       The
~t""="`~~,,~:f)

`, BEARER
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  This book is intended to be more than a mere
memorial, to be perused and stowed away. The
various writers have contributed their  materia1
with a view to making this a compact summary
of all that has been  entrusted,to us, for the edifi-
cation of many, and especially- for the instruc-
tion and guidance of our covenant youth. We
cherish the hope that this will find a place in
every home as a ready reference and that it may
serve as a guidebook in our societies. It will also
,serve as a valuable gift  .to. those who publicly
profess their faith in the midst of our churches.
Taken from the "Forward" of God's Covenant
Faithfulness", See page  413 .




                                    Volume  LI,  Number  18,  July,  1975-


410                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                           CONTENTS:                                                               THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                              Semi-monthly,  except monthly during June, July, and August.
M e d i t a t i o n   -                                                       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   Children of the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410        Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema
                                                                           Rev. David J.  Engelsma,  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hanko:
Editorials -                                                               Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys. Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev.
                                                                           Dale H. Kuiper, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev.
   Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413     Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman
                                                                           Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
   A Special Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413                         4975  IVanrest  Ave. S.W.
                                                                                              Grandville. Michigan 49418
   Lest We Forget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .414     Church News Editor:       Mr. Donald Doezema
                                                                                                     1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
Taking Heed to Doctrine -                                                  Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of
                                                                           his own articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers
   "Hyper-Calvinism" and the                                               and questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome. Contri-
                                                                           butions will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be neatly
       Call of the-Gospel (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .416        written or typewritten, and must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
                                                                           and the fifteenth of the month. All communications relative to the
                                                                           contents should be sent to the editorial office.
Feature -                                                                  Reprint  PO/icy: Permission Is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
                                                                           cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
   Five Plus Three Equals Zero (2) . . . . . . . . . . . .419              printed articles are reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement
                                                                           IS made;  c) that a  COPY of the periodical in which such reprint appears
The Strength of Youth -                                                    is sent to our editorial office.
                                                                           Business Office:  The Standard Bearer
   An Advocate for the Devil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .421                                Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                              P. 0. Box 6064
                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
News Articles -                                                            Business Agent for AustraiasiaiMr.  Wm. van Rii
                                                                                                               59 Kent Lodge Ave.
   Jamaica Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .423                                        Christchurch 4, New Zealand
                                                                           Subscription Policy:  Subscription price,  $7.00  per year ($5.00 for
   Doon's  New Church Building Dedicated . . . . . .425                    Australasia). Unless a definite request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                                           is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscri tion to continue with-
                                                                           out the formality of a renewal order, and he  WI.P
                                                                                                                                I be billed for renewal.
Guest Article -                                                            If you have a change of address, please notify the Business Office as
                                                                           early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of delayed  deliv-
   The Development of a                                                    srv. Include  your  Zip Code.
                                                                           4dvertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
       Reformed Psychology (continued) . . . . . . . . .427                advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events
                                                                           anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be placed for  a'
                                                                           $3.00 fee. These should `be sent to the Business Office and should be
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .429    accompanied by  the,$3.00 fee. Deadline for announcements is the 1st
                                                                           or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the 15th or the
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 1 1st resoectivelv.
                                                                           Bound.  Volurn-ax   The Business Office will accept standing orders for
News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 1            bound copies of the current volume; such orders are filled as soon as
                                                                           possible after completion of a volume. A limited number of past vol-
                                                                           umes may be obtained through the Business Office.





MEDITA TIO N

                                        Children of the Light

                                                               ' Rev. H. Veldman
              "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of
             light. "                                   -.                                                                     Eph. 5:s


   In this anniversary year of our Protestant                                   How fitting is this Word of God! We have here the
Reformed Churches, we do well to reflect and take                           entire gospel. We have there the whole truth of our
inventory of ourselves. What shall we say? Shall we                         Heidelberg Catechism. We read, in this Word of God,
glory or boast? Yes, but never in ourselves. We may                         of what we were, of what we have become and are,
certainly boast as we reflect upon the past and look                        and also of what is our calling. It is these truths that
ahead to the years that lie before us. Let us, however,                     we have not failed to emphasize. And all this was
in all humble gratitude, remember that the Lord has                         possible only because of the mercies of our covenant
preserved us, only by His sovereign grace, so that we                       God, revealed in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.
stand, as of this moment, exactly where we stood                            Apart from Him we were and are darkness. It is only
fifty years ago. It was only of the Lord's mercies that                     in Him that we became and are children of light. Let
we were not consumed.                                                       us, therefore, walk as children of light.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    411


                                                            eye and ear and mouth - it is all darkness! Darkness
  What a tremendous contrast! We were sometimes             is our mind, our will, our desires, all the motives and
darkness! We are now children of light! And we are          stirrings of our soul, all the deep movements of our
children of light only in the Lord! And as such             heart and reins  - it is all darkness! The darkness is
children of light in the Lord we are called to walk.        not simply around us, is not simply in us; we are
  The language of this Word of God is so simple. Any        darkness; this  ,is our being. Our whole being is by
beginner in the Greek language can translate this text      nature darkness. And, of course, this also explains
very soon after beginning his study of this language.       why all our -works are by nature darkness. We may
There are, grammatically, no. problems here. Why?           have appeared as children of light, as when we attend
Does this simplicity of the text serve the truth of this    our church services, etc.; but, as far as we are
Word of God? Is not the text all the more impressive        concerned, it was all an act of darkness. In fact, even
because of its simplicity? We have, grammatically, no       all the-light that is in us, our natural light, we held
problems here. So, the grandeur of this Word of God         under in unrighteousness. Fact is, we are darkness by
stands before us in all its simple beauty. All we see       nature, and how can the light ever shine out of the
here, in this Word of God, is the sublime truth of the      darkness?
Word of God!                                                  This truth we have preached and taught during all
  And what a contrast! The contrast is between light        the fifty years of our existence. Never have we
and darkness, between the kingdom of God and of             deviated from this truth an iota. As churches we have
the Christ and that of the devil and of this world; the     been true to this fundamental aspect of the gospel of
text speaks of God and of Man, of the flesh, of the         our God.
world, of Satan and hell, of heaven and earth, of time                                 *****
and all the things of time, of eternity. "Ye were             We are light. We can speak of light in more than
darkness" - that refers to the entire kingdom of sin        one sense of the word. We can speak of physical light,
and of the world; "Ye are light" - that refers to the       the light of the physical eye, of natural light, the light
kingdom of God and of Christ and of the light; "Ye          of our understanding (we may be working on a
are light in the Lord" - that completely shuts out          problem and suddenly say: I see it); and we can also
man and ascribes all to God: "Walk as children of           speak of spiritual light. Light is that movement,
light" - that is your calling in the midst of the world.    operation of God upon the nature of man, which is
                                                            adapted to the service of God by virtue of its
  We were darkness. What an annihilating, devas-            creation, whereby man turns unto the Lord in love
tating judgment of the natural man, of what we are          and friendship, loves God and conducts himself in the
by nature! This is what we were, this is what the           midst of all things as the friend servant of Jehovah.
whole world is, as outside of Christ and His salvation.
We were not merely darkened; or, we were not                  Light is not merely knowledge  1 then darkness
merely in darkness; but we were darkness. Darkness is       would be merely ignorance. Light is spiritual, a
estrangement from the light, from God, is death             spiritual movement of life which proceeds from the
itself. Darkness is the expression of whatever is           living God upon the nature or being of man which is
opposed to the light, is expressive of whatever is          adapted to His service.
opposed to the good, to God, the absence of and               God is the God of all light. Eternally He goes out
opposition to the light. We were darkness. 0, the text      to Himself as the Triune God, sees and knows Himself
does not say that we sought it now and then, that we        and has fellowship with' Himself in the sphere of
were misled, now and then, to forsake the light and         absolute goodness and perfection. And that we are
to stumble in darkness. The text does not say that,         light means that we see God, see Him spiritually, that
besides all the light that is in us, we were also           we have fellowship with that living God, turn to Him
characterized by a dark, shadowy side which plagued         and seek Him with all the love of our heart and mind
us now and then. The judgment of God upon what              and soul and strength.
you and I are by nature, and do by nature, upon all           Now we are light. This does not mean that we are
that the world is and always seeks and does and             now somewhat enlightened. This Word of God does
builds, is: darkness! The most beautiful, the most          not -speak merely of a reformation, an improvement,
powerful, the most attractive, the most impressive of       a mere change in our character so that we were
the world and of all mankind - it all falls beneath the     somewhat reformed and improved. This text speaks
one crushing, annihilating judgment of God, the             of a radical, an essential change. What occurred here
Judge of all the earth: we were darkness!                   was another birth, a new birth, a new nature, and in
  And let us understand that this is by nature our          principle, completely new creature. We were darkness,
being. We were darkness, or, by nature we  aYe              and then there was no light in us; we are now light
darkness! Our body and our soul - it is all darkness.       and, be it in principle, completely delivered from
Our blood and nerve-system, our head and hand, our          darkness. It is true that we are holy only in principle.


I
      412                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



      However, the text speaks of the child of God, as he is                      What shall we say, as we now reflect at this
      born of God; and of that new creature it is true that                    moment of our history, also with respect to this
     we have become what we never had been before.                             aspect of the work of the God of our salvation? We
        Only, we are light in the Lord. That we are light in                   shall say, in all humble gratitude, that also this we
     the Lord certainly means that this salvation is not of                    have preached and taught through all these fifty
     us. Was this change from darkness into light perhaps                      years. We have not deviated from this work of grace,
      our choice? Was it our free will, the exertion of all                    not even an iota. We have been faithful to this truth
      our powers which effected this change? Did we permit                     of God's particular and sovereign grace. We have
      God to work this change in us? 0, what a  blas-                          indeed proclaimed that all salvation is exclusively of
     phemous, God-dishonoring, heinous conception this                         the Lord.
     is, which would ascribe this tremendous, this mighty,                                                *****
     this greatest work of divine grace to the choice of a                        As children of the light we must walk as children
     miserable, wholly insignificant and helpless sinner! To                   of light. This is the third great truth set forth in this
     this Arminian blasphemy we say: A thousand times                          Word of God. This, too, we must not misunderstand.
     NO!                                                                       We must walk as children of light, not to become
        We are light in the Lord! The Lord here is the Lord                    children of light, but because we are children of light.
      Jesus Christ, the Mediator of God and man, the Head                      A son does not behave as a son in order to become a
      of all God's elect, ordained and qualified of God, and                   son. He surely conducts himself as such because he is
     now exalted as Israel's Lord, Israel's great King, to                     a son. This is naturally true; this is also spiritually
     lead them out of darkness into God's marvellous                           true. We must walk as children of light because we are
     light. We are light in the Lord; and this occurred, first                 children of light.
      of all, in the way of the cross, in the way of His                          This is our urgent calling. The word "walk" refers
     broken body and shed blood. This passion of our                           to all our life's manifestation, in the home and in the
     Lord Jesus Christ is first, must be first. We must first                  school and in the church and at work. This "walk" is
     be redeemed. God's justice must be satisfied; our sins                    the `calling of all God's people, young and old,
     and guilt must first be paid. This darkness must lose                     husbands and wives, parents and children. How
     its right to reign in us; life and glory everlasting must                 urgent is this calling! If we fail in this, do not reveal
     first be merited. And then we become light in the                         ourselves as children of light, then all our orthodoxy
     Lord. That we are light in the Lord means that this                       will be dead orthodoxy, lifeless, worthless; if this be
     wonderful change occurs in fellowship, with Him. Our.                     true, individually, it were better had we never been
     Lord Jesus Christ, by His irresistible grace and Spirit,                  born and had a millstone been hanged around our
     calls us out of darkness into His light, regenerates us                   neck, and we had been cast into the bottom of the
     by the explosiveness of His grace, causes us to be                        sea. And if we fail in this as churches, we will
     reborn out of God, changes us from above, makes us                        eventually perish.
     children of light, unites us with Himself by a true and
     living faith.                                                                So, walk as children of light. This is our confession;
             -
                                                                                                                        (Continued on next page)



