practice, therefore,
Reformed Christian. That is, we may undoubtedly                            with respect to spiritual-psychological problems (and
learn much from worldly psychology in the sense that                       with respect to psychology in the general sense) must
we may learn facts. There are certain facts which even                     be in harmony with our doctrinal-position. We must
the world can discover, you know; God allows that,                         develop a practice of a Reformed psychology which is
God gives them the ability to do that. And many                            completely in harmony with our whole doctrinal
times they are indeed facts which cannot be con-                           world-and-life view.
tradicted. But certainly we cannot and may not                                And that leads us to speak of the other aspect of
accept modern psychology's interpretations and con-                        this positive necessity, which is the necessity to
clusions which are based upon these facts. Therefore,                      develop a comprehensive world-and-life view. It is our
for the treatment of psychological and spiritual                           calling, as you are undoubtedly aware, to be antitheti-
problems, we may not go to the world. We will have
more to say about that presently, but let us under-                        cal; to stand positively for the thesis, and to stand
stand that clearly right from the start. Do not forget                     antithetically against all that which opposes that
that the psychology of the world is not simply                             thesis. We as a Reformed people and as a Reformed
non-Christian; it is that. But is also anti-Christian and                  church have fulfilled that calling; I am convinced of
anti-Scriptural. How in the world, then, can the                           that. Oh, very often we hear that accusation thrown
wicked world help one whose life-principle is the life                     at us: "Don't be so miserably negative all the time!"
of Christ? That is impossible.                                             Very often we hear that. But it is our calling, after all,
                                                                           to be that way. It is not true that we are only
  We then confront a situation in which we have also                       negative, though certainly we are that.- But it is our
a positive necessity for a' Reformed psychology.                           calling also to be positive. You cannot be only
What we are saying is simply this: we cannot accept                        negative. You must be also positive. Therefore it is
that which the world has to offer. Therefore we must                       our calling to stand for a Scriptural life principle in
replace it with something that is true and Scriptural.                     whatever area of our existence that may include. We
In that connection we must mention a couple of                             must develop our view of life, a Reformed Scriptural
points.                                                                    view of life in all of its aspects. And the area of
  As far as the positive necessity of a Reformed                           spiritual, mental, psychological problems is one of
psycholo'gy is concerned, it lies, in the first place, in                  them, along with the whole area which may be
our necessity to harmonize doctrine and life. We may                       included in that term  psychology.  In many other
posit many  doctrines,.  and we do. We posit on the                        areas of life we have undoubtedly fulfilled that
basis of. Scripture the doctrine of God's sovereignty;                     calling. I may point to one perhaps, and that is the
we posit the doctrine of man, the doctrine of the                          doctrine of the covenant; we have that doctrine as no
antithesis, the doctrine of the covenant, the doctrine                     one else has it, and it has been our privilege under the
of salvation, and many, many more, far too numerous                        guidance of God to have developed the practice. of
to mention. All of these doctrines are good because                        that doctrine in the history of our churches. Also we
they are Scriptural; they are true doctrines, worth-                       have fulfilled that calling to some degree in this field
while. doctrines, good things to know, necessary                           of psychology, as we will point out later. But there is
things to know for our salvation. The point is that                        still room for development, as we also hope to point
our practice must be in harmony with our doctrine. It                      out presently. But the point is clear: we must have a
is often said, and perhaps you have heard it said that                     Scriptural, antithetical, Reformed world-and-life view
practice without doctrine is worthless and vice versa;                     with respect to psychology.                     (continue&I




                                                        ANNOUNCEMENTS
                                    We are pleased to announce that Seminarian Kenneth Kooks has been
                                  licensed by the faculty to speak a word of edification in our churches.

                                                                           - Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, Rector
                                                                                 Theological School of the
                                                                            Protestant Reformed Churches


                                  Classis East will meet in  tegular  session on July 2, 1975 at the Holland
                                  Protestant Reformed Church. Material to be treated at this session must
                                  be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior to the
                                  convening date.