                       With reference, however, to the present Article, I will answer you from the mouth of the same godly
                  writer (Augustine). "These (saith he) are the mighty works of the Lord; exquisitely perfect according to
                    every bent of His will. And so perfect in exquisite wisdom, that when both the angelic and the human
                    natures had sinned  - that is, had done, not what God willed, but what each nature willed, even by a like
                    will, in each creature - it came to pass that what God, as the Creator, willed not, He Himself accomplished
                    according as He had willed; thus blessedly using, as the God of perfect goodness, even evils to the
                    damnation of those whom He had righteously predestinated unto punishment, and to the salvation of those
                    whom He had mercifully predestinated unto grace. For, as far as these transgressing natures were themselves
                    concerned, they did that which God willed not; but with respect to the Omnipotence of God, they could
                    by no means have done what they did without it, nor without its concernment therein. For by the very act
                    of their doing that which was contrary to the will of God, they were themselves thereby fulfilling the will of
                    God. Wherefore, these mighty works of God, exquisitely perfect, according to every bent of His will, are
                    such that, in a wonderful and ineffable way, that is not done without the will of God which is even done
                    contrary to His will, because it could not be done at all, unless He permitted it to be done; and yet, He does
                    not permit unwillingly, but willingly. Nor, as the God of goodness, would He permit a thing to be done
                    evilly, unless, as the God of Omnipotence, He could work good even out of the evil done."
                                                                     - John Calvin, The Secret Providence of God,  pp. 289,290


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                413



It is also our calling. This we can do only through        knowing our past and always instructing our children
prayer and in the light of God's Word.. May we, also       in that past, let us resolve, by God's grace, to
and particularly as churches, dedicate ourselves anew      rededicate ourselves to the truth that to God alone
to live unto the glory of God's Name. He called us         belongs all the glory, now and forever.
out of darkness into His marvellous light, and this for       We are saved only by grace, through faith, and that
the purpose that we may declare His praises, the           not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. To Him alone
praises of Him Who alone is worthy to receive all          be the glory, now and forever.
praise and -adoration. Thankful to God for the past,


EDITORIALS
                                        Editor's Notes
                                              Pr0.f H. C. Hoeksema

  GOD'S CO VENANT FAITHFULNESS,  the                       on Question Box; and we are making headway, as you
volume commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of           will see. But just when I thought I was catching up
the Protestant Reformed Churches, will have been off       (and this is written, you understand, before my
the press for more than a month by the time you read       departure for "down under" in mid-June) I received
this. Well over 1200 copies have already been dis-         some questions in the mail. These will have to wait
tributed. Have you purchased copies for yourself and       until my return, the Lord willing, and therefore until
your children? As has been mentioned before, this          the September 1 issue.
will be a valuable historical memento in years to                                    *****
come. Since it is a dated book, designed especially for      This year's Synod met considerably later than
this Golden Anniversary Year, it will not be available     usual, and therefore it was not possible to include a
once this year's supply is exhausted. Yet the book         report about Synod's activities in the July issue. Prof.
will be valuable not only to yourself but also to your     Decker has promised to prepare such a report, how-
children in years to come; it contains in word and         ever, for our August issue. If he writes the report
picture the 50-year history of the churches which are      while inspired by the lofty mountains visible from
dear to our hearts. If for no other reason than this,      Lynden's parsonage (he plans to supply Lynden's
you should make it a point to urge your young              pulpit for a time this summer, D.V.), that could prove
people to obtain this book for themselves and make it      to be a lofty report!
a .point to buy copies for your younger children. But                                *****
there are other reasons. This book is instructive. The
second main part of the book contains a summary of           Note to associate editors. All copy for the August
our Protestant Reformed position. It has sections on       issue should be sent to Prof. H. Hanko. Copy for
our history, our doctrine, and our world-and-life          September 1 and September 15 should again be sent
view. For those attending the Field Day at conven-         to the Editorial Office, as usual.
tion time in August - and we are looking for a large                                 *****
denomination-wide attendance - the book will be on           Another new book from the RFPA! By the time
sale at that time. But why delay? Send your order,         you read this, Rev. David Engelsma's Marriage: The
enclosing $5.95, to: Reformed Free Publishing              Mystery  of Christ and the Church should be on the
Association, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan         market. By all means get this book; it is worthwhile
49501.                                                     and instructive reading. The price: $3.50. Send your
                       *****                               orders to: Reformed Free Publishing Association,
  In this issue and the next I had hoped to catch up       P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.

                                          A Special Event

  Friday, May 23, was a very special occasion for our      seminary, the equivalent of a full college program.
Theological School. It was the date of our first           Most of the required subjects in this pre-sem program
pre-seminary graduation. A few years ago our synod         of 125 hours are taught at the seminary; the  re-
inaugurated a  4-year pre-seminary program at the          mainder of the credits required are obtained by our


 4     1    4                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



 students at a local college. This year we reaped the
 firstfruits of that new program.. Five young men
 received their pre-seminary diplomas. One of them,
 Kenneth Koole, had already entered his seminary
 program, and, in fact, has completed at least a third
 of his seminary course. The others, who, the Lord
 willing, will begin their seminary training next fall,
 are: Wilbur Bruinsma, Michael De Vries, Richard
 Flikkema, .and Richard Peterson. Congratulations!
      On the morning of May 23 we had a brief gradua-
 tion program in the seminary's Assembly Room, with
 the Theological School Committee and friends and
 relatives of the graduates present. The program was
 followed by a social hour. All in all, it was a happy
 occasion. And again we have abundant reason for
 thanksgiving to our God.
      In the accompanying picture are our graduates,
 with the faculty. Left to right: Michael De Vries,
 Wilbur Bminsma, Prof. R. Decker, Kenneth Koole,
 Prof. H. Hanko, Richard Flikkema, Prof. H. C.                    The brief commencement address, a transcript of
 Hoeksema, Richard Peterson.                                    which follows, was delivered by your editor.
                                               .Lest We Forget
      There are especially three significant facts con-         seminary. For one thing, that means that we have not
nected with this happy occasion which come to mind.             stood still for fifty years. We have made progress. In
                                                                fact, celebrating this graduation here, in the assembly
      In the first place, there is the significant fact that    room of our seminary building, we are surrounded by
 this is the very first pre-seminary graduation which           tangible evidence of that- progress also. This is a joy to
 our school and our churches are observing.. This is a          me personally, and it should be reason for joy for all
 milestone for our Theological School, and I ,believe           of us. At the same time, this occasion of our Fiftieth
 that our graduates may count it a distinctive privilege        Anniversary reminds us of the past, and of our
 that they are the first graduates of our pre-seminary          heritage, which we through the covenant faithfulness
 department. We have had pre-seminary training in our           of our God may still have and still maintain in a lively
school before, of course. In fact, to some degree we            way.
 have had such training in our school since its                   In the third place, in  connection.with the fact of
 beginning; and in recent years, starting approximately         our Fiftieth Anniversary I am reminded of the swift
 in the mid-1960s  there has been a renewed emphasis            passage of history, and of time and generations in the
 upon such training, and a kind of trial period with a          church of our God, and particularly our Protestant
 view to the establishment of a formal program. But it          Reformed Churches. This fact impresses itself upon
 was only a few years ago that this formal  pre-                me at this natural occasion for inventory very
 seminary department was established. And while                 emphatically. I am referring now not so much to the
 some of today's graduates had only a small part of             increasing signs and awareness that our Lord is
 their pre-seminary training  here< and others had a            coming quickly. That, too! But what impresses me is
 large part of it here, the fact remains that this is the       the fact that .the first generation of our churches is
 first graduating class of pre-seminarians. May it be not       rapidly disappearing from the battlefield, while the
 by any means the last! And may we have the                     third generation is just as rapidly called to take its
 sanctified foresight to go forward and to enlarge and          place. This group of graduates this morning represents
 expand this program as much as possible and as soon            exclusively the third generation in our churches. They
 as possible! I am convinced of its need, and convinced         know nothing by experience of our origin not only;
 also of its benefits. And I make bold to say that in           but what is even more impressive is the fact that all of
 the future our churches shall also reap abundant               them have lived through less than h'alf of the history
 benefits from this program.                                    of our churches.
      In the second place, I find it to be significant that       For all of these reasons I thought it expedient to
this pre-seminary graduation takes place in the                 speak this morning on the subject: LEST WE FOR-
 Fiftieth Anniversary Year of our churches and our              GET.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                415


WHAT WE SHOULD NOT FORGET                                      The second principle is a doctrinal principle. It is a
                                                            principle that is very familiar to all of you, but which,
  In general, we should not forget, but remember,           I warn you, must never become contemptible to us
what took place in 1924. That is to say, we should          for its very familiarity. It must never become corn-
not forget the reason why we are Protestant Re-             monplace,  .but always be counted a very precious.
formed, the reason of our origin and the reason for         heritage. I refer, of course, to the principle that God's
our continued existence 50 years later.. Along with         grace is always particular, and efficacious in His elect
that, we should not forget what took place in the           people in Christ. Negatively, that principle is that the
early  1950s about the time of the twenty-fifth             grace of God is never common, and that it is never a
anniversary of our denomination. I mention that not         mere offer. Along with that, of course, goes the
only because the events of that time constituted a          principle that outside of the regenerating grace of
crisis for our denomination, .a crisis in which our very    God, man, being by nature totally depraved, is
existence was threatened for a time, so that it was         incapable -of doing any good and inclined to  all.evil.
very difficult for us to continue as a communion of
churches. `But I mention it also because 1953 and             It is these principles which were denied by our
1924 were very intimately related. Fundamentally,           mother denomination in 1924. And it is these same
what was at stake in 1953 was the very reason of our        principles - let us never forget it - which were again
existence and our origin as that came to light in 1924.     at stake in the years 1950 to 1953. I remember well
We might have continued as a separate denomination          how as a young minister I was,simply appalled at the __
if our enemies had triumphed in 1953; but the reason        fact that in Classis West one of the consistories came
for our separate existence would have been gone, and        with an overture concerning the Declaration of Princi-       .
the name Protestant Reformed would have had a               ples which was under discussion in those days, which
hollow ring.                                                was nothing more nor less than the proposition of the
                                                            First Point of 1924. And I remember well how I was
  Let me briefly enter into some particulars. What,         even `more appalled at the fact that not one of my
specifically, must we remember?                             colleagues at the-Classis criticized that overture. And
  It is not the many unpleasant events, the much            I remember well how I was most appalled at the fact
malicious personal animosity, the perverse scheming         that no one even had the courage to discuss or to
and plotting, and the wicked strategems which were          debate the matter, even when I personally made the
devised which we should remember. There were such           criticism just mentioned. That was indeed;therefore,
things at both the occasions which I mentioned              t h e   i s s u e .
previously. But, apart from the lessons which we may          And we must remember that these things consti-
learn from those things  - and, surely, one of the          tute the reason why we are Protestant Reformed, and
lessons to be learned is that we should not be too          why, before the face of God, we must be!
naive - I say, apart from any lessons to be learned           There are, of course, more elements belonging to
from those things, they are much better forgotten.          our heritage. Chiefly, and inseparably connected with
And we may safely leave them to the Lord.                   the preceding, there is the truth of the organic
  But there are two principles which we should              conception of the development  `of the covenant of
remember.                                                   God, and that `too, in connection with the organic  ;
  The first is the church political principle which is a    development of all things, according to the sovereign
fundamental principle of our Reformed form  .of             counsel of God,' and along the lines of election and
church government, the synodical-presbyterian form          reprobation. I say emphatically: this, too, is in-
of government. That is the principle that a synod or a      separably connected with what I have previously
classis has no judicatory authority in a local congrega-    mentioned, and that in such a way that the truth
tion. A broader ecclesiastical assembly has not the         concerning God's covenant cannot be maintained
power of the offices in the church. It cannot preach;       apart from the truth that God's grace is always
it cannot administer sacraments; it cannot discipline.      particular. Nor is that church political principle which
A  classis or a synod cannot depose a consistory. In        I mentioned incidental. We must remember that it is
fact, it is incorrect to speak of  classis and synod as     always the forces of hierarchy in the church of Jesus
higher and highest assemblies, but only as broader          Christ which are. ultimately also the forces which
and broadest assemblies. Positively speaking, this is       deny and oppose the truth of our Reformed heritage.
the principle of the autonomy of the local congrega-
tion  - to be distinguished from independentism on          WHY WE SHOULD NOT FORGET
the one hand, and from collegialism, on the other             These things we must not forget.
hand. It is the anti-hierarchy principle, a principle
which our churches learned to cherish in their history        There is danger that we might forget them, indeed.
at, great cost.                                               One of the reasons why there is'such  danger is the


416                                             THE STANDARD-BEARER


general reason of the passage of time and the changes         the truth. Hence, the truth we must know. The truth
which accompany that passage. I am reminded of that           we must never forget, but always remember. And we
very vividly this morning when I look at these young          must not forget, because if we forget, we cannot be
men, our graduates. Make no mistake. I am thankful            faithful to our calling as churches and as people of
for them. I am thankful for the fact that they have           God in the midst of the world.
come to our school from among our churches, and
that they are committed to our Protestant Reformed            HOW NOT TO FORGET
heritage. But the fact of the matter is that as far as           Our last question is: how shall we not forget? How
our history is concerned, they are babes in the woods.        shall we remember?
They have not experienced much of that history. And
they have not experienced the two significant events             And I wish to answer that question particularly
in that history which I have already mentioned. Their         with application to our pre-seminary graduates today.
portion has been and will be to experience other                 Largely your studies until now have been prepara-
events, and undoubtedly also other crises. But my             tory. True, you have had so-called content-courses.
point is now that the mere passage of time and the            And in these courses, in so far as you have studied in
mere lack of experience constitutes a danger, never-          them at our school, the principles which I have
theless. It is simply a fact that one remembers more          mentioned  ,have already come to light. But for the
vividly and more clearly that which he has  ex-'              most part you have been busy in your studies obtain-
perienced and that for which he has had to fight and          ing the tools which are necessary for your future
that which he has obtained and retained in the                seminary studies. It is in this connection that I want
crucible of testing. This makes it the more incumbent         to emphasize that you must use those tools. You must
upon us, both as faculty and as students, to see to it        use them proficiently. You must put them to use in
that this heritage is passed on by way of instruction         your future studies in our seminary department. But I
and learning.                                                 want to emphasize particularly that you must use
       There are other reasons which may be mentioned.        them to study and to prepare strictly in the service of
There is the reason that others,. particularly those          the truth of the Word of ,God as He has given it to us
who oppose us, though they be Reformed in name,               as a very precious heritage. And I mean strictly in the
like to forget these things. And there is the reason          use of learning to know and to understand that
that under certain circumstances some of us like to           peculiar heritage which the Lord has given us as
forget these things. The truth of the Word of God is          Protestant Reformed Churches. All your learning, all
never popular. It is narrow. It is intolerant of the lie.     the degree of academic excellence which you have
And it is not pleasing to the flesh of any of us to be        attained or which you may attain in the future, will
unpopular, to belong to the minority, to belong to            be of absolutely no worth unless it stands in the
those who are despised. It is not pleasing to the flesh       service  .of the truth. If you are to remember our
always to have to fight for the truth, to fight to            heritage, remember the principles which I have
maintain it, to fight, if need be, even against those         mentioned, then you must study. You must use all
who. are near you and perhaps dear to you in the              the means which God has given. you in order to study
same church or communion of churches. All these               the principles of the truth, as well as to study all
things are reasons why there is a danger that we might        heresies repugnant thereto, in order that you may
forget.                                                       become prepared to maintain that truth, and, the
                                                              Lord willing, to preach it and to teach it to the
       And we must not forget. We must not forget             people of God in the years to come.
because it is our calling to maintain the church of
Jesus Christ in the world according to its marks. We            May God give you that grace and that consecration
must not forget because this is chiefly determined by         in the future.


TAKING HEED TO DOCTRINE
             "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gospel (11)
                                                 Rev. David Engelsma
       That Biblical, Reformed preaching includes the call    declared and published to all nations, and to all
to every hearer to repent and believe is plainly and          persons promiscuously and without distinction, to
emphatically the teaching of the Canons of Dordt.
`C                                                            whom God out of his good pleasure sends the gospel"
      . .7. the command to repent and believe ought to be     (II, 5). There are "many who are called by the gospel


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              ,417


(who) do not repent, nor believe in Christ, but perish        refuse to come . . . the fault lies in themselves"
in unbelief" (II, 6). The Canons hold that it is God          (Canons III, IV, 9). It is their  bounden duty to
Who calls all those who hear the gospel and that His          believe; they know it to be their duty; God most
calI is unfeigned, i.e., serious: "As many as are called      earnestly and truly declares in the very Word that
by the gospel, are unfeignedly called . . . It is not the     calls them that obedience to the command pleases
fault of . . . God, who calls men by the gospel . . . .       Him, whereas disobedience angers Him (Canons, III,
that those who are called by the ministry of the              IV, 8); the reason why they refuse to come is that
word, refuse to come, and be converted. . ." (II, IV,         they consciously, deliberately, wickedly, and fool-
.h 9).                                                        ishly hate Christ and life and love sin and death.
  This Reformed Confession is thoroughly Biblical             Hence, God punishes them for this gross iniquity:
on this point. Scripture teaches that one element of          "But when the king heard thereof, he was wrath: and
the proclamation of the gospel is the demand of every         he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
hearer, "Repent! Believe!"; and Scripture terms this          murderers, and burned up their city" (Matt. 22:7).
a "call." In addition, Scripture makes  clear that this
summons  is  a  divine  summons  -  God's  call. Jesus          Since the gospel shows men the way of life and
teaches this in the parable of the marriage of the            since it sets forth God's grace in Jesus Christ, those
king's son in Matthew  22:1-14. God sends out                 who reject the call are guilty of despising life and
preachers to call to the salvation that He has prepared       holding the grace of God in contempt. Advocates of
in Jesus Christ many persons, both Jews and Gentiles,         the offer have sometimes argued that without a grace
who make light of that call and reject it. God's call,        of God for each man personally who comes under the
through His servants, is: "Come unto the marriage!"           preaching, justice cannot be done to the Biblical
(vs.  4), i.e., "Believe on My crucified and risen Son,       teaching that those who spurn the gospel are guilty of
Jesus." The Lord Himself indicates the teaching of            the enormity of despising the grace of God. On such
the parable to be that "`many are called, but few are         reasoning, we would have to conclude also that
chosen" (vs. 14). This verse exposes the error both of        without a "Christ for everybody"' there can be no
hyper-Calvinism and of the well-meant offer. Against          guilt of unbelief, i.e., rejecting the crucified Christ.
the former, it plainly teaches that God in the preach-        Those who do not believe the gospel sin against the
ing of the gospel calls more men to believe in Christ         grace of God, not as if they resist and frustrate God's
than the elect, as many men, in fact, as the Church           grace directed to them personally in an attempt to
finds on the highways of history. Against the latter,         save them  - which is the heresy of the well-meant
the advocates of the offer, the text plainly teaches          offer  - but in the sense that they say, "No," to the
                                                              Christ presented to them in the gospel. Objectively,
that many of those who are called by the external call        they stand before Jesus Christ, the Revelation of the
of the gospel are not elect, i.e., that God does not call     grace of God, just as in the Lord's Supper an unbeliever
them out of any love or with any `(sincere desire to          stands before the sign of the body and blood of
save them. "                                                  the Lord Jesus, so that, in their unbelief, they are
  Acts  17:30 states that "(God) now commandeth               guilty of despising God's grace in Christ, just as the
all men every where to repent." Passages such as Mark         unworthy partaker at the Supper is guilty of the body
16: 16 and, John 3: 18, which warn of the terrible guilt      and blood of the Lord - even though, as a matter of
of not believing on Jesus Christ, indicate that the           fact, that grace was never intended for them or
gospel very really did call men who ultimately perish         extended to them. Theirs is a far, far greater guilt -
to believe in Christ and that it very really was their        and punishment  - than that of the pagan who only
responsibility to do so. All of Scripture shows that it       holds under in unrighteousness the truth of God that
was the practice of the prophets, of John the Baptist,        is revealed in creation. Acts 13:46 ascribes such guilt
of Jesus, and of the apostles to confront all their           to those who refused the apostles' call to believe: "It
audience with the call to repent and believe.                 was necessary that the word of God should first have
   As regards those who reject the call, the Canons and       been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you,
Scripture maintain that, even though they had not             and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo,
the least ability to heed the call, so that it was totally    we turn to the Gentiles." Similarly, Hebrews  lo:29
impossible for them to do what the call required  -           charges the apostate with the sin of treading under
the impossibility of a dead man raising himself - they        foot the Son of God, counting the blood of the
themselves are completely to blame for their refusal          covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy
to believe. "The cause or guilt of this unbelief . . . is     thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. So
no wise in God, but in man himself" (Canons, I, 5).           really is this guilt theirs that both Christ and the
"It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ offered     apostles  - and the Reformed preacher today  - are
(i.e., set forth - DE) therein, nor of God, who calls         angry with those who refuse to believe (cf. Mark 3:5;
men by the gospel . . . that those who are called . . .       Acts 18:6).