                                                                                               Jon Huisken
                                                                                               Stated Clerk


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   407


                                  News From  Otir Churches
                                                                                                   i r-
                                                                May 14, 1975

   The April 27 bulletin of Hudsonville, the calling                       being aired weekly. Fifty people attended a lecture of
church for our second home missionary, included a                          Rev. A. den Hartog last Wednesday evening; the best
couple of brief references to progress of the work                         attendance they have had so far."
being done in Maine. I'll quote the last three sen-                                                        *****
tences of a paragraph entitled, "Church News." They                           How about some school news? It's been quite some
read as follows: "Reports from Skowhegan inform us                         time, I think, since we last included any of that in
that there seems to be some new interest arising in                        this column, and there have been some. interesting
the area. The radio broadcasts of Rev. Kuiper are                                                                      ( con timed on back page )


                  You demand of me to cite the place in the Holy Scriptures by which I prove that God did not prevent
             the Fall of Adam, because His will was not to prevent it. Just as if that memorable reply of God to all such
             inquiries and inquirers did not contain in itself an all-sufficient proof: "I will have mercy on whom I will                 -
             have mercy." From which the apostle Paul at once concludes, and justly so, that God hath not mercy upon
             all, because He wills not to have mercy upon all. And most certainly these words, without the aid of any
             interpreter, plainly and loudly declare that God is not bound by any law that should compel Him to show
             mercy unto all men indiscriminately and alike; but that He is the Lord of His own will, to impart pardon to
             whom He will and to pass by others as He will. It is, moreover, certain that God was the same then as now,
             when the prophet said of Him, "He doeth according to His will." (Dan.  4:35).  If, therefore, God permitted
             the Fall of Adam against His will (as you would have it), you will next say that He was overcome by Satan
             in the conflict; and thus you will make, like the Manichees, two ruling principles. But Paul, pleading also
             this great cause of God, compares Him (and that soberly and solemnly) to a potter, who could of his own
             will form of the same mass vessels of different kinds as he pleased. Now the apostle might have begun his
             argument, had he been so led, from sin. But he does not so. He commences the mighty subject by defending
             the free right of God from the very beginning of His glorious workmanship, even from His secret, eternal
             and sovereign will. And where he afterwards adds, "That all were concluded under unbelief," does he teach
             that this took place contrary to, or without, the will of God? Does he not, on the contrary, teach that God
             was the author of that state of unbelief? If  you. reply that all were condemned to unbelief as they deserved,
             the context will not admit even that interpretation, because Paul is there speaking of  t-he secret judgments
             of God. And that solemn exclamation of his directly militates against such an interpretation, "0 the
             depth!" etc. Wherefore, as God, from the beginning, predestinated Christ to  succour those who were lost,
             so by His inconceivable and inestimable  counsel  He decreed a way by which He might manifest forth His
             glory by the fall of Adam.
                  I willingly confess that where God is vindicating the free course of His mercy, He speaks of the whole
             human race generally, which had already perished in Adam; but this same view and consideration held good
             before Adam fell, that His will was then all-sufficient to show mercy when and as He pleased. Moreover,
             this His eternal will, though it depends on none and on nothing but Himself, nor has any prior cause to
             influence it, is nevertheless founded in the highest reason and in the highest equity. For though in the case
             of men they require a law to rein and restrain their intemperateness, it is far otherwise with God. He is His
             own law ,-- a law unto Himself! And His will is the highest rule of the highest equity.
                                                                   - John Calvin, The  Secret Providence  of  God,  pp. 282,283


                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On June 17, 1975, the Lord willing; our parents, MR. AND MRS.              On June 9, 1975, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR. AND
CHARLES PASTOOR, will celebrate their 45th wadding anniversary.            MRS. EVERT VAN VOORTHUYSEN, SR., hope to celebrate their
We, their children, are thankful to our God for the blessings He has       60th wedding anniversary. We, their children, are thankful to our
given us through them. Our prayer is that God may continue to bless        Heavenly Father for the Christian home and spiritual guidance they
them together.                                                             have given us. It is our prayer that God may continue to bless and
                                                                           strengthen them during their remaining days together.
                                           Cornelius and Joyce Pastoor                                                              Their children,
                                           Harry and Thelma Boonstra                                                Mr. and Mrs. Nelvin Kooiman
                                                        Carol Pastoor,                                                  Mr. and Mrs. John  Ekema
Grand Rapids, Michigan                            and 7 grandchildren                                      Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Van Voorthuysen
                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. Everett Van Voorthuysen
                                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. John Kimm
                             ***                                                                                             27 grandchildren and
                                                                           Redlands, California                             17 great-grandchildren