  418                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


     It is clear, then, that the Reformed preacher,             5). God's purpose and desire with the call to those
  although he repudiates the well-meant offer, can call         whom He has not elected is not their salvation, but
  sinners, any sinner and all sinners, to repentance and        their damnation. Hence, He does not give them the
  faith and that he can do this with all seriousness and        faith which He demands and, instead, hardens them
  urgency.. Needless to say, he can do full justice to the      by the preaching of the gospel. He has mercy on
  tender, comforting aspect of the call of the gospel           whom He will have mercy, and whom He wills, He
  that applies only to God's elect, regenerated people -        hardeneth (Rom. 9: 18). In every age, the elect obtain
  the call that is directed specifically to those who are       salvation, and the rest are blinded (Rom. 11: 7).
  broken and wounded with the guilt of their sins (Is.             There are several things that will not be found in
  6 1: 1); those who are consciously sinners (Luke 5: 32);      Reformed preaching to the unconverted. Reformed
  those who labor and are heavy laden (Matt.  11:28);           preaching will not approach the audience with the
  those who, pricked in their hearts, cry out, "Men and         declaration: God loves all of you, and Christ died for
  brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 3:37); those who,          all of you. It will not say to every man: God loves
  on account of their sins, are thirsty for righteousness       you and has a wonderful plan for your life. It will not
  (Is. 55: 1) and willing to receive the water of life (Rev.    proclaim to all hearers: God is gracious to all of you
  22: 17). Such regenerated but grieving sinners, he            and sincerely desires your salvation. This message is a
  tenderly directs to the Savior, saying, "Come,"               lie. Not only are these statements false, but they are
  "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus,"                also the bane of effective missions. Never did the
  "Take of the water of life freely," "Believe," and            apostles take this approach, or proclaim this message,
  promising them remission of sins, rest, salvation, and        to the unconverted. Such a message is incipient
  eternal life (cf. Is.  55:2, 3; Matt.  11:28; Acts  3:38;     universalism, which assures the sinner that all is well
  Acts 16:30, 3 1).                                             with him in his sin - God loves him, and Christ died
    Indeed, the "offer-man" is unable to call sinners.          for him! - so that there is really no need for him to
  Inherent in the idea of the call is a lordly authority -      repent and believe. Arminianism, which blusters of its
  the authority of the Lord of lords, Jesus the Christ.         concern to save the lost, peters out in universalism
5 An "offer-man," if he is consistent, must beg sinners;        which blesses all religions, as well as the irreligious,
  and this disgraceful practice abounds today. It is            and sees no need of any preaching of the gospel.
  revolting to anyone who has caught a glimpse of the           Biblical preaching assures the sinner of God's love for
  majesty of God, the excellent glory of the risen Jesus,       him personally only in the way of his faith in Christ
  and the sovereignty of grace to hear the "offer-men"          crucified.                  `L
  begging recalcitrant sinners please to accept Jesus and         To the objection that has been made, that if the
  come to the front. They conjure up the spectacle of           preacher cannot say to every sinner, "Christ died for
  the  Baa1 prophets ranting and raving in their "altar         you," he cannot command him to believe anything,
  call" for their powerless god tosend the fire. Is it out      the answer is simple: a preacher does not call a man
  of place for us to stand on the sidelines and urge            to believe some thing, but he calls him to believe on
  these preachers to cry harder and longer because              Someone. He presents Christ and calls the hearers to
  probably their god of salvation, namely, the free will        believe on that Christ.
  of the sinner, is sleeping?                                     Secondly, Reformed $reaching to the unconverted
    There is a command to all hearers to believe. But           will never tell the audience that their salvation de-
  this "external call of the gospel" is not a well-meant        pends upon their free will, decision for Christ,
  offer. It is grace to God's elect who, as God calls           acceptance of the  ,,.offered salvation, opening their
  them in the preaching, receive the gift of the Spirit's       heart to let Jesus come in, etc. On the contrary, it
  irresistible drawing in their hearts, so that they            will make  ,unmistakably  plain that their salvation
  infallibly believe and are saved. To the others, the          does not depend and  cqgot depend upon them  -
  reprobate, neither is the call directed to them by God        not their willing and not their running (Rom. 9: 16).
  out of grace nor is it actually grace to them. Rather,        For Reformed preaching proclaims the gospel of
  it is God's righteous, serious declaration to them of         grace. To preach that salvation, in the end, depends
  their duty and His serious insistence that they per-          on man's will is to preach another gospel than the
  form their duty. The call makes known to them what            gospel of Christ. One could as well preach that
  they ought to do, not what God wills to do with               salvation has to be earned by the sinner's works of
  them. Right after they have insisted that God un-             obedience to the law. Reformed preaching will make
  feignedly calls all those who hear the gospel, the            clear, especially today, that the believing which is
  Canons deny that "God on his part shows himself               called for is not a new, grand work of man meriting
  ready to reveal Christ unto all men," as if God               or effecting salvation, but the total renunciation of all
  "applies to all sufficiently and efficiently the means        of man's efforts and entirely the gift of God worked
  necessary to conversion" (III, IV, Rejection of Errors,       in the sinner by the Holy Spirit. It will loudly


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               419


declare: "no man can come unto me, except it were           life spiritually by the promise. These were the elect
given unto him of my Father" (John 6:65).                   (vss. 10 ff.). Therefore, the Westminster Confession
   Finally, Reformed preaching, i.e., Biblical gospel-      of Faith is correct when it limits the promise of the
preaching will not promise salvation to everybody. It       covenant of grace to God's elect: God "promise(s) to
will promiscuously publish the promise that whoever         give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life
believes shall not perish but have everlasting life, as     His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to
the Canons teach (11,5). The preaching of the gospel        believe" (Chapter VII,III). Thus, the promise is sure
is, at its very heart, the proclamation of the promise.     and certain. The elect believer can rely on it for time
But the promise itself is particular. It is addressed to    and eternity; faith clings to that sure promise (Rom.
the believer (John 3: 16); to the willing (Rev. 22: 17);    4: 19-2 1). A universal promise, i.e., a promise made to
to the one who labors and is heavy laden with the           every hearer, is at once a promise dependent for its
burden of the guilt of his sin (Matt.  11:28). The          efficacy upon the sinner and a promise that fails in
promise is for the elect alone. This is Paul's doctrine     multitudes of cases. Such a promise would be
in Romans 9. The word of God promising salvation to         unworthy of God, of no value to those who perish,
Israel must not be thought to be without effect,            and a source of enormous doubt for the believer.
because so many Israelites perished (vs. 6). For there        All of which is to say that Reformed preaching is
were, only some in that nation who were the                 untainted by the well-meant offer.
"children of the promise" (vs.  S), i.e., persons to
whom God gave the promise and persons brought to                               (to be continued)


FEATURE

                     Five Plus Three Equals Zero  (2)
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys

  Last time we pointed out that when a church that          makes it a human election that follows the fulfilling
has the live points of Calvinism as its confession adds     of a condition by man. After all, an offer always
the first point of "Common Grace", it loses that first      depends upon the one to whom the offer is given. He
point of Calvinism, namely, total depravity. For one        really determines whether it is accepted or not. And
who maintained the truth that man is spiritually dead       thus man elects himself. You say that as soon as you
loses that truth the minute that this one speaks of a       say that God offers him salvation in the Gospel. You
man with ability to perform a work. And "Common             say that the one to whom the offer is made decides
Grace" in its first point speaks of a man who can           whether or not he will become an elect. That is
accept and consider an offer of the Gospel, and in the      human election, which decides for God who the elect
third point speaks of an ability that the unregenerate      will be; and it is also a conditional election. And this
has whereby he is able to do something in the sphere        point of an offer of salvation in the Gospel to all who
of the civil that is good in God's sight.                   hear, of which the first point of "Common Grace"
                                                            speaks, causes the whole second point of Calvinism,
  At this time I like to show that this "offer of the       which teaches an unconditional and eternal, divine
Gospel" takes away the remaining points of Calvinism        election to disappear into nothingness. The first point
as well and leaves you with nothing of the Reformed         of "Common Grace" added to the second point of
faith when you adopt and maintain the three points          Calvinism results in zero as far as Reformed truth is
of "Common Grace."                                          concerned. You have to choose between the first
  The second point of Calvinism is unconditional            point of "Common Grace" and the second point of
election. And that according to Scripture means that        Calvinism. You cannot maintain both.
God chose His people eternally, before they could do          The third point of Calvinism is limited, or better,
good or evil and entirely apart from any conditions of      particular, atonement. And it means that Christ
doing good or evil. Paul says that of Jacob and Esau,       atoned for our sins, and atoned only for the sins of
before they were born, in Romans 9: 1 l-l 3. But the        the elect. The Saviour received His name, Jesus,
"offer" of salvation to all who hear the preaching of       exactly because He would "save His people from their
the Gospel makes it an election in time and on the          sins." He said Himself, "I lay down my life for the
condition that man accepts the offer. In fact, it           sheep." In John 17: 9 Jesus also says, "I pray for


420                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



them: I pray not for the world." Certainly here we            A SUBTRACTION THAT MULTIPLIES
have a very limited group for whom Jesus prays. And              Quite plainly, then, the adoption of this theory
if salvation were prepared for all who hear the               (for that is all that it is, a man-made theory that is
preaching of the Gospel, why does Jesus not pray for          not supported by the Word of God) multiplies the
all who hear it? And having maintained an uncon-              heresies that have come into this world. Arminianism
ditional election of totally depraved men, one would          with its offer of salvation had been in the world for a
have to maintain an atonement that was only for               long time. In fact it was the Synod of Dordrecht. in
these elect.                                                  1618 and 1619 that drew up the Canons to defend
  But what does the first point of "Common Grace"             the truth and show the error of Arminianism. But
do to this atonement? In the "offer of the Gospel" it         now in 1924 was added another aspect to this error.
denies,  fast of all, that it is atonement. An offer          And being a denomination of goodly size, there was-a
speaks of a possible atonement, or a possible escape          multiplication of the churches that now sided in with
from guilt and punishment to receive glory. But               Arminianism and spoke of the offer of salvation to all
whether this will be or not depends again on the              who hear the preaching. The theory took away the
acceptance of the offer. Christ did not really pay for        truth from these churches, and today has led them
these sins, He only made it possible that they be paid        even farther away from the truth to corrupt also the
for. For it is also quite plain from "an offer of the         truth of God's love, and to deny very openly the
Gospel" that some to whom it is offered do not have           limited atonement of the Scriptures. Formerly the
such an atonement. If Christ really atones for the sins       mother church was a bastion of the Reformed faith, a
of some, and He did, then it can no longer be offered         group of churches that staunchly defended those five
to them. It is theirs. The first point of "Common             points of Calvinism and preached them with vigor and
Grace" offers salvation and atonement to some who             conviction. But suddenly by official decision all these
will not receive it. Then it is not actual atonement,         churches through their Synod become defenders of
and then it is not limited only to the elect but to all       Arminianism with its conditional theology. And there
who hear the offer. And to the confession of the              was a multiplication of the congregations that now
third point of Calvinism, the first point of "Common          were in the Arminian camp. This does not mean that
Grace's" offer of the Gospel, and you have lost that          every member in the mother church was willing to
truth of limited atonement. The first point of                take all the implications of this lie, but it does mean
"Common Grace" added. to the third point of                   that officially and through the Synod all these
Calvinism results in zero of the Reformed faith.              churches cast away the five points to adopt the three
  The same is true of irresistible grace; for it lies in      when they adopted the three points of "Common
the very nature of an offer that it can be resisted. If it    Grace."
cannot be resisted it is no more an offer. And then it          Multiplied, too, were the number of heresies now
is no more grace either, but by accepting one deserves        being defended in the church world. Basically the lie
the object offered. He makes himself worthy. But an           is always the same. But each time there is a doctrinal
efficacious call is by no means an offer; and God does        controversy that lie has appeared in a new garb and
not leave the size and the constituency of His church         form. And in 1924 this was also the case. The grace
to man's whims and willingness to accept an offer.            of God was now under attack and was pressed into
God calls irresistibly in His grace and never gets            the service of Arminianism. In 16 18 and 1619
Himself in a position where He may be frustrated and          Arminianism stressed the error that faith is the
disappointed. Let us not add the first point of               condition which God stipulated for the obtaining of
"Common Grace" to the fourth point of Calvinism,              salvation. Condemning this, the Canons in I,B,2 reject
for we will have nothing of Reformed truth left, if we        the.errors of those who maintain that God chose "out
do.                                                           of all possible conditions (among which are also the
  And the same holds true of the fifth point of               works of the law), or out. of the whole order of
Calvinism, namely, the perseverance of the saints. For        things, the act of faith which from. its very nature is
it depends upon the second, third and fourth points           undeserving, as well as its incomplete obedience as a
of Calvinism. Because God chose unconditionally and           condition of salvation." That was the form the Synod
saves only these by an irresistible grace, there is a         of 1618 had to fight. But in 1924 it became a more
perseverance of the saints to the very end. And since         subtle approach of God's favor upon His creatures in
"Common Grace" with its "offer" denies these three            general as is plain(?) from the offer of the Gospel. A
previous points of Calvinism, it also negates the fifth       new twist to the old lie multiplied the errors that the
when it speaks of an "offer of the Gospel." Take and          child of God now had to fight and to reject.
keep the five points, and throw away the three, if you        A MULTIPLICATION THAT DIVIDES
want to have Reformed doctrine and the truth and                On the other side of the picture there was a
true comfort.                                                 multiplication of the number of denominations in


                                                THESTANDARD BEARER                                                 421


 Protestantism which further divided the churches that        ration of friends. Families were tom apart and mem-
  came out of the great Reformation. A new denom-             bers went in different directions. Some stayed with
 ination that at the beginning in 1925 numbered only          mother church, and others felt compelled to leave
  three churches came into being. And Protestantism           and defend the truth. Friends parted and were friends
  that came out of Roman Catholicism was splintered           no more. That is what happens when an addition is
  even further. There had through the years been a            made that actually subtracts and, subtracting,
  multiplication of  grou.ps and factions in  Protes-         multiplies the errors and denominations.
tantism. Now there is a further division, a further             This is not the most serious consequence. The
  split and splintering because that lie of "Common           serious element always is that God is denied His
  Grace" may not be maintained. 0, yes, this denom-           glory. He becomes a weak beggar Who can only offer
 ination came into being also because unjustly and            and so often is disappointed. And for the glory of
 illegally they were put out of the mother church. It         God we must maintain the truth, no matter how it
  was not their desire to divide and separate. But they       divides our families and makes separation between
  had no choice in the matter. They were declared out;        what formerly were friends. No heresy must divide us
  and they had to oppose that Arminianism that had            -and separate us from God. But we may not allow in
  been introduced in a new garb. We had to be separate        our midst any teaching or doctrine of man that
 in order to keep the five points of Calvinism. We saw        separates God from His glory. And therefore we must
 by God's grace that to adopt .the three points would         keep the five and reject the three. For five are worth
 be to lose the five of the Reformed truth.                   more than zero. And zero we surely will get if we add
       And, sad to say, as so often is the case in refor-     the three of "Common Grace" to the five of
 mations, there was the dividing of families and sepa-        Calvinism.


  T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H
                                    An Advocate for the Devil?
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering

       How can we condemn something if we don't know            The question we face is this, can we know evil
 first hand what's wrong with it?                             without experiencing it? Must we become involved in
       Heavy, you say!                                        the sin itself before we can really understand the
                                                              horrible nature of that sin? Isn't it true that the more
       Indeed.                                                we experience the horror of sin, the more we will be
       But let me wrestle with you for a few minutes with     able to live holy lives unto God, simply because we
 this problem that probably has caused some degree of         have tasted the bitterness of sin and thereby appre-
 consternation in your life already.                          ciate the sweetness of the gospel?
                                                                Obviously we tred on precarious ground, so we
EVIL - FIRST`HAND
. .                                                           must proceed carefully.
       We are surrounded with evil on every side. This is
  so, not because evil is in things themselves. We can        LET US SIN THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND
  look at the beauty of the sunshine in creation, or we         There are some who counsel with youth and say,
  can focus our eye upon the people that are close            yes, there is a measure of truth in this that we should
  about us; we can consider our communities, our              recognize. Young people should to some degree come
  work, etc. Now, there is no evil in any of these by         into contact with the terrible reality of sin in order
  themselves. Rather, evil is a matter of the heart and       that they may learn to flee from it.
  our inner self. What we do with them determines               You young people are curious; probably that too is
  good or evil. Since many around us do wickedly with         a sign of youth. You ask, what's it all about? This
  many of God's good gifts, these evil acts surround us.      same curiosity carries over into the realm of sin;
 Also, since we have an evil nature these evil acts have      what's it all about? How bad really are the movies,
  a direct appeal to our sinful desires. And of course,       what goes on during the programs when the warning
 behind all of this is the old devil who would like to        sign comes on the television informing the viewers
  destroy our faith and cause us to be swallowed up in        that `the content of the following program has
  the cesspool of corruption by denying God and               material that may be considered unfit for children.
  wallowing  in moral depravity.                              What happens when you drink a few cans of beer or


422                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


trip out with some drug? The anticipation of the            time with the fast crowd without permanently being
forbidden produces a strong urge.                           affected. Exposure to sin leaves scars, terrible ones.
   It doesn't take much effort to rationalize approval.     We have a sinful nature and if we expose ourselves to
You are going to the movies (X-rated or not), to find       that which our sinful nature craves and inwardly
out for yourself what is wrong. You are going to            desires, how can we know that we will not be drawn
sneak away for a few hours with that slick paperback        into the cesspool of corruption and never return? Our
to judge for yourself what's considered to be porno.        depraved wills are passionate for gratification. Our
You aren't' approving any of this, you are simply           Christian calling is not to satisfy our curiosity, but
finding out for yourself what's wrong with it. It could     to turn from it and flee away.
be an escapade to the sleezy night spot where the              There were people in Paul's time who reasoned the
blast of rock fills the air and the place stinks of         same way, they said, "Let us sin that grace may
whisky and thick-tongued people dance obscenely             abound", Rom 6: 1. In other words, let's taste the
together. This too is an "educational experience".          terrible ways of sin in order that we may rejoice more
Where do we stop? Do we go to the strip to gamble?          in grace. Paul's answer, "God forbid, how shall we,
Do we sneak to the brothel and spend time with a            that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
whore? Is that to be considered educational too?
   The reasoning that the more we come into direct          IS IGNORANCE BLISS
contact with sin the more we are able to reject it is          Perhaps we might react to this attitude and say, no,
devilish.                                                   we do not want to become participants in sin, but we
                                                            want to see in others and become aware of the sad
 Yet, there are plenty of "Christian" ministers,            consequence of sin in their lives so that we will be
"Christian" youth directors, "Christian" teachers,
that brazenly advocate just this. Some assign the           better able to turn away from it for ourselves. What's
                                                            wrong with that? We are interested in seeing to what
reading of bold pornography;  ,others take young            extent man has developed in sin, not in becoming
people to see the "Exorcist"; still others get heretics     participants in their sins.
into their youth groups to "expose the young people
to different views". Coffee. houses are great for this,        We might even grow a little impatient and retort,
you can get any combo group to sing, any person that        you mean to say that we have to flee from every
wants to spin his philosophy, any movie, all to             expression of sin in others? Why that's impossible!
educate.                                                    We can't help it if others engage in sinful acts, and we
  But, you say,`what's wrong with this?                     might be better for it if we observe closely how sin
                                                            changes their lives. To do otherwise would mean that
  Consider a few things. First, God's Word empha-
sizes so often that we must abhor sin, never use it for     we hide our heads in the sand and act like the
                                                            proverbial ostrich and try to avoid the world around
a supposed good end. Are we wiser than God? The
Bible says, "Flee fornication", I Cor. 6: 18. The           us. Is ignorance of evil bliss? Movies and books as well
Heidelberg Catechism explains that such an exhorta-         as worldly places give us this information.
tion does not simply mean the act of sexual inter-             In answer to this let me observe first of all that we
course outside of marriage, but also "whatever can          surely must be spiritually alert to observe the affect
entice men thereto", Question 109. We as young              of sin upon people, whether they be Christians or
people must hate evil; we must realize it is like a fue     unbelievers. It is important for us to be keen ob-
that destroys; and, if we take fire into our bosom, we      servers of the Scriptural reality that the wages of sin
cannot help but be burned. I'm sure that if we are          is death. This God has said from the beginning and
honest with ourselves, the reasoning that would             Paul has confirmed. Just pay attention to the ungodly
justify our deliberately coming into contact with evil      neighbor, talk to the unbeliever who works with you
with the idea of learning to hate it, is nothing more       in the shop, observe the difference between the
than pretense. We want to justify satisfying our evil       Christian and the ungodly- when they face "tragedy"
curiosity. That too is  -sin before God. Secondly, we       in their lives, sickness or-death. See the fruits of faith
don't have to experience sin in order to know it to be      in distinction from the rebellion of the natural man.
sin. That's nonsense. The Bible describes all sin for us    Take good note and judge for yourself whether faith
in clear detail and we  .don't have to think that we        makes a difference or not. You do this carefully and I
cannot really know it to be sin unless we experience        am sure that you will thank God for your salvation
it. I suppose that would mean that we cannot know           and feel a deep sense of pity for the unbeliever who
the horror of murder until we killed someone; and           remains in the wretched condition of sin and hope-
who wants to believe that? Finally, if we deliberately      lessness.
play with sin, even under false pretense, God will             This does not mean however, that we have to pry
hold us responsible for that. Today, a person can't go      curiously into the hidden recesses of the depraved
innocently to the theatre, visit the night club, spend      soul to see how terrible it really is. It doesn't mean


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 423


that we have to make a case study to determine how           must flee from every form of evil; we must not
far the wicked fall. That could be very dangerous. Let       curiously pry into the lives of the ungodly to learn
me illustrate. You could very well make a study of           how bad things really are. We can best leave this alone
satanism. The more you study the more you learn              and not be enticed with every form of abomination.
about horrible things. Do you, however, have to              But, doing this, we must do more. We must fill our
know all that goes on at their meetings in order to          souls with the knowledge of God's Word. The Bible
conclude that it is wicked and that we must condemn          exposes sin to the full, but it also directs us to our
every form of satanism? There are things that go on          positive calling as children of God. We must reject the
that shock the sensitive soul. Many things that              devil not only, but we must at the same time draw
couldn't even be written in a paper such as the              nigh unto God, James 4: 7, 8. Instead of spending so
Standard  Bearer. Sexual perversion, self abuse,             much time examining the evil that is in the world, we
murder that makes one tremble before God.  Do  we            can far better spend that time being instructed and
have to know these details? I say, God spare us; we          encouraged in the truths of God's Word. In the pages
don't have to attend these meetings or see movies to         of that Word we will learn to see sin as God wants us
be shocked and bruised of spirit; no, we know enough         to see it and then  repent;  not glory in it, not be
that we should stay as far  away. from them as               enticed by it; but, to hate it and to turn away from it
possible.                                                    day after day. We also will then see God's holy law,
  Furthermore, there are some children of God who            spelled out so clearly upon the pages of that Word.
have gone through the terrible depths of depravity           With the Holy Spirit's work in us, we will come to
and become converted by God's grace. We might ask            understand what is our calling in this world and walk
why? Surely, this happens. There are dope addicts,           positively in God's will.
drunkards, criminals, unbelievers, heretics, who are           It is in the pages of the Scripture that we are
delivered from a life of sin and brought to the              taught that sex is created by God to be used in the
knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ. We do best to            service of God and not for sinful pleasure. In the
listen to them. All warn that the life of sin is a living    Bible we learn that our bodies are the temples of the
hell and that we must flee anything that might even          Holy Spirit and thus must be cared for as one cares
tempt us to experiment with such evil. We do not             for God Himself. In the Bible we are guided into the
have to encounter the sad experience of sin in order.        paths, of truth so that our faith is expressed in
to learn evil; we are also able to learn of such evil        harmony with God's revelation. That same Bible
from those who have been delivered from it. If this          shows us good works and directs our feet upon the
conversion is truly of Christ, they will not brag of         paths of righteousness.
their past life and go into all kinds of details con-          Do we need an advocate for the devil? Do we have
cerning their former life; they will simply warn. This       to allow someone to show us the depths of sin and
too is under the guidance of God whereby he leads all        tempt us thereby, in order really to learn to abhor
His children in the way of repentance and faith unto         sin? Are we going to let the devil have time with us,
everlasting glory.                                           pleading his cause and trying to deceive us?
  Finally, the best antidote for overcoming evil is to         Let's answer with a resounding, no!
dwell upon the pages of Holy Writ. If we truly
understand this, we will also realize that there is no         We need the Holy Spirit of God to guide us into
vacuum created by such a view of life. Surely we             His truth. Herein is liberty and life everlasting.