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



408                                           THESmARD   B E A R E R   `-  :


developments lately. The spring issue of Loveland's         full-time teachers, with possible help from ladies of
"Ledger" for example, includes a report from the            the congregation for the kindergarten children.
school board indicating that "the new school is               ". . . Let's rejoice with them and help as we are
finally nearing its last stages of construction." Much      able in this worthwhile project."
of the work, apparently, was done by volunteer labor.
According to the report, "most every evening finds            Since the time of the writing of that April bulletin,
our volunteers setting tile, hanging doors, and build-      the anticipated enrollment was increased to  thirty-
ing cupboards." The school's principal/teacher,             one. Three, children, who would otherwise be attend-
incidentally, was put in charge of the painting, and,       ing .Hope School in Grand Rapids, will be moving to
according to the report, did a good share of it             Redlands with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jon
himself. Mr. Kuiper is a summer-time painter from           Huisken, who have been contracted to teach next
way back, you see, so he was able to put his                year in the new school.
non-professional skills to good use in the new build-         Continuing with our school news, I'd like to pass
ing. The Ladies Circle, meanwhile, has been busy with       along a bit of information taken from the March 9
various fund-raising activities, with a view to purchas-    bulletin of our Hull congregation. A paragraph en-
ing new things for the school. They hoped to provide,       titled "News From Our School Board" reads as
for example, a conference table, with eight accom-          follows:
panying chairs, and a new duplicating machine (which          "The board has been busy with working out details
Ledger readers will probably appreciate almost as           on our own school. We have taken possession of our
much as do the teachers).                                   property and have since rented out the house. The
   "Soon this long looked for and worked for                committees have been working on the various aspects
school," the article concluded, "will be a reality."        of our school - building, desks, books, etc., are being
Both students and teachers, according to another            looked into.  We. hope to have more details by our
article in the "Ledger," look forward eagerly to that       next annual society meeting. May the Lord bless us as
reality. An eager 1st grader, after what the principal      we labor in this calling."
referred to as a "guided tour" of the new building,           And, finally, we note that another of our smaller
was heard to exclaim, "Goody! All we have to do is          schools is thinking of possible  expansion.  A news-
sweep the floor and we can move in." And Mr.                letter distributed by the Protestant Reformed  Chris-
Kuiper, after teaching for some time in the church          `tian School of South Holland reported an  ever-
basement, admitted that, "Looking at the spacious,          increasing enrollment. We quote:
well-lighted rooms, large bathrooms, and the plentiful
storage areas, Miss Lubbers and I can't wait for that         "Our enrollment has increased and, with the Lord's
moving day either." Perhaps our seminary professors         blessing, we pray that it may continue to grow and be
and students know, better than anyone else, how             used for His kingdom. But with increased enrollment,
they feel.                                                  it seems we are becoming crowded for space. All
                                                            rooms are now being used as classrooms. The Board
   Then there's the news concerning the realization of      has a committee working on future expansion. We
Redland's plans to begin a school of their own. That        will be hearing from this long-range study committee
-their progress is of more than mere local interest is      and when we do we will pass this information on to
plain, I think, from the fact that the following            you. We look forward to their findings and recom-
information comes from a bulletin of our  Randolph          mendations."
congregation. Here it is:                                     I'd like to conclude this article with the  final
   "After much prayer and planning, the  Redland            paragraph of that South Holland newsletter. The
School Society plans, the Lord willing, to open their       sentiments expressed in it are fitting for each of our
own Christian School in September of 1975. On a             Protestant Reformed Christian Schools. It reads thus:
two-acre parcel of ground they are at present building
a three-room cement-block school. Two of the rooms            "Above all, we covet your prayers for our Christian
will be classrooms: one for kindergarten through            school. May our God bless and use the work being
grade 4, the other for grades 5 through 9. The third        done here, because without His blessing we labor in
room will be a small all-purpose room.                      vain."
   "The first year, 19751976, they anticipate 28
children to be enrolled. They hope to have two                                                                 D.D.