N E W S   A R T I C L E S
                                            Jamaica Journey'
                                                    John M. Faber

  The emissaries to Jamaica have submitted an                and deplaned in Montego Bay in 86 degree weather.
official report of their findings which will appear in       In the coastal parts of the country, the sun shone
the Agenda Of Synod and which will be made known             every day of our stay. Showers were the usual
to our membership. But I would like to tell you of           afternoon fare in the mountains. The temperatures
my personal first-time-visit to that tropical island.        remained between 72 and 86 degrees; not muggy, and
                                                             with the constant northeast trade winds fanning the
  We left Grand Rapids on April 15 with traces of            north coast in the daylight hours. Although the
snow still on the ground, changed planes in Chicago - official tourist season was over, there were still quite


 424                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


 a few white visitors from many other climes. The                The mountain roads had been described to me, but
 airport is very busy all afternoon and evening as            cannot be fully appreciated until one has driven
 English, Canadian and American Jets unloaded and             them. Narrow, twisty and full of rocks and/or
 loaded passengers and freight.                                chuck-holes. The insane drivers had also been
    The country is very lush and mountainous, and is          described to me, but one has to see them too, to
 literally covered with bananas, mangos, oranges,             believe the tales. They must all be fatalists, for their
 orantiques, breadfruit, grapefruit and many other            total unconcern for pedestrians, cars, goats or cattle
 food trees. To me it seemed that breadfruit and              around the next blind curve can only be understood
 bananas must be available to anyone who cared to             in that light. And the left-side-of-the-road driving,
pick them. They grow. all over the roads. There are           legal in that land, only adds to the confusion of the
 beautiful valleys between the mountains with lush            right-side-driver from the States. After driving over
 pastures dotted with well-fed cattle. One of the             1200 miles over those roads, and climbing the steep,
 valleys reminded me of the Hudsonville lowlands. We          stony and muddy paths up and down to the churches,
 even saw a huge onion field! Irrigation ditches furnish      I had a much greater appreciation of the stamina of
 the necessary water for some of the crops. These also        Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers and the other ministers and
 serve as bathtubs and laundry tubs for many of the           their wives who made the weekly rounds. Even the
 natives.                                                     footpaths have hairpin curves! If the theory of evolu-
   The tropical climate probably contributes to the           tion were true, one would  find all the mountaineers
 general lassitude of the people. If one needs a rest         to have one leg longer than the other to stand on an
 (and can afford the exorbitant rental and food prices)       even keel. It might be handy at that! And now that I
 this is the place to get it. No one -just no one, is in a    have again told you about the roads full of people,
 hurry. The only exception might be the country road          goats and cows (and even one huge pig in the main
 drivers. But even this type of driving takes no more         street of one city) you still have to see it to believe.
 exertion than pressure on the gas pedal. In general, alI        "How about the church buildings?" you ask. Some
 are standing around waiting for tomorrow. Standing           are of concrete blocks and floors; some are of wood
 or sitting furnishes the exercise for today; tomorrow        with wooden, stone or dirt floors. Some are partly
 more of the same. That lassitude is evidenced even in        board and zinc construction, no more than "huts in a
 the life of the children. In three week's time I saw but     banana patch." One, Belmont, has but one wall, made
 three children. playing skip-rope, and that takes a          of upright bamboo poles with four bamboo comer
 minimum of three. They too, stand around doing               posts and a pole ceiling covered sparsely with palm
 absolutely nothing. The city streets, in contrast, are       fronds which  allow the sun's rays to filter through
 teeming with cars and pedestrians, the latter going          and the rams to pour through. Can you imagine
 probably to another standing place. Goods of all             worshipping in such a meeting place with dirt floor
kinds are carried about on the people's heads. Baskets        and narrow boards for seats, with no backrest? We
of fruit, boxes of who-knows-what, `cases of soft             did it and listened to a sermon that was as Reformed
drinks, whole bunches of bananas, lumber and every            as we are accustomed to hear home in Jerusalem.
 conceivable burden that must be conveyed from place          Personally, I enjoyed the communion of saints in the
to place are cleverly balanced atop the head. One             open-air "church" as well as I do in my home church
must see it to believe that a ten-quart pail full of          with its carpeting and opera style seats. Of course,
water can be so balanced. One sees it on the moun-            when it rains in Belmont, at church time, the congre-
tain roads when the children are sent to fetch the            gation cannot meet. Their need for materials to
free-government-supplied stuff from the roadside              construct a concrete block building is urgent. We can
water pipes. What is more unstable than that  com-            furnish them these things as we did in other places.
`modity to carry in such a fashion!                             We found the people enthusiastically receiving the
   The city streets are lined with open shops with one        preaching of the Word.. True, they are not yet
counter and shelves behind it. Each shop usually sells        founded in the Reformed faith as we are who have
one commodity to the exclusion of any other. There            been brought up in it from our infancy; but that faith
are a few supermarkets run by the wealthier mer-              is being set forth before them by the ministers in
chants, usually Chinese, Alongside of shops there are         varying degrees. I was especially struck by the child-
myriads of self-employed vendors of all sorts; their          like faith of the people. The primary requisite of any
businesses set up at the curbs wherever they may              Christian to receive the simple teachings of Scripture
expect to snare a customer. Grocery prices are very           was found in those congregations which we visited. The
high: eggs, $1.30; Butter, $1.30; Hamburg, $1.25;             majority of worshippers literally hung on the words
and other items are comparable to that. The average           of the minister, even to the extent of joining him
wage is very low; the banana field workers recently-          when he quoted the more familiar Scriptural texts.
raised wage is $5.00 per day.                                 They like to sing the songs of Zion. They use the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               425


Psalters in the main. But when they sing from their         is yet much work to be. done there. The people need,
collection of gospel hymns, they are still in need of       and are willing to receive sound doctrinal preaching.
supervision as to the doctrinal content of their            The four young ministers can be helped in their work
favorites. I would not want to carry over into our          to a great extent. They have done extremely well
worship services their habit of audibly agreeing with       with the seminary training they have received. But
the stat,ements  of their ministers and their occasional    post-graduate work would be of great help. They
"amens    when especially pleased with individual           need to be encouraged to work with the children, for,
utterances. Neither would I try to regulate their           as one of them said, "The future is in the children for
services by introducing into their services our strictly    they are tomorrow's church." They are already
on-time regimen and our silent agreement with the           assimilating the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism.
sermon we hear. Nor would I want to exchange our            We heard a class recite the answers to the 33rd and
pipe organ accompaniment with their guitar,                 34th questions of that confession, and we silently
tambourine and hand-clapping substitute that some           wished that our Sunday School children could do as
of them have. But in their humble "churches" and in         well.
those remote mountain hide-a-ways, it is not a bit
incongruous. I rather enjoyed it.                              Back home again when I hear my minister pray for
                                                            the saints in the isles of the sea, and for the gathering
  The Mission Committee's official report suggests to       of the Church from every tribe, nation and tongue, I
Synod that a missionary be called to work there. That       can give them faces; I know some of them.
decision has been endorsed by my experience. There

                    Doon's New Church Building Dedicated
                                                  Rev. R. G. Moore

             It was my privilege to be in Doon at the time.of the dedication of their new and beautiful
          church building. Rev. R. Moore sent the following article and pictures for publication in the
          Standard Bearer. Our readers share with Doon congregation their joy in this evidence of
          God's goodness to them and pray that they may find their delight in the favor of our God in
          the way of His truth.         -  -       -
                                                                                             - H. Hanko

  May sixteenth was a very special day in  Doon,            and one hundred fifty-nine souls. As a result of this
Iowa. Our Protestant Reformed Church in Doon had            steady growth and on account of the age of our old
the blessed privilege of dedicating their new church        building the Lord led our congregation to undertake
building. Indeed it was an inspiring time for the           the construction of a new place of worship. Our
congregation of Doon, for it brought us face to face        covenant God also gave us the means to undertake
with God's covenant faithfulness. He has richly             this work even when it seemed so difficult for a small
blessed us with covenant seed and has kept us in the        congregation, and on May sixteenth we were able to
faith so that the need arose for a new church edifice       have dedication!
in which to worship Him.                                      Our congregation asked our minister emeritus,
  In the year 1926, in March, God gathered together         Prof. H. Hanko to join us on this joyful occasion to
seven families and two individuals to organize our          speak for our dedication. He exhorted us from God's
congregation in Doon.  A few years later, about 1932,       Word in I Sam. 4 to maintain faithfully the truth,
our small congregation was able to purchase the             giving our glory to God in all things. Particularly he
church building where we have worshipped until this         instructed us to proclaim faithfully the gospel of
May. For many years the old church building served          Christ, lest the name Ichabod appear over the doors
us well, and it pleased God to gather together His          of our new church building.. Ichabod means, "The
people there under the preaching of His Word.               glory is departed."
  The Lord richly blessed us through these forty-nine         There were letters from our sister congregations of
years of  exsistence.  There was steady growth in           Hull and Pella who joined in our joy in the praise of
our congregation. Much of this growth came from             God's covenant faithfulness. Further, many members
within as God gave to our congregation an abundance         of our Hull andEdgerton congregations came together
of covenant seed. He also worked in their hearts to         with. us to join in our thanksgiving. Thus our new
remain faithful to the truth and gave them oppor-           building was filled to capacity on this joyous occasion
tunity for employment in the immediate area. Our            for fellowship. In the afternoon there was an open
congregation presently numbers thirty-four families         house at which time the general public had  oppor-


426                                        THE STANDARD BEARER





                  MAIN  ENTRANCE                                       BASEMENT   (MAIN  ROOM)





              AUDITORIUM   FROM   REAR                                        KITCHEN



                                                      tunity to visit with some of our people and see the
                                                      new building.
                                                        We invite all the readers of our Standard Bearer to
                                                      stop in Doon and worship the Lord together with our
                                                      congregation. We now have room for you to come
                                                      together comfortably for worship with us. We are still
                                                      struck with awe as we come together in worship. It
                                                      impresses us with the wonder of God's grace, for we
                                                      do not deserve such a blessing. But this is the wonder
                                                      of His grace, for Christ's sake God blesses His own,
                                                      blotting out their sin in the blood of the cross. Our
                                                      prayer is that we may truly dedicate this building
                                                      unto the service of God, and that we may have grace
                                                      to continue to go forward in faith, until He brings us
                                                      into the heavenly tabernacle, not made with hands,
                                                      which our Lord hath before prepared for us! May all
       AUDITORIUM   (LOOKING  FROM  PLATFORM)         our glory be in the Lord.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     427


G U E S T   A R T I C L E   _

               The Development of a Reformed Psychology
                                                   ( continued )

THE CHARACTER OF A REFORMED PSY-                            to speak of a God-centered study of man. But yet it is
CHOLOGY                                                     precisely the nature of a Reformed psychology that it
                                                            is theocentric. Psychology must be theocentric in the
  But what is that psychology? How are  we. to              sense that it is Scriptural. Scripture, after all, is God's
conceive of that psychology which we have said is so        Word; it is God's speech, God speaking through the
necessary?                                                  inspired writers to His people, God's revelation to His
  We must conceive of it, first of all, not merely as       people. And that Scripture reveals God's will for all
Christian, but as specifically Reformed. Let me             things, and reveals also the proper idea and concep-
explain that. There are forms of so-called Christian        tion of man. Therefore, when we are Scriptural, we
psychology; perhaps you are aware of some of them.          are truly God-centered. In that sense of the word we
One of the more familiar is perhaps that psychology         bow to the Scriptures. We accept God's Word to us as
which is practiced by a man named Clyde M.                  to what man is and in what relationships he stands.
Narramore, who has a radio broadcast originating out        Our whole view of man is completely determined by
of California.` Another is that of Jay Adams, who has       what God says. You ask me, "What is man? How do I
a counselling  center in Philadelphia, Pa., and who has     learn what man is?" I say, "Go to the Scriptures."
written several books on this subject of a Christian        There you will find the answer. The Word of God will
psychology. Another is that kind of psychology              tell you what you are; the Word of God will tell you
which used to be practiced at Pine Rest Christian           what you must be; the Word of God will tell you all
Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And there are           you need to know for your eternal salvation and for
more. All of these-are Christian psychologies, but all      your life in the midst of. the world. Even those facts
of them fall short for a variety of reasons. Some           which science tells us must, therefore, be interpreted
divorce the work of psychology from the church, and         in the light of God's revelation to us, and never apart
especially from the office of the ministry; that, by        from it.
the way, is one criticism that I have of Jay Adams.           In the second place, Reformed psychology must in
Many, in fact, all, without exception, I think, do not      the nature of the case be a covenant psychology. And
stress the Reformed idea of the covenant; many do           that immediately implies the proper conception of
not have a proper conception of the doctrine of sin         man. We must speak of man in terms of his creation,
and grace; they do not have an antithetical Reformed        of his fall, of sin, of the curse and its results, of all the
world-and-life view; and most are very heavily in-          problems and difficulties which stem from that sin
fluenced by the psychological theories of the world.        of our first parents. We must speak of man in terms
So we must not speak of a Christian psychology  -           of God's people who through Christ stand in the
that is not enough. We must speak of a Reformed             covenant of friendship with God. We cannot spell
psychology. A generally Christian psychology is a           that out in detail here. But suffice it to say  .that we
broad roof indeed; it covers a multitude of evils. But      must construe all things, also psychology, covenant-
when we speak of a Reformed, and especially of a            ally. That implies also a view of the Christian man as
Protestant Reformed Psychology, we speak of some-           he stands in Christ the Head of the covenant. Christ'
thing different. We speak of a psychology that stands       has redeemed us from sin and the curse; Christ calls
in harmony with our Reformed view of Scripture and          us to live a life of sanctification through His Spirit;
of the Reformed Confessions: one which stands in            Christ is He through Whom alone we stand in the
the line of continued development of the faith of our       proper relationship of friendship to our God. That
fathers, going all the way back to Calvin and even          after all is the heart of the matter, is it not? The
farther. But what then specifically characterizes such      whole matter of sin and grace?  All of our thinking
a Reformed psychology which we must have?                   must be in those- terms, without exception. We must
  In the first place, and primarily, a Reformed             not have any of that modern garbage about arrested
psychology must be God-centered. This seems to be a         development and all the rest of that nonsense. We
contradiction, because we said a little while ago that      talk concerning sin, concerning the hard reality of the
in psychology we study the idea and being of man.           effects of sin in our lives. We cannot speak of
We  -do not study the doctrine of God; we do not            spiritual-mental problems, we cannot speak of any
study the attributes of God: who is God, what is God        area of psychology, without speaking in terms of sin.
- that is not psychology. It seems strange, therefore,      Let me put that bluntly: if you have a problem of a


428                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


spiritual-mental-psychological nature, whatever it          very practically, too. You know that from ex-
may be, your problem is one thing, and that is  sin.        perience. The minister must, moreover, further in-
Perhaps a specific sin, perhaps not. Perhaps a chain of     struct his people in the truths of Scripture, so that
sins, one leading to the other, but nevertheless, your      they may better know the truths of sin and grace as
problem is simply sin. That is the heart of the             applied to their lives. And it is also his responsibility
Reformed psychology. It is sin, for which the only          to attempt in the light of, and on the basis of
cure is the blood of Jesus Christ, not all the  head-       Scripture to solve any spiritual-psychological prob-
shrinkers in the state of Colorado, or in all the 50        lems that may come to his attention because, I
states puttogether. The grace of God, that is the only      repeat, through the office of the ministry Christ
remedy. A Reformed psychology must therefore be             speaks to His people concerning all things, also
not only God-centered, but also covenantally Christ-        spiritual-mental-psychological problems and their
centered.                                                   solutions. That, then, must be our starting point.
  In the third place, a Reformed psychology must            Whatever else we may say about a Reformed psy-
necessarily be construed in terms of the offices in the     chology, and there are many more things which we
church. Through the church, Christ the Savior of His        can and must say, with that we must begin. Then we
people, speaks to those people. He is the Head of that      are on the right track. Then we cannot go wrong.
church, Who rules that church by His Word and
Spirit. All of our life must necessarily center around      THE ATTAINMENT OF A REFORMED PSY-
that church, because in the sphere of that church God       CHOLOGY
reveals Himself in the line of the covenant. The              And then, too, we are on the road to the attain-
church is absolutely necessary because it is the com-       ment of a Reformed psychology. How do we get
munion of the saints, the body of believers who are         there?
united in Christ as their~covenant  Head, and to whom         In the first place, as far as our leaders are con-
Christ speaks as His body. And more specifically, we        cerned, it is their responsibility to develop the idea
must speak of psychology in terms of the offices, and       and practice of a Reformed psychology. This has
especially the office of the ministry. The minister is      been done and is being done at the present time. We
the ambassador of Christ in the world; he is Christ's       must not think, you know, that this whole idea of
representative to God's people in the sphere of the         psychology is new; there are those that would like to
church. It is therefore the responsibility of the           have us think that, but it is not so. Much  work.has
minister to care for the souls of the sheep; the apostle    been done in the past, only in the past we called it by
John quotes Christ Himself when he writes in Chapter        a little different name. We called it a world-and-life
10 of Christ as the Good Shepherd Who knows His             view. But yet, development continues. That must be
sheep and cares for them. It is the truth of Scripture      done in the seminary, in the training of ministers of
and the Reformed Confessions that the minister of           the gospel, of shepherds of God's sheep. That has
the Word of God stands as the official representative       been done in the past, and that is being done now,
of that Christ Who is the Shepherd of His sheep. It is      and it will be done in the future. Our leaders
his duty and responsibility to care for the spiritual       understand the necessity of a Reformed psychology.
needs of His people, especially because he above all        They understand it far better yet than I do. They
speaks concerning that vital matter of sin and grace.       understand, too, that it is very difficult for God's
Christ, Who saves His people from their sins and from       people to live in this complex modem age. They
all of life's problems, speaks through  -the minister.      know that  GodTs people need answers to the prob-
Read Romans 10. Read Hebrews 13: 17, where God's            lems of life. I know that they know that, because
people are admonished, "Obey them that have the             they have told me. That is true also of our ministers
rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch        as they are in the parsonage and in the pulpit. Our
for your souls, as they that must give account, that        ministers undoubtedly need further training in educa-
they may do it with joy, and not with grief."               tion in this whole matter of psychology, in the whole
Therefore the spiritual, psychological care of the          matter of the care of God's people. They must
sheep is the duty primarily of the minister through         always learn, even when they get to be old, because
the preaching of the Word. That is primary: for it is       they always learn something new. And they must
through the preaching of the Word that Christ speaks        practice what they learn in the pastoral ministry.
to His people concerning redemption from sin and its
effects. The preaching of the Word is the most                But that is not what you really came to hear
effective psychology there could possibly be, because       tonight  - what our leaders have done and must do.
the preaching of the Word, whether it teaches,              You came to hear what you must do. And while we
whether it admonishes, whether it guides, whether it        cannot talk about that in any great detail, let me lay
directs, whether it comforts, whatever it does, speaks      down just a couple of guidelines.
to the needs of God's people in this life, and speaks         In the first place, and this above all, do not under


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                429


any circumstances, seek help from the sphere' of the       to the minister. Go to him as he stands as a repre-
world. Do not do it. If you are in trouble spiritually     sentative of the Shepherd of the sheep; you will avoid
and you go to the world for your help, you are asking      a lot of difficulties for yourself and for everyone else
for more trouble, and you will get it. Do not forget       if you do. It might not be easy, but do it anyway;
that when you step into the sphere of the world, you       you will not be disappointed.
step among those who deny God and who deny His               In the second place, live Scriptural life-principles.
Word, who deny His revelation of what man is and           You say, "That is easy to say." But if you stop and
must be. Do not ever forget it! Do not be taken in by      think about it, that is no pious platitude or panacea,
all of their pious talk, because it is not true. I ask     no simple cure-all. For when you evaluate your life in
again: how in the world can one who does not               the whole aspect of psychology in the light of the
acknowledge sin and grace, who does not acknowl-           Word of God, then you understand that truth; when
edge Christ as the Shepherd of the sheep, solve            you live as God's people according to His Word, then
problems for a child of God? That is impossible,           your problems are easily solved, or they do not arise
because they are sin-problems.                             at all. When you live according to the Scriptures, then
  But that is negative; that is what not to do. There      you know yourself; you know your relationship to
are many things which you can do.                          the world, to others in the church, and to God. If you
   First of all, you can cooperate with those who are      live according to those two great commandments that
trained and called in the care of the souls of God's       Jesus set forth in Matthew 22: "Thou shalt love the
people. And that means primarily the ministers of the      Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul
gospel. They have been trained in the Scriptural and       and strength. This is the first and great command-
spiritual care of God's people. They are those to          ment, and the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love
whom you must turn for help. In that connection I          thy neighbour as thyself. On these two command-
ask of you, though you are not my congregation, I          ments hang all the law and the prophets" - that is
ask of you as God's people: go to your minister            life right there. You say, "But that is too simple."
before it is too late. You know, I am rather young         Oh, no, it is not; that is not simplistic. That is the
yet; I have not had a great deal of experience in this     truth of God's Word, and that is the only answer that
whole field, not nearly as much as the grey-hairs who      you have to all of your problems - the life of God.
have preceded me; but there is one thing that they all     Study that Word, therefore; read that Word; discuss
say, and that is, "When my people come to me, they         that Word among yourselves; discuss it in your
have waited too long. They have gotten themselves          societies; seek to counsel one another along life's
in so deeply that I tear my hair trying to get them out    pathway. As far as problems and solutions are con-
again." I have heard that said, I think unanimously,       cerned, seek to develop in your understanding of
by our ministers. Go, then, before it is too late. You     what you are and who you are and what according to
have enough common sense to understand that; I             the Scriptures you are called to be. In brief,  live a
don't have to instruct you. Do not go to the minister      Reformed psychology.
with every tiny little problem; if you don't know            May God give us the grace that, as we continue to
what color shoes to wear to the neighbors - that's no      develop in this area of Reformed psychology, we may
problem for the minister to solve. You are aware of        do `that in harmony with His Word and to His honor
that. But when you have a sin-problem, when you            and glory.
have a problem of a spiritual-psychological nature, go


QUESTION BOX
                                        About Woman Suffrage
                                               ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

  From an aged sister in Grand Rapids comes the            the basis of Scripture. But today it is different. It is
following question:                                        surmising how many of our ladies vote. Our  dis-
  "Here I come with a question, rather old-fashioned       cussion  led to many &o's and con?. The pro's stood
in nature; but to me it is always of importance.           firm in their conviction that a Christian woman
                                                           should take  part  in elections and express herself in
  "Voting time is again around the comer, and the          such important decisions, show deep interest in her
question came up whether women should vote.                country, be a good citizen and be patriotic. Besides,
About 45 to 50 years ago we did not trouble                this was our Christian duty. Well, the con's protested
ourselves about it very much. It was simply `no' on        that on the basis of Scripture a woman has no right to


430                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


own this power because her task as woman is so              connection with this subject  - then it can also be
different. The power lies along a different path, to        successfully argued that the exclusion of women from
strengthen the family ties, home environment,               the offices in Christ's church, while it may have been
teaching and rearing children, etc. Of course, we           valid in another day, is no longer valid today. We do
realize that times have changed. We do not have a           not hold to this position, however.
King Nebuchadnezzar, who can demand people to bow              That brings me to my third remark, namely: that
before a golden image; nevertheless the prince of this      historically the entire movement for woman suffrage
world grasps every opportunity to blind God's people        and women in office, both in the churches and in the
to worship him. The principle is the same. And what         political realm, has gotten its impetus from the
has resulted of all this trampling under foot of God's
                                                _-          worldly and thoroughly ungodly and rebellious
wonderful purpose with the creation of woman? All           "women's liberation movement." And then we must
this women's liberation - equal rights - women in'          remember that while, of course, the so-called
office in church and state. By running to the voting        women's lib movement has had more publicity and
booth  -are we really showing ourselves to be of a          has set new goals for itself in recent times, never-
different, new principle? Or do we agree with them in       theless that movement itself is not of recent origin. It
their ungodly way?                                          was the movement for the liberation of women (and
  "Well here is my question. And will you give your         personally I believe that the word liberation is far too
candid opinion as to what Scripture teaches us.             good a word for this) that was behind the struggle for
Should a Christian woman partake in voting, either          woman suffrage already many years ago. And to me,
in church or in political affairs?"                         this would be sufficient reason to condemn woman
`Reply                                                      suffrage. It is a movement that is of the world, and
   First of all, let me share a secret with our readers.    therefore a movement with which the people of God
This question comes from the Holland Home in                should have nothing to do. I think it is evident from
Grand Rapids. And it is evident, I think, from this         various remarks. of my questioner that she senses
letter that at the Holland Home they can still have         something of this also; and I believe that my
some rather lively discussions about things, and dis-       questioner is quite right in this respect. Moreover, I
cussions also about worthwhile subjects. Mind you,          do not believe that you can separate successfully the
the sister who wrote me is in her 8Os!                      various items involved in the so called women's lib
                                                            movement. Inevitably, the trend will be that if you
  In the second place, I do not think that the              accept their claim to woman suffrage, you will be
questions raised here are so very old-fashioned. Cer-       swept along in the tide and will be compelled to
tainly, the question concerning woman suffrage in the       accept all the many other claims of this movement as
church is not an old fashioned question. In our own         well.
churches it is not a question at all: both the offices
and voting are limited to male, confessing members.           This reminds me of another point, namely: that
But in other Reformed denominations the intro-              the right of women to vote also involves the right of
duction of woman suffrage is of comparative recent.         women to occupy offices in the state. These two go
date. Moreover, the question of women in office in          together. If you are prepared to accept woman
the church, which is very closely related, is a very        suffrage, you must also accept the right of women to
current subject. In the Netherlands, in the'                occupy government offices. I will accept neither one.
Gereformeerde Kerken women have already been                   Involved in all this is the entire teaching of Scrip:
admitted to office in the church. At present there is a     ture concerning the God given position of the
very lively discussion going on concerning the              woman, as my questioner also suggests. A passage
question of women in office in the Christian  -Re-          such as Eph.  5:22-24 is pertinent: "Wives, submit
formed Church in this country. A  synodical  com-           yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the
mittee has already advised that there is no principal       Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as
objection. And if this position is adopted, it can only     Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour
mean that in due course the practice of admitting           of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto
women to office must necessarily follow. I take it          Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
that most of our readers are acquainted with the            every thing." I Tim. 2: 12-l 5 is also pertinent: "But I
various passages of Scripture involved in this dis-         suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority
cussion. And it is not my purpose to discuss them at        over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first
this time. I only wish to point out that one's              formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
fundamental view of Holy Scripture is closely con-          the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
nected with this entire question. If the Scriptures         Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if
have a time-bound character  - and I refer. now             they continue in faith and charity and holiness with
particularly to the Scripture passages in question in       sobriety."


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER.                                              431


                                         Book Review
Ho  ly Scripture, by G. C. Berkouwer; Wm. B.                "My chief concern has been to make Berkouwer's
Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids,  Mich. 377         central message regarding the nature of Holy Scrip-
                                                          ture accessible to the largest English-speaking public.
pages, $8.95 (cloth). [Reviewed by Prof. H.C.
Hoeksema]                                                 Accordingly, I have concentrated on the development
                                                          of Berkouwer's own point of view and its immediate
                   *******                                sources rather than detailing all of his interaction
  This is another of the English translations of Dr.      with persons holding other viewpoints. While this will
Berkouwer's "Studies In Dogmatics." This one              ,deprive the scholar of some bibliography, it has
volume in English covers the original two volumesof       hopefully made the main body of this important
the Dutch edition. I reviewed the Dutch volumes in        work more understandable to the non-specialist.
the Standard Bearer when they were published, and I       Berkouwer has always been concerned that theology
offered an extensive critique of the Dutch edition a      be relevant to those in the pulpit and the pew as well
few years ago in our Theological Journal. I shall not     as to those in the study. It is my hope that this work
repeat my criticisms of this work, nor offer an           will prove useful to members of all three groups in
extensive review here. I only wish to repeat: 1) Dr.      their work and in their daily interaction with Holy
Berkouwer's "Studies In Dogmatics" are must reading       Scripture."
for all ministers and seminarians who wish to be            It is certainly true that the two volumes of the
up-to-date with respect to current theological trends.    Dutch edition were filled with details'of Berkouwer's
There is no question about it that Dr. Berkouwer is       "interaction with persons holding other viewpoints."
one of the most influential theologians of our time.      And this undoubtedly made these volumes somewhat
This is especially true with regard to the doctrine of    difficult to read. They certainly were not what one
Holy Scripture. If you have not read, or cannot read,     would call f`popular reading." And from this point of
the original Dutch volumes, then by all means read        view, I believe that the translator by his editing has
the English edition. 2) I am of the conviction that'      made his translation more readable. Nevertheless,
this work on Holy Scripture represents a serious          while I have not made a detailed comparison, my
departure from the Reformed confession concerning         general impression is that the abridgment has some-
Scripture. I explained my criticisms in this regard in    what detracted from the value of this translation, at
the reviews previously mentioned, and shall not re-       least for anyone who wishes to make a careful study
peat them here. I do wish to sound the warning that       of Berkouwer. I do not believe that one can properly
he who reads this book ought to study it very             understand Berkouwer's point of view without paying
carefully and critically, and should not absorb the       careful attention to "his interaction with persons
teachings of Dr. Berkouwer.                               holding other viewpoints." It is plain, too, that
  This is an abridged translation. This is mentioned      considerable material has been omitted: for the
and explained in the "Translator's Introduction" as       original two-volume work has been decreased by
follows:                                                  approximately one-third. In my opinion, this means
   "This work has not only been translated but            that anyone who wishes to make a careful study of
edited. The material of the, original two-volume work,    Dr. Berkouwer's views concerning Holy Scripture will
De Heilige  Schrift,  has been decreased by approxi-      still have to go back to the Dutch edition.
mately one-third. Such editing is always subject to         Nevertheless, I recommend the reading and study
question and the rationale for it needs to be made        of this volume for those who are limited to' the
clear.                                                    English language.



                               News  From  Our' Churches

  By the time this appears in print, Rev. C. Hanko        churches, be busy working with contacts in that area
and Prof. Hoeksema will be well into their work on        until about the first part of August." Along with the
the other side of the world. About the middle of June     writer of that announcement, "we wish them
they left Michigan and the United States, and headed      God-speed and we pray that the Lord may richly
for Australia and New Zealand. According to South-        bless them and their activities among the brethren
west's bulletin, they will, "as representatives of our    `down under.' "


                                     __-__--
                         .a$                                 -
THE STANDARD  BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064                .i                                 `
                                                                          ygE-&%J
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                 i         ,,.      ,_
                                                                        :..,                  I                              I


432                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                     .~

                                *****                              Confession." In addition to the speech, incidentally,
   Rev. Van Overloop and two other representatives                 he also sang a solo. The old people there, he said,
of the council of Hope Church spent several days near              assured him that they appreciated the song; but, he
the end of May investigating the mission field in                  added ruefully, they didn't say anything about the
Houston. The June 8 bulletin of Hope, Church in-                   singing.
cluded a summary of the report with which the three                  After all that, he deserved a little recreation. In
returned to their consistory. They reported that                   Grand Rapids he played eighteen holes of golf on
"their time was taken up in seven visits with the                  Memorial Day, and matched exactly the score of
individual families and six meetings (including two                Prof. Decker. The latter managed a 53 on the last
worship services) with most of the group collectively.             nine. He's not talking about the first.
There are ten families which attend the services with                                       *****
some regularity. The nucleus of the group . .  ~
manifested an earnest desire to organize, a love of the             The last of May and the first of June is the time for
truth, a desire to walk holily, and a sincere willingness          graduations. From the various bulletins we notice
to receive further instruction. In the opinion of the              that Rev. Lanting addressed the graduates in
emissaries, sufficient officebearer material was found             Loveland, Rev. Moore in Doon, and Rev. Engelsma in
in this nucleus. Other factorsreported were a poten-               South Holland. In the Grand Rapids schools, Prof.
tial for growth and a strong desire to be financially              Hoeksema spoke at Hope's commencement exercises,
independent. Having considered all this the council                Rev. Veldman at Adams', and Prof. Hanko at
decided that, D.V., organization should take place                 Covenant's. One other graduation program there was,
early this fall, pending the approval of the Mission               yet. At a Friday morning, May 30, exercise in the
C o m m i t t e e . "                                              Seminary auditorium, four young men graduated
                                *****                              from the pre-seminary department. Congratulations
                                                                   to Wilbur Bruinsma, Michael De Vries, Richard
  During the first part of May, Rev. Kortering                     Flikkema, and Richard Peterson.
traveled northwest, to spend a few days in Edmon-
ton, Alberta, Canada, in order that he might, along                                         *****
with Rev. Woudenberg, study the progress of the                      The people of our  Doon congregation held the
work there. Rev. Lubbers arrived in Lynden a few                   dedication service for their new church building on
days later and he and Rev. Kortering together                      Friday, May 16. Prof. Hanko, who was pastor there
conducted church visitation. Rev. Lubbers then                     before his call to the seminary, gave the addr.ess.
continued on to  Redlands and Loveland for further                   The Men's Society of our Randolph Church
visits and lectures.                                               sponsored a' public lecture on the evening of May 21.
  A rather busy. couple of weeks it was for Rev.                   Rev. Van  Baren drove out on that occasion, and
Lubbers. In addition to the church visitation, he                  spoke on the subject, "The Antichristian Kingdom  -
showed his pictures of Jamaica in Lynden on May 11.                How Near is it?"
The following day he was in  Redlands where he                                              *****
lectured on the Biblical concept of sanctification. A              We have a requested announcement, yet, from the
couple of days later found him in Loveland, where he               Anniversary Field Day Committee:
again delivered that lecture entitled, "What It Means                "We urge everyone to remember the Field Day
to Live a Sanctified Life." On, the 18th he preached               August 6. Note that the location of the celebration
both sermons in our Loveland Church. Then it was                   has been changed to Douglas Walker Park, west of
back to Pella. He and Mrs. Lubbers were home just                  Byron Center on 84th St. If you are planning to come
long enough for him to mow the lawn and write the                  and have not yet notified the committee, please do
bulletin, and for her to wash and iron, and then they              so. This information is necessary for the evening
were off by car for Grand Rapids for a wedding later               meal. You may call either 451-3400 or 453-3253. If
in the week.                                                       out-of-town, mail your card or just a piece of paper
  There was one series of eight consecutive days in                with your name, the number attending, and the ages
there, during which Rev. Lubbers spoke no less than                of the children, to 1550  Ferndale S.W., Grand
eight times. One of those eight speeches happens to                Rapids, Michigan 49504. See you there."
have been given at the Rest Home in Pella. It was                                                                            `[:,
entitled "The Great Shepherd, and a Wonderful                                                                             D.lX


